1649 - 1710  (61 years)
- 
| Name | 
BEAULIEU Pierre Hudon Dit  |  
| Birth | 
1649  | 
Notre Dame De Chemille, Maine-Et-Lior, France    | 
 
| Gender | 
Male  |  
| Death | 
24 Apr 1710  | 
Riviere-Quelle, Quebec, Canada    | 
 
| Notes  | 
- Occupation: Baker In Quebec In 1666;farmer @ Riviere Ouelle In 1681
 
 
Pierre Hudon (son of Jean Hudon and Francoise Durand) was born in  
1648 or 1649 at Notre Dame de Chemille in Anjou, France. (Today the  
department of Maine-Loire). 
Arrived in Canada 17 Aug 1665 as a soldier in the Compagnie de  
Grandfontaine of the Regiment de Carignan. 
According to the census of 1666, Pierre Hudon was at Quebec. He was  
a baker. He married Marie Gobeil, July 13, 1676 at Quebec. She was  
born in 1658 at Poitiers, 
France (daughter of Jean Gobeil and Jeanne Guiet). Pierre Hudon then  
went to Riviere Ouelle, P. Q. Canada and bought a farm. It is there  
that he lived all his life. We note 
that at the census of 1681 that he had two guns, 2 head of cattle  
and 10 acres of land under cultivation. He died April 25, 1710 at  
Riviere Ouelle, P. Q. Canada. His wife 
died in 1736. 
 
He was from Notre-Dame de Chemillem eveche d'Angers, in France. 
 
de Notre-Dame de Chemille, ar. Cholet, ev. Angers, Anjou (Maine-et- 
Loire); 63 ans Riviere-Ouelle; 18 ans au rec. 66, a Quebec,  
boulanger, volontaire; 32 ans au rec. 81, a 
Riviere-Ouelle; arrive 17-0801665, soldat de la compagnie de  
Grandfontaine au regiment de Carignan (RC). 
 
Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu 
 
Exactly a century ago in Quebec, the Abbot Henri-Raymond Casgrain  
published a history of Riviere-Ouelle.(1) Entitled "Une paroisse  
canadienne du XVIIe siecle " this 
small volume, from the first chapter, launches the reader on the  
track of those whom the genealogist Drouin calls the "heros of the  
Riviere-Ouelle." Among the legendary 
people who forced the fleet of Admiral Phips to retreat in October  
of 1690 was, first and foremost, the curate, Pierre de Francheville.  
He was a native Canadian, born at 
Trois-Rivieres on 14 July 1649, the son of Marin Terrier de  
Repentigny, Sieur de Francheville and of Jeanne Jallaut.(2)  
Messengers from Ouebec had warned this young 
priest that a large fleet of British and American warships was  
coming up the river with the obvious intention of taking Quebec.  
Since the Seigneur of la Bouteillerie was 
absent, the parishioners begged their pastor to lead them in an  
attempt to prevent the landing of enemy troops.(3)  
 
THE "HEROS OF RIVIERE-OUELLE" 
 
Abbot Casgrain wrote the following appraisal of this unique  
religious leader: 
 
"Ardent and impetuous of character, soldierly of bearing with looks  
that pierced one's soul just as all the missionaries of former times:  
such was the curate of 
Riviere-Ouelle, who was also a pious and zealous priest." 
On this October morning our "pious and zealous priest" would have  
gladly exchanged his rough homespun robe for a coat of mail from the  
crusades of the middle ages, so 
much did he feel like the soul of a warrior. Said he to his  
parishioners:(4) 
 
"I would not acknowledge you if you show yourselves cowardly enough  
to let here debark the miscreants from Boston without striking a  
blow. You know what waits for 
you if you let them come near: They will burn your houses, your  
church, profane the holy vessels like they have done elsewhere and  
carry you away into captivity; you, 
your wives and your children. Remember that these men are the  
enemies of God as well as ours. Take up your arms, and hold your  
selves ready at the first signal!" 
 
He needed say no more to convince this handful of peace loving  
colonists: It was no sooner said than done! Each ran home to take the  
family gun down off the mantle and 
fill their powderhorns and leather sacks of leaden shot. They took  
cover behind the brush which lined the river-bank and waited in  
silence for the fleet which had already 
appeared over the horizon. As planned, the enemy dropped anchor  
across from their village and small boats filled with soldiers began  
leaving the ships. As soon as the 
invader came near to shore, a shower of shot greeted them. Surprised  
by this not so cordial reception, and with the dead and wounded  
filling the boats, the oarsmen put 
about and headed for open water. The news of this feat of arms  
spread like wildfire to Quebec and undoubtedly prompted Frontenac,  
when face to face with the emissary of 
Phips, to make that famous retort which we so well know. 
 
