| Notes |
- Immigration: 1660, Quebec, New France Age: 29
Occupation: Farmer
Religion: Catholic
Mathurin Dube
It has been 3 and 1/4 centuries since the Poitevin, Mathurin Dube,
left his native village of Chapelle-Themer to try his luck in New
France. Since this time long ago, there have always been Dubes in
Canada and there still remain some who perpetuate, from generation to
generation, the ancestral line in this humble village in the Vendee.
THE LAST OF THE DUBES IN CHAPELLE-THEMER
In 1928 J.A. Dube, bookkeeper for the J.A. Larochelle firm of
Quebec, began to search for the place of origin of his ancestors. (1)
Thanks to the information provided by two highly esteemed
genealogists of his time, Msgr Amedee Gosselin and Father Archange
Godbout, the researcher succeeded in locating the small village which
for a long time, he had dreamed of visiting. There, he was privileged
to meet the last surviving relative from the French family of his
Canadian ancestor: Jules Dube, son of Louis.
Nine years later, J.A. Dube returned to Chapelle-Themer in order to
renew his ties of friendship with his cousins from France. Alas!
Jules had left for another world in 1934 at the age of 72, but his
mother, the wife of Louis, still lived and the local population was
getting ready to celebrate her 100th birth day. In reality the
venerable ancestress had turned 100 on 28 September 1937, but the
village celebration was on 3 October. On the road which leads to
Sainte-Hermine a la Caillere, near Beau-Raisin, at the crest of the
road going down to the village of Magnils (2), an arch of triumph
carried these words: "Honor to our centenarian."
"The small road, reports the author of the article, was changed into
a lane of greenery and flowers. The village party held in her honor,
that evening, took place in the large yard of Madame Dube and was a
big success. It was there that Monsieur the Mayor, surrounded by all
the council members and speaking for all his administrators, offered
the centenarian the warmest congratulations. The musicians from la
Chapelle and from Thire played selections in her honor. It appeared
that Madame Dube herself was a part of the melody,"
Born in the village of Magnils on 28 September 1837, Madame Dube was
baptized two days later, made her first communion in 1847, was
married on 14 July 1856, her husband died in 1924 and her son in
1934. We do not know exactly when Madame Dube died, but there were
still some Dubes who lived in the community of Chapelle-Themer,
somewhere between Sainte-Hermine and Frontenay-le-Comte. Some
Canadians who recently finished a pilgrimage to the land of their
ancestors have confirmed this.
SERVANT FOR MSGR DE LAVAL
Mathurin Dube, the pioneer of the Canadian families bearing this
name, arrived in New France around 1660, maybe even 1659, at the same
time as Msgr de Laval, for whom he worked for several years. Even if
the ancestor was not listed in the census of 1666 and 1667, it is
certain that he lived in the Quebec region. On 22 June 1667 an act by
notary Paul Vachon reveals that the bishop of Petree conceded his
servant a piece of land, 3 arpents in frontage by half that in width,
on the Ile d'Orleans, within the boundaries of the parish of Saint-
Jean, facing the south bank of the Saint-Lawrence River. His
neighbors were Pierre Michaud and Jacques Jahan.
The first six children of Mathurin and Marie were born on the Ile
d'Orleans: four of whom were baptized at Sainte Famille and the other
two at Saint-Jean. It was in this last parish that the family was
listed in the census of 1681. (6) The master of the house was said to
be 50 years old, and his wife 27; five children were counted:
Mathurin, Madeleine, Louis, Pierre and Charles. The ancestor still
worked only 3 arpents of land and kept but 1 cow; his immediate
neighbors were Jean Moirier (Amaury) and Rene Asseline (Ancelin).
A little later, Mathurin signed 2 farming leases whose contracts
were initialed at the home of notary Gilles Rageot. One, on 26
September, 1684, on behalf of Francois Magdelaine Ruette d'Auteuil et
de Monceaux, councillor and procurer general to the Sovereign
Council; the other on 20 October, from Eleanore de Grandmaison, widow
of Jacques Cailhaut de la Tesserie, former councillor to the same
Council; all of this is to say that Mathurin was the farmer for these
two important people, after having been the farmer for Msgr de Laval;
this would also explain why he hardly had the time to enlarge the
cleared portion of his own land.
FARMER OF THE SEIGNEUR OF AUTEUIL
The contract of 26 September marked the departure of Mathurin and
his family. On 10 October he sold his land at Saint-Jean to Julien
Dumont dit Lafleur. (7) By this time he had already crossed the river
to work the land of the seigneur of Auteuil at Grand-Anse, in the
seigneurie of la Pocatiere. Proud of his seven year lease, Dube
housed his family near to the seigneurial manor where he could use
the bakehouse, the barn, the stable, as well as work the land and the
fields. He had as neighbors Guillaume Lizot to the northeast, and
Monsieur de Saint-Denis to the southeast. The lease specified that
the tenant was to cultivate the land, to seed half of it and to raise
as many cows as he could.
