Since Raoul Blanchard, few scholars have paid attention to the study of the regional settlement of Québec. The following paper presents a micro-study of the settlement of a Saguenay parish that aims to enlighten the process and conditions of settlement in the mid 19th century Québec. It emphasizes relations between pioneer families before and after migration to the frontier and focuses on how these relations have influenced their destiny. It appears first that family networks had played a very important role in the itinerary of the pioneers and, second, that if most migrations to the frontier were done for agricultural purposes, there also already existed a commercial and industrial-based settlement.