GLORIA, JEAN, clerk in charge of stores, procurator of the Communauté des Habitants, royal notary, and merchant; b. shortly before 1630 at Saint-Jacques de Dieppe, Normandy; d. 15 Oct. 1665 at Quebec.

Son of Pierre Gloria, “bourgeois and merchant of the town of Dieppe,” and of Perrette Vaulthier, he was already at Quebec on 1 Jan. 1650 as a servant of the Jesuits. Despite his youth, Gloria rapidly became a prominent figure in Quebec, perhaps as a result of his marriage there to Marie Bourdon on 9 Jan. 1652. At any rate, this alliance brought him substantial material advantages and the support of Jean Bourdon, his uncle by marriage, of Jean Le Sueur, the Abbé Saint-Sauveur, and of Louis d’Ailleboust. From 27 March 1652 on, Gloria was “clerk in charge of stores in this colony,” which title he was to bear until 1661 or later; in 1658 he was also referred to as “procurator” of the Communauté des Habitants. Although he was an employee of the Communauté, he nevertheless had his own business, and after his death his wife was to continue to operate his shop in the Lower Town of Quebec.

In the year 1663, two honours came to Gloria; he was made churchwarden of the parish of Quebec and became, by commission of the Conseil Souverain dated 20 September, the first royal notary in New France. He carried on his notary’s duties until 8 Sept. 1664. It appears likely that the illness which was to cause his death a year later obliged him to withdraw from active life after that date.

Gloria was buried on 16 Oct. 1665 in the church at Quebec.

André Vachon