Louis Lepage
by Gérard Lebel
Thursday the 24th day of January 1664, the members of the Sovereign Council of Quebec were considering a complaint formulated by one of their members Charles LeGardeur, Sieur de Tilly. And here is their judgment:
"On what was represented by Charles LeGardeur ... that the name Louis le Page his domestic servant, to the detriment of the Ordinances of this Council published and displayed or needed was, had without any leave quitting his service having withdrawn in the Coste and Seigneuripe de Beaupré. And where on the King's Attorney General The Council has ordered and orders that the said le Page will be taken and apprehended to the body and made prisoner in the royal prisons of that city for the sake of the law.
Charles LeGardeur (1614-1695) was a navigator, governor of Trois-Rivières, member of the Communauté des Habitants, trader, caterer, one of the first advisers of the Sovereign Council, a good and honest man. Did he regret having brought such an accusation against his servant? Does this condemnation remain a dead letter? It seems so.
Louis Lepage apparently completed his 36-month engagement. He must have arrived in the country in 1661, with his brother Germain. The latter, 25 years of age, on June 3, 1664, received in Quebec the sacrament of Confirmation with 68 other confirmands and confirmands.
Germain had left his wife Reine Lory and her son René in France. Louis and Germain had therefore come here as scouts with the caution of certain migratory birds. Both will stay in New France. Germain will bring here his wife and his son René, who will become Lord of Rimouski, Sainte-Claire, Pachot and Anse-aux-Coques. Even their sister Constance Lepage will join them in about eight years.
From Lower Burgundy
Louis, Germain and Constance Lepage came from Lower Burgundy, where the conquering Romans once passed. One of the 12 communes of Courson-les-Carrières, capital of the canton of Yonne, in the Nivernais, is called Ouanne. This is where the members of the Lepage family were born. The XNUMXth century church, dedicated to Notre-Dame, still offers religious services to more than a thousand inhabitants. The archbishopric of Auxerre is located about twenty kilometers away. This country of hills and valleys still presents flourishing grain fields and market gardening to visitors.
According to our Canadian documents, Louis was born between 1640 and 1642. His parents were named: Étienne Lepage and Nicole Berthelot. Louis and Germain had a certain education since they signed with ease. Constance Lepage, their sister, born around 1648, arrived later in the Colony, probably in 1672. Indeed, on February 12, 1673, she was godmother to Constance Duchesne, from Saint-François, Île d'Orléans.
A question deserves to be asked about Marie-Rogère Lepage, born around 1631, widow of Paul Bellefontaine, daughter of René Lepage, sieur de la Croix, and Catherine Millot. Marie-Rogère was a native of Saint-Martin, town of Clamecy, in Burgundy. Was she related to Louis, Germain and Constance? Perhaps! She came here under the aegis of the institution of the king's daughters. On December 5, 1667, in Quebec, she married Roch Thoéry, Sieur de l'Ormeau, soldier in the Carignan regiment. Finally, on October 16, 1681, she married again with Jean-Baptiste Peuvret, owner of the back-fief of Mesnu on the Île d'Orléans. Those who look alike come together, the saying goes.
On Île d'Orléans
On July 9, 1664, Germain and Louis Lepage are full inhabitants of the Colony; they can become owners, Barbe de Boulogne, widow of Louis d'Ailleboust, sieur de Coulonges, owner of the Argentenay hinterland on the Île d'Orléans, concedes to the Lepage brothers 4 arpents of land in front of the territory of the current parish of Saint-François. On June 7, 1665, Louis, along with Marie Perreault, was godfather to Anne Lereau, daughter of Simon.
At the 1666 census, Louis and Germain live well on the island. The following year, the enumerators indicate that they own 15 arpents in culture and that they live between the neighbors Pierre Loignon and Gabriel Rouleau, said Sanssoucy. Reine Lory and the son Rene have not yet arrived in the colony.
Louis and Germain work together on the same farm, on the same island.
Louis gets married
By the summer of 1667, Lepage had a home and furniture that could be used as a springboard for a new home. The happy future wife elected Louis was named Sebastienne Loignon or Aloignon (onion!).
