Giffard had suffered many losses, and as a compensation for his services and misfortune, he obtained a tract of land from the Company of New France, one league in length and a league and a half in breadth, situated between the rivers Montmorency and Beauport, bounded in front by the river St. Lawrence, and in the rear by the Laurentian Mountains.  He was also granted as a special favour, a tract of land of two acres in extent, situated near the fort, for the purpose of building a residence, surrounded with grounds.  These concessions, which seem large at first sight, were, however, not new to the colony.  Louis Hebert had been granted the fief of the Sault au Matelot, and the fief Lepinay, while the Jesuits had received the fief of Notre Dame des Anges almost free of conditions.

Under these favourable conditions Giffard induced two citizens of Mortagne, Zacharie Cloutier and Jean Guyon, to accompany him to Canada.  Cloutier was a joiner, and Guyon a mason.  They promised their seignior that they would build him a residence, thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide.

The other emigrants came to Canada at their own risk.  The party numbered forty-three persons, including women and children, and were within a space of from five to eight leagues of Mortagne, the chief town of the old province of Perche.  There were two exceptions, however, Jean Juchereau came from La Ferte Vidame in Thimerais, and Noel Langlois was from St. Leonard, in Normandy.

The vessels bearing the contingent of settlers arrived in Quebec in June.  They were four in number, under the command of Captains de Nesle, de Lormel, Bontemps, and Duplessis-Bochart.  Robert Giffard had preceded the party by a few days, and he lost no time in selecting the spot where his residence was to be built, upon which he planted a cross on July 25th.  He also commenced clearing the land, and two years after he gathered in a harvest of wheat sufficient to maintain twenty persons.  The soil in this part was very productive, and it is, even to-day, the richest in the province of Quebec.

Among the emigrants of the year 1634 were two remarkable men, Jean Bourdon, and a priest named Jean LeSueur de St. Sauveur.  The Abbe LeSueur de St. Sauveur had abandoned his parish of St. Sauveur de Thury, which is to-day known as Thury-Harcourt, in Normandy, to come to Quebec.  One of the suburbs of Quebec to-day takes its name from this active and devoted priest.

Jean Bourdon, an inseparable friend of the abbe, established himself on the borders of Coteau Ste. Genevieve, which is to-day known as St. John’s suburb.  He built a house and a mill, and also a chapel, which he named Chapel St. Jean.  Other pioneers soon settled near Bourdon’s place, which finally gave to Quebec a suburb.