Clement Lériger, Sieur de L'Ecuyer

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For fifteen years, the hostile Indians, encouraged by the English enemies, made life hard for the inhabitants of the Montreal region. Ancestor Lalonde and nine compatriots fell victims to the Iroquois in 1687. In 1689, there was the massacre at Lachine, a bloody memory, and the capture of Clement Leridge dit Laplante. On 2 July 1690, Jean Grou was sacrificed by an Indian hachet. The following year, Jean Plamondon disappeared, in his turn braving the cruelities of the Agniers. It was this way until the peace was signed on 1701.

From page 144 of the book "Our French-Canadian Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest.

A Noble Ancestor Who, Lovesick, Disobeyed His King

Clement Leridge, Lord of La Plante, the Canadian ancestor of the families of Leriger, Deriger, de la Plante, La Plante, and LaPlante-Courville, arrived in this country in 1685, with Monsieur de Denonville, with the rank of sub-cadet or sub -standard-bearer in the Admiralty (Navy). Those troops were designated thus because, in the colonies, they were restored to the Ministry of Naval Administration.

On the day after the massacre of Lachine, the morning of August 6, 1689, La Plante was garrisoned at Fort Remy, near the old church. The soldiers of the fort were marching into battle, when they were suprised by the Iroquois and your future ancestor was among the prisoners.

The unfortunate captives, taken further on to Lake Saint-Louis, endured the full brunt of their captors rage. Several of them were tortured and were burned to death. The others were lead to Onnontague "where they were made to walk on a long path of live coals."

Yet, Clement Leridge de la Plante was spared. The Iroquois thought he would be more useful as a servant and porter on their warlike expeditions. For your ancestor, this servitude lasted more than two years. Out of necessity he adapted to this new life and benefited from it by becoming familiar with Indian languages.

A party of French commanded by Monsieur de Beacourt rescued him in an engagement against the Iroquois near the island of Tonihata, in February 1692. Charlevoix, in his account of the incident, wrote that "not having been recognized in his barbarian clothes, he thought he would be killed as an Iroquois." That year, Frontenac made him an officer in the infantry. This promotion was confirmed by Louis XIV, in an order dated March 1, 1693.

On July 25, 1700, Clement Leridge, stationed at Fort Saint-Lambert, acquired from Pierre Bourdeau, a tract of 150 acres of land situated "at the place of Torture" in the manor of the Prairie of the Magdeleine. He was thinking of up a household, for a few weeks later, on September 8, 1700, La Plante married Marie Roy, daughter of Pierre Roy and Catherine Ducharme residents of Saint-Lambert. The simple and secret ceremony - let us recall that the king's orders forbad officers to marry girls without dowries - took place in the chapel of the Holy Virgin at Saint-Lambert.

As we have already said, the ceremony was simple and secret. Indeed, that day, September 8, 1700, the great peace treaty with the Iroquois was signed in Montreal. All of the colonial military forces were together in that place. Your ancestor took advantage of this to get married in secret and without permission.

When military authorties got wind of the affair, Versailles was alerted. The King took away La Plante's commission but restored it not long after.

During the following years, your ancestor, set up at Laprairie, on three tracts of land granted to him by the Jesuits, raised a large family. In 1720, he was promoted to Lieutenant. He lived long and died in 1742.

Your ancestor, Clement Leridge, Lord of La Plante, was the son of Paul Leridge, Lord of Leplante and of Mauricette du Souchet.

The Leriges de la Plante constitute a branch of the noble family of the Leriget de la Faye. You therefore, have the right to claim the amorial bearing (coat of arms) of this noble family. It would be a pleasure for us to incorporate these symbols in your coat of arms at any time.

Facimile of the signature of your noble ancestor Clement Leridge de la Plante Excerpt and summary of Clement Leridge de la Plante by Roger D. Parent Montreal 1942

Researched by Ken Bureau, 2/27/1995 ______________________________________________________________ CLEMENT LERIGE DIT LAPLANTE

From "Our French Canadian Ancestors" - Vol 3

The ancestor Clement Leridge de La Plante came from a noble family. This is why the Canadian Laplantes are able to display a coat of arms with three young eagles, wings raised as if to fly, hence "erige"

In France, the Leriget family is divided into three branches: La Faye, de Larchier and de La Menardie; those of La Taillandiere and of La Plante, from whom our ancestor Clement decended.

