LaPorte and Coindriau.

Jacques de La Porte.

Île de Ré sits off the coast of France across from the thriving port of La Rochelle. It was home to the family of our ancestor René de La Porte.

Her father Jacques de La Porte was born around 1622. His parents are believed to be Jehan de Laporte and Judith Rodon who were married in the Protestant church in LaRochelle on 8 March 1615, but his family likely fled the battles between the Protestants and Catholics that held the area in siege in 1627-28.

Jacques married Esther Coindriau, the daughter of Nicolas Coindriau and Anne Tesmier. The couple had seven children, including our ancestor Renée baptized 23 January 1642 and her sister Marie-Anne baptized 5 November 1658. The others included Jeanne 06 April 1643, Marie 26 December 1644, Pierre 16 April 1646, Daniel born 02 January 1648 in Saint-Denis d'Oléron and was buried 8 July 1648 in Ares-en-Ré, and Angelique 26 February 1662.

First Marriage.

Renée was 21 when she married Jacques Arrivé dit Delisle, 24, on 22 July 1663 in Saint-Étienne d'Ars. Weeks later her father Jacques de La Porte died at the age of 48 and was buried in Saint-Étienne d'Ars, Île de Ré on 3 September 1663.

Jacques Arrivé was a chandelier, that is, he made candles, a necessity to bring light to their dark nights. Tallow from animal fat was most often used though it was odorous when burned. Churches and members of the upper class could afford the use of beeswax which did not give off unpleasant smells. A wick was dipped in the tallow repeatedly to form the candle, or he may have used the newer method developed in Paris of pouring fat into molds.

The couple set off for the New World soon after their marriage accompanied by her widowed mother, Esther Coindriau and her sister Marie-Anne. They arrived in the colony before August 1665 when their first child Claude-Louise was born. There are found in the 1666 census in Sillery with their daughter, Louise, 6 months.

Esther and Marie-Anne.

Esther entertained thoughts of marrying Barthélemi Tesson, though the marriage contract was nullified 26 July 1665. She instead signed a contract with the widower Jean Baillargeon on 5 February 1666, whom she married on 8 March 1666 in Ville de Québec. She and her 8 year old daughter Marie-Anne went to live with him and his two sons, Jean, 12 and Nicolas 7 on a farm on Île d'Orléans. The fertile island is in the middle of the Saint-Lawrence River. But Esther died shortly thereafter. Marie-Anne went to live with her sister after Esther's death.

Jacques and Renée had four arpens of land in Notre-Dame-des-Anges under cultivation in 1667. Another daughter, Jeanne, was born. But they could not protect Renée's little sister. Nine-year-old Marie-Anne was raped by Claude Mongrain early in the year. For his crime he received 12 blows from a rod on the 6th of June. In four short years she married Antoine Tison. Meanwhile, Renée had two more children: Marie-Madeleine in January 1669 and Jacques in March 1671.

Jacques Arrivé died sometime between Marie-Anne's marriage on 26 October 1671 and the inventory of his property on 17 August 1673. It was then that Renée married our ancestor Michel Duveau.