His origin discovered (1st part)
The authors
Antonin Proulx - A native of Montmagny (Québec), Antonin Proulx studied at the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and at Laval University. He spent practically all of his career in the Canadian public service working in the Department of Fisheries in Ottawa. Since his retirement in 1985, he spends a good part of his time doing genealogical research, particularly on the Proulx families. A member of many genealogical societies in Québec and Ontario, he is the author, among other works, of a genealogical dictionary of the Proulx families.
Pierre Proulx - Born in Québec City, Pierre Proulx also studied at the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière and at Laval University. During more than forty years, he was a general medical practitioner with a special interest in labour medicine in Québec City. In addition to being a medical expert to insurance companies, he was a very active member of the medical board of the Saint-François-d’Assise hospital and of the clinique Roy-Rousseau. After his retirement in 1996, he became a member of the Société généalogique de Québec and part of his leisure time is spent on genealogical work.
Summary
Early in 2001, we decided to make a serious effort to find the place and date of birth of our ancestor and to find information on his family in France. As in other disciplines, precision and objectivity are essential in genealogy and statements made must be supported by authentic documents. It is in this spirit that we undertook our research and in this article we present to the general public and in particular to the descendants of Jean Prou the results of our work.
Two settlers having the same name - Jean Prou - came over from France in the early days of the colony. One, our ancestor, the subject of this article, settled eventually in la Pointe-à-la-Caille (nowadays Montmagny) and married Jacquette Fournier in 1673. The other Jean Prou settled in Neuville and married Catherine Pinel.
Not only was the place and date of birth of our ancestor not known until today but the date of his arrival in Nouvelle-France is still unclear. Lists of passengers of vessels crossing the Atlantic were examined but his name does not appear on any of them. Some information seems to suggest that the date of his arrival was in 1666. The intendant Jean Talon did a census in 1666 which was undertaken during the period from February to August and the name of Jean Prou did not appear in it. This, however, does not necessarily mean that our ancestor was not in the colony at that time since it is known that about 400 persons were "missed" in the enumeration(1). His name appears for the first time in our history in the 1667 census done from April to October 1667. He was then a servant in the household of Louis Couillard, squire, sieur de l’Espinay and seigneur of the Rivière-du-Sud who was living on Notre-Dame street in the lower part of Québec city. Jean declared to be 22 years old(2).
(1)Michel Langlois, Les recensements sous le régime français, L’Ancêtre, 2,2, octobre 1975 : 65 (2)André Lafontaine, Recensements annotés de la Nouvelle-France 1666 & 1667, Sherbrooke, Ed. A. Lafontaine, 1985, p.101.The "Nantilly" lead
In Québec City, on June 2, 1673, "in front of notary Romain Becquet" and in the presence of the parents and friends of his future wife, Jean promised to marry Jacquette Fournier, daughter of Guillaune Fournier and Françoise Hébert. Jacquette was, on her mother’s side, the great-grand-daughter of Louis Hébert considered by many historians as the first Canadian farmer. Under the terms of the marriage contract, Jean was the "son of deceased Jean Prou and Louise Vallée, his father and mother living in the parish of Nantilly, in the diocese of Angers"(3). Jacquette was born on April 9, 1659 in Québec City and baptized the following day(4). The marriage was celebrated on June 5, 1673 in the church of Notre-Dame in Québec in the presence of father Louis Ango, pastor of the parish. The words of the act are very close to those of the contract: "Jean Prou son of deceased Jean Prou and of Louise Vallée his father and mother of the parish of Nantilly diocese of Angers…"(5)
(3)Notaire Romain Becquet minute du 2 juin 1673, A.N.Q. (4)Registre des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Québec,10 avril 1659, A.N.Q. (5)Registre des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Québec, 5 juin 1673, A.N.Q.In the other acts, notarized or religious, that we consulted, no mention is made of the parish of Nantilly, nor of Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, nor of the city of Saumur. It is known however that in the diocese of Angers there was – and still is today – a parish dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, located in the city of Saumur (Maine-et-Loire) in France. The parish records go back to 1612(6).