Continuing his account of this event, Abbot Casgrain tells USA that  
Monsieur de Francheville had driven back the assault force with but  
thirty-nine combatants. The names 
of some of them were: Francois and Joseph Deschamps, the sons of the  
absent Seigneur; Robert Levesque, Galeran Boucher, Charles Miville,  
Michel Bouchard, Pierre 
Dancosse, Joseph Renault, Guillaume Lizot, Rene Ouellet, Jean  
Pelletier, Jean Lebel, Pierre Emond, Mathurin Dube, Jean Mignot dit  
Labrie, Noel Pelletier, Jean Gauvin, 
Pierre de Saint-Pierre, Nicolas Durand, Francois Autin, Sebastien  
Boivin and Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu.  
 
HE ARRIVED WHEN ABOUT TWELVE YEARS OLD 
 
The last man named above is the ancestor of all the Hudons and the  
majority of the Beaulieu families in America. Even though, at the  
time of the battle he was only in his 
early forties, he had already worked in Canada for thirty years. In  
1661, he was no more than twelve years old when his presence was  
noted for the first time, on the Ile 
d'Orleans. His signature "Pierre Hudon" appeared then in a document.  
(6) Several ships had arrived from Normandy that year and during the  
course of the preceding 
summer. 
 
On 3 April 1664, the official reports of the Sovereign Council of  
New France, reveal that Pierre, then a domestic servant for Sieur  
Nicolas Marsolet dit Saint Agnan, had 
lodged a complaint against the domestic servant of Abraham Martin  
because this person had abused him. The young man petitioned that a  
provision of food and medicine be 
awarded to him and he won his case after testimony given in his  
favor by Sieur de Tilly and master surgeon Jean Madry. To this value  
of about twenty silver livres, 
Saint-Martin was ordered to pay court costs and make the payment at  
once or suffer imprisonment.(7) 
 
Pierre Hudon was listed in the census of 1666 among those living in  
Quebec who were unmarried.(8) He was said to be eighteen years old  
and working at the trade of 
baker. The following year Pierre was among those missing from the  
census. Where was he? Had he temporarily returned to France? Had he  
gone into the fur trade? No one 
knows. Not only was he missing that year but it was necessary to  
wait nearly ten more years before hearing from him again.  
 
A NATIVE OF ANJOU 
 
The fact of his renewed presence was noted in his marriage agreement  
made at Quebec on 13 July 1676. The hale and handsome groom must have  
been about twenty-seven 
years old. The registry tells USA that Pierre was already living at  
Riviere-Ouelle and that he was the son of Jean Hudon and of Francoise  
Durand, both deceased, from the 
parish of Notre-Dame de Chemille, diocese of Angers in Anjou. (9) As  
for the bride, Marie Gobeil, she lived in the lower town of Quebec,  
the daughter of Jean Gobeil and 
of Jeanne Guiet, originally from Saint-Didier de Poitiers, and  
presently living in the parish of Saint-Pierre on the Ile d'Orleans.  
The Gobeils were married in France and 
immigrated to Canada with their first children. The marriage was  
blessed by Abbot Henri de Bernieres, in the presence of the father of  
the bride Robert Vaillancourt, 
Monsieur Gachet and Antoine Bernard. The day before the ceremony,  
notary Pierre Duquet drew up the marriage contract between the future  
husband and wife.  
 
It is necessary to wait until the census of 1681 for more news about  
the Hudon family, if we make an exception, of course, for the arrival  
of the first three children: 
Marie-Gertrude and Pierre were baptized at Riviere-Ouelle, and  
Catherine-Marguerite at L'Islet. Therefore in 1681, the Hudons had  
not moved; they were still at 
Riviere-Ouelle, in the seigneurie of la Bouteillerie.(10) Pierre was  
32 years old, Marie was 23, and their children were four, two and one  
year old, respectively. Their 
property consisted of two guns (perhaps the same ones which were  
used nine years later to drive away the Bostonians), two head of  
cattle and ten arpents of cleared land 
under cultivation. These were rather meager holdings for a colonist  
who had been settled on his farm for at least five or six years. To  
augment the agricultural produce, they 
had to hunt and fish. 
 
