Individual Details

The first 'Sieur of Nouvelle-France' deserves a statue if for nothing else, for the ten frustrating years he spent trying to improve the area. He could have continued in his father`s footsteps as an apothecary but he chose the hard life of pioneer in a new country. His father practiced in the Royal House of the Queen Catherine de Medicis. Though Louis, and his family, arrived in Quebec city on July 15, 1617, he had made three trips to the new world. The first was from La Rochelle in 1604 which took him to Port-Royal, Acadie (Nova Scotia) where he worked as an apothecary. On the second voyage, in 1610, he was accompanied by his wife. Again he spent time in Port Royal. They returned to France and in 1617 he, again with his wife, and this time, their children made their last crossing.

In 1620, in Quebec, he was named 'Procureur du Roi en Nouvelle France'. He received the concession of land at Sault au Matelot in Quebec on the 4th of Feb 1623. On the 28th of Feb 1626 he erected a nobleman's house on another concession of land at St Joseph or Lespinay on the St Charles River near Quebec. He became known as the first pioneer/colonist/farmer of Canada. He planted the first wheat field on Canadian soil. He died on Jan 23, 1627 at the age of 52, from a bad fall, leaving his wife, son Guillaume and daughter Guillemette.

Birth	1575	Mortier D'Or, St-Honoré Street, St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France
Marriage	2 Jul 1602	St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, France - Marie Rollet
Death	23 Jan 1627	From a fall - Québec, Québec, Canada
Reference No		C3998
Life sketch		Louis Hébert was born in July 1575 in Paris, Île-de-France, France, to Nicolas Hébert and Jacqueline Pajot. His father served as an apothecary to the royal household, placing the family within the professional class of tradesmen and medical practitioners that supported both the urban population and the court. Paris at this time was the political and cultural center of France, but also deeply affected by the French Wars of Religion, which brought instability and hardship to much of the population. He was baptized in Paris shortly after birth, in accordance with Catholic custom. The parish system of late sixteenth-century France provided the framework for civil and religious life, and baptismal records served as the primary means of establishing identity. Between approximately 1590 and 1600, Hébert undertook training as an apothecary in Paris. Apothecaries were among the most skilled medical tradesmen of the era, responsible for preparing and dispensing medicines, cultivating and identifying herbs, and advising patients. His education took place in the intellectual environment of late Renaissance Paris, which saw growth in natural philosophy, botany, and medical theory. The apothecaries’ guild maintained a central role in regulating both trade and medical ethics, providing the professional foundation for Hébert’s later service to colonial communities abroad. By about 1602, Hébert was established as an apothecary in Paris. On 13 June of that year, he married Marie Rollet at Saint-Sulpice Parish, Paris, Île-de-France, France. Saint-Sulpice, located in the Faubourg Saint-Germain district, served a growing population of artisans, merchants, and professionals in a period of rapid urban development under King Henry IV. Their union produced at least four children, including Guillaume Hébert, born about 1614. In 1606, Hébert joined an expedition to Port Royal, Acadia, Canada, New France. This settlement, established by Pierre Dugua de Mons and Samuel de Champlain, was among the first sustained French colonial efforts in North America. Port Royal lay within the region of Acadia, part of the French sphere of settlement along the Atlantic coast and under the administrative jurisdiction of New France. There, Hébert served as apothecary and physician to the colonists and to visiting Indigenous peoples, applying his professional training in an isolated environment far removed from the institutions of Paris. His work included tending to the sick, experimenting with local flora, and cultivating crops to sustain the small colony. Following the withdrawal of French support and the abandonment of Port Royal in 1607, Hébert returned to France. He resumed residence in Paris, maintaining his professional work during a period in which the French monarchy, under Henry IV and later Louis XIII, reorganized its economic and overseas ventures through chartered trading companies. Between 1610 and 1613, Hébert once again resided at Port Royal after the colony was re-established. This second phase of Acadian settlement renewed trade in furs and agricultural development. Hébert’s presence there represented continuity in the colony’s medical and agricultural operations. In 1613, the English attacked and destroyed Port Royal, and Hébert returned to France with his family. From approximately 1613 to 1616, the Hébert family lived again in Paris, where Louis remained in contact with Champlain. During these years, Champlain was consolidating the settlement at Québec on the St. Lawrence River, under the authority of the Company of New France. Hébert was invited to accompany a new expedition to settle permanently in the colony. On 14 June 1617, Louis Hébert, his wife, and their three children arrived in Québec, District of Québec, Canada, New France. At this time, the settlement consisted of only a few dozen inhabitants and functioned as both a trading post and administrative center. Hébert’s arrival marked the establishment of the first European family to reside there permanently. Shortly thereafter, he was granted the first recorded land patent in New France, a tract of cleared land on the heights above the Habitation de Québec. This property, later known as the Côte Saint-Ange, was placed under the jurisdiction of the colonial administration of the District of Québec. From 1617 onward, Hébert served as apothicaire, doctor, farmer, post procurer, and first officer of justice for Québec. His medical expertise and agricultural work supported the colony’s survival, and his ability to sustain his household from the land represented the first instance of permanent agricultural settlement in Canada. The period also saw the formalization of French authority in the region, as Champlain acted as both commandant and intermediary with Indigenous allies. Hébert’s household produced crops and livestock sufficient to feed settlers and provide surplus for trade, contributing to the colony’s economic foundation. Between 1617 and 1627, Hébert remained in Québec, where he and his family became central to the small but growing civilian population. He maintained correspondence and cooperation with Jesuit missionaries and colonial administrators. His work continued under the jurisdiction of the District of Québec, which served as the principal division of the colony of Canada within New France. On 25 January 1627, Louis Hébert died in Québec, District of Québec, Canada, New France. Accounts describe his death as the result of injuries sustained from a fall on icy ground. His death occurred during a period of transition for New France, just months before the reorganization of colonial governance under Cardinal Richelieu and the creation of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés, which would bring the colony under direct royal patronage. He was buried the same day at Notre-Dame de Québec Parish, within the settlement of Québec. The parish, founded by Recollect missionaries, was the first established church in New France and remained the spiritual and civic center of the colonial community. The site is now part of the Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec in Québec City, Capitale-Nationale, Province of Québec, Canada. Louis Hébert’s life spanned two continents and reflected the early stages of French expansion into North America. Trained and formed within the professional milieu of Paris, he brought to New France a combination of medical skill, agricultural knowledge, and administrative experience that contributed to the colony’s survival and institutional development. His residence in Québec from 1617 until his death in 1627 marked the establishment of a permanent European settler family in the St. Lawrence Valley, laying a foundation for the civilian life of New France.

Spouse	Marie Rollet (1580 - 1649)
Child	Living
Child	Guillemette Hébert (1606 - 1684)

Father	Nicolas Hébert (1547 - 1600)
Mother	Jacqueline Pajot (1545 - 1579)
Sibling	Charlotte Hébert (1570 - )