DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

ROBINSON, ELIZA ARDEN – Volume XIII (1901-1910)

d. in Victoria 19 March 1906

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

DUPRAC, JEAN-ROBERT, mason, court clerk, and seigneurial notary; b. c. 1646, son of Jacques Duprac, master sculptor, and of Françoise Lamoureux; originally from the parish of Saint-Porchère in Poitiers (province of Poitou); buried 30 Aug. 1726 at Beauport.

Duprac arrived in Canada in 1674 at the latest, since, on 6 Jan. 1675, he signed a marriage contract with Marguerite Vachon, daughter of the notary Paul Vachon. On 14 June 1676 Duprac was, a settler at Beauport.” He was a mason by trade, and in 1681 he had only two acres under cultivation and five head of cattle. Like many colonists in New France, artisans by trade and often town-dwellers by birth, he probably had no taste for farm work. He must therefore have welcomed his appointment, on 1 Dec. 1693, as notary in the seigneury of Beauport, replacing Paul Vachon. Although we do not know precisely when, Duprac likewise succeeded his father-in-law as notary and clerk of court for the neighbouring seigneury of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. He continued in practice until 1723.

Duprac had nine children by Marguerite Vachon, who died 24 June 1703 of smallpox; his son Noël, who was baptized 21 Sept. 1681, was eventually to succeed him. As the son-in-law and the father of notaries, and a notary himself, Duprac was no exception in New France, where official charges were often handed down as if they were part of a heritage and somehow belonged to a family’s patrimony.

André Vachon

AJQ, Greffe de J.-R. Duprac, 1693–1723; Greffe de Michel Fillion, 6 janv. 1675; Greffe de Paul Vachon, 14 juin 1716. AQ, NF, Registres de la Prévôté de Québec, 25 janv. 1694. Jug. et délib. Recensement du Canada, 1681 (Sulte). Tanguay, Dictionnaire, I, 217. Jean Langevin, Notes sur les archives de N.-D. de Beauport (2v., Québec, 1860–63). J.-E. Roy, Histoire du notariat, I, 166f., 342, 345.

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

André Vachon, “DUPRAC, JEAN-ROBERT,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 19, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/duprac_jean_robert_2E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/duprac_jean_robert_2E.html
Author of Article:   André Vachon
Title of Article:   DUPRAC, JEAN-ROBERT
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1969
Year of revision:   1982
Access Date:   March 19, 2024