Marie Gendre.

Homestead.

While they lived in Trois-Rivières, Jean-Baptiste had acquired farm land three miles downriver in Cap-de-la-Madeleine. Later the French would settle all along the riverbank on long lots that kissed the water. But for the sake of security the earlier pioneers clustered together behind palisades and traveled out to their farms.

Their in-town lot was situated on the southwest side of rue Saint-Pierre that had 10 toises (64 feet) of frontage and was 20 toises (128 feet) deep. A house and kitchen garden were put in place for the family. On 7 October 1655 he received an additional parcel when another settler failed to develop it.

By then our ancestor MARIE was born, on 10 April 1654. Ultimately the couple had four children before Jean-Baptiste Bourgery died at the age of 32 on 10 November 1657.

Trois-Rivières.

Among the in-town concessions was a parcel awarded to Algonquin chief Charles Pachirini in 1648. The seigneur built a mill to process the grains grown on the farms. A militia was formed for the common defense. In 1657 another of our family line moved into the town, Jacques Ménard dit La Fontaine.

King Louis XIV of France began to take an interest in the New World and established it as a Royal Colony by 1663. Two years later he sent soldiers to help to defend the holdings allowing the population to grow, although it never expanded at the rate of the British colonies along the Atlantic Coast.

Many Marriages.

Marie Gendre remarried Florent Leclerc on 4 February 1658. The couple would have three children including two boys who entered the fur trade, Florent in February 1659, Jean in December 1660 and daughter Étiennette in May 1663. Florent died about January 1664 when he was about 45.

She entered into an agreement to wed Nicolas Masson dit Champagne on 12 November 1665, but the contract was voided, perhaps he was not the catch she first hoped for. Our ancestor Louis Robert dit La Fontaine was a witness on the document. He married Marie's daughter Marie Bourgery a couple months later though she was only twelve years old.

Marie Gendre married again to help insure the future of her remaining six young children. This time it was to François Michelot on 21 February 1667. In the 1667 census they report his age as 55; they had 6 cows; 8 acres or so cultivated. Marie Gendre's children were Marie Magdelaine [Bourgery], 15; Jean Bourgeois [Bourgery], 10; Florent [Leclerc], 9; Jean [Leclerc], 6; Henriette [Étiennette Leclerc], 4. François died within two years of the marriage at about age 57. They had no children.

Her next marriage was to Jean Lamarche on 3 November 1669. She was about 49 years old at the time. Lamarche served under Loubias in the same company as Louis Robert and was among the soldiers who decided to stay in Canada after their term of service was complete. In the 1681 census at Le Cap Jean Lamarche, 57 and Marie Gendre, 57 had 3 head of cattle, 15 acres planted. Her sons Florent (Leclerc), 22 and Jean (Leclerc), 20 were counted as well.

In the End.

Like many from Trois-Rivières, they followed the river up to Boucherville where her older children Pierre [Bourgery] and our ancestor Marie [Bourgery] settled.

Jean Lamarche's death is recorded in Boucherville on 17 August 1691. Marie returned to Trois-Rivières, perhaps to be closer to her younger sons. Florent was a fur trader while Jean was a cannon maker. She died there on 2 January 1699 at the age of 79.