Germain Gautier dit St-Germain
1647-1719
(This text is presented as published by Armand Gauthier in the "Mémoires de la Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française" vol. XXX- jan-fév-mar 1979)
"The origin
Germain Gauthier dit St-Germain was born in Beaubec, Bray, Normandy, around 1647 (1). He stated being 34 years old at the 1681 census. His father who was a weaver named also Germain and his mother was Louise Viollard (2). The family already lived in the Bray area in the middle of the XVI century. On March 14, 1575, the prior of the Abbey of Beaubec granted Estienne Gautier, by an act passed before lawyers in Rouen, an emphyteutic lease on the land of La Balletière.
The registers of Beaubec, unfortunately, are extremely incomplete and they do not make it possible to trace our Germain to Estienne. They start in 1505 and stop in 1598; then they begin again around 1664. From then on, the enumeration of the baptisms, marriages and burials continues until 1793 and then they stop again. There is thus a " hole " of some 65 years at one crucial period for the identification of the ascendance of close relations of Germain Gauthier. On the other hand, starting in 1664, mention is made of many Gautier or Gauthier, and in particular, of a certain "Antoine Gautier, deceased on 16 October 1689, 87 years old, who gave to the this church (Beaubec) the sum of fifty "livres" (pounds) to say prayers for him". A bronze plate fixed to the wall of the aforementioned church commemorates the foundation of a trust of thirty "livres" (pounds) made by "The Honourable Antoine Gautier, merchant and former treasurer of this church ".
The registers indicate that many Gautiers were godfathers and godmothers, which proves that this family was well known and surely held in great esteem. It is noteworthy that there were still, in 1975, Gautiers living in this area of Normandy, in particular at Forges-les-Eaux, where Mr. Alain Gautier and his father, an antique dealer, resided.
In New France
In all probability and according to historian Régis Roy and Gérard Malchosse(3) Germain Gauthier came to Canada in 1665 as a soldier in the regimentof Carignan-Salières, and would have been in the Companie de M.de Contrecoeurr. It, along with seven others, was the last group of soldiers which left La Rochelle at the end of May 1665 under the command of colonel Salières himself. The crossing was long and difficult and the troops arrived in Quebec only on the 17th of August. Montreal was then the hot point in the war of extermination that the Iroquois were carrying out against the colonist French, and the eight companies had to get there without delay. The first group which had arrived in middle of June had been employed in the construction of a fort at Chambly, the first obstacle on the road of invasion.
History has given us an account of
the work and expeditions of the regiment of Carignan in this country. These were, as is
known, made up of half failures. It remains however that if this military intervention did
not reach the objectives of Mr. Tracy of destroying the Iroquois, it did cool their
quarrelsome ways considerably and raised the morale of the colonists who could from now on
expect more peaceful days. But the most positive and long term result of the arrival of
the famous regiment in Canada, was the addition to the population provided by those
officers and soldiers who chose to remain here as settlers. This is what Germain Gautier
did. (4)
The obscure period
However, one does not find a trace of him before 1677...What happened to him during the nine years following his release from the army? Did he go back to France only to return later? It may be that he preferred the rifle of the adventurer to the axe of the settler, did he become a "coureur des bois"... Who knows?
His marriage
Nevertheless, on June 27, 1677, Germain Gautier contracted in front of Me Benigne Basset, notary royal on the island of Montreal, a marriage contract with Jeanne Beauchamp, daughter of Jacques Beauchamp and Marie Dardenne. Assisting the groom were: Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur, esquire, Sieur de Repentigny, Pierre Picard, Roch Thouin, Jean Letellier and Jean Le Brodeur "all inhabitants of the seigniory of Repentigny ". As for the future wife, the witnesses were Jacques Beauchamp and Marie Dardenne, her father and mother, Pierre Dardenne, her grandfather, Pierre Larrivée, her brother-in-law, husband of Denise Beauchamp, her sister, Jean Beauchamp, her paternal uncle, René Dardenne, her maternal uncle and Françoise Barbery, his wife, François Bau and Jean Lafond dit Lafontaine.
The couple were marrying under the system in use at the time, that is, that of community of goods and the Beauchamp parents promised to pay to them in advance of an inheritance, the sum of three hundred "livres" (pounds) payable in five equal annual payments. The contract was signed at Pointe-aux-Trembles in the house of Jacques Beauchamp (gr. Basset, June 27 1677).
As for the wedding blessing, it was given less than a month later, at Pointe-aux-Trembles in the house of François Bau which served for the celebration of the worship until the blessing of the first chapel in March 1678. The act is recorded as follows in the register of the parish of Saint-Enfant Jésus.
