Jean Guyon dit Du Buisson

  General Notes:

OCCUPATION: Master Mason

On March 14 1634, he signed an agreement with Robert Giffard and Zacharie Cloutier in Mortagne Perche, Normandy. Guyon settled in Beauport that same year when he received a rear fief (arrière fief) near rivière du Buisson (river of bushes). He attached its name to his own, Guyon du Buisson. Several of his descendants have changed their name to Dion.

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JEAN GUYON from "Our French-Canadian Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest

One of the earliest French families to settle in the country, one of the most numerous in the beginning, one of the most respected and best known, was that of Jean Guyon and Mathurin Robin. The descendants are often recognized as Dion, sometimes as Despres, Dumontier, Lemoine and in Louisiana as Derbanne.

PERCHE
The Guyon family has its roots in Perche, more precisely at Tourouvre, head town of the Canton, in the Arrondisement of Mortagne-au-Perche, in the Department of the Orne.

Jacques, the father of Our Canadian Ancestor, appears for the first time at Tourouvre, on Monday, January 6, 1578, as a witness to a sale of land. On Friday, April 15, 1578, Jacques and his wife, Marie Huet, made a mutual donation to the survivor. This was their marriage contract. In the parish registries of Tourouvre, we can read the baptismal act of their daughter, Marie, held at the baptismal font on September 21, 1588 by François Lousche and Marie , widow of Jehan (Jean) Charpentier. Thomas Crete, a local bourgeois merchant, became her husband.

Jean Guyon was baptized at Saint-Aubin de Tourouvre on Friday, September 18, 1592, a century after the discovery of America. His godfathers were Jean Collin and Pierre Dolinet and his godmother Catherine Goddin. Jean grew up at Tourouvre, attended school, learned a trade and prepared the foundation for his home. On May 18, 1614, at the age of 22, he lent to Pantaleon Bigot, a laborer at Autheuil, a small village to the southeast of Tourouvre (the small village of Robert Giffard), an amount consisting of "a small pistolet d'or, fifty-two sols in coins, quarts d'ecus and other monnaie blanche", valued at 84 livres. It would seem that this trade as a mason already allowed him to have some savings.

On June 12, 1615, Jean Guyon was married at Mortagne, the parish of Saint-Jean, to Mathurine Robin, probably the daughter of Eustache and Madeleine Avrard. The couple lived at Mortagne. However, a little more than five months after their wedding on November 30, the parishioners of Tourouvre requested from "Jehan (Jean) Froger and Jehan (Jean) Guyon, mason, living in the parish of Saint-Jean at Mortagne, a flight of stones to go up the first floor of the bell tower with a huisserie of white stones from La Louverye, at the bottom and entrance to this flight". A "husserie" is defined as a fixed part in wood, forming the arch and lintel of a door in a section of a wall. The pilgrim descendants visiting the church of Tourouvre can still admire the flight of stones and frame built by his Ancestor.

MASON AT MORTAGNE
Jean Guyon worked at Mortagne for more than 18 years. Eight of his children, whom we will mention later, were also born there.

Mortagne has old walls and it was necessary to maintain them. On July 21,1625, the administrator of the residents of the town, one Jehan/Jean Ailleboust, ordered Guyon to go ahead with some repairs. A promise of 150 livres was made and a delivery of scaffolding, water, lime and sand. By the following August 22, nothing had been done. Jean went to the Court to urge the town administrator to deliver to him the money and the necessary materials to begin the work on the walls.

Jean certainly carried out many other works. He even was an employer of apprentice masons. According to Madame Pierre Mortagne (?), on April 22, 1626, Pierre Hayes, of the parish of Saint-Jean, was hired for three years "to begin on next Pentecost" in the service of Jean. The latter "will instruct him well and duly in his trade as mason, will feed him, direct him, provide him with heat and a place to sleep and in exchange, the pupil will serve his master faithfully and give him thirty livres for board for the three years.".

Zacharie Maheu, future Canadian, signed as a witness, in the presence of the Notary Sebastién Roussel. In 1632, Jacques Patard, a mason at Tourouvre, went to learn the secrets of his trade at Mortagne, at the home of Jean Guyon.

To end this important part in the life of Jean Guyon and Mathurin Robin, let's recall that their eldest daughter, Barbe, on February 11, 1632, agreed to her marriage contract, in the presence of Mathurin Roussel, to Pierre Paradis, a gunsmith and son of the late Jacques and Michelle Pelle. Jean Guyon's mother, Marie Huet, had been dead since February 26, 1626.

ARRIVAL IN NEW FRANCE
On January 15, 1634, just a century after the arrival of Jacques Cartier, the general assembly of the Company of One Hundred Associates met at the town house of President Lauzon and decided to make a concession to Robert Giffard of the land and Seigneurie of Beauport.

