Jean Plante

Biography

Jean Plante built his life through farming and close ties with his wife’s family on the Côte de Beaupré, the St. Lawrence River shore east of Québec City. This was part of New France, France’s North American colony, in what is now Québec, Canada. He came from Laleu, then a separate village near La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast and now part of that city. He married Françoise Boucher, daughter of Marin Boucher and Perrine Mallet, on September 1, 1650. Roger Plante’s genealogical study places their wedding in Marin’s house at Château-Richer, on the river’s north shore.

A published family history reconstructs an unusually detailed picture of their home. After selling his first holding, Jean settled beside the Bouchers. His timber house measured sixteen by twenty-two French feet. Marin granted him access to a stream for water and a route up the steep slope to his land. Jean also moved the barn he had retained from his earlier property. The arrangement joined a household, working buildings, water and cultivated land within a small group of neighboring family homes.

The 1681 census account lists four cattle and twenty arpents under cultivation, along with a firearm. Jean and Françoise’s children included Claude, Jacques, Georges, François, Joseph and Louise.

On February 22, 1694, Jean and Françoise transferred their property to François before the notary Étienne Jacob. The arrangement required François to house, feed and provide heat for his parents, and to keep the younger Joseph and Louise with him. Other children relinquished their inheritance claims in exchange for payments. The transfer therefore provided both a successor for the farm and support for the household that remained. Jean died at Château-Richer in March 1706.

The burial listing places Jean Plante at Cimetière Visitation de Notre-Dame, Château-Richer, Capitale-Nationale Region, Québec, Canada.