FARMING, HUNTING AND FISHING 
 
The Abbot Casgrain tells USA that: (11) 
 
"To the resources which our ancestors drew from agriculture, were  
added those of hunt ing and fishing, the abundance of which was for a  
long time incredible. They were 
the providential manna which prevented the population from dying of  
starvation during disastrous times when war continually held the men  
under arms and forced them to 
let the countryside go without cultivation. The neighboring forests  
were stocked with native animals,such as deer, moose, caribou, bear,  
lynx, beaver, otter, martin, mink, 
fox, hare, squirrel, etc. Each spring and autumn large flocks of  
Canadian geese, ducks, wild geese, turkey, teal, wood cock, pheasant,  
plover, lark, dove, partridge, etc., 
came to rest on our shores and in the fields.  
 
Proportionately, as the woods were cleared away, hunting was  
curtailed: but fishing, although quite diminished, is still today an  
important branch of industry and 
commerce. Until the beginning of this century, salmon, shad, bass,  
sturgeon, eel, herring, rockfish and capelin were caught in a  
quantity sufficient to make the fortune of 
each inhabitant if a convenient market was available nearby; but the  
majority of these fish were all but worthless, lacking modern means  
of preservation and distribution... 
But one fish otherwise quite interesting and lucrative was the  
porpoise. This superb cetacean, which grows to twenty-five feet, and  
which is particular to our climate, makes 
his appearance among the ice floes. They may be seen swimming in  
large schools, sometimes but a stone's throw from shore, appearing  
from time to time in order to 
breathe just as whales do, and because of the whiteness of their  
skin, seem to look like balls of snow floating on the water."  
 
In spite of these abundant wild life resources within his reach,  
Pierre Hudon knew that the future of his children would remain in  
agriculture. On 26 February 1692, he 
accepted a certain stretch of unallocated land from Seigneur  
Deschamps. (12) It was bounded by the land of Jean-Galerin Boucher,  
by that of the late Jacques Thiboutot and 
the River Ouelle. Our ancestor lived for several more years after  
this transaction but finally died and was buried in his adopted land  
on 25 April 1710, at the age of sixty 
years.  
 
MARIE GOBEIL LOOKS AFTER HER FAMILY 
 
As for mother Marie Gobeil, she continued to take care of her family  
for more than a quarter century. On 27 August 1720, ten years after  
the death of her husband, she had 
an inventory taken of his property. (13) On 27 July 1722, she made a  
donation to her son Louis. (14) Then on 15 April 1723, she gathered  
her heirs together for a final 
division of their inheritance. (15) Marie was able to attend the  
marriages of almost all of her children, who settled not far from the  
paternal hearth: at Riviere Ouelle, 
Kamouraska and Saint-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere. On 26 November 1736, she  
was laid to rest in this land which she had learned to love as much  
as the waters of the rivers and 
the streams, as much as the friendly people of her magnificent  
parish. 
 
Marie Gobeil belonged to this race of women of whom historian  
Raymond Douville has said: "To them belongs the perpetuity owed by  
the generations which followed." 
(16)  
 
A RATHER SEDENTARY FAMILY 
 
The family of our ancestor Pierre Hudon dit Beaulieu barely moved  
from their adopted land, that of Riviere-Ouelle. Some of the children  
settled in neighbor ing parishes 
such as L'Islet, Kamouraska and Sainte Anne-De-La-Pocataire. The  
circle of families was so limited that most of the marriages were  
contracted with the Paradis and 
Gagnon families, undoubtedly friendly neighbors. 
 
Here is some information on the eleven Hudon children from whom the  
greatest number of Beaulieu families in America descend:  
 
1. Marie-Gertrude, baptized at Quebec on 8 July 1677; married at  
Riviere-Ouelle on 4 July 1697 (contract by private agreement the day  
before) to Pierre Fortin, son of 
Julien and of Genevieve Gamache. They lived at L'Islet and had seven  
sons and seven daughters. 
 
2. Pierre, baptized at Quebec on 16 May 1679; married at Saint- 
Pierre on the Ile d'Orleans on 1 August 1707 to Marie Paradis,  
daughter of Pierre and of Jeanne Francoise 
Millouer. This family had four sons and three daughters and lived at  
Kamouraska, from which parish Pierre was buried on 17 October 1741.  
 
