Find notes Karen’s notes on Michelle Quinville – Clarify on which island Michel had his land. Pete has it as Saint-Quinten, Karen has it as Saint-Christophe???. Add picture of park and beach on Saint Quinten.
Michel LeMay, during his time new New France lived in Quebec city, Trois Riviers where he was married, and Lotbinier where he died.
Trois Riviers lies on the north side of the St. Lawrence River and on west bank of the St. Maurice River. La Madeleine lies on the east bank of the St. Maurice; today it is considered a part of Trois Riviers. Where the St. Maurice River meets the St. Lawrence there are three small islands which when viewed from the St. Lawrence give the appearance of three rivers thus the name Trois Riviers. The southermost of the three islands is named Saint-Quinten. It is in dark green on the image to the left and is now a city park. There is picture of its beach down below.
In the mid-1660’s Michel LeMay dit LePoudrier (i.e. the gun powder maker), in gratitude for his service in the Quebec militia, was granted property on Saint-Quinten. He married Marie Michele Dutost in 1659 in La Madeleine which was just across the river from his homestead. They had 12 children the first of whom, Michel Jr., was born in 1660. The last, Angelique, was born in 1677. These 12 children are listed as having been born in either Trois Riviers or La Madeline.
Its reported that Michel lost his land on Saint-Quinten around 1676 or 1677 because he had not cleared enough of the land. This apparently precipitated the family move to Lotbiniere where Michel had received another land grant. On the map below at point “B”, Lotbiniere is on the south side of the St. Lawrence about 30 miles down stream (toward Quebec) from Trois Riviers. It is also about 100??? miles northeast of St. Anicet which is the village from which the DeLorm brothers left for New York 200 years later in 1875.
Unfortunately Marie died in Lotbiniere in 1677 leaving Michel Sr. with 12 children ranging in age from Michel Jr. who was 17 to Angelique who was a new born baby.
Within a year Michel was married to Michelle Quinville sp??? their first child, Marie Madeline, is listed as having been born in Trois Riviers in 1678. Together they had 4 children the last of whom, Louis Francois, was born in Lobiniere in 1679. Together they had 4 more children – their second child was born in Trois Riviers while their third child was born in Lotbiniere. So when Michele died in 1684 he left behind a household with 16 children, the youngest a toddler of 4 and perhaps the oldest around 24.
It is on this sliver of land, between the St. Lawrence River in Canada and New York State in the USA that the remainder of the LeMay/DeLorme family spent their lives, eventually living in St. Anicet before the three DeLorme/Quinville brothers (Joseph, Alexander and Daniel) bought farm land in the North Hudson/Schroon area of New York State. In those 200 years family members were born or died in multiple villages/parishes in New Frnce. Some were on the island of Montreal (Cote St. Michel, St. Nicholas, etc. ), others out in the country – Cape, Charlesbourg, Pointe-Aux Trembles, Pontneuf, etc.
Pictured below are the beach in the now park on Saint Quinten Island and, in La Madeline, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Cape). More information on the Shrine and the martyred Jesuit priest can be found at a link I can’t find at the moment. Anyway, to give you an idea of what the neighborhood was like in those days, earlier research showed that a Jesuit priest residing at the small chapel in La Madeline was martyred (presumably by Native Americans) around the time Michele and Marie were married there.
Pete and Lee visited the area. Aside from the current Shrine there is a small house owned by the Trois Riviers historical society; it is directly across the street from the shrine. For some reason Pete thinks this house is related to the LeMay family – more info is needed. The shrine in the picture was built in XXX, so, at least in its present form was not there when the Michel and Michele lived in the area. But, perhaps, there was an earlier structure there in which they would have been married. More research needs to be done on the earlier siting of the shrine and the house.
The first missionaries, who arrived in Québec City in 1615, belonged to the Récollet order. They were reinforced by Jesuits in 1625, and after the brief period of British rule 1629-32 (during which most of the priests returned to France), the Jesuits became the leading order. Their work was supported in Québec by the Ursuline nuns, who were active mainly as teachers and nurses after 1640. in the Old Town of Trois Riviers is an Ursuline convent and church on the St. Lawrence – a site that was probably known to Michel and Marie.
In 1714 began the construction of the second parish church that was opened for worship in 1720, replacing the first small wooden church. This second church, presently called the Old Shrine, and made with fieldstones, is still the oldest church in Canada in which Mass is celebrated daily.
Our Lady of the Cape is a title given to Mary the Mother of God in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec Canada. The title refers specifically to a statue of the Blessed Mother which is currently located in the Old Shrine. The new shrine seen by Pete and Lee was built on the site in 1879. Source: Wikipedia
Map of the area from Quebec to St. Anicet, a 230 mile stretch of the St. Lawrence River
Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-Du-Cap 626, rue Notre-Dame Est Trois-Rivières, Québec Canada – G8T 4G9 – The first chapel was built in La Madeline in 1553. Another chapel was built by Pierre Boucher in 1659 on land called the fief of Sainte-Marie. Michel and Marie’s marriage on 15 June 1659 may have been performed in the first chapel. Giving you a sense of what the area was like at that time, Jesuit missionaries, including Father Jacques Buteux, arrived in 1639. He died a martyr in 1652 in Haute-Mauricie.
Get Picture of beach of Pete’s camera