"On the 19th of July 1677 has been done and solemnized the marriage of Germain Gautier, inhabitant of the seigniory of Repentigny, son of Germain Gauthier, of the parish of Beaubec, diocese of Rouen, Bray, Normandy, and Louise Viollard, his father and mother and of Jeanne Beauchamp, daughter of Jacques Beauchamp, inhabitant of "Côte de St-Jean", on the island of Montreal and of Marie Dardenne, her father and mother. The banns having been published for each side without opposition. The aforementioned marriage made in the presence of Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur, esquire, Sieur of Repentigny, Roc Toin, Jean Beauchan, René Dardenne and other parents and friends of both parties, witness:
Repentigny
Séguenot, parish priest of Pointe-aux-Trembles otherwise known as l`Enfant-Jésus." (as translated from the French)
The young bride was to be fourteen years old on July 30 of the same year and Germain Gauthier was thirty. The Beauchamp and Dardennes were from the La Rochelle area having come to New-France to the seigniory of Repentigny.
The two documents mentioned above, the contract and the act of marriage of Germain Gauthier, reveal that he was, in 1677, beholden to Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur, Sieur de Repentigny. Since when? It has not been possible to establish, the act of concession not having been found. It may well be that his land was conceded to him at the same time as five other colonists by virtue of a contract deposited before the notary Thomas Frérot, on March 20 1673 and which does not show the names of those who received a concession. What is certain, is that mention is made of our man in a statement produced by Sieur de Repentigny with the "Acte de Foy et Hommage" (similar to renewing allegiance) received by Bénigne Basset on September 15, 1677. In the list of landowners, Germain Gauthier comes in third place, that is, after the seugneurial domain and Pierre Rivière. The paragraph which applies to him reads as follows: "Germain Gauthier has three acres frontage by twenty in depth, he must pay three "livres" (pounds) silver and three capons in quota and one "sol" in rent". (Consent and enumeration of the land, stronghold and seigniory of Repentigny: 1677). And the document continues with the enumeration of the colonists then thirty in number in the seigniory.
Thus, it is on the current site of the village of Repentigny that our ancestor first had hearth and home. The seigniory, where he established himself, had been conceded by the Company of New-France to Pierre Le Gardeur on April 16,1647. It then measured four miles frontage by six in depth and it remained without clearing and without change in area until 1670, the year in which it was shared between Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur and his brother Charlesde Villiers de La Chenaie. Under the terms of various contracts, Jean-Baptiste Le Gardeur ends up keeping as his seigniory only the spit of land ranging between the St-Lawrence river and the river Assomption. 1670 saw the building of a small manor and it is probably the year where concession of land started. The Consent and enumeration of the land of 1677 made mention, we saw, of thirty grantees but four years later, in the census of 1681, there were no more than twenty-two households for a population of one hundred fourteen people. The Gauthier family was among this number. One reads in B. Sulte the following indications:
" Germain Gautier 34 years; Jeanne Beauchamp, his wife 20;(5) Denise, their daughter 2; 2 guns; 4 horned beasts; 11 acres of developed land" (6)
In spite of their shortness, these three lines show us invaluable information. It is learned that indeed Denise, the eldest of the children was born in Repentigny in 1679. Since the register of the parish does not mention her baptism, one sees the importance of this note of the census taker. In the second place, it is known as that Germain Gauthier had eleven acres in value. However, that year, 1681, of the 21 landowners one counts in the seigniory of Repentigny, two had twelve acres in value and two had eleven. the 17 others, in general, had appreciably less. One can thus reasonably conclude that being among the most advanced in clearing his concession, Germain Gauthier had been among the first to obtain land from the Sieur de Repentigny.
In spite of its small size, it was a beautiful seigniory where he established himself, but it was prone to frequent incursions of Iroquois. Here is what Gédéon de Catalogne wrote in 1712:
"The Coast (of the seigniory of Repentigny) is beautifully plain with several islands in front and produces in abundance all kind of grain and vegetables. The wood, in solid ground, is a mix of many species. The Iroquois have destroyed one of its inhabitants and delayed during several year its establishment and it was on this seigniory that M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil, routed, in 1691, a party of these islanders and who forced all the nation to sue for peace". (7)
In Boucherville
As is seen, the start of the seigniory of Repentigny were difficult and the incursions of the Iroquois surely contributed to create and maintain a climate of uncertainty. However, at the same time, on the opposite bank of the St-Lawrence, opposite Longue-Pointe, another seigniory, that of Boucherville, was being colonized. Its owner, Pierre Boucher, was actively working to ensure its settlement and progress. Moreover, there was communication between the two groups of pioneers. From 1687 or so, the territory of Repentigny was generally served by a missionary who, at the beginning at least, was that of Boucherville, so that people of northern bank of the river heard about what occurred on the southern bank.
