Jean Levasseur dit Lavigne
In the middle of the seventeenth century,France was looking for men to settle its new colony North America. The choice was for menwith useful trades and strong hands to work the land of the new colony.
The Levasseur family must have decided thiswas a golden opportunity. Jean Levasseur and his brother Pierre, both master carpenters,their sister Jeanne and her husband Christophe de Rollet embarked, we believe in 1651,with Governor Jean de Lauzon for that unknown land so far away, called Canada. JeanneLevasseur and Christophe de Rollet are the ancestors of the Drolet families in NorthAmerica.
Jean Levasseur, undoubtedly, is the bestknown of all the Levasseur in Canada in this period and it is easy to see why. Soon afterhis arrival, he was named first bailiff of the Supreme Council. He was well known for hisability as a master carpenter and he obtained many contracts for renovations of the Notre-Dame church in Québec city.
Born in Paris, France in 1622, he was theson of Noël Levasseur and Genevieve Gaugé or Gauché also from Paris. His marriagecontract is dated the 23rd of April 1645, signed before Philippe Le Cat andJean Le Semelier, public notaries in the Chatelet in Paris. The marriage to MargueriteRichard must have been celebrated in the church of Saint-Nicholas des Champs situated halfa mile from the street where Marguerite was living. This church, which I visited in 1984,is situated in the heart of Paris, and dates from the 13th century.
According to some historians, Jean wasaccompanied by his wife and his son Louis when he arrived in Canada. Louis lateraccompanied his father on a visit to Paris in 1660 to sell a house belonging to MargueriteRichard. The Levasseur family decided to cut all ties with the old country.
Jean Levasseur is considered the founder ofthe Brotherhood of Ste. Anne at Quebec City. As father D. Levack said in his book "LaConfrérie de Sainte-Anne à Québec", Jean had probably been thinking about thissince his arrival in Canada. His signature is the first one on the petition requesting theincorporation of the brotherhood of Ste. Anne. On the same petition we also find thesignatures of his brother Pierre Levasseur, G. Loyer, Pierre Biron, F, Gariépy, PierreMiville and Raymond Paget.
It was at the occasion of the 300thanniversary of the foundation of the Brotherhood of Ste. Anne, that the Levasseur familieshad a reunion in Québec city in 1957.
Today we find the male descendants of JeanLevasseur in the state of Vermont under the family name of Vasseur.