Recently while doing some research on distant ancestors I was directed to one of the many, many old Quebec parish registers that can be found online. The marriage register record was for the couple I was looking for, Joseph Petit dit Bruneau and Marie Chenay dite LaGarenne, my 8th great-grandparents. They were married at Notre-Dame de Quebec Church in Quebec City on September 16, 1675. He came to New France (the French colonies of continental North America) as a soldier in the Carignan regiment and she came to New France as a Filles du Roi (King’s daughter). I will write more about them at a later time.
When you view these church records what you see are facing pages in the register with multiple records on a page. Generally you see baptisms, marriages and deaths entered in chronological order, written in French. This register shows only marriages. Thank goodness this particular priest did not have terrible handwriting so it was pretty easy to locate the record for Joseph and Marie. However, there were other records on those two pages with names that were familiar. Upon looking further I discovered that in a three page span, five of the seven records are our ancestors. The five records date from July 14, 1675 to November 5, 1675 and all are marriages that took place at Notre-Dame de Quebec Church. The five marriages and relationships are as follows:
- July 14, 1675 Germain Langlois and Jeanne Anne Chalifour (8th great-grandaunt and uncle, both Vadnais and Peltier ancestors)
- September 7, 1675 Jacques Lalande Gayon and Marie Couillard (10th great-grandmother and her 2nd husband, Peltier ancestors)
- September 16, 1675 Joseph Petit dit Bruneau and Marie Chenay dite LaGarenne (8th great-grandparents, Vadnais ancestors)
- October 7, 1675 Louis Joillet and Claire Francoise Bissot (9th great-grandparents, Peltier ancestors)
- November 5, 1675 Charles Gingras and Marie Francoise Amiot Villeneuve (8th great-grandparents, Peltier ancestors)
“Notre-Dame de Quebec Church was built in 1647 and was given the name Notre-Dame de la Paix. It was the first church to be made of stone in the city. In 1664, it became the first parochial church north of Mexico and was dedicated to Notre Dame of the Immaculate Conception. When the Quebec City Diocese was constituted in 1674, it became the Cathedral of its first Bishop, Saint Francois de Laval. Two hundred years later, Pius IX declared it a basilica, that is a church privileged because of the important number of pilgrimages it draws.”2
It is hard to have a perspective on this information without knowledge of the population of the time. In 1675 the population of all of New France was 7,832. In 1650 there were just 30 homes in Quebec City and by 1681 the city had only grown to 100 homes. In 1663 Quebec City had over 500 people and if the surrounding farm areas were included there were 1,950 people. Everyone knew everyone. Reminds me of when I was much younger.
After many years of research I am still in awe of the depth and breadth of our family history. The day I did this research I was taken aback by how small their world was. Little did any of them know that centuries later they would be grouped together as common ancestors.
Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy
© 2022 Copyright by Cynthia Vadnais, All Rights Reserved
Every time I see a post, I can hardly wait to open it and read. Your posts are so interesting, I love hearing about our family history. But it is so much more special because I know the author. Cynthia, my sweet cousin, thank you! What an incredible woman you are! Sending hugs and love to you.
Don’t you think these couples attended each others weddings? Germain Langlois and Jeanne Anne Chalifour and Charles Gingras and Marie Francoise Amiot Villeneuve
1675 was quite a year!
Thanks for sharing your amazing super power with us.
oxoxox
Interesting comment. It is quite possible that they did attend each others weddings, especially based on the small population of the time. The record usually tells who attended the event (baptism, marriage, burial). I would need to interpret each record to find if any of them are listed as attending. Even if they are not listed in the record, they may have been there.