Nicolas Patenaude
and Marguerite Breton.

Nicolas Patenaude.

Nicolas Patenaude and Adrienne Simon lived in Berville-en-Caux when their son Nicolas Patenostre dit Patenaude was born about 1626. Located northwest of Rouen, the farming community was well known for its production of flax, a plant used to make linen fabric. It is then not unexpected the son declared he was a drapier or cloth merchant in Canadian census records.

Nicolas made his way to New France sometime prior to 1650 when in his early 20's. There was an auspicious gathering on the day Nicolas Patenaude and Marguerite Breton met to sign their marriage contract in the home of her chaperone Marie Favry on 25 October 1651 in ville de Québec. The first bann, or announcement of marriage had been published on the 22nd, with two more postings to follow as was the custom to insure the couple was free to marry. The witnesses included Seigneur Jean-Paul Godefroy for the bride and Charles Sevestre, a provost judge, for the groom.

Although Nicolas could not write his name, Marguerite's signature appears on the document. With the dowry and other financial matters set, they took their marriage vows on 30 October 1651 in Notre-Dame de Québec.

Marguerite Breton.

Marguerite, 20, came to the New World as a fille à marier. Her father Antoine Breton was a Libraire or bookseller selling tomes with beautifully marbelled endpapers and gold tooling on the leather binding for the wealthier clients. His shop could have carried the newly printed book Discours de la méthode by the philosopher / mathematician René Descartes in which the author asserted "Je pense, donc je suis" (I think therefore, I am).

The family lived on rue Guérin-Boisseau in Paris when Marguerite was baptized in église Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs, a gothic structure just minutes away from their home.

She was a small child when her father died sometime around 1640. Marguerite’s mother Sainte Paulin then married Robert Vié de la Mothe. He was a "sergent" in the "régiment des gardes", and they would have two more daughters.

Marguerite's sisters would also make the journey to Québec and start their own families. Marie-Sainte Vié married Hubert Simon dit Lapointe and Marie Vié married Jean Poitras.

Homestead.

The couple first settled on land in-between Sillery and Cap Rouge ceded to them in January 1652 by Jean deQuen, a Jesuit priest. The parcel was 2 arpens wide at the river and twenty deep. Nicolas was required to build a house and begin paying cens en rentes the following year on 27 December 1653, the feast day of Saint-Jean-l'Évangéliste .

The seigneury structure was comparable to the feudal system found in the Old World. Land was allocated, either by the Church or by a Seigneur (lord) who himself had been granted a tract of land. Settlers had an obligation to clear the trees on the property and build a house. The grain they grew was ground at the mill the seigneur built. Lumber, hunting, and fishing rights were also granted by the seigneur. However in Canada the habitant did have the ability to sell the parcel.

Patenaude was also obligated to build a road suitable for the use of others to have access to fishing from his land. Further the Huron-Wendat living on the reserve at the Jesuit mission could continue to go into the forest to cut wood as they needed for heating and cooking fuel, as well as retaining fishing rights. In addition to paying 20 sols, 2 denarii on the feast day, Patenaude owed 2 live capons and 2 live hens. He fulfilled his commitment by building a home of fieldstone, as well as a small barn. One and a third acres of land were cleared for farming. Our ancestor Charles was born on the farm on 21 May 1656.

For 80 livres tournois the couple sold the improved land on 29 November that same year, the first of several moves they made. In another transaction, there was a mix-up involving the construction of his home on a neighbor's land in Notre-Dame-des-Anges. (A half arpent of river front land had been traded back and forth). The resolution was for Patenaude to move the home to his property at his expense, and for Normand, his neighbor, to help build a well on the new site comparable to the one that had been one built on his land.