(6)The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Family History Library Catalog, registres paroissiaux 1612-1792, Eglise catholique, paroisse de Nantilly (Saumur, Maine-et-Loire).The various Canadian authors of genealogical dictionaries and other reference works give essentially the same information. Among those who refer to Nantilly without locating the parish in a city, we could mention father Armand Proulx(7) and Michel Langlois(8). Mgr.Cyprien Tanguay used the name of Mantilly and gave the date of his birth as 1647(9). Other authors such as René Jetté(10), Gérard Lebel(11), Eloi-Gérard Talbot(12) and Gabriel Drouin(13) go further and locate Nantilly in the city of Saumur. The Research program of historic demography of the University of Montreal (better known as PRDH) presents the following: "Jean Proulx – birth about 1647 – Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, town of Saumur, diocese of Angers, …" In the list of persons admitted to the Hotel-Dieu hospital, PRDH gives Jean Prou’s origin as "France, Loire, rural"(14).
(7)Armand Proulx, Généalogie des Familles Proulx de la Côte-du-Sud, 1666-1976. Les descendants de Jean Prou et Jacquette Fournier, 1978, p.1. (8)Michel.Langlois, Dictionnaire biographique des ancêtres québécois, tome 4, Sillery, Les Editions du Mitan, 2001, pp.189-190. (9)Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, volume 1, p.502. (10)René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec, des origines à 1730, p. 948. (11)Gérard Lebel, Nos Ancêtres, vol. 3, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, 1987, pp.143-148. (12)Eloi-Gérard Talbot, Généalogie des familles originaires des comtés de Montmagny,L’Islet et Bellechasse, tome XIII, p.216. (13)Gabriel Drouin, Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français, 1608-1760, tome II, 1965. p.1113. (14)PRDH, Site Internet, Les pionniers ; Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Liste des malades, vol.6, 1980. p.634.There are two villages or communes in France with the name of Nantilly: one located in the department of Eure-et-Loir (its records go back to 1668) and the other in Haute-Saône (its records go back to 1673). In both cases, the records do not go back far enough to include the baptism of our ancestor. With regard to Mantilly, there is a village of that name but it is located in Lower Normandy. All these parishes were never part, to our knowledge, of the diocese of Angers. This is possibly why many of the authors mentioned above included Nantilly or Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly in the city of Saumur.
Another author, Normand Robert, gives, under the city of Saumur, the following details for Jean Proulx: "Proulx, Jean (+Jean & Louise Vallée), m.05-06-1673 Québec (ct 02 Romain Becquet) – parish Saint-Nicolas-de-Billanges". But in the onomastique index, we read "Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, Saumur"(15). In his book on Montmagny, Yves Hébert wrote that "Jean Proulx is born in Québec City in 1647. He is the son of Jean Prou, from Mantilly, diocese of Angers, in France and of Louise Vallée"(16). We examined very carefully the microfilm of the records of Notre-Dame de Québec, in the National Archives of Québec and, as expected, we did not find the baptism of Jean Proulx.
(15)Normand Robert, Nos origines en France, Anjou, Maine, Orléanais et Touraine, tome 10, 1994, p.109 et p.143. (16)Yves Hébert, Montmagny…une histoire 1646-1996. La Seigneurie, le village, la ville, 1996, p.43.Both authors did not reveal the source of their information and we do not know what documents they used on which to base their assertions. Finally, Michel Langlois mentions that Jean Prou was hospitalized in 1691 at the Hôtel-Dieu of Québec and "that he is said to be from Aytré in Saumure"(8). The village of Aytré is located in Charente-Maritime, close to La Rochelle. It could be added, however, that the author has misread the name of the village.
(8)Michel.Langlois, Dictionnaire biographique des ancêtres québécois, tome 4, Sillery, Les Editions du Mitan, 2001, pp.189-190.With regard to the date of birth of the ancestor, the following was available: to the census takers in 1667, he declared to be 22 years old, to the enumerators of the 1681 census, he said he was 34(17), when he was hospitalized in 1691, he gave his age as 42(8), and when he died in March 1703, the pastor wrote in the register that he was 56(18). Based on this information, he was born between 1645 and 1649.
(17)PRDH, Recensement de 1681, Berthier, vol.6, 1980, p.183. (8)Michel.Langlois, Dictionnaire biographique des ancêtres québécois, tome 4, Sillery, Les Editions du Mitan, 2001, pp.189-190. (18)Registres des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de la paroisse de Saint-Thomas de Montmagny, 1er mars 1703, A.N.Q.The steps taken
1- Deceiving initiatives
A search in the old documents during a visit to the town hall of Saumur in 1984 did not produce any positive results regarding the birth of our ancestor(19). In March 1994, at the Librairie Gaston Saffroy in Paris, specialized in genealogy, we found a series of 14 books on the families of Anjou (former name of the actual department of Maine-et-Loire) written by Bernard Mayaud. These books did not contain anything about the Proulx family but we contacted the author who lives in Brulon, near Saumur. Mr. Mayaud confirmed that he did not have any information on our family but that he would try to find somebody who would do the research for us. A short time later, Mr Mayaud sent us a copy of a letter he had received from a madame Faucou, a genealogist in Saumur who had carried out the research, informing him that she had not found any trace of our ancestor in Saumur. She specified that she did not find "any Prou in Nantilly between 1640 and 1646; only one family in St-Pierre parish and only one in St-Nicolas parish (Prou-Chauveau). The ancestor Prou was perhaps living in Nantilly but he must have been baptized somewhere else"(20).
(19)Cette recherche à la mairie de Saumur a été faite lors d’un voyage d’Antonin Proulx en France en 1984. (20)Cette démarche a été effectuée par Antonin Proulx lors d’un voyage en France en 1994.In September 2001, a visit to the Departmental Archives of Maine-et-Loire in Angers and a further viewing of the microfilm of the records of the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly, for the years 1640 to 1650, did not produce any positive results. However, contacts made during that visit proved to be valuable later on(21).
(21)Cette recherche aux Archives départementales de Maine-et-Loire a été faite également par Antonin Proulx à qui on a remis une carte très détaillée du département de Maine-et-Loire qui correspondait à la géographie de cette région au XVIIe siècle.2- A new lead: "Destray"
Our curiosity lead us, in October 2001, to have a look at the microfilm of the list of patients admitted to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Québec city and we found the following entry for the month of July 1691 : "Jean Prou, 42 years old, from the parish of Destray in Saumur, discharged on the 31st"(22). On a detailed map of Maine-et-Loire obtained during our visit a month earlier, we located a little village named Distré just a few kilometers south of Saumur. It was quite possible and even likely that Destray and Distré were two different spellings of the same village. That lead was worth further examination.
(22)AHDQ RM 01-07-1691, A.N.Q.The library catalog of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) in Salt Lake City shows that they have on microfilm the records of the baptisms, marriages and deaths of the catholic church of Distré for the period 1626-1792. Since the Family Research Center of the Mormons in Ottawa was closed for renovations for an extensive period during the Fall, we decided to try another avenue.
We knew that the Departmental Archives in Angers had in their possession a copy or the original of that microfilm (# 1815257) which had been done by the Genealogical Society of Utah in 1992. We wrote to the Archives in Angers in mid-November to find out if there was a person on their staff or somebody in the community that could do the research for us, that is to view the microfilm in order to find the baptism of our ancestor and the marriage of his parents. About a month later, we received a letter from the Director of the Archives, madame Elisabeth Verry, giving us the results of the research that had been done by one of her employees, madame Sandra Varron. Attached to the letter were 16 copies of acts (one act contained the funerals of two persons) relating not only to our ancestor himself but also to his parents, his brothers and sisters, his grand-parents, etc. Needless to say, it was a very pleasant surprise to receive all this documentation simply by asking for it. We wish to thank publicly the director and staff of the Archives for the excellent service they gave us free of charge.
