FOUCHER, manager on the farm of Champlain at Cap Tourmente from 1626 to 1628.

His first name is unknown. He appears in Canadian history in 1626. He was employed by the company of the sieurs de Caën, and from July 1626 to July 1628 was in charge of the farm set up by Champlain at Cap Tourmente in order to feed the livestock of the Habitation, without having to transport the hay from the natural meadows located in that area. Foucher passed all the seasons of the year there, with a staff of eight people under him. Around 9 July 1628 a band sent from Tadoussac by the Kirke brothers and made up partly of French renegades invaded the farm, and took prisoner Foucher, Nicolas Pivert, the latter’s wife and niece, and two other servants. The buildings were systematically pillaged; of the animals – about 50 – some were killed, and the remainder burned with the stable and the two main buildings. Foucher, although badly manhandled by the English, managed to escape with the Indians’ help, but in his flight the enemy “singed his moustaches” with their arquebuses. He spent the following winter at Quebec, and on 26 June 1629, on board the bark belonging to Eustache Boullé, he sailed for Gaspé, hoping to find there a means of returning to France.

Lucien Campeau

Champlain, Œuvres (Lavredière), 1110, 1155–56, 1214, 1244. Sagard, Histoire du Canada (Tross), I, 155; IV, 830–35, 837–38, 840–41, 892–95; Long journey (Wrong and Langton), 48, 299.