LE PERCHE

jlesperance@hawaii.rr.com  December 2002 Jerry Lesperance

FOREWORD
The Perche region, located 100 miles West of Paris, France, is the origin of a large number of 17th Century settlers in Quebec. I have had the good fortune to visit the region several times. Both my wife have numerous French-Canadian ancestors who originated in Perche.

THE REGION

Perche, located 100 miles west of Paris, has always been a Region. It has never been an official Province or a Departement of France. It was created in 1115 when the comte of Mortagne was combined with the seigneuries of Nogent and Belleme. The main city is Mortagne. Before the Revolution it was part of the Province of Normandie. In 1799 when the 34 provinces of France were changed to 96 departements, Perche was included mostly within the Department of Orne but small parts of Perche lie within the current departements of Eure-et-Loir, Eure, Sarthe and Loir-et-Cher The parishes of St. Jean in Mortagne and St. Aubin in nearby Tourouvre accounted for a disproportionately large number of emigrants to Quebec. Fifty-three came from Mortagne and 45 came from Tourouvre.

Perche is a pastoral area consisting mainly of gently rolling farmland but, unlike much of France, it is blessed with some beautiful forests. It also benefits from a number of rivers and streams. It is not a particular popular tourist destination today because most visitors to France are looking for things that Perche does not offer.

It has been difficult for me to find the population and geographical size of Perche because it is not an “official” political subdivision of France. I would guess that the total population of Perche today is less than 200,000. Several of the larger cities today are: Nogent-le-Rotrou with 11,524 people; Mortagne-au-Perche 4,943; St-Cosmes-de-Vair 3,263; Belleme 1997; Tourouvre 1,662; and Logny-au-Perche. 1,625. I estimate the land area to be about 1,200 square miles, or about the size of Rhode Island.

WHY THE EMIGRATION TO QUEBEC

M. and Mme. Pierre MONTAGNE of Perche, both deceased, have researched the emigration which occurred primarily in the 1640’s and 1650’s. She reminds us that the King of France was offering incentives for his people to settle in New France. One incentive was the establishment of a group called La Compagnie des Cent Associes” (The Company of One Hundred Associates” who were to create seigneuries in Quebec that could be subdivided and conceded to qualified immigrants. The apothecary and surgeon, Robert GIFFARD of Autheil in Perche, was the first to acquire a Quebec seigneury. His seigneurie was in the area presently called Montmorency County, east of the city of Quebec, with Chateau-Richer and L’Ange-Gardien, as two of the main communities. GIFFARD enlisted the aid of the brothers Jean and Noel JUCHEREAU of Tourouvre to recruit people in the area for migration to Quebec. One historian has said that Noel was one of the hundred associates. In any case Noel spent much of his time in Perche doing the actual recruiting and contracting of emigrants. Jean spent most of the time in the Province of Quebec on the receiving end of the migration. Apparently another JUCHEREAU, Pierre, was active in France in readying the emigrants. The emigrants were often hired for a period of three years. Thus they were called “Les 36 Mois”. Most of the recruits were bachelors. They were to be paid from 40 to 120 livres per year. In addition they were provided transportation to Nouvelle France and were to receive some land. Most were unskilled and illiterate. Madame MONTAGNE tells us that Perche was not a poor area. People had the resources in Perche to acquire food and shelter. She suggests that it was the desire to try the unknown or to make a new start in another world that attracted some of the residents to sign the contract. Most of the immigrants stayed in Quebec although their contract provided for them to be returned to France after the terms of their employment in Quebec were fullfilled. On the other hand, I have reviewed the Quebec stay of thirty-nine Percheron men and two women who executed contracts before the Tourouvrain notary CHOISEAU in the years 1646 through 1651. Jette tells us only fourteen of these forty-one people permanently settled in Quebec. Incidentally the salaries of the two women were at the very low end of the scale.

THE IMMIGRANTS

The typical emigrant was a 37-1/2 year old illiterate bachelor from the Seigneury or Canton of Tourouvre who was a laborer or carpenter and who signed a 36 month engagement to work in New France.

The Perche pioneers were also prolific. L’Institut National d’Etudes Demographiques of the University of Montreal published “Naissance d’une Population” in 1987 which provided a lot of demographics concerning the Quebec pioneers prior to 1730. Among other lists the publication presented the ranking of the pioneers by the number of descendants they had prior to 1730, roughly three generations after their arrival in Quebec. In the top ten in Quebec there were: first Jean GUYON & Mathurine ROBIN with 2,150 descendants; second Zacharie CLOUTIER & Sainte DUPONT 2,090; fourth Marin BOUCHER with Julienne BARIL & Perrine MALLET 1,454; fifth Noel LANGLOIS & Francoise GRENIER with 1,388 and tenth Nicolas PELLETIER & Jeanne de VOUZY with 939. Most of the following list of Percheron/Percherones came from an unpublished document by Jean-Francois HUBERT-ROULEAU. Although written in Perche, it is evident that some of the author’s material came from Jette. For instance, the occupation and titles such as Seigneur of a person may have been the person’s status in New France.

I don’t pretend that the following is a complete list of immigrants from Perche as well as areas of Orne that are not within Perche. In abbreviated format I’ve provided when known: Name of emigrant; Occupation; accompanying family members; origin (usually the place where born); place and year of departure from France; Contract Length; Annual Salary in pounds; Whether could sign name or couldn’t sign name; Marital status; and name, place and year of marriage of single women; and page of Jette where the person can be found. If an immigrant the person is shown as “Not in Jette”, there is a high probability that the person returned to France after his or her 36- or 60-month contract was completed. I’ve indicated when death was in France if that information was available.

