NINTH GENERATION
384. Nicolas BÉLANGER was born around 1633 in St-Thomas de Touques, Diocese of Lisieux, Normandy, Department of Calvados, France. Nicolas settled in New France around 1658, arriving from St-Thomas de Touques, Diocese of Lisieux, Normandy, Department of Calvados, France. He and Marie DERAINVILLE signed a marriage contract on 12 November 1659 in front the Notary Paul Vachon. He married Marie DE RAINVILLE on 11 January 1660 in Notre-Dame de Québec, Canada. He was also known as Nicolas BELLANGER. Nicolas is listed in the Recensement Census of 1655 Bourg de Fargy de Beauport. In 1665, he owned property in the Bourg de Fargy in Québec. He died on 19 October and was buried 20 October 1682 in the cemetery of Notre-Dame de Beauport.
Ancestor of Jeannette Bélanger, mother of this author. (NAL) (1) (2)(3) (4)(9)(20)(23) Click for Photo
Map of Beauport in 1709 listing properties owned by Nicolas and his family.
Please refer to a note about Nicolas Bélanger. Tanguay (1) and Gérard (2) list Nicolas as being born around 1633 and the son of François Bélanger and Marie Guyon. According to Drouin (3) and PRDH (4), he is not the son of François Bélanger and Marie Guyon. Nicolas and François were probably cousins from the same parish of St-Thomas de Touques. This has not been verified. (NAL)
Additional information - renseignements en outre
New Bélanger Website - Nicolas Bélanger
Notes from Jim Bélanger First Canadian Ancestors - Bélanger
Historical notes on François L'Association des familles Bélanger, Inc.
L'ancienne maison de Nicolas dit Catherine - La Maison Girardin
Renseignements en outre Chez les Bélanger
Nicolas Bélanger - Index des patronymes - en français
François et Nicolas BÉLANGER, ancêtres des Bélanger d'Amérique
385. Marie DE RAINVILLE was born around 1640 St-Thomas De Touques, Ev. Lisieux, Normandie (Ar. Lisieux, Calvados). Marie died on 6 November and was buried on 7 November 1711 in Beauport. Sister to Marthe DE RAINVILLE.(4)
Children were:
192 ix. Paul BÉLANGER was born on 24 and baptized 25 March 1674 in Notre-Dame de Beauport. He married Marie Jeanne MAHEU on 4 April 1704 in the parish of Notre-Dame de Beauport, Québec, Canada. He died on 30 April and was buried 1 May 1717 in the cemetery of Notre-Dame de Beauport. Marie Jeanne MAHEU was born on 10 and baptized on 11 May 1681 in L'Ange-Gardien. She died 10 March and was buried 12 March 1754 in the cemetery of Notre-Dame de Beauport. She was the widow of Joseph GARNIER/GRENIER. (1)(4)(10)(11)(12)(23)
Children:
Ancestor of Norm Léveillée, this author. (1)(2)(3)(18)(19)
Children:
Ancestor of Blessed Dina Bélanger. (13)(14)
Children:
Notes:
Nicolas reportedly originates from Saint Thomas of Touques in Calvados. From his reported age for the census of 1666, 1667 and 1681 he must have been born between 1632 and 1637 and, in his childhood, became accomplished in the salt trade. He is found in New France before 1655 employed by the merchant François Perron. He graduated from the salt trade, in which he worked in Europe, and became a fisherman and farmer.
The exact date of Nicolas' arrival in New France is not known. His name appears in the records of the Seigneurie of Beauport on 15 October 1655 as owner of a piece of land consisting of one arpent and 61 rods. It is here, in the actual research of genealogists, that the first mention is found of our ancestor on an official document of the colony. The second mention was found on a paper dated 28 September 1658 before the notary Guiillaume Audouart where Nicolas made a claim against Michel Desorcys.