Lastly, among the first settlers of Boucherville was Pierre Larrivée, brother-in-law of Germain Gauthier. Thus he had reason to think it would be to his advantage to move to a surer place and a more promising future.
It should be said here that two other children: Jean, baptized on January 10, 1682 and Pierre, baptized on November 10, 1684, now brought to five the number of the members of the Gauthier family dit St-Germain.
When precisely did he move from Repentigny to Boucherville? It was a deed done at the beginning of the summer of 1687. Certainly, the register of the parish of the Holy Family indicates that on June 13 of that year, Marie-Francoise Gauthier, daughter of Germain Gautier, inhabitant of Boucherville, and Jeanne Beauchamp, his wife was was baptized there.
However, it is only in the autumn of that year (1687), that he sold his land in Repentigny. Indeed, by an act received by Me Michel Moreau, he ceded to Jean Rumilly, a soldier of the company of Mr. Dorvilliers,
"a dwelling situated within the seigniory of Repentigny consisting of three acres frontage by twenty in depth on the shore of the St-Lawrence river, on which there is a house, adjoining on one side Pierre Rumilly and on the other Jean-Baptiste Fleuricourt, in front on the aforementioned river, and behind on land not yet conceded".
This sale was made for the sum of 300 "livres" (pounds) in funds (gr. Moreau, Oct. 1 1687).
However, it seems that Jean Rumilly, who was unmarried, died shortly after this deal, so that not having been paid or only in part, Germain Gauthier took back his land in Repentigny as stipulated in the contract. Thus he sold it a second time. The buyer was Antoine Brane dit Bourdelais and the contract was received by Jean-Baptiste Fleuricourt, on April 2, 1688, under No 20 of his minutes.
It is obvious that Germain Gauthier had definitively left Repentigny. Boucherville will be, from now, on his new home, the land where his family will grow new roots and to which his descendants will refer with pride as the cradle of their Canadian ancestors.
In 1681, there was, in Boucherville, 39 families and 79 souls. Three hundred and twenty-two acres of land where seed could be sown: "it was one of the most beautiful seigniories of New-France". Where did Germain Gauthier first settle his home? No contract, lease, engagement or sale dated that year reveal it. If, at that time, as was the case at the beginning of the seigniory, the colonists still lived "at the fort" to shield their families from the attacks of the Iroquois, he may have lived at Pierre Larrivée's place, his brother-in-law, who had land close to the borough. One knows however with certainty that in the spring of 1690 the family lived at the Côte de St-Joseph (St-Joseph`s hill). Indeed, in that year, Jacques Foucher dit Laviolette sold, to Louis Témoings dit Jolibois, his dwelling located at Côte St-Joseph neighbouring on one side Germain Gauthier (...,5-4-1690). One year later, March 14, 1691, the act of baptism of a boy, François, is shown in the register of the parish of Sainte-Famille, confirming that his parents, Germain Gauthier and Jeanne Beauchamp lived on the Côte de St-Joseph.
The name of "Côte de St-Joseph" does
not exist anymore and has not for a long time. At the time of Pierre Boucher, and still in
the middle of the 18th century, it applied to the dwellings and lands along to the river
and some 25 acres inland in back of farms at the "front" and to the east of the
borough.
This row was then indicated by the name of
Chemin-du-Lac or Second Rang (road to the lake or second road). It has now been renamed
Boulevard Général Vanier.
It is thus on land not yet conceded that, with the accord of Mr. Boucher and perhaps on approval, German Gauthier settles on his arrival at Boucherville in 1687. However, fourteen years would go by before he obtains a concession in due form. And still, the contract contained certain preliminary arrangements which perhaps clarify the reason for this length of time. Indeed, on April 6, 1700, an agreement was reached between Mr. Boucher and our man by virtue of which the lord of Boucherville recognized:
"having promised and given to the said
Gauthier dit St-Germain, one hundred acres of land, for which he will give him a Contract
at the earliest, sitting at the end of the land of Roger Latouche, after the four acres in
front, which will then make ten acres, will then be taken, starting at the boundary mark
laid by M. de ratisson Between the aforementioned St-Germain and François picard and all
those things. The whole will belong to the said St-Germain in accordance with the
agreement he made with the
aforementioned Latouche and the brook which flows
into the "Lac au Cotté" (lake on this side) of the front separating the said
Germain Gauthier and Latouche and the end of the "poutente" (them things)
terminating at the line of Joseph Charbonneau, providing that the aforementioned
St-Germain holds his bargain with the said Latouche all this being one hundred acres in
area". (gr. Tailhandier, No 25)
This typical part of the prose of the notary
Tailhandier, in spite of its absence of punctuation, its whimsical orthography, its
archaic syntax and its repetitions and its confusion informs us that Germain Gauthier was,
at the time of this agreement, in possession of most of the land of the Côte de
St-Joseph; then, that Mr. Boucher had promised to him and to all intents and
purposes, conceded verbally or by promissory note,
one hundred acres of land; then that the concession of Roger Latouche ended before that
which had been promised to Gauthier; finally, that to carry out his promise, Sieur Boucher
was to recover from Latouche a parcel of land to be taken at the end of his
concession to give to Germain Gauthier.
