Genealogical note   Jacques Ériché born around 1664, Louvetot, France 76398 – died December 24, 1747 in St-Laurent, Nouvelle-France   by: François Richer        Jean-Claude Richer   Jacques Ériché is the ancestor of the Richer (Ériché, Héricher) dit Louveteau, Loufteault and other spelling variations met in Canada (and of the Richa, Lefto, Loufteault and other spelling variations met in the USA) and, through the wedding of his daughter Marie-Josephe to Pierre Plouf, his origins are also of interest to that branch of the Plouffe.   When he got married on April 7, 1698, in Notre-Dame church of Montréal, as well as in his marriage contract (1) recorded by the public notary Adhémar (4.153), on March 31, 1698, it is stated that « he is a soldier in the company of M. Levasseur, captain of a platoon marine, that he is the son of the deceased Jacques Éricher and of Catherine Pin, his father and mother, and that he was born in Louveteau, in  Normandy, Archdiocese of de Rouen ... et that he is thirty four years of age», which implies, among other things, that he was born in 1664. However, no records had yet been uncovered to confirm these assertions.   Taking into account that the ancestor of the Leduc family of Canada was born in a called Louvetot, in Normandy, in the archdiocese of Rouen, an hamlet that has attached Grigneuseville (code insee: 76328) at the beginning of the 19th century, it has been suggested Jacques Ériché migth have originated from that village.  Exhaustive research of the records of that place, done independently by Louis Richer (2,3) and ourselves, did not produce any trace of a wedding of a Jacques Éricher and a Catherine Pin or the birth of a Jacques Éricher, even the birth record of a Éricher can be traced in 1621.   For the other Louvetot (code insee: 76398) known to exist in Normandy, archdiocese of Rouen, the records for the years 1587 à 1668 are unfortunately not available. At the incentive of the to suggestions Daniel Héricher, of Jonathan Picceu and of Jean-Louis Chevaillier (GGHSM - 73 7732 Member of the organisation « Bolbec au fil de la mémoire »)whom we thank gratefully for their help and their sound advice, we went forward and we have examined the records of that parish.     We are very please to report that we have found, for April first 1671, the birth certificate of a Catherine Héricher, daughter of Jacques Héricher and of Catherine Pain.               Birth certificate of Catherine Héricher (4)   In the same records, we have also found, for June 12, 1671, the death certificate of Catherine Pain, wife of Jacques Héricher, who died when she was 32 years old. Death certificate of Catherine Pain (4)    Finally, for August 16,1671, we have found the death certificate of Jacques Le Héricher according to which he was then 35 years old, which implies that he was born in 1636. Death certificate of Jacques Le Héricher (4)   Even though we have not yet found a birth certificate of our ancestor due to the gaps in the registers of the commune Louvetot, it has now been established that he had at least one sister.  It is also possible to confirm that the names of his parents, who died when he was still a very young boy, Jacques Héricher and Catherine Pain (even though the way of writing these names have known many variations in North America) and that he originated from Louvetot (code insee: 76398), which is situated near Allouville-Bellefosse, between Yvetot and Caudebec.   It has been suggested that Jacques Ériché migth have been married before coming to Canada.  This possibility cannot be excluded, but no records have yet been found up to now to confirm it.     Jacques Héricher (1636-1671)  Our quests have lead us to the protestant temple of Lintot where the birth certificate of an Héricher can be found for August 24, 1636, which correspond to the suggested date of birth of Jacques Héricher, the father of Jacques Ériché who came to Canada.  His father and mother are Jean Héricher and Magdallaine Desruyaux, living in Gruchet  and the godfather and godmother are Jacques Héricher and Jeanne Postel, living also in Gruchet, a village about 10 miles of Louvetot .    Even though is is not possible to affirm categoricallythat this Jacques (son of Jean and Magdallaine Desruyaux) is the father of our ancestor, the concordance between the dates and the sites lead us to believe that this is indeed so.  Our research is going forward in that direction.     (1) Marriage contract, Adhémar, number 4.153 (2) Louis Richer, see the site : http://pages.infinit.net/jgr/ (3) Louis Richer, personal communication. (4) Photocopied from the registers of the Louvetot parish, Seine Maritime, for the year 1671, as they appear on the microfilm number 1175502 available to the French genealogist through the Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime, France and through the Centre d’Histoire Familiale, 1777 DeLorimier, Montréal, Qc, Canada.   Contact us:  FrancoisRicher@Louveteau.ca