Beauport, PQ
ROBERT DROUIN... on February 10th, 1634, aged 28 and unmarried, settled with his younger brother, Hilaire, their mutual debts, and Robert rented his part of Tuilerie (probably a family farm) in Pin-la-Garenne, for three years to his older brother, Michel. It would appear he had agreed to a three-year contract for work at New France... most likely at the encouragement of Robert Giffard. Drouin was a master brickmaker and tiler. He was born in Pin-la-Garenne, Normandy, France in August of 1607... the seventh of nine children.
First mention of Robert Drouin in Canada is 6-27-1636 in Montréal at his marriage contract to Anne Cloutier. The marriage contract between Drouin and Anne Cloutier was signed in Robert Giffard's house. It is the oldest oldest marriage contract preserved in the Canadian archives. At this time, there was a shortage of marriageable women. Anne Cloutier was only 11 years old at the time of her marriage in the summer of 1637; her husband-to-be was old enough to be her father... 19 years older than she. However, Anne was 15 when her first children were born -- twin girls, so she probably lived with her family until she was about 14 years old. Still too young. One of the twins died within days, and the other died 10 months later. A subsequent child died in 1642. A girl born in 1643 grew to adulthood, then a boy, born in 1645 died in infancy. Her last child, Jeanne Drouin, born in May 1647 is my ancestor. In February of 1648, Anne Cloutier died at 22 years old after given birth to 6 children. There are not too many stories like this, but a few are enough to understand that this could not go on. If men were to be encouraged to remain in New France and set up households, there had to be marriageable women available. It took twenty years, but when Louis XIV took control of the colonization of Canada, he, through his ministers, set up programs whereby women contracted to come to Canada for the sole purpose of marrying an available bachelor. The initiatives were known as Filles a marier, and Filles du roi (marriageable women and the king's daughters).
In 1641, Robert Drouin already had a farm near the Rivière aux Chiens on the Beaupré shore, although he did not receive the concession for it until 17 April 1646.
Robert Drouin's second marriage was to a widow, Marie Chapelier, in November 1649, and went on to have eight more children. The family is listed on the 1666 census as living in the Québec area with six of their seven children.
The Drouin family was considered established in the parish of St. François on the Ile d'Orleans in 1674.
Robert Drouin was buried in Chateau Richer, 6-1-1685.
The genealogy...
Each indentation indicates another generation, ie: Jeanne Drouin is the daughter of Robert Drouin and Anne Cloutier; Marie Maheu is the daughter of Jeanne Drouin and Pierre Maheu, and so on.
ROBERT DROUIN and ANNE CLOUTIER m. 7-12-1637 in Québec
Jeanne DROUIN and Pierre MAHEU m. 11-10-1659 in Québec
Marie MAHEU and Charles LeTARTE m. 11-8-1678 in L'Ange Gardien, PQ
Angélique LeTARTE and Pierre-Joachim LEVESQUE m. 6-30-1705 in L'Ange Gardien, PQ
Genevieve LEVESQUE and Louis-Charles HUDON m. 8-30-1723 in Rivière Ouelle, PQ
Louis HUDON and Catherine AUTIN m. 11-13-1747 in Kamouraska, PQ
Catherine HUDON and Pierre BÉRUBÉ m. 8-2-1779 in PQ
Louis BÉRUBÉ and Félicité BOUCHER m. 8-3-1807 in Rivière Ouelle, PQ
Bibiane BÉRUBÉ and Jean-Raphaël OUELLETTE m. 10-25-1843 in Rimouski, PQ
M. Desanges OUELLETTE and Marcel SÉNÉCHAL m. 9-10-1866 in Baie des Sables, PQ
Célina SÉNÉCHAL and Sévère (Henri) LIZOTTE m. 2-25-1900 in Fall River, MA
Edward LIZOTTE and Rhea CAMERON m. 6-20-1936 in Attleboro, MA
