| Notes |
- Pierre Dancause
Dancause is a surname which recalls the names of two communities in
France: Encausse-les-Thermes and Encausse itself. Today the first
is in the department of the Haute-Garonne, arrondissement of Saint-
Gaudens. This locality is poised at an altitude of more than 360
meters
on the flanks of the Pyrenees, and is famous for its mineral waters.
As for the other community mentioned above, it has no special
attraction. Did Pierre come from one of these two Encausse villages?
We really know little or nothing about it.
Pierre Dancosse or Dancause appeared for the first time at La
Rochelle on 17 June 1662. He went to New France at the age of 18,
having
been hired to work for Pierre Boucher, the Sieur de Grosbois. He
lived at Trois-Rivieres, where he worked for three years as an
apprentice
cartwright and carpenter. As for the French origins of our ancestor,
the Canadian records give no information about his parents and/or his
parish, therefore we cannot identify his French roots.
A HARD CROSSING
Pierre Boucher, interpreter, soldier and the Governor of Trois-
Rivieres, had devoted his life to his new homeland. He was sent to
Paris on
22 October 1661, carrying dispatches from the civil and religious
authorities of New France. On the occasion of this official visit,
the Sieur
de Grosbois took the opportunity to hire 100 workmen, including
Pierre Dancause, at La Rochelle. Indeed, a costly enterprise!
According to
Raymond Douville, Pierre Boucher could rely on two ships for his
return to Canada; along with the men he had hired and about one
hundred soldiers. These ships were the Saint-Jean-Baptiste
displacing 150 tons, and the 300 ton l'Aigle d'Or. Between them they,
carried the
300 passengers of this last contingent of the year 1662. Those who
had their contracts signed in the presence of notary Moreau, like
Pierre
Dancause, took their passage in the Angle d'Or.
This was a long, perilous, difficult and, as it turns out, a rather
macabre crossing. Pierre Dancause left La Rochelle on 15 July 1662.
The sea
voyage lasted almost three months. Half the immigrants fell ill
while death visited many others. Seventy-five were too sick to
continue and
were put ashore at Newfoundland. One hundred fifty-nine more were
disembarked at Tadoussac, at the end of October. Pierre Boucher
arrived by small boat at Quebec on 27 October, according to the
Journal des Jesuites. Only by 12 November did the boats bring
everyone
who had come from France "both healthy and ill", to Quebec.
Was Pierre Dancause inconvenienced by illness, desiccation or
malnutrition, like his unfortunate companions? This secret has been
well-guarded by history. He had to spend the winter at Trois-
Rivieres with his master Pierre Boucher. There he lived for three
years,
probably until 17 June 1665.
CAP-DE-LA-MADELEINE TO RIVIERE-OUELLE
After the end of his commitment, what did Pierre Dancause do? The
census of 1667 finds him living with Antoine Marcereau, a
Bourguignon at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. Together the two friends had
eight arpents of land under cultivation. Then Antoine left Pierre to
marry
Marie-Marthe Bourgouin, the widow of Nicolas Godbout. They were wed
on 11 July 1675, at Sainte Famille, on the Ile d'Orleans.
We have found no contract by notaries Ameau or Cusson referring to
Pierre Dancausse. Did he have his own land grant? If so, to whom
did he sell? He must have left the region of Trois-Rivieres with his
friend before 1675.
The first appearance of Pierre in our parish registries was on 3
March 1679 when he became the godfather of Martin Fouquet from
Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere. The godmother was Marie Trotin, wife of
Michel Bouchard, his future mother-in-law. Father Pierre Thrury
recorded the baptism at Quebec.
On 11 May of the same year, Pierre gave his name to his godson
Pierre Hudon of Riviere-Ouelle. He was accompanied by
Marie-Madeleine Bouchard, his future wife. The priest Thomas Morel,
former pastor of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, officiated at the baptism.
Born about 1645, Pierre Dancause was still a bachelor in the spring
of 1679. He was 34 years old and had 17 years experience in this
country. He was not a vagabond. On 19 March 1676, the Seigneur
Deschamps ceded him a plot of frontal land, 7 arpents by 12 deep,
bordered on one side by Jacques Miville dit Deschesnes and on the
other side by the widow Chatillon.
