The LaPortes in Quebec
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Most of the LaPortes in Canada are descendants of
Jacques de la Porte one of the early settlers who came from France in
1650 to
join Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de (Lord of) Maisonneuve who had been
commissioned to build a mission upriver from Quebec City amongst the
Algonquin people. The goal of the new settlement was to improve the
relationship between the New France colony and the native 'Indian' population and
to show them the value of a Christian faith. (marking the
beginning of a practice which would one day result in the excesses and
abuses of the Residential Schools system) Each of the settlers was
assigned a farm lot along the St
Lawrence river with Jacques receiving the furthest farm from the newly
built Fort Ville-Marie inside the safety of which Maisonneuve and the
other settlers built their houses.
Jacques built the 16th house in the new settlement of Mount Royale.
The colony's alliance with the Algonquin people
had made them enemies with other tribes most notably the Iroquois and
the Mohawk who would often attack the French settlers. Jacques must have been in town on the day
in 1658 that their Iroquois neighbours decided to rid themselves of
these intruders. They launched their attack by shooting Jacques'
neighbour off his roof with arrows but they were
discouraged when they were met with gunfire from the fort. As
relations improved the village thrived and grew
much bigger. Today it is known as
Montreal.
n 1657 Maisonneuve performed the marriage ceremony for Jacques
and Nicole Duchesne, one of a boat load of women called Les Filles du
Roi (The King's Daughters) who had been brought from France to
help build the colony.
Jacques and Nicole would have 11 children
including one, Pierre de le Porte who would be a paddler on Pierre
Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye's (1685-1749) venture into the
interior in 1738 to establish a fur trade with the plains Indians. On this trip they reached present day Portage la Prairie where they
built and wintered at Fort La Reine. La
Verendrye made several more trips into the interior to establish a
network of trading posts and is credited with establishing the fur trade
which would open up the interior of the continent.
The World Association of LaPortes and St
Georges has an excellent web site at
https://www.laporte-st-georges.org/en/
which covers all aspects of Jacques de la
Porte's family's history with a page on Jacques specifically at
https://www.laporte-st-georges.org/en/jacques-de-laporte-dit-st-georges/
There is an extensive family tree for Jacques
de la Porte on
Wikitree
See also this excellent page at
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mainegenie/LAPORTE.htm
It's beyond my abilities to document the 400
years of this family's story so I'll just pick up the story of my line
since we settled in Manitoba. See
The LaPortes of Manitoba
This site was last updated
04/14/23
Lawrence river with Jacques receiving the furthest farm from the newly
built Fort Ville-Marie inside the safety of which Maisonneuve and the
other settlers built their houses.
Jacques built the 16th house in the new settlement of Mount Royale.
The colony's alliance with the Algonquin people
had made them enemies with other tribes most notably the Iroquois and
the Mohawk who would often attack the French settlers. Jacques must have been in town on the day
in 1658 that their Iroquois neighbours decided to rid themselves of
these intruders. They launched their attack by shooting Jacques'
neighbour off his roof with arrows but they were
discouraged when they were met with gunfire from the fort. As
relations improved the village thrived and grew
much bigger. Today it is known as
Montreal.
n 1657 Maisonneuve performed the marriage ceremony for Jacques
and Nicole Duchesne, one of a boat load of women called Les Filles du
Roi (The King's Daughters) who had been brought from France to
help build the colony.
Jacques and Nicole would have 11 children
including one, Pierre de le Porte who would be a paddler on Pierre
Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye's (1685-1749) venture into the
interior in 1738 to establish a fur trade with the plains Indians. On this trip they reached present day Portage la Prairie where they
built and wintered at Fort La Reine. La
Verendrye made several more trips into the interior to establish a
network of trading posts and is credited with establishing the fur trade
which would open up the interior of the continent.
The World Association of LaPortes and St
Georges has an excellent web site at
https://www.laporte-st-georges.org/en/
which covers all aspects of Jacques de la
Porte's family's history with a page on Jacques specifically at
https://www.laporte-st-georges.org/en/jacques-de-laporte-dit-st-georges/
There is an extensive family tree for Jacques
de la Porte on
Wikitree
See also this excellent page at
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mainegenie/LAPORTE.htm
It's beyond my abilities to document the 400
years of this family's story so I'll just pick up the story of my line
since we settled in Manitoba. See
The LaPortes of Manitoba