Etienne Brule and Nicholas Marsolet, who arrived at Quebec with Champlain in the year 1608, acted as interpreters, but at first they did not meet with much success.  They were, however, both young and intelligent, and Brule soon acquired a knowledge of the Huron language, while Marsolet mastered the idiom of the Algonquin tongue.  Brule spent nearly all his life among the Hurons, who adopted him as a member of their family, while Marsolet accompanied the Algonquins to Allumette Island, and became one of their best friends.  Historians of Canada mention the names of many other interpreters of this period, some of whom founded families, while others afterwards returned to France.  In the year 1613 three interpreters arrived, Nicholas du Vignau, Jacques Hertel, and Thomas Godefroy.  In the year 1618 there was only one arrival, Jean Manet, who took up his residence among the people residing on the shores of Lake Nipissing.

In the year 1619 Jean Nicolet came to Canada, and won great esteem in the country of his choice.  He was the father of a large family, the descendants of whom are very numerous.  Three more interpreters came in 1621, Du Vernet, Le Baillif, and Olivier Le Tardif, and two in 1623, namely, Jean-Paul Godefroy and Jacques Couillard, and finally in 1624 Jean Richer and Lamontagne, thus making twelve interpreters between the years 1608 and 1625.  Of this number the two Godefroys, Marsolet, Nicolet, Hertel, and Le Tardif were distinguished on account of the part which they took in Canadian affairs; and the knowledge which they had obtained of the native languages rendered them competent to discuss delicate questions relating to the welfare of the colony.  Their services to the authorities, both civil and religious, were therefore at certain periods exceedingly valuable.  It is among these men that we may fittingly seek for the founders of the Canadian race.

The second class of settlers, or winterers, as they were termed, will be spoken of later.  From the year 1608 to 1613 not a single settler or head of a family came to Canada, but at this latter date we find the names of Abraham Martin, Nicholas Pivert and Pierre Desportes.  They were married and brought their wives and families with them.  Abraham Martin and Pierre Desportes had each a daughter, and Pivert had a niece.  Guillaume Couillard arrived during the same year, but he was a bachelor.  We have already spoken in a previous chapter of the return of Champlain from France in the year 1617, on which occasion he was accompanied by Louis Hebert and his family.  There also arrived in 1617, Etienne Jonquest, to whom we have likewise referred.  In 1618 another family took up its residence in New France, namely Adrien Duchesne, surgeon, and his wife.  Eustache Boulle, brother-in-law to Champlain, came over in 1618, and two families arrived in 1619, but they were immediately sent back, as the occupation of the head of one of the families was that of a butcher, and the other was a needle manufacturer, and there was no opening for either in a new settlement.  In the year 1620, the settlers gave a cordial welcome to Helene Boulle, who was attended by three female servants.  From the year 1620 to 1625, history is silent as to new arrivals.  Champlain had made every effort to induce settlers to take up their residence in Quebec, but the population was still very scanty.