THE FIRST GENERATION
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In this first chapter we tell the story which is relevant to all the Richer dit
Louveteau in North America. We meet the founders of this family in North
America, Jacques Eriché and his spouse, Marie Joffrion (Geoffrion). In
fact, we are all descended from Jacques and Marie. Afterwards our family
history will divide and multiply and each generation will bring with it new
branches of the family line. I will follow my own line up to my
grandparents', the seventh generation.
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JACQUES ERICHÉ dit LOUVETEAU (1664-1747)
AND MARIE JOFFRION (1672-1756)
JACQUES,
- born in Louvetot, Normandy, France, in 1664; died on December 24th,
1747, 'aged 99 years' and buried the next day at Saint-Laurent, Montreal;
- son of Jaques and Catherine Pin (Pain) of Louveteau (Louvetot) diocese
of Rouen in Normandy;
- married on April 7th, 1698 at Notre-Dame (Montreal) to:
MARIE JOFFRION,
- born at Verchères on March 25th , 1672, died on March 10th 1756 'aged 98
years' and buried the next day in the Cemetary of the Poors in Montreal;
- daughter of Pierre and Marie Brian (Priault);
- widow of Pierre La Varenne dit Lesperance.
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The children (all born in Montreal)
1 - Marie Anne born on February 18th, 1699; married on April 6th, 1717 to
Jean Baptise Joly at Rivière-des-Prairies (Montreal). Died there on March
16th, 1739. They lived in the East end of the Island of Montreal; they had
13 children, 8 of which died before attaining their majority.
2 - Marie Joseph born on June 16th, 1700, died on the 19th and buried the
day after.
3 - Jacques born on May 22nd, 1701, witness to his sister's weeding Marie
Anne on April 6th, 1717; was working in the fur trade in 1721.
4 - François born on October 22nd, 1702, married the first time on October
18th, 1723 at Saint-Laurent with Marie Anne Brunet; married a second time
on October 11th, 1745 at Sault-au-Récollet (Montreal) with Marie Joseph
Normant; died on December 26th, 1763 aged '63 years' and buried the
following day in the Cemetary of the Poors of Montreal.
5 - Marie Coecille born on February 22nd, 1704, married on January 11th,
1723 at Saint-Laurent with Pierre Plouf. Residents of Saint-Laurent, the
Plouffe had 21 children, 8 of which died before attaining their majority.
6 - Jean Baptiste born on April 19th, 1705, married on January 22nd, 1731 at
Montreal with Marie Jarry. Residents of Pointe-Claire (Montreal), they had
11 children, only one dying before attaining his majority.
7 - Marie Madelaine born on August 28th, 1706, died on the 31st and buried
the day after.
8 - Michel born on September 28th, 1707, died and buried on July 18th,
1717.
9 - Jean born on November 3rd, 1708, died on January 28th, 1709 and
buried the day after.
10 - Marie Magdeleine born on December 11th, 1709, married on October
30th, 1730 at Saint-Laurent with François Libersan dit Laviolette. Residents
of Saint-Laurent, they had 14 children, 8 of which died before attaining
their majority.
11 - A stillborn child, twin, born and died on November 22nd, 1710 and
buried the day after.
12 - Philippe René, twin, born on November 22nd, 1710, died on December
13th next and buried the day after.
13 - Françoise born on May 8th, 1712, died and buried on December 27th,
1714.
14 - Marguerite born on May 6th, 1713, died and buried on June 24th next.
15 - Mariane born on January 23rd, 1715, died on March 1st, 1730 at the
Montreal Hotel-Dieu Hospital and buried the day after.
16 - Charles Augustin born on March 16th, 1716. Died probably in
childhood.
17 - Marie Agnès born on September 22nd, 1718, died and buried on the
following November 5th next.
Jacques' early years in New France
The first mention of Jacques Eriche dit Louveteau in New France dates
from 1697. That year he was hospitalized four different times between July
and December at the Hotel-Dieu in Quebec for a total of 51 days. A
professional soldier, it is probable that he was among the 123 recruits who
arrived in New France the preceding year to reinforce the King's troops in
the colony.
Jacques was a member of the company of special troops under the
command of Jacques Levasseur de Néré, chief engineer in charge of
military constructions in New France. These troops were part of the
establishment of the French Navy and did not therefore come under the
jurisdiction of the regular Army under the aegis of the Minister of War.
