ALOIGNY, CHARLES-HENRI D’, Marquis de La Groye, lieutenant, garrison adjutant, military commandant, knight of the order of Saint-Louis, naval captain; b. c. 1662 in the province of Poitou, son of Louis d’Aloigny and Charlotte de Chasteigner; he took the title of Marquis de La Groye after the death of his father and his older brother; d. in the autumn of 1714, in the shipwreck of the Saint-Jérôme on Sable Island.

Charles-Henri d’Aloigny, who was a midshipman at Rochefort, sailed for Canada in 1683 with the rank of lieutenant in the land forces. His 30 years in New France were distinguished by an active military career. He was promoted captain in 1688 by Brisay de Denonville, and this appointment was confirmed by a royal order dated 1 March 1691. He received a commission in 1692 as sub-lieutenant in the navy.

In 1695 Aloigny accompanied Crisafy on an expedition to re-establish Fort Frontenac. In September of that year, on learning that small groups of Indian prowlers were setting traps and ambushes for the French, Frontenac [Buade*] and Callière dispatched supporting troops to various points, and Aloigny was assigned the task of leading a detachment in the direction of Boucherville to surprise the Indians who were pillaging crops.

In 1700 Aloigny was appointed commandant of Fort Frontenac for some months, replacing Louvigny [La Porte], who had been arrested “for having acted contrary to the king’s orders.” In 1702 Aloigny was appointed garrison adjutant, succeeding Daniel d’Auger de Subercase who had been appointed governor of Placentia (Plaisance). From this time on Aloigny received one military promotion after another. He was commandant of the troops in 1704, a position that he held until his death, at which time the king deemed it advisable not to make any further appointments to the position. He was created a knight of the order of Saint-Louis in 1705, and two years later he received a commission as lieutenant-commander.

For reasons of health he had to return to France in 1708; in 1709 he was back in the colony, pursuing his military activity. That same year he was promoted commander in the navy, and the following year naval captain. In the autumn of 1714, after being ill for eight months, during which “he was several times at death’s door,” he sailed on the Saint-Jérôme to return to France. The ship was wrecked on Sable Island.

Apparently La Groye was a good soldier; Frontenac, in 1691, considered him a “brave officer, very devoted to the service, and a gentleman” Callière, for his part, described him in 1701 as a “good officer.”

On 5 Nov. 1703 Charles-Henri d’Aloigny had married Geneviève Macard, daughter of Nicolas Macard and Marguerite Couillard Married first to Charles Bazire*, then to François Provost, she had been widowed twice No children were born of her marriage with Aloigny.

Noël Bélanger

N.-G Boucault, “État présent du Canada,” APQ Rapport, 1920–21, 35. “Correspondance de Frontenac (1689–98),” APQ Rapport, 1927–28, 66 “Correspondance de Vaudreuil,” APQ Rapport, 1938–39, 96. Jug. et délib.A. Roy, Inv. greffes not., XIX Royal Fort Frontenac (Preston and Lamontagne), 387, 391, 399, 467. Taillemite, Inventaire analytique, série B, I. P.-G. Roy, La ville de Québec, II, 56, 430.