3. Jeanne-Catherine-Marguerite, baptized at L'Islet on 2 July 1681  
and buried at Riviere-Ouelle on 25 January 1754. Married in this  
place on 6 June 1701, to Guillaume 
Paradis, son of Guillaume and of Genevieve Millouer. This family  
lived at Riviere-Ouelle where they had three sons and three  
daughters. 
 
4. Joseph, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 1 June 1685 and buried on  
12 December 1711. Married on 28 July 1711 at L'Islet to Genevieve  
Gamache, daughter of Nicolas, the 
Seigneur of L'Islet, and of Elisabeth-Ursule Cloutier. After a brief  
marriage, Genevieve was remarried in 1713 to Jean Gagnon dit Belzile. 
 
5. Jean-Baptiste, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 26 April 1687 and  
buried in the same place on 4 May 1754. Married in this parish on 9  
January 1713 (contract Janneau, 7 
January), to Angelique Gagnon, daughter of Jean and of Jeanne  
Loignon, they never left Riviere Ouelle where they had five sons and  
four daughters. 
 
6. Francois, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 8 April 1689 and died  
after 1740. First marriage to Genevieve Paradis, daughter of  
Guillaume and of Genevieve Millouer; second 
marriage at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocataire on 5 February 1722 (contract  
Janneau, 16 January) to Marie-Angelique Emond, widow of Jean Baptiste  
Dufaut and daughter of 
Pierre Emond and of Agnes Grondin. This family lived at Sainte-Anne  
and had three sons and four daughters. 
 
7. Nicolas, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 3 June 1691 and buried on  
14 September 1756. Married in the same place on 27 November 1713  
(contract Chambalon, 16 
October) to Madeleine Bouchard, daughter of Etienne and of Marie- 
Madeleine Meunier. Nicolas was a Lieutenant in the militia of his  
native parish where he and Madeleine 
had eleven sons and five daughters. 
 
8. Jean-Bernard, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 2 February 1694 and  
buried on 19 November 1759. Married on 13 June 1718 in this place  
(contract Janneau, 11 June) to 
Marie-Charlotte Gagnon, daughter of Jean and of Jeanne Loignon. They  
lived at Riviere-Ouelle and had six sons and four daughters. 
 
9. Marie-Francoise, baptized at Riviere Ouelle on 27 March 1696 and  
buried on 27 March 1762. Married in the same place on 25 April 1718  
(contract Janneau, 23 March) to 
Jean Paradis, son of Guillaume and of Genevieve Millouer. They  
settled in Kamouraska where they had two sons and four daughters. 
 
10. Louis-Charles, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 15 February 1697  
and buried on 25 April 1751. Married in this parish on 30 August 1723  
( contract Janneau, the day 
before) to Genevieve-Angelique Levesque, daughter of Pierre-Joachim  
and of Angelique Letartre. They lived at Riviere-Ouelle and had six  
sons and ten daughters. 
 
11. Alexis, baptized at Riviere-Ouelle on 30 August 1700 and buried  
in the same place on 1 April 1720. 
 
FAMILY NAME VARIATIONS 
 
The principal variation to Hudon is Beaulieu. Additionally however,  
there are the following variations on both names: Bolia, Dehudon,  
Deshudons, Deudon, Gourdeau, 
Heudon, Houdon and Udon. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1) Henri-Raymond Casgrain, priest and historian, was born at Riviere- 
Ouelle in 1831 and died in 1904. He was the president of the Royal  
Society of Canada in 1889. He is 
the author of many works, notably "Histoire de ta Mare de  
l'Incarnation", "Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec", "Pelerinage au  
Pays d'Evangeline", "Montcalm et Levis", 
and many others. 
2) Marin Terrier de Repentigny, Sieur de Francheville, was among the  
first inhabitants of Trois-Rivieres. An old document notes his  
presence there in 1638. At Quebec in 
September 1647 he married Jeanne Jallaut, originally from Fontenay- 
le-Comte in Poitou. Marin died in that unfortunate sortie led by  
Guillaume Duplessis-Kerbodot against 
the Iroquois on 19 August 1652. His widow was remarried to Maurice  
Poulain, Sieur de la Fontaine. Pierre was the only son to reach  
adulthood. Ordained on 19 
September 1676, first he was the secretary to Msgr de Laval, then he  
gave service to his flock at Beauport, Saint-Jean, Saint-Laurent and  
Saint-Pierre on the Ile d'Orleans. 
He was the curate at the Riviere-Ouelle from 1689 to 1691, then  
successively curate at Longueuil and Cap-Saint-Ignace. The Abbot of  
Francheville died Montreal on 7 
August 1713. 
3) Jean-Baptiste Deschamps de la Bouteillerie, first seigneur of the  
Riviere-Ouelle was born in the region of Rouen in 1646 and buried in  
the parish church of the 
Riviere-Ouelle on 16 December 1703. 
4) "Une paroisse canadienne", page 8. 
5) Ibid, page 96. 
6) BRH (1909), No.15, page 113. 
7) "Judgements et deliberations du Conseil Souverain de la Nouvelle- 
France", Volume I, page 157. 
8) Benjamin Sulte, HCF, Volume IV, page 54. 
9) Chemille (Maine et Loire) is a small town located about 35  
kilometers to the south of Angers. The church of Notre-Dame dates  
from the eleventh century. 
10) Op Cit (8), Volume V, page 78. 
11) Ibid, pages 129 to 139. 
12) Record of Louis Chambalon. 
13) Record of Etienne Janneau. 
14) Record of Jacques Barbel.  
15) Op Cit (13). 
16) "Nos premieres meres de famille", Le Bien Public, 1976, page 3. 
 
