Individual Details

Judge in Lauzon, Québec.

A carpenter, Guillaume was born about 1616 in the parish of Saint-Godard in Rouen,Normandy,the son of Guillaume Couture and Madeleine Malet. He arrived in Canada 26 June 1641 and soon set off to deliver supplies to the missionaries in Huronia. He returned the next year with Huron chief Ahatsistari and Jesuits Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbaut, who were ill. After remaining in New France only 15 days, Guillaume set out with Father Jogues and Rene Goupil, to escort Ahatsistari safely back to his people. Their mission was not a success.

The party was attacked and captured by the Iroquois. Gillaume was tortured, his fingernails torn out, joints broken and one finger sawed off with a shell. He was brought to the Mohawk villages, forced to watch the murder of Ahatsistari and suffer further torture. During his time among the Iroquois,Guillaume learned their language and customs and gained their respect and the name "Achirra"

In July 1645, he accompanied chief Kiotseaeton to a council with Governor de Montmagny at Trois Rivieres. Dressed as an Iroquois, Guillaume was not immediately recognized by those who knew him, who had given him up for dead. Surprisingly, Guillaume did not remain in New France, but chose to return to the Mohawk territory to try to negotiate a peace. When he returned in 1646, he asked to break his vows as a donne, a request that Jesuit superior Jerome Lalemant granted on 26 April. It is possible that he intended to marry an Iroquois girl to further cement the peace, but that October, Jean de La Lande and Father Jogues (who had escaped the previous captivity) were killed, ending all official peace efforts. Guillaume returned to Huronia in 1647. In the same year, Guillaume became partners with Francois Bissot de La Riviere and settled at Pointe-Levy in the seigneurie of Lauzon. Bissot gave him 200 pounds for clearing the land and building a house, which Guillaume could stay in until he built his own on adjacent land. On 15 October 1648, Jean de Lauzon gave the two official title to their lands. Guillaume then built the home where he and Anne were married.

In 1657, Guillaume's experience among the natives was called upon in the founding of the mission at Onandaga. In 1661,Guillaume was sent on an expedition by Governor Voyer d'Argenson to try to find the "Noerthern Sea" (Hudson's Bay) and was sent on a similar expedition two years later by then-Governor Dubois Davauger. Guillaume Couture acted as judge-seneschal for the coast of Lauzon from 26 November 1673 to 1678 and from 1682 until his death and was occasionally asked to sit on the Conseil Souverain in the absence of its regular members.

Birth	Abt 14 Jan 1618	Saint-Godard, Rouen, Normandie, France
Christen	14 Jan 1618	Saint-Godard, Rouen, Normandie, France
Marriage	16 Nov 1649	Québec, Québec, Canada - Anne Aymard
Occupation	26 Nov 1673	Capitaine de milice, juge Sénécal de la côte de Lauzon
Death	4 Apr 1701	Québec, Québec, Canada
Burial	Abt 4 Apr 1701
Life sketch

Spouse	Anne Aymard (1627 - 1700)
Child	Jean-Baptiste Couture (1650 - 1698)
Child	Anne Couture (1652 - 1684)
Child	Guillaume Couture (1662 - 1738)
Child	Marie-Louise Thérèse Couture (1665 - 1751)
Child	Joseph-Odger Couture (1670 - 1733)

Father	Guillaume Couture (1583 - 1640)
Mother	Madeleine Malet (1595 - )