Jean Guyon
Encyclopedia
Jean Guyon du Buisson was born at the Saint-Aubin parish in Tourouvre
Tourouvre
Tourouvre is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.-Heraldry:...

, Orne
Orne
Orne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.- History :Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.- Geography :Orne is in the region of...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 on September 18, 1592. Guyon was patriarch of "one of the earliest French families to settle in (Nouvelle France), one of the most numerous in the beginning, one of the most respected and best known."

Guyon made his living as a mason
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 and was regarded as a "master mason of excellent reputation". In 1615, he finished the interior stone staircase of the church Saint-Aubin.

Arrival in Nouvelle France

Guyon and family emigrated to North America as part of the Percheron Immigration, a small group of families and some single men from the region of Perche, in the province of Normandy, brought over to Nouvelle France in 1634 to colonize new areas.

Jean de Lauzon
Jean de Lauzon
Jean de Lauzon or de Lauson was the French Governor of New France from 1651 to 1657, one of the most challenging times for the colony....

, the Governor of New France
Governor of New France
The Governor of New France was the viceroy of the King of France in North America. A French noble, he was appointed to govern the colonies of New France, which included Canada, Acadia and Louisiana. The residence of the Governor was at the Château St-Louis in the capital of Quebec City...

, awarded a concession of land to Robert Giffard de Moncel
Robert Giffard de Moncel
Robert Giffard de Moncel was a French surgeon and apothecary who became a prestigious colonist and businessman and eventually a nobleman of New France....

, physician to the colony. Giffard, now Seigneurie of Beauport, recruited Guyon and other tradesmen to the new colony with the offer of 1000 arpent of land with hunting and fishing rights in exchange for three years of service.

Guyon traveled aboard a convoy of four ships under the command of Charles Duplessis-Bochart and arrived in Nouvelle France in 1634. Guyon was awarded land in newly-established Beauport
Beauport, Quebec
Beauport is a borough of Quebec City, Quebec, Canada on the Saint Lawrence River.Beauport is a northeastern suburb of Quebec City. Manufactures include paint, construction materials, printers, and hospital supplies. Food transportation is important to the economy...

, one of the oldest European-founded communities in Canada (and now a borough of Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

). Under the seigneurial system
Seigneurial system of New France
The seigneurial system of New France was the semi-feudal system of land distribution used in the North American colonies of New France.-Introduction to New France:...

, he received a rear fief (arrière fief) near rivière du Buisson (river of bushes). He attached its name to his own, Guyon du Buisson.

Guyon lived there until he died in 1663. He built a small mill and helped build the parish church of Québec city and the governor's residence.

For nine years, he and Zacharie Cloutier
Zacharie Cloutier
Zacharie Cloutier was a French carpenter who emigrated to New France in the first wave of the Percheron Immigration from the former province of Perche, in Normandy, to an area that today is part of Canada...

 disputed Giffard's seigneur
Seigneur
Seigneur may refer to:* The possessor of a seigneurie in medieval feudal or manorial systems.* The Seigneurial system of New France* The hereditary feudal ruler of the island of Sark, see also List of Seigneurs of Sark...

al rights to receive foi et hommage (fealty
Fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...

 and homage). Refusing to accept him as their superior, they did not stake their lands or pay him annual taxes. On July 19, 1646, the governor of the colony took action to force Cloutier and Guyon to comply with their contractual obligations. Such cases of censitaire refractoriness filled the time of the courts for the duration of the seigneurial system, both during the French regime and under the English.

His eldest son, also named Jean Guyon, married Élisabeth Couillard, granddaughter of Louis Hébert
Louis Hébert
Louis Hébert is widely considered to be the first Canadian apothecary as well as the first European to farm in Canada. He was born around 1575 at 129 de la rue Saint-Honoré in Paris to Nicolas Hébert and Jacqueline Pajot...

, the first French colonist established with his family in Nouvelle France. Their wedding was accompanied by the "two violins...which had not been seen yet in Canada".

After his death, his heirs engaged in a protracted legal dispute over his lands.

Descendants

Guyon fathered ten children, eight of whom married, and he is known to be an ancestor of many French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...

s. By 2006, news media noted that at least three out of four pure laine
Pure laine
The French term pure laine literally meaning pure wool , is a politically and culturally charged phrase referring to the people having original ancestry of the French-Canadians...

(old stock) French Quebecers descend from him. The descendants are often recognized as Dion, sometimes as Despres, Dumontier, Lemoine and in Louisiana as Derbanne. He has been linked to the family trees of Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

, Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Dion
Stéphane Maurice Dion, PC, MP is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville in Montreal since 1996. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 2006 to 2008...

 and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

By 1730, more than 2,150 births of Guyon descendents had been recorded, according to The First French Canadians: Pioneers in the St. Lawrence Valley. By 1800, Guyon had 9,674 married descendents, the second-most of Nouvelle France immigrants, according to the Historical Demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...

 Research Program of the Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
The Université de Montréal is a public francophone research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises thirteen faculties, more than sixty departments and two affiliated schools: the École Polytechnique and HEC Montréal...

. This study enabled neurological researchers to trace 40 cases of classical Friedreich's ataxia
Friedreich's ataxia
Friedreich's ataxia is an inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system, resulting in symptoms ranging from gait disturbance to speech problems; it can also lead to heart disease and diabetes....

, a rare inherited disease, across 12 generations to 14 previously unrelated French-Canadians kindreds to one common ancestral couple: Guyon and his wife Mathurine Robin. The disease causes progressive damage to the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...

 resulting in symptoms ranging from gait disturbance and speech problems to heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

. The finding allows for gene chromosomal localization studies that had previously been judged to be almost impossible in rare autosomal recessive
Dominance relationship
Dominance in genetics is a relationship between two variant forms of a single gene, in which one allele masks the effect of the other in influencing some trait. In the simplest case, if a gene exists in two allelic forms , three combinations of alleles are possible: AA, AB, and BB...

 disorders.

Honours

In 1984, the 350th anniversary of Guyon's arrival, Quebec City named a park after him and a commemorative plaque to honour Guyon was mounted on the church in Beauport by the Association des Dion d'Amérique inc. In 2006, the city renamed a street after him.

External links

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