Robert Giguère

Robert Giguère dit Despins (March 9, 1616 – August 1709) was an early pioneer in New France, one of the founders of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec and the progenitor of virtually all the Giguères in North America.

Early life Little is known for certain about Giguère's life in France. His parents were Jehan (Le Jeune) Giguère (b. abt. 1580) and Michelle Jornel. Jehan's brother, Jehan "The elder" married Michelle's sister, Marie. Jehan and Michelle had nine children, of whom Robert was the sixth. He was born under the rule of King Louis XIII and was baptized in the little church in Tourouvre, in the parish of Saint Aubin on March 9, 1616. Presumably he was born either on that day, or, more likely, a few days earlier.

It is certain that Giguère was in New France in 1651. However, according to George-Emile Giguère and others, in 1644, he was missing from French census records. Indeed, he could have arrived as early as 1642.

Close-up of plaque above the baptismal font in the church of St. Aubin de Tourouvre

Le Perche

Robert Giguère was born in an area of France known as Le Perche. "Perche" comes from the Latin word pertica, which means long pole and more specifically referred, in old French, to very long trees. Hence, sylva pertica meant perche forest. It is not until the 6th century that mention is made of Perche or saltus perticus, expression denoting mountainous forest region, wild game refuge, saltus implying threshold or frontier. Le Perche’ was surrounded by the following Gaulish areas and peoples: in Hyesmois country, where the Exmes people were based in Sées; in Aulerques Eburoviques country, where the Évreux people were based in Évreux; in Aulerques Cénomans country, where the Maine people were based in Le Mans; and in Carnutes country, where the Chartain people were based in Chartres. In his book, Un Giguère a la guerre avec Iberville Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Georges-Emile Giguère presents evidence that suggests that the Canadian named "Giguieres" mentioned was Robert's son, Jean-Baptiste. The same Jean-Baptiste may also have been among those who built Fort Detroit.

Spelling variations

There are many variations of the name "Giguère" in use today throughout North America, the most prevalent of which include, in order of importance: Giguere, Giguiere, Gigueres, Giguieres, Giguerre, Giguier, Gidiere, Giguer, Giere and 64 other variations.

According to PRDH's database for the period up to 1800, the most important dit names or nicknames associated with the Giguère name are St-Castin and Despins, with 74 and 10 instances, respectively.

Notes and references Laforest, T. J. (1990) Our French Canadian ancestors volume ii (revised) index of names : Palm Harbor, Fla.: LISI Press.(pp. 119–125) Giguère Georges-Émile, Fondation Robert-Giguère and Fondation Robert-Giguère (1982) La première famille giguère : robert giguère et aymée miville et leurs 13 enfants, 1652–1760. Montréal: Fondation Robert Giguère (Histoire et généalogie).