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Jean Baudet & Marie Grandin

An eel fisherman and a Fille du roi in New France

Jean Baudet

Jean Beaudet, the son of Sébastien Baudet and Marie Baudonier, was born around 1648 in Blanzay, Poitou, France. Today, Blanzay is a small commune in the Vienne department of France, located south of Poitiers. As of 2017, it had 787 residents and three businesses: a bakery, a grocery store, and a beauty salon.

New World Opportunities

In the 17th century, France faced significant turmoil due to climate, politics, famines, and epidemics. At the same time, Louis XIV and Colbert encouraged French citizens to participate in the colonization of the New World. Many young French men and women sought adventure in New France and embarked on ships from La Rochelle.

A farmer and eel fisherman, Jean left La Rochelle aboard Le Noir de Hollande, a 200-ton boat armed with 8 cannons. The vessel carried 50 indentured servants, 29 crew members, 1 woman, 10 barrels of brandy, 400 axes, and 6 ewes. Jean arrived in Québec on May 25, 1664, at the age of 16.

Two years later, Jean was still in Québec, working as an indentured domestic servant for Nicolas Gaudry. Gaudry owned an 8-acre farm in an area known as “Côte Saint-François et Saint-Jean” near Québec City. Gaudry's land started where the entrance of the Belmont cemetery in Sainte-Foy is located today. Jean likely signed an indenture contract in La Rochelle before departing for New France. By 1670, six years after his arrival, Jean Baudet had decided to stay in Québec.

Marie Grandin, Fille du roi

Marie Grandin, the daughter of Michel Grandin and Marie Lejeune, was born around 1651 in the parish of Saint-Eubert in Orléans, Orléanais, France (present-day parish of Sainte-Euverte in Orléans, in the department of Loiret).

Marie was known as a Fille du roi or “Daughter of the King”. Like many of her fellow Frenchwomen who came to New France during that era, Marie traveled to Canada after the death of her father. She arrived in Québec City on July 31, 1670, aboard the ship La Nouvelle-France, which had departed from La Rochelle with about 120 other Filles du roi. Marie was around 19 years old and brought with her a trunk of goods worth an estimated 300 livres to be used as her dowry.

Once in Québec, Marie stayed at the home of Madame Bourdon (Anne Gasnier), like many other “filles à marier” (marriageable girls) or Filles du roi before her. During a period of ten years, Madame Bourdon signed 304 marriage contracts pertaining to the Filles du roi.

Marriage

Marie Grandin and Jean Baudet signed a marriage contract on 7 Sep 1670 at Québec before Notary Becquet. They were married at Notre-Dame in Québec on 23 Sep 1670.  The marriage record indicates Jean was living at Champigny (present-day Côte de Champigny in L’Ancienne-Lorette). Jean would’ve been about 22 years old, and Marie about 19.

Jean and Marie first settled in Sillery, where two of their daughters were born, Marie and Simone. On 4 Sep 1672, Jean signed a six-year lease with Noël Ringuet Jr. for a piece of land in Côte Saint-Michel measuring two arpents wide by 30 arpents deep. About ten of the acres were cleared and plowed, and there was also a house, a barn and a stable. The farm would be located today between chemin des Quatre-Bourgeois and rue La Fresnière, in Ste-Foy.

In 1677, the family left Sillery for Lotbinière where seigneur René Louis Chartier de Lotbinière gave Jean the responsibility of his seigniorial domain. Jean rented a piece of land, built the manor and stayed on the premises with his family.

On 2 Mar 1680, he received a land concession in Lotbinière, along the St-Lawrence river, from seigneur Chartier. The land measured ten arpents by 30. In return for the concession, he had to pay the seigneur an annual property tax of thirty francs and one denier. The following year, Jean moved in with his family.

The 1681 New France census recorded the family living in Lotbinière. Jean owned 1 gun, 1 head of cattle and 3 cleared arpents of land.

In addition to clearing and cultivating land, and seeing to its buildings and animals, Jean continued fishing and trading in eels. He traded at fish markets in Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Québec, delivering some 20 and 40 large kegs of eels annually during a period of 20 years.

In 1708, Jean received another farm concession which he would share between his 3 youngest sons: Jean-Baptiste, Michel and Jacques. It is located to the west of the village of Lotbinière, covering approximately cadastres 101 to 124 of the current cadastre of Lotbinière. This land had fifteen acres of frontage along the river, by thirty acres deep. In buying this concession, Jean Baudet was securing the future of his sons, one lot being insufficient for his four boys.

Jean Baudet died around May of 1714 – between the signing of a contract dated 25 Mar 1714 and his after-death inventory of 13 Jul 1714.

On 25 Feb 1715, Marie drew up a donation contract before notary Dehornay to give land to her son Charles, on the condition that he take care of her until her death with food and lodging. Charles also undertook to supply his mother with a “carisse” skirt, a cloth brassiere, two handkerchiefs and a pair of stockings, and every three years, a pair of French shoes. After her death, he committed to say ten masses for the repose of Marie’s soul.

Marie Grandin died not long after at l’Hôtel-Dieu at Québec on 14 Jul 1715 at the age of about 64; her burial record refers to her as "la bonne femme Baudet" (the good Baudet woman). 

Jean Baudet and Marie Grandin had 10 children:

1. Marie Beaudet, born 13 Sep 1671 in Sillery; died 1 Jun 1755 in St-Antoine-de-Tilly (married Jacques Houde/Houle dit Desruisseaux)

2. Simone Beaudet, born 26 Dec 1673 in Sillery; died 7 Jan 1748 in Verchères (m. Michel Pineau dit Laperle)

3. Charles Beaudet, born 13 Aug 1676 in L’Ancienne-Lorette (m. Marie Madeleine Lemay dite Poudrier)

4. Marie Louise Beaudet, born about 1679; died 7 Feb 1760 in Cap-Santé (m. Jacques Marcot)

5. Marie Françoise Beaudet, born 1 Oct 1681 in Neuville; died 15 Jan 1712 in St-Nicolas (m. Jean Baptiste B(u)isson)

6. Jean Baptiste Beaudet, born 2 Sep 1683 in Lauzon; died 23 Nov 1764 in Lotbinière (m. Marie Françoise Chatel dite Lachapelle)

7. Michel Beaudet, born about 1686; died 26 May 1764 in Lotbinière (m. Marie Thérèse Péruse)

8. Marie Josèphe Beaudet, born about 1688; died 28 May 1748 in Ste-Croix-de-Lotbinière (m. Jacques Alexandre Denevers)

9. Jacques Beaudet, born about 1690; died 4 Jan 1750 in Lotbinière (m. Marie Angélique Lemay)

10. Marie Madeleine Beaudet, born about 1692; buried 14 Jan 1776 in St-Philippe (m. Nicolas Joly)

Over the years, the surname Baudet morphed into a variety of family names: Beaudet, Beaudette, Bodette, Boudette, Bodett, Burdett, and Burdette.

The coat of arms pictured belongs to the Beaudet Family Association, based in Ste-Anne-des-Lacs, Québec. The red, the gold and the castle represent the coat of arms of Poitou region of France, the origin of Jean Baudet. The blue ribbon refers to the Atlantic Ocean and the St-Lawrence River. The « Fleur de Lys » represents France and New France. The fish and the strands of wheat represent Jean’s four sons: Charles, Jean-Baptiste, Michel and Jacques who were all farmers and fishermen (source: Beaudet Family Association). The Association welcomes new members; membership is free (as at Sep 2020).

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Sources:

• Association des familles BEAUDET, “Story of our ancestors Jean Baudet and Marie Grandin” (http://www.famillesbeaudet.com). 

• Association des familles BEAUDET, coat of arms description on association’s website (http://www.famillesbeaudet.com)

• Ian Beaudet, “L'ancêtre des Beaudet d'Amérique : Jean Baudet”, online article (http://www.beaudet.fr/Beaudet/Jean_Baudet.html)

• Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, PISTARD online Archives, abstracts, reference P351,S9,P3, Jean Beaudet, Lotbinière land concession, 2 Mar 1680, BAnQ (http://pistard.banq.qc.ca).

• Bibliothèque et Archives nationales de Québec, PISTARD online Archives, abstracts, reference CR301,P860 about Marie Grandin (http://pistard.banq.qc.ca/ ), citing original data “Registres des insinuations de la Prévôté de Québec”, vol. 3 (previously registers 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 et 12) (15 Oct 1709 - 24 Mar 1715), pages 652-654.

• Peter J Gagne, Kings Daughters & Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, Volume One, Quintin Publications, Orange Park FL, 2001, page 278.

• René Jetté avec la collaboration du PRDH, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec des origines à 1730, Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, 1983, page 62.

• Guy Perron, “37 – L’expédition du navire Le Noir de Hollande pour Québec et la pêche en 1664”, online blog (https://lebloguedeguyperron.wordpress.com), citing original data: AD17. Fonds Amirauté de La Rochelle. Documents du greffe. B5665, fol. 172 et 173r.

• Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH), Université de Montréal (https://www.prdh-igd.com), dictionary entry for Jean Beaudet (person #3946).

• Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH), Université de Montréal (https://www.prdh-igd.com), dictionary entry for Jean Beaudet & Marie Grandin (union #3341).

• Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH), Université de Montréal (https://www.prdh-igd.com), database record for Marie Grandin (death record # 73505).

• “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca), Jean Beaudet and Marie Grandin, Quebec marriage record (1667-1679, Québec, Notre-Dame (mariages 1621-1679), image 39 of 82); citing original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.

• "Recensement du Canada, 1666", Library and Archives Canada (https://collectionscanada.gc.ca/), entry for Jean Baudet, 1666, Québec, Finding aid no. MSS0446, MIKAN no. 2318856; citing original data: Centre des archives d'outre-mer (France) vol. 460.

• "Recensement du Canada fait par l'intendant Du Chesneau", Library and Archives Canada (https://collectionscanada.gc.ca/), entry for Jean Baudet, page 107, item 214,14 Nov 1681, Québec, Finding aid no. MSS0446, MIKAN no. 2318858; citing original data: Centre des archives d'outre-mer (France) vol. 460.