When Louis Renaud married Marie-Magdeleine Bédard on November 2, 1694, he married into one of the more successful families in Québec. According to Mary Ann La Fleur, “the Bédard family was one of the largest property owners in Notre Dame des Anges.” The relationship between the Renaud and Bédard family precedes the marriage of Louis and Marie-Magdeleine. Nearly 6 years earlier, when Isaac Bédard the patriarch of all the North American Bédard, passed away, Louis’ father, Guillaume, attended Isaac’s burial. In the parish register Guillaume is singled out as “amy dudit deffunt “(friend of the deceased).
The blending of these family lines would likely not have occurred had they remained in France. The ancestry of the Bédard family has early ties to Protestantism and Isaac and his wife Marie both lived in the Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle. The Catholic Regnault family would not have likely formed a union with the Protestant Bédard even if they lived closer together. The religion inspired violence between Catholic and Protestants even after the Edict of Nantes such as the 15-month siege of La Rochelle that began in 1627 would have prevented it. The Bédard family’s allegiance to the reformed faith began early as far back as 1414 to Yonnet Bédard of Royan Fontbedault. Some generations later Isaac’s grandfather (also named Isaac) was born around 1544. Isaac married Jahel Rulleau and they produced several children of which one, Jacques, later married Marie Guerineau (Gunneau?). Around 1614, Jacques & Marie gave birth to Isaac who would come to La Novelle France.
I could not verify any of the preceding narrative regarding the origins of the Bédard family and I searched all of the pertinent pastoral baptismal registers from La Rochelle available online at the departmental archives of the Charentes-Maritimes. I barely found any mention of the Bédard name in the records prior to 1620 with the possible exception of two or three occurrences and these could be paleographic errors on my part. It is interesting to note that Tanguay places Isaac Bédard’s baptism in Paris at the parish of Saint-Sulpice which is a Roman Catholic church. This is highly unlikely given the family lore supporting the early adoption of the reformed faith. However, I could not disprove Tanguay’s claim either.
The earliest document that I could verify was the baptismal record for Isaac’s wife Marie Girard from 16 February 1623 at the Temple St. Yon. Marie’s parents were Simeon Girard and Fransoise Giraudot.
Living in La Rochelle, both Isaac, Marie and their families would have lived through the aforementioned siege of 1627 by Louis XIII. Some 17 years later on March 20, 1644 at the age of 21, Marie married Isaac Bédard at the Temple de La Villeneuve in La Rochelle. The Huguenot Pastor M.J. Flanc presided over the marriage ceremony. Their lives as parents began quickly as barely 9 months later their son Jacques was born on December 12, 1644 and baptized at the Calvinist Temple (Temple de La Villeneuve) three days later on December 18, 1644. His godparents were Jacques Goylin and Gabriele Grenon.
For a family that would have success in Canada as described by La Fleur, their experience in France was less successful after the birth of Jacques. Isaac and Marie had four subsequent sons between 1646 and 1652 who all died very young. François died shortly after his first birthday. Pierre died just a few weeks short of his first birthday. Richard only survived for 10 months. Isaac only survived for 13 days. Finally, on January 25, 1655, their son Louis was born and he survived into adulthood. Three years later on February 7, 1658, their daughter Anne was born. Unfortunately, Anne’s life was as short as her 4 other brothers as she only survived for about 8 months.
Less than two years later in April 1660, the Bédards would renounce Protestantism and be baptized as Catholics. They were said to be living in the Catholic parish of Saint Sauveur at the time. My review of the online registers does not provide any evidence to support this event at that time and place.
The conversion to Catholicism could have been genuine but it could also have been motivated by the desire to leave France for Canada. The French Crown did not allow protestants to travel to New France. It is not known what would have driven the Bédard family to move to Canada. Mary Ann LaFleur suggests that it was possibly motivated by the closing of La Rochelle to Protestants in 1661 but the Bédards appear to have already renounced Protestantism a year prior and Isaac and Jacques were already in Canada. It is plausible that the closing of La Rochelle in late 1661 was merely the final act of a period of repression and Isaac anticipated the coming closure.