Two days after the signature of this agreement, Pierre Boucher and Roger Latouche proceeded with an exchange thus,
"The aforementioned Latouche has leased from the the Sieur Boucher here present and accepting all the land on the other side of the middle of the Lake and other side of the lake and creek which is in the roadway of the said Lake...finally, all the land in the island of the three ash trees to able the Sieur Boucher to cede it to Germain Gauthier dit St-Germain the said land adjoins land that Sieur Boucher wants to give to the said St-Germain so that the said St-Germain will be able to enjoy and use it as he will as his own good and real heritage ".
In a mutual exchange Roger Latouche received another piece of land equivalent to that which he had yielded (gr. Tailhandier, 8-4-1701).
It must be, undoubtedly, that Mr. Boucher did not hold German Gauthier in low esteem to agree thus in his favour with these steps and these arrangements. One notes to which degree he wanted to see his people established with suitability and convenience. No other impediment was in the way of making a contract for the promised concession. The act was signed on the following day, April 9, 1701. Mr. Boucher granted to Germain Gauthier:
"... a concession located on the Côte de St-Joseph containing One hundred ten acres of land or Approximately In surface of four acres frontage On twenty Five in depth being on the front and at the end of the Concessions of the aforesaid notary and bernard jouachim dit Laverdure and Roger Latouche living at Ladevanture... "
In addition, to make the one hundred
and ten acres, a point delimited in the North-East by the brook which is in the area of
the small lake, called the Island of the three Ashes. The concession was dependent upon a
non redeemable seigniorial rent of one hundred "sols" and twelve
"deniers" in rent and four
live capons or their true value as the lord wishes,
and moreover, for the aforementioned point of land, payable each one year on the day of
St-Martin, eleventh of November (gr. Tailhandier, No 53).(8)
Labour and danger, joys and mourning
Germain Gauthier was to remain eleven more years on his land on the Côte de St-Joseph. He had to continue clearing with even more diligence because the land henceforth belonged to him in good and due form and he could still count for a few years on the young and solid arms of its older sons: Jean and Pierre.
One would like to be able to
visualize how these years at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of 18th
were like, the everyday life of our ancestors and the particular framework of life. One
would like especially to know what they thought, what they felt in their hearts and as
said Montaigne, "their morals and manners, their perseverance, their daily
thoughts ". Our time is, in so many aspects, so far and so different from theirs
and so many bridges have been cut with the past that it is quite
difficult for us to imagine what it was like. It
could be in no way an easy, idle and comfortable existence. To cut down the forest, to
clear the ground, remove the stones, to drain it. To "make new land" has
never been an entertainment, it was their hard, ungrateful and ceaseless occupation.
Let us not forget either that
Boucherville just like Repentigny,
Pointe-aux-Trembles, Longueuil and Ville-Marie, had
to undergo, from 1691 especially, many and forceful attacks from the Iroquois. The year
1695 was particularly harmful for the inhabitants of this seigniory. According to
tradition, the attackers, after having come up the Richelieu river up to Sorel, went up
the St-Lawrence to the mouth of the Rivière-aux-Pins (Pine River) near the
boundary between Varennes and Boucherville, then they followed it up to the Small Lake.
From there, they passed by a short portage to the Sabrevoix river thus circumventing the
borough from behind and then they returned to the river upstream of Boucherville. However,
the Gauthier family whose habitation faced the small lake were particularly exposed to
surprises from the Indians and one can imagine the alarm that Germain and his wife had to
feel in these dangerous years!
