THE
THIRD GENERATION
Our story ended in the
last chapter with the children of François and Marie-Anne Brunet, that branch
of the family who left definitely the
*
PAUL HERICHER (1735-1821) and CÉCILE BRIZEBOIS
(1738-1819)
PAUL,
- born August 14, 1735
at Pointe-Claire (
- son of François Hericher dit Louveteau and Marie-Anne
Letan (Brunet);
- married May 22, 1758
at Saint-Laurent (
CÉCILE BRIZEBOIS,
- born August 22, 1738
at Saint-Laurent;
- daughter of Louis
and Marie Angélique Groux (Groulx);
- died October 5, 1819,
buried the 7th at Saint-Eustache.
The Children
1- Louis, born
March 8, 1759 at Sainte-Geneviève (
2- Paul, born
July 18, 1760 at Sainte-Geneviève, married May 19, 1783 at Pointe-Claire with Marie
Jammes dit Carrière, died April 12, 1836 at Saint-Benoît (Mirabel);
3- Joseph, born,
died, buried August 10, 1761 at Sainte-Geneviève;
4- François, born
June 22, 1762 at Sainte-Geneviève; died before 1781;
5- Marie-Louise, born
August 31, 1763 at Sainte-Geneviève; married February 9, 1787 at Saint-Eustache
with Amable Lebuis; died December 8, 1800 at Saint-Eustache;
6- Catherine,
born February 3, 1765 at Sainte-Geneviève; died before 1798;
7- Jean-Baptiste,
born April 7, 1766 at Sainte-Geneviève; married January 26, 1790 at
Saint-Eustache with Josette Lantier;
8- Joseph, born
September 2, 1767 at Sainte-Geneviève, died March 3, 1769 and buried at
Saint-Eustache;
9- Marie-Rose,
born February 9, 1770 at Saint-Eustache, died February 18, 1770 and buried the
following day at Saint-Eustache;
10- Eustache,
born April 21, 1771 at Saint-Eustache, died April 14, 1772 and buried at
Saint-Eustache;
11- Nicolas, born
March 31, 1773 at Saint-Eustache;
12- Josephte-Amable,
born March 8, 1776 at Saint-Eustache;
13- Anonymous,
born and died June 24, 1777 at Saint-Eustache;
14- Joseph, born
May 5, 1778 at Saint-Eustache, married July 23 1798 at Saint-Eustache with Marie
Suzanne Paiement;
15- François,
born 1781, married September 21, 1801 at Saint-Eustache with Marie Louise
Breyer; died September 14, 1802 and buried the following day at
Saint-Benoît;
16- Michel, born
October 2, 1782 at Saint-Eustache, married January 11, 1808 at Saint-Eustache
with Marie Amable Franchepagne dit Laframboise, died August 29, 1832 at
Saint-Eustache.
Paul makes a living
clearing new land
Paul starts to work at
age 19, clearing land. In 1754, he buys from his brother Jean-Baptiste a farm
on the very point of Bizard Island, 60 acres of which only 3 are under
cultivation and another 3 are cleared (December 6, 1754, Notary G. Hodiesne).
He keeps it a few years, clears more of it and re-sells it at a profit to
Jean-Baptiste (February 10, 1766).
In 1764, he obtains a
concession in Sainte-Geneviève on the
Paul gets married
Meanwhile he had married
Cécile Brisebois in 1758. His father François and his brother Jean-Baptiste are
both present at the ceremony.
The following year, Paul
and Cécile sell her share in her mother's estate to their brother-in-law,
Pierre Deguire dit Larose. It amounted to one third of a homestead located in
Saint-Laurent. They get pay half in cash and half payable in the next two years
without interest (October 9, 1759, Notary G. Hodiesne).
In 1761, they give up
Cécile's future share in her father's land to him and his new wife. Again they
get a sum of money part in cash, part payable in 1763 (September 19, 1761,
Notary G. Hodiesne). They now had no further obligation to her father and
step-mother.
It is interesting to
notice that at that time a married woman had the legal status of a minor. She
could not transact business without the authorization of her husband. In the
legal documents dealing with the Brisebois' estate, one can read "...were
present Mr Paul Louveteau and Cécile Brisebois, his wife, whom he authorizes to
effectuate these presents... ". So, ladies, "think on", as they
say in the North of
Paul leaves the Island
of Montreal to settle in Saint-Eustache
In 1767 Paul and his
family left the parish of Sainte-Geneviève on the
Colonization of this
seigneury located North of
Paul is one of the first
settlers. In 1768 he joins in a petition for the erection of a chapel. Eleven
years later he signs a second petition for the construction of a church (March
14, 1779, Notary L.J. Soupras).
