Gilles Rageot

  General Notes:

His godparents were Gilles Duret, surgeon of Tourouvre and Anne Rageot

At the age of twenty-one, Gilles left France through the port of Rouen and sailed to Nouvelle France to settle in Quebec City. He came to that city in 1663 or shortly before and began his career as a recorder by virtue of his being clerk of the registry of the conseil souverain. In 1666, however, he acquired more important functions. The Companie des Indes Occidentales granted him two commissions in rapid succession; that of clerk of the seigneural jurisdiction of the town of Quebec on May 5,1666, and that of notary in the jurisdiction of Quebec. Having been appointed by the company, Gilles had not the right to take the title of royal notary. Intendant Jean Talon, however, who desputed the company's right to appoint notaries, issued a warrant dated November 7,1666, whereby Gilles could henceforth practice as a royal notary.
In 1667, Gilles worked with the Lieutenant-General of Trois-Rivieres
for the foundation of the jurisdiction papers of that town, and was
later joined by Talon. In 1669, Gilles worked on territorial jurisd-
iction papers with Chartier de Lotbiniere, who gave him great praise.
When the company finally withdrew from Canadian affairs in 1674, Gilles
decided to make sure of the validity of his notarie's commission, and
asked the King of France himself for permission to continue in his
office. This was granted by a commission signed by King Louis XIV on
May 17,1675. The same day the King also renewed his commission as clerk
of court. Gilles Rageot thus became the first notary of new France to
receive a royal commission. This letter is preserved in Quebec City to
this day and is presented here as best I can in its' English translation
from old French:

"Louis, by the grace of God, King of France, and of Navarre, and all
who are presented these letters, greetings.
It was necessary to forsee a person capable to exercise in the
office of notary note-keeping, within the jurisdiction of Quebec in
New France, and upon the good and reliable support, who we are informed
of in this person and of our dear and well liked monsieur Gilles Rageot
and his judgment, sufficient capacity, prominence and experience at
this practice.
At this cause and other considerations at this our (Mouvant), we
have given him granted, presented and bestowed, by his presence, signed
in his own hand of this said office of notary note-keeper in the
jurisdiction of Quebec and of New France, for this said office has
taken an exercise to conform to the custom, promoted by the Viscount
of Paris, and on this day and used in his honor, authority,
perogatives freedom, wages, rights, benefits, dreams, and (Revenus et
emoluments) of this office, may entice, that he can use as he pleases.
We have given this mandate to our friend and (Feaux) the offices
of the council souverain established in the said city of Quebec, after
their entrance, show good living and morals, Catholic religion,
apostolic and roman, of said Gilles Rageot and that he has taken an
oath in such case as required, (Ils le mittent), to appoint either
(Mettre) to appoint, by us, to the position of said office and
(Fassent) recognize, to obey and understand, the one and all these and
all those who participated in these matters concerning the said office
for such is my pleasure. In testimony of what we have enacted, we
place our seal on this said presentment.
Presented at camp of Casteau de Chambresis on the seventeenth day of
May in the year of our lord sixteen-hundred-seventy-five, and of the
thirty-third year of our reign."
(Signed) Louis
(Et sur le repli), by the King,
(Signed) Colbert
and sealed with the great seal in yellow wax.