But did they know, at the time, that they were
making histoiry?(9)
However the years passed. Denise, the oldest of the children reached her twenty-first year; it was high time to marry her. On November 8, 1700, she married, at Boucherville, Philippe Payet, son of Pierre Payet dit St-Amour and of Louise Tessier, of Pointe-aux-Trembles. Philippe was the oldest of the Payet children and his father had spent three years as a captive of the Onéyouths after having fallen into their hands at the time of the attack on Fort Coulée in 1690. As for his mother, she was the sixth child of Urbain Tessier, one of the pioneers of Ville-Marie. This first marriage established between the Gauthier St-Germain and two highly regarded families of Montreal, the Payet and the Tessier, the links which were going to be tightened by the union of three of the brothers of Denise with grand-daughters of Urbain Tessier.
Unfortunately, Philippe Payet died three years after his marriage and Denise Gauthier remained widowed and without children. (10) She returned a few years later to live in Boucherville with her parents and her presence and assistance were undoubtedly invaluable to her mother whose family duties were heavy. In the year 1703, Agnès, the youngest was two. Michel was four; Jacques seven; François, 12; Marie-Francoise, sixteen; Pierre and Jean, nineteen and 21 respectively. Another boy, Joseph was to be born in the following year. One can easily imagine the domestic tasks which fell on Jeanne Beauchamp even damaging her health and how her daughter Denise hastened to take up an increasingly necessary role.
For the decade from 1701 to 1711, except for the mention the archives made of the marriage of Pierre in 1707, those of Jean and of Marie-Francoise in 1708, the files are silent on Germain Gauthier and his wife. These marriages, which delighted the Gauthier family in those years, were, according to the contracts which united them in front of the law, good matches for the period. Pierre, the junior of the boys, married in Ville-Marie, on May 15, 1707, Marie-Anne Tessier, daughter of the late Laurent Tessier and Anne-Geneviève Lemire and niece of the Sieur Gédéon de Catalogne, who along with the paternal ancestor of the wife the "honourable lady Marie Archambault ", attended the signature of the contract received by Me Michel Lepailleur, on April 28, 1707. Jean, the eldest of the boys, married in Boucherville on November 26, 1708, Marie Storer, daughter of Joseph Storer and Ann Hills, of Wells in New England. Lords Antoine Mériel, of the Seminar of St-Sulpice of Ville-Marie and Rodolphe Guybert de La Saudraye, priest of Boucherville, Sieur Pierre Boucher, esquire, Sieur of Boucherville, Jean Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun and his wife were among the witnesses for Marie Storer to the marriage contract which was accepted by the notary Tailhandier on the same day as the wedding. As for Marie-Francoise, she married in Boucherville on September 24, 1708, Pierre Botquin dit St-André, son of a soldier of the regiment of Carignan.
Thus started the extensive family circle of Germain Gauthier, the gigantic tree, it was to become in time, was taking root gradually, preparing its first branches.
Alas! mourning was going soon to obscure the years which followed.
The register of the parish of Ville-Marie reveals indeed that on November 22, 1711, Michel Gauthier thirteen years old, son of Germain Gauthier and Jeanne Beauchamp was buried in the cemetery of this parish. The loss of a child of this age was a hard blow, but another test, crueler still, was going to strike the family. One month later, December 20, 1711, it was Jeanne Beauchamp whom death ravished from her husband and his children. She was buried on the same day in the cemetery in Boucherville. She was only forty-eight years old. Married at fourteen, she had had eleven children including three, Jacques, Joseph and Agnès, who were minors at her death.
Can one think, without being
emotional and with a certain sadness, what had to be the existence of this dear ancestor.
One knows nothing about her apart from what is said in the civil registers, at her
baptism, her marriage and her burial. And yet, what courage, what abnegation, what heroism
the women of that time had? History, however is silent on almost all of them as if the
homage which is owed them, did not rest in the archives and through the historian`s pen,
but in the heart of the generations of men and women who owed them their life.
The years of retirement
Denise took charge of the house after the death of her mother but Germain Gauthier, however, having reached the age of sixty-four started to feel the weight of his days; thus he decided it was time to withdraw to the village of Boucherville. But before, it was necessary for him to dispose of his land. This he did by renting it for three years, on a share-crop basis. Denis Baron (gr. Tailhandier, 1-10-1712). The lease is filled of interesting details concerning the farm of the Côte de St-Joseph. One reads there that it was located between that of Jolibois (Louis Témoings) and of Dagueil, that it had:
" house, barn, stable, the whole in a liveable state except for a few small details, with the... cattle sheds well cleaned of any manure and all the arable lands And meadows that: to add value to the said land, the lessor provides to the lessee two oxen, a horse and a Mare, Five milk cows, two pigs, three geese and a gander, two dozen hens and two roosters, two young bulls and a colt". Then follows the estimate of the cattle and of rolling stock of the farm for which the lessee was obliged to pay his share in the case of natural or accidental loss or to give back in good condition to the owner at the end of the lease.
