Church Record Sunday: Jeanne Petit’s 1733 Burial Record

Born about 1656, Jeanne Petit was originally from Ste-Marguerite parish in La Rochelle, France. [1] She came to New France as a fille du roi in 1672. [2] That September, Jeanne entered into a marriage contract with François Séguin dit Ladéroute, a soldier from Picardie, France. They married the following month in Boucherville, now a suburb of Montreal. [3] Jeanne and François were the parents of six sons and five daughters. [4] Interestingly, I descend from three of those children: Françoise (1674-1751), Pierre (1682-1760) and Simon (1684-1758).

Jeanne died on 29 March 1733. She was buried the next day in the cemetery of St-Antoine-de-Padoue church in Longueuil. For some reason, the attending priest recorded her name as Françoise in her burial record. [5] Many people were present at the funeral: her daughter Jeanne and Jeanne’s husband Charles Patenaude, her son-in-law François Achin (Marie Madeleine Séguin’s second husband), as well as Charles Varri, Charles Truto and others.

Jeanne Petit's burial record (FamilySearch.org)

My transcription of Jeanne’s burial record above (original lineation indicated by /):

L’an de nôtre seigneur mil sept cent trente et trois [...] / 30 mars a eté inhumé dans le cimetière de cette paroisse Le corps de / francoise petit, veufve de defunct Francois seguin Dit Laderoute envi / ron quatre vingt dix ans, decedée de hier, après avoir recu [la?] / penitence et extreme onction, en presence de jeanne seguin, pate / notre fille et fils de la defuncte, de francois achin son gendre [de] charles / varri de charles truto et de plusieurs autres qui [ne?] signent 
j. ysambart pr. cure De Longueuil 

My translation of the record (original lineation indicated by /):

The year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty three [...] / 30 March was interred in the cemetery of this parish The body of / francoise petit, widow of late Francois seguin Dit Laderoute approximately / ninety years old, died yesterday, after having received [the?] / [sacrament of] reconciliation and extreme unction, in the presence of jeanne seguin, pate / notre daughter and son[-in-law] of the deceased, of francois achin her son-in-law [of] charles / varri of charles truto and of many others who did [not?] sign [their names] 
j. ysambart [priest of] Longueuil 

Father Ysambart noted that Jeanne was about 90 years old at her death, but she was more likely about 77 years old.

An epidemic raged in the St. Lawrence valley, including Longueuil, in 1733. [6] Many burial records in St-Antoine-de-Padoue’s sacramental register for that year indicate “picote”, aka “variole” (smallpox), as the cause of death for its parishioners, but Jeanne’s burial record does not mention this disease.

Sources:

1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 1041. Jeanne’s age (25) on the 1681 census of New France gives her an approximate year of birth of 1656.

2. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, 2 vols. (Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Quintin Publications, 2001), 2: 451.

3. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1041.

4. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 7 December 2016), Francois Seguin Laderoute – Jeanne Petit, Famille, no. 4015.

5. St-Antoine-de-Padoue (Longueuil, Quebec), parish register, 1731-1767, page no., if any, illegible, recto, entry no. S.18 (1733), Françoise Petit (sic) burial, 30 March 1733; St-Antoine-de-Padoue parish; digital images, “Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 7 December 2016).

6. Rénald Lessard, Au temps de la petite vérole: La médecine au Canada aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Québec: Septentrion, 2012), 34.

Copyright © 2017, Yvonne Demoskoff.