BLAISE DES BERGÈRES DE RIGAUVILLE, NICOLAS, officer, commandant of Fort Niagara, seigneur; b. 1679 at Estampes (France), son of Raymond Blaise Des Bergères de Rigauville, captain, and of Anne Richard de Goigni; buried 11 July 1739 in the church of Berthier-en-bas (Bellechasse).

On 29 July 1685, when he was about six, Nicolas Blaise Des Bergères, accompanying his father to New France, arrived at Quebec. As a cadet, he showed an aptitude for a military career, so much so that in 1696 His Majesty granted him a commission as an ensign “subject to his being 18.” As Des Bergères had not reached the required age, Louis de Buade* de Frontenac was unable to have him appointed an ensign until 1698. In 1703 he was with his father, who was then commandant of Fort Frontenac. He may have succeeded the latter as commandant of Fort Chambly in 1709.

He was promoted lieutenant in 1726, and was in command at Fort Niagara from 1730 to 1736. In July 1730 the garrison of the fort revolted. against Des Bergères’ discipline and threatened him with death. The instigators of the revolt were taken to Montreal to be tried. Three of them were sentenced to death, but succeeded in escaping the day before they were to be executed [see Justinien Durand*]. On 20 March 1736 the state, in recognition of the services of this active and intelligent officer, conferred on him the rank of company commander.

On 4 April 1712, at Quebec, Nicolas Blaise Des Bergères had married Marie-Françoise Viennay-Pachot, widow of Alexandre Berthier, junior, and daughter of François Viennay-Pachot* and of Charlotte-Françoise Juchereau de Saint-Denis. As a dowry, the young widow brought him two seigneuries: Berthier-en-bas (Bellechasse), where the couple lived, and Berthier-en-haut (Villemur), which they sold to Pierre de Lestage*, a Montreal merchant, on 26 April 1718. From their marriage nine children were born: one was Jean-Baptiste-Marie Blaise Des Bergères de Rigauville, an officer, who was among the first Canadians to be named to the Legislative Council by Carleton* in 1775; another was Charles-Régis, priest and canon of the chapter of Quebec.

Nicolas Blaise Des Bergères died on his seigneury, probably on 10 July 1739. He was buried the following day in the church of Berthier-en-bas.

Marcel Bellavance

AJQ, Greffe de Florent de La Cetière, 10 mars 1712. AQ, NF, Registres d’intendance, III. “Correspondance de Frontenac (1689–99),” APQ Rapport, 1928–29, 301, 317, 344, 363, 368. P.-G. Roy, Inv. coll. Pièces jud. et not., I, 79; Inv. concessions, II. Royal Fort Frontenac (Preston and Lamontagne). P.-G. Roy, Les officiers d’état-major. Salone, La colonisation de la Nouvelle-France. Sulte, Mélanges historiques (Malchelosse), IX. Aegidius Fauteux, “Raymond Blaise,” BRH, XXXIII (1927), 283. P.-G. Roy, “La famille Viennay-Pachot,” BRH, XXI (1915), 339; “La seigneurie Bellechasse ou Berthier,” BRH, XXVII (1921), 65–74. Benjamin Sulte, “Nicolas des Bergères de Rigauville,” BRH, VIII (1902), 249–51.