Germain Gauthier could thus count on his share of the income from his land for his subsistence and as such, he was able to retire. He had to find himself another residence. On December 17, 1712, he obtained a concession from Pierre Boucher. Located on Notre-Dame street in the borough of Boucherville. This land measured seventy-two feet wide by as much in depth (gr. Tailhandier, No 405). On this site, our ancestor had a small house built, measuring 25 feet in length by 18 feet in width, during the preceding summer. It is there that he will spend the remainder of its days.
The lease he had granted Denis Baron ended on St-Michel's day, September 29, 1711. He agrees to another on 1 October, for the same three years duration, with Jean Cazavant, who lived in LaValtrie. The contract contains, according to custom, a meticulous list of cattle, agricultural tools, buildings, and he specifies the conditions of the lease and the reciprocal obligations of the contractors (gr. Tailhandier, 15-10-1715).
What prevented the first tenant from honouring this contract such as agreed? One does not know... But one year later, Germain Gauthier passed another contract for three years with Jacques David, a weaver-ploughman, living at the Côte de St-Joseph, in the seigniory of Boucherville (gr. Tailhandier, 18-10-1716).
At her death in 1711, Jeanne
Beauchamp had left three minors. A tutor had not then been named for them. The father
takes on the task during seven years taking care of the best interests of his
children with the, at least tacit, assent of the older ones: Denise, Jean, Pierre,
Marie-Francoise and François. Being seventy-one years old, he perhaps felt the weight of
the illness which would eventually take his life. The meeting
of the parents and friends convened for this purpose
on June 17, 1718, by order of the Sieur François-Marie Bouat, Lieutenant general in the
royal jurisdiction of Montreal, elects Jean Gauthier, paternal uncle of the minors as
tutor and Pierre Botquin, husband of Françoise Gauthier and their uncle, as
subtitute-tutor. (arch. judic. No 2770).
Germain Gauthier had only one more year to live. He died in his small house on Notre-Dame street in Boucherville, on May 9, 1719. The register of the parish of Sainte-Famille reports that:
"In the year of Our Lord, one thousand-seven-hundred and nineteen and the tenth of the month of May, I undersigned, priest-curate of the parish of Sainte-Famille of Boucherville have buried in the cemetery of the said parish the body of Germain Gautier native of Normandy aged approximately eighty years, deceased the day before, in the communion of our mother the Holy Church, after having received the sacraments of penitence, last sacrament and extreme unction, in witness thereof, I signed,
Saladin, priest "
The Succession of Germain Gauthier and Jeanne Beauchamp
The settlement of the succession of Germain Gauthier and Jeanne Beauchamp could not be differed much longer especially because of the three minors for whom guardianship had to be ensured. Thus, it was decided to proceed with the inventory of the goods of the community of the deceased before the notary Tailhandier on Nov. 16, 1719 at the request of Jean Gauthier and Pierre Botquin. The document, the original of which is in the Quebec National Archives in Montreal, enumerates, according to the accustomed formula:
"... all and each movable and Real good, cattle and other Effects, titles, papers and other Things remaining after the death of the said deceased And which were held in Common Between them on the day of Their death and being In the house of the said deceased located in the borough of boucherville And on their concession of the Côte de St-Joseph".
This list shows us, across the years, by means of the details it contains, intimate details of the home and the everyday life of the ancestor. We have the impression, upon reading it, of a country museum with its antiquities or to have made a great jump behind in time.
The same document also tells us that Denise remained with the minors of whom she took care, in the house on Notre-Dame street, and that François lived at the Côte de St-Joseph on the paternal concession which he worked as a farmer for half profit. Thus it was only natural that the inventoried material was left:
"... what was at the house in the borough to the capacity And guard of the said Denise Gautier dit St-Amour And what was in the buildings which are on said Concession to the capacity and guard of the said François Gautier Who promised good guardianship...until such times and for whom it will belong". (gr.Tailhandier)
And, with the inventory, a convention was added between the heirs under which the paternal land was not shared for the moment and that François would temporarily continue to work the farm as farmer at half profit with his brothers and sisters.
