In my post About those famous “cousins” I mentioned that 15 of our ancestors are listed on the plaque commemorating Lés Premiers Colons de Québec on the Hebert Monument in Quebec city.
posted with the kind permission of Robert Jackson from Duval Family History http://www.sophocles.com/duval/index.html
In my previous posts I’ve told you a little bit about all of them. They are:
Abraham Martin and Marguerite Langlois
Olivier le Tardif
Jean Guyon and Mathurine Robin
Zacharie Cloutier and Xaintes Dupont
Gaspard Boucher and Nicole LeMarie (misspelled as Nicholas)
Marin Boucher and Perrine Mallet
Robert Drouin and Anne Cloutier
Francois Belanger and Marie Guyon
There are a few other early French immigrants to mention. The first is Jean Cauchon, a Girardin ancestor, born about 1591 in Dieppe, Normandy, died July 11, 1673 in Château-Richer. His wife was Jeanne Abraham born around 1603 in Normandy and died in 1667 in Château–Richer. Jeanne was his second wife and the family came to New France sometime between 1636 and 1640. I cannot find a definite date for their arrival (nor a plaque with their names!). Their son, Jacques Cauchon dit Lamothe, married Barbe Letardif, daughter of Oliver Le Tardif.
Another Girardin ancestor that came in 1636 was Michel Leneuf du Hérisson. He was from Normandy and became an important figure in Trois-Rivières, being a Seigneur, and a royal judge. He and his brother held many important government positions. Unfortunately, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography states:
“When the Leneuf brothers had the control of the key offices which they had sought for a long time, their abuses involved them in numerous difficulties.”
One of their abuses was their lucrative involvement in the selling of liquor to the natives. Not all our ancestor’s stories are noble ones.
Michel’s daughter Anne is our ancestor. We do not know who her mother is, and she is generally presumed to be an illegitimate daughter. At the age of four she came to New France with her father and extended family. She married Antoine Desrosiers, a carpenter, on November 24, 1647. Their marriage contract was a most interesting document. Laforest tells us in Our French Canadian Ancestors (Vol. 2 Chapter 8) that her father promised:
“a dowry of 500 livres in cash, plus two suits of clothes, a mattress with bolster, two blankets and twelve sheets, six tablecloths, three dozen napkins, twelve plates, twelve dishes, and a pot, all of pewter; the best one of three pregnant heifers and a pregnant sow”.
How practical is that!
Anne had eight children and died in 1711 at the age of 78.
Our descent from Leneuf to Mémère:
1-Michel LENEUF DU HERISSON (abt 1601-1672)
2-Anne LENEUF DU HERISSON (abt May 1633-1711)
+Antoine DESROSIERS (1620-1691)
3-Marie DESROSIERS (1650-1722)
+Alexandre RAUX (1633-1692)
4-Marie Claire RAUX dit ALEXANDRE (bef 1680-1756)
+Pierre DUBORD FONTAINE (bef 1671- 1756)
5-Antoinette DUBORD-LAFONTAINE (1715-1772)
+Nicolas RIVARD-LORANGER (1698-1760)
6-Genevieve RIVARD-LORANGER (1744-1810)
+Augustin GIRARDIN (1741-1810)
7-Charles GIRARDIN (1773-1853)
+Josephte LESIEUR (1778-1864)
8-Paul GIRARDIN (1801-1878)
+Marie Louise BERNARDIN (1824-1912)
9-Napoleon GIRARDIN (1851-1929)
+Onesime ALLARD (1852-1896)
10-Marie Emma GIRARDIN (1878-1979)
As Canadian as can be 