Jean Crevier - Merchant and lord

From 1627, the Compagnie des Cent-Associés was responsible for the administration of the colony. It set up the same mode of organization of the land as in France: the seigniorial system. When we say seigniorial system, we mean seigneurs and seigniories...

The first seigniories to be created were located in the St. Lawrence Valley, between Montreal and Quebec City. They were cut into narrow rectangles perpendicular to the St. Lawrence River. The narrowness allowed for more land to have direct access to the main communication route of the time, the water.

Born in Trois-Rivières, Jean Crevier was a noble fur trader. He married Marguerite Hertel in 1663. He bought the seigniory of the Saint-François River in 1673, a territory that included Saint-François-du-lac, Pierreville and Odanak.

He had a run-in with the law concerning his fur trade with the Amerindians who frequented Cap-de-la-Madeleine. He obtained orders from the intendants Duchesneau and de Meulles, forbidding anyone to hunt and fish in the area of his seigniory. One of the 20 principal inhabitants summoned to Quebec by Governor Buade de Frontenac on October 26, 1678 to give their opinion on the brandy trade, he spoke in favor of this traffic, attributing the crimes committed by the Amerindians to their barbaric temperament rather than to the use of drink. He was taken by the Iroquois during a raid on Saint-François in August 1693 and, just as he was about to be burned, he was redeemed by Major Peter Schuyler, commander of the Albany garrison; but he died soon after from his wounds.

On August 23, 1700, his widow and his son Joseph gave part of their seigniory to the Abenaki and Socoquis (Armouchiquois) for whom the Jesuits opened a mission that still exists today.