Mathurin Dube was the farmer of the seigneur of Auteuil when LeRouge
surveyed this seigneurie in 1692. In his official report the latter
wrote: "I have measured all the lands of the aforementioned
seigneurie, both those of the domain and the conceded dwellings and
those not conceded, namely first, the domain which begins at a
boundary marker which I planted that separates the aforementioned
seigneurie from that of Monsieur de Saint-Denis, and from the above-
mentioned marker I measured 14 arpents to the river where the mill is
built, and from the aforementioned river to the dwelling of Guillaume
Lizot there are 9 arpents 9 perches, and at the end of this I drew a
line from the northeast to the southeast to a small hill, the above-
mentioned line making a separation from the previously mentioned
seigneurie of Monsieur Auteil from the dwelling of Guillaume Lizot,
and on the aforementioned line I planted 2 stone markers under which
are buried some pieces of brick."
Mathurin Dube had his last 2 children baptized at Sainte Anne-de-la-
Pocatiere, but they seem to have died in infancy. However, 5 of his 6
offspring had families of their own. "Mathurin Dube, wrote Leon Roy
(9), had barely finished his lease with the seigneurs of Pocatiere
when he died at about 64 years of age. He was buried at Riviere-
Ouelle on 30 December 1695. Marie Campion, his spouse, died before 30
December 1703. (10) Their sons Mathurin, Laurent, and Pierre
established themselves in the first row of the seigneurie of
Aulnaies, but the last apparently gave up his land to his brother
Laurent before 1714 (no. 13 des Aulnaies). In 1723, son Pierre Dube
had some property in the seigneurie of Lauzon and in 1728 he lived in
the Montreal region, while his brother Louis lived in the parish of
Notre-Dame-de-Liesse (of Riviere-Quelle). Their only sister,
Madeleine, lived at Pocatiere until the death of her husband, Jean
Miville (1672-1711)."
NUMEROUS FAMILIES
Even though ancestor Mathurin Dube had an average size family-at
that time eight children was not considered large- the four sons who
took wives did better in this respect than their father. Louis, the
second son, was the champion with about 20 offspring. In 1719 at the
age of 42, he married Marguerite Lebel in a second marriage, who was
the same age as his eldest son, 19 years old. He began, so to speak,
to raise a second family. Here are some details concerning the 8
children of Mathurin Dube and Marie Campion:
THE DUBES DIT DELORME
Towards the end of the French regime a soldier, by the name of Jean
Dube dit Delorme came from France, without doubt to participate in
the defense of the colony threatened by the English army. After the
conquest, Jean Dube settled down in the region of Richelieu. His act
of marriage, inscribed in the registry of Saint-Denis on 13 January
1766, indicates that he was the son of Pierre Dube's (sic) and of
Marie Bourgette (Bourgatte or Bourgotte) and on that day married
Marie-Anne Martin, born about 1741, daughter of Jean-Baptiste and of
Marie-Anne Renaud dit Deslauriers. Jean Dube dit Delorme had been a
merchant, and then a surgeon beginning in 1774. He died during the
night of 28 or 29 March 1789 at Saint Denis and was buried in the
same place on 30
March. Six sons and seven daughters were the issue from this union.
Three sons: Jean-Baptiste born in 1766, Joseph born in 1774 and
Charles born in 1785, had descendants. Most of these families live
today in the region of Saint-Hyacinthe. (11)
ENDNOTES
(1) This fact is reported in the journal Le Soleil of 16 February
1938, by Madame Louis Dube.
(2) These four small hamlets formed the commune de la Chapelle
Themer: Fougeroux, La Jousse-Liniere, Les Magnils and l'Orbire.
(3) Silvio Dumas, Les Filles du roi en Nouvelle-France, p 72.
(4) Romain Becquet act of 28 August 1670. Becquet wrote Dubay
instead of Dube and la chapelle de May instead of la Chapelle-Themer.
Tanguay read la Chapelle Detrer from the marriage act of 3 September
in the parish register of Sainte-Famille.
(5) Sainte-Famille was the only parish on the lle d'Orleans at that
time. The parish of Saint-Jean was not founded until 1679.
(6) Benjamin Sulte, HCF, Volume 5, p 87.
(7) Gilles Rageot, act of 10 October 1686.
(8) Leon Roy, Les Terres de la Grande-Anse, des Aulnaies et du Port-
Joly, p 147. The orthography of this "proces-verbal" in the old text
has been modernized in order better understand it in todays
publications.
(11) (9) Ibid, p 147.
(10) Etienne Janneau, act of 30 December 1703. On this same date
notary Janneau wrote a privately recorded contract of marriage
between Pierre Dube and Marie-Therese Boucher, in which he deposed
Pierre as stating that he had no mother and father (orphelin).
(11) Tanguay lists no variations on the name Dube, however Delorme
is listed also as Sanscrainte (fearless). Most likely this name
derived from the military background of Jean Dube dit Delorme.
|
Search | Advanced Search | Search Families | Search Site
1631 - 1695 (64 years)