Michel Duveau.

From Angers.

Our ancestor Michel was born about 1643 in St-Pierre de Saumur, d'Angers, Anjou, France the son of Jean Duveau and Renée Crespin. He is referred to in some records as "Berthelot" or "des Cormiers". Michel was living in ville de Québec when he married the widow Renée de LaPorte and took in her four children. The wedding took place 29 January 1674 in Notre-Dame de Québec.

Their first child, our ancestor Marie-Romaine Duveau, was born 22 September 1678 in Québec. In Neuville they had a son born two years later, Jean-Baptiste, who only lived five days. The twins, Michel and Marie-Anne were born 8 September 1681, and another Jean-Baptiste born 23 September 1683 lived to the age of 2.

Farmer.

The 38 year-old Michel had a sizeable farm claiming 20 arpens under cultivation in the 1681 census in Neuville. There were so many farmers in the colony that few grew more than what they needed to feed their families. That much land under cultivation implies he invested in raising cash crops like oats, peas, barley and tobacco for pipes to sell in the towns.

He was armed with two fusils (guns) used for hunting and defense. His wife Renée's children from her first marriage: Louise (Arrivé), 16; Marie (?), 15; Jeanne (Arrivé), 14; Madeleine (Arrivé), 12; Jacques (Arrivé), 10; were living with them along with their children: our ancestor Marie-Romaine, 2 and the twins Michel and Marie-Anne six months. Seven bestes à cornes (horned beasts, cattle or goats) were used to plow their fields and provide milk for the family.

The older Arrivé girls married by 1689. Renée's son Jacques Arrivé would become a fur trader, eventually acquiring contracts to employ others by 1695. Marie-Romaine Duveau married the merchant and fur trader Jacques Hubert dit LaCroix in Montréal in 1699 and bore two children.

Michel died in Montréal on 21 May 1704 at age 61, a year after his daughter Marie-Romaine. Renée was 63 when she died in the hospital on 6 May 1705.