On November 12, 1659, we find Nicolas Bellanger and his future wife, Marie de Rainville, before Paul Vachon, Royal notary in the Seigneurie and Jurisdiction of Beauport and Prevoste of Notre Dame des Anges, to draw up their marriage contract in the presence of witnesses, relatives and friends, which was the custom of the time. This contract reveals that the intended couple were natives of the Parish of St. Thomas de Touques, in Normandy. It states that Nicolas was master of his trade and that the parents of his fiancée were Paul de Rainville and Rolline Poette. The parents of Nicolas are not mentioned and the spelling of his family name is Bellanger, which corresponds to the most widespread pronunciation of the times.
Nicolas and Marie were married on Sunday 11 January 1660 in the presence of Father Paul Ragueneaux of the Company of Jésus in the chapel of the high manor. This is where religious services were performed by visiting priests performing parish functions since Beauport was not yet a parish. The contract of marriage, which was written in the records of the mother parish (Notre Dame de Québec), also does not mention the names of the parents of Nicolas. This is yet another omission which continually keeps us from linking Nicolas to his parents. Nicolas and Marie settled in Beauport and raised their 12 children.
In the marriage contract, Nicolas is said to be a master salt maker. During that time, in New France, that title designated a dealer in salt. In the deliberations of Feb 9, 1664 of the Sovereign Council, one named Desorcys acknowledged that "Bellanger has hauled and furnished sawdust" thus he was remembered from 20 October 1659. This paragraph seems to indicate that Nicolas was engaged in the commerce of fish and that he was hauling sawdust in connection with that occupation. Five years later, Nov 8, 1664, Nicolas Bellanger, Pierre Lefebvre and Léonard Leblanc were summoned before the Sovereign Council in a matter of right to fish. The defendants were ordered to pay to the clerk of the court the value of their fishing farms on the coast of Lauzon. The reason for this fine is unknown. From the preceding we conclude with certainty that Nicolas was a commercial fisherman and fish merchant. This seems only natural because of the similarity between being a salt merchant and a fisherman and these would have been complimentary businesses at this time.
At the time of the census of 1667 Nicolas (at 29) owned 2 cattle and 12 arpents of land in value. Fourteen years later, at the census of 1681, Nicolas owned one gun, 10 cattle and his farm at Beauport was 41 arpents in value; (it was worth this much in cultivated and pasture land). You should remember that the value of uncleared land was "worthless". This increase of 30 arpents in area signified an average of 2 arpents per year which represented an enormous accomplishment considering the means at their disposal in the 17th century. It seems Nicolas may have turned to farming around 1670 in order to provide for his family in a dependable fashion.
It appears that Nicolas may have owned, for a few years, a farm designated "number 16" in the land survey register number 46 of the parish of St. Pierre de L'Isle d'Orleans. In a contract of grant from Charles de Lauzon of Charny to Antoine Poulet presented before Paul Vachon, notary, on November 4, 1662 Nicolas Bellanger was mentioned as neighbor. In the census of 1666 he is still neighbor to Poulet but in 1667 this farm was owned by Laurent Benoist.
The year 1667 also marked the end of the English occupation of Acadia, which they had taken a few years earlier.
The little white house with the slender roof, located at 600 Avenue Royale in Beauport, was built by or for Nicolas Bellanger on land granted to him by the Lord Joseph Giffard Jan 24, 1673 before the notary Paul Vachon. (Nicolas was then 35 and had 7 living children) The original house of 22 by 20 feet was built of stone on a stone foundation. This dwelling was passed on to Pierre, a son of Nicolas, around 1700. Pierre lived there during some 20 years and then sold it to a family named Marcou. It was the last resident, Mr. Girardin, who left his name on the house before it became the property of the Sisters of the Congregation. The last owner was Mr. Michel Dufresne who was successful in saving this historic site from being demolished.The church in Beauport - 1676:
Nicolas is one of the censitaires who renounced their rights to some 6 acres of their land so it could be used to build a future church. This renunciation in favor of the "church elders of Beauport" (Fabrique de Beauport) (more than likely a building committee of some kind) was recorded in a notarized document presented before Paul Vachon June 14, 1676. In gratitude, the deacons promised to have said, in perpetuity, an annual mass on the day after the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary for the intention of these generous and devout parishioners. This expression of recognition has long been forgotten.