The new Seigneur, a native of Autheuil, near Tourouvre, did not waste any time in contacting his friends, intelligent people and men experienced in different trades, to achieve his project: to go and populate a seigneurie with folks wishing to live mainly off farming, as true colonists and not as fur traders. He needed to be persuasive and sometimes make attractive offers to get the most talented candidates.

In particular, Giffard met with Jean Guyon, master mason and Zacharie Cloutier, master carpenter and presented his plans to them. Come with me to New France with each of your children for a period of three years: "you will cut, clear and farm the lands and the woods of my seigneurie of Beauport"... This of Beauport on March 14, 1634. Guyon was promised 1,000 arpents of land with hunting and fishing rights. During the first three years, all of his expenses would be paid by the seigneur. The commitment was signed on Saint-Jean-Baptiste day. Also, in 1636, Giffard will pay the expenses for the family members, who stayed in France to come here. Several other conditions and advantages were signed in the presence of the notary, such as Roussel, Giffard, Damien Chamboy, Jean Pousset and Jean Guyon.

On the same March 14, Jean Guyon, censitaire of the Seigneur, apothecary, Giffard, sold to Denis Gentil, Sieur de Rougemont, a bit of land for a garden, located at the entrance to the city of Mortagne, parish of Loise. The price was 45 livres. However, the head of the Guyon family kept a house that he owned at Mortagne. He would give it as a gift to a charitable religious organization at Saint-Jean, 20 years later, on October 18, 1653.

The Guyon family, at the last minute, decided to go to New France in 1634. Together, they wanted to share the risks, the hardships and the joys of such an adventure. We know that, Mathurine Robin had brought into the world a son, Michel, on the preceding March 3. What courage to undertake an Atlantic crossing with so young a child! The first contingent of immigrants was comprised of 43 people, including the Guyon family of eight. The eldest, Barbe Guyon, married to Pierre Paradis since February 11, 1632, would wait a few years before joining her family in America.

To leave one's country is to die a little. To reach New France was to begin to live a promising future. They took the route to Rouen, then to Dieppe, port of embarkation, where a fleet of four ships under the command of Charles Duplessis-Bochart, admiral of the fleet of the One Hundred Associates awaited them.

ARRIVAL
According to the Relation des Jesuites, on May 31, 1634, a small boat came to Québec with the news that three ships belonging to the Associates had arrived near Tadoussac. A fourth, that of Duplessis-Bochart, was expected at any moment. On June 4, Robert Giffard and his recruits from Perche, including 35 people from Mortagne, joyfully reached Québec on the day of Pentecost. For Giffard, this meant to see again the country that he had loved for a long time. For his companions, this was to discover and to begin to love it.

Giffard, his wife and his two children stayed at Fort Saint-Louis. The personal property and tools of the colonists were placed in the old warehouse of the port. Men, women and children found lodging in the barracks erected near the shore. Then some scouts and finally the entire group left the Lower-Town to meet at the small river of Notre-Dame de Beauport. As quickly as possible, they needed to sow, to build a public house, to get settled. Near the Dubuisson River, Zacharie Cloutier and Jean Guyon laid out their first foundation, that of a community house.

From the first year, wheat grew very quickly, along the roads and in the clearings.

DEVELOPMENT
On December 10, 1637, Jean Guyon and Zacharie Cloutier got possession of the fiefs of Dubuisson and la Clouterie. During the same era, Jean built a mill to make boards.

Some of the first residents of Beauport worked on the construction of the parish church of Québec and the governor's residence, including Jean Guyon, in 1646 and 1647. On April 18, 1648, in the detail of the accounts, appears the name of Jean Guyon: "For the cart which he needed to haul the stone, wood, sand, lime, planks, etc...and all the carriages made by the sieurs Hubou, Jean Guyon and Zacharie Cloutier".

On May 15, 1642, Giffard summoned Guyon and five other colonists from his seigneurie to give them fields to pasture their animals in and to harvest hay from them for three years, on the condition of giving one work day a year to the community.

By the terms of his contract of concession for his fief, Jean Guyon, vassal (a subordinate), was obliged to pay faith and homage to the seigneur, to kneel on the ground and so forth. Guyon's pride resisted this obligatory act of humility. Seigneur Giffard was not content with this attitude and complained to the governor. On July 19, 1646, the latter ordered Guyon to do so within two weeks. On July 30, there was a new threat written on paper and signed by the Notary Guillaume Tronquet. The same day, Jean Guyon "paid faith and homage". The clever censitaire took advantage of the seigneur's absence to fulfill his duty in the presence of a servant.

"He went to the seigneurial house of Beauport and at the main door and entrance...knocked and came upon François Boule farmer of the said seigneur of Beauport of person by him having the duty of receiving the faith and homage of vassals...the said Guyon knelt on the ground, head bare, without sword nor esperon (?) and said these words three times: Monsieur de Beauport, I pay you and bring you faith and homage which I am held to make to you"...

