Catherinea

Catherine Gaultier

(This text is presented as published by Michel Langlois)

"Daughter of Philippe Gauthier and of Marie Pichon, sister of Charles, husband of Catherine Camus, and of Guillaume, husband of Esther de Lambourg, she marries at Québec, on Thursday 13 May 1638, Denis Duquet, of unknown origin. From their union, eleven children are born.

She lived at Québec and Lauzon. On 5 October 1652, she received the Scapulary of Mont-Carmel. She enters the Sisterhood of Sainte-Famille in 1664. Her husband dies at Lauzon on 26 November 1675. She is immediately called upon to tale charge of the family destiny. On 26 June 1678, Pierre Normand sells her, for the price of 150 "livres", living quarters on two acres frontage by forty in depth in Lauzon. This land is next to the one where she currently lives. She borrows, from the sieur Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, on 4 May 1679, the sum of 1000 "livres" which she promises to repay with an annuity of 50 "livres". Claude de Bermen concedes her, on 16 March 1680, land of eleven acres frontage by forty in depth in Lauzon. His land is next to the land of the sieur de La Chesnaye Gauthier. Interested in the transportation of goods, she buys from Pierre Loiseau a half share in the barque named "La Sainte-Thérèse", on 19 January 1681, at the price of 160 "livres". On 26 following January, she hires the seaman Raymond Cornu, for the period of navigation, and promises him 27 "livres" a month. She concedes land to Pierre Dumets, on 16 March 1680, in her fief situated between the seigneurie of the sieur La Chesnaye-Duquet and that of the Ursulines. This fief is subsequently known as the seigneurie of La Bazinière. There, she concedes land of six acres frontage to Joseph Bisson on 4 November 1685, to Pierre Bourgouin, Jacques Bourgouin and Jean-Baptiste Bisson on 28 June 1687, and to Jacques Houde on 5 November of the same year. On 27 November, she gives a discharge of 307 "livres" and 5 "sols" to Jean Dumets for the concession she made him on 30 August 1685.

In 1688, on the 26th of August, she rents to Gabriel Duprat, in her fief of Lauzon, for a duration of nine years, an piece of land sufficient for building chalk furnace and a quarry to extract chalk stone. She asks for 160 "livres" for each of the first two years and 200 "livres" for each of the others. On the next 19th of November, she rents for three years to Jean Bourassa and Pierre Retail all the lands under the plow on her land of eight acres frontage, provided they pay 110 "livres tournois" and two hundred ells per year. On 19 May 1690, she owes 373 "livres 6 sols, 6 deniers" to the sieur Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye. It is in payment for this loan that on the next 23rd of May, she settles an annuity to his benefit of 18 "livres, 15 sols". She rents for three years, two farms in her fief of Lauzon to Jean Bourassa, on 26 July 1691. These farms measure, respectively, eight acres frontage by forty acres in depth. For each year of the lease, she demands 133 "livres tournois" and two hundred eels. On 3 April 1696, she rents the same farms to her son Jean Duquet for five years, at a rate of 100 "livres" per year and two salted eels. On 19 November 1697, she is sentenced by the "Prévôté de Québec" to pay "86 livres, 17 sols and 4 deniers" to Louise Legardeur. On 25 March 1698, she owes this sum to the sieur Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye who ahs reimbursed the lady Legardeur. On the following 29 April, she sells to Joseph Duquet, at a price of 100 "livres", a piece of land of two acres frontage by two leagues (4km/3 miles), which she owns by inheritance from deceased Marie Pichon, between the seigneuries of Dautry and Lavaltrie.

On 10 May 1698, she concedes parcels of land to Jacques and Claude Houde in her seigneurie of La Bazinière. On 3 September of the same year, the notary Guillaume Roger proceeds with the inventory of her joint estate with Denis Duquet. A last act, concerning her, tells us that, on 8 February 1702, she sells to Robert Pépin, at a price of
"77 livres, 10 sols" a farm of four acres frontage by fifty acres in depth in her fief of La Bazinière. We don't know the exact date of her death, but she is still alive on 3 August 1702 at the marriage of her son Joseph with Suzanne Choret.

Sources : ANQ GN Becquet 26-06-1678; 04-05-1679; Rageot G. 16-03-1680; 19-01-1681; 26-01-1681; 30-08-1685; 04-11-1685; 28-06-1687; 27-11-1687; 26-08-1688; 19-11-1688; 19-05-1690; 23-05-1690; 26-07-1691; Chambalon 03-04-1696; 25-03-1698; 14-11-1698; Rageot Chs. 29-04-1698; Roger G. 10-05-1698; 03-09-1699; Lepailleur 08-02-1700; ANDQ CS 05-10-1652; CSF 1664."

The English text is a translation by Jean-Pierre Gauthier of text from the "Dictionnaire Biographique des Ancêtres Québécois" Tome II, Michel Langlois, ISBN 2-9800305-4-6, ISBN 2-9800305-6-2.

Homepage

List of our pages

Any reproduction of this site without the permission of the authors is prohibited.