There Is Still Extant A
Marriage Contract, Drafted By Him, For Two Parishioners; It Is One Of The
Earliest On Record In Canada, Bearing Date The 16th July, 1636.
It is
signed by the worthy Robert Giffard, the seignior, and by Francois
Bellanger and Noel Langlois; the other parties affixed their mark.
It
possesses interest as serving to illustrate the status and education of
the early French settlers. In 1628, Robert Giffard had been taken a
prisoner of war by the English, on board of Rocmont's fleet. On his
return, and in acknowledgement of the services rendered by him to the
colonial authorities, he obtained a grant of the seigniory of Beauport,
together with a large tract of land, on the River St. Charles. For many
long years the ancestral halls of the Duchesnays, at Beauport, rang with
the achievements of their warlike seigneurs. One of them, Nicholas
Juchereau de St. Denys, so distinguished himself at the siege of Quebec in
1690, that his sovereign granted him "a patent of nobility." ("Le sieur
de St. Denys, seigneur de Beauport, " says Charlevoix, "commandait ses
habitants, il avait plus de soixante ans et combattait avec beaucoup de
valeur, jusqu'a ce qu'il eut un bras casse d'un coup de feu. Le Roi
recompensa peu de temps apres son zele en lui accordant des lettres de
noblesse.") His son distinguished himself in Louisiana. Two other
members of the family won laurels at Chateaugay. A descendant, Lieut.-Col.
Theodore Duchesnay, is Deputy Adjutant General of Militia.
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