Karen Schlichte's Genealogy - Story of Michel LeMay

OUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS

by Thomas J Laforest This was one of the biographies taken from his book. MICHEL LEMAY dit POUDRIER Lemay rhymes with the month of May, the heart of springtime and of hope, Poudrier means "one who makes gunpowder," a powerful explosive, useful and dangerous. Our ancestor Lemay carried in his veins of strength and of gentleness. He earned such diverse titles as: militiaman, colonist, carpenter, builder of churches, commercial eel fisherman, father of a large family and progenitor of a marvelous line of descendants. For a least five hundred years, the name Lemay has been that of a great number of Frenchmen. In the religious wars, this family became a "mixed salad" of loyalties. Many were the Lemay Huguenots who fled to England and elsewhere, to escape persecution. The family of our Canadian ancestor were Catholics from Anjou, on the bank of the Loire, an aquatic boulevard flowing past the chateaux, murmuring the poetry and history of France. Michel was born about 1630 at Chene-Hutte, later Chenehutte-les-Tuffeaux, well known for its chalk quarries which provide the grey soft stone so ought after for construction. This angevin town in the Department of Maine-et-Loire, District of Saumur, Canton of Gennes, Diocese of Angers, still numbers over one thousand. There, two millennia ago, the Romans had a fortified camp. There the first Christians in the area built a church dedicated to Sainte-Radegonde (521-587), Queen of France. Michel, son of Francois Lemay and of Marie Gaschet, grew up on the banks of the Loire where, according to the seasons, several species of fish were available, especially the eels. Michel's boyhood was spent in a France divided by religious wars, a France of poverty, cruelty and intolerance. According to Bersyl, a pseudonym for the trifluvien Jean-Marie Houle, Michel Lemay left his country for Canada in 1653. If so, he must have yearned, like so many others, for bread on the table, free air to breathe,, and peace among Men.
A MIGRATING COLONIST
So then, did the 24 year old Michel Lemay bundle up his meager belongings, bid adieu to his family and friends and set off on the road to adventure, toward the New World. In those days, the emigrants who desired to live in a protected environment, chose the Quebec area; the bold went west to Ville-Marie; the reckless settled at Trois-Rivieres.. On August 1653; Pierre Boucher spoke of "the uncertainty of the times caused by the enemy (Iroquois), placing doubts on whether one should live in the area at all." Nevertheless, it was during this period that Michel Lemay became a militiaman in defense of the post, and where he acquired his sobriquet "Le Poudrier".
AT TROIS-RIVIERES
After having lived for several years protecting the security of his friends and neighbors, Michel acquired his grant of land. On 9 March 1655, Father Leonard Garreau, S. J. decided to parcel out the Ile Saint-Christopher, located at the mouth of the Saint-Maurice River. This land owed its name to Christopher Crevier, Sieur de la Meslee. In fact, he himself was the recipient of two of the seven sections: The others went to Michel Lemay, Jacques Bertrand, Jacques Brisset, Jean Pacault and Pierre Dandonneau. Four years later, it would be on 20 April 1659, Crevier bought back the land which Lemay had not had time to clear. He would also come to repossess the lands of the other concessionaires named above.
AT CAP-DE-LA-MADELEINE
However, between the time of acquiring and giving up the land at Trois-Rivieres, Michel received some land at the Cape, in partnership with the carpenter Elie Bourbeau. Lemay had been associated with Bourbeau for a long time in many ventures. It was from him that Michel learned the building trade. In 1659, Pierre Boucher asked the two partners to build a chapel "of 20 feet in length by 20 feet in width" on his fief at Sainte-Marie-du-Cap. Later in 1661, these two men would disassemble this same chapel and transport it to Fort Saint-Francois, where they remained long enough to construct a palisade and a redoubt. On 16 June 1659, Michel Lemay married Marie Dutaut (Duteau) at La Magdeleine, near Trois-Rivieres. Father Rene Menard, S. J., blessed the union. Marie was born at LaRochelle in 1640 and her story is worth telling: It is described by Gabriel Debien in these words, "On 16 April 1658 Jeanne Perrin, wife of Pierre Dutaut, a porter of LaRochelle, and with his permission, indentured herself for 5 years at 50 livres per year, to Jacques de la Poterie of Quebec. This contract was made through his agent, Pierre Denis. Jeanne Perrin-Dutaut departed with her daughter Madeleine, age 9 years." This is not all, because, according to the manifest of the ship Prince Guillaume, on that same day, the sixteen-year-old son of Jeanne, one Charles Dutaut, signed a 3 year contract of service, as did his 19 year old sister, Marie, before Notary Teuleron. Up until this time, no trace of the father! It is Archange Godbout who has the last word: "As for the father, one knows not for what reason, he remained at LaRochelle. He died there a few months later at the age of 53 years, leaving a daughter, Marie, issue of a former marriage with Marthe Renaudin." Bersyl tells us that Jeanne Perrin left no trace of herself in New France. Michel and Marie lived at the Cape for about twelve years. In the census of 1666, they had one servant named Pierre; the following year the family had 4 head of cattle and 18 arpents of land under cultivation. On 20 January, Jesuit Father Jacques Firmin, granted another piece at the Cape, 2 arpents in frontage. The next August, Michel arranged to supply 300 minots of grain to Michel Feuillant and Jacques Haubert of Champlain.
AT BITISCAN
The Jesuits must have considered Michel Lemay an efficient colonist because, on 22 March 1666, they offered him a concession consisting of two houses and two arpents of land located at Batiscan and at Cote Saint-Eloy. Lemay accepted and took himself and family to Batiscan in the spring of 1669. Again he started to build and to clear the land. The next year Michel obtained 9 arpents of frontal land in Lotbiniere, 3 of which were for his 13 year old son. The Jesuit Fathers tried to coax their tenant to stay. They offered him another piece of land at Batiscan in September of 1674, but our migratory Michel must have felt restless for he had already sold his first grant to Charles Dutaut, his brother-in-law. On 26 May 1669 their son, Joseph, was confirmed by Msgr de Laval, the Bishop of Quebec. It was here at Batiscan that Michel began to fish eels. It would become his principal business after 1673, the year in which he received his first grant at Lotbiniere.
AT LOTBINIERE
In the autumn of 1672, Rene-Louis Chartier received the Seigneurie of Lotbiniere from Jean Talon. The next year Michel Lemay obtained 9 arpents of prime river frontage from Chartier. The Lemay family seem to have been the first to have the honor of establishing a home at Saint-Louis de Lotbiniere. At the age of 48, Michel had finally found a place to his liking, because from here on the migration stopped. He and the family rolled up their sleeves, built a home and bar, and in three years had cleared 20 arpents of land. In the meadows, nine horned animals grazed the tender grass. In the house, three rifles stood ready for the hunt. On 1 May 1680, Michel became a "Little King" when Chartier enlarged his concession to 15 arpents in frontage by 30 arpents in depth.
AN EEL FISHERMAN
Michel Lemay no longer suffered from wander-lust. Now he stayed home to engage in his favorite pastime--eel fishing. This sport started in 1666 as a means of earning some extra money. At first he fished with nets off the Pointe-Saint-Croix. Later, when the sport became a business, he would build weirs, to take advantage of the tidal ebb and flood, in order to trap the Wrigley creatures. It was not by chance that, when Seigneur Chartier offered Michel a concession in Lotbiniere, he included fishing rights in the river in exchange for "sixteenth part of his catch, salted and conditioned." In 1722, Bacqueville de la Potherie wrote that on a single tide one could land as many as 3000 eels. Now that is good fishing indeed! Lemay would put the fish in holding tanks, then salt them down in barrels of 500 eels each. In a good season, the catch would amount to 60-70,000 eels. This "fruit of the sea" was sold for 25 to 30 livres a barrel. In 1679, Jean Lemoyne delivered to the Lemay family, "a windmill with all the parts, ready to grind wheat into flour." Price: 80 livres, or 3 livres per hundred eels.
THE FATHER OF A FAMILY
Michel and Marie had nine children, listed a follows: l. Michel was their first born, about 1660. In 1886 he married Catherine Jobin. They had 8 children. 2. Joseph was born about 1661 and 1686 he married Agnes-Madeleine Gaudry. He adopted the surname "dit Delorme". They had 10 children. 3. Marie was born abut 1663 and in 1685 she married Louis Houde. 4. Ignace was born about 1665 and became a voyageur, making a trip to the west on 28 July 1704. He married Anne Girard in 1687. He took his father's sobriquet "dit Poudrier". They had 8 children. 5. Marie-Jeanne was born about 1666 and in 1688 she married Etienne DeNevers. 6. Charles was born about 1669 and in 1691 he married Louise Houde. They had 5 children. 7. Jean was born about 1670 and in 1700 he married Marie-Helene Boucher. He took the surname "dit Larondiere." They had 8 children. 8. Pierre was born about 1671, and like his brother Ignace, also became a voyageur. He made trips to the west on 14 June 1694 and 25 April 1702. He married Anne Germain in 1695. They had 5 children. 9. Marie-Madeleine was born about 1672 and in 1695 married Claude Houde. Alas for the family, Marie Dutaut died around 1675. The exact date of her disappearance is not known and the only way we can approximate the period is through the inventory of her effects on 30 November 1675. In great sorrow, Michel sought to reorganize his rudderless home. On 12 April 1677, at the Cote-Champlain, Michel Married Michelle Quinville, a King's Daughter and widow of Nicolas Barabe. This feminine ancestor of the Barabees was a widow for several years and lived alone with four children. From this union of Lemay-Quinville, celebrated at an undetermined date, there were born at least two children: 1. Antoinette was born at Lotbiniere on 8 March 1680 and married Francois Girard at Les Grondines in 1710. 2. Louis-Francois was baptized on 8 March 1684 at La Perade and died on 13 July 1696 at Hotel-Dieu in Quebec. We understand that in 1678, when the double family lived at Lotbiniere, the trees literally "backed away", so vigorously went the land clearing. At the census of 1681, the number of people living together was fifteen.
THE BIG TIDE
Death, like a g great autumnal tide, carried with it the living who were waiting on the banks of the river of life. At the end of 1684, without the registries giving us a clue as to the date or reason, Michel Lemay disappeared into the glory of the hereafter. Perhaps a fishing accident? Who can say. On the 5th of November, 1685, Michelle Quinville, the widow of Lemay, married Louis Montenu at Lotbiniere. She died on 20 November 1700 at the age of 60 years. They had no children.
LIKE A RIVER
Space does not permit us to cover even the most prestigious names of the thousands of Lemays. Names such as Lemay dit Poudrier, or Delorme, or Larondiere are the living jewels of our times as well as jewels of the past. In 1959, J. A. Lemay estimated the number of his relatives in America at 11,000 families!