In the 17th century, my great grandparents sailed to New France after leaving loved ones behind in their homeland in France. Although the two did not sail together, they eventually met, married, began raising a family, and settled in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Perade.

In 1643, my 9x great grandfather, Antoine Marie Leduc, was born in Louvetot, Rouen, Normandy, France. He was the son of Jean Leduc and Jeanne Franscoise Desobrie.  

As a teen in 1656, Antoine traveled from Dieppe to Quebec on the ship the Saint-Sebastion.  That same year he signed an agreement to serve Pierre Denys Sieur de la Ronde for one year. In 1666, the census showed that seventeen-year-old Antoine worked as domestic help for Claude Herline in Trois-Rivieres

Sometime in 1649, Jeanne was born; she was the daughter of Noel Faucheux and Jacquette Trion. In 1671, at the age of twenty-two, Jeanne Faucheaux arrived in Quebec after sailing from Saint-Pierre-es-Liens in Huisseau-sur-Mauves in Orleans, Orleanais, France. She came to the New World as a King’s Daughter; this venture sent about 800 women to New France. The women married the soldiers and frontiersman. Although no records were found, it was believed that Jeanne and Antoine married that same year. The couple had three children, Marie Francoise (1675), Jean Baptiste (1678), and Pierre Charles (1680).

Antoine worked as a fur trapper and a farmer. On May 15, 1682, he and four men, Louis Dandonneau, Paul Desmarais, Jean Morneau, and Michel Desrosiers banded together for a fur trading expedition to the Outaouais. 

They proclaimed if one died during the trip, the survivors would bring back his share of furs. At Teiagon, (Baby Point, Montreal), they were attacked by the Iroquois as they headed to Michillimakinac. From that point on Antoine was not heard from again. His widow, Jeanne, remarried Pierre Vaillant on February 29, 1888. In 1689, Pierre and Jeanne had one son, Pierre Rene Vaillant.

Works Cited

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http://www.leducamerique.org/ancetres.html.

Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection – Births, Ancestry.com Operations Inc. Provo, UT, 

2001, search.ancestry.com/search/ db.aspx?dbid=5769.

Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection – Deaths, Online Publication – Provo, UT, USA: 

Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009., 2001, search.ancestry.com/search/ 

db.aspx?dbid=5771.

Edmund West, comp. Family Data Collection – Marriages, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Provo, 

UT, USA, 2001, search.ancestry.com /search/db.aspx?dbid=5774.

Gagné Peter J. King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: the Filles Du Roi, 1663-1673. Quintin

Publications, 2003.

Gale Research. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s, 

Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Provo, UT, USA, 2010, search.ancestry.com/search 

/db.aspx?dbid=7486.

Hider, Arthur H. “La Vérendrye at the Lake of the Woods.” Wikipedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation,

30 Sept. 2010, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:La_V%C3%A9rendrye.jpg.

Langlois, Michel. Dictionnaire Biographique Des ancêtres québécois (1608-1700). Maison Des ancêtres

québécois, 1998.

Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.” Birth, Marriage and 

Death Records – Ancestry.ca, Online Publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com

Operations Inc, 2008., search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=1091.

“Quebec, Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (Tanguay Collection), 1608-1890.” 1920 

Census | 1920 US Federal Census Records | Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations Inc,

2011, search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2177.