In 1766 Paul had
acquired from Louis Beaulieu 90 acres consisting of two separate lots on the rivière
du Chêne of which four acres only are under cultivation, five are
cleared and all the rest have standing trees (December 12, 1766, Notary L.J.
Soupras). There is also a house under construction: 16 feet by 18, which the
Vendor promises to complete the following Spring.
Beaulieu agrees also to
furnish a man to help Paul to prepare lumber for the construction of a shed 35
feet long. Finally, one Jean Barbary will cut half of the hay for the two
following seasons.
Paul doesn't keep this
land for very long. Five years later he sells the smaller of the two lots to
his neighbour, Joseph Denis (October 4, 1771, Notary L.J. Soupras). Then in
1773 he exchanges the remainder of his land for a farm owned by Antoine Lahaye,
in the same area on the bank of the river (October 20, 1773, Notary L.J. Soupras).
The two farms are equal in size except that Lahaye's is not cleared and has no
buildings, so he has to pay Paul, over two years, a sum in addition.
Ten years later in 1783
Paul obtains from the seigneur Jean-Eustache Dumont an additional tract
of land (January 23, 1783, Notary L.J. Soupras). Only the most industrious
colonists are granted such concessions.
Among the terms of the
contract Paul agrees to join in the 'planting of the May' in default of which
he will pay a fine.
This is an old French
tradition. The tenants had to plant a pole - a full-size limbed fir-tree - in
front of the seigneur's mansion. This Spring ritual, accompanied by
numerous volleys gun-fire, announced the coming of good weather. This noisy
proceeding was accompanied by a banquet served by the seigneur to his
tenants: food and copious amounts of rum.
Paul and Cécile's
donation to their son Joseph
Paul and Cécile decided
to give their homestead to their son Joseph in 1798. (July 14, 1798, Notary
P.R. Gagnier). They were 63 and 60 years old and had been married 40 years.
They had had 16 children, some born in Sainte-Geneviève, the last ones in
Saint-Eustache: five boys and one girl married and established themselves in
that parish or in the next one Saint-Benoît, founded in 1799.
During his lifetime Paul
had acquired by purchase and by concession, forested lands which he cleared and
improved.
Though Paul had left
Bizard island in 1764 he still had interests there. In 1783 he sold an acre of
land which he had previously acquired from his brother Jean-Baptiste on
condition that he should keep their sister Marguerite who was mentally
handicapped. (November 10, 1783, Notary L.J. Soupras).
Life had been hard.
Think of Paul arriving at Saint-Eustache in 1767 with his wife, at least five
children and his handicapped sister; they came to occupy a house 18 x 16 on a
piece of land only partially cleared!
In any case by the time
they came to effectuate their donation in favour of their son Joseph, Paul and
his wife had accumulated an estate with surpassed the average. Paul had done
better than his father and his grandfather.
The Richer homestead
To begin with, Paul and
Cécile left to Joseph their land on rivière du Chêne, 120 acres -
60 under cultivation and the rest wood-lot - which land the couple had occupied
for some 25 years. The farm consisted of a house; a barn 57 x 24 with thatched
roof; two stables, also thatched, one 14 feet and the other 11.
The house measured 21 x
16; had a storey and a half: a main floor and an attic for storage. The main
floor consisted of a common room which served as a kitchen and dining room and,
at night, a sleeping space for the children. Folding furniture is very common.
Think of the beggar`s bench. In a corner, separated from the main room by a
curtain, is the cabin bed occupied by the parents. A stove and its pipe heat
the house.
Only in the 19th
century will houses be built larger with the gables higher, permitting the
addition of bedrooms upstairs for the children.
The exterior of the
house is covered with vertical pine planks and whitewashed. The roof is of
planks and covered with cedar shingles, as are the two gables at each extremity
of the house. The chimney is of pressed earth.
In the interior of the
house the walls are covered with spruce planks and limed - that is to say,
whitewashed. The floors are of squared timber..
The house has only one
access door and two windows in front. Two other windows of which one, the
smaller, is located in the attic, are on the same side of the house. The
windows are glassed and shuttered. The door is plain. There is no porch. This
feature, imported from the
To complete the
description of a farmer`s home at the end of the 18th century, let
us quote from Isaac Wood, who visited Lower Canada at this period:
The houses are almost
all constructed of squared tree-trunks positioned one above another; but they
are built more solidly and with more care than we find to be the case in the
That said, let's get
back to the donation of 1798. Paul gives, also, the following animals: three
teams of oxen, four cows, three steers, one horse, ten sheep, five little pigs
and two calves. The number of bullocks is more than average for the period.
