In 2014, a series of footprints appeared on the Gower peninsula along the coast of Wales. The footprints told the story of a Mesolithic (15,000 – 5,000 years BP) hunting party comprised of adults and children tracking deer and wild boar. This once open boggy landscape had been preserved under earth and water until uncovered by eroding waves. They have since disappeared from existence by those same forces. However, these footprints provide a bridge spanning 7,000 years. I can imagine, gazing at those ancient footprints in situ, the past would feel very close.
Like the archaeologists studying those footprints on the beach in Wales, family historians work to understand the footprints left by our ancestors. For Louis Renaud, the footprints take the shape of hand written records capturing snapshots in time reflecting baptisms, marriages, and other events where our ancestors’ activities intersected with the interests of the state and were recorded by a notary. While we have the fortune of a plethora of documents, with the poor handwriting and the degradation of time, these ancestral “footprints” can be difficult to decipher.
In Part One I used the available documentary “footprints” to trace Louis’ life from his birth in 1669 through the death of his mother and father in the winter months of 1708-1709. When his father passed, Louis, as the oldest male heir, became the head of the Renaud line. His father Guillaume’s life had been that of a successful pioneer who had built a life in a new world by taking advantage of the opportunities afforded him. For Louis, it was up to him to see what he could do to build off of his father’s legacy.
The contextual ground on which Louis walked was not that of a Mesolithic hunter gatherer but that of a French colonist trying to contribute to the health of the colony by increasing the population and economic health of the colony that the French Crown desired.
Part Two of Louis’ story continues with a new addition to the family with the birth of Jean-Charles on 16 March 1710. He was first baptized (ondoyé) by Jeanne Pacquet so it must have been a difficult birth. He was again baptized later that day by the priest Boullenger. The godfather was Jean Charles Roy, garçon, and the godmother was Marie Joseph Bedard, fille.
Eight months after the birth of Jean-Charles and nearly a year after Louis’ parents died, Marie-Magdeleine’s mother died on 19 November 1710 at the age of 63.
Like the Bedard family, the Doucinet family had been members of the Protestant community in France. Elizabeth was baptized into the Protestant faith in La Rochelle on May 19, 1647 at the Calvinist Temple two days after her birth. Her parents, Pierre Doucinet, a master shoemaker (cordonnier) and Fleurance Canteau were married May 1, 1640.
Like Marie De La Mare, Elizabeth Doucinet arrived in Canada as a Fille du Roi. It’s not clear what motivated her parents to consent to her departure to the new world which required her to recant her protestant beliefs. She arrived on August 11, 1666 with a dowry of goods valued at 200 livres. Her departure to Canada was not unprecedented as her older sister Marguerite left for Canada as a fille à marier in 1662. In less than two weeks Elizabeth had agreed to marry Jacques Bedard. Elizabeth and Jacques signed their marriage contract on August 24, 1666 and they were married on October 4, 1666. Their marriage produced 17 children. A translation of the marriage contract can be found in the Resources section.
While it is easy to focus solely on the importance of Louis’ heritage from his father, the Bedard family played an important role in whatever successes Louis experienced including lending money to him. Mary Ann LaFleur documents at least one instance, noting that Louis owed Jacques 1 Livres 2 sols.
A better indication of the important role Louis had in the Bedard family can be seen in his activities after the death of Jacques. Just eight months after Elizabeth’s death, her husband Jacques Bedard passed away on 10 July 1711 at the age of 66, though the record in Drouin indicates he was 72. He was buried the following day.
L’onziesme jour du mois de Juillet de l’année sept cent onze a eté inhume dans le cimitiere de cette paroisse pars nus prestre Jacques Bedard a agé de Soixante & douze ans mort du jourd’hyer apres avoir receu tous les sacrements ont eté presents a son inhumation Louis Jacques et Charles Boismé.
The months following Jacques’ passing were marked by disputes, agreements and transactions. The size of Jacques and Elizabeth’s estate was extensive as the “inventaire” captured by Jean-Robert Duprac on 1 August 1711 is nearly 400 lines of hand written text. The documenting of all the personal and household goods is comprehensive and everything was assigned a value no matter how small. Items that would easily be discarded today are identified, listed and assigned a value. Inventories can provide an interesting look into the lives of our ancestors. For example, there were not many books but what few books there were had a religious subject. For example, the inventory lists a copy of the Lives of the Saints and the New Testament. As one might imagine, since Jacques was a master carpenter, the inventory contains quite a number of tools.
