Guillaume Couture

During his life he was a lay missionary with the Jesuits, a survivor of torture, a member of an Iroquois council, a translator, a diplomat, a militia captain, and a lay leader among the colonists of the Pointe-Lévy (now named Lévis city) in the Seigneury of Lauzon, a district of New France located on the South Side of Quebec City.

[1] During this period, Couture learned several major Native languages, which increased his stature, for he could now work as a translator for the Jesuits.

At this point, Couture was sent deep into Iroquois Country (present day upstate New York in Auriesville) where he was given to the family of the man he had killed to be their slave.

In 1645, de Montmagny, the governor of New France, decided it was time to end the war with the Iroquois.

In 1649, the Jesuit leaders in New France voted unanimously to release Couture from his vows and to allow him to get married.

The woman whom Couture chose to be his bride was Anne Émard or Aymard, who was from St-André-de-Niort, in Poitou region of France.

During the 1650s and 1660s, Couture acted as a diplomat, going to New Netherland (present-day New York) to negotiate trade and to settle boundary disputes between the two colonies.

In 1663, Couture was recruited by French Governor Pierre Dubois Davaugour for a mission in the North of New France.

Sometime around 1666, with war with the Iroquois and the English looming, Couture, now living full-time in Pointe-Lévy (Lévis) since 1647.

In 1690, when Admiral William Phips invaded Quebec City Area with a force of New England colonists, Couture was able to prevent the English from attacking Pointe-Lévy at the age of 72.

On some occasions, Couture was invited to sit on the Sovereign Council, which ran New France for Louis XIV.

The fact that the status-obsessed French government offered Couture a part-time seat on the council shows how highly the leaders of New France viewed him.