was the progenitor of all Cloutiers his vital statistics can be found in the summary. When he was born in about 1590 in Mortagne au Perche, Europe was in a turmoil. Religious wars kept the country in a state of uncertainty.

Elizabeth the First was Queen of England, Shakespeare was writing his plays and Rembrandt and El Greco were the painters of note on the Continent. It was also a time of Imperial Expansion as England, France and Spain sought to extend their colonies and thus expand their Empires.

For France, Samuel de Champlain founded a french settlement in Quebec in 1608, and in the ensuing years he explored the interior of New France including much land in the area of the lake which bears his name. Accompanying Champlain and serving as his surgeon and apothecary (dispenser of medicines and drugs) was a man by the name of Robert Giffard a former resident of Mortagne. As a reward for his service Giffard was awarded a 'Seigneury' along the shores of the St. Lawrence River. Along with the gift from the crown, came an obligation on the part of Giffard to settle the territory and develop it as part of the colony of New France. In order to fulfill this obligation, Giffard returned to his former community and sought out the services of as many skilled tradesmen and potential settlers as he could find. Zacharie Cloutier was one of the skilled tradesmen who caught the attention of Giffard.

The name itself, supports the contention that Zacharie was a skilled person. It appears the name is a contraction of the French word "clou" meaning nail and "metier" to make; thus a Cloutier being a maker of nails. It appears then, that when it was decreed by the King that everyone should have a surname, many used their occupations as an identifier surname, eg. Carpentier (carpenter), Boulanger (baker) .The name Cloutier reflected the occupation of the family as being a 'maker of nails', in this instance not for the construction of homes but rather nails for the hooves of horses for the King's Cavalry. That Zacharie was indeed a skilled tradesman is supported by the documents and by the line story found in the museum in Tourouvre honouring the immigrants from the Perche district who pioneered Canada.

attended meetings in in the city square in which told of the opportunities in the new land and promised each person who accompanied him a tithe of land on the St. Lawrence river. He was particularly interested in skilled persons and Zacharie a master carpenter was one of those.

Originally Zacharie had agreed to leave France with only his eldest son 17 year old Zacharie II accompanying him, but he changed his mind and brought his entire family with him. Such was his stature and importance to Giffard, the Seigneur must have allowed this to happen.

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

On June 24th, 1634 after a voyage of two long months the passengers disembarked at the tiny hamlet the colony of Quebec was at this 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 their lord as well as the parish church and Fort St. Louis in Quebec. The Cloutiers had arrived and were beginning to contribute to their new home.

Exerpts above were taken from the book p.7,8.