BRUNET, Mathieu from Tourouvre or L’Aigle. Departed France in 1667. Jette p180

Second and different Brunet family...

Title: Jetté - Dictionnaire genealogique de familles du Québec des origines a 1730
Author: René Jetté Publication: Les Presses de l'Universite de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, 1983 Page: 180

Title: Madonna's French Canadian Ancestry Author: René Jetté & Gail Moreau

Page: Vol. 15 #3, Jul 1994 (71-84) & Vol 16 #4, Oct 1994 (125-136) 

Mathurin BRUNET was born in France, and died BEF 28 NOV 1663 in France. He married Marie BRUNET in France. She was born in France, and died BEF 28 NOV 1663 in France.
Child of Mathurin BRUNET and Marie BRUNET is :+ 2 i. Antoine BRUNET , dit Belhumeur was born BET 1642 AND 1644 in St Nicolas, La Rochelle, Aunis (Charente-Maritime), France, and died BET 15 NOV 1688 AND 4 JUN 1695 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He married Françoise MOISAN 28 NOV 1663 in Montréal, Québec, Canada, daughter of Abel MOISAN and Marie SIMIOT. She was born BET 1644 AND 1645 in St Berthelemi, La Rochelle, Aunis (Charente-Maritime), France, and died 2 NOV 1718 in Contrecoeur, Québec. She was buried 2 NOV 1718 in Contrecoeur, Québec.

http://gw.geneanet.org/ra41dr07?lang=en;p=mathieu+michel;n=brunet+l...

M Mathieu-Michel Brunet\Létang

Born about 1646 - Rai, (Saint-Jean), (Orne), France

Deceased 17 December 1708 (Monday) - Montréal, (Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu), Qc , age at death: possibly 62 years old

Buried 17 December 1708 (Monday) - Montréal, (Notre-Dame), Qc

Parents:

Jacques Brunet

Jacqueline Recheine\Prohuie Spouses and children

Married 10 November 1667 (Thursday) , Québec, (Notre-Dame), Qc, to Marie Blanchard ca 1649-1722 (see note)

with

M Michel Brunet\Létang ca 1668-1750

F Jeanne Brunet ca 1670-

F Marie-Anne Brunet\Létang ca 1672-1747

M Jean Brunet\Létang 1674-1723

F Marie Brunet 1677-1756

M Jacques Brunet\Létang 1680-ca 1708

F Catherine Brunet 1681-

Notes:

Individual Note

ménage établi à Champlain, 10 enfants.

Family Note

Contrat de mariage: [14 avril 1679] (Source: Contrat Adhémar, Antoine)

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http://www.perche-quebec.com/files/perche/individus/brunet-mathieu.htm

Photo of record of marriage to Marie Blanchard.

[MTD]

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Biography

 Rene Letang

Origin of the Létang de l'Outaouais families

[https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/biography.aspx?name=Rene_Letang&id=67...]

The vast majority of Létang families in the Outaouais region come from a common ancestor by the name of François Brunet, married to Rigaud in 1808. Several of his children were born in Pointe-Gatineau, were married there and all borrowed the nickname of their first ancestor in Canada, Michel-Mathieu Brunet dit Létang.

Some Brunet families have adopted the nickname of Létang; they represent a small percentage of Michel-Mathieu's descendants across Canada.

Michel-Mathieu (1)

Born around 1640, he is the son of Jacques and Jacqueline Racheine of St-Jean-de-Rai, near l'Aigle in Normandy. He enlisted for Canada on March 19, 1657 in La Rochelle and disembarked from the ship "Les Armes d'Amsterdam" in Quebec on August 20. He married Marie Blanchard in Quebec on November 10, 1667; she is the daughter of Jean and Martine Lebas of St-Nicaise, city and arrondissement of Rouen, in Normandy. The couple live in the Marsolais stronghold in Champlain, where sixteen children will be born. Around 1685, the family settled in Lachine where Michel-Mathieu died on December 17, 1708 at the age of 70. In 1713, Marie remarried with Yves Lucas.

Michel (3)

M.-Louise Jamme dit Carrière was born on September 28, 1701 in Lachine. She was therefore only 14 years old at her marriage, a fact common in the 18th century but rarer today. She was 15 years old at the birth of their first child, Marie-Madeleine, on May 6, 1717.

François (6)

François's children, born Brunet in Ste-Madeleine de Rigaud, all borrow the nickname from Létang to Pointe-Gatineau. Their marriages and the baptism of their children are also registered under the name of Létang. The marriages of François' two sons, Charles and Jean, were both celebrated on the same day, October 25, 1847 at St-François-de-Sales in Pointe-Gatineau.

René (Billey) (10)

René, the founder of the Pointe-Gatineau taxi company Létang, is the father of 13 children (11 boys and 2 girls). He entered the race in 1957 with a single car. In 1959, he had three and in 1974, his fleet included 10. René and his eleven boys all worked there and the business prospered. In 1970, we modernized everything by equipping each car with a shortwave radio and a taximeter. At that time, pick-up was 35 cents and the route was 10 cents per mile.

René died on November 26, 1987 in Pointe-Gatineau. He leaves 13 children, 32 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Part of Daniel Brunet's text. Column produced in collaboration with the Outaouais Genealogy Society, Inc., published on July 27, 1992

GEDCOM Note

• de Rennes, Bretagne *Fermier de M.-Boucher *Ancêtre de François-Charles-Stanislas Langelier

GEDCOM Note