2. Jean
3. Françoise
4 Catherine
5. Pierre-Noël
3. Census of 1681.
The family was enumerated in 1681 at the Sorel Seigniory as follows:
| age | Occup: | Weapon | Livestock | Cleared | |
| Jean Lavallée | 29 | 2 cattle | 12 arpents | ||
| Marguerite Duson | 25 | ||||
| Children | |||||
| Anne | 10 | ||||
| Jean | 8 | ||||
| Françoise | 6 | ||||
| Noël | 4 | ||||
| Catherine | 1 |
In 1681, the little seignory of Sorel had grown around Fort Richelieu. This fort had been built in the autumn of 1665 by the Carignan Salières Regiment. Captain de Saurel had undertaken to settle the area around the fort beginning in 1666. The site was later conceded to him as a Seigniory. In 1681, there were only twenty households and 118 individuals at the seignory. Several of the first residents were former soldiers of the Carignan Regiment. There wasn't really a 'village' of Sorel per se, but a sparsed settlement along the banks of the St. Laurence and Richelieu Rivers.
4. Mentions of Jean in contemporary documents from 1674 to 1683
The following references were recorded by A.S.White 6 and A.Couillard Després3. These two authors had little formal historical method. Without a doubt the original sources existed and fragments of references found in these two books were perhaps not well recorded. Jean is referred to by the names of Jean de la Vallée, Jean Vallée, Jean Lavallée and had the nickname Petit Jean according to White 6. Antoine Adhémar is the notary most often mentioned for the Sorel region in this era. It would be worth consulting his Minutes which are available on microfilm at the Québec National Archives, on Viger Street in Montréal.
| Pierre Salvaye | signed | |
| Antoine Chaudillon | signed | |
| Pierre Vallet | dit la France | could not sign |
| Joseph Lamy | could not sign | |
| Paul Huë | could not sign | |
| François Massés | signed | |
| Gilles Couturier | dit la bonté | signed |
| Louis Badaillac | dit Laplante | could not sign |
| Jean Lavallée | could not sign | |
| Michel Brouillet | dit la Violette | signed |
| Jean Garnier | dit Nado | signed |
| Charles Vannois | dit le Parisien | signed |
| Jean Maignan | dit la Grange | could not sign |
| Pierre Letendre | dit la liberté | could not sign |
5. The Death of Jean Lavallée
In 1692, Jean was a carpenter by trade and a soldier in the St-Ours company when he was killed by the Iroquois on July 22nd at Long-Sault, northwest of Montreal. His death was registered at Montreal. See the separate page on his death for full details.There has been a few errors or misinterpretations regarding Jean's death .
Marguerite Dusson, his widow, was remarried to Charles Vanet in 1694 at Sorel 1 . She was then 39 and did not have any more children. Vanet had been a widower since the 15 of February 1694 and had six young children 1 .
6. Origin of Jean Lavallée
The possibilities for the origin of Jean are as follows.6.1. Immigrated from France with his wife before the birth of their second
child on 14 of February 1674.
- Very Unlikely Hypothesis.
According to Émile Salone
9 there were no families and no men sent from France in the summer of
1673 - only 60 girls (Filles du Roy). There was no immigration in 1672.
Immigration had been under Royal control since 1663. The complete lists are
still at the National Archives of France for these years.
6.2. Immigrated from France before the autumn of 1671 with his wife.
- Very Unlikely
Hypothesis.
There were a few more than 200 immigrants each year
between 1670 et 1671, according to Salone 9 . In the main, these
immigrants, with the exception of the 'Filles du Roy', were hired as domestic
servants for a period of 36 months. Control was strict. As Jean was already
established at Sorel in the summer of 1673, he must therefore have immigrated
before the autumn of 1670 for him to have completed his 36 months contract.
There were more than 264 immigrants in the summer of 1670, more than 400 in
1669, 228 in 1668 and 286 in 1667. Jean would have been aged 17 , 16 , 15 or 14
at the time of his immigration. And yet to have married around 1671, Jean would
have had to have completed his contract and benefited from his accumulated
salary and a [land] concession in order to have what he needed for a household
in 1671. Therefore he must have immigrated before the autumn of 1668 and he
would have been only 15 or younger at the time immigration. Therefore he could
not have been married because the legal age for marriage was 16 9 .