The oxen were employed
for clearing land and it's probable that Paul hired himself out among his
neighbours for land clearing: which would explain the number of steers.
Also the number of cows
is high when one considers that at this time farmers produced only enough milk
for their own use. The dairy industry in
The donation included
also some farm implements: a plough, a handcart, a drag and some harness. There
were also some household effects in the dwelling.
In return, Joseph
undertook to take care of, and to bury, his father and mother.
Besides the crop of 1798
Paul and Cécile retained the right to live in the house for the remainder of
their lives unless and until Joseph should build for them an extension to the
dwelling of 14 x 14. They retained the right to necessary articles of furniture
as well as the right to their own garden.
Joseph undertakes to
deliver to them each year the following: 38 bushels of wheat milled into flour
and delivered to their attic; 300 pounds of pork: i.e., two pigs with lard; 25
pounds of fat beef; about 4 litres of rum; a bushel of salt to preserve the
pork; a pound of pepper; a bushel and a half of field peas and 24 pounds of
maple sugar.
In addition, various
other materials: 6 pounds of candles for light; 6 pounds of soap; 6 pounds of
snuff and 18 pounds of pipe tobacco (both men and women smoked pipes and used
snuff); 20 cords of hardwood or 25 cords half soft and half hard.
When the donors
(Grantors - Paul and Cécile) can no longer cultivate their garden, Joseph
undertakes to furnish them each year herbs to season their soup, 50 heads of
cabbage, 4 plaits of onions and two bags of potatoes. In addition, he will
furnish his parents during their lifetime with one milk cow which, if
necessary, he will from time to time replace.
This enumeration of
products gives a good overview of the diet of the period. People ate mostly
bread and pork, milk products - fresh milk and curd, cream and butter, cabbage
soup and pea soup; onions, and for dessert, maple sugar.
To this diet were added
eggs, chicken and the following vegetables: lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, beans,
beats and radishes. Pumpkins and melons were also grown. Spices were salt,
pepper, thyme and marjoram.
During the summer the colonists
harvested fruit: strawberries; raspberries; blueberries and gooseberries. They
usually had an orchard with apples, cherries, plums and sometimes pears.
It is interesting to
remark that the cultivation of potatoes became popular in
In addition to divers
foodstuffs, Joseph undertook to provide his parents with a change of clothing
every two years, also 'Sunday' outfits and shoes as necessary.
In case of their
illness, Paul and his spouse were to receive at their son's expense,
appropriate medical care and personal assistance; also transportation where
necessary - especially to church.
When they died Joseph
undertook to bury them in the usual fashion and also to order an anniversary
service and 26 Requiem masses.
After the decease of one
of the Donor couple, Joseph's annual obligations diminished by one third except
for the candles, the wood and the cow. When both Donors were gone, Joseph was
to inherit free and clear all of the goods which, during the time, had been
hypothecated in favour of the Donation.
Joseph also undertook to
care for his Aunt Marguerite, the one who was handicaped (at that time the
family and not the State took care of the sicks) and his two minor brothers
Francois and Michel.
Besides, at their
marriage (Francois and Michel), he will furnish each of them with a cow, a
sheep, two pigs, a buggy and a set of harness. His other (married) brothers
Paul and Jean-Baptiste, had already received a gift equivalent. To his sister
Marie-Louise, married to Antoine Lebuis, Joseph was to pay in money her
interest in the estate.
Lastly, in the year
following the decease of his parents, Joseph will pay to each of his four
brothers and his sister a symbolic sum of money called a légitime,
effectively extinguishing any right and title of his siblings to any rights in
the estate.
Following the donation
Joseph married Suzanne Paiement (see the next generation) on the 23rd
of July 1798. The new bride was greeted by her parents-in-law, her husband's
aunt Marguerite, her two young brothers-in-law François and Michel. All of these persons inhabited a house 21 x 16.
Joseph kept his parents'
farm for more than twenty years. In 1819 he swapped it for another farm in the
same rank. (June 12, 1819, Notary J.A. Berthelot). Today we can admire the
beautiful stone house built by Jean-Baptiste Spénard in 1833 on Paul's old land.
This ancestral home is today the property of the Spénard family, the
proprietors of Spénard Orchards.
Getting back to Paul -
he lived a few more years, dying in 1821 at the age of 85. He was buried at
Saint-Eustache. Cécile had died a few months before.
Their five sons settled
in the region of Saint-Eustache, as did their daughter. They are Paul, Jean-Baptiste, Joseph, François, Michel and
Marie-Louise. In the next chapter we will meet one of them.
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