Jacques Legardeur De Saint-Pierre: Officer, Gentleman, Entrepeneur

Notes

Marriage and New Assignments, 1738-1745 69 eldest son, Guillaume, and his wife, Marie-Genevieve Foucault; and his youngest son, Charles. The transaction consisted of five of the six heirs giving up their claims to their equal shares of the modest estate (consisting of some real estate, a small sum of money, and a smaller income) to the eldest brother, Guillaume, and his wife in return for his paying each of them 3,000 livres.46 Saint-Pierre returned to Montreal to spend a quiet winter and spring. On 1 August 1745, however, word arrived in Montreal that on 27 June the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island had surrendered to the English after a two-month siege. Saint-Pierre's inactivity was about to end.47 NOTES 1. Contrat de mariage entre Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre et Marie-Josephe Guillimin, Quebec, Ie 25 octobre 1738, Archives nationales du Quebec i Quebec (hereafter cited as ANQ-Q), Greffe de Boisseau, 7 pages; Peter Moogk, "Notables, Rank and Patronage: The Social Order of Early Eighteenth Century New France" (paper read to the French Colonial Historical Society, 6 May 1988, 6-8, later published in Philip P. Boucher, ed., Proceedings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Meetings oj the French Colonial Historical Society [Lanham, MD.: University Press ofAmerica, 1990], 58-79). 2. St. Pierre's mother was Marie-Josephe (or Marie-Josette) Le Neuf de La Valliere, who died in 1703. 3. Charles Legardeur de Croisille (1677-1749). 4. According to F. J. Thorpe, "Chaussegros de Lery, Gaspard-Joseph," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography (hereafter cited as DCB) (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966-1991), 3:116-19, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery married Marie-Renee Legardeur de Beauvais in 1717. Notary Boisseau may not have correctly recorded Chaussegros's wife's first name here, having made several errors in names earlier in the manuscript. 5. Acquests (wnquets) were possessions acquired during the period of marriage which fonned part of the wmmunaute de biens or common estate. Conquets immeubles were such acquisitions which were fixed or immovable, such as land and buildings. 6. La Coutume de Paris was the body oflaw which, in modified fonn, was exclusively followed in New France. 7. The douaire, or dower, was a life income coming from the inherited property belonging to the husband and not fonning part of the common estate (fa wmmunaute de biens). The douaire was conventionnel or prijix when its value was stipulated by the parties. Otherwise, the douaire was coutumier (customary; according to the Coutume de Paris) and drew upon half the inherited property of the late husband. Upon the death of the widow, the dower was shared by the children, or, lacking any, by the closest blood relatives of the late husband. 70 Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre 8. The predput was an amount, either in personal belongings or in cash, stipulated in the marriage contract, that the surviving spouse withdrew from the estate at the time ofdeath ofthe other spouse. The term chambre is explained in note 3, chap. 8. 9. Quelques Biens propres aI'un ou I'autre des deux Epoux refers to property either inherited or received as a gift by either spouse which does not form part of the communal estate. 10. Louis Poulin de Courval, seigneur of Nicolet at Trois-Rivieres, between Montreal and Quebec. 11. In 1729 Claude-Antoine Bermen de La Martiniere, an officer in the Troupes de la Marine, married Hannah Parsons, an Englishwoman from Wells, Maine, who bore him ten children. She "had been captured and brought to Canada at the age of two; on arrival there she was baptized Catherine. In 1763, not long after the death of her husband, she sold the family property, the seigneury of La Martiniere ... to Governor James Murray, and went to live in France." (Edward H. Borins, "Bermen, de La Martiniere, Claude-Antoine," in DeB, 3:64-65). On this marriage contract, she signed her name "Parsons de la martiniere" under her husband's name. 12. Fran<;:ois-Etienne Cugnet was director of the Domaine d'Occident in New France and first councillor of the Conseil Superieur. He was the founder of the Saint-Maurice ironworks. (Cameron Nish, "Cugnet, Fran<;:ois-Etienne," in DeB, 3:151-53.) 