Karen Cardno

Nicolas Karen Cardno

Nicolas Pelletier signed a contract to become a master carpenter in 1612. For the next four years he learned his craft, always thinking about the new settlement he had heard about far across the ocean, in a place called New France. For twenty years he would work hard and save before he was finally able to make the journey, along with his wife and two young sons. He arrived at Fort Quebec at a time when when less than one hundred people lived there and having a skilled trade made him an asset to the struggling community. For the next forty years he and his wife Jeanne would live in and help build some of the oldest cities in what is now called Canada. Living first in Quebec, then Sillery and finally moving on to Sorel as each settlement was founded and evolved. They would face difficulties along the way, such as court disputes with the neighboring indians at the mission their land bordered, and skirmishes with the Iroquois Nation. They were two of the lucky few, who were able to be part of New France, as it grew and began to prosper.