Their presence assured the security of the colony.
The cause of Jacques' hospitalizations remains unknown; in fact, there are
three possibilities. First, since he had arrived in Quebec probably the year
before he was hospitalized, it may be that he had contracted a disease in
the course of the voyage - a disease such as smallpox, which decimated the
population in those days; indeed, about a quarter of the military personnel
who arrived in Quebec in September of 1696 died of contagious diseases.
Second, he may have been wounded in the expedition led by
Governor-General Frontenac against the Indians of the Great Lakes. This
expedition took into enemy territory 2,000 soldiers, militiamen and friendly
natives. The resulting victory earned Frontenac the Saint-Louis Cross,
awarded to him by Louis XIV.
Or - and this is the most plausible of explanations - Jacques may have been
seriously hurt during the construction of defensive works. Levasseur de
Néré, the engineer in charge of constructing defences, drafted his soldiers
to help in building barriers against an anticipated attack by the English
troops.
Jacques gets married
In any case, the following year we find Jacques in Montreal where he has
completely recovered. On the 7th of April 1698, at Notre-Dame church he
marries Marie Joffrion (Geoffrion) widow of the soldier Pierre La Varenne
dit Lespérance. He was 34; she was 25.
Marie came of a family of nine children. She had a son by her first
marriage. Pierre, born the 16th of September 1691 in Montreal, died on
October 11th following. Her first husband had died in Montreal on the 16th
of January 1693. When married to Jacques she lived with her family in
Montreal in what is now côte Vertu.
The principal witness at their marriage was, not surprisingly, René
Cuillerier, another soldier. During the 1690s of a population of some 2,000,
there were in Montreal somewhere between 600 and 800 military. The
second witness was a merchant, Pierre Lamoureux.
Being a soldier, Jacques had obtained permission to marry, together with a
year's leave and a year's salary. The King in this way was trying to
encourage soldiers to establish themselves in the colony.
Jacques and his spouse Marie were married in community property, as
stipulated in their marriage contract dated a month before the wedding.
The Notary was Antoine Adhémar. Such a contract ought not to surprise
the reader since at that time it was the custom to attend upon the Notary
before attending upon the clergyman.
Upon both occasions both parties declared that they were illiterate and
incapable of signing their names. The execution of the marriage contract
took place in the home of the parents of the bride, which explains the
presence of her father and mother, her brothers Jean and Toussaint and of
her sister Françoise and her brother-in-law Pierre Rousseau.
Marie's mother, Marie Briau, would die less than a year later on the 14th of
February 1699. Her father Pierre Geoffrion follows her four years later,
the 17th of October 1704.
Jacques and Marie settle on the Island of Montreal
The 17th of February 1700, Jacques rented a tract of land from Antoine
Berthelot dit Savoyard, on what is now the côte-des-Neiges on the Island of
Montreal. The lease was for four years and the contract was signed before
Notary Pierre Raimbault.
Then, in 1702, two years before the end of his lease, Jacques decided to
farm his own plot. The owners of the Island of Montreal, the Sulpicians,
granted him a tract of land situated in côte Saint-Michel, today Jarry street.
The sale contract was prepared by Pierre Raimbault.
Before we go on with Jacques' story, let us say a few words about the early
settlement of Montreal.
The settlement of the Island of Montreal
At that time land was held under the Seigniorial tenure. The King of
France granted large tracts of territory to people of confidence, often to
military persons or to religious orders.The grantees had the exclusive right
thereafter to exploit the lands under certain conditions. One of these
conditions was to subdivide their holdings into lots and grant them to new
settlers under certain terms.
In 1640 the Island of Montreal was granted by the Company of One
Hundred Associates (who had received the same from the King) to the
Society of Notre- Dame. This Order was founded in France by two devots,
Jérome de la Dauversière and Jacques Olier. It proposed to establish a
religious colony in Montreal for the conversion to Catholicism of the
natives.
The first Governor of the Society of Notre-Dame was Paul de Chomedy,
Sieur de Maisonneuve, whom History has credited with founding the City
of Montreal. In fact, it was in 1642 that he arrived at Ville-Marie (at that
time the name of the city), with some forty settlers to proceed with his plan.
But this religious adventure soon failed. Debt-ridden, disappointed and
frustrated in its plans, the Society had no choice but to cede its Seignory to
the Saint-Sulpice Seminary of Paris in 1663. This group of priests founded
a Seminary in Montreal (which still exists) and took charge of the
development of the Island.
