Marie Catherine Marthe Tétard / Testard

Biography

Marie Testard's name appears in the property history of rue Saint-Paul in Montréal, in present-day Québec, