| Baptism | 7 Jun 1648 | La Rochelle, Aunis, France | | | |
| Birth | 7 Jun 1648 | Québec, Québec, Canada (then: Québec, District of Québec, Canada, New France) | | | |
| Christen | 7 Jun 1648 | Québe, Québec, Canada (then: Notre-Dame-de-Québec Parish, Québec, District of Québec, Canada, New France) | | | |
| Marriage | 22 Apr 1674 | Château-Richer, Québec, Canada - Madeleine Paradis | | | |
| Marriage | 7 Feb 1686 | Québec, Québec, Canada - Marguerite Lerouge | | | |
| Burial | Abt 7 Jun 1716 | Sainte-Croix, Lotbinière, Québec, Canada (then: Sainte-Croix Parish Churchyard, District of Québec, Canada, New France) | | | |
| Death | 7 Jun 1716 | Sainte-Croix, Lotbinière, Québec, Canada (then: Sainte-Croix, District of Québec, Canada, New France) | | | |
| Occupation | | carpenter | | | |
| Title (Nobility) | | Seigneur de Bonsecours de Ste-Croix | | | |
| Life sketch | | Robert Chouret, also recorded as Robert Choret, Charest, or Chaure, was born on 7 June 1648 in Québec, District of Québec, Canada, New France. He was baptized the same day at the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec, the cathedral parish and central religious institution of the colony. He was the son of Mathieu Choret and Sébastienne Veillon, members of one of the early colonial families established in New France.
By around 1670, Robert Chouret held the title of seigneur of Bonsecours, a fief located at Sainte-Croix on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. This status placed him within the seigneurial system of New France, an administrative and agricultural structure by which the French Crown organized landholding and settlement. In addition to his seigneurial duties, he is recorded with an occupation in Québec, the colony’s administrative and judicial center.
On 22 April 1674, a marriage contract was drawn up at Québec before a notary, as required under French civil law. This was followed on 27 April 1674 by his marriage to Marie-Madeleine Paradis at Sainte-Famille Parish in Cap-Santé, a settlement along the north shore of the St. Lawrence. The union produced six children. After Marie-Madeleine’s death in 1684, Robert entered a second marriage contract on 3 February 1686 in Québec. Four days later, on 7 February 1686, he married Marguerite le Rouge at Notre-Dame de Québec Parish. Together, they had ten children.
Robert’s lifetime spanned a period of consolidation in New France. The colony in the late seventeenth century was characterized by expansion of settlement along both shores of the St. Lawrence, growth of parishes, and development of the seigneurial system. As a seigneur, Robert Chouret would have been responsible for organizing settlement on his lands, collecting rents, and maintaining obligations toward his habitants, while also participating in colonial society centered in Québec.
He died on 7 June 1716 in Sainte-Croix, District of Québec, Canada, New France. He was buried shortly thereafter in the parish churchyard at Sainte-Croix. At the time of his death, New France remained under French colonial authority, though it faced continuing pressures from conflicts with Britain and its colonial subjects.
Robert Chouret’s life illustrates the integration of family, religious, and seigneurial obligations that shaped the lives of French colonists in New France. Through his marriages and large family, he contributed to the demographic and social foundations of the colony, while his position as seigneur of Bonsecours tied him to the landholding system that structured rural settlement along the St. Lawrence. | | | |