The ancestor Pierre Loignon was engaged in the service of Noël Juchereau, the 4 March 1647. This pioneer married in Quebec, 8 October 1652, Françoise Roussin. As early as the 2 of April 1656, Charles de Lauzon-Charny granted him 3 arpents of land abreast on the island of Orleans, parish of Sainte-Famille. The eldest of the family, Sébastienne, was born August 27 1653. The following September 7, it was presented on the baptismal font of Notre-Dame de Quebec by François Badeau and Sébastienne Veillon. Father Jerome Lalemant poured the water of baptism on the forehead of the little one.
Wednesday 24 August 1667, a clerk in the company of the royal usher Jean Levasseur had traveled to the island of Orleans by the north channel, to initial the marriage contract of Louis Lepage and Sebastienne Loignon aged 14 years.
On the side of the future bride, shone by their presence the grandfather Jean Roussin, the uncle Nicolas, the aunts Madeleine and her husband Michel Huppé, Louise and Jacques Asselin, the captain of the company of Maximy in the regiment of Carignan, the lieutenant Sixte Charrier de Mignarde, Gabriel Rouleau and Mathurine Leroux, and finally the bailiff Jean Levasseur. On Louis Lepage's side were his brother Germain, Simon Lereau and Suzanne Jaroussel, his wife.
The clauses of the marriage agreement, written according to the standards of the custom of Paris, do not have anything very new. Louis offers Sébastienne the customary dower of 300 tournaments pounds. Is it a clerk's tool? No word is said about the precipitate.
The Loignon family are bleeding dry to help their eldest daughter. They promise to give him 2 milking cows, 2 young oxen and 20 bushels of wheat. For a trousseau, they offer their daughter 2 place settings, 1 dozen brand new shirts, 1 dozen napkins, 3 tablecloths, 6 sheets, 3 dishes, 6 plates, 1 suit suitable for the wedding, 1 other "honest" suit, 2 dozens of handkerchiefs, 24 headdresses. The text of the contract was placed in the minute-book of the notary Duquet of Quebec. Louis and Sébastienne, on January 30, 1669, gave a general receipt to Pierre Loignon and his wife for everything they had received.
Alas! the act of the nuptial blessing can not be found in our records. Lost! But Sebastianne and Louis remained united to life and death.
Reorganization
The Lepage lived together for a few years. Sebastienne took care of keeping the house: Germain and Louis, to keep the farm. The 1672 year seems to have brought the first major changes in the life of the Lepage family.
Reine Lory, Rene Lepage, 13 and Constance Lepage arrived in New France that year. It was a very long wait for Germain. 12 February 1673, René was godfather of Constance Duchesne with his aunt Constance. Then, the 11 September 1673, Reine Lory presents herself as godmother of the third child of Louis and Sebastienne.
The whole family had to reorganize. On October 24, 1672, the brothers decided to divide their farm into two parts. Louis took the 2 arpents on the widow's side of Chartier, with the house at the bottom of the coast, near the beach, the one they had built together on the 2 arpents belonging to Germain. That's why Louis kept half an acre more. Germain's neighbor was Pierre Mailloux, said Desmoulins.
Did the Lepage organization have irritating constraints? ... On August 14, 1673, the brothers sold their land to the Hospitallers of Quebec, through Nicolas Huot, dit Saint-Laurent, their attorney. Surveyor Jean Guyon measured the 4 arpents "of the northern passage of the said isle on which six and a half arpents ... of clean land and an acre and a half of felled timber ... with a body of house" met. The nuns will take possession of everything when they see fit. Price of this sale: 415 pounds tournaments.
The nuns verbally promised Louis another concession. In any case, on August 1, 1677, at the monastery of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, they granted Louis Lepage 3 arpents of land on the Saint-Laurent river, Saint-François parish, Argentenay seigneury, south side from the island. These 3 acres of frontage were added to as many acres granted at an earlier date which is unknown to us. The named neighbors are Simon Chamberland and Germain Lepage. Gilles Roger, bailiff, Étienne Marandeau sign the deed of concession as witnesses. Louis therefore owned 6 arpents of land in front.
