Before the filles du roi began arriving in Québec in 1663, there were women, collectively called des filles à marier (marriageable women) who emigrated to Canada based solely on their wilingness to marry when they arrived. It is estimated that between 1634 and 1663, 262 filles à marier arrived in New France. They were recruited and chaperoned by religious groups or individuals who had to assure and account for their good conduct. If the goal was to populate a colony, it would not make sense to send to Canada women who were chronically ill or hobbled in any way... particularly when they were expected to hit the ground running, so to speak. Within a year of their arrival, most were married and quite likely pregnant.
In general, they were young women took the initiative to change the future which might have appeared bleak to some of them, particularly for those without a dowry. As such, they might never have a chance at family life in France or they would marry well below their station. So, they took a gamble on Canada.
As opposed to the Filles du Roi who emigrated between 1663 and 1673, the filles à marier came alone or in small groups. They were not recruited by the state and did not receive a dowry from the King.
In the families of Lizotte and Cameron, there are about 39 of these women who arrived unmarried, whether with their widowed mothers or with a sister or other small family group. Their stories and circumstances are as varied as the places they came from. Some of their adventures had a happy ending, some did not... but they all contributed to the culture of French Canada.
They were...
Marthe ARNUË, likely arrived in Canada from LaRochelle in 1658 with her mother, Louise Brodeur, widow of Marc Arnue and married to Jean Sauviot.
Half siblings, Marguerite Sauviot and Jean Sauviot would have arrived at the same time.
In September 1658, Marthe Arnuë, then 26 years old, married Pierre Richaume in Montréal.
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Anne AYMARD (Émard) and her sister Madeleine AYMARD arrived in Canada from Poitou about 1648. They were part of a group of three sisters who made the trip together. Their father, Jean Aymard, was a tailor, their maternal grandfather, Daniel Bineau, was a public letter writer (écrivain) in France.
Anne Aymard married Guillaume Couture in November 1649.
Madeleine Aymard married Pierre-Zacharie Cloutier in April 1648.
The other sister, who was a bit older than the others, married in 1649, also.
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Marie-Marthe BOURGOIN arrived in Canada from Paris in 1661 at the age of about 24. First mention of her in Canada is in December of 1661 at her marriage contract. In January 1662, she married, Nicolas Godbout who was a river pilot. She later had a second marriage to Antoine Marcereau in 1675.
She was a literate woman who was able to sign her name.
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Anne BOYER (or Boyeur) was recruited (contracted) at LaRochelle, 4-10-1657 by François Perron for a 3-year duration. She left LaRochelle 4-18-1657 and arrived in Quebec 6-22-1657. On arrival she proceeded to Trois-Rivières where she was to work as a servant in the household of Pierre Boucher who was then governor of the area. Her sister, Marie Boyer emigrated later, in 1662. Perhaps she came over with her parents, Pierre Boyer and Catherine Vinet. On the 1666 census, Pierre Boyer is listed as deceased and Catherine Vinet has returned to LaRochelle, where she herself died in December of 1664. Pierre Boyer was a member of the bourgeoisie.
A lot of the women who contracted to work as servants for three years, married within a year, and Anne Boyer was one of them. She married Pierre Pinaud (Pinot) in the spring of 1658. She is an ancestor in the Cameron family.
A note on François Perron: He was a Huguenot involved in the fur trade in Canada. He recruited several people who would embark on the ship Le Taureau in April 1657... Anne Boyer was one of them, one of six women who set sail for Canada that day.
François Perron sent his illegitimate son, Daniel Perron dit Suire to represent him in Québec. Young Perron was also on this crossing in April of 1657. Daniel Perron is an ancestor in the Lizotte family.
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Catherine COLLIN arrived in Canada in 1654. She was born in the parish of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris around 1637. She married Claude Guyon-Dion in February 1655 at which time she would have been about 16 years old. Together they would have 11 children.
Catherine died in January 1688 and is buried on the Ile d'Orleans, PQ.
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Marie-Madeleine COUTEAU arrived in Canada in 1647 as the widow of Étienne Saint-Père. With her were her daughters, ancestor 20-year old Jeanne Saint-Père and 13-year old, Catherine Saint-Père. First mention of her in Canada is 10-12-1647 in Quebec at a marriage contract.
Ancestor Jeanne St. Père married Pierre Guillet dit LaJeunesse about 1648.
