Thomas-Jacques Taschereau (; August 26, 1680 – September 25, 1749) was the
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...
of the illustrious Taschereau family in
New France
New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...
(Canada). It is believed that he may have come from some level of nobility in France and his family descended from a line of royal municipal officials. He arrived in New France in 1726 as a private secretary to the
Intendant of New France,
Claude-Thomas Dupuy.
In 1728 he married a young Canadian girl from nobility, Marie-Claire, daughter of Joseph de Fleury de La Gorgendière. They returned briefly to France and then came back to Canada in 1732. It was then that his most important contribution to the Taschereau family's future took place, mainly establishing their
seigneury
A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...
of
Sainte-Marie-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce. Shortly after he died, but by this point, Taschereau's seigneury was nonetheless well established.
His wife was able to raise and educate their remaining 8 children. The youngest,
Gabriel-Elzéar Taschereau, carried on the name and became the second seigneur of Sainte-Marie. One of Gabriel-Elzéar's sisters,
Marie-Anne-Louise Taschereau, joined the
Ursuline order in Quebec and became
superior of the convent.
External links
* (http://www.republiquelibre.org/cousture/1759B.HTM)
*
1680 births
1749 deaths
Thomas-Jacques
People of New France
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