Yet, if it was merely a question of religion he could have converted to Catholicism and remained in France. Still, he may have been concerned with the potential unrest and his ability to provide for his family under those circumstances. I think it is likely he saw Canada as an opportunity to improve his situation. As a carpenter, his skills would have been in demand in Canada and he would not have lacked for work. He would also be leaving behind a life that saw him and his wife bury five of their children at very young ages.
There is some disagreement in the timing of what happened next but at some point, after April 1660, Isaac and his son Jacques left La Rochelle and arrived in Canada in August of 1660. Isaac procured some property in Upper Quebec by 1661 and the following year on May 1, Jacques is confirmed in the Catholic faith by Monseigneur Laval.
Isaac moved to the seigneury of Notre-Dame des Anges in March of 1662 when he purchased some land from Mathieu Hubou. It is of interest that the purchase involved payments in cash and services as Isaac was required to frame a building to the value of 300 livres tournois. A few months later, in August, Marie Girard arrived in New France with their other son Louis. Isaac must have been doing fairly well at this point as he had procured some cattle. We know this because his livestock ventured into the wheat fields of Vincent Regnault (no relation to Guillaume) and caused some damage. On 12 October 1663, the Sovereign Council issued a ruling that Isaac was to pay Regnault a half bushel of wheat and a day’s labor for the transgression.
In December 1663 Isaac continued to find himself as a defendant before the courts. On the 15th of December the Sovereign Council ordered Isaac to pay Michel Desorcy the sum of eighteen pounds. The issue concerned a pig that had been exchanged between the two for which Desorcy had paid 100 sols but complained the animal was too wild and Desorcy did not want to take responsibility for it. Isaac must not have offered a money back guarantee and Desorcy had to take Isaac to court to remediate his buyer’s remorse.
By now, Marie was clearly pregnant with their first Canadian child but Isaac found himself embroiled yet again in a dispute with the aforementioned Mathieu Hubou. This time both parties were determined to be at fault. It appears Hubou had arranged for Isaac to put his master carpenter skills to use to erect a building for Hubou. The relationship must have soured to the point where Isaac refused to continue to work for Hubou out of fear that he would be physically assaulted. On April 1 1664, the Court ordered Hubou to provide Isaac Bédard with the wood necessary to work on the building in accordance with the terms of the contract. As for Isaac, the Court ordered him to “work incessantly until the said building is perfect.” The row between the two must have been significant because the Court stipulated that the parties were “forbidden to backbite, quarrel and beat each other,” under penalty of being fined 10 pounds.
On the 12th of May Isaac and the 41-year-old Marie welcomed their daughter Marie Bédard and she was baptized 6 days later. Her godfather was Jean Normand who we know from a previous post regarding his death and Guillaume Renaud’s activities as Procureur Fiscal. Marie’s godmother was Marie Letart, the wife of Jean Roussin.
Isaac disappears from the notarial records for over a year when on 26 December 1665 he sells his farm to Claude Charron, a merchant residing in Quebec, who was represented by his wife Claude Cammus in the transaction. The land was situated on the banks of the St. Charles River giving access to the waterway being one and a half arpents wide and 60 arpents deep. His neighbors as mentioned above were Vincent Regnault and Mathurin Huboult Sr Deslongchamps. The sale price of the property was 438 livre tournois. We also learn from this document that neither Isaac nor Marie could sign their names.
According to LaFleur, Isaac and Marie went to live with their son Jacques during the period between the sale of the old home and the purchase of their new residence from Pierre Murault on 15 March 1666 in Petite Auvergne.
The move seems to have marked a new beginning from the contentious days in Carnardière. Shortly after his move, (May 9) Isaac secured an important contract with the King’s Intendant for Canada, Jean Talon, to produce 100 oars for 15 sols each. Isaac worked with his associate Laurent Duboc to fill the order.
What we know of Isaac over the next 23 years until his death in 1689, consists of a number of transactions that appear in the notarial records. For example, Isaac renewed his interaction with Claude Charron (to whom Isaac had sold his previous home in 1665) on 3 June 1668. Charron contracted with Isaac to build a 960 sq. ft. (40’ x 24’) barn that consisted of a board roof and included the framing for a columbage gable.
