History of Jean Pagési dit St-Amand and Lepage
By Father Gérard Lebel
The patronym PAGESi may seem Italian in color. It is not so. Pagès in Old French means peasant. The pagéi derivative recalls the title of farmer. As for the nickname Saint-Amand, if appeals to more than 18 French localities bearing the name of this holy Belgian bishop who lived in the XNUMXth century.
Jean Pagési was born around 1650 in Gémozac, today the capital of the canton, district of Saintes, in Charente-Maritime, in the former Saintonge. Gémozac presents itself as an important crossroads directing its arteries towards Asintes, Cozes, Pons and Saint-Genis. The demolition of the old castle of Gémozac in 1829 led to the discovery of vast underground passages.
We know almost nothing about the life of Jean Pagési in France, son of Pierre and Marie Michel. Jean had attended schools; he knew how to sign! jan pagesi.
In Quebec, when Monseigneur de Laval, on August 15, 1670, received 44 confirmands, there was in the group a man in his twenties, the eleventh on the list, bearing the name of Jean Pagési. Impossible to go wrong. This is indeed our ancestor, many of whose descendants can be recognized by the nicknames Saint-Amand or Lepage.
What strikes the mind about this religious ceremony is that the participants were almost all new immigrants. Jean PAGESI's contract of employment has not yet been found. What boat had all these new arrivals taken? Three well-known ships had left the harbor of La Rochelle for Quebec that year: L'Hélène de Flessinque, Saint-Pierre and La Nouvelle-France. However, the first two docked at the quay of the capital on August 18 and September 21. As for the La Nouvelle France boat, neither the day of arrival nor the day of departure is reported. Could it be the one who brought the ancestor Pagési to our shores? Pure hypothesis! There are missing stitches in the knitting of our history. Jean had perhaps arrived among us since 1669?
The second report of the presence of PAGESI dates back to October 23, 1672. On that day, he was under the study of the notary Romain Becquet, together with Paul Denys de Saint-Simon. The latter, Parisian, born June 13, 1649, son of Simon, Sieur de la Trinité, and Françoise Dutartre, owned at a place called Saint-Denis, lower town of Quebec, a farm of 2 arpents frontage of which 8 in area were cleared, There was a house and a barn built. Jean undertook to manage this emerging farm "as a good father". He promised the lessor to give him each year, at Candlemas, 20 bushels of wheat and 5 of peas. In return, the tenant can take firewood and retain for himself the surplus profits. The commitment would come to life on January 1, 1673 and would die three years later, after "three spoils" finished and completed.
Such were the humble beginnings of Jean PAGESI among the population of Quebec.
And now, on November 7, 1676, Jean Pagési, known as Saint-Amand, presented himself at the house of the notary Antoine Adhémar, who was then residing in Champlain. Jacques Benoît, inhabitant of Saint-Éloi, offers to Pagési a land of 2 arpents of frontage on the river with a depth of 40. This concession was in the seigniory of Saint-Charles-des-Roches, today Grondines. The seller had obtained it from the Hospitallers of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, owners of 3/4 of a width of land by 3 leagues of depth. In 1676, the banal mill was in a position to make good flour.
Jean Pagési promises to pay Benoît the sum of 120 pounds in 2 equal installments. In line with each other, signed this sales contract Jan Pagesi, Jacques Benoist, René Chartier and the notary. We also know that, on October 18, 1677, the Hospitallers granted land to Jean Pagési in their seigneury of Saint-Charles-des-Roches. Jacques Benoît had debts. Antoine Trottier, Sieur des Ruisseaux, demanded from Benoît, on January 13, 1677, that the 120 livres he was to receive from PAGESi be returned to him in full in addition to the other debts. The agreement was signed at Batiscan, at the house of Trottier.
Is Jean Pagesi an unstable man? Unlucky farmer? On October 11, 1677, he sold the land obtained from Jacques Benoît to Jacques Hudde or Heudes, of unknown origin, married to Marie Meunier for about ten years. Price of this sale: 120 pounds and 20 bushels of wheat. A meager profit. Michel Roy, known as Châtellerault, initialed the document in the presence of Louis Poupard and Jacques Chaillé, the seller and the buyer.
Does Pagéi want to leave Saint-Charles-des-Roches? On November 3, 1679, he sold, ceded, left, abandoned and transported his house of 3 arpents of land frontage and 40 in depth to Poitevin Jean Pousset, husband of Louise Jacquier. The whole is liquidated for the sum of 75 pounds. Decidedly, Pagesi was taking time to grow his wings.
To Lotbinière
The south shore of the river may be less thankless than the north shore. On November 23, 1680, Jean Pagési, a resident of Lotbinière, was in Quebec to make a deal with businessman Nicolas Marion.
So what is this agreement? PAGESi promises to "do well and duement following the custom of a hundred cords of hardwood" on the land owned by Marion in the seigneury of Lauzon. John immediately receives 60 pounds of salary. The other 40 will be paid to him "as and when he needs them". Sign the market Marion, Pagési, Duquet and Rageot.
