Church Record Sunday: Marie-Antoinette Chouart's 1661 Baptism Record

Baptism record of Marie-Antoinette Chouart [1]

Three hundred and fifty-four years ago – on 7 June 1661 – my 7x maternal great-grandmother, Marie-Antoinette Chouart, was baptised. She was the fourth and youngest child of Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers by his second wife Marguerite Hayet. 

Although Marie-Antoinette’s baptism record doesn’t state when or where she was born, she was presumably born in Trois-Rivières (on the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec), where she and her elder siblings were baptised.[2] 

Marie-Antoinette’s baptism record, seen above, is in Latin. Here is my attempt at a transcription: 

“Anno Domini 1661, / 7 Junii, Ego Clandius / Joannis Allouez Societatis / Jesu vicut agurs paro- / chi baptizavi cinn cae- / umorrais infantum fae- / mirzam, Medardo Chouart / et Margarita Ayer parem- / tibus. Patrinis fuere Autonius LeMaistre et Maria / Crevier. Marian Antoni / an appellani.” 

I’ve translated the Latin text into English: 

“In the year of our Lord 1661, / 7 June, I Claude / Jean Allouez Society [of] / Jesus residing in this parish / baptised [?] [?] female infant, / Medard Chouart and Marguerite Ayer parents. / Godparents were Antoine Le Maistre and Marie Crevier. [Child named] Marie Antoinette.” 

Sources: 

1. Immaculée-Conception, cathédrale l´Assomption (Trois-Rivières, Quebec), parish register, 1634-1677, p. 290, no entry no. (1661), Marie Antoinette Chouar (written as Chouart dite Desgrozeliers, indexed as Chouar) baptism, 7 June 1661; Immaculée-Conception, cathédrale l´Assomption parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 June 2015). The baptism, marriage, and burial records that appear in this sacramental register are transcribed copies, according to a note on page 1 of the register. 

2. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 6 June 2015), Medard Chouart Desgroseilliers – Marguerite Radisson Ayet [sic], Famille no. 786. 

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.