A Jubinville in Paris

What was life like for Pierre Jubinville, the father of our first North American ancestor? While we have few hard records, the social history of 17th-century Paris allows us to paint a vivid picture of the world Michel left behind.

The Nomadic Trade of Printing

Printers were notorious nomads. They often left their native towns with rudimentary knowledge, touring France to train in prestigious workshops. For Pierre to be a Master Printer and bookseller, he likely possessed significant capital to maintain a workshop, or perhaps inherited the business through family or marriage.

A Royal Ceiling on Ambition

In 1686, when Michel Jubinville was 15 years old, his future career options were restricted by the King. A royal edict set a strict quota on the number of Master Printers allowed in Paris:

With workshops condemned to close upon the death of owners to meet these quotas, many sons of Master Printers were forced to find a new path. At the same time, religious leaders in Paris were running aggressive recruiting campaigns, printing leaflets that extolled the virtues of colonizing New France.

The Mystery of Literacy

It is a strange irony: Pierre was a man of letters, yet his son Michel declared to a notary in Montreal that he could neither read nor write. Was this a case of "idleness," as historian Benjamin Sulte suggests? Or was Michel a younger son, left to join the military while an older brother inherited the family's printing press?