Joseph Lemire

Biography

Joseph Lemire was born at Québec city, on the St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada, on March 6, 1662 into the household of Jean Lemire and Louise Marsolet. His father was a master carpenter.

In April 1685 he made a marriage contract with Anne Hédouin before Gilles Rageot. Anne was buried in August 1687, ending that first marriage after little more than two years.

Joseph married Jeanne-Françoise Normand at Notre-Dame de Québec on November 13, 1690. Their daughter Jeanne-Louise was born the following October. Her godfather was the Baron de Lahontan, then a military officer; her godmother was Joseph's sister. The baptism placed an officer and a close relative together in the child's formal circle of sponsors.

The family grew during the 1690s. Children who survived included Charles, Marguerite-Louise, Joseph, Catherine and Anne-Françoise. Their names recur in later marriage records, but Joseph would not live to see those marriages.

Jeanne-Françoise was buried on December 26, 1702. A month later, on January 27, Joseph entered the Hôtel-Dieu hospital at Québec city. The register records his age as forty and his death on February 4, 1703. Within roughly six weeks, the surviving children had lost both parents. The eldest was eleven; the younger ones still depended on the adults around them.