Marie-Madeleine Paradis

Biography

Marie-Madeleine Paradis grew up in a family that had recently crossed from France to New France. Born at Québec city, on the St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada, in January 1656, she was a daughter of Pierre Paradis and Barbe Guyon. Her father had been a cutler in Mortagne; in Canada, the family’s records increasingly concerned land and settlement around Québec and Beauport.

On April 22, 1674, Marie-Madeleine and Robert Choret made a marriage contract before Paul Vachon. Robert was a carpenter, a son of Mathieu Choret and Sébastienne Veillon. Their children’s records trace the young family across Île d’Orléans, the island just downstream from the city: the earlier entries belong to Sainte-Famille, and later ones to Saint-Pierre. Six children are listed in the family account—Marie, Mathieu, Robert, Ignace, Suzanne and Jean—born between 1675 and 1684.

The 1681 census gives a more detailed view of their circumstances. Marie-Madeleine, recorded as twenty-five, lived with Robert and three named children, Marie, Robert and Ignace. Their household had seven cattle and fifteen arpents of cultivated land. Robert’s occupation was recorded separately as carpenter: the household combined a skilled trade with an agricultural holding.

Marie-Madeleine died in 1684, the year in which her youngest known child, Jean, was born. She was about twenty-eight. Her mother Barbe survived her, and Robert later remarried. The short span of her adult life encompassed a marriage agreement, the establishment of an island household and the births of six children; the census catches that household midway through its brief first decade.

The burial listing places Marie-Madeleine Paradis at Cimetière Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Capitale-Nationale Region, Québec, Canada.