Births and baptisms of JEAN and JACQUES LAVALLÉE in 1708.

There is some controversy on the births, baptisms and possible death a few days after birth of both Jean and Jacques Lavallée, twin sons of Jean Lavallée and Jeanne Catherine Hus.

Tanguay in his dictionary indicated that both Jean and Jacques were

  • baptized on 29 February 1708 in Sorel and
  • buried on 17 March 1708 at Ile Dupas.

    Jette (PRDH) wrote that both were

  • born on 29 February in Sorel,
  • baptized on 10 March in Sorel and that
  • Jean was buried on 17 March in Sorel.


    We know that a Jean and a Jacques, sons of Jean Lavallée and Jeanne Catherine Hus lived long lives, had many descendants and had to be born between 1707 and 1709 according to all direct and indirect references to their age. A check of the dates of births of other siblings indicated that, while technically possible, it would have been extraordinay for Jeanne Catherine to give birth to three pairs of twins in the span of about 27 months.

    This led to a request to the Archives Nationales du Québec for photocopies of documents pertaining to Jean and Jacques during the period February-March 1708. The result was that: Jean and Jacques were

  • born on 29 February and baptized at home on the same day.
  • On 17 March 1708 Léonard Chaigneau, priest, officialized the baptisms in a church ceremony at Saurel.
  • He registered the births and baptisms at Saurel.
  • He also registered it at Ile Dupas which was the base for the Church for the whole area. See below for details.
  • There is no death registered for either Jean or Jacques during the period.

    Both originals are reproduced below, with translations. Also an explanation of the history of registrations in the area during the XVII and early XVIII century is given, courtesy of the Archives Nationales du Québec and which I have translated in the non-official language.
    Léonard Chaigneau was a sulpician priest and an "accountant". He had been the treasurer of the Sulpicians in Montreal since 1688. After 19 years in this role, on July 14 1707 he became the parish priest of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption-de-Repentigny. It is during this time that he served the area of Sorel as a travelling missionary as well. After a year he was called back to continue as treasurer in Montreal after the death of his replacement in July 1708. He died at age 48 on 23 Dec 1711. taken from the Canadian Dictionary of Biography.


    REGISTER OF SOREL or SAUREL (SAINT-PIERRE-DE-SOREL) ANQ 471
    "Lan mil sept cent huit le vingt neuf de febvrier sont
    nés et ont étés baptises a la maison Jean et Jacque fils de
    Jean La Vallée et Jeanne hu sa femme, et le dix sept
    de mars iay supplée à Saurel les ceremonies de bapteme
    Le parrain de Lun a ete Jean Chevallier et la
    marraine Angelique Niquet femme de Louis hu; et
    Le parrain de Lautre Jacque Petit et la marréne
    Jeanne Baillargeon femme de Paul hu tous les quels
    ont declare ne scavoir signer de ce requis
    L.Chaigneau pre"
    The year one thousand seven hundred and eight the 29th of February were born and baptized at home Jean and Jacques sons of Jean Lavallée and Jeanne Hus his wife and on the 17th of March I supplied at Sorel the ceremonies of baptism. The godfather of one has been Jean Chevalier and the godmother Angélique Niquet wife of Louis Hus; and the godfather of the other Jacques Petit and the godmother Jeanne Baillargeon wife of Paul Hus, all have declared not knowing how to sign as required. L. Chaigneau priest.


    REGISTER OF ILE DUPAS (LA-VISITATION-DE-LA-SAINTE-VIERGE-MARIE-DE-L'ÎLE-DUPAS) ANQ 071

    "L'an mil sept cent huit le ving neuf de febvrier
    sont nés et ont été baptises a la maison, Jean
    et Jaques fils de Jean La vallée et Jeanne hu
    sa femme et le dix sept de mars Jay supplee
    les ceremonies de bapteme a Saurel, le parain
    de l'un a eté Jean chevalier, et la marènne
    Jeanne Baillargeon femme de Paul hu tous
    lesquels ont declaré ne sçavoir signe de ce requis
    L. Chaigneau"
    The year one thousand seven hundred and eight the 29th of February were born and baptized at home Jean and Jacques sons of Jean Lavallée and Jeanne Hus his wife and on the 17th of March I supplied the ceremonies of baptism at Sorel. The godfather of one has been Jean Chevalier and the godmother Jeanne Baillargeon wife of Paul Hus, all have declared not knowing how to sign as required. L. Chaigneau


    Description of the Registers of ILE DUPAS and SOREL by the Archives Nationales du Québec

    071 La-Visitation-de-la-Sainte-Vierge-Marie-de-l'Ile-Dupas. Western region of Lake St-Pierre.
    The oldest register in the region is that of St-Pierre-de-Sorel (no 471). The acts presently kept start only in 1675, but Mgr Tanguay was able to consult other acts which have disappeared today, dating back to February 1669. This register is destined for Sorel and all "neigbouring places", a locution designating a vast territory: from Verchères (no 623) to St-François-du-Lac(no 631) on the South shore, from Lavaltrie (no 072) to St-Antoine-de-la-Rivière-du-Loup (no 331) on the North shore; to Chambly (no 103) to the South.
    In 1679, all these "neigbouring places" are divided in two. Sorel continues to serve the eastern part, being St-François-du-Lac (no 631) (which will be separated in November 1687 taking Maskinongé (no 332) and Rivière-du-Loup with it), as well as Berthier (no 073), île-Dupas (no 071) and Lanoraie (no 074) also called Dautray. These last three parishes will stay attached to Sorel until September 1727. At that moment Sorel and île-Dupas start to keep independant registers. Lanoraie, Berthier et probably Lavaltrie share the same register until 1732.In November 1732, Berthier becomes independant. Lanoraie et Lavaltrie will stay together until July 1735, when each became independant.
    Contrecoeur (no 621) becomes the center of the southwest portion, including Chambly which will be separated in 1706, followed by Lavaltrie in or before 1710. Lavaltrie shares a common registry with St-Sulpice (no 283) until 1727, when it becomes associated with Berthier and Lanoraie as mentioned above. Verchères has its own registry starting in 1727 and St-Ours (no 472) in September 1727; nevertheless between August 1702 and October 1750, the acts relating to the inhabitants of St-Ours are registered at Sorel and at Contrecoeur.

    471 St-Pierre-de-Sorel
    During the XVII and at the beginning of the XVIII century (until 1727), the registers of Sorel present two particularities. First, many books, preserved until the end of the XIX century and consulted by Mgr Tanguay, have now disappeared. Second, many books used jointly by Sorel, Île-Dupas (no 071) and Berthier (no 073), have been preserved only in one copy, in the name of either Sorel, or île-Dupas, and either at the ecclesiastical archives or civil archives; hence the remaining complete series can only be collated by consulting the four sources.


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