13. Charles-Antoine Godefroy de Tonnancour was a priest in the chapter of the cathedral of Quebec (Honorius Provost, "Godefroy de Tonnancour, CharlesAntoine ," in DeB, 3:258-59). 14. Nicolas Boisseau (1700-1771) was a highly esteemed royal notary from 1731 to 1744, being one of only four notaries in New France commissioned by the king of France. In 1744 he became chief clerk of the Conseil Superieur (Andre Lachance, "Boisseau, Nicolas," in DeB, 4:75-76). 15. Procuration de Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre aMarie-Joseph Guillimin, son epouse, Quebec, Ie 4 mai 1739, ANQ-Q, Greffe de Boucault. 16. St. Pierre aRouille, sans date ni lieu, Archives nationales (Paris), Colonies, CllA 93:190-196 (NAC transcript); Joseph L. Peyser, "1740 French Map Pinpoints Battle Site in Mississippi," Mapline, no. 39, September 1985 (Chicago: Hermon Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography, The Newberry Library), 1-4; Andre Lachance, "Le Moyne de Longueuil, Charles Baron de Longueuil," in DeB, 3:384-85; for an eyewitness account of Celoron's campaign against the Chickasaws, see Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery, fils, "Journal de la campagne faite par Ie detachement du Canada sur les Chicachas en !evrier 1740 au nombre de 201 Fran<;:ais et 337 Sauvages du Canada, Illinois, Missouris, et 58 chactas faisant en tout 596 hommes," Rapport de l'Archiviste de la Province de Quebec (hereafter cited as RAPQ) pour 1922-1923, 157-65; for a brief account of the Chickasaw Wars, see Joseph L. Peyser, "The Chickasaw Wars of 1736 and Marriage and New Assignments, 1738-1745 71 1740: French Military Drawings and Plans Document the Struggle for the Lower Mississippi," TheJoumal ofMississippi History, 44, no. 1 (February 1982): 1-25. 17. Procuration de St. Pierre a Marie-Josephe Guillimin, son epouse, et de Clignancourt aMadeleine Desprez, son epouse, Montreal, Ie 14 juin 1741, Archives nationales du Quebec aMontreal (hereafter cited as ANQ-M), Greffe de Danre de Blanzy; Engagement en qualite de voyageur de Jean-Baptiste Besnard dit Carignan aClignancourt stipulant tant pour lui que pour Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre, Montreal, Ie 12juin 1741, ANQ-M, Greffe de Danre de Blanzy. 18. Obligation de Saint-Pierre et Clignancourt, associes, aPierre Lestage, negociant, Montreal, Ie 15 juin 1741, ANQ-M, Greffe de Danre de Blanzy. 19. The italicized words were crossed out by the notary. 20. Saint-Pierre aBeauhamois, Detroit, Ie 6 aout 1741, Archives du Seminaire de Quebec aQuebec (hereafter cited as ASQ), Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 2. 21. Saint-Pierre aBeauhamois, Detroit, Ie 12 aout 1741, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 3. 22. See Collections of the State Historical Society if Wisconsin, 20 vols. (Madison: State Historical Sciety ofWisconsin, 1906 [hereafter cited as WHCJ) 17:340-59 in particular as well as subsequent pages for details on the prolonged and dangerous conflict the Hurons at Detroit were having with the other French-allied tribes there, and the Chevalier de Beauhamois's mission to remove them to Montreal. 23. St. Pierre aBeauhamois, poste des Miamis, Ie 26 mai 1742, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 4, 3 pages. See WHC 17 passim for the long negotiations with the Shawnees and p. 448 for the actual emigration. 24. St. Pierre aBeauhamois, Ie poste des Miamis, sans date ni lieu (Ie 27 mai 1742?), ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 5, 1 page, et carton 5, no. 46, lettre 5, 2 pages. 25. That is to say, in the lower colony along the St. Lawrence River, and not in the posts ofthe pays d'en haut. 26. Henri-Albert de St. Vincent was commander at the Ouiatanon post. 27. Beauharnois aSt. Pierre, Montreal, Ie 22juillet 1742, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 13, 2 pages. 28. Saint-Pierre a(Lestage?), Ie poste des Miamis, Ie 6 septembre 1742, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 6, 4 pages. 29. Possibly Louis Ducharme. See David A. Armour, "Ducharme, Laurent," in DCB, 4:233; Andrew Rodger, "Fleury Deschambault, Joseph," in DCB, 4:268. 30. Joseph and Louis Gouin were "intrepid voyageurs and fur traders in the West. They traded mosdy at Detroit," "La famille Gouin," Bulletin des recherches historiques (hereafter cited as BRH) 39:107. 