What was Jean's main occupation in Lotbinière? I do not know. At the 1681 census, Jean Pagési, 30 years, is presented as owner owning 2 arpents of land in cultivation. His neighbors are Jean Châtenay, 35 years, and Louis Montenu, 30 years. Do we have an association of singles? Jean Dania and Marguerite Vaillant are the second neighbors of Pagési. These, on the occasion of the baptism of their sixth and last child, appeal to Jean Pagési to sponsor Marie-Madeleine, November 8 1682. The godmother was Marie-Madeleine Tousignan, said Lapointe. Father Claude Volant recorded the act at Pointe-de-Lévis.
Will Jean found his home in Lotbinière? Nothing less certain.
Jean Pagesi must have been 34 or 35 years old when he met Marie-Catherine Gladu. His parents Jean Gladu, known as Cognac, and his mother Marie Langlois were married in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, in the fall of 1665. Marie-Catherine, eldest of a worthy family, was born around 1667 One of her sisters, Jeanne, will become a nun, servant to the poor of the Hôtel-Dieu in Montreal.
How to explain that an inhabitant of Lotbinière met a girl whom he doubled in age in Cap-de-la-Madeleine and proposed marriage to her? It's a well-kept secret. It does not appear that they have entered into a marriage agreement before a notary. On February 14, 1684, a Monday, according to custom, Jean and Marie-Catherine received the nuptial blessing from Father Louis-Pierre Thury, zealous missionary of the place.
Youth and middle age united to found a new family in New France. Where did the founding couple take their houseboats? This is what I will try to show in the following lines, on the occasion of the birth of children.
I look forward to presenting the little family of Catherine and Jean. They were 5 subjects: an anonymous, Jeanne, Anne-César, Jean-Baptiste, Catherine-Antoinette. The first, who died at birth, was buried in Batiscan on February 14, 1685. There had been a thatched church in Batiscan since 1683. Father Claude Volant was in charge of this mission. What were the Pagesi doing in Batiscan? No answer. Two years later, Jeanne was born in Montreal where she was baptized on October 6, 1687 by the Sulpician Étienne Guyotte, parish priest. At the age of 34, on August 22, 1722, Jeanne married the Bordeaux resident Michel Deveris, son of deceased parents Pascal and Catherine Janson. The couple remained without posterity.
The ancestor César Marin, sieur of La Masuère, and Marie-Anne Noir, known as Rolland, 21 mars 1690, in Lachine, left as godfather and godmother each half of their name to the little Anne-César Pagési. This one, in Montreal, the 11 December 1712, married the military Pierre Roy, said Potevin; she was responsible for 4 children. The only male child who will pass on to future generations the surname Pagési, known as Saint-Amand, will be named Jean-Baptiste. Born in Lachine October 26 1692, he was the godson of Pierre Cardinal and Clemence Bosne. 6 September 1717, in Quebec City, Jean-Baptiste, miller, married Marie-Anne Ondoyer. Their dozen children were raised in the Montreal area and adopted the nicknames SAINT-AMAND and LEPAGE. Finally, the younger Catherine-Antoinette Pagési married in Champlain, in October 1711, with Jean-Baptiste Hayot, widower in child of Marie-Charlotte Bodel. Their 3 offspring were born in Champlain Parish.
The children of Jean Pagési and Marie-Catherine Gladu took root especially in the Montreal region where their descendants still live.
"A busy life is long", according to Leonardo da Vinci. The life of Jean PAGESI was that of a migrant who never stopped walking. His heart stopped beating in a village still new to him.
"The 27 April 1695 died in the communion of our Mother St. Church Cath Ap & Rom Jan Baptiste Pagesi says St Lover lived about 50 cy years before inhabitant of Lachine in lisle of montreal and recently residing in this village of Boucherville, which died suddenly could not receive any sacrament.It was buried in the cemetery of the parish church of the Holy family of Boucherville the 28 April 1695 "...
Signed the act of his funeral surgeon La Baume, Joseph Huet and Jacques Bourdon, all inhabitants of Boucherville.
How does Catherine Gladu manage to feed the 4 young mouths that surrounded her table? History has left us with a touching fact, which still questions us. On July 3, 1708, the widow Pagési resigned herself to hiring her 12-year-old son, Jean-Baptiste, "for five years", in the service of Louis-Odet Piercot, Sieur de Bailleul, a full-time teacher "in the navy troops ". The soldier promised to treat his young servant humanely, to feed him and to maintain his clothes, linens and shoes "according to his condition during said time". After 5 years of service, Jean-Baptiste will come back with a brand new "mazamet hood", breeches, a fashionable tapabord, 6 local linen shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, etc. Nine years later, to the day, on July 3, 1717, Jean-Baptiste signed his marriage contract with M.-Anne Ondoyer. He had gone to a good school of life.
As for Catherine Gladu, she did not agree to remarry until December 1, 1715. Antoine Boyer, known as Lafrance, a native soldier of the Ile de Ré, was her second husband. Together they lived a happy and peaceful life. Antoine was buried in Montreal on March 2, 1745; Catherine, November 23, 1737, at the age of 72.
Despite my good will, I only scratched the surface of the hidden life of Catherine Gladu and Jean PAGESi. May I recall the beautiful stanza of Madelinot poet Roland Jomphe?
"On the ocean of a finite time
Blows the wind of memory
Passing the door of oblivion
To find a little history.