Clement Lerige, sieur de La Plante, was the son of Paul and of Mauricette du Souchet: grandson of Antoine, sieur de La Taillandiere, and of Andree Mesturas de La Plante; great grandson of pierre Leriget, sieur de La Faye, and of Louise Thuet whose marriage was celebrated in 1582. Clement also had an older brother named Pierre, born on the 13th in the village of Chez-Chadiat and baptized on 15 October 1661 in the parist of Saint-Claud, Capital of the canton of Charente. Chez-Chadiat is located a few kilometers from Chasseneuil, toward Larochefoucauld to the south, in Angoumois. (1)

Such is the resume of the forefathers of the head of the Canadian family of Leriger, also known as Deriger, de La Planate, La Plante and Laplante did Courville. (2)

According to a learned study by Roger D. Parent, published in Montreal in 1942, Clement Lerige was born sometime after 1662. On his arrival in Canada in 1685, as an aide to Monsieur de Denonville, with the rank of cadet in the Marine troop, this young soldier had to have been at least 23 years old. He was assigned to the defense of Montreal. (3)

At this time, things were going fairly well in the colony. Paris had recalled the feeble Monsieur de la Barre. His replacement Denonville, did everything in his power to redress the situation. The English colonies in America leaned heavily on the Indian nations: They paid the best prices for furs and provided arms at an even better price. To counter this, Denonville employed force and trickery as his double cutting edge. With his fresh French troops and those auxiliaries of Canada, he undertook a punitive expedition against the Tsonnontouans in the Detriot region. Clement Lerige doubtlessly took part in this expedition, for which he was promoted to provisionary Ensign of infantry in 1688: This field promotion was confirmed as permanent by Louis XIV in March of 16936 (4)

A CAPTIVE SOLDIER

Clement entered the history books with both feet the day after the massacre at Lachine on 6 August 1689. He was part of a detachment commanded by Monsieur de La Rabeyre at Fort Rolland. Governor Vaudreuil ordered them, in company with Villedonne and the future baron of Longueuil, to join him. Upon the sortie, the Iroquois, hidden in the woods nearby, attacked. Longueuil escaped, thanks to some Christian Indians who carried him off on their shoulders to safty. La Rabeyre was martyred and eaten at the Sault Saint-Louis; La Plante and Villedonne were captured, and after many tortures were brought alive to the country of the Tsonnontouans. This was the beginning of three and a half years of captivity in the land of the Onondagas, to the south of Lake Ontario, now the State of New York.

In February 1693, Monsieur de Beaucour at the head of a detachment of 300 men fought a battle at the Ile Toniata, between Kingston and Brockville, and were able to rescue La Plante after having killed 24 of the enemy. La Plante fell wounded himself; being dressed like an Indian, they hardly recognized him. This marked the happy return of the soldier after so long in captivity.

Some good comes from adversity: Clement had learned the habits of the Indians and in particular their language, as a result of which he was able to serve as an interpreter. (5)

A SOLDIER DEMOTED

Clement resumed his life as a soldier with the epaulettes of a hero as a result of his captivity. A few years later we find him commanding the garrison at Saint-Lambert, in the parish of Laprairie, near today's Victoria Bridge.

On 8 September 1700, joy radiated from the faces of the people of Ville-Marie and environs. A peace treaty was to be signed with the Indians. At dawn, in a large field nearby the town, 19 deputies from the different tribes, 1,300 Indians in an array of bizarre costumes, the Governor-General, Monsieur de Callieres, the Intendant, some soldiers and some colonists, attended this great event. The meeting had been prepared by that intelligent and astute chief Kondiaronk, known as "The Tat". They offered some necklaces, exchanged some prisoners, passed arround the peace pipe and talked endlessly. The peace was ratified on 4 August 1701. (6)

The soldier Lerige himself did not participate in the festivities. Why not? Headache or heartache? The year 1700 had marked a turning point in his life. On 27 July he obtained title to a piece of land 30 by 50 arpents, at LaPrairie de la Magdeleine. (7) Some weeks later, be it 8 September, he married Marie-Marguerite Roy, daughter of Pierre a Poitevin and of Catherine Ducharme, a Parisienne. The marriage was kept a secret because, as an officer, he was required to have the King's permission to marry. This permission would not be granted unless the woman selected was able to bring a considerable dowry to the marriage. Thus was the officer caste perpetuated without undue levy on the king's exchequer. He knew it would have been useless to have asked for a dispensation.

The nuptial ceremony was conducted without drum or trument, at the Chapel of the Holy Virgin, in Saint-Lambert. The bride was a beautiful 19-year-old first-generation Canadienne.

It didn't take long for the news to reach the authorities, Governor de Callieres had the heavy-hearted duty to reduce the regulation breaking Lerige to common soldier; however he took two years to do it. On 4 November 1702, he wrote to the King as follows: "I will have to publish to the assembled troops, the demotion of Sirs de La Plante and de La Chauvignerie for having married without permission, against the orders of the King. However, since they have both served exceptionally well for 17 years in this country and they have suffered much as prisoners of the Iroquois, learning their language and serving as interpreters at a time when such service is in short supply. Your Majesty is emplored to restore their rank and allow them to resume their still vacant posts...." The King saw fit to return them to duty.