Marie-Madeleine Couteau appears to have married many times. After her husband, ancestor Étienne Saint-Père died around 1638 in France, there is a marriage contract 5-18-1639 in LaRochelle to an André Musset, a merchant from Bretagne. Not sure if contract was annulled or not. In another marriage, this her second, 10-14-1647, she married Emery Cailletaut (Caltaut) in Québec. He brought her to Cape-de-la-Madeleine where he owned land and where two brothers, Pierre and Mathurin Guillet also lived. Caltaut was killed in 1653 by Iroquois. Some months later his widow married Claude Houssart, a native of Plessis-Grimoire in Anjou. She had no children with her Canadian husbands, but her two daughters simultaneously married the two Guillet brothers. And lastly, in November 1653, Marie-Madeleine Couteau married Claude Houssard (le petit Claude) in Trois Rivieres.
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Marie CRENEL was from Bayeux, Normandy. At the age of 15, Marie Crenel (Crevet) signed a marriage contract to become one of the filles à marier, probably sponsored by Robert Giffard. In October of 1637, she married Robert Caron, so she must have arrived in Canada in the summer of 1637. In 1654, this family was established in the parish of Ste. Anne de Beaupré in the county of Montmorency. Robert Caron died in 1656.
Marie Crenel later married Noël Langlois in 1666 ten years after Robert Caron, had died. Noël Langlois is an ancestor in both the Camirand and Lizotte lines. This Caron family are ancestors in the Lizotte line.
The 1666 census lists the household of Robert Caron, which consisted of 3 sons: Robert, 19, Joseph, 14 and Pierre, 12, and a 10-year old daughter, Aimée.
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Marie-Charlotte DePOITIERS arrived in Canada from Amiens, Picardy about 1660. She was a midwife and able to sign her name, indicating some literacy. Her parents were Sieur Pierre Charles DePoitiers du Buisson and Dame Hélène de Belleau. She appears to have been their only child. Her parents might have been deceased when she signed on to the filles-a-marier program, for passage to Canada in 1660. She would have been promised in marriage to Joseph Hébert. She was about 18 years old.
Marie-Charlotte DePoitiers' marriage to Joseph Hébert son of ancestor Guillaume Hébèrt, grandson of Louis Hébert, was relatively brief. Joseph was killed in Ontario by the Iroquois in 1662. He was about 26 years old. Joseph and Marie-Charlotte had a son, also named Joseph born in 1661, but he appears to have been deceased at the time of the 1666 census.
In January 1667, Marie-Charlotte DePoitiers married Simon LeFebvre who had arrived in Canada in the summer of 1665. LeFebvre was born in Compiègne, Picardy. He had been recruited to work as house master for the Tracy household. (Comme Maitre d'Hôtel de Tracy). Tracy was Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy. In 1664, he had been appointed lieutenant general of the French dominions in the New World.
Simon LeFebvre undoubtedly came as part of the entourage that surrounded Tracy and the young nobles who sailed with him. From author Costain, "Tracy was lodged in a house which had been reserved for court sessions and was called La Sénéchaussée. With him (Tracy) were the Chevalier de Chaumont, who was captain of his guard, and most of the volunteer noblemen; with them the valets and pages and cooks ..."
Info taken from "The White and the Gold", by Thomas B. Costain, p. 253.
Marie-Charlotte de Poitiers and Simon Lefebvre would have eight children. Through their youngest daughter, Marie-Charlotte Lefebvre they would become ancestors in the Lizotte line.
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Marie FAYET came from the parish of Saint-Sauveur in Paris. She was the daughter of a middle-class family, and was able to sign her name... hence she received some education.
Marie Fayet came to Canada as an unmarried woman in 1661. She was about 19 years old at the time. First mention of her in Québec is 9-21-1661 at the marriage contract of Anne Delaunay.
As part of her own marriage contract, Marie Fayet agreed to marry the colonist Jean Durand who owned territory in Cap Rouge. The contract was signed on October 3rd and then revoked on the following January 12th. The same month, Marie signed a contract to marry Charles Pouliot (Poulleau), but on reflection changed her mind. Again the agreement was revoked.
In July 1662, Marie Fayet married Nicolas Huot. Nicolas Huot dit Saint-Laurent was an illegitimate son of Laurent Huot, a merchant in the area of St. Loup, Auxerre, Bourgonne, France. Nicolas was educated and was able to sign his name.
Nicolas Huot arrived in Canada as a bachelor in 1658. First mention of him is 9-7-1658 in Québec at a sale of carpenter's goods.
During his life, he held these various positions: militiaman, furniture maker, bailiff, sergeant of the seigneurie of Beaupré, merchant, and fiscal procuror (procureur fiscal).
The couple had eleven children. The Huots are in the Lizotte line.
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Catherine FORESTIER (Fortier) was destined to become the mother of renowned fur trader, Maurice Ménard.
Soon after her arrival from LaRochelle in 1657, the 17-year old Catherine Forestier married Jacques Ménard, a wheelwright and master carpenter from Fontenay le Comte, Poitou. It appears he arrived at the same time. First mention of him in Canada is at his marriage contract to Catherine Forestier. After their marriage in November 1657, they settled in Trois-Rivières, an area where fur trading was a main activity. Ten months later, they had their first child, and would go on to have 13 children. Two of their children, above-mentioned Maurice Ménard, born in 1664, and a daughter Jeanne-Françoise Ménard, born 1669, are ancestors in the Cameron line.
In 1666, the family was at Trois-Rivières and had 2 domestics (contract workers) in their employ. In 1681, the family was at Boucherville where the census indicated Jacques Ménard possessed 2 rifles, 5 animals, and 7 arpents (acres) of useable land.
Catherine Forestier died in Boucherville in March of 1694 at the age of 54.
Jacques Ménard, who was 11 years older than Catherine, died in Boucherville in January 1707 at the age of about 78.
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Marie-Madeleine FRANÇOIS (or LeFrançois) was from Metz, Lorraine. Her father, Isaac François, was deceased when his daughter arrived in Canada in the summer of 1654. He had been the Captain of a Light Cavalry unit in France. First mention of Marie-Madeleine in Canada is 11-16-1654 at her marriage contract to Guillaume Thibault. She was not able to sign her name. In January 1655, they were married in Québec. She was about 20 and he was about 37.
At Marie-Madeleine François' marriage to Guillaume Thibault, she brought with her a dowry of 400 livres (pounds). She chose for her husband, a baker and a tailor who was the son of bourgeois parents from Rouen, Normandy. He was able to sign his name, therefore had some education.
Guillaume Thibault had first arrived unmarried in Canada in 1638, then he returned to France probably in 1639 where he lived until 1643. In April of that year, he signed a contract for three years at La Rochelle before Notary Teuleron for a pay of 100 livres a year with 60 livres given in advance. According to the contract, he was living in LaRochelle and working worked as a baker. From this, it can be determined that Marie-Madeleine's dowry of 400 livres was an attractive sum of money.
In 1650, Thibault was established in Chateau-Richer in the county of Montmorency. In December of that year, Olivier Letardif conceded land to Guillaume Thibault at Chateau Richer. Olivier Letardif was one of the sponsors of the 1643 voyage to Canada where many recruits had signed on. Letardif (or Tardif) was the manager of the company store for the Company of 100 Associates in Québec.
The 1666 census picked the family up as living in the Québec area. Thibault had in his employ a recruit named Robert Vaillancourt, a 23-year old coppersmith.
The census of 1667 showed that he owned 5 head of cattle and 15 arpents (acres) of land being farmed.
In February 1682, Thibault purchased the property of Simon Guyon who had recently died for the sum of 2000 livres (pounds).
Guillaume Thibault died at Chateau-Richer 8-21-1686 at the age of 64. On the 28th of April 1695, his estate worth 1175 livres were distributed to his children.
Marie-Madeleine François had a second marriage to François Fafard, a widower, in 1696.
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Jacqueline FRESLON arrived in Canada around 1662 as an unmarried woman. She was from Anjou, France. She is part of a group known as the filles à marier. As such, she signed a contract to marry François Grenier in France. Her husband-to-be, François Grenier arrived in Canada about the same time from LeMans, Maine, France. The first mention of either of them in Canada is 12-12-1662 in Québec at their marriage contract. They were married January 18th, 1663.
At the census of 1681, the Grenier family declared having 2 rifles, 7 horned cattle and 15 arpents (acres) of developed land.
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Geneviève GAMACHE was from Chartres, Beauce where she was born in 1636. She was one of three siblings living in the Québec area at the time of the 1666 census. They are an older brother, Jacques Gamache dit Lamare, age about 40, a habitant from Orléanais, and a brother, Nicolas Gamache dit Lamare, a bachelor from Orléanais.
Geneviève Gamache arrived in Canada in 1652. Her husband, Julien Fortin, had arrived earlier with a Robert Giffard group in 1650.
As part of Genevieve Gamache's dowry, Julien Fortin (who had been a butcher in France) was promised a job with one of the Gamache brothers.
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Marguerite GAULIN arrived in Canada in 1654 from Mortagne, Normandy. First mention of her in Québec is 9-13-1654 at her marriage to Jean Crête. Marguerite's younger brothers, François and Pierre Gaulin had arrived earlier. They were recruited by Michel LeNeuf du Hérisson 3-18-1649 in Tourouve, Normandy.