As the husband of Marie-Magdeleine, Louis represented her interest at the inventory along with some of the children of Jacques and Elizabeth. The inventaire also contained provisions for saying masses, burial and payment of debts for services rendered. Louis is mentioned multiple times throughout the inventaire. It appears he was left three hundred and six livres to payoff (pour retirer les droits) Julien Brosso (Brousseaux) and his wife Elisabeth Bedard. This provision was based upon a preceding judgement by the Intendant. According to La Fleur the judgement “ruled that Francois Bedard and Louis Renaud, the son and son-in-law of Jacques Bedard and Elizabeth Doucinet, should give Elizabeth Bedard about L300 for that portion of property that belonged to her from the succession of her parents. Two days later Pierre Bellanger, cure for the parish of Charlebourg, acted as the carrier and brought the L300 to Elizabeth and her husband Julien Brousseau. Francois Bedard was then released from his debt to his sister and brother-in-law.”
The Inventaire indicates that Louis received the final payment of 100 livres from the dowry of Marie-Magdeleine. He was also among a number of individuals who received compensation of 67 livres for days Jacques and Elizabeth spent in the hospital.
In one of the more intriguing provisions, a debt of 100 Livres that Louis owed Jacques Bedard is cancelled and he is given 22 sols as well as four hay fields in Charlesbourg which he would share with the other heirs and the minor children of the deceased Estienne Bedard.
The Inventaire was not the end of the story as transactions continued to follow. Two weeks after the Inventaire Louis participated in another series of exchanges between the Bedard family recorded by Duprac in which Louis, on behalf of his wife, agreed to cede rights to land situated in Trait Carré (Charlesbourg) to Charles Bedard and also to provide Charles with 15 livres.
While Marie-Magdeleine dealt with the loss of her parents within a period of eight months, she also looked forward to the newest addition to the family as she spent most of the period pregnant with her 11th child. On September 13, 1711, Marie-Louise Renaud was baptized. The godfather was Louis Jurest “garçon” and the godmother was Margueritte Bedard, Marie-Magdeleine’s 24-year-old sister.
Just a month later Louis was once again dealing with the aftermath of the death of his wife’s parents. The notary J.R. Duprac saw a lot of Louis and the Bedard family as he recorded multiple sales (ventes) and agreements to split up or transfer land rights amongst family members. These transactions are characteristic of this generation that Mary Ann La Fleur characterized as “persisters.” The continual accumulation and division of arable land by the growing population within established confines would ultimately be unsustainable. By the “second generation”, the transmission of lands from fathers to sons resulted in smaller plots of land that could not support a family. So, there was a drive to acquire and consolidate available lands. No doubt this contributed to Louis’ continuing efforts to work on behalf of his wife’s interest to settle the affairs of his deceased in-laws for the remainder of 1711 and in some cases years later.
Early in January of 1712, Marie Magdeleine became pregnant for the 12th time and on 19 October 1712, Louis was baptized. The godfather was noted as “Louis Jacques garcon.” The surname seems to have been left off (Jacques seems an unlikely surname) as the reference to garçon meant that the individual had yet to attain the age of majority. The godmother was “Marie Catherine Chretien fille,” also a minor. Perhaps the Renaud family was growing so fast that they had trouble finding individuals they knew who had reached the age of majority.
Just a few months later, Louis was once again handling affairs for the Bedard family, this time on behalf of his widowed sister-in-law, Elisabeth Bedard, wife of the now deceased Julien Brosseau. Apparently Brosseau’s estate was indebted to the point that Elisabeth renounced her interest in the estate to be free of the debts, an option any widow had. One of the heirs, Pierre Brosseau, the son of Julien from his first marriage to Simone Chalifour, claimed a portion of land, while Louis was charged with auctioning off the remainder of the land. The remaining portion of the estate was put under the control of a curator to deal with the creditors of the estate.
Louis’ life apparently settled down a bit until the Spring of 1714 when his wife became pregnant with their 13th child. Their daughter “Andrienne” was born and baptized on 7 February 1715. The godfather was Jacques Morand and the godmother was Andrienne Bourbo, the wife of Jacques Jobin.
This was a fertile time for the family as they wasted little time in adding to their family as Marie-Magdeleine was soon pregnant with their 14th child. Just a little over a year after the birth of Andrienne, another daughter, “Elisabeht”, was born and baptized on 31 March 1716. The godfather was Jacques Frichet and the godmother was “Elisabeht Huppé”, wife of Charles Bedard.
The following year, Louis was busy again conducting transactions related to his own affairs. On 25 February 1717, the notary Duprac recorded a “Quittance” by Louis to his brother Pierre. I have been unable to locate a copy of this document but a quittance is essentially a receipt or discharge possibly from a debt or prior obligation.