In the 1681 census, Louis, 40, and Sébastienne Loignon, his wife, 30, own 1 gun, 11 horned animals, 12 arpents of cultivated land. Pierre Labbé and François Garinet are mentioned as their peaceful neighbors.
New lights
It is not always easy to understand the movements of Louis Lepage and his family. An act of the notary Paul Vachon, February 4, 1682, sheds some light on us. Simon Chamberland and Marie Boisseau, his wife, give Louis Lepage a receipt for a sum of 360 pounds "for cause and deed of delivery of the dwelling split into the ditte seigneury of Argentenay" ... The master surgeon of Beaupré, Louis Moreau , and Nicolas Métru, royal bailiff, initial this receipt with the notary.
However, the land in question had not yet been officially sold. It was not until August 22, 1686 that Chamberland admitted to a notary that he had sold, on January 9, 1678, to Louis Lepage, a concession of 3 arpents front on the St. Lawrence River, southern passage. Jean Guyon, sworn surveyor, on August 25, 1678, had drawn up a survey report for the said concession. In addition, Simon admits having received in 1682 in addition to the 360 pounds, 10 pounds for pins in favor of his wife Marie Boisseau.
The engineer and cartographer Robert de Villeneuve during the year 1688, it seems, had represented on paper the surroundings of Quebec, in particular of the island of Orleans. This map shows in the parish of Saint-François-de-Sales the barn and the house of Louis Lepage at numbers 44 and 46, south side of the island, a few acres to the west of the church.
Thousand books in a cassette
Françoise Roussin, mother of Sébastienne and step-mother of Louis, died December 3, 1691 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. Her husband Pierre Loignon had predeceased her for about a year. However, before dying, something strange as well as mysterious had happened about Françoise Roussin.
A few days before the death of the grandmother, brothers-in-law Louis Lepage, Étienne and Nicolas Drouin, Jean Gagnon and Antoine Paulet had delegated Pierre Roberge to try to shed light. On February 28, 1692, the notary Claude Auber had drafted a request in due form. The pot aux roses had been discovered by the son Charles Loignon, Paul Dupuis, king's attorney, had received the last wishes of the deceased. The cassette containing the 1 books, asserted Paul Dupuis, is in the hands of a known person. Thunderclap! The wishes of the deceased are that the 000 pounds go to her son Charles, but in secret. If the news gets out, this portion of the inheritance must be shared equally among all the heirs. The magnanimous son Charles declared that he deserved no more than the others. The pearls of the cassette were therefore shared fairly ...
The ancestral land of Loignon, located in Sainte-Famille, had 6½ acres of frontage on the river. It was Charles Loignon who acquired this paternal farm by buying back the share of the other heirs. Louis Lepage and his wife accepted the sum of 800 pounds without counting 50 pounds of pins from Charles and tutor Jacques Asselin. This sale was signed on October 19, 1695. Louis received 300 pounds in cash. This heritage provided a helpful contribution to the Lepage home.
Fourteen chapters
The book of life of the family of Louis Lepage and Sébastienne Loignon consists of 14 chapters of unequal lengths. Here are the titles: Étienne, Marie-Madeleine, Renée, Pierre, Joseph, François, Marguerite, Elizabeth, Rose, Jean, Germain, Angélique, René-Louis and Marie-Madeleine. They were written with love between the 8 April 1669 and the 12 January 1699, the 30 space years.
The godchildren of Uncle Germain: Étienne and Germain did not survive. René, Aunt Reine Lory's goddaughter, only lived for a few weeks. The registers of St. Francis Parish on the island were opened in the summer of 1679. François Lepage was the first of the family to receive baptism at the church of Saint-François. This son, the November 6 1704, made donation for cause of death to Joseph Lepage, his brother. Was he sick? Had he decided to become a coureur de bois? Then we lose track of this 6 child of Louis and Sébastienne.
Marie-Madeleine, the eldest of the Lepage daughters, unites her life to Gabriel Thibierge, son, widower of Anne Perrault, father of 6 children; she gave him a dozen more to ensure his descendants.
Pierre Lepage loved Marie-Madeleine Turcot. They married at the church of Sainte-Famille on May 3, 1700 and became responsible for 7 offspring.
