JUCHEREAU DE MAUR, JEAN, seigneur, member of the fur-trading council and churchwarden, brother of Noël Juchereau Des Chatelets; baptized 31 March 1592 at Tourouvre (Orne, France), son of Jean Juchereau and Jeanne Creste; d. 7 Feb. 1672 at Beauport.

After 1628 Jean Juchereau and his wife lived in La Ferté-Vidame where their youngest children were born. In 1634 the family came to New France. Juchereau was a friend and collaborator of Robert Giffard, with whom he probably made the crossing.

Furthermore, as early as 15 Jan. 1635 the Cent-Associés granted him the stretch of land lying between the Cap aux Diamants and the valley of Cap-Rouge. A little later, however, since Huault de Montmagny considered it preferable to leave around Quebec a strip of land forming part of the region for which dues would be payable to the company, Juchereau’s fief was exchanged for an area of equal size situated beyond Cap-Rouge. Jean de Lauson, senior, the intendant of the Cent-Associés, took the trouble to write to Juchereau on 19 March 1636, to explain to him the company’s new policy.

In 1647 Juchereau’s land holdings were extended: on 21 March, in the presence of Teuleron, a notary at La Rochelle, Noël Juchereau Des Chatelets purchased in his brother’s name the fief of Saint-Michel, owned by M. de Puiseaux, and on 18 September the governor granted to Jean and Noël Juchereau the seigneury of Maur, or Saint-Augustin. This concession was ratified by the company on 29 March 1649, and Jean Juchereau, having inherited from his brother who had recently died, was given possession of his seigneury on 9 April 1650.

Juchereau took a great interest in clearing land and in colonization, but he was none the less active in the affairs of the Communauté des Habitants. A document of 1667 mentions him as “formerly assessor to the Sovereign Court of this country [Conseil Souverain], and member of the council established by the King for the direction of the commerce and of the fur trade. . . .”

By the time he took over the seigneury of Maur, Juchereau had obviously become an important person in the colony; in 1647, 1650, and 1651 he carried the canopy in the Corpus-Christi processions; on New Year’s Day 1651 he was one of the small group of prominent people who received gifts from the Jesuits; and in 1656 and 1657 he was a warden of the parish church of Quebec. Juchereau was a prominent citizen of Quebec and one of the leading men in the Communauté des Habitants; he was also among the many accused of malpractices by Jean Peronne Dumesnil, who was a hot-tempered, unreasonable individual.

From 1663 Juchereau, who was growing old and no longer held any actual office, was chosen on occasions by the Conseil Souverain or by the parties concerned as an arbitrator or as the trustee of an estate. In 1668 Prouville de Tracy suggested to the king that Juchereau, together with some of the principal settlers, should be ennobled – a suggestion which was not adopted.

Finally on 4 January, aware that his end was near, Juchereau signed an act with his inheritors whereby he bequeathed his seigneury of Maur to his eldest son, Jean Juchereau de La Ferté.

His wife, Marie Langlois, had been buried at Quebec on 15 Jan. 1661. Jean Juchereau de Maur himself died at Beauport “in the dwelling of M. de Saint-Denys, his son” [see Nicolas Juchereau], on 7 Feb. 1672.

André Vachon