GODEFROY DE SAINT-PAUL, JEAN-AMADOR, esquire, interpreter, captain of the Trois-Rivières militia, fur-trader, seigneur; baptized at Trois-Rivières on 18 July 1649, son of Jean Godefroy* de Lintot and Marie Leneuf; d. 10 Sept. 1730, at Trois-Rivières.

In August 1682, Saint-Paul acted as interpreter for the Miamis and Kiskakons during a conference held in Montreal, which would seem to indicate that he had previously spent some time in the west. In 1684 and 1687 he accompanied, as captain of the Trois-Rivières militia, the expeditions of Governors Le Febvre* de La Barre and Brisay de Denonville against the Iroquois. In the late 1680s and early 1690s he and Antoine Lepellé, his partner and future son-in-law, traded with the Ottawas.

By 1706, Saint-Paul’s interests had grown to include the eastern cod fisheries. In that year, Rigaud de Vaudreuil and Jacques Raudot granted him a seigneury in Labrador consisting of five leagues frontage by ten leagues depth on both sides of the Grande Rivière (Quitzezaqui). He continued to make his home in Trois-Rivières, however, and to trade with the tribes nearby. He had no doubt mastered the language of the Algonkins; he was accorded the privilege of selling them beer and cider on their visits to Trois-Rivières.

Saint-Paul was married twice, and outlived both his wives. Marguerite Jutrat, whom he married in Trois-Rivières on 12 Nov. 1675, bore him two daughters. After her death, he married Françoise Lepellé in Trois-Rivières on 22 July 1682. She gave birth to six children, and predeceased him by three years.

C. J. Russ

AJM, Greffe d’Antoine Adhémar, 22 juillet 1682, 13, 16, 17 sept. 1694; Greffe de Bénigne Basset, 2, 3 août 1688. AJTR, Greffe de Severin Ameau, 17 nov. 1675, 7 juillet 1698. AN, Col., C^11A, 6, ff.4–25, 476–79. NYCD (O’Callaghan and Fernow), IX, 334. P.-G. Roy, Inv. concessions, IV, 188–89; Inv. ord. int., I, 127; La famille Godefroy de Tonnancour (Lévis, 1904).