Robert Boulay

-https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Boulay-9

From a family tree document that was produced as a Canadian Centennial Year (1967) project: All the Boulet in Canada are from the progeny of Robert Boulay who, in 1662, landed in Canada with his wife, Françoise Garnier, and their daughter Jacqueline. Robert Boulay came from Saint-Germain de Loisé, near Mortagne in Perche, France. This fact is confirmed not by parish archives, "because they could not be found" but rather by a legal document signed by Robert Boulay in La Rochelle on the 23rd of June 1662 before embarking for Canada. In this document signed before Pierre Moreau, notary, Robert Boulay declares himself to be: "Farmer from Mortagne Perche, Parish of Saint-Germain de Loisé" (Provincial Museum of Quebec). In 1661 Pierre Boucher had returned to France from La Nouvelle-France "Canada" with complaints that colonization was too slow and also of harassement by the Iroquois. He was received by King Louis XIV who promised to send more settlers and soldiers. So it was that in 1662 one hundred armed men plus numerous settlers, Robert Boulay amongst them, embarked on two ships L'Agle D'Or and Saint Jean-Baptiste. The crossing was tumultuous and took longer than expected with the result that of the one hundred men with Pierre Boucher thirty three died from hunger and thirst. (This declaration was made by Boucher himself on October 17, 1663.) Most of the settlers from Perche took up residence at Beauport sur la Côte de Beaupré or on the Island of Orleans. On his arrival Robert Boulay obtained a concession on a tract of land in the Seigneurie de Lirec now known as the Parish of Ste-Famille, Ile d'Orléans. Four years later Robert Boulay added to his present holding another tract of land, also a concession, south of the Island in the Parish of Saint-Jean. On November 25th, 1670, Robert Boulay sells to Jean-Galeran Boucher his land on the North side of Ile d'Orléans and moves to his holding on the South of the Island. This land in turn is sold to Pierre Mourier on November 19th 1675. Robert Boulay then moves out of Ile D'Orléans to Rivière du Sud (Saint Thomas) where the last of his sons, Paul, is born. It is at Saint Thomas also that Robert Boulay passed away, on the 24th of March 1707, after having received the sacrement of the Church. His remains lie in the local cemetery.

GEDCOM Note

Robert Boulay was born in the parish of Saint-Germain-de-Loisé (now Mortagne-au-Perche). He would have been born in 1630 according to the census of 1666 or in 1631 according to the censuses of 1667 and 1681 and again according to his burial deed. He married Françoise Grenier on January 11, 1657 in Bivilliers (Orne, France). The couple will have 10 children including 1 born in France.

Robert Boulay, a ploughman, probably commits himself in La Rochelle because he is found there on June 6, 1662 in the presence of his wife Françoise Grenier and a little girl, Jacqueline, baptized in Saint-Germain-de-Loisé on April 10, 1659.

On June 23rd of that year 1662, Robert Boulay and Françoise Grenier acknowledge that they owe Charles Turgeon, another Percheron pioneer, the sum of 20 pounds for having paid their expenses for the trip between Mortagne and La Rochelle, being "about to embark for Canada". This recognition is recorded in the records of notary Pierre Moreau of La Rochelle. The Boulay and Turgeon families were among the hundred or so workers that Pierre Boucher recognized, on October 17, 1663 before the Sovereign Council, to have brought in that year 1662 and of whom he said that 33 perished during the crossing...

They landed in Québec City and settled in Sainte-Famille on Île d'Orléans, then from 1675 in Rivière-du-Sud (Montmagny). Both will die there, Robert on March 24, 1707 and his wife Françoise Grenier on January 28, 1709.

Robert Boulay is the "father" of all the Boulay and Boulet of Québec. The patronymic refers to someone living in a place planted with birch trees, which was called boul or boule in Old French. In Québec, the Boulet are slightly more numerous than the Boulay (364th vs. 431st). But by combining them and adding the Boulais, the family name reaches the 157th rank in importance, with some 8100 individuals.

1681 census: SEIGNEURIE DE BELLECHASSE. : https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Histoire_des_Canadiens-français,_Tome_V/Chapitre_4 Robert Boullé 50 ; Françoise Gremier, sa femme, 44 ; enfants : Jacques 17, Pierre 12, Martin 9, Françoise 7, Robert 4, Jean 2 ; 1 fusil ; 6 bêtes à cornes ; 5 arpents en valeur.