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Le Bourgeois | The Bourgeois 

In a general sense, a bourgeois is a person belonging to the bourgeoisie, a sociologically-defined class referring to people with a certain cultural and financial capital belonging to the middle or upper stratum of the middle class: the upper (haute), middle (moyenne), and petty (petite) bourgeoisie; an affluent and often opulent stratum of the middle class who stand opposite the proletariat class.

However, the definition of a bourgeois in New France is practically impossible to pinpoint. As Jean Hamelin once wrote, "The word bourgeois is an imprecise one that covers vastly different realities. A study on French-Canadian bourgeoisie should first define the meaning of the word bourgeoisie - what are the criteria that would put a man in the upper middle class, middle class or lower middle class. Is it income, social standing, or something else? Then, relying on concrete data to approximately quantify this bourgeoisie at different times, it would be necessary to interpret one's social, political and economic role compared to the Canadian reality, not compared to the status and role of the European bourgeoisie.”

According to André Lachance, two principles make up the hierarchy of the elites, or upper class, in New France. The first is “noble values”, such as service of the king (performed by high-ranking civil servants like the King's prosecutor or the commissioner of the navy), owning a seigneurie property of importance, and finally, belonging to high-ranking clergy. The second principle is based on trade and related activities, in particular the fur trade and the war supplies trade. Enter the large-scale traders (the “bourgeois”), who absolutely needed favours from the state in order to operate.

In short, the state determined who was part of the elite. The state decided who received trading permits, who was appointed to military and administrative posts, who received seigneuries and titles of nobility. By extending its grip on the two fundamental elements of the Canadian state, fur and war, the state effectively controlled this elite, including the bourgeois.

Bourgeois and Bourgeoys are common surnames that survive in Canada today. Their etymology dates back to the old definition of bourgeois: an individual who lived in a bourg or town.

Known men with “bourgeois” status: Charles Aubert sieur de LaChesnaye, Pierre Baraguet, Martial Bardy, Charles Basset, Gervais Baudoin, Louis Bazil, Pierre Benac, Dominique Bergeron, François Berlinguet, Charles Berthelot, Charles Blet, Jean Bonfils, Guillaume Bonthier, Gilbert Boucault de Godefus, André Bouchard, Paul Bouchard, André Bouchaud, Jean-Baptiste Bourgard, Lucien Bouteville, Noël Bulteau, Joseph Cadet, Jean Caillault dit Baron, Claude Caron, Vital Caron, Jacques Cartier Langevin, Guillaume Chanjon, Claude Charron, Gabriel Chartier, François Chaumereau, Bertrand Chenay LaGarenne, Etienne Corbin, Michel Cotton, Pierre Courault de Lacoste, Pierre Crépeau, Martin Curot, Jean-Baptiste Daguilhe, Charles de Couagne, René de Couagne, Jean de Faye Châteauneuf, Jacques de Gayon sieur de Lalande, Jacques de Lalande, Pierre de Lalande sieur de Gayon, Jacques de Lamarque, Pierre de Lestage, Thierry Delestre Le Vallon, Augustin Douaire, Michel Drouard, Robert Drouard, Jean-Baptiste Dupéré, Pierre Duroy, Guillaume Feniou, René Fezeret, Jean Fournel, Étienne Fréchet, Thomas Frérot, Jean Gatin, Augustin Gilbert, Joachim Girard, Jean Gobin, Louis Gosselin, Gabriel Greysac, Paul Guillet, Pierre Guy, Denis Guyon, Pierre Haimard, François Hazeur, Jean-Baptiste Hervieux, Jacques Héry dit Duplanty, Henri Hiché, Pierre Hubert dit Lacroix, Nicolas Janvrin dit Dufresne, Jean-Baptiste Jarret dit Beauregard, Louis Jolliet, Etienne Joulin, Jean-Baptiste Jutras, Jean-Baptiste Lacoudray, Eustache Lambert Dumont, Jean Larchevêque sieur de Grandpré, Étienne Land(e)ron, Jean-François Laroche, Louis Latour, Jacques Leber, Jean-Baptiste Leclerc, Michel Lecours, Nicolas Ledoux dit Latreille, Louis Lefebvre dit Duchouquet, François Lemaître Lamorille, Pierre Lemaître, Alexis Lemoine dit Monière, François Lepailleur, Pierre LeSacque, Pierre Lesueur, Charles Macard, Louis Maheu, François Maillot, Nicolas Marion Lafontaine, Simon Mars, Onésime Messier, Jacques Milot, Jean Milot, Dominique Nafrechou, Jean-Baptiste Neveu, Philippe Neveu, Pierre Niel, Jean-Baptiste Nolan, Pierre Nolan, Jacques Pagé, Antoine Paquet, Louis Parent, Antoine Pascaud, Jean-Jacques Patron, Jacques Paumereau, Claude Pauperet, Philippe Peiré, Pierre Peiré, Jacques Perras, François Perrault, Charles Perthuis, Henri Petit, Joseph Petit dit Bruneau, Michel Pétrimoulx, Jean Picard, Joseph Picard, Nicolas Pinault/Pineau, Charles Pinguet de Montigny, Jacques Pinguet de Vaucourt, Michel Plamondon, François Plet, François Poisset, François-Philippe Poncy, Jean-Baptiste Poitiers, Pierre Poulin, Jacques Richard, Joseph Riverin, Charles Roger des Colombiers, Abel Sagot, Joseph Stanislas Roussel, Nicolas Sarrazin, Michel Sauvageau, Jean Sébille, Augustin Simard, Jean-Baptiste Soulard, Jean Soumande, Simon Soupiran, Jean-Baptiste Tétreau, François Tinon Desroches, Charles Trépanier, Étienne Trottier Desaulniers Beaubien, Julien Trottier sieur Desrivières, Pierre Trottier Desaulniers, Jean Valin, Etienne Volant de Radisson, Etienne Veron de Grandmesnil, François Viennay Pachot, Nicolas Volant, Joseph Voyer, and many others.

Known women with “bourgeois” status: Marie Josephte Bailly, Marguerite César La Gardelette, Marie Sevestre

Sources:

• André Lachance, Vivre à la ville en Nouvelle-France (Outremont, Québec: Éditions Libre Expression, 2004), 68.

• Cameron Nish, "Une bourgeoisie coloniale en Nouvelle-France : Une hypothèse de travail", L'Actualité économique (1963), vol. 39(2), 240–265; electronic edition, Érudit (https://doi.org/10.7202/1002730ar).

• Marc Picard, Dictionnaire des noms de famille du Canada français, (Québec, Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 2010), 51.