Church Record Sunday: Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers’ 1618 Baptism Record

Nearly 400 hundred years ago, my maternal ancestor Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, was born in Charly-sur-Marne, France.

Médard Chouart's baptism record [1]

I downloaded the record (above) a few years ago, but could only partially decipher the Latin text:

31 […] [die?] […] [x. […] [baptizatur?] [fuii?] Medardus filius Medar / Souar de Mariae Poirier [coningmy?] [C---iraxman?] fui Ant[onius / Chouar maxenna aubry Fllim […]

Basically, the words translate into English as Medar, son of Medar Chouar and Marie Poirier, was baptised on 31 July1618. The godfather was Antoine Chouart, presumably brother to the elder Médard. [2]

The officiating priest of St-Martin, a 12th century church, did not indicate when Médard was born, but it’s reasonable to think that he received the Sacrament the day he was born or the next day.

Few details are known about Médard’s early years due to the “obscurity that covers his youth”. [3]

Sources:

1. Saint-Martin parish (Charly-sur-Marne, France), Registres paroissiaux et d’état civil, Baptêmes 1600-1645, vue: 126/364, poste: 242; baptême, Medardus Souar [sic], 31 juillet 1618; digital image, Archives Départementales de l’Aisne (www.archives.aisne/fr : accessed 8 September 2012).

2. Grace Lee Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, reprint, 1978), 2.

3. Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness, 5.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.