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.
COLONIST NEAR THE RIVER
Pierre Dancause may have known the Bouchards on the Beaupre Coast.
Did he help them to move about 1675? There is room for this
hypotheses.
On 9 September 1677, Pierre Dancause went to notary Pierre Duquet in
Quebec with Simon Mars, a merchant of the Lower Town. Pierre
signed a loan for 210 livres of merchandise made to him by the
aforesaid creditor. At the time Pierre was living at Riviere-Ouelle.
Additional proof is provided by the act of sale from Jacques Bernier
to Jacques Miville dit Deschenes, on the first of September 1677. It
states that the six arpents of land sold were bordered on one side
by the Ouelle River and on the other side by Pierre Dancause. This
concession had belonged to Michel Bouchard on 2 March 1677.
In the census of 1691, Pierre Dancause lived at Riviere-Ouelle,
between Pierre Hudon and Jacques Miville. His second neighbors were
Damien Berube and his father-in-law Michel Bouchard. Pierre Dancause
owned eight head of cattle and had seven arpents under cultivation.
On 29 September 1692, he donated 1 1/2 arpents of frontage on the
Ouelle River in order to build a chapel ...Pierre and Marie-Madeleine
even gave "authority to take heating wood from their homestead for
Public use if it will be necessary ".
On 15 April 1694, the Seigneur de la Bouteillerie in his turn gave 4
arpents of land for the church and the cemetery, however Pierre and
Madeleine did not have the honor of having the church built on their
property. The baptismal act of Louise Grondin, recorded on 3 January
1695, was the first official act in the registries of Riviere-
Ouelle.
In the middle of summer 1699, on the afternoon of 19 July, Madame
Dancause was at Quebec, before the notary Rageot. She presented a
document signed by her husband on the 12th of the same month,
authorizing her to act as his proxy.
She declared that they owed a debt of 495 livres to Hughes Cochran
dit Floridor, a Scottish merchant of the town. Curiosity does not
allow
USA to verify the quality and the amount of the merchandise but we
do know that the widow Marie-Ursule Philipeau signed a receipt for
this enormous debt to Marie-Madeleine Bouchard on 7 September 1696.
THREATS FROM THE SEA
In 1690, bad omens came from the sea. Charles, the brother of Marie-
Madeleine Bouchard had married Marie-Madeleine Dube on 4 April
1690. On Wednesday, the 26th of the same month, the tide carried him
away. He was buried the following Sunday, at Riviere-Ouelle.
That same summer the anxious inhabitants of Riviere-Ouelle watched
the waves coming from the east. They carried the unpleasant odor of
battle.
Sir William Phips, the British Admiral in command of 32 ships and
2,000 militiamen, appeared on the river opposite Riviere-Ouelle at
the
beginning of October. The inhabitants were scattered all -along the
Coast and seemed easy prey to capture. At high tide Phips debarked
six
boats loaded with 25 men each.
Without the seigneur, the local priest, Father de Francheville,
mobilized the available men, thirty all told, including Pierre
Dancause. The
improvised soldiers took cover in the brush along the river bank,
each having a musket, some powder and a handful of bullets. At the
opportune moment, at the thunderous command of their leader, they
fired three times, so well that each volley sent several of the
attackers to
meet his maker, while several others were wounded. Quickly, the
aggressors retreated to their ships. Riviere-Ouelle was saved. And
life
continued as usual along the river.
Pierre Dancause got a piece of land from Louise Cloutier, widow of
Jean Mignault dit Chatillon, presently the wife of Jean Matteau of
Chateau-Richer. He resold it on 24 June 1695 to Etienne Janneau, a
notary and merchant at Quebec, for 320 livres.
On 10 June 1697, Pierre bought his immense domain, a stretch of land
12 arpents wide by a league deep on the Ouelle River, from Marie
Fayet, widow of Nicolas Huot dit Saint-Laurent. Thomas Langlois and
Robert Levesque were his neighbors. Evidently, the rights to fish on
the river at la Pointe were included in the contract. This was the
last purchase made by our ancestor.
EIGHT DAUGHTERS AND ONE SON
The Bouchard-Dancause couple were blessed with eight daughters and a
single son. Here are their names in chronological order:
Marie-Madeleine, Anne, Marie, Catherine, Pierre, Genevieve, Marie-
Angelique, Marie-Francoise and Marie-Elisabeth.
1. The fate of Marie-Angelique, born at Riviere-Ouelle on 17 June
1689, is unknown.
2. The youngest, Marie-Elisabeth, died at the age of five. She was
buried in her native parish on 27 March 1698.
3. The oldest, Marie-Madeleine, after her birth at Riviere-Ouelle,
was brought to Quebec to be baptized on 30 June 1680. Jean Marchand,
a
carpenter from Quebec, and Marie Gachet, wife in a second marriage
to Charles Roger, Sieur des Colombiers, served as her godparents. At
the end of her sixteenth year, Marie-Madeleine became the wife of
Pierre Boucher, at Riviere-Ouelle, on 4 February 1697, and gave him
ten
children. After the death of her first husband, Madeleine married
the twenty year old Jean-Baptiste Maisonneuve, a Gascon from Bayonne,
on 21 March 1716. She had four more children by him.
4. Anne, god-daughter of Marie Leclerc, wife of Jean-Galleran
Boucher, had her baptism recorded at l'Islet. She gave her heart to
ancestor
Michel Dupere dit Lariviere, widower of Marie Chretien, father of
seven children, on 17 August 1703. Anne was buried after the death of
her fourth child, Anne-Angelique, on 29 February 1712. Etienne and
Pierre Auclair were witnesses to her burial, recorded in the registry
of
Notre-Dame de Quebec.
5. Jean Raby, the thirty year old son of Jean, a judge, and of
Jeanne Ceillier, from Cravans in Saintonge, became the husband of the
fifteen
year old Marie Dancause, on 18 February 1697, at Riviere-Ouelle.
This couple had no children.
6. In the presence of witnesses Jean Lavoie, Jacques Gagnon, Pierre
Boucher, Etienne Bouchard and Pierre Dancause, Catherine was joined
in matrimony on 20 June 1707 to Jean Brisson, son of Rene and of
Anne Vezina. Their first five children were baptized at Riviere-
Ouelle
and the last four at La Pocatiere.
7. Pierre, the only son to carry on the Dancause surname, shared his
married life with Marie-Francoise Duval, on 10 July 1719 at
Riviere-Ouelle. His bride, daughter of Francois Duval and of Marie-
Anne Boucher, gave birth to five Dancause sons and two Dancause
daughters.
8. Genevieve, god-daughter of Genevieve Huot dit St-Laurent on 26
December 1787, took Pierre Berube as her husband for life. He was
the son of Pierre and of Marie-Madeleine Bouchard, on 8 January
1706, at Riviere-Ouelle. This family increased by ten.
9. Marie-Francoise Dancause, had Jean Abraham, English by origin,
and Marie-Ursule Philipeau as godparents when she was baptized at
Quebec on 10 June 1691. It is to be noted that the widow of Hugues
Cochran dit Floridor was the creditor of Madame Dancause, the bride's
mother. This is proof that debts do not always break up a
friendship. Marie-Francoise became Joseph Lizot's companion for life
on 24
November 1710. Their family counted eight blossoms at La Pocatiere.
Thus, the Dancause grandparents had fifty-two grandchildren, a more
than enviable accumulation of human capital.
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.
A LONG OLD AGE
On 21 June 1705, stepfather Francois Gauvin and some associates,
including his step-son-in-law Pierre Boucher, established the first
porpoise fishing association at Riviere-Ouelle. On 13 July 1707,
they received explicit permission from the Intendant to fish in front
of their
domain.
On the following 15 July, wealthy merchants Peire and Hazeur, who
tried to "muscle" in on Gauvin and company, lost their case in court.
On 31 October 1708, Gauvin leased his fishing rights to Louis Rouer
d'Artigny. This proved to be a mistake. Rouer joined the first
potentates of porpoise fishing, Peire and Hazeur. "Tel est pris I
qui croyait prendre."
Then Madeleine Bouchard, on the first of October 1713, ceded to her
children, as heirs, the land bought by her late husband in 1697. The
fishing rights were a part of this inheritance ... so for the step-
father, it was a bouquet of thistles! Gauvin declared war. The
Dancause clan
made a lot of racket on the bank and lit fires. Alerted, the
authorities intervened and fines were issued on 23 March and 23
April, 1714. This
great dissention left hearts with wounds difficult to heal.
The Dancause heirs and step-father Gauvin went to the home of notary
Janneau on 8 January 1722. There, a certain Pierre Frontigny dit
Mechin, a merchant of Quebec and former maitre d'hotel from Begon,
proposed a deal. The whole Dancause family, the step-father, Pierre
Dancause, son, and the brothers-in-law had the opportunity to join
in a -common effort to exploit the porpoise fishing on the Ouelle
River.
Frontigny would furnish "the tools for the said fishing;" the family
would furnish the poles. In addition, they could fish at night and
keep
the skins; thus profits would be assured. The commitment was for
fifteen years. The intriguing part of the text is that the agreement
covered
the years from 1732 to 1747, instead of 1723 to 1737. Was this a
mistake of the lawyer caused by the winter cold or the homemade wine?
Whatever, the Dancausse were still porpoise fishing in 1744.
On 12 March 1730, Marie-Madeleine Bouchard, "being confined in a
chair in her room, sane of mind and memory," had notary Janneau
come to draw up the terms of her will. After a very Catholic prayer,
our ancestress bequeathed to the church of her parish, 1 arpent of
frontal land by 42 deep. The neighbors were Etienne Bouchard and
Jean Lavoie. In return, for this gift, the pastor would conduct her
funeral, perform an annual service, in addition to the 100 masses
promised and a yearly mass in perpetuity. The Recollet Father Maurice
Imbault or his replacement was charged with carrying out the wishes
of the donor.
Madame Dancause triumphed over the inconvenience caused by the hard
Canadian winter. She extended her days until a very advanced age.
She died a nonagenarian and was buried at Riviere-Ouelle on 22
November 1755.
FAMILY NAME VARIATIONS
The most common variation of Dancause is Dancosse. Others are known
to be Dancoss, Dangosse, Dencoss, Duncos and Duncost.
END NOTES
1) Chambalon, Louis., Records of 10 June 1697; 15 June 1702; 24
October 1702; 7 April 17 10.
2) Duquet, Pierre., Record of 9 September 1677.
3) Genaple, Francois., Record of 19 August 1697.
4) Janneau, Etienne., Records of 24 June 1695; 1 October 1713; 12
March 1730.
5) Michon, Abel., Record of I July 1724.
6) Rageot, Gilles., Records of 1 September 1677; 18 July 1689; 7
September 1696.
7) Casgrain, Henri R., Un Paroisse Canadienne (1880), pp. 30-61.
8) Drouin, Gabriel., DNCF (1965), Volume 3, pp. 1855-1858.
9) Gariepy, Raymond., les Seigneuries de Beaupre et de I'ile
d'Orleans (1974), pp. 141, 151. Michel Bouchard.
10) Hudon, P.-H., Riviere-Ouelle (1972), pp 9, 31, 39, 54, 110-114.
11) Jette, Rene., DGFQ (1983), pp. 302-303.
12) Lafontaine, Andre., RANF 1666 & 1667 (1985), p. 185; 1681
(1981), p. 198.
13) Morissette, Roger., (de Repentigny), personal notes.
14) Roy, Leon., Les Terres de la Grande-Anse (195 1), pp.' 84, 95,
140, 239.
15) Roy, P.-G., IOINF (1919), Volume 1, pp. 41, 100, 101, 102, 134,
135, 148, 149.
16) Trudel, Marcel., Catalogue des Immigrants 1631-1662 (1983), page
483.
17) ------ DBC, Volume 2, pp. 86-91. Pierre Boucher.
18) ------ JJ (1892), pp. 313-134.
19) ------ MSGCF, Vol. 5, pp. 37-38.
20) ------ RAPQ, Volume 49, p. 121.
21) ------ RHAF, Volume 6, p. 391.
22) ------ SGQ, I'Ancetre, Volume 6, pp. 245-247.
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1641 - 1697 (56 years)