The sharing of the goods and the house in the borough of the last years of the ancestor took place in this place on January 22, 1720 in the presence of the interested parties. The distribution was done in the following way. Denise bought from her brothers and sisters their share of the house on Notre-Dame street and she agreed to take care of her two young brothers Jacques and Joseph as well as her sister Agnès. The text of the notary Tailhandier relating to this article is representative of the spirit which animated the parties; witness:
"... the parties wishing to sell and Yield the said house and Site to one of them because the said house will deteriorate and would thereafter not be easily sold at the value estimated in Their Inventory, have by the present said persons: Pierre, Jean and François Gautier and bottequin, sold, yielded and transported to the said Denise Gautier, their sister, the said land with the said house and dependencies for the price And sum of One hundred Fifty "livres"(pounds) And in consideration of the good care that the said Denise Gautier always Had And promises to have for the said Minor children, her brothers and sisters".
As for the things which remained as much in the house in the village as on the farm on the Côte de St-Joseph, and which had been, at the inventory, estimated at the modest sum of 544 "livres" (pounds) 16 sols, a value of 68 Livres, 2 sols remained for each heir. And, continues the text of the act of sharing:
"... not wanting to draw lots, the parties agree to take Each one what he wants And that those which have taken state their reasons to the others in presence of the said notary and witness it at the bottom of the Inventory (gr. Tailhandier, No 800)."
Thus was regulated the succession of Germain Gauthier and Jeanne Beauchamp with the exception of the paternal land that François continued to work as agreed at the time of the inventory in the preceding year, in a convention which was made on the following day, November 17, for a lease in good form, between the tutor and the surrogate guardian and François Gauthier.
On March 1, 1720, the Sieur Pierre Raimbault, advisor to the king and his prosecutor, in the jurisdiction of Montreal, declared the inventory of the goods closed, he approved the act of sharing and declared the community of Germain Gauthier with Jeanne Beauchamp dissolved.
And thus finished the first chapter of the history of the Gauthier dit St-Germain... but life was going to continue and people to multiply. So that among the innumerable Gauthiers that one meets today everywhere in North America along with the Landreville, Larouche, Saguingoira, Larose, etc, etc, there are legions of St-Germain.
___________________________________________________
The children of Germain Gauthier I dit St-Germain
and Jeanne Beauchamp.
1. - Denise, born in 1679; married in Boucherville on 8 Nov. 1700 (contract Tailhandier, 7 Nov. 1700) with Philippe Payet dit St-Amour, son of Pierre Payet and Louise Tessier. Buried in Boucherville on 5 August 1749.
2. - Anonymous, baptized privately and buried in Repentigny on 4 March 1681.
3. - Jean, baptized in Repentigny on 10 January 1682; married in Boucherville on 26 November 1708 (contract Tailhandier, 26 November 1708) with Marie Storer, daughter of Joseph Storer and Ann Hill, from New England. Buried in Montreal, 17 April 1765.
4. - Pierre, baptized. in Repentigny on 10 November 1684; 1st marriage in Notre-Dame church, Montreal, on 15 May 1707 (contract M. Lapailleur, 28 May 1707) with Marie-Anne Tessier, daughter of Laurent Tessier and Anne-Geneviève Lemire; 2nd marriage in Notre-Dame church, Montreal on 19 August 1726 (contract M. Lapailleur, 19 August 1726) with Élizabeth Paillé, widow of Charles Lemay and daughter of Léonard Paillard and Louise Vachon; 3rd marriage in Boucherville on 3 April 1750 (contract A. Loiseau, 27 July 1750) with Angélique Véronneau, widow of Thomas Houilem and daughter of Denis Véronneau and Catherine Guertin. Buried in Boucherville, 13 September 1761.
5. - Marie-Françoise, baptized in Boucherville on 13 June 1687; 1st marriage in the same place, on 24 September. 1708 (contract Tailhandier, 20 September 1708) with Pierre Botquin dit St-André, son of Pierre Botquin and Marie-Claude Bourgoin, from Angers, France; 2nd mar. in Notre-Dame church, Montreal, on 30 June 1733 (contract Chaumont, 28 June 1733) with Jean-Baptiste Rondeau dit Ladouceur, from La Rochelle, son of Bernard Rondata and Jeanne Borderon; 3rd mar. in Boucherville on 5 February 1745 (contact A. Loiseau, 25 January 1745) with Antoine Daunay, widower of Madeleine Richaume and son of Antoine Daunay and Marie Richard. buried in Montreal, 27 November 1771.
6. - François, baptized in Boucherville on 14 March 1681; marriage in Notre-Dame church, Montreal. on 20 October 1718 (contract M. Lepailleur, 23 October 1718) with Magdeleine Tessier, daughter of Paul Tessier and Magdeleine Cloutier. Buried in Boucherville, on 11 November 1765.
7. - Joseph, baptized in Boucherville on 9 January 1694, drowned accidentally and buried at the same place, on 1 July 1700.
