His Four Marriages.

The women on the frontier were vulnerable to complications of childbirth, disease, and attacks from enemy forces. Relatively few French women lived in the colony, so our ancestor Joseph Saint-Yves' four marriages were somewhat unusual.

Marie Hébert.

His first marriage, at age 23, was to Marie Hébert on 12 January 1716. They had one daughter, Marie-Josèphe, who lived only a few days in December of that year. His wife died on 20 April 1718. A bachelor once again, he contracted for another trade expedition on 6 August 1721.

Suzanne-Angélique Boutin,
Our Ancestor.

On 27 July 1723 Joseph, 31, married our ancestor Suzanne-Angélique Boutin, 19, in Montréal.

They had 11 children, interspersed between his treks to the trading posts in 1725, 1729. Daughter Agathe, (who later wed our ancestor Paul Lériger, Sieur de la Plante), was born 3 April 1729. Their youngest child, our ancestor Marie-Véronique, was born 16 October 1742. (She married Paul Lériger's son, Charles-Clément).

Suzanne-Angélique died at age 42 on 4 January 1747, Marie-Véronique was just five years old.

Marguerite Rufiange.

Joseph married a third time, 26 February 1748 in Châteauguay to Marguerite Rufiange. They had no children during their short time together.

Suzanne Saint-Michel.

His fourth marriage to Suzanne St-Michel occurred on 30 August 1751 in LaPrairie. They had one son, Joseph, born 2 December 1753.

A burial record for Joseph Saint-Yves was found in Saint-Philippe in June 1754. He was about 62 years old.