Who Was Louis Hébert?
Louis Hébert was born in Paris, France in the parish of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois about 1575. His father, Nicolas, was an apothecary and Louis continued the family tradition. After receiving a basic education in grammar, the humanities and Latin, he studied, for five years, the various properties of plants and the preparation of remedies under the guidance of masters. At the end of his studies in 1600, “Hébert presented himself as a Parisian bourgeois, grocer, and apothecary merchant.”
A review in the history of pharmacy entitled L’apothicaire Louis Hébert, premier colon français du Canada notes that the family resided in a neighbourhood that contained a number of «apothicaires-épiciers» (apothecary merchants) – and that on 14-Oct-1600, Louis Hébert was noted as having been cited as a «marchand apothicaire-épicier».
The following year, on 19-Feb-1601, at the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, he married Marie Rollet, daughter of Jean Rollet and Anne Cogu, and widow of François Dufeu. They had three children, all born in France: Anne (~1602), Guillemette (~1608), and Guillaume (~1614). Between 1606 and 1613, Louis Hébert twice joined expeditions to the New World, leaving behind Marie and their children in Paris.
1606 to 1607 – First Voyage to Acadia
“In March 1606, at the age of about 31, Hébert signed a contract with the explorer Pierre Dugua de Monts to serve a year in New France. His appointment as an apothecary brought him 100 livres, of which 50 were in cash.” The ship Le Jonas left Rochelle on 23 May 1606 with about 50 pioneers and craftsmen, including Hébert, Poutrincourt, lieutenant-governor of Acadia, and Marc Lescarbot, lawyer and writer. They reached Port-Royal on 27 July. Hébert tended to sick colonists and indigenous people. The men did not waste time sowing wheat, rye, hemp and other grains. Marc Lescarbot wrote in his Histoire de la Nouvelle-France: “Poutrincourt … had a piece of land cultivated there to sow wheat and plant vines, as he did with the help of our apothecary, M. Louis Hebert, [a] man who, besides being experienced in his art, took great pleasure in tilling the soil.” After the harvest that fall, Poutrincourt and Samuel de Champlain explored the coast up to Cape Cod, in search of a second settlement. Hébert was part of the expedition. In November that year, he saw the first theatrical presentation In North America: Théâtre de Neptune written by Lescarbot. That winter, the members of the colony also enjoyed lavish feasts organized by Champlain and his Ordre du bon temps (Order of Good Cheer). In the summer of 1607 the trade concession granted to de Monts expired and obliged the whole colony to go back to France.
1611 to 1613 – Second Sojourn in Port-Royal
He returned to Port-Royal around 1611 to continue working as an apothecary. (There are conflicting opinions concerning the year that Hébert returned to Port-Royal, some researchers say 1610). Under Poutrincourt who dreamed of creating an agricultural empire, a few buildings had been added to the settlement, such as the first water-driven grist-mill in North-America. However, further development was hindered by the long winter season and by the scarce provision of supplies from France. Hébert also acted as a mediator in a dispute between the Jesuits and Charles de Biencourt de Saint-Just, the 20-year-old commander of the settlement at Port-Royal, and in May 1613 took charge of Port-Royal in his absence. He continued to treat the sick colonists as well as Indigenous people, including one of their chiefs, Membertou. In 1613 the British, under the command of Samuel Argall, burned Port-Royal to the ground except for the grist-mill and a few barns. The colonists returned to France. Port-Royal was to remain a trading post until 1632 when another attempt to colonize the area was successful. Hébert was never to return to Acadie, choosing instead, at approximately age 42, to settle in Canada, New France and bring his wife and children with him.
1617 to 1627 – Canada, Nouvelle-France
On 6 March 1617, Hébert signed a three-year contract with the Compagnie des Marchands de Rouen et de Saint-Malo to work in Nouvelle-France. He was offered 200 livres per year. However, just before embarking on the ship in Honfleur, the company scaled back the conditions: salary reduction, obligation to give the products of working the land to the company, and tending to the sick free of charge. Louis Hébert had no choice but to accept, having sold all of his possessions in France. On 11 March 1617, Louis Hébert left France forever aboard the ship Saint-Étienne. Also on board were his wife Marie Rollet, their children Anne, Guillaume and Guillemette, as well as the explorer Samuel de Champlain. Four months later they disembarked at Québec.
In the following months Hébert built a wooden house which would be replaced a few years later by one made of stone. “These dwellings stood where the inner courtyard and parking lot (near the Rue des Remparts), respectively, of the Petit Séminaire de Québec are located.
“The following year, Champlain noted that the results of Hébert’s efforts in tilling the earth were readily apparent. All over the region that was later named Sault-au-Matelot, there soon were grain fields aplenty, along with gardens and an orchard made up of apple trees that had been imported from Normandy.” In 1620 he gave Hébert responsibility in the administration of justice by appointing him king’s attorney.
In February 1623, Hébert acquired land in the heart of present-day Québec City. Three years later, on 28 February 1626, Hébert became Seigneur of this land known as Sault-au-Matelot and was also granted land on the Saint-Charles River, the fief Saint-Joseph, later known as fief de Lespinay. He became the first Canadian Lord.
“During his stay in the colony, Hébert raised his apothecary work to a very high standard and facilitated the role of New France in the emergence of botany in Europe. All of Hébert’s accounts indicate that he had sent plants to France. Among them were the American groundnut, which was harvested for food; meadow-rue, which he used to promote sweating and the healing of wounds; and Canadian wild ginger, whose ginger-flavoured rhizomes would, he believed, help rid the body of noxious fluids. Hébert undoubtedly owned illustrated identification guides.”
Hébert’s work is certainly reflected in the botany book Canadensium Plantarum published In Paris, in 1635, which illustrated 40 plants from North-America previously unknown in Europe.
In the winter of 1627 Louis Hébert had a fall which proved fatal. Over the years, different authors have mentioned a fall on the ice, or even from his roof, but that remains to be proven. The first to mention Hébert’s death was Samuel de Champlain in his book Voyages du Sieur de Champlain ou Journal ès découvertes de la Nouvelle France published in 1632. He wrote that on 25 January Hébert fell which lead to his death. He added that he was the first head of a family to subsist on what he grew. He was buried in the Récollet cemetery (religious order known today as the Franciscans) probably on the same day or the next day, based on the funeral customs at the time. The Récollet archives were destroyed, therefore the burial record has been forever lost. In 1678 his remains were exhumed and transferred, in the presence of his daughter, perhaps to the Récollet’s chapel (which is now part of the Hôpital général de Québec), or somewhere else in the city.
His wife Marie Rollet inherited half of the property, and their daughter Guillemette the other half. Guillaume was still too young, and daughter Anne had already passed away. The family chose to remain in the colony. Two years later, Marie married Guillaume Hubou.
There are no direct descendants of Louis Hébert, bearing the name Hébert. His lineage was continued by his daughter Guillemette married to Guillaume Couillard, and Guillaume’s daughter Françoise Hébert married to Guillaume Fournier.
The Lineage
Louis Hébert is my 11*ggf. I can trace back to Louis Hébert four ways. The closest, via my maternal grandfather, is as follows:
- Pauline Robert (Guerin)
- Joseph Henry George Robert (1913-2005)
- Marie Edouardina Berger (Robert) (1895-????)
- Dina Charette (Berger) (1869-????)
- Isaac Charette (1834-????)
- Félicité Isabelle (1808-1879)
- Jean Baptiste Isabelle (1766-1830)
- Joseph Isabelle (1714-1802)
- Marie Barbe Prou (1685-1765)
- Jacquette Fournier (1659-1736)
- Françoise Hébert (1638-1716)
- Guillaume Hébert (1614-1639)
- Louis Hébert (1575-1627)
Another path of lineage, through my maternal grandmother, leads back to Louis through his daughter, Marie Guillemette:
- Pauline Robert (Guerin)
- Marie Cécile Angéle Hervieux (Robert) (1918-1977)
- Marie Anna Brunelle (Hervieux) (1884-1955)
- Marie Aurelie Morin (1851-????)
- Pierre Morin (1824-????)
- Paul Morin (1790-????)
- Michel Morin (1759-1834)
- Geneviève Couillard (1735-1763)
- Jacques Couillard (1696-1744)
- Jacques Couillard Després (1665-1737)
- Louis Couillard (1629-1677?)
- Marie Guillemette Hébert (1608-1684)
- Louis Hébert (1575-1627)
Takeaways
As Louis Hébert was part of Champlain’s exploration down the Massachusetts coast in 1606, it means that members of my family had been to Massachusetts before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620. In fact, there is a sign, posted in Chatham, MA, frequently vandalized, which attests to this exploration. If it wasn’t for an deadly argument involving a hatchet, Massachusetts could have been a French colony.
As Louis settled in Québec City in 1617, this also places my family’s roots in North America before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.
Primary Sources
The primary source for this post was the Louis Hébert profile on Wikitree, from which I copied most of the narrative.