A few months later the surveyor Noël Bonhomme dit Beaupré documented the land boundaries between Louis and the “widow Renaud”. Although not named in the document, I believe the “widow Renaud” to be Jeanne Déry whose husband, Jean-Bernard Renaud died in December 1715. Pierre Renaud was also named in the document as being present during Bonhomme’s survey. Pierre was married to Jeanne’s sister, Thérèse. The need for the survey was probably driven by the upcoming marriage of Jeanne to Pierre Bernard 27 July 1717. There would have been a need to clearly define Jeanne’s assets and property in order to record what she was bringing to the marriage as well as to avoid any disputes between the groom and the brothers Renaud. A formal “accord” between Louis and Jeanne was recorded by the notary Duprac two days before Jeanne’s marriage.
1718 appears to have been largely uneventful as I did not find any documents concerning Louis. Things would pick up again in April of 1719 with the birth of their fifteenth child Jacques. At this point, 12 of their 15 children were living and their ages ranged from 24 to the newborn Jacques. Needless to say, it would have been a crowded house.
Jacques did not come into the world quietly either as he was baptized “ondoyé” by Louis’ sister Jeanne who was a “sage femme” or midwife. He was baptized again later that same day by the parish priest. The godfather was Jacques Bedard “garçon” so he would have been one of the offspring of a son of Louis’ father-in-law Jacques Bedard. The godmother was also a minor, Marguerite Jobin.
Louis and Marie-Magdeleine did not wait very long to produce their sixteenth child, Jeanne Renaud, who was born on 23 May 1720 and baptized the following day. The family name for the godfather is obscured but his first name was Rene-Louis. The godmother was Elisabeth Bouchain, wife of Louis Pepin.
Just a few weeks later, on 17 June 1720, the surveyor Noel (Bonhomme dit) Beaupré delineated two land parcels owned by Louis Renaud and Sieur Senregret located on the edge of the Sainte-Barbe stream. The reason for the surveyor’s services is not stated so it’s not clear if this was a new acquisition or some other boundary delineation. It is of interest that Louis is referred to as “Sieur Louis Regneaux” indicating that Louis had achieved a level of social status beyond that of a common man.
The following year, Louis was once again engaged with the Brosseau family. On 3 April 1721 a “Quittance” was recorded between Pierre Brosseau, the guardian of the minor children of the deceased Joseph Brosseau, in which Louis was awarded some land for the sum of 900 livres.
Land was not the only addition to Louie’s life as just 4 months later, he and Marie-Magdeleine welcomed their 18th and last child, their daughter Marie-Angelique. Louis was 51 years old and Marie-Magdeleine was 44. Angelique was born on 23 August and baptized the following day. Her godfather was Jean Trudelle and her godmother was Marguritte Couer, wife of François Bedard.
The year would end on a sadder note as their son François died on 9 December 1721 at the age of 19. This was their fourth child that they lost. They were not alone in their grief as Louis’ brother Pierre, aged 42, was buried the same day as François. Just 11 days later, Pierre’s 4-year-old daughter was buried.
Over the next ten years the paper trail left by Louis is sparse. On 24 January 1726, Louis’ son Pierre died two months before he would turn 25. He was buried the following day. This was the fifth child Louis and Marie-Magdeleine had buried.
The following year, the notary Du Breuil recorded a “vente” (sale) between Charles Normand and Louis. A few years later in 1730 there is a “quittance” (receipt or discharge) between the same two individuals.
In one of the last recorded acts available prior to his death, Louis was appointed substitute guardian (subrogé tuteur) for his nieces and nephews, the 6 minor children from his deceased brother Pierre and his wife Jeanne-Thérèse Déry on 7 August 1732.
A few months later, Louis and Marie-Magdeleine celebrated the marriage of their daughter Marie-Madeleine to François Dolbec. The marriage contract was recorded by the notary Duprac on 17 November 1732.
Finally, on 20 January 1735, Louis Renaud took his last breath. He was buried the following day less than half way through his 65th year of life. How do we measure the life of a man who lived over 3 centuries ago and all we have left of him are a few mentions in a handful of notarial documents? He lived during a period where the French colony had stabilized and had begun to grow its population. The French Crown’s dream of turning Quebec and Canada from a get rich scheme of a few adventurers to a populated and prosperous part of France under the control of the Crown had begun to take shape. Louis and Marie-Magdeleine had done their part and produced 18 offspring of which at least 13 are known to have survived him.
The documents I have examined show Louis to be in active pursuit of growing his land holdings and doing what he could to ensure his children had what they needed to have a good life. He was an active member of his extended family and the larger community as he stepped in to help those who needed it. While we have only a few fragments of his life, it is clear that Louis honored the legacy of his father and improved upon what he was given. As a result, La Ligne would continue into the next generation where the Crown’s colonial ambitions would be challenged by the growing British colonies on its border.
For all references and to see more detailed information such as transcriptions for many of the documents used in this post please refer to the Resources section.