Ste-Famille, Ile d'Orléans, Québec
Where Simon Lereau
and his descendants lived
Ile d'Orléans
"Fifteen minutes from the heart of Quebec, one of North America's most
historic cities, lies the equally historic and scenic Ile d'Orléans,
itself a repository of French, British, and American cultures since the
early 1600's. The Ile d'Orléans, 75 kilometers/40 miles in circumference,
was classified as a national historic district in 1970." So reads a travel
article by Kitty Morse. Take a picture
tour of the island
A large number pioneers in Quebec started their life farming on l'Ile
d'Orléans. This is how Simon Lereau and Suzanne Jaroussel settled
on a piece of land (#22) next to the one owned by his father in
law, Maurice Arrivé (#23). Unlike other plots which were 3 arpents
in width, the one of Simon was 4 arpents (755 ft). Like all others,
it went from the shore to the center of the island in a North-South
direction. The island was divided in about 200 parcels. They were grouped
into larger sections named St-Pierre, St-Laurent, la Ste-Famille, St-Jean,
Argentenay and St-François. The best way to see this is to view
the following maps circa 1709 produced by Sieur de Catalogne
Nowadays, there are five villages on l'Ile d'Orléans as seen on
this stylized map.
Where did Simon live?
Our cousin Robert L'Heureux has done some research on this and
produced the following chronology:
- Land #22 - (Green parcel on expanded
map)
- April 2 1656 - Simon received a concession on the island.
It is the land #22. The actual cadastre is #67 to #72 and 2/3 of
#73. It is 4 arpents wide and the length goes to the middle of the
island (one arpent is approximately 192 feet).
- June 22 1667 - Simon bought from Maurice Arrivé
a portion of land #23; it is 1.6 arpents. The actual cadastre is
the other third of cadastre #73, plus cadastre #74 and #75. Now
is total land is 5.6 arpents wide.
- November 12 1670 - Simon died.
- March 5 1672 - His wife Suzanne, then remarried to Robert
Coustard, split the land in 2 equal parts i.e. #22a and #22b. She
(read her husband) will keep the first one and the children will
have the second one. Each piece was 2.8 arpents wide.
- Land #22a - On October 8 1674 the land is sold to Pierre
Loignon (he is the godfather of Simon's, Pierre). On August 30 1677
the land is sold to Nicolas Drouin. On the 1709 map, this land is
shown to be owned by Ni Grouen. In fact it is a misspelled name
for Nicolas Drouin.
- Land #22b - The land was occupied by Anne Lereau and Francois
Frichet as shown on the 1681 census and on the Villeneuve map drawn
in 1689. The 1709 Catalogne map shows Nicolas Leblond owning it.
- Land #10 - (Yellow parcel on expanded
map)
- Around 1669, Simon bought land #10 (actual cadastre #28
to #31) for his youngest son, Sixte. Since land #22 would be passed
to the oldest son after his death, he wanted to make sure that Sixte
would have a land. Sixte was 2 years old at that time.
- After Simon's death the story is not clear but these are
the facts:
- The 1681 Census showed Jean Leclerc living there. He was working
for the Lereau family and living with them in the 1667 census.
On the 1689 Villeneuve map, our Robert Coustard is the owner.
On the 1709 Catalogne map, Sixte is the owner. If you look at
the map you will see somebody named L Chevreux listed there on
the land #10. In fact it was supposed to be written C(isque) Lheureux.
In the 1725 kind of census, Simon Lheureux (son of Sixte ) is
living there.
- Other Facts
- By 1709, Suzanne and Robert Coustard had left Ile d'Orléans
(the 1681 census showed them living with their own children in Côte
de Lauzon). Pierre was living in Charlesbourg. Sixte was living
on Ile d'Orléans on the land #10.
- For details of the various transactions that took place for these
land parcels, see the following (in french)
- Other details of these early settlers can be found in an article
by René L'Heureux (to be put online at a later date).
Where is Simon's Land Now
The original 4 arpents of Simon (#22) cover the actual cadastre 67 to
72 and 2/3 of 73. The lot numbers are 67-1, 67-2, 67-P, 68-P, 71-P, 72-P,
72-1, 73-P, 73-1, 73-2-P, 73-3-P and 73.4. On the original land are the
following residences
Lot # |
Address |
Owner |
Comments |
67-1 |
4194 Chemin Royal |
Guy Garant |
House built in 1977 |
67-2 |
4191 Chemin Royal |
Jeannette Fortin |
House built in 1877 |
67-P |
No address |
Dary Morency |
|
67-P |
4189 Chemin Royal |
Lucien Morency |
House built in 1973 |
67-P, 68-P, 71-P and 72-P |
4189 Chemin Royal |
Farm Lucien and S. Morency |
House built in 1973 |
72-1 |
4179 Chemin Royal |
Francois Carrier |
House built in 1755 |
73-P, 73-1, 73-2-P, 73-3-P and 73-4 |
4173 Chemin Royal |
Roger Pouliot |
House built in 1971 |
What does it look like now
As you can see from the above table, there are at least six houses on
the original land owned by Simon. Daniel L'Heureux was recently
at L'Ile d'Orléans and has taken pictures
of the two oldest houses on the original land of Simon as well as the
view from the back of one of them.
References
- For additional data, see Les Terres de L'Ile d'Orléans
1650-1725 by Léon Roy (see bibliography).
- The maps used above come from a larger map that includes the Ile
d'Orléans. It was drawn by Gédéon de Catalogne
in 1709 and can be found on the National
Library of Quebec website and is in two sections - left
side and right
side. Other maps along the St-Lawrence river are also
available there.
- Many thanks to our cousins Martin
van Kuilenburg (#3), Robert L'Heureux (#4) and Daniel L'Heureux (#29)
for copies of the maps and of the pictures, the research and their
help in producing this page.
- For additional information, visit or write to the Centre de
Documentation et de Généalogie de l'Ile d'Orléans
Erg., 3953 Chemin Royal, Ste-Famille, Ile d'Orléans, Québec,
G0A-3P0. Tel: (418) 829-3206
- If you plan to visit, check out the City
Guide - Courtesy of Telegraphe de Québec
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L'Heureux.
Copyright © Jacques L'Heureux
- All rights reserved.
Last modified:
March 11, 2020
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