THE SOLDIER AS PROPRIETOR

The marriage of Clement was not unplanned. We mentioned earlier that he had bought 150 square arpents of land. It had 3 Arpents facing the river and was considered prime property because of the fertility of the soil. He bought it from the widow of Pierre Bourdeau for 400 livres, even though 3 arpents had yet been plowed. His neighbors were Louis Bourdeau and Francois Monnet dit Laverdure.

And, on 14 February 1714, Clement obtained from Father Francois Vaillant "business-director" of the seigneurie of the Jesuits, a concession of 60 arpents of land nearby Rene Dupuis, on the Cote Saint-Joseph. (9) But the greatest acquisition of Laplante was that of 250 square arpents on the Cote Saint-Joseph, bestowed by the same Jesuits on 29 March 1727. By this time Clement had been promoted to Lieutenant of the Marine detachment, to rank from 7 May 1720.

FATHERLAND AND FAMILY

Ancestor Laplante had two loves: his adopted country and his family. He was faithful to both. Between 1701 and 1723 he and his wife had 13 children, as follows:

1. Louis was born and baptized on 13 August 1701 at Laprairie. After this we lose trace of him.

2. Marie Catherine was born and baptized on 25 November 1702 at Laprairie. She married Rene Bourassa in 1701.

3. Pierre was born on 25 October 1704 and baptized on 20 September 1708 at Laprairie. He inherited the title "sieur de La Plante" from his father and on 15 July 1728 he married Marie-Louise Hubert dit Lacroix.

4. Clement was born and baptized on 27 August 1708 at Laprairie. He died one month later.

5. Rene-Clement Rene-Clement was born on 25 September 1709 and died three months later.

6. Charlotte was born on 8 January 1711 at Laprairie. She married Henri-Charles de Rupalley, sieur de Gonneville, son of a soldier, on 13 May 1731. Widowed, she gave herself and all her possessions to the service of the Hopital-General de Montreal. She died there 6 years later, in 1782.

7. Francois-Michel was born on 9 January 1703 at Laprairie and died a month later.

8. Paul was born and baptized on 3 March 1714 at Laprairie. He first married Barbe Dupuis and then Agathe Saint-Yves: He fathered 20 children.

9. Jean-Baptiste was born on 28 May 1717 at Laprairie. He married into the family Rougier dit LaFrance.

10. Antoine was born on 17 August 1719 and died a year later.

11. Rene was born aand baptized at Laprairie on 8 March 1721. We know that he was alive in 1738 but after that, nothing

12. Joseph-Marie was born and baptized on 18 March 1723 at Laprairie. He married into the Lemire dit Marsolet family.

13. Gilbert died a bachelor on 30 May 1731. (10)

Joseph and Paul bought a piece of land from their parents at a good price. (11) Then the Jesuits gave a concession of 909 arpents, located on the river Tortue, to Jean-Baptiste. (12)

The founding couple, feeling the passage of the years, sold the concessions they had received from the Jesuit Father Vaillant in 1714, and that of Father Dheu on 29 March 1727, to Charles and Joseph Boyer, on 30 September 1738 for the sum of 225 livers in French silver. Only a single arpent of land had been cleared from these concessions which totaled 75 arpents in square surface. (13)

Also it seems that sieur de La Plante (the father?) had put some money in western speculation which led to the discovery of the Rockies. Even the name of La Verendrye is mentioned alongside that of sieur La Plante in a notarial act dated 12 June 1736. After more than 50 years spent in service to his country and more than 42 in married life, "Clement Lerige squire, sieur de La Plante, old Liutenant of troops," according to the act of burial written by Jacques Marchand des Ligneris, the preiest of Laprairie. He died on 5 December 1742 a the age of 80 years, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, after having received the sacraments of Holy Mother Church. He left to his decendants a heritage of Faith, Honor and Bravery.

Marie-Marguerite, his faithful wife, survived him by 16 years. She was buried at Laprairie on 2 January 1758 at the age of 77 years.

More About Clement * Lerige de La Plante: Fact 10: also known as LaPlante.

More About Clement * Lerige de La Plante and Marie-Marguerite Roy: Marriage: September 8, 1700, LaPrairie, Quebec, Canada.

Children of Clement * Lerige de La Plante and Marie-Marguerite Roy are: i.+Pierre Leriger de La Plante, b. October 25, 1704, LaPrairie, Quebec