Marguerite Gaulin's husband, Jean Crête, was recruited on the same day as the Gaulin brothers. He contracted as a cartwright (charron) for three years for a pay averaging 80 livres per year, his passage to and from France paid, and food and lodging given for three years. He arrived in New France 8-23-1649 where he worked for Michel LeNeuf at Trois-Rivières.
The census of 1681 shows the family had 40 arpents under cultivation, 12 animals, 2 hunting rifles, and a servant, Marie-Agathe Chapacou.
Marguerite Gaulin died in 1703 during a smallpox epidemic. In 1702, three of ancestors Julien Fortin and Genevieve Gamache's (see above) adult children, aged 40, 38 and 36, had died in the same epidemic.
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Marie GIRAUD arrived in Canada from Saintes, Saintonge in the summer of 1662 where she would marry Abel Turcotte, a miller, who had arrived in Canada earlier in 1658.
According to various censuses, these are the jobs Abel Turcotte held to support his growing family after his marriage: miller (meunier) (1662, 1666, 1669, 1671), farmer of M. Levesque (fermier de M. Levesque) (1667), master flour maker and farmer (maître farinier et fermier) (1667, 1670, 1673, 1674, 1685).
Four years after their marriage, the moved to the parish of Ste. Famille on the Ile d'Orleans. At that time, Abel Turcotte had 4 contract-employed domestics. He seemed successful.
In 1668, Abel Turcotte acquired a concession of land on the Segneurie of Argentenay, on the Ile d'Orleans. He worked on the farm of Mgr. de Laval as a miller at fief Charny-Lirec.
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Catherine HUREAU married Jean LeMarché in Montreal in October 1654. It is not known exactly when Catherine Hureau arrived in France, but most likely it was 1654, and she was most likely among a group of filles à marier, who were young girls pledged to marry a settler in Canada. According to the census of 1666, she would have been about 15 at the time of her marriage. She was born in Anjou, France.
Jean LeMarché was a master furniture maker (maître menusier), who was able to sign his name. He came to Canada with the recruit of 1653 by Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière for Maisonneuve. He signed a contract on 3-25-1653 before Notary de La Fousse of La Flèche, to stay in Canada for the duration of 5 years and being paid an average of 100 livres per year, and given 137 livres in advance. After an many delays for refitting and an arduous voyage in a leaky ship, LeMarché arrived in Montréal in November of 1653.
Judging from the census, the family lived in the Montréal area until about 1664.
This appears to have been a hapless family. Five of Catherine Hureau's nine children had died before reaching adulthood. He youngest daughter, Marie-Madeleine was killed in 1691 when a soldier struck her with a pistol. She was 14 years old. By then, Catherine Hureau had been dead 11 years, as she died in 1680 at the age of about 41.
In 1695, Jean LeMarché is in France in 1695, and nothing indicates that he ever returned to Canada.
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Nathalie LANDREU was also known as Noelle Landreau or Landeau. She was born in March of 1638 in the province of Maine in France. Her first marriage was to Jean Baudouin with whom she had one daughter, Marie-Madeleine who was born in Trois Rivieres in 1662. It appears as if she was part of the recruitment initiative whereby women in France contracted to marry settlers in Canada, if so, Noëlle Landeau would have arrived in 1656 to marry Jean Baudouin. At that time, she would have been 18.
Nathalie-Noëlle Landreu's second marriage is to ancestor, Louis Tetreau of Poitou in June of 1663. With Tetreau, she had 9 more children, two of which are ancestors in the Cameron family.
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Elisabeth LeCAMUS was from the St. Sauveur parish or Paris where she was born about 1645. Her father was a merchant and doctor (médecin) in Paris.
Elisabeth arrived in Canada 9-29-1659 on the ship Saint André. She was part of the 'Recruit of 1659 for Montreal', and was one of the young girls sent over for the habitation by Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière. She was about 14 years old at the time. Her name on the passenger list is Isabel Camus.
A month later Elisabeth (or Isabel) was married to Louis Guertin of Anjou, a sabotier... a maker of wooden shoes, and a laborer. Louis Guertin was a settler from a previous recruit, la Grande recrue de 1653.
Guertin was about 20 years older than his bride.
Elisabeth LeCamus died in Montreal in July of 1680, three months after the birth of her last child at the age of 35 after having 11 children, two of which are ancestors in the Camirand line.
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Marie LeCLERC paid her own passage from Dieppe to Canada in 1661. She had been born in the parish of St. Remy in 1634. First mention of her in Canada is 9-15-1661 when she signed a marriage contract. It is noted that on 6-12-1661 in Dieppe just as she was about to board the ship to sail to Canada, she sold to her father a house that her mother had willed her at her death.
In October 1661, Marie married Jean-Galleran Boucher. Together, they had 8 children. The eldest, Marie Boucher, is an ancestor in the Lizotte line.
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Anne LEDET (or Leodet) arrived in Canada from LaRochelle in 1652 at the age of 21. Her parents do not appear to have been immigrants.
Anne Léodet's first marriage was to Jean Nepveu 1-28-1653. She had two daughters with Nepveu: ancestor Barbe Neveu who was born 12-3-1653, and Suzanne born in 1655.
Anne Léodet's second marriage was to Gilles Pinel 9-2-1657. Their first daughter, Catherine Pinel, is part of the Camirand line.
Jean Nepveu died sometime between 1655 and 1657 in France where he had returned. Apparently he had a wife in France, and he was banned from Canada for bigamy.
Anne Ledet lived out her life with Gilles Pinel and in so doing had nine children. She died in Neuville in December 1700, almost exactly a year after her husband, Gilles Pinel.
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Michelle LeFLOT arrived in Canada in 1654. She would have been a very young girl when she left France... perhaps 14 or 15 years old. Her husband, Jacques Perrot (Perrault) appears to have arrived at the same time. He was at least 10 years older than Michelle.
At any rate, they were married in August of 1654 in Québec and settled on land given him on the Ile d'Orleans by Charles de Lauzon Charny on 4-2-1656. Together, they had 10 children.
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Anne LeLABOUREUR was a from Bayeux, Normandy who arrived in Canada in 1656 at the age of about 26. She married Jean LeNormand, a young man, 7 years her junior, in Québec in July of that same year. He would have been 19 at the time of the marriage which is unusual for the time, but since he appears to have been an only child, and his father was a widower, the young LeNormand family might have moved in with Gervais.
Jean LeNormand was born in Igé, Normandy and came to Canada with his parents around 1647. He was a carpenter as was his father, Gervais LeNormand.
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Françoise LeLIÈVRE married Gabriel Gosselin in August 1653, so it can be assumed she arrived in Canada in the spring of 1653. She was born about 1636 in Nancy, Lorraine, France, so she would have been a young girl of 17 when she set out from France.
Her husband, Gabriel Gosselin had arrived in Canada in 1651 and settled on the Ile d'Orléans. In time, he became an important landower, owning several poperties in the Lower Town of Québec.
Together, they had 9 children.
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Anne LEMOINE (or Lemoyne) from Dieppe, Normandy arrived in Canada in 1657. She perhaps arrived with her sister, Jeanne. Her brothers Jacques and Charles Lemoyne appear to have been already in Montréal. All children of an innkeeper, Pierre Lemoine, in Dieppe, Anne was the youngest of this group of children, being 19 when she arrived in Canada
Her uncle, Adrien Duchesne (her mother's brother), had been a surgeon in Ville-Marie (Montréal) from the years 1631 to 1648, so Montréal was her destination. First mention of her in Montreal is 12-29-1657 where she is a witness to her sister's marriage contract.
In February 1658, she married Michel Messier, a fur trader.
He seems to have come to New France with Chomedey de Maisonneuve's contingent, which arrived at Ville-Marie in the middle of November 1653. Various relatives were already in Montréal. Although Messiers's name does not appear on the muster-roll of contract workers, he must have crossed the ocean with them, for on the 10th of December, 1653 he signed as a witness to the promise of marriage between his cousin, Catherine Thierry and Charles LeMoyne de Longueuil et de Châteauguay, Anne Lemoine's older brother.
In the autumn of 1654, three years before Anne Lemoine's arrival in Montréal, a young Michel Messier was captured by the Iroquois; he was set free the following summer and taken to Ville-Marie by a Mohawk captain named La Grande Armée, in a prisoner exchange of sorts.
Subsequently, Messier became interested in land clearing, and on 11-4-1657, when he was 19, he bought from Charles LeMoyne, his soon-to-be brother-in-law, for 900 livres, a 30-acre piece of land called la provençale. On 2-18-1658 before the notary Bénigne Basset and in the presence of the notables of the town, he signed his marriage contract with Anne LeMoyne.
In 1661, after a short respite, the Iroquois raids on Ville-Marie started up again. On March 24th, Michel Messier was again captured with a few settlers. He now was the father of a two-year old daughter, and Anne LeMoyne was pregnant. On June 22nd, eleven days after his second daughter was born, some Iroquois who had come to Montreal stated that Messier had been burned by the Onondagas and that they did not know whether he was still alive. Life in Montréal was never simple.
