Individual Details
Jean NICOLET DE BELLEBORNE
( - 27 Oct 1642)
No record of the name of the mother of Madeleine-Euphrosine, except that she was a woman of the Nipissing Indian tribe. Nicolet lived with this tribe for eight or nine years, at the request of Champlain, to learn their ways and establish good relations. They were not officially married by Catholic standards, but they may perhaps have had an Indian ceremony. He seemed to treat this daughter with the same regard as his other children.
David Hackett Fischer's book Champlain's Dream (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008) includes a biographical sketch of Nicolet (spelling it Nicollet) on pages 502-506. It concludes with these words:
By all accounts, Nicollet was a man of sterling character. A spirit of selfless humanity ran deep in him, and it was the cause of his death. In 1642, while visiting Quebec, Nicollet received a message that a Huron party had taken an Iroquois captive and were preparing to torture him to death at Trois-Rivières. Nicollet rushed to the assistance of an Indian he did not know. He took a shallop and raced up the St. Lawrence River with all sail set. They ran into a sudden gust of wind and Nicollet’s boat capsized. This man whohad explored many great lakes and rivers of North America was unable to swim,and he drowned at the age of forty-four. The Jesuits wrote that Jean Nicollet was “equally and singularly loved”by both the French and Indians. He shared Champlain’s dream and enlarged it by his spirit.
Biographical information in Drouin, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and several other books
Arrived in Québec in 1618
Official interpreter to the Algonquins and other tribes for the Company of One Hundred Associates. Worked closely with Champlain.
Discovered Wisconsin and claimed the western great lakes area for France
Drowned in the St-Lawrence River between Sillery and Québec
French birth
Direct ancestor
Events
| Marriage | Bef 1623 | Jeanne Nipissing |  |  | |
| Marriage | 7 Oct 1637 | Québec, Québec, Québec, Canada - Marguerite COUILLARD | | | |
| Death | 27 Oct 1642 | Québec, Canada | | | |
| Burial | 29 Oct 1642 | Québec, Québec, Québec, Canada | | | |
| Reference No | R5a-14 | ||||
| Birth | Cherbourg, Basse-Normandie, France | |
Families
| Spouse | Jeanne Nipissing ( - ) |
| Child | Madeleine Euphrosine NICOLET (1627 - 1689) |
| Spouse | Marguerite COUILLARD ( - ) |
| Child | Ignace NICOLET (1639 - ) |
| Child | Marguerite NICOLET ( - ) |
| Father | Thomas NICOLET ( - 1637) |
| Mother | Marguerite LAMER ( - ) |
| Sibling | Gilles NICOLET ( - ) |
Notes
Marriage
Jean and Jeanne were never officially married, by French standards. It may have been a brief liaison, or it may have been a longer standing union according to native customs. Although Catholic records refer to his daughter by Jeanne as illegitimate, he recognized her equally with his other children.Marriage
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-28005-29365-75?cc=1321742&wc=MHB1-JNP:17585101,19508101,19508102Death
Drowned in the Saint Lawrence River, traveling from Québec to Sillery.Burial
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28005-28919-80?cc=1321742&wc=MHB1-JNP:17585101,19508101,19508102Endnotes
1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1830 (Montréal (Québec) Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), page 848.
2. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1830 (Montréal (Québec) Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), page 848.
3. Parish Registers: Nôtre-Dame-de-Québec, Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1621-1679, image 129, marriage of Jean Nicollet and Marguerite Couillard; digital images, FamilySearch.org ( : accessed 29 May 2014).
4. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1830 (Montréal (Québec) Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), page 848.
5. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1830 (Montréal (Québec) Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), page 848.
6. Parish Registers: Nôtre-Dame-de-Québec, Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1621-1679, image 217, burial of Nicolet; digital images, FamilySearch.org ( : accessed 29 May 2014).
7. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec: des origines à 1830 (Montréal (Québec) Canada: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), page 848.