In 1685, the intendant, on the pretext that Gilles was sick, relieved
him of his office as clerk and conferred it to Francois Genaple. Gilles
made an appeal to the King who reinstated him on May 24,1686. Francois
was also the warden of the prison where he also had his apartment and
his wife was Marie-Anne Delaporte, sister of Helene Desportes, wife of
Noel Morin. Francois had a son that one day got himself into trouble and
his father was compelled to place him in prison. However, the governor
imprisoned the father as well until he made restitution and apologized
to the court on his knees. Francois complied with the court's demands.
In 1671, Gilles bought a small timber-framed house on rue Sainte-Pierre
that was built by Christophe Crevier after 1656. Later, in 1674, Gilles
bought the adjacent house built by Pierre Miville dit le Suisse, also
built after 1656. This second house was of a half-timbered rubblework
construction. On August 4,1682 at 9:30 in the evening, a fire broke out in
the lower part of the city. Several residents in the area made an effort
to knock down some of the houses in an attempt to halt the spread of the
fire. The house of Gilles was partially taken down in this process, but
the fire at this time began to spread uncontrolled so those that were
fighting the fire began to rush to their own dwellings to save what
belongings of their own they could. The fire burned out by 5 o'clock in
the morning and had then consumed some 55 houses in the process. About two
thirds of the lower city lay in ashes. Among those homes burned was that
of Gilles that contained many important notarical papers and documents,
among them was the title of the Signeurie de Beaumont. An account of this
fire was signed by the mayor of Quebec and Gilles. Gilles rebuilt his
first house, that he bought of Crevier. He erected a two-story half-
timbered building with rubblework and a gable roof. His second property,
that of Miville, was never rebuilt and served as a courtyard until 1714.
After Gilles's death in 1692, the property passed to his wife Madeleine
Morin. In 1714, Pierre Rivet and his wife, Marie-Madeleine Rageot,
purchased the vacant lot property and built a mansard-roofed stone house
with one story facing the square and two stories on rue Sainte-Pierre.
Since the couple did not have any children, they left the property to
Marie-Madeleine's brother, Gilles Rageot-de-Beaurivage, on their death.
When Beaurivage died in 1754, the house went to his widow, Elisabeth
Douaire and it remained in her possession until 1782. After the seige of
Quebec by the British in 1759, the house was practiclly in ruins.
Elisabeth had it rebuilt on the foundations of the old building in 1762,
adding one story and a gable roof. It has retained this appearance to the
present day. Going back to the first property of Gilles, It too was
destroyed during the seige of 1759. It was in the possession of Elisabeth
Douaire-Rageot, who lived in the neighboring building and she decided not
to have the house rebuilt and left the lot vacant to use as a courtyard.
In 1782, Joseph Drapeau, a rich Quebec City nerchant, bought both the
the vacant lot and the adjacent house from Rageot's widow. In 1785, he had
a three story stone house built on the vacant lot and had openings
pierced in the stone wall of the neighboring house, which he occupied,
thus joining the two buildings together. He use one of the buildings
almost exclusivly for commercial purposes and lived in the other. This now
singular property still belonged to Drapeau when he died in 1810. It was
then purchased by Jacques Cartier, the father of Georges-Etienne Cartier,
and remained in his possession until 1843. In 1843, this property and
that of a neighboring property owned by Pierre Bruneau, became the Hotel
Blanchard until 1932. In 1983, the Bruneau and Rageot-Drapeau houses were
restored to their late 18'th century appearance by the Ministere des
Affires Culturelles. They were designated by the names of the owner who
built them or undertook major renovations at that time and are open to the
public in a major historical area of lower Quebec City called Place
Royale a' Quebec.
Gilles also had a perpetual right to a pew in the cathedral of Notre
Dame de Quebec that was built in 1647 to replace the one built by
Champlain which had burned to the ground in 1640. The new cathedral was

destroyed by fire during the siege of Quebec by the British in 1759.
Through his wife, Madeleine Morin, Gilles became the owner of the
Arrieve-Fief of St-Luc, in the seigneury of Rivere du Sud. Madeleine
was the daughter of Noel Morin and Helene Desportes and was born in Quebec
December 29,1656. She married Gilles in Quebec City on May 29,1673 and
from this union were born nine children. Three of which followed their
father's footsteps and became clerks of courts and notaries. The Rageot
family, therefore occupies an important place in the history of the
profession of notary in Canada. Two other sons of Gilles entered the
priesthood and the last son born in the family, christened Gilles like his
father, made his fortune in business.

Through his wife, Madeleine Morin, Gilles became the owner of the
Arrieve-Fief of St-Luc, in the seigneury of Rivere du Sud.

Special Thanks to Jack Rajotte for this information.

Gilles married Marie-Madeleine Morin, daughter of Noel Morin and Helene Desportes, on 29 May 1673 in Notre Dame de Quebec. (Marie-Madeleine Morin was born on 28 Dec 1656 in Notre Dame de Quebec and died on 21 Jul 1720 in Notre Dame de Quebec.)