While not a Cloutier, Robert Giffard did more to affect the lives of not only Zacharie Cloutier I but also thousands of future Cloutiers than one can imagine.

Robert Giffard was a surgeon and an apothecary ( one who dispenses medicines and drugs). He lived at one time in both Mortagne and Tourouvre. He had served with on two of Champlain's voyages of discovery in North America. Giffard was searching for prospective emigrants when he received notice that he had been awarded the from the One Hundred Associates.

This prestigious award of a massive land grant on the shores of the St. Lawrence River, near what is now Quebec City, brought with it some obligations. As Seigneur, Giffard was bound to see that this area was settled and developed as part of the colony of New France. He had already been doing so but now it became imperative that he select not only good farmers and potential settlers, but also skilled tradesmen to enable him to build his Seigneurie, including the churches, and public buildings that would be essential to develop his newly acquired realm. One of these artisans was , master carpenter.

The second of only two skilled tradesmen was master mason. These two men were signed to special contracts as witnessed by the notary at La Rochelle on the 14th of March 1634.

The contract of 'servitude' which Cloutier and Guyon signed in joinder, in favor of Giffard, stipulated that Giffard would pay the passage plus food and lodgings for the two artisans plus one family member each , for a period of three years to date from June 24th 1634. After two years the men would then be allowed to send for the rest of their families, also at the expense of Giffard.

The Seigneur of Beauport ( Giffard ) agreed to give each man a few head of livestock to get started farming, plus 1000 arpents of land. ( An arpent is about one and one quarter acres, therefore 1000 arpents = 1250 acres of land ).

Originally Zacharie had agreed to leave France with only his seventeen year old son Zacharie Jr., but obviously he changed his mind and brought his entire family with him. ( While there is no record to our knowledge, of any contractual change to have allowed this to happen, such was the stature of Zacharie and his importance to Giffard that it is obvious he was granted this privilege).

The Zacharie Cloutier family left France at the end of March 1634. There were 35 people in the party including Robert Giffard, Maria and Gasper Boucher, Jean Guyon and Zacharie Cloutier. Thomas Geroux, Francois Belanger, Claire Morin and Jeanne (Jean?) Mercier were some of the single people aboard. Eight other men and women joined the ship at Dieppe.

( Some genealogists/historians suggest the original departure was from Dieppe - however a stained glass window in the Cathedral in Tourouvre shows clearly that the original departure was from New Rochelle in March 1634 with a stop in Dieppe. Hence, technically, the last point of departure from France was indeed Dieppe.)

On June 4th, 1634, after a voyage of two long months the passengers disembarked at the tiny hamlet the colony of Quebec was at the time.

By the 22nd of July 1634, master carpenter Cloutier was hard at work along with his colleague Jean Guyon building the manor house for Giffard as well as the parish church and Fort St. Louis in Quebec.

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