Jacques  NORAY (NORREY) LE PICARD DU MESNIL

LE PICARD DU MESNIL DE NORREY, JACQUES (Dumesnil-Pâté; he signed as “dumesnj de noré” and “dumesnj noré”), garrison adjutant (major des troupes) of the troops in Canada (1706–13), knight of the order of Saint-Louis, co-seigneur of the Saint-Denis fief; b. c. 1659, son of Auguste-Philippe Le Picard de Norrey, a soldier, and of Madeleine de Gédouin (Gédout), both of Norrey (department of Calvados) in the bishopric of Bayeux; m. Marie-Renée Chorel de Saint-Romain, dit d’Orvilliers, on 17 Feb. 1692 at Champlain; they had four children; d. 27 Oct. 1713 at Montreal.

Jacques Le Picard’s title was derived from the Norman hamlet of Norrey although his right to use the noble prefix “de” has been questioned. He was, according to Louis-Hector de Callière, a native of Caen who was made a midshipman in 1677. He served at Brest and at Rochefort, where in 1684 he was a sub-lieutenant in the navy. In the same year he came to Canada and was promoted to the rank of captain in the colonial regular