In the years 1660-1670, the Sulpicians granted large pieces of lands to
military officers who, in return, had to build small fortifications at strategic
points to protect the new settlers. Soon the South shore of the Island from
Senneville on the West to Rivière-des-Prairies on the East was protected by
a series of forts built of wood or stones.
There was Fort Senneville (one can still see its vestiges), Ste-Anne,
Pointe-Claire, Roland, St-Rémi, Lachine, Ville-Marie, Longue-Pointe,
Pointe-aux-Trembles and Rivière-des-Prairies. The North side still
unprotected was yet to be opened to settlement.
Then, at the end of the 17th century, the Sulpicians opened several plots in
the center of the Island. Consequently, in 1700, the central portion of the
Island of Montreal contained several côtes (consession roads):
Notre-Dame-de-Liesse, Notre-Dame-des-Vertus, Saint-Laurent and
Saint-Michel where Jacques received his grant in 1702.
In 1760, at the end of the French regime, the totality of the Island of
Montreal had been subdivided in accordance with the Seigniorial tenure.
This system was abolished in 1840 for the Island of Montreal and in 1854
for all of Lower Canada (Quebec) and replaced by the English system of
freehold.
There were no longer any seigneurs and no longer any censitaires. The
regime which came from France with our ancestors left its mark forever on
the geography of Quebec.
Jacques' lands in côte Saint-Michel
In 1702 Jacques Eriche found himself in possession of a tenancy of land in
côte Saint-Michel, located in the middle of the Island of Montreal. It
consisted of some 60 arpents (one arpent is a little less than an acre); that is
to say, a piece of land 3 arpents in front by 20 in depth; the standard farm
at the time.
Jacques' land was bordered on the North by acres ceded to Faron dit
Sancene; in front by côte Saint-Michel road and to the North-East by
vacant lands. The same year on the North-West Jacques Viger moved on
to a neighbouring tract.
Jacques also obtained a droit de commune (right of commune), along with
his neighbours, which right allowed them all to pasture their animals on
lands in front of their farms. This common pasture land occasioned
endless wrangling among the neighbours who could seldom agree, when it
came time to divide the herd, as to which animals belonged to whom.
Sometimes these disagreements required settlement in the courts.
In payment for his lands, Jacques had to assume certain obligationsas
stipulated in his contract passed with the Sulpicians. He had to pay a cens
et rentes (a small annual tax) payable on St. Martin day, that is November
the 11th. He had to bring his grain to be milled at the mill belonging to the
Sulpicians. For this service he had to pay in kind a droit de banalité, that is
one fourteenth of his grain.
Jacques had to plough his land, fence it, keep it in good condition, build a
house, tenir feu et lieu (inhabit it) keep up the road in front of his plot and
accommodate his neighbours so that they might have free access to their
concessions (droit de passage).
According to his land title, Jacques was forbidden to offer or to sell to the
natives any kind of intoxicant, under pain of losing his concession. This
clause is explained by the proximity of the Indian mission which was
located nearby, at the Sault-au-Récollet, in the North of the Island.
Jacques had to face other obligations that were not necessarily part of his
written contrat with his seigneurs. If he were to buy another piece of land
already granted, he would have to pay to the them a tax (lods et ventes)
equivalent to one twelfth of the price paid. (Now we have to pay this special
tax to the local government and we call it a welcome tax!). This tax was to
discourage the selling of homesteads in order to keep them in the same
family from one generation to the next.
Jacques had to participate in corvées (four days' annual work in such
public duties as building and repairing roads and bridges. He had to
support the local church and pay to the priest an annual due in grain called
la dîme.
Jacques and all the other habitants (inhabitants) prayed each Sunday for
the Sulpicians. (Now in Roman Catholics circles, people pray every Sunday
for the Pope, the bishop and the civil authorities!).
Every year on the first of May he would join in a feast called la plantation
du mai when all the inhabitants got together to celebrate the new season.
The seigneurs would offer food and drink.
On the other part the seigneurs had obligations too. Ounce their seigneurie
granted to them they had to perform foi et hommage (a declaration of
allegiance) to the King or his representative, the Governor-General who
lived in the château Saint-Louis in Quebec, the capital of New France.
