Our ancestor Jacques Billaudeau
According to current research, Jacques Billaudeau was born around 1627 and 1632 in Pioussay, Poitou, Deux-Sèvres 79 of today’s France. He declared during his confirmation at Château-Richer to come from the diocese of Poitiers.
Arrival in New France (CANADA)
On June 23, 1652, arrived in Quebec, the launch of the first ship to come from France, commanded by Master Jean Poitel, which ship ran aground at Île aux Coudres. The following first of July, the arrival, in Québec city, of Monsieur de Charny and the men from this first ship.
Among these men, whom we do not name, was perhaps our ancestor Jacques Billaudeau. What is certain is that Monsieur de Charny’s family was of Poitevin descent, just like our ancestor.
Charles de Lauzon, Chevalier Seigneur de Charny, Grand Master of Waters and Forests, received from his father Jean, Governor of New France, on July 24, 1652, the most important concession made on Île d’Orléans. The stronghold of Charny and Lyrec, comprising the entire northern part of the Island, which today is called the parishes of Sainte-Famille and Saint-Pierre. Charles was born around 1629 (he was about the same age as our ancestor, Jacques, 24 or 25 years old).
First years of Jacques Billaudeau in Canada
The marriage of Jacques Billaudeau and Geneviève Longchamp in 1654.
Here is the official text of the marriage traced in the register of the Notre-Dame de Québec church.
« On the twenty-eighth of October 1654, after publication made in two banns, on October 18 and 25 and exempted from the third, having found no impediment, the Reverend Father Ragueneau, having power to question Jacques Billaudeau, son of the deceased Pierre Billaudeau and of Jeanne Fleurie, and Geneviève Longchamp, daughter of Pierre Longchamp and Marie des Antes, who having given their mutual consent by word of present, he solemnly married in the house of Sieur de La Ferté in the presence of known witnesses, Sieur Giffard , Sieur de Charny, Sieur de La Ferté and others. »
The wedding of Jacques Billaudeau and Geneviève Longchamp did not take place in the church Notre-Dame du Bon Secours in Quebec even if the marriage is registered in the parish register. It was in the house of Sieur Juchereau de La Ferté that the ceremony took place in the presence of witnesses Juchereau de La Ferté, Sieur Robert Giffard (father-in-law of Juchereau and son-in-law of Louis Hébert), Charles de Lauzon, Sieur de Charny and other people.
Marriage certificate of Jacques Billaudeau and Geneviève Longchamp Note: By clicking on the image of the act, it will open in a new tab.
On April 2, 1656, Charles de Lauzon, lord of Charny, grants fourteen concessions on the island of Orleans, including one to Jacques Billaudeau, this lot 29 has four arpents of frontage on the river by seventy-two arpents of depth. The house that Jacques Billaudeau occupied at that time was the last on the west side.
The 1666 census; Jacques is counted twice, first he’s the household number 40, it’s written Jacques Billondeau. The second time it’s household number 90, it’s written Jacques Billaudeau. The enumerator seems to have returned twice.
Here is the official text of 1666.
Jacques Billaudeau, 30, habitant; Geneviève Longchamp, 29 sa femme; Jacques, 9; Louise 8; Jean, 7; Antoine, 6; Simon, 3; Gabriel, 2; Jean Le Vasseur, 20, domestique engagé; Claude Masson 18, boulanger, domestique engagé.
The 1667 census specifies that Jacques Billaudeau is 35 years old and Geneviève Longchamp, 28 years old, with their six children. They have cattle and twenty-five acres developed. At that time, two servants lent a hand to the pioneer Billaudeau, who no doubt had great need of it. They are Jean LeVasseur and Claude Febvre (Lefebvre).
The Billaudeau still on Île d’Orléans, were counted again in the1681census, which bears the name of County of Saint-Laurent. It’s written there that the children are still at the paternal home even if Jean is 29 (1) years old, Antoine, 22 years old, Simon, 18 years old, Gabriel, 17 years old. There are two more servants: Maturin Labrèque, 17, and a 9-year-old child named Robert. The family owns a rifle, 30 horned animals and now farms 40 acres of land.
On the 18 of July 1677, the ancestor was again in Quebec, this time in the parlor of the monastery of the Hôtel-Dieu de la Miséricorde de Jésus. He is accompanied by his son Jean (2), then 9 years old and Antoine, they will each be assigned a piece of land on Île d’Orléans. These concessions facing the river are three arpents wide with depth reaching the center of the Island. The lands are contiguous.
Click on these documents to see either of the censuses:
Nearly four years later, on the 27 of February 1681, Jacques Billaudeau acquired from Jean Prémont another land of three arpents frontage, in the neighboring seigneury of Saint-François, on the south side of the river, between the property of his son Jean and that of Claude Lefebvre his former servant. Said land had been granted by the Hospitallers to François Daneau in 1675, and it was finally Simon, the youngest son of Jacques who inherited it.
The children of Jacques and Geneviève
It seems that all of the couple’s children were born on the Île d’Orléans between 1656 and 1664. Jacques’ baptismal certificate is found in Quebec in 1656 and Simon’s baptismal certificate in Château-Richer in 1662; for the others, we must rely on the approximate age mentioned in the various censuses. The sons Jean (around 1658) and Antoine (1660) have descendants. Simon has descendants, only through his daughters. Gabriel (circa 1664) saw his lineage die out over the years. And we do not know what happened to Louise (around 1657).
The genealogists Godbout and Jetté mention seven, while Léon Roy is satisfied with five. There were at least six: the censuses of 1666 and 1667 agree on this; the existence of the five sons is indisputable; that of one of the two Louise’s is less certain.
1. This Louise wild be the eldest daughter. It is given eight years on the first mention of the 1666 census and ten months on the second mention (it should read ten years). In 1667 she resumed birthright, with her eleven years. She was godmother to a François Halaire when he baptized on June 23, 1667, in Ste-Famille. We don’t know anything about her, even what happened to her. It his not mentioned in 1681.
2. Jacques, born on December 24, was undulated December 25, 1656, and baptized on May 31, 1657 ; buried in Montreal on August 27, 1713. He was 57 years old. His name appears in the 1666 and 1667 censuses. He’s ignored in 1681. Perhaps he’s runner of the woods that year! We do not know of his marriage.
3. Jean, born in Sainte-Famille aroun 1658 and buried in Saint-François on September 3, 1699. Married in Sainte-Famille on October 26, 1682, and a contract before the notary Vachon on August 31, 1682, to Élisabeth Lehoux (1665-1683), daughter of Jean and Elisabeth Drugeon ; remarried in the same place on November 20, 1684 (Vachon contract on October 21 to Marie Jahan dit Laviolette (1667-1719), daughter of Jacques and Marie Ferra. They had 4 sons and 3 daughters. This family established in Saint-François.
4. Antoine, born around 1660, died November 30, 1732, and buried December 1, 1732, in Saint-François. He married on November 13, 1685, in Sainte-Famille (contract of notary Vachon, October 23, 1685) with Geneviève Turcot, daughter of Abel and Marie Giraud. They have 11 children includind 5 sons and 6 daughters.
5. Simon, born on May 1, 1662. He was baptized on May 5, 1662, in Château-Richer. He died on November 25, 1742, and was buried the next day. He married on June 6, 1689 in Sainte-Famille (contract of the notary Vachon, April 22, 1689) with Anne Turcot (sister of Geneviève Turcot, mentioned above). They had 10 children, including 2 sons and 8 daughters. As mentioned above, Simon only had descendants through daughters.
6. Gabriel was born around 1664. He died on January 6, 1685, on Île d’Orléans and was buried the same day in Ste-Famille, Île d’Orléans. On his burial certificate, the age indicated at his death is 20 years. He had no descendants.
A good hobby
Our ancestor has a cute sin: he likes to hunt and fish. This distracts him from the work of the farm and the clearing, which he willingly entrusts to servants. It also provides him with as much appreciated little extra income.
Before the notary Gilles Rageot, on October 20, 1681, Jacques Billaudeau formed a partnership with Jean Langlois and Antoine Caddé, bourgeois of Quebec, to hunt and fish in the seigniory of the Madeleine River, territory that Caddé had obtained from Frontenac on the 31 May 1679. The lord had asked Langlois and Billaudeau to buy or build a suitable boat for the purposes of their journey, in return for which he would pay them each the sum of ten pounds per year. However, a judgment of the Sovereign Council dated Monday, December 23, 1686, tells us that difficulties have arisen in this association.
The last years of Jacques and Geneviève
At the dawn of the 18th century, Jacques and Geneviève knew that they did not have many years left to live. They therefore decided to give their son Simon and Antoine the four acres granted to Sainte-Famille in 1656 by Charles de Lauzon-Charny. The deed of gift was signed by notary Étienne Jacob on August 7, 1708.
This is the last document that mentions the name of Jacques Billaudeau during his lifetime. According to Léon Roy in the book of the city, page 160, the Billaudeau spouses then probably lived with their son Simon, in Saint-François. It is in this parish that they will both be buried: he, on February 8, 1712, aged nearly 84; she, on March 28, 1718, at the age of 88, says the act of burial. She had passed away the day before. A few months after Jacques’ death, Geneviève had settled some family matters with the notary Chambalon. See the deeds of the notary of October 2 and 7, 1712.
Geneviève the wife of Jacques Bilodeau will have survived her husband and all her children and their spouses, except Antoine who died in 1732 and Simon in 1742. According to the parish registers, the ancestors Jacques and Geneviève as well as their sons Jean , Antoine and Simon are all buried in the cemetery next to the parish church of Saint-François.
Note: The Parc des Ancêtres located right next to the parish church of Sainte-Famille is also very close to the first concession granted to Jacques Billaudeau on April 2, 1656.
Sources: Book Our Ancestors, vol. 13 and summary of research by Danièle Billaudeau and André Bilodeau, translated by Olivier Bilodeau)
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- In our opinion, the age of Jean listed on the 1681 census would not be 29 years because he would have been born before the marriage of his parents Jacques Bilodeau and Geneviève Longchamp. On the act of his first marriage in 1682, his stated age is 24 and on that of his second marriage in 1684 his stated age is 27. On consulting these various documents, in 1681 Jean’s age would be around 23-24 years old.
2. As Jean’s age mentioned in the 1666 census is 7 years old and his age mentioned in the 1667 census is 9 years old, his age on July 18, 1677, would rather be around 19 years old.
