The Clearing of New France

This flow traces how René Sel’s arrival turns a life of skilled woodland work into a family legacy built on clearing forests.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

Arrival in Wobik

Arrival in Wobik A New World René Sel arrives in New France as an engagé, carrying little beyond his woodsman’s skill and his brother’s memories. Into the Forest Claude Trépagny leads him through seemingly endless woodland to a settlement whose survival depends on the trees it will soon destroy.

The First Clearing

The First Clearing Ax Work René and Charles Duquet cut trees to build quarters and expand Trépagny’s settlement, learning that their labor serves the seigneur’s ambitions. A Fractured Web Each falling tree troubles René’s sense of an interwoven natural world, though he cannot yet imagine a life outside the work.

A Home of His Own

A Home of His Own Delayed Freedom René learns that his contract has not granted the land he expected; his freedom and property depend on Trépagny’s decisions. A Woodland Choice He claims a forested site and a spring, choosing distance from the village while remaining bound to the work of clearing.

The Woodcutter’s Family

The Woodcutter’s Family Marriage and Learning René’s forced marriage to Mari becomes a partnership of bodies and intelligences, and her knowledge alters how he understands the woods. Children in Two Worlds Their children grow up amid French property customs and Mi’kmaw teachings, inheriting a divided relationship to land and labor.

An Inherited Trade

An Inherited Trade The Ax’s Final Claim René dies while cutting trees, his life physically shaped by the tool that earned him survival and property. Work Repeats His sons and grandsons take up logging, extending the family’s labor into new forests even as the old woods recede.

1693, early in the story

1693, René’s first weeks at Trépagny’s settlement

Around 1698, after years of service

After René’s marriage to Mari

By the end of René’s life