They had to produce a papier terrier (a detailed description of their
seigneurie). If they had purchased their seigneurie for some one else,they
had to pay un droit de quint (one fifth of the purchase price). Again this tax
was to discourage speculation and encourage the transmission of land
holdings from a seigneur to his son.
More important the seigneurs had to build a grist mill for the use of the
censitaires, live among them (tenir feu et lieu) and pay for a court
seigneurial (judicial court of first instance). They could not refuse new
grants of land. Abuses from the seigneurs were sanctioned by the intendant
of New France responsible for the justice system in the colony and to whom
the censitaires could turn to complain.
The seigneurs had certain privileges in the church where they had their
own banc seigneurial (special pew for them and their family) and during
public and religious ceremonies. They and their family had the privilege to
be buried under the Church just below their banc seigneurial.
The Eriché (Richer) children
Between 1699 and 1718 Jacques and Marie had 17 children of whom two
were twins. They score rather higher than the average. In the eighteenth
century the average was 5.6 children. Seven - probably eight - of the
children died before their first birthday; three others died at 2, 20 and 15
years and only six grew to be more than 15: three boys and three girls.
The girls, Cécile, Madeleine and Marie-Anne, will have numerous children
and, like their mother, will have twins. Two of the boys, François and
Jean-Baptiste, will marry. They will have respectively families of eleven
and fourteen children.
As to the third son Jacques - except for his presence at the marriage of his
sister Marie-Anne in 1717 and, three years later, his undertaking to take a
canoe-load of merchandise into the Great Lakes Country where he was to
treat for furs - nothing further is heard of him and no information has
come to light.
Jacques' involvment in community service
In 1721 Jacques, now a sergeant in the local Militia and three neighbours
representing the inhabitants of the côte Saint-Michel attended upon
Mathieu-Benoit Collet, the King's representative. There was an inquest in
the whole colony regarding distances from the churches to the different
settlements. Some people were complaining about distances even though
the inhabitants were not always anxious to pay for another church nor for
its upkeep, nor for the services of a priest.
Before 1720 the settlers of côte Saint-Michel attended at Notre-Dame de
Montreal, a distance of several kilometers. Remember that all of the
Eriché children were baptized at Notre-Dame. But that year a new church
dedicated to Saint-Laurent was built which served the inhabitants of côtes
Saint-Michel, Saint-Laurent and Notre-Dame-des-Vertus.
Jacques and his neighbours declared to the King's representative that they
were satisfied with their new church and were happy to be part of the
newly established parish.
Jacques and Marie go into retirement
In 1736 Jacques and his wife Marie sell their land to Jean-Baptiste
Monpellier dit Beaulieu. The contract of sale was prepared by the Notary
Francois Pailleur. They were, at that time, respectively 73 and 63 years
old.
They had cleared the land, occupied it for 34 years and had raised their
family there. Now, having arrived at an age considered advanced for the
time, living alone - Jean-Baptiste, their last child to leave the family home
having departed five years before - they decided to retire.
In rural societies the custom was for parents to give their farm while still
living to a child: generally a son. This was called a donation entre vifs. The
son undertook to care for his parents too old and often too sick to look
after themselves and see to their proper burial. This also helped to keep
the farm in the family. The custom persisted until well into the twentieth
century when finally social security replaced it.
The custom often occasioned problems in the home, problems based on the
mingling of the generations under one roof. We still hear stories about this
especially wrangling between mother and daughter-in-law.
In any case, Jacques and Marie made no such donation: probably because
their farm was not suitable for expansion and also because their children at
the time of their retirement were well established and had their own farm.
Except for François whom we find on Bizard Island just off the Island of
Montreal, the others lived on the Island; Jean-Baptiste in Pointe-Claire;
Cécile and Madeleine, married respectively to Pierre Plouffe and Francois
Libersan, in Saint-Laurent and Marie-Anne, married to Jean-Baptiste
Joly, in the Eastern section of the Island, at Rivière-des-Prairies.
Jacques and Marie sold their land for a thousand pounds. The purchaser
paid them in instalments of hundred pounds annually - half in money and
half in products from the store of Pierre Correau or some other merchant.
In this way Jacques and Marie were assured of an annual income in money
and in kind for the ten years to follow.
Also, Jacques retained the right to seed the land in the Spring of 1737 and
to pasture one cow and one pig with the animals of the new owner.
