Clearing the land: Arriving on a seigneury

A plot of land being cleared © Lamontagne and Duchesne www.prologue.qc.ca

The colony in New France was divided into long narrow strips of land perpendicular to the St. Lawrence River or other waterways. The territory was organized in this way because water was necessary for farming and to facilitate communication.

Land was first granted to seigneurs by the governor and the intendant. The seigneur kept an estate for himself where he had the land cultivated and built a manor house for his family. Nearby, he reserved land for the parish church. Merchants, artisans and a notary would eventually settle near the church around which a village would grow up.

The seigneur also built a mill where the habitants ground their wheat into flour. There was also common land, where the inhabitants of the seigneury (the censitaires ) grazed their livestock.

A colonist like Nicolas Choquette had to request land from the seigneur. Nicolas received a censive for which he had to pay dues every year to the seigneur.

Once he was granted land, Nicolas stayed with a neighbour for a year or two while he cleared his land and prepared it for cultivation. He had to cut down the trees and remove the stones and stumps from the soil.

After two years of hard work, Nicolas built his first house and a barn, both of which were made out of wood. Several years later, he built a new barn to store his harvest and his farming tools, as well as a stable where he kept livestock (cows, pigs, chicken, horses, etc.).

Definitions of vocabulary words from above:

Censive: Individual plot of land on a seigneury granted to a colonist to live on. A censive was big enough to support one farming family.

Colony: (1) A territory under the political control of another country. For example, New France was a French colony. (2) A group of people (colonists) who have settled on a new territory.

Governor: An official who heads the government of a colony.

Intendant: Another important person, responsible for finance, economic development, and the administration of justice (law and order).

Censitaire: A colonist who settled a censive (plot of land) and paid rent and dues to a seigneur.

Clear (land): To cut trees and remove the stumps and stones on a piece of land so it can be cultivated.