Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu (1649–1710)

Name: Hudon, Pierre
Birth: 1649 in Notre-Dame de Chemillé, Anger, Anjou, France.
Marriage: 13 Jul 1676 in Québec, Québec, Canada to Marie Gobeil.
Death: 25 Apr 1710 in Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec, Canada

Patriarch of the Hudon dit Beaulieu Line in New France

Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu was born in 1649 in Notre-Dame de Chemillé, in the province of Anjou, France. His early years in France remain largely undocumented, but his journey to New France began while he was still a teenager.

Pierre first appears in Canadian records in 1664, at the age of about 15, when he worked as a servant to Sieur Nicolas Marsolet, a prominent figure in early New France and a former companion of Samuel de Champlain during explorations in 1613.[¹] This early employment suggests that Pierre was part of the broader colonial network even before his official military service.

On 17 August 1665, Pierre returned to Canada as a soldier with the Grandfontaine Company of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, a French military unit sent by King Louis XIV to protect and reinforce the colony in the face of Iroquois resistance.[²] After completing his service, Pierre resumed work under Marsolet, maintaining ties with one of the colony’s foundational figures.

By the time of the 1666 census, Pierre listed his occupation as breadmaker (boulanger), a trade essential to the colony’s survival. That same year, he volunteered again for service with the Carignan Regiment, showing continued commitment to the defense and establishment of the French colony.[³]

Pierre’s surname evolved with the addition of the “dit” name Beaulieu, a custom in New France that distinguished branches of families or reflected places of origin. Just a few kilometers from Chemillé lies the village of Beaulieu-sur-Layon, adjacent to the Beaulieu Forest. It is widely believed that this local geography inspired his adopted surname.[⁴]

Pierre later became a landowner and farmer. He initially tended land in Rivière-Ouelle and, in 1676, was granted land in L’Anse-aux-Iroquois, near Baie-Saint-Paul, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.[⁵] It was here that he would spend the rest of his life.

Around 1673, Pierre married Marie Gobeil, daughter of settlers Louis Gobeil and Marie Boucher. The couple raised a large family, many of whose descendants would spread across Québec and beyond. Pierre’s role as patriarch of the Hudon dit Beaulieu family solidified his legacy in the colony.

He died on 25 April 1710 in Baie-Saint-Paul, aged about 61, after a life marked by service, resilience, and foundational contributions to the French colonial project in North America.[⁶]

Sources & Notes:

Parish register of Baie-Saint-Paul, Québec, burial entry, 1710.
Marcel Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants, 1632–1662, Université Laval Press, 1983.
Peter N. Moogk, La Nouvelle France: The Making of French Canada—A Cultural History, Michigan State University Press, 2000.
1666 Census of New France, Library and Archives Canada.
Topographic and parish records of Maine-et-Loire, France.
Greffe de notaire, Séminaire de Québec, land grants archives, 1676.