Seven year later, the children of Jacques and Marie ratified, before the
Notary Jean-Baptiste Adhémar, the sale of 1736 in favour of Beaulieu and
in consequence, gave up their right to the family estate.
Now let us have look at the settlers' life during that time.
Pionner's life in New France
At the time, it took a new settler about 30 years to construct a homestead.
The first year, in Spring, he would proceed to construct a cabin of stakes
about 15 by 20 feet. With only an axe as a tool he would cut down small
trees and sharpen them, then proceeding to plant them in the ground.
His cabin had neither floor nor chimney. He used bark and grass to
construct his roof and to plug the cracks. A few weeks later he could move
in with his trunk of personal effects and some provisions.
At the beginning of summer he attacked larger trees: preferably pines,
which he cut into pieces of around 20 feet in length. These pieces were put
aside for the construction of the permanent dwelling. Then, he cleaned up
the resulting clearing. He pulled out the small trees and cut the larger
ones, leaving the roots to rot. This process took about five years.
The remaining pieces of wood were cut and corded near the cabin to serve
as heating material for the home. Finally, the scraps were burned. Now
the land was ready to be hoed and this he did by autumn.
Late in the year or in the following spring the settler planted the first crop
in between the trunks of the rotting trees. Waiting for winter he proceeded
to square the pine logs that he had kept for the construction of his house.
During the winter he undertook another job, cutting the trees to the height
of the snow. The following Spring he planted, between the tree trunks
which were sometimes four or five feet high, pumpkins, beans and corn.
The cleaning up of this area was left to the following autumn.
After a year the new settler possessed a log cabin, an acre in hoed land, and
two acres cleared. Each year he cleared two more acres. As soon as
possible, he built his permanent house en pièce sur pièce (square logs pile
on top of each other) with a wooden floor and a wooden roof, with a
chimney made of earth.
He bought some animals: a cow; a sow and a few fowl, which he housed in
an old cabin rebuilt as a stable. Five years after he first moved in, with the
help of an ox, he pulled out the rotten stumps (of the trees that he had cut).
Then gradually he brought the land into cultivation.
After some ten years the settler had about ten acres under the plough, the
very minimum required for the feeding of his family. At his death, about
thirty years after he had obtained the concession, the settler possessed
about 30 acres of arable land, a yard, a pasture, a shed, a barn and a
house.
The Eriché's homestead
In 1731, about thirty years after they homesteaded in côte Saint-Michel,
they had a house, a yard, a pasture, a barn and 23 acres of arable land.
Five years later, when they gave up their farm, there is mention in the sale
contract of buildings, yards, pastures, arable land, wood and an orchard.
Jacques and Marie had therefore spent their lives clearing and building.
Jacques' and Marie's last years
Jacques would live almost twelve years after the sale of his farm. He died
in 1747 in Saint-Laurent. He was perhaps living with his daughter Cécile
because Pierre Plouffe, his son-in-law, signed his death certificate. He was
83 years old and not '99', as his age appears in the parish register which at
that time served as legal record. (In Quebec, Church records had legal
recognition until the 1990s). It was customary when a person was
unusually old, to write in '99 years'; one was not concerned with an exact
count.
His spouse Marie would survive him by nine years. She died in 1756, also
at the age of 83. She was buried in the cemetery for the Poors in Montreal.
None of her children or relatives was present at the ceremony. It does seem
that Marie spent her last years in the General Hospital of the Sisters of
Charity, a refuge for indigent elderly.
In conclusion, in spite of their numerous offspring, only two sons of
Jacques and Marie: that is, Jean-Baptiste and François, will have families
who will carry on the name.
The story of the Richer family will switch to Pointe-Claire for
Jean-Baptiste and for François to Bizard Island, just off the Island of
Montreal and now part of the City of Montreal.
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JACQUES RICHER'S GRANT OF LAND ON THE ISLAND OF
MONTREAL in 1702
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*
This plan shows the central part of the Island of Montreal in 1702. On top
starting from the left, one can see côte Notre-Dame-des-Vertus, côte
Saint-Laurent and on the right côte Saint-Michel. The arrow points out
Jacques' land grant from the Sulpicians. Today côte Saint-Michel is Jarry
street. The Richer early settlement would be between Musset and Shelley
streets and would run accross Metropolitain Boulevard.
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The same plan of 1702 showing Jacques'grant of land and the common
grounds where the censitaires (inhabitants) would leave their animals in the
summer.
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