Claire Racine, of Sainte-Anne du Petit-Cap, conquered the heart of Joseph Lepage: nuptial blessing the 21 February 1707. This brave woman, mother of 8 children, died at St. François, IO, the 11 March 1728. Joseph remarried at Montmagny, the 1er August 1729, with Marie Fournier.
Angélique Lepage joined forces with the Bilodeau family by marrying Antoine on July 10, 1713, in Saint-François. Alas! her man was killed by thunder, in Berthier, June 19, 1728. Widow and mother of 5 children, Angélique, married in just marriage in the same place, April 24, 1730, with Joseph Daniau or Dagneau, son of Jean and Françoise Rondeau.
The youngest Marie-Madeleine Lepage entered the Guérard family by accepting for her husband Charles, April 13, 1722. The couple were born out of their 9 children.
Louis Turcot won the heart of Marguerite Lepage on March 15, 1706; Marc Beaudoin, that of Elisabeth, on April 13, 1711; Antoine Pépin, dit Lachance, on November 12, 1709, that of Rose.
Baptized on June 2, 1689, Jean Lepage did not marry until July 15, 1723 with Marie Gagnon, daughter of Jean Gagnon and Anne Mesny.
René-Louis becomes ship captain. He was the only one to get married in Quebec. On July 6, 1725, he married Marie-Thérèse Bisson, born to Antoine and Ursule Tru. The genealogist Tanguay assigns them 6 children, all born in Quebec. After the death of René-Louis, Thérèse Bisson married the widower Jean Vallée on January 12, 1739, in Quebec.
These 14 chapters summarize the second volume of the Lepage collection, Le Page or Page, a living collection, never finished.
Page at the King's Court
The pioneers Lepage and associates changed one day to become pages at the court of the celestial king. Constance, wife of François Garinet, left first. She was buried on 18 August 1688. Reine Lory, after 1696, no longer appears in our registers here below.
Sébastienne Loignon, 49, died on December 2, 1702 in Saint-François, possibly the victim of the famous epidemic which was beginning to wreak havoc in the Quebec region. Jacques Beaudoin and Louis Juchereau, Sieur de Saint-Denis, witnessed his funeral on Sunday, December 3. She left a 3 year old toddler, Marie-Madeleine, orphan.
Louis Lepage survived his wife for about 8 years. His body was buried in the cemetery of Saint-François on November 27, 1710. The visiting priest Pierre-Joseph-Thierry Hazeur only signed his name in the register following that of the deceased. Here is a summary act of burial!
The third generation, almost half of whom had not yet reached adulthood, succeeded in surviving, thanks to mutual aid and fraternity, which well-patented modern securities have difficulty in achieving.
Jean Lepage, called Jean-Baptiste by the clerk of the Sovereign Council on February 15, 1712, asks that he be given his inheritances and affirms that he wants "to enjoy by himself the income from his property and his furniture" ... The judges promise him "letters of benefit of age".
Then, more than a month later, on April 5, 1712, the Sieur de la Martinière reported that Louis Dallaire, first churchwarden of the Fabrique de Saint-François, opposed the execution of a judgment issued on the 13th. November 1710 by the intendant Jacques Raudot and wanting the said Louis Lepage, son, to enjoy the use of a bench other than the one he currently uses. Churchwarden Dallaire was right.
With the admission and enumeration of the fief of the island of Orleans written in 1725, we read this: “That above (of Louis Marsault) are the heirs of Louis Lepage who own seven arpents of land in front on the deep charged of four pounds fifteen sols of France and five income capons and two sols three deniers of Cens aussy de France which have house, barn, stable, and about one hundred and twenty arpens of plowing land ”.
“Culture,” wrote Paul Savard, “can be defined by the memory of those who came and of the best that they left behind. It is a set of values which are inspired by the past, but which can be aimed at improving our own condition and quality of life. Reconstructing the life of an ancestor is trying to embrace a story that is not entirely foreign to us ”.
The descendants of Louis Lepage and Sébastienne Loignon are now numerous. A good simplicity and a noble pride seem to be their specific characteristics. The living environment of the successor generations has changed, but the genetic, intellectual and spiritual heritage is worth infinitely more than the framework which supports the painting.