GODEFROY DE TONNANCOUR, RENÉ, king’s attorney, lieutenant-general of Trois-Rivières, seigneur of La Pointe-du-Lac; b. 9 May 1669 and baptized three days later at Trois-Rivières; son of Louis Godefroy de Normanville, king’s attorney, and of Marguerite Seigneuret; grandson of Jean Godefroy* de Lintot; m. 1693 Marguerite Ameau; d. 20 Sept. 1738 and buried the next day at Trois-Rivières.

Only ten years old when his father died, René Godefroy de Tonnancour could not immediately succeed to his father’s position. Indeed, the intendant, Jacques Duchesneau*, wrote on 10 Nov. 1679 that “the office of king’s attorney at Trois-Rivières is vacant because of the death of the Sieur de Normanville, who has left a son who shows much promise.” He suggested that the office be kept open for the boy, to which the king willingly assented. Thus the office remained vacant until 1695, the year in which he took the position.

On 12 May 1714 Tonnancour succeeded Jean Lechasseur as lieutenant-general for civil and criminal affairs for the jurisdiction of Trois-Rivières. He also acted as syndic for the Recollets in the same town; in this capacity he watched over their temporal interests and supervised the construction of a monastery and church for the religious community. The Ursulines, who established a convent and a hospital in the town, also found in him a protector. Finally, he made the Charon brothers a gift of a piece of land so that they could set up a boys’ school [see François Charon de La Barre].

In 1718 Tonnancour obtained confirmation for his family of the ennoblement that had been granted in 1668 but was never registered. He gave some attention, without much success, to his seigneury of La Pointe-du-Lac, which he had inherited from his father; the latter, through his marriage with Marguerite Seigneuret when she was only nine, had added to his domain the adjacent land belonging to his father-in-law. There Tonnancour, who spoke Algonquian, tried to settle some Indigenous people, who eked out a difficult existence in lodges until about the end of the French régime.

On 8 Oct. 1731 Governor Charles de Beauharnois* de La Boische and Intendant Gilles Hocquart* had rendered a glowing tribute to the jurist: “The Sieur de Tonnancour, in his capacity of subdelegate of the intendant and as an intelligent and good judge, settles summarily almost all the disputes in the government of Trois-Rivières.”

In a spirit of humility Tonnancour had asked to be buried in the cemetery rather than in the parish church. The Ursulines wrote that the deceased had always been “the counsellor, stay, and support of all those who had recourse to his protection.” The burial certificate, drawn up by the parish priest of Trois-Rivières, notes the moral qualities of the deceased during his life as well as during his illness.

By his marriage in 1693 to Marguerite Ameau, the daughter of the notary Séverin Ameau, he had five sons and five daughters. Two of the daughters became Ursulines. The eldest son, Charles-Antoine*, became a priest and then a canon of the chapter of Quebec. The family line was continued by Louis-Joseph*, who was baptized on 27 March 1712.

Hervé Biron