Guillaume Chartier and Marie Faucon.

Building a Family.

At 28 it was time to start a family. King Louis XIV began to sponsor young women, paying their passage to Canada and providing them with a dowry so that they could marry. The first of the ships bearing the filles du roi, a 200-ton vessel named Le Phénix de Flessingue, left France from the port at La Rochelle in May 1663 and arrived in Québec June 30th.

Marie Faucon was onboard. She was from Hiers, Saintonge, the daughter of Pierre Faucon and Antoinette Berger who were both deceased. Baptized on 28 March 1644, she was but 19 when she joined the migration to the New World.

Their marriage contract was completed on the 18th and Guillaume and Marie married on the 27th of November 1663.

Recensement.

In the 1666 census Guillaume, 31 years, was a tailor in Montréal living with his wife Marie Faucon, 22. Though this census names a son called Charles, 2, it is likely the census taker erred and should have listed our 2 year old ancestor Jacqueline.

The census taken the following year does mention Jacqueline, age 3 (no Charles) and the fact that the family had 4 arpens of land cultivated. Most tradesmen also farmed to sustain their families, particularly tailors as the profession was less lucrative than some.

Tailoring on the frontier could be problematic. At first individuals retained the traditional costume of the regions they came from in France. And too, the settlers liked to keep up with the fashions of France for Sunday services and special events. Over time they often adopted native dress for daily wear, much to the the dismay of visiting dignitaries.

Their son Laurent was baptized in Pointe-aux-Trembles, east of Montréal. The family resided there during the 1681 census. Guillaume, then 43, worked as a tailor. He owned 1 fusil (musket) and a cow. Six arpens of land was being used for crops. His wife Marie, 36, and eight children lived at home. Our ancestor Jacqueline, 17, was to marry Jacques Saint-Yves later in the year.

At the End.

Guillaume Chartier died at the age of 72 on 23 May 1707 in Pointe-aux-Trembles.

It was over a year before Marie remarried, to François Jocteau on 15 October 1708. This marriage was shortlived as he died less than a week later on 21 October.

Marie Faucon died in Pointe-aux-Trembles on 4 December and was buried in Montréal on 7th in 1709 at the age of 65.