Something must have happened to their fortunes such that on January 24 1669, Isaac and Marie had to appeal to the Jesuits for some monetary relief. The document is hard to read due to the heavily stylized writing of the notary Becquet, but the relief requested was 50 livres.
Isaac continued to secure work and his reputation as a master carpenter likely contributed to some of the elite of Quebec enlisting his services. In October of 1669 Isaac and his son Jacques teamed up to build a structure for Jean Soullard, who was known for his skills as a goldsmith and gunsmith. Incidentally, Soullard was also from La Rochelle.
On 5 April 1670, Isaac entered into an agreement to build a house for René Branche. The house was tiny by today’s standards consisting of only 288 sq. ft. (18’ x 16’). On 20 October 1671 Timothee Roussel commissioned Isaac Bédard to raise the rafters of a house at la Canardière. Roussel was a surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu in Quebec. Isaac soon acquired another contract on 25 November 1671 to build a barn for Jean Juchereau, one of the more prominent citizens of Québec and a member of the Sovereign Council.
In 1673, Isaac took advantage of the Intendant Talon’s efforts to develop a potash industry. Under Talon’s program, 10 arpents of Isaac’s land were cleared by others at no cost to him. These were government contracts that employed surplus labor to produce the raw material needed for the manufacture of potash. The wood would be turned into ash to make laundry soap. The ancillary effect of having 10 more arpents available to grow food or otherwise develop was an added benefit.
Over the next 8 years Isaac does not appear in any public records that I could find other than the marriages of his son Louis and his daughter Marie. His son Jacques had married in 1666. However, on 17 October 1681 "the Hospitalieres" [order of nuns] granted Isaac Bédard a concession 3 x 20 arpents fronting the Saint Romain road on the condition that he build a home on the site. The Notary Becquet noted that Isaac Bédard was a resident of Notre-Dame-des-Anges. The 1681 Census indicates Isaac Bédard as a "carpenter, inhabitant of Petit-Auvergne, owned a gun, 4 head of cattle and 12 arpents of land under cultivation."
Isaac was well into his 60s but continued to have a good reputation as a master carpenter and on 1 April 1682 he entered into a contract with Louis Rouer de Villeray to build a barn. Villeray came from a noble family though he suffered from a lack of funds. He arrived in Canada at the age of 20 and went on to have a distinguished life in Canada holding numerous positions in the government and in private business. His father Jacques had been a valet for the Queen of France.
Later that year, the mason François Lavergne hired Isaac and paid him 50 livres to build a house. Isaac must have still been in pretty good shape to be framing buildings at about the age of 66. However, advancing age began to catch up with Isaac and Marie and on 17 February 1683 Marie died. I could not uncover any solid documentation for this event though it is widely recorded as such and is certainly plausible. She would have been just 5 days past her 60th birthday and one month short of their 39th wedding anniversary.
Despite Marie’s death, Isaac continued to increased his landholdings. On 8 April 1685 the Hospitalieres granted Isaac another arpent to add to previous grant issued 4 years prior. This document indicates that Isaac was then living in the Plaine Saint-Romain.
Finally, at the age of 75, Isaac died. The record of his burial described him as living in the village of St. Antoine and passing away on 14 January 1689 after saying his last confession, receiving the eucharist and extreme unction. His burial the next day was attended by many including his sons Jacques and Louis, his son in law, André Auclerc and his friend Guillaume Renaud. Of those attending, it was noted that only Jacques Bédard and Guillaume Renaud could sign their names.
Isaac’s arrival in Canada was much different from his friend Guillaume’s. Isaac was already well into his 40s when he arrived rather than his early 20’s as with Guillaume. Isaac had already lived a life longer than many in France and had buried five children in French soil. He brought a high-level of skill as a master carpenter. He had professed his allegiance to the reformed church but then recanted. Isaac brought a wife and children to Canada while Guillaume had neither when he arrived. For different reasons and under different circumstances Isaac and Guillaume made the journey across the ocean and formed a friendship and with the marriage of Guillaume’s son Louis to Isaac’s granddaughter Marie Magdeleine, they had set in motion an ancestral line that continues to this day.
Please refer to the Resources section for all the reference material used as well as direct links to the primary source documents.