But at the end of 1663, he was back again with his family after having made his escape. In August of 1665, Anne LeMoyne had a third daughter. In November of the same year, the Sulpicians signed over to him a 30-acre piece of land above the one that he already owned. The 1667 census shows him as having 7 head of cattle and 30 acres under cultivation. On 5-14-1668, Messier and his brother-in-law Jacques LeMoyne de Sainte-Marie received conjointly the fief of Cap-de-la-Trinité, which they divided between them on 8-1-1676. Messier's portion was called Cap-Saint-Michel.
Above information taken from website Biography Canada, www.biographi.ca
Both Anne Lemoine and Michel Messier died in 1725 in Varennes... both were 87 years old.
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Jeanne LeROUGE arrived in Canada in 1653 from the parish of St. Dizier, Joinville, Champagne, France. She would have been 28 at the time. She married Louis Carreau in April 1654. He was a master tailor from Bordeaux, Guyenne. In time, they would have 8 children, 3 of whom would die within a month of their birth. So, they brought up 5 children, ancestor Marie Carreau among them.
The census of 1666 indicated she could sign her name, Louis Carreau, however, could not. They were living in the Québec area with their four little girls.
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Mathurine LeROUX arrived in Canada as a 17-year old girl from the parish of Notre-Dame des Cougnes, LaRochelle in 1652. First mention of her in Canada is in Québec in August 8, 1652 at her marriage contract with Gabriel Rouleau. They were officially married soon after. Gabriel Rouleau dit SansSoucy was a settler and a militiaman who departed Tourouvre, Normandy for Canada in 1649, a recruit of Pierre Boucher from whom he took orders. He was 36 when he arrived in Canada and 39 when he married Mathurine LeRoux.
Around 1652, Gabriel Rouleau received a land grant from Robert Giffard where he hastily built a log house. On August 12, 1653, his first born daughter, Louise, was baptized in Québec City. A first boy named Jean is also baptized in Quebec city on March 14, 1655. The war between rival Indian tribes intensified so much that at the end of August 1656, a fire, presumably caused by hostile Indians, burned down the Rouleau house and the two children of the couple perished in the flame.
A little time after this harsh misfortune, the Rouleau couple decided to establish a new household in Ste-Famille, Île d' Orléans, on a piece of land conceded by Charles de Lauzon, Lord (seigneur) of Charny-Lirec. Gabriel built a house there and undertook the clearing of the ground.
After Rouleau's death in February 1673 which occured months before the birth of their last child, Mathurine LeRoux married a second time to Martin Mercier, in February of 1674 in Ste. Famille, Ile d'Orleans. Mercier was 11 years younger than she. Together they had 4 children. With this, Mathurine LeRoux had given birth to 17 children.
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Jeanne LeROY (or Roy) was from Angers, Anjou and about 25 years old when she arrived in Canada in 1651. In November of the same year, she married a widower, Jean Millouer (or Milloir) in November 1651. He had been in Canada since 1638. Jean Millouer dit Dumaine's first marriage was to Barbe Hubou in 1642. They had no children.
First mention of Jean Millouer in Canada is 12-12-1638 as the servant of Pierre Legardeur. On that date, he was accused by Pierre Legardeur of stealing. (This is according to Michel Langlois, Dictionnaires biographique des ancêtres québécois.)
Jeanne LeRoy had three daughters with Jean Millouer. The eldest, Jeanne-François Millouer born in January 1653 is an ancestor in the Cameron line.
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Renée LOPPÉ arrived in Canada in 1658, the year she married. She married Jean Valiquet 9-23-1658, at which time she was about 15 years old. Jean Valiquet, the son of a notary and a lawyer, was able to sign his name.
Valiquet and his cousin, Mathurin Langevin belonged to the syndicate of Montréal Habitants (Settlers) called Habitants de Montréal recruited by M. de la Dauversière. Valiquet was a 21-year-old bachelor at the time. He had arrived in Montréal as part of la Grande recrue de 1653. Valiquet contracted to remain in the country 5 years. He was a gunsmith, locksmith, roofer farmer and land clearer. He signed on to the venture as a militiaman.
In 1663, Valiquet was a corporal of the militia in the Ste. Famille Militia created by Maisonneuve in 1663. He was considered one of the most courageous defenders of Montréal.
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Françoise MÉRY was born in Tourouvre, Normandy around 1613, and arrived in Canada in 1636 at the age of about 23. Although some genealogists state Françoise Mery originally came from Tourouvre, there has been no proof or trace of the family in that parish. At any rate, she was to marry Antoine Brassard in January of 1637 in Qúebec. Their marriage contract is the first mention of either she or her husband as being in Canada.
Antoine Brassard was a master mason supposedly from Normandy, but that could not be verified either. It is presumed that he arrived in Canada in 1636 as a clerk for the Company of 100 Associates.