8. - Jacques, baptized in Boucherville on 5 December 1696; 1st marriage in Notre-Dame church, Montreal. on 17 November 1721 (contract M. Lepailleur, 16 November 1721) with Marie-Louise Tessier, daughter of Paul Tessier and Magdeleine Cloutier; 2nd marriage in Chambly on 28 October 1743 (contract Hodiesne, 28 October 1743) with Marie-Josèphe Benoit dit Livernois, widow of Louis Quenneville and daughter of Étienne Benoit and Jeanne Campeau. Buried in Chambly on 11 September 1760.
9. - Michel, baptized in Boucherville on 1 March 1699; Buried in Notre-Dame church, Montreatl on 22 November 1711.
10. - Agnès, baptized in Boucherville on 4 November 1701; marriage at the same place on 3 September 1724 (contract Tailhandier, 3 September 1724) with Jean-Baptiste Pinned, son of Jean-Baptiste Pinned and Ursule Pépin. Buried in Contrecoeur on 1 March 1779.
11. - Joseph, baptized in Boucherville on 29 June 1704; marriage at the same place on 3 March 1734 (contract Tailhandier, 9 May 1734) with Marie-Josèphe Louvois, daughter of Jacques Louvois and Barbe César dit La Gardelette. Buried in Boucherville, on 4 May 1752."
Text by Armand Gauthier. Published in the "Mémoires de la Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française" vol.XXX-No Jan-Feb-Mar 1979.
___________________________________________________
Notes by Armand Gauthier
(1) Bray is a small green agricultural area at the boundary of Normandy, Picardy and the Île de France whose inhabitants raise cattle and horses.
(2) Or Viellard.
(3) The Regiment of Carignan, 1665-1668, page 88. According to a personal communication of Mr. G-Robert Gareau (588), Germain Gauthier dit St-Germain was with the third contingent of the Regiment of Carignan, company of St-Ours, not that of Contrecoeur. Mr. Gareau made this assertion based on the fact that Germain Gauthier was confirmed on 21 September, 1665, at Notre-Dame de Quebec, page 41 of the register. Michel Langlois confirms it in his " Biographical Dictionary of the Ancestors Québécois " 1608-1700 Tome II (source AAQ RC 21-09-1665).
(4) The list of soldiers of the regiment of Carignan who remained in Canada.
(5) She was only eighteen, having been born on July 30 1663.
(6) B. Sulte, " Histoire des canadiens-français ", Tome V, p.65.
(7) Report of Gédéon de Catalogne on the situation of the seigniories of the government of Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Montreal.
(8) The principal part of this concession, the 4 acres in width by 25 acres in depth, included the building as indicated by number 86 in the cadrastal map and the book of official reference of the parish of Boucherville. The point of the Island of the Ashes, called later the Island of Picardy, made up the south-eastern part of building number 16.
(9) It is on September 29 1695 that Christophe Février dit Lacroix, whose house was close to that of the Gauthiers at the Côte de St-Joseph, fell under the blows of the Iroquois while he was working in the fields.
(10) She had a girl, baptized Agathe, on April 28, 1703, but the child hardly lived more than a year. She was buried in Pointe-aux-Trembles, on July 2, 1703.
___________________________________________________
According to Michel Langlois in his "Dictionnaire Biographique des Ancêtres Québecois", 1608-1700, Tome II
(i) Germain arrives in the New France on September 13 1665, aboard the ship "La Justice" (AAQ RC 21-09-1665)
(ii) Leger Baron sells him a land of two acres frontage by forty acres in depth in Champlain, on September 8, 1668, at the price of 40 "livres"(pounds). On June 1, 1669, he buys from Gilles Duffaut, for the sum of 200 "livres"(pounds), land of two acres frontage by forty acres in depth in the future seigniory of Sorel, on the downward bank of Fort Saint-Louis. (ANQ GN Larue 08-09-1668 and 01-06-1669)
(iii) He makes transfers his rights with the Sieur Pierre Perthuis for the sum of 300 "livres"(pounds) which Bourdelais still owes him, on the 22 november (1688). On February 10, 1690. he owes to Pierre Perthuis 235 "livres"(pounds) 15 "sols" and 10 "deniers", for goods and the balance of all their accounts. (ANQ GN Adhémar 10-02-1690)
(iv) On October 25, 1700, Jean-Baptiste Lafond and Denis Veronneau transfer to him transport, for nine years, half of their communal rights in Boucherville, on condition that he gives nine working days per year to the Sieur Boucher, and a quarter of wheat. (ANQ GN Adhémar 25-10-1700)
Copyright © 1999 Association de généalogie des familles Gauthier
Any reproduction of this site without the permission of the authors is prohibited.