| Notes |
- Immigration 1670, New France as "King's Daughter" Age 16.
Occupation: Homemaker
Religion: Catholic
Three years later Mathurin declared himself ready to take a wife. The
time was propitious since the King had just sent to this new country
one of the largest contingents of his "daughters," under the
direction of Anne Gasnier and Elisabeth Estienne. Mathurin needed a
strong wife and he found her in Marie Campion, a young girl of 16
years. She had all of the qualities required to raise a family in the
difficult conditions of that time, when one needed much courage to
set up a home and to succeed in living with only the raw materials
which are found in nature.
"The King's Daughters, like their predecessors, wrote Silvio Dumas,
were courageous. It is true that they came to Canada to try to build
a better future than the one they had in France, but that takes
nothing away from their courageous actions. Emigration to faraway
colonies was unsympathetically viewed in the mother country at that
time. They knew from the Jesuit reports that Canada had a severe
climate, was closed to all communications for six months of the year,
and was subject to damage from the Iroquois. To emigrate to this new
country, which was described at times as "a place of horror," was
perhaps an adventure to tempt the men but not the women. Those who
came during this time of emigration left a country where it was good
to live and which was, in addition, the best organized country in
Europe; they left it to go to a far off colony without hope of seeing
their native land again. So, we cannot deny that these women
possessed a strong measure of courage." (3)
PIONEER OF THE ILE D'ORLEANS
Therefore, on 28 August 1670, Mathurin Dube, having discovered this
rare pearl, needed the services of an expert in marriage contracts,
the notary Romain Becquet. The contract revealed that our pioneer
lived on the Ile d'Orleans and that he was the son of the late Jean
Dube and Renee Suzanne, his father and mother, from "la Chapelle de
May, near the town of Fontenay, diocese of Lucon." For her part,
Marie Campion was the daughter of Pierre and of the late Marguerite
Esnau (Henaut), her father and mother, from the town of Saint-Malo in
Brittany (Ille-et-Vilaine). (4) The future spouses agreed to live in
joinder as to property following the Couturne de Paris.
Marie was endowed with the sum of 200 livres, and Mathurin
acknowledged that she brought to the future household a sum equal to
his and that half would belong to the estate, plus a sum of 50 livres
that His Majesty gave her in consideration of her marriage. As usual
several witnesses took part in concluding this type of agreement.
There was Anne Gasnier, widow of Jean Bourdon, former seigneur of
Saint-Jean and of Saint Francois and former procurer-general of the
Sovereign Council; Louis Rouer de Villeray, first councillor of the
same tribunal; Elisabeth Estienne, Jean-Baptiste Gosset, and Claude
Morin. All signed with the notary, with the exception of the future
spouses, who made their mark.
The nuptial ceremony took place six days later in the parish of
Mathurin Dube, Sainte-Famille on the Ile d'Orleans. (5) A copy of the
parish registry indicates, however, that the parents of the bride
were from Saint-Nicaise de Rouen. Why this different origin than the
one indicated on her marriage contract? Was Marie born in Saint-Malo?
Did her parents later move to Rouen? This could be a plausible
explanation.
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1654 - 1703 (49 years)