6.3. Immigrated from France before the autumn of 1671 as a single man.
- Possible
Hypothesis.
- Possible Hypothesis.
As explained above, he must have immigrated before the autumn of 1668.
He would have to have been 15 or younger at the time of his immigration
according to the age he declared in 1681. There are only two possibilities for
this because immigration of youngsters of less than 16 unaccompanied was not
allowed. The first possibility is that he was a "mousse" from one of the
visiting ship left ashore. (A mousse is a helper-boy on a ship). The second is
that he had been hired for a specific trade-training purpose by someone who
immigrated with him.In 1666 10 there was a Jean La Vallée, aged 18, registered in the nominal census, one of two servants hired by Jean Baptiste Peuvret, bailiff to the Sovereign Consul at Québec who had immigrated. This Jean was not on the census of 1667. He must have been on his way back to France or enrolled in the Carignan Regiment or he had been sent as a 'coureur de bois' by his master. There is no other mention of this person. He would have been 33 in 1681, when our ancestor declared that he was 29 . This could have been Jean La Vallée dit Petit-Jean.
6.4. Member of the Carignan Regiment living in Canada in 1667.
- Very Unlikely
Hypothesis.
Jean would only have been 12 when the regiment arrived in
1665. This age was too young, even for a cadet. These cadets had to be at least
15. In addition cadets were of the nobility, became officers and members of the
colonial government (Ministry of the Navy) and it was considered a career. In
addition there was never any mention of an officer's title for Jean Lavallée. A
legal document of September 15, 1667 mentioned Lavallée, a cadet of the Du Gué
company in the Carignan. Regiment. According to the Regiment records he returned
to France in 1668 8 . This document is in the Judicial Archives at
Montréal.
6.5. Jean must have immigrated with his parents before 1669.
- Very Unlikely
Hypothesis.
There were immigrations of families with children in 1669
and before 1665 9 . On the other hand there is no trace of a family
having the surname Lavallée, who immigrated with a son named Jean 1 .
It is possible that all members of the family except Jean died at sea. In this
case he might have immigrated in 1665 or before but he would have been counted
in the censuses of 1666 and 1667. But the only Jean Lavallée mentioned was the
servant of Peuvret's mentioned above and as follows.
6.6. Jean was born in Canada.
- Most likely Hypothesis.
There were eight
families with the 'dit' name Lavallée in Canada before 1670. None of them
actually had the surname Lavallée. The heads of the families were 1 :
Of these only Godfroy Guillot could have had a son of at least 16 years of age in 1671, the legal age to marry in that era. The descendances of all the other families are completely documented and no other child could correspond to Jean Lavallée, the husband of Marguerite Dusson.
Godfroy Guillot dit Lavallée and his wife Marie d'Abancourt had a son named Jean, born on November 26 and baptised on December 17 1653 at Québec 1 . He would have been 13 years old for the census of 1666, 14 for that of 1667, 18 in 1671 and 28 for the census of 1681. Jean Lavallée, Marguerite Dusson's husband declared that he was 29 for the census count of 1681 at Sorel.
Godfroy Guillot died before July 18, 1665, the date of the inventory of his estate (Aubert). Marie d'Abancourt remarried Martin Prévost on the 8 of November (ct 28-10-65 Aubert) at Québec. Jean, then aged 12, was placed as a domestic servant with the Jesuits in the congregation of Notre-Dame of the Angels at Rivière Saint-Charles, where he was counted on the 1666 census under the name of Jean La Vallée, aged 13 10 , and under the name of Jean Guillot, aged 14, on that of 1667 1,11 . His sister Elizabeth Guillot, born on the 4 of May, 1656 at Québec, was living with her mother on the census of 1666 (aged 9) and was noted as a domestic servant at the home of Bertrand Chesnay at Beaupré for the census of 1667 (aged 10). His second sister, Louise Guillot, born on the 11th of August 1659 at Chateau-Richer, and her half brother Zacharie Jolliet, aged 15, were with her half-sister Marie Jolliet at Beaupré on the 1666 census. Louise was a domestic servant in the home of Simon Guyon at Beaupré on the census of 1667 (aged 8) 1,10,11 . As is explained below in his biography, Godfroy Guillot seemed to have had a good relationship with the Jesuits, which could explain the presence of Jean as a non-contracted domestic with them.
There is no other Jean Lavallée of this age documented between 1666 and 1681 except the one indicated in the household of J.B.Peuvret and there is no trace of Jean Guillot after his baptism, except the one mention when he is a domestic with the Jesuits in 1667.
For consideration, there is mention of the burial of a Jean Jolliet, aged 20 of Québec, on June 10, 1676 in Montréal 1 . If his father is assumed to be Jean Jolliet, who died in 1651, then this Jean would have had to be 25 years of age and there is no baptismal record for a Jean Jolliet even though the registers for Québec for this period are complete; hence the deceased was probably not a Jolliet or if he was, there was no family relationship to Louis Jolliet . The person who died in Montréal could have been a Jean, unknown before arriving there and working for the Jolliets. This Jean could also have been Jean Guillot dit Lavallée, half-brother of Adrien and Louis Jolliet, hirers of 'coureurs des bois', 'coureurs de bois' themselves, discoverers and merchants, well known at the time, but an error was made in his age (23) and his true name. This is plausible because Jean Guilllot dit Lavallée would have been better known as a 'brother' of the prominent Jolliets than as Jean Guillot. On the other hand, why would the Joliet not declare his real name? But if this is true, the origin of Jean Lavallée husband of M.Duson will remain unknown, unless he was Jean Lavallée, the domestic hired by Peuvret.
son of Geoffroy Guillot dit Lavallée and Marie d'Abancourt.
7. GODFROY GUILLOT dit Lavallée ( ?--1665 )
Godfroy Guillot dit Lavalet according to Tanguay 2 , Geoffroy Guillot dit Lavallée according to Jetté 1 and Geoffroy Guillot dit Lavallée or Lachaume according to Trudel 13 . Trudel attributed the 'dit' name Lachaume falsely to Godfroy Guillot. This name belonged to Nicolas Guillaud Sieur de LaChaume, no relation whatsoever.Godfroy was the son of Jean Guillot and Jeanne Coutin of Ruffot 2 , Bernac or Ruffec (Saint-André parish), in Angoumois 1. One would have to examine carefully his marriage registration to shed more light on this.
He emigrated to Canada in 1649 13. He did not know how to write13. On July 1, 1650 he obtained a leasehold 13 within a year of his immigration; this indicates that he did not come as an indentured labor but rather by his own means and likely to carry out a new business. On October 19, 1651, at Québec, Godfroy married Marie d'Abancourt, aged 33, the widow of Jean Jolliet, who had died six months before. Marie had four children from her first marriage; Adrien, 8, Louis, 6 , Marie, 3 and Zacharie, 1. Godfroy Guillot registered Adrien and Louis at the Jesuit College therefore Godfroy and Marie must have been relatively well off as the fees for College were quite expensive12. After graduation, Adrien became a leader of the 'coureurs des bois' and a reputed military deputy in his era; in 1670, Talon sent him with Jean Peré to investigate the copper deposits at Lake Superior 14. Louis followed the profession of his brother and eventually was sent on a major exploration mission himself and became the discoverer of the Mississipi 14 . Father Marquette was credited too much for this exploration trip; his only contribution, but an important one, was to write about it.
On Aug 9, 1655 Godfroy signed an acknowledgement of indebtedness to the estate of the deceased Pierre Delaunay for 60 livres with notary Audouart, probably in payment of some merchandise12. On April 15, 1659 he obtained some land at Château-Richer 13. On February 2, 1660, Godfroy was confirmed at Château-Richer by Monseigneur Laval, being one of eight celebration of general confirmation organised by Mgr. Laval in 1660-62. Was Jean Guillot also confirmed?
In August of 1660 his step-son Adrien Jolliet participated in an expedition to the Great Lakes. He was 17 and lived at Trois-Rivières. Louis Jolliet, aged 15, was then a cleric at the seminary of Québec. This was established in 1659 within the premises of the Jesuit College and preceded the foundation of the Quebec Seminary in 1668 14 .
Guillot had to borrow six bushels of wheat to fulfill his tithe in 1662 (Aubert document; Aug 20, 1662) from the mill of Château-Richer. The rate of the tithe was 1/21 of the production of the land 14
An inventory was taken after the death of Godfroy Guillot on July 18, 1665 (Aubert) at Québec. The family lived at Château-Richer 1, and had probably done so since the spring of 1659.
