Pierre Blanchet

     Pierre Blanchet was born in 1642 at Rosieres En, Santerre, Somme, France.¹ He was baptized in 1646 at St. Omar De Rosieres De Santerre, Somme, Aisne, France.¹

The Blanchet family can boast of being one of the oldest families in Quebec and by marriage, related to the first pioneer family, that of Louis Hébert. The name Blanchet is derived from the word "white" was worn by three pioneers of New France.

The first poineer, Rene, was in New France in 1663 and was then aged about 25 years. He lived mainly in Cap-de-la-Madeleine. Married in 1670 with Sédillot Marie, had five children. The offspring of the couple was provided by the girls, who married Jeanne Judith Baril Jean-Marie and Julien Lesieur who married Simone.

The second poineer, Pierre Blanchet dit Laforet did not leave descendants bearing his name. A native of Poitou, he worked as Rene did in the occupation of miller. Combined with Marie-Françoise Harel, he has six children, five son and a daughter, none of which, it seems, has left descendants.

The only father of Blanchet name is Pierre Blanchet, son of Noel and Madeleine Valet of the parish of Saint-Omer-de-Rozières, Bishop of Amiens, in Picardy. This village was said to be dependent on the hosiery industry and Pierre, born between 1637 and 1646, it is perhaps natural to opt for the occupation of weaver. From his childhood, adolescence and the early years of his adult life, we do not know any details. His training, the reasons for his coming to New France, too, forgotten forever, the records of his native parish were destroyed.

In 1667, Pierre Blanche, 25, lives with Simon Lefebvre Angers, in the lordship of Our Lady of the Angels. This appointment introduces him to the work of the earth as it is engaged and so at the end of appointment in 1669, he can think this "desert" land will be his. That became the weaver woodcutter and pioneer. This land is taken on the stronghold St. Joseph, part of which belongs to the Lord Guillaume Fournier. In this land of two acres, is a modest dwelling. Fournier's give him the land because of marriage of daughter Marie, born in 1655, and undertake to conclude Pierre Blanchet, October 3, 1669. The contract was signed in Quebec in the house of the carpenter Jacques Roe, attended by many relatives and friends. Noel Morin, grandfather-in-law, is there with Hélène Desportes, the grandmother of the bride, and Jean Guyon du Buisson says Samuel Vigny, Simon Bourbeau and others.

Pierre Blanchet's biographers have found that the ancestor was good, hardworking and generous, could also be stubborn and secretive. In 1688, deceiving the confidence of the seigneur, Geneviève Després, he spends part of the winter at stake, sawing wood and prepare it intends to sell or keep. Soon, the widow of Louis Couillard demand his due and the matter is settled soon, without the intervention of third parties. That same year, Blanchet recidivism and cut more wood, knowing full well that he has no right. The seigneuresse demands justice before the Sovereign Council which appears to exhaust the ancestor who is staying at the Hotel-Dieu de Québec of 23 to 30 June 1690. After the call, give a final third of the harvested timber Geneviève Després while Blanchet may regain possession of the other two thirds.²
He married Marie Madeleine Fournier, daughter of Guillaume Fournier and Francoise Hébert, on 17 February 1670 at Catherale, Québec, Québec, Canada.¹

The marriage of the great grand-daughter of Louis Hébert and Pierre Blanchet is blessed "the parish church of Quebec" by Father Henri de Bernières, February 17, 1670.

A little later in the summer and fall 1670, Fournier sold his share of the fief Saint-Joseph at the intendant Jean Talon. On November 8, 1671, imitating his father-in law, Blanchet prepares to leave the manor. He rents his land to Stephen Potter (Pothier) and the following year, he completely defeated by selling it to Louis de Villeray Rouer. By the time he rented his land, Blanchet knew that, as Guillaume Fournier again, he would stand at the Pointe-à-la-Caille was to become St. Thomas de Montmagny, in a land of three acres by forty granted by Louis Couillard de Lespinay.
The land given by the father-Fournier is too small, Peter Blanchet receives, October 13, 1671, Louis Couillard de Lespinay "twenty six acres of land on the top wood, three acres of frontage on the St. Lawrence River in forty depth "in the lordship of Rivière-du-Sud, Pointe-à-la-Caille, now St. Thomas de Montmagny. Pierre works hard on his farm at Pointe-à-la-Caille. It expands the same area of 4 acres of other front. In late summer 1681, Pierre, his wife and five children were identified. The head of the family Blanchet said to have a gun, 7 cattle and 8 acres of land under cultivation. He lives in a house of Tudor. Later, he gets a lot of 5 acres wide by 40 deep in St-Pierre de Montmagny, near the River.

The year saw the family assets and expand from three to six acres on the river front. It is indeed a lot of land for Blanchet, whose wife, since 1672, puts a child into the world every two years or so. In thirty-nine years of marriage, she will give her husband, sixteen children, but decimated by infant mortality, as only seven children to adulthood: two daughters, Frances and Mary Magdalene, and five sons, Pierre, William, Jean and Louis that leave descendants, and finally Simon, said to deficient. During the same year, in 1681, three children were taken to the cemetery of Cap-St-Ignace.²

On April 10, 1709, Pierre Blanchet feeling his end approach, requires the presence of his priest, to whom he dictated his last will. Dividing his land among his children, he still leaves a party to the parish, it also leaves an acre that it desires to devote to the education of Louis, born in 1701.² Pierre Blanchet died on 12 April 1709 at St-Thomas-du-Sud, Québec, Canada, The "Bonhomme Pierre Blanchet aged about seventy-two years" was buried after receiving all the sacraments. The next month was called Captain Louis Côté guardian of minor children, Frances and Louis still living with their mother.¹
He was buried on 12 April 1709 at St-Thomas, La Point a la Caille, Québec, Canada.¹ His Ancestral File Number is 94VH-NR.¹

The inventory of the couple's property took place only on 16 and 17 March 1712. We gave it to Marie Fournier, at random, half of the property to which she was entitled and the other half was then divided into the following day in September, Marie Fournier gave to his son Jean on the condition that "the feed and maintenance, healthy and sick, "and Louis and Francoise and that he provides in marriage as were his other brothers and sisters. The widow was called sometimes Marie-Anne, died in the month of January 1716 after reiterating the steps taken by her late husband in respect of the parish of Rivière-du-Sud. Pierre Blanchet leaves 64 acres of "land made" including 9 acres in St. Thomas and 55 in St-Pierre, real estate for 810 pounds, 10 sols and 6 deniers. There are two great oxen in the stable, one black and one red, seven cows, five pigs, four geese, seven chickens and a rooster. It should be added in addition to its old half-timbered house of St. Thomas, a "forty foot Mayson of Lont Piesse Piesse on" St-Pierre.
A few days before his death, the parish offers six acres of his property for the construction of the church of St Peter. An acre of frontage on two deep will be used for the church, rectory and cemetery, provided that a bank can be held in perpetuity by the descendants of Pierre Blanchet. In memory of the pioneer that the parish is placed officially in 1722 under the patronage of Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud. His will also gives an acre of front for the education of his youngest son, Louis Blanchet 8 years old at the time, hoping perhaps that it becomes clergyman. His last wishes are carried out in accordance with its forecasts. The church of Saint-Pierre in 1785 deserted the land of Blanchet to pass on the opposite bank of the Rivière-du-Sud. In honor of Pierre Blanchet, moreover, that the parish was put under the patronage of St. Peter January 14, 1713.
At his death, Pierre Blanchet leaves a rich legacy to his descendants: a land and property that has been fruitful for his hard work and human values to perpetuate.²