Charles  DE LAUSON

LAUSON DE CHARNY, CHARLES DE, acting governor of New France, then priest, official, vicar general, ecclesiastical superior of the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec; b. c. 1629 probably in Paris, son of Jean de Lauson, governor of New France, and of Marie Gaudar; d. some time after 1689 in France.

The Lauson family, whose ancestors were from Poitou, had established themselves in Paris. The surname given to Charles came to him from a great-grandfather, the seigneur of Charny, in the Department of the Yonne. Jean de Lauson had acquired immense estates in New France; but it was done for the advantage of the three sons whom he summoned to come and join him, and who did in fact marry and settle in the country, with the intention of remaining there. Charles came last, on 1 July 1652, on a ship that ran aground on the Île aux Coudres. When he arrived his father gave him the title of grand master of the waters and forests, a title more high-sounding than meaningful in a colony still in its infancy.