Louis-René Cauchon, Sieur de Laverdière

René Cauchon (1640-1714) took the name of Sieur de l'Auverdière, at least signed it thus. He is the ancestor of the majority of the Laverdière (and the derived names) that are found in North America. He was a surgeon. His godfather was an apothecary. In Canada, his name appeared for the first time in Fort Chambly. He is among seventy adults, soldiers, who receive in May 1668 the sacrament of Confirmation by Monsignor de Laval. However his name is not in the list of the soldiers of Carignan arrived previously. Some put forth the assumption that he played the role of surgeon and accompanied the regiment at the time of the crossing. Two years later, one finds him in the Island of Orleans where he has three arpents of shore land in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parish. In 1670, he married a "fille du Roi" (a typical colonial practice in Nouvelle-France. Anne Langlois who arrived three months earlier in the colony. She is the daughter of Philippe Langlois and Marie Binet of the Saint-Sulpice parish of Paris. She brought with her a dowry of three hundred pounds and also a present worth about fifty pounds (both from the King.) A contract on Nov. 4 1670 in front of the notary Becquet and a marriage celebrated in the Sainte-Famille parish on November 10 sanctioned their union.

The couple had thirteen children. To point out the difficulties of these days, let us note that only eight children will reach the adulthood. Three girls were married with Ms Therrien, Nault, Demers. Four boys married. Two only, Louis and René (the two elder ones) had a descent and ensured the transmission of the SURNAME until our days.

René Cauchon, alias Lauverdière, in addition to exerting his trade of farmer and of surgeon, exerted a rather significant civil function at the time. In 1682, Monsignor de Laval, Lord of the Côte de Beaupré and Mr. Rouer of Villeray, representative of the County of the St. Lawrence, Lord of the Island of Orleans, appointed him judge of their respective seigneurie.

The last years of the couple were difficult. A fire in 1707 destroyed their house. An accident made that Anne Langlois did not walk any more but using crutches. Debts accumulated. The couple gave all their goods to Joseph Riverin, a merchant of Quebec in exchange of an annual rent of three hundred pounds valid to the last survivor. More painful than the reverses of fortune was the legal dispute over the previous agreement with Joseph Riverin. Riverin, generous, by untying its purse, calmed the requirements of the recalcitrant son. This last one, although he had married twice, did not leave a descent.

Rene Cauchon died in 1714 and was buried in Saint-Étienne of Beaumont. Anne Langlois died ten years later.