Marguerite Dassylva

Biography

Marguerite Dassylva was born in Québec city, on the St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada, on January 15, 1733, the daughter of Jean-Marie Dassylva and Marguerite Poulin. Her father is identified as a mason in the compiled family record. Her surname also appears as Dasilva and Desilva, with the additional name Portugais in accounts of the family.

Through Jean-Marie, the genealogy connects her to Pierre, or Pedro, da Silva and Jeanne Greslon. Pierre carried official correspondence in New France; a researched biography describes his commission as a messenger. This gives Marguerite's family a connection with the colony's early postal history, although Pierre died before she was born.

At eighteen she married Pierre Gagnon at Château-Richer on April 20, 1751. Their family grew over the next two decades, and its later records lead to Maskinongé, near the north shore of the river’s Lake Saint-Pierre. Marguerite was buried there on May 1, 1784, aged fifty-one. Her youngest listed son, Louis, was still nine. Her husband lived on into the next century.