The family is listed on the 1666 Talon census as living in the Québec area. At that time he was a habitant and a master mason. During Antoine Brassard's lifetime, he was known to be: a mason (1637), a domestic servant (1642) and a master mason (1666 and 1668), a domestic servant (1642) .
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Françoise MORIN was a young woman from the parish of St. Jean-du-Perrot in LaRochelle. She would have been about 21 at the time of her arrival in Canada in 1647. Her first marriage was to Antoine Pelletier in August 1647 in Québec, who died (drowned) in October of the same year. There were no children.
Françoise Morin then married Étienne Demers in January of 1648. He originated from Dieppe, Normandy and would have arrived in Canada in 1646 with his brothers Jean and André. Robert Giffard gave Étienne Demers his first employment.
After their marriage, the couple settled in Montréal where their first child was born. The other 8 children were born in the Québec area, so it can be assumed the couple resettled. Around 1662, the then governor Pierre Dubois d'Avaugour granted Demers a place in the Lower Town of Québec. In 1678, Demers sold the location to his brother, Jean. The concession consisted of an incompleted house.
Françoise Morin and Étienne Demers would have 9 children, a son Clement-Étienne Demers would be an ancestor in the Cameron family.
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Marie PAVIE (or Pavit) was part of the recruit from LaRochelle 4-10-1657. She was originally from Château d'Oléron, a fortified town in Saintonge dating back to before the 12th century when Eleanor of Aquitaine ordered a castle to be built to protect the island of Oléron from hostilities.
Marie Pavie was 21 years old when she agreed to work for three years for the compensation of 45 livres (pounds) per year with an advance of 30 pounds. She left laRochelle on the 18th of April on the ship Le Taureau, and arrived in Québec on the 22th of June. On the 19th of August a marriage contract was written up where she agreed to marry Jean-Baptiste Migneron dit Petitjean from Poitou. The couple had 7 children. Marie Pavie was hospitalized several times at l 'Hotel-Dieu in Québec (1694, 1696, 1700, and 1709) She died at Sainte-Foy, Canada in May of 1713 at the age of 77.
Marie Pavie shared this voyage with ancestor, Anne Boyer. Two of six women who sailed that day. The principal owner of Le Taureau was ancestor François Péron.
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Élisabeth RADISSON from the parish of Saint-Suplice in was the sister of the famous woodsman (coureur des bois), Pierre-Esprit Radisson. She arrived in Canada around 1657 as an unmarried individual. She was able to sign her name. First mention of her in Canada is 8-7-1657 in Trois Rivieres when she was the godmother of Marie-Anne Chouard or Chouart. This child might have been the daughter of Elisabeth Radisson's half-sister, Marguerite who was married to the other of the famous pair of explorers, Médart Chouart des Groseilliers. Élisabeth Radisson's parents had arrived in 1646 with the other children.
Élisabeth Radisson married Claude Jutras in November of 1657 in Trois-Rivières. Claude Jutras dit LaVallée was considered a bourgeois (member of the middle-class). He was a soldier at the garrison at Trois-Rivières in 1657 when the couple married. Jutras had apparently arrived in Canada in 1656. First mention of him in Canada is 3-21-1657 at Trois-Rivières at the purchase of a place in Trois Rivières (achat d'une place au bourg de Trois-Rivières).
The couple would have 9 children, a middle child, Élisabeth Jutras who married Pierre Mouët is an ancestor in the Cameron line.
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Marie ROCHERON was from the parish of St. Côme-de-Vair, LeMans, Maine, France. The daughter of a mason, she arrived in Canada around 1657 with her brothers, Simon and Gervais (a mason) Rocheron. The three of them were unmarried. First mention of Marie Rocheron in Canada is 8-19-1657 at Quebec at her marriage contract.
Marie Rocheron, married François Gaulin dit Gosselin, in Québec in 1657. Her husband arrived had arrived in Canada around 1652.
On the 1666 Talon census, the origin of the Rocherons is listed as Maine, France.
Marie Rocheron's parents both died in France and were never in Canada. Her father died in 1652 and her mother died in 1650.
François Gaulin arrived in Canada from Mortagne, Normandy in 1649. He was 19 at the time and a bachelor. He and his brother, Pierre Gaulin, and John Creste had been recruited my Michel LeNeuf. His sister, Marguerite who married Jean Creste came at a later time.
First mention of François Gaulin in Canada is 1-4-1653 when he acquired a concession of land.
The François Gaulin household is listed on the 1666 Talon census as existing in the Québec area. At the time, he was considered a settler (habitant).
