GODEFROY DE SAINT-PAUL, JEAN-AMADOR, esquire, interpreter, captain of the Trois-Rivières militia, fur-trader, seigneur; baptized at Trois-Rivières on 18 July 1649, son of Jean Godefroy* de Lintot and Marie Leneuf; d. 10 Sept. 1730, at Trois-Rivières.

In August 1682, Saint-Paul acted as interpreter for the Miamis and Kiskakons during a conference held in Montreal, which would seem to indicate that he had previously spent some time in the west. In 1684 and 1687 he accompanied, as captain of the Trois-Rivières militia, the expeditions of Governors Le Febvre* de La Barre and Brisay de Denonville against the Iroquois. In the late 1680s and early 1690s he and Antoine Lepellé, his partner and future son-in-law, traded with the Ottawas.

By 1706, Saint-Paul’s interests had grown to include the eastern cod fisheries. In that year, Rigaud de Vaudreuil and Jacques Raudot granted him a seigneury in Labrador consisting of five leagues frontage by ten leagues depth on both sides of the Grande Rivière (Quitzezaqui). He continued to make his home in Trois-Rivières, however, and to trade with the tribes nearby. He had no doubt mastered the language of the Algonkins; he was accorded the privilege of selling them beer and cider on their visits to Trois-Rivières.

Saint-Paul was married twice, and outlived both his wives. Marguerite Jutrat, whom he married in Trois-Rivières on 12 Nov. 1675, bore him two daughters. After her death, he married Françoise Lepellé in Trois-Rivières on 22 July 1682. She gave birth to six children, and predeceased him by three years.

C. J. Russ