31. The wives of merchants, voyageurs, and officers often served as the agents and legal representatives oftheir husbands during their husbands' absences. 32. Joseph 1. Peyser, Lettersfrom New France: The Upper Country 1686-1783 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992), 180-81. 72 Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre 33. Saint-Pierre it Beauharnois, Ie poste des Miamis, Ie 6 decembre 1742, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 7. Mme. de St. Pierre's letter to her husband has not survived. 34. St. Pierre it Beauharnois (copie par St. Pierre), Ie poste des Miamis, Ie 10 decembre 1742, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 8, 1 page. 35. Lamarque it St. Pierre, Montreal, Ie 29 juin 1743, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 5, no. 46, 2 pages. 36. Charles-Fran~ois-Xavier Tarieu de La Perade, who had commanded the Miami post until 1741, just before St. Pierre, thus appears to have been awarded the Ouiatanon post's trade for 1743-44. The figure of 300 livres may be an error in the archival transcription of this letter, or it could be an example of Beauharnois's favoritism; those posts that were leased previously brought in far more than this amount, as much as 6,000 livres or more. Articles 5 and 6 of the 1743 regulations governing the auctioning of the Ouiatanon post, [document 26 printed in this chapter] appear to rule out La Perade as having participated in an auction for the post. Beauharnois apparently heeded the requests of Saint-Pierre and other post commandants to postpone the enforcement of the king's new regulations, thereby leaving them-one way or another-with the posts' exclusive trading privileges. Dunning Idle came to the same conclusion in his excellent Ph.D. dissertation, "The Post of the St. Joseph River during the French Regime 1679-1761" (Urbana:University of Illinois, 1946),187,190. 37. Probably Pierre Trottier Desauniers, a wealthy merchant, shipowner, and syndic of the Quebec merchants. (Jose Igartua, "Trottier Desauniers, Pierre," in DCB, 3:631-32.) 38. CS50nne is probably an abbreviation of Carcassonne, a city in southern France where cloth was made. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville stated in his 1757 "Memoire sur l'etat de la Nouvelle-France" that the compagnie des Indes wanted to sell blankets and short skirts manufactured in Carcassonne to the Indians, but they "did not want any of them," and "the company was obliged to obtain them from factories in Enland." (RAPQpour 1923-24, 63). 39. En 2/3 may mean "in 2/3-ell width." Two lines below, en 112 aune appears to have the meaning of "in 112-ell width." 40. WHC, 17:409-12. See WHC, 17:445-446 for Beauharnois's letter of25 October 1744 to the minister on the abuse of the new system at the Green Bay post. See also Peyser, Letters from New France, 182-84, for the royal memoir to Beauharnois and Hocquart dated 28 April 1745 identifYing specific abuses by two commandants , Lusignan at Green Bay and Celoron at Niagara. 41. Adjudication du Poste des Ouyatanons, Quebec, Ie 26 mars 1743, ASQ, Fonds Verreau, carton 4, no. 376, 4 pages. 42. A pot was about a half-gallon. Marriage and New Assignments, 1738-1745 73 43. Compte arrete entre Pierre-Noel Courtiau au nom et comme gerant les affaires de Marie-Esther Sayer, veuve de Pierre Lestage, etc., Montreal, Ie 16 octobre 1744, ANQ-M, Greffe de Danre de Blanzy. Courtiau was the nephew of the Widow Lestage (Marie Esther Sayer). Born in New England, she had been captured with her mother and sister by the Abenakis and ransomed in Canada. None of her and Lestage's children reached adulthood (Dale Miquelon, "Lestage, Pierre de," in DCB, 3:393-94). 44. Words crossed out by the notary are italicized. 45. Marie Lestage was Pierre Lestage's sister and only heir. She lived in Bayonne in France (Miquelon, DCB, 3:394). 46. Transaction portant cession par Jacques Legardeur de St. Pierre et al. aGuillaume Guillimin et Marie-Genevieve Foucault, son epouse, Quebec, Ie 31 octobre 1744, ANQ-Q, Greffe de Barolet, 8 pages. 47. Donald Chaput, "Marin de La Malgue, Joseph," in DCB, 4:512-14; W.). Eccles, The Canadian Frontier, 1534-1760, rev. ed. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983), 151. ...