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Catherine SIMONET-LaTOUR (or LaTour-Simonet, or Delatour dite Simonet) originated from the parish of Saint Eustache in Paris where she had been born around 1639. She arrived in Canada in 1659. First mention of her is in Québec at her marriage contract in November of that year to Jean Cordeau dit Deslauriers. He was a baker from Dangeau, Chateaudun, Beauce, France. It appears he had arrived in 1659 as well.
It seems the family went by both names or the hyphenated DesLauriers-Cordeau. On the 1666 census, Jean DesLauriers is listed as Jean Cordeau-DesLauriers.
The LaTour-Simonet/Cordeau-DesLauriers' marriage turned out to be illegal since he already had a wife in France.
Catherine Simonet-Latour died in 1678 on the Ile d'Orleans seven years after the birth of her last child.
Jean Cordeau-DesLauriers died sometime between 2-3-1678 and 1-21-1681.
Together they had 5 children.
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Jeanne SOLDÉ (Saulde) arrived in Canada as part of la Grande recrue de 1653. She was from LaFlèche, Anjou. Her husband-to-be, Jacques Beauvais, was from the parish of Saint Martin d'Igé, Normandy... in the Perche region. He had arrived in Canada in 1652 as part of the Percheron Immigration. First mention of him in Canada was in Québec on 9-16-1652, when he signed an obligation to merchant, Charles Sevestre before notary Audouart.
Jacques Beauvais was a maker of quick-lime a chaufournier
Jeanne Soldé, married Jacques Beauvais dit St. Gemme in Montréal in January of 1654, two months after she arrived there.
The couple had nine children. The eight child, ancestor Marie-Étienette, born in 1669, married the notary, Jean-Baptiste Pothier in 1753.
Jeanne Soldé and Jacques Beauvais' son, Jean-Baptiste Beauvais born in 1662 was a well-known fur trader in the forts around the Great Lakes.
Jacques Beauvais died in Montréal in 1691, Jeanne Soldé died sometime after November 1697, also in Montréal.
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Marguerite THOMAS was from Stavelot, Liège, Belgium, and about 21 years old when she arrived in Canada in the summer of 1655. Jean-Pierre Trudel was a cotton weaver from the parish of Notre-Dame in Parfindeval, La Chèverie, Orne (Perche), Normandy. In November of 1655, they were married in Chateau Richer, PQ
Trudel had arrived in Canada as a bachelor in 1652 from the Perche area of Normandy, and is considered part of the Percheron Immigration. First mention of his in Québec is 11-13-1655 at his marriage contract. They young family lived in Québec, and in 1657, established themselves at l'Ange-Gardien on land acquired from M. LeGardeur de Repentigny.
Jean-Pierre Trudel died in November of 1699 in l'Ange-Gardien. Marguerite Thomas died in August of 1695 at the same place. Together they had 11 children, the eldest, Jeanne Trudel is an ancestor in the Cameron line.
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Marie-Madeleine TRIOT was born in the parish of St. Nicolas-des-Champs, Paris around 1641. She left France for Canada in 1658 where she married Charles LeFrançois in September 1658 in Québec.
Charles LeFrançois had arrived in Canada around 1657 from a farming village called Muchedent which is about 13 miles south of Dieppe, Normandy. First mention of him in Canada is 9-19-1657 in Quebec when he was a witness to the marriage contract of Pierre Tremblay and Ozanne Achon. Charles LeFrançois was somewhat educated since he could sign his name.
The couple had 13 children... their fourth daughter, Marguerite LeFrançois is an ancestor in the Cameron line.
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Marie TROTIN arrived in Canada in 1662 from Poitou, France as an unmarried woman. She was about 16 years old at the time. Her father, Jean Trotin was a weaver. First mention of Marie Trotin in Canada is 11-21-1662 in Québec at her marriage contract to Michel Bouchard. The couple married in Chateau Richer, PQ.
Marie Trotin could not sign her name.
Michel Bouchard left LaRochelle, France for Canada 3-22-1657. At the time, he was about 21 years old and was unmarried. This was a time when New France was under the control of religious orders and was self-governed. It was a dangerous place and recruits were hard to come by.
The Bouchard family is listed on the 1666 census as living in the Québec area. He was a habitant and brother of Nicolas Bouchard who arrived in Canada the same year. Nicolas Bouchard is an ancestor in the Cameron line.
Marie Trotin died sometime between 1678, the birth of her eighth and last child, and 1682, the year her husband remarried.
In 1690, Michel Bouchard was an inn keeper in Québec. In October 1690, he along with his three sons, Étienne, François and Pierre, participated in routing Phips' army at Rivière Ouelle.
Source for much of the information on the above settlers is website le Programme de recherche sur l'émigration des Français en Nouvelle France (PRÉFEN). Link: www.unicaen.fr/mrsh/prefen/formPion.php