And life continued this way for several more years. On February 24, 1660, Jean Guyon senior was confirmed by Msgr. de Laval.

THE GUYON FAMILY
In France, outside of Perche, there are still three villages called Guyonniere. In Canada, the first Guyon family, la guyonnaire, was made up of ten members, eight of them baptized at Saint-Jean de Mortagne and two in New France.
1) Barbe was baptized April 19, 1617, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. On February 11, 1632, at Mortagne, France, she married Pierre Paradis, the son of Jacques and Michelle Pelle. They had eleven children, 6 girls and 5 boys. They came to Canada about twenty years after their marriage.
2) Jean was baptized August 1, 1619, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. He married Elisabeth Couillard, the daughter of Guillaume and Guillemette Hebert, on November 27, 1645, at Québec. This couple had thirteen children, 5 daughters and eight sons. Jean became a surveyor in 1667.
3) Simon was baptized September 2, 1621, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. Louise Racine, the daughter of Étienne and Marguerite Martin, married Simon, on November 10, 1653, at Québec. Seven little ones were given to this couple, 1 boy and 6 girls.
4) Marie was baptized March 18, 1624, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. She married François Bélanger, parents unknown, on July 12, 1637, at Québec. This couple had an even dozen children, 7 girls and 5 boys.
5) Marie was baptized January 29, 1627, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. That is all that we know of her.
6) Claude was baptized April 22, 1629, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. He married Catherine Colin, the daughter of Jacques and Madeleine de Baubise, on February 7, 1655, at Québec. They also had twelve offspring, 5 boys and 7 girls. Catherine passed away January 10, 1688 and was buried the 12th, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. Claude remarried to Marguerite Binaudière, the daughter of Robert and Rene Godessaint and widow and second wife of Symphorien Rousseau, on December 1, 1688, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. They had no children.
7) Denis was baptized June 30, 1631, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. On October 21, 1659, at Québec, he married Élisabeth Boucher, the daughter of François and Florence Gareman. Nine babies were delivered to them, 3 daughters and 6 sons. One of their daughters, Marie-Thérèse, was married to Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit, on June 25, 1685.
8) Michel was baptized March 3, 1634, at Saint-Jean de Mortagne. He took for his lifelong partner Geneviève Marsolet, the daughter of Nicolas and Marie Barbier, on September 4, 1662, at Québec. This couple had thirteen children, 5 girls and 8 boys, two of which, the last two, were twins. Michel was a shipbuilder.
9) Nöel was baptized August 27, 1638, at Québec. He died and was buried two weeks later, on September 11, 1638.
10) François was Baptized December 7, 1639, at Québec. Marie-Madeleine Marsolet, sister to Geneviève, who was married to Michel and the daughter of Nicolas and Marie Barbier, was also married on the same day as her sister at the same place. This couple only had twelve children, 8 girls and 4 boys.

In the third generation, the grandchildren of Jean Guyon and Mathurin Robin were able to boast at numbering 89, at the holiday of remembrance.

THE WREATH
To mark the death of Ancestors Jean and Mathurine, we would expect signs of recognition, wreathes of pine branches placed on their graves. There were none. In the registry, barely two names and two dates. No witness is mentioned, no priest signed his name. Mathurine Robin died at Beauport,on April 16, 1662 and was buried at Québec the next day. Jean Guyon died on Wednesday, May 30, 1663 and was buried in the capital of the Colony, on the 31st. Their crown and their glory which was their life at Mortagne and Beauport, a life of unwavering faith in the future of a new and flourishing country.

According to a study published in the Action Catholique de Québec, on November 30, 1921, in nine generations, the Guyon family gave the Canadian Church one cardinal, seventeen archbishops and bishops, more than 450 priests and a multitude of monks and nuns.

FAMILY NAME VARIATIONS
In addition to those variations mentioned in the first paragraph of this Chapter, we know of the following: Desilets, Dion, Dubuisson, Dufresnay, Dumontier, Duplessis, Durouvray, Dutilly, Fresnay, Grave, Guillon, Guion, Guionet, Guitard, Guyonnet, Guyot, Lemoine, Lafleur, Prezeau, St.-Julienand Yon.

Guyonnet has become Lyonnais. Guyot has become Guillot and Guyon

This biography was taken from "Our French-Canadian Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest: Volume 25, Chapter 14, Page 135 [1-8-99 by James Gagne http://www.jamesgagne.net/ ]

  Other Information:

• Immigration, 1634, New France. ⁴

Jean married Mathurine Madeleine Robin dite Boule, daughter of Eustache Robin dit Boule and Madeleine Avrard, on 2 Jun 1615 in St-Jean de Mortagne, ev. Sees, Perche, France.¹ (Mathurine Madeleine Robin dite Boule was born in 1592 in St-Jean de Mortagne, ev. Sees, Perche, France ⁵ and died on 16 Apr 1662 in Beauport, Québec, Québec, Canada ⁵.)