| Notes |
- Marie-Madeleine Bouchard was born at Chateau-Richer on the Beaupre
Coast, on 31 May 1665, and was baptized in her native parish on 2
June of the same year, by the missionary priest Thomas Morel. It
appears that her father Michel Bouchard, in Canada since 1657, first
lived in the territory of Chateau-Richer, then at Sainte-Anne until
1674. Michel was a native of Andilly-les-Marais, canton of Marans,
arrondissement of La Rochelle. His wife Marie Trotin, daughter of the
late Jean, a weaver, and the late Madeleine Blanchard, was born at
Poitou.
The Bouchard family moved to Riviere-Ouelle about 1675. It was there
that Pierre Dancause met Marie-Madeleine Bouchard. She became his
wife in the summer of 1679. Alas! the act was lost. A first child was
born to them on the feast day of St-Jean in 1680.
NEW CHALLENGE
After more than a half-century of life, ancestor Pierre Dancause
felt his strength ebbing. He went to seek help at the Hotel-Dieu in
the summer of 1697. There he died and was buried at Quebec on
Tuesday, 13 August. The witnesses recorded in the registry were
Jacques Michelon dit Lorange, master nailsmith, and Jean Dubreuil,
inhabitant of the Ile d'Orleans.
The thirty-two year old Marie-Madeleine Bouchard must now take on a
new challenge, that of bringing her children to maturity. The
question of inheritance could have spoiled the sauce but, on 19
August 1697, a very generous arrangement was made. Jean Raby and his
wife Marie Dancause renounced their claim in the presence of notary
Genaple, at Quebec. The reasons put forth were the following: When
Madame Dancause was married, there were only four arpents of cleared
land on the homestead at Riviere-Ouelle. Whatever they owned had been
gained during the lifetime of their mother and mother-in-law.
Therefore, she would keep the family property for her use, according
to the costume of Paris. It appears that Pierre Dancause and Marie-
Madeleine Bouchard had been married without a contract.
In 1699, Francois Deserre, son of Antoine and of Mathurine Belanger,
an audacious twenty-one year old gentleman, proposed marriage to her
on 22 September, in the presence of the notary. Later, Marie-
Madeleine thought it over and courageously decided that it was wiser
to bear his natural child than to ruin her whole life.
Marie-Anne was baptized on the day of her birth, 18 June 1700. This
surprise gift became the wife of Pierre Roy dit Desjardins on 7 June
1717 at Riviere-Ouelle
Jean-Francois Gauvin, son of Jean and of Anne Magnan, fell in love
with Marie-Madeleine Bouchard in 1702. It was at
Riviere-Ouelle that her second wedding was celebrated on 29 May. On
the following 15 June, a marriage contract was signed before
Chambalon at Quebec. There were no children.
During the same period, the widow Dancause had a house built. A
notarized act informs USA that on 24 October 1702, she owed 160
livres to Pierre Soucy de la Grande Anse, "for framework of a house
which the said Soucy had previously built for her." On the first of
October 1713, the widow Dancause decided to have an official paper
drawn up by the notary Janneau. She simply declared that her
surviving children: Madeleine, Genevieve, Catherine, Francoise and
Pierre had right to the inheritance left by their late father. Marie-
Madeleine Bouchard was still going to live a long-time.
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