James David Bourchier was born on December 18, 1850, in Baggotstown, Limerick, Ireland.
He was an Irish journalist and political activist. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1873). He won a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, in 1876. He became a schoolmaster at Eton College, where he remained for ten years, despite difficulties caused by his deafness. In 1888, Bourchier left Eton for Romania and Bulgaria, where he acted as a special correspondent for The Times, becoming the paper's Balkan correspondent in 1892. He also contributed occasional articles to The Globe and Macmillan's Magazine. For fifteen years, he was based in Athens before moving to Sofia and working behind the scenes of Balkan politics and negotiations for a generation. He also wrote knowledgeably on archaeology and travel. His sympathy with Balkan nationalism, together with his courage and willingness to identify himself with a cause, won him a unique place in the politics of the Balkan peninsula. In 1915, Bourchier left Sofia and went to Romania, and in 1917, he moved to Odessa and Petrograd to report on the early phases of the Russian Revolution. He was asked to become Bulgaria's consul-general in London shortly before he died of heart failure on December 30, 1920, in Sofia, Bulgaria. James Bourchier Boulevard in Sofia and streets in Varna and Blagoevgrad are named in his honour.
Jean Baptiste Bourdon (sometimes called M. de Saint-Jean or Sieur de Saint-François) was born c. 1601 at Saint-André-le-Vieil in Rouen, Normandy, France.
He was a seigneur, the first engineer-in-chief and land-surveyor in the colony of New France, cartographer, businessman, procurator-syndic of the village of Quebec, head clerk of the Communauté des Habitants, explorer, and the first attorney-general of the Conseil Superieur. He arrived in the colony in 1634 and settled on the outskirts of Quebec, on the Sainte-Geneviève hill. In 1639, governor Huault made him a commoner’s land grant of 50 acres that he had named “terre Saint-Jean.” He built a mill and a chapel where his friend Jean Le Sueur was to officiate. Bourdon received several other seigneuries in return for his services, e.g., the Rivière au Griffon seigneury, the seigneury of Autray, the seigneury of Dombourg (an anagram of Bourdon), which was situated at the spot now called Pointe-aux-Trembles, and the seigneury of La Malbaie. He lived on the Saint-Jean fief and carried on his profession as an engineer and surveyor. In 1641-42, he drew up a detailed map of the region between Quebec and Cap Tourmente, including the Île d’Orléans. In 1645, he was appointed acting governor of Trois-Rivières. In 1647, he was elected procurator-syndic of the town of Quebec, and then the governor appointed him head clerk of the Communauté des Habitants. In 1663, he became attorney-general and occupied this office until 1668.
In 1635, he married Jacqueline Potel (1620-1645), and in 1655, he remarried Anne Gasnier (1611-1698). He died on January 12, 1668, in Quebec City.