8. MARIE D'ABANCOURT (circa 1618-circa 1680)
Marie was born in 1618 according to the censuses of 1666 and 1667. She emigrated to Canada around 1635, at the age of 16, with her parents, Adrien d'Abancourt and Simone d'Orgeville 13. On the 9th of October 1639 (contract 15-11-1637 Audouart) at Québec, she married Jean Jolliet, aged 43, master cartwright for the Company of One Hundred Associates. The couple perhaps lived on the shores of Beaupré. The Bourdon map of 1641 records a piece of land co-owned by Simone d'Abancourt, mother of Marie, and Jean Jolliet her son-in-law, five kilometres from the Montmorency Falls, on the banks of the St-Lawrence14. Jolliet died on April 24, 1651 at the age of 55 in the hospital at Québec, after 12 years of marriage 1.The couple's children were as follows. Their ages at the time of Marie's second marriage in 1651 are given in parentheses 1 .
Marie, now aged 33, married Godfroy Guillot dit Lavallée six months later, on October 19, 1651 at Québec 1. This marriage would last fourteen years and produce three more children for Marie. It is worth noting that the five children of Marie from her previous marriage with Jolliet were cared for by Guillot.
After the death of Godfroy Guillot, probably in 1665, Marie d'Abancourt, 47 , married for the third time to Martin Prévost, 54, widower of Marie Sylvestre, Huron, November 8, 1665 at Québec (contract 28-10 Aubert). Actually this was Marie "Olivier" Manitouabe8, Algonquin, but Aubert wrote Sylvestre and Huron.
The couple would have no children. Martin had already had eight children of whom four died in infancy. Marie, eight or nine, all living except one1. The couple lived at Beauport (second residence on the census 10) with Prévost's children while the children from Maries's previous marriages were placed elsewhere 1,10,11 . Martin Prévost had nine oxen and 45 arpents assessed on the census of 1667, as well as two adult employees 11 . From the numbers of oxen (today's farm tractors) and the above average developed acreage, Prévost must have been well off financially. Hence it seemed that Prévost had married Marie mostly to use her as a housemaker for his own children while getting rid of hers.
The children of Marie d'Abancourt at the time of her third marriage were as follows. 1 : Their ages at the death of Godfroy are given in parentheses.
The children of Marie d'Abancourt were found as follows on the census of 1666 10 and 1667 11 .
| Census of 1666 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Adrien Jolliet | 23 | married to Jeanne Dodier since 1664. |
| Louis Jolliet | 21 | cleric at the seminary of Québec |
| Marie Jolliet | 18 | married to François Fortin in 1660 |
| Zacharie Jolliet | 19 (sic) | in the household of François Fortin and Marie Jolliet, his sister |
| Jean Lavallée | 13 | non-contracted domestic with the Jesuits at Notre-Dame-des-Anges |
| Elizabeth Guillot | 10 | with her mother and step-father Martin Prévost |
| Louise Guillot | 6 | probably the Marie Guillot recorded as a lodger in the household of François Fortin et Marie Jolliet, her half-sister |
| Louis Prévost | 15 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Jean Prévost | 6 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Jean Baptiste Prévost | 4 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Thérèse Prévost | 7 months | with her father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Census of 1667 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Adrien Jolliet | 24 | married to Jeanne Dodier since 1664. |
| Louis Jolliet | 22 | cleric at the seminary of Québec |
| Marie Jolliet | 19 | married to François Fortin in 1660 |
| Zacharie | 16 | Apprentice of Noël Morin, cartwright, at Côte Ste-Geneviève in Québec |
| Jean Guillot | 14 | non-contracted domestic with the Jesuits at Notre-Dame-des-Anges |
| Elizabeth Guillot | 11 | non-contracted domestic in the home of Bertrand Chesnay at Beaupré |
| Louise Guillot | 7 | non-contracted domestic in the home of Simon Guyon at Beaupré |
| Louis Prévost | 16 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Jean Prévost | 7 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Jean Baptiste Prévost | 5 | with his father Martin and step-mother Marie |
| Thérèse Prévost | 1 | with her father Martin and step-mother Marie |
Marie died, aged about 60, between November 24, 1678 and the census of 1681 1. Her last husband Martin Prévost is mentioned a last time in period documents about 10 years later, on July 20th 1690, aged 80, at the Québec hospital (Hôtel-Dieu).