 | 
 
| Person ID | 
I788  | 
Freeman-Smith | 
 
| Last Modified | 
10 Apr 2024  |  
 
 
| Father | 
BEAULIEU Jean Hudon Dit,   b. 1622, Notre Dame De Chemille, Maine-Et-Lior, France  d. Anjou, Maine-Et-Liore, France    |  
| Relationship | 
natural  |  
| Mother | 
DURAND Francoise  |  
| Relationship | 
natural  |  
| Marriage | 
1647  | 
de Notre Dame de Chemillé, diocise D'Angers, Anjou France    | 
 
- They were living in Notre Dame de Chemille, Province of Anjou, France 
 
in 1676 
 
 | 
 
| Family ID | 
F736  | 
Group Sheet  |  Family Chart | 
 
 
 
| Family | 
GOBIEL Marie-Angelique,   b. 02 Apr 1659, St-Andre-Niorte, Diocese Poitiers, Poitou, France  d. 25 Nov 1736, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 77 years)  |  
| Marriage | 
13 Jul 1676  | 
Notre Dame Parish, Quebec City, New France, PQ, Canada    | 
 
| Children  | 
|   | 1. BEAULIEU Marie Gertrude Hudon Dit,   b. 20 May 1677, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. Quebec, PQ, Canada    [natural] |  
|   | 2. BEAULIEU Pierre Hidon Dit,   b. 11 May 1679, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. 1741, Kamouraska, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 61 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 3. BEAULIEU Catherine Marguerite Hudon Dit,   b. 04 May 1681, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. Jan 1754, PQ, Canada   (Age 72 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 4. BEAULIEU Jeanne Hudon Dit,   b. 1682, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada    [natural] |  
|   | 5. BEAULIEU Joseph Hudon Dit,   b. 21 Apr 1685, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. 11 Dec 1711, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 26 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 6. BEAULIEU Jean Baptiste Hudon Dit,   b. 1687, Ville-De-Quebec, Quebec, PQ, Canada  d. 1754, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 67 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 7. BEAULIEU Francois Hudon Dit,   b. 08 Apr 1689, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. Aft 1740, PQ, Canada   (Age > 52 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 8. BEAULIEU Nicholas Hudon Dit,   b. 25 May 1691, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. Abt 13 Sep 1756, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 65 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 9. BEAULIEU Jean Bernard Hudon Dit,   b. 03 Jan 1694, Ville-De-Quebec, Quebec, PQ, Canada    [natural] |  
|   | 10. BEAULIEU Marie Francoise Hudon Dit,   b. 26 Mar 1696, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. 1762, Kamouraska, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 65 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 11. BEAULIEU Luois Charles Hudon Dit,   b. 04 Dec 1697, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada  d. 24 Apr 1751, Riviere Quelle, Kamouraska, PQ, Canada   (Age 53 years)  [natural] |  
|   | 12. BEAULIEU Alexis Hudon Dit,   b. 03 Aug 1700, Riviere-Quelle, PQ, Canada  d. 01 Apr 1720, Riviere-Quelle, PQ, Canada   (Age 19 years)  [natural] |  
 
 | 
 
| Family ID | 
F788  | 
Group Sheet  |  Family Chart | 
 
| Last Modified | 
10 Apr 2024  |  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 |  
  |