LE COQ (Le Cocq), ROBERT, supervisor of buildings at Sainte-Marie-des-Hurons; d. 20 Aug. 1650 near Trois-Rivières.

We do not know from what part of France he originated. His biographer Father Paul Desjardins has identified him, not unconvincingly, with the carpenter Le Coq, an employee of Émery de Caën at the time when the latter had come to grief while reconnoitring near Quebec in July 1629. Robert Le Coq accompanied the missionaries as soon as they returned among the Hurons in 1634, in the capacity of a donné, bound by vows and contract to serve them. Being responsible for supplying the mission with food, he travelled annually to Quebec, from 1635 to 1640. In 1639 a terrible illness nearly cost him his life. During the time that he was entrusted with the supervision of the buildings and equipment at the residence of Sainte-Marie-des-Hurons he made his last trip to Quebec, in 1649, to relieve the mission, which was in desperate straits. He was able to start back only in 1650, but he did not complete the journey, for at the beginning of July he met the Hurons and their missionaries who were coming down to Quebec. A month and a half later he took part in an expedition against the Iroquois, in which he met his death.

Lucien Campeau

ACSM, Paul Desjardins, “Auxiliaires laïques des missions de la Nouvelle-France: le donné Robert Le Coq.” Champlain, Œeuvres (Laverdière), 1246–47. JR (Thwaites).