Nicolas died on Oct 19, 1682 at the age of 50. His oldest son, Bertrand Pierre, was 19 and his youngest daughter had just turned 1. One son had died very young (just days old), another had died before 1681 and one daughter, Marthe, was married. This left 9 children still living at home.
Nicolas Bellanger was buried the 20th day of October 1682 in the cemetery at Beauport. He was 50 years of age and had died the day before. Assisting at the burial were René Rémy, Paul Vachon (Royal notary at Beauport) and Jean de Rainville (brother-in-law of the deceased) who signed, except Jean de Rainville, the record. René Rémy, Paul Vachon and Ch. A. Martin, priest, signed with initials.Marie Rainville:
On April 29, 1710, Marie requested the services of notary Jean Robert Duprac, to assist her in renting her land in the village of St-Michel de Beauport, to laborer Charles Paradis. The lease was made for five years and five harvests beginning the following May 1. This land consisted of a barn, some workable land, meadows, pastures, woods of full grown trees and outbuildings. Charles agreed to provide his landlady with 26 minots of wheat, two minots of peas and ten of oats, on March 15, each year. He also had to maintain the fences and to cut the wood.
Marie died on November 6, 1711, with her funeral the next day at Beauport. She was about 66 years old.
The distribution of the Bélanger property among the heirs was made three years later. Notary Duprac gathered the entire family on October 24, 1714 and announced that each party was entitled to jointly own that which came to him from a piece of land with two arpents situated in the village of St-Michel de Beauport, bordering Nicolas Bélanger on one side, and Jean Paradis on the other. Each of the heirs received a border of two perches in frontage. The shares had been drawn by lots by young Nicolas Bélanger, ten years old, undoubtedly the son of Nicolas and of Marie Magnan. (22)Relationship Charts - Léveillée & Paré Ancestry
Index BÉLANGER
Index DE RAINVILLE
Table of Contents
(1) Cyprien Tanguay, DGFC Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Canadiennes Vol 1, p. 38
(2)Frère Éloi-Gérard, B.A., B.P., mariste, Receuil de Généalogies des comptés de Beauce, Dorchester, Frontenac, 1625-1946, Collège du Sacré-Coeur, Beauceville, P.Q. p. 164
(3) Claude Drouin, DNCF Dictionnaire national des canadiens français 1608-1760, Vol 1, p. 82.
(4) PRDH - Programme de recherches en démographie historique, Un. de Montréal, Certificat de famille No. 275.
(5) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 81354.
(6) Ibid., Certificat de famille No. 8450.
(7) Ibid., Certificat de famille No. 14228.
(8) Ibid., Certificat de famille No. 8498.
(9) Renseignements en outre.
(10) PRDH, Certificat de baptême No. 75907.
(11) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 77370.
(12) Ibid., Certificat de sépulture No. 77936.
(13) Ibid., Certificat d'union No. 27332.
(14) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 174213.
(15) Ibid., Certificat de baptême No. 58673.
(16) Ibid., Certificat de sépulture No. 171224
(17) Ibid., Certificat de Contrat de mariage No. 94176.
(18) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 76581
(19) Ibid., Certificat de famille No. 18282.
(20) Bélanger website: www.belangers.us
(21) Source: Website: http://www.geocities.com/lefrog_2000/Nicolas.htm
(22)Source: "Our French-Canadian Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest, Volume XXII, pages 29-30.
(23) Drouin documents copied from the Parish Registers of Québec.
Additional Biographical Information: Send me an email at normlev at cox dot net requesting the data.
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