DISTRÉ
POPULATION :1243 people
AREA : 1,472 hectares
ROADS : 75 km
The results
The uncertainty about the place and date of birth or baptism of our ancestor is now solved. We present on this section, with supporting evidence, the information that we have gathered. It is to be noted that all the acts shown below were taken from the parish registry of the catholic church of Distré. They were originally written in French and are presented in French; however, for the benefit of the anglophones, the text has been translated into English by the authors.
1- The family name
A look at the various acts shows that the family name in France was PROUST and not PROU as it was here in the early days of the colony(23). A number of documents show that our ancestor was illiterate. In a document regarding the sale of a farm by Jean Prou to Guillaume Fournier on February 22, 1671, notary Becquet wrote that "the parties declare to be unable to write or sign…"(24). When Jean bought a farm from Noel Morin on August 22, 1672, he put a cross instead of his signature and notary Rageot wrote that "the said Prou declared to be unable to write or sign…"(25). In the religious acts, the family name is also spelled Prou(5)(18). Being unable to sign his name, Jean let the notaries and the priests decide how his name should be spelled. Everybody knows the saying: "Notaries did not know how to write and the priests were deaf".
(23)Lors d’une visite de Pierre Proulx à Saumur en 1997, il avait constaté que c’était le patronyme Proust et non Prou qui était inscrit sur la plaque commémorative aux morts dans l’église Notre-Dame de Nantilly et dans le bottin des résidants des régions de Saumur et d’Angers. (24)Notaire Romain Becquet, minute du 22 janvier 1671, A.N.Q. (25)Notaire Gilles Rageot, minute du 22 août 1672, A.N.Q. (5)Registre des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de la paroisse Notre-Dame de Québec, 5 juin 1673, A.N.Q. (18)Registres des baptêmes, mariages et sépultures de la paroisse de Saint-Thomas de Montmagny, 1er mars 1703, A.N.Q.2- Jean Proust, our ancestor
Jean Proust was baptized on December 2, 1646 in Distré, a small village located near Saumur.
On the second day of December 1646 was baptized jean proust son of jean proust the young and of louise vallée his wife was godfather jamet proust and godmother dame marie bruneau who has signedL.Esnault Marie Bruneau
Pastor
3- The parents of our ancestor
Jean Proust (called the young) and Louise Vallée, the parents of our ancestor, were married in Distré on February 8, 1646.
Today eight of february one thousand six hundred and forty six, were married in the church of distré by us undersigned pastor jean proust son of jean proust and of denize martin his father and mother of this parish and louise vallée daughter of charles vallée and of deceased renée anger her father and mother of the parish st-pierre du vaudelenay by certificate of monsignor the pastor of the said vaudelenay dated February sixth of the present year one thousand six hundred forty six signed Igorré Vanischel in presence of mr Mathurin Morischeau (?)mr Rolland Quinot Jean anger pierre proust and many other the said contracting parties declared to be unable to sign and have not signed the present documentLanouy Quinot Proust
Chataygné Girard
Harre Barre
The funeral ceremonies for Louise Vallée and her little baby Louise took place on October 14, 1661.
On the day and year indicated above was buried the wife of jean proust the young of pocé aged forty three years or about with her young daughter aged twelve days or about.4- The siblings of our ancestor
Jean Proust the young and Louise Vallée had at least seven children six of them and probably seven were baptized in Distré :
- Jean baptized December 2, 1646 (our ancestor).
- Denize baptized April 5, 1648.
- Perrine baptized July 19 1650 and buried February 25, 1654.
- Perrine baptized March 14, 1657.
- Thomas baptized March 11, 1659 and buried March 18 1659.
- Louise baptized October 2, 1661 and buried October 14, 1661.
- A young daughter of "deceased jean proust" buried March 5, 1663.
5- The grand-parents of our ancestor
The grand-parents were Jean Proust (referred to as the oldest) and Denize Martin. They were the parents of four known children :
- Jean (the young) married to Louise Vallée on February 8, 1646, as mentioned previously.
- Anne baptized September 8, 1626 in Distré.
- Pierre baptized August 4, 1628 in Distré.
- Jamet married to Julianne Thoreau July 16, 1648 in Distré. Date and location of birth unknown.
JJean Proust was buried on March 10, 1663 in Distré.
On the tenth of the said month and year as indicated above was brought in the church of Distré the body of mister jean proust aged seventy three or about by me the pastor Portier.
Denize Martin was buried August 18, 1661 in Distré.
On the eighteenth day of August 1661was buried Denize Martin wife of jean proust the oldest aged seventy three years or about by me pastor undersignedPortier pastor
Analysis and comments
A close look at the above acts reveals certain facts. It makes it possible also to establish links between events and to draw some conclusions or assumptions.
The three Jean
Since the son, the father and the grand-father were all named Jean, we will use in these notes the following terms: "Jean the ancestor", our ancestor or simply Jean to refer to the son who emigrated to the New-France, "Jean the young" to his father and "Jean the oldest" to his grand-father. These are in fact the terms used in the acts.
Being born in December 1646, Jean was not even twenty years old when he arrived in this country, if in fact he crossed the Atlantic in the summer or fall of 1666. He had lost his mother a few years before (in October 1661) and his father shortly thereafter.
Jean Proust the young and Louise Vallée
At their wedding, Jean the young and Louise Vallée could not sign the parish registry. They were illiterate. The marriage act does not specify the occupation or trade of the groom. In all likelihood, he was a farmer or working as a farmer.
The christening acts of six children of Jean Proust and Louise Vallée were found, our ancestor being the first born of the family. His godfather was his uncle Jamet Proust. Three of the six children died at a very early age. The "young girl" who died in March 1663 is not identified and it is possible that she is Perrine, the second by that name born in 1657. As the mother died in October 1661, a few days after giving birth to Louise, this "young girl" should have been born sometime before the end of 1660. The couple may have had other children as baptisms between 1652 and 1655 are not recorded in the register.
Louise Vallée and her baby Louise were buried on the same day, October 14 1661. It is to be noted that the date of the funeral ceremonies is not included in the act itself. There were more than one ceremony that day and the pastor simply wrote the date and said that the following funeral ceremonies took place. Baby Louise had been baptized twelve days before. It is likely that the mother died of complications following the delivery. The act mentions that she was 43 years old (born about 1618).
Information on the birth and death – when and where - of Jean the young is not yet available. It is known however that he was alive when his wife died in October 1661 and that he was dead when his "young girl" died in March 1663. His death therefore took place between these two dates. It is also known that he was not buried in Distré. It could be put forward as a hypothesis that, after the death of his wife, he moved with his family in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Nantilly in Saumur. This would explain why our ancestor declared in his marriage contract that he was from Nantilly. It is however only a hypothesis that has to be verified. We are continuing our research on this question. In the sepulture act of Louise Vallée, it is written that she is "the wife of jean proust the young from pocé". Pocé is a very small village located very close to Distré, to the north west, and, as it is explained in the following section, it was part of the parish of Distré. All the other acts do not mention this fact; they simply state "of this parish". It is possible that the family of our ancestor was living in this small locality but there is yet no supporting evidence.
Jean Proust the oldest and Denize Martin
The marriage date of Jean Proust the oldest and Denize Martin, the grand-parents of our ancestor, is unknown but we know that they had at least four children (see the previous section).
Jean Proust died at the age of 73 on March 10, 1663 (born about 1590). His wife Denize had died 18 months before also at the age of 73 (born about 1588). As it was the case with the sepulture act of Louise Vallée, the date is not shown on that of Jean the oldest. It is worth mentioning also that the priest did not always put his signature at the end of each act. In some cases he simply wrote at the top of the page the following note: "The year… me the pastor of Distré has performed the following funeral ceremonies."
A stricken family
The Proust family was affected by the deaths of many of its members in the early 1660’s. The grand-mother Denize Martin died in August 1661. She was followed, two months later (in October), by her daughter-in-law Louise Vallée and her baby Louise. In March 1663, there were two deaths: the "young girl" of Jean the young and the grand-father Jean the oldest. And, as mentioned before, our ancestor’s father died sometimes between October 1661 and March 1663.
The commune of Distré
Information on the commune was graciously sent to us by the mayor of the commune, Mr. E.Touron, and we have retained a few points that could throw some light on the milieu that our ancestor left behind to face the New France adventure.
The commune is made up of the agglomerations of DISTRÉ (pronounced DITRÉ), MUNET, CHÉTIGNÉ and POCÉ-LA TOUCHE. It covers an area of 1,472 hectares, most of it (941 hectares) used for farming. Its population is small but rather stable: in 1999 there were 1243 people in the commune, an increase of 322 persons compared with 1821. The main economic activities are agriculture, wine producing and, to a much lesser extent, dairy cattle. Old quarries of freestone have been converted to mushroom producing areas and many enterprises, large and small, are engaged in this activity.
Under the Old Regime, prior to the Revolution, the parish of Chétigné was not part of the commune of Distré; it became part of it by the order of November 13, 1818. There were then two parishes in the area, one at Distré whose registry goes back to 1626 and one at Chétigné whose records go back to 1617. The church of Distré was serving the communities of Distré, Munet and Pocé-La Touche.
Built during the XIe century and classified as a historic monument by an order of September 22, 1914, the church of Distré is dedicated to St-Julien of Brioude. Julien, a tribun of a roman legion stationed in Vienne, in Dauphiné, was killed in the year 304 in Brioude, in Auvergne, where he took refuge, because he refused to worship Caesar. From the Xe century to the XVIIe century, Distré was a priory of the Saint-Florent abby, close to Saumur. In the beginning, three monks were living there. From the XIVe century onwards, there were secular priests. The present town hall and other houses next to the church are from the XVII-XVIII centuries and made up, along with the still existing parks, the priory.
The historic sites of the area include, among others, the church of Distré which is an historic monument since 1914, the dungeon or turret of the castle (XIVe century) in Pocé, the old church of the former parish of Chétigné whose choir is classified and, finally, the old village troglodyte of Munet located on a promontory through which the Roman way was passing.
Conclusion
In this article, we have given detailed information about the place and date of birth of our ancestor Jean Prou(st) and have also included documents relating to his parents and grand-parents. We have further information relating to the brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts of the ancestor that we did not include in this article so that the text would not be too cluttered. We intend to include them in a second article together with, hopefully, answers to questions still left unanswered.
Now that we are sure about the place of birth of our ancestor, it would be interesting to establish contact with Proust now living in Distré or the area in order to exchange genealogical information. It is very possible and even probable that the Prousts of that region have, if we go back a few centuries, the same ancestors as we have. We have already taken steps in this respect which hopefully will give results.
As a last word, we would like to thank again the authorities of the Departmental Archives of Maine-et-Loire for having answered our request and to have done the research that has allowed us to discover the origin of our ancestor.
Distré
The twisted steeples
A twisted spire or steeple (clocher tors), as that of the Distré church, is a steeple having a wooden spire ascending spirally instead of going straight up. There are around one hundred of them scattered all over Europe, over sixty-five of them being in France; the department of Maine-et-Loire alone has ten.
These spires are also known as twisted spires, curled spires, helicoid spires, flame-shaped spires, an eight-sided spiral, etc...
Some people are of the opinion that these spires are due to natural causes, or to the use of poor quality lumber, or to a construction error. They think that the use of green lumber, the lack of transversal support and the installation of a eight-section pyramid tended to create the twisting of the belfry spire.
Other experts are convinced that these spires are the work of master carpenters wishing to show their talent and their know-how. They underlined the fact that the belfry spire of the Pontigné church is a geometrically perfect spiral and that the apprentices had to build miniature "clocher tors" as their "masterpiece".
The debate is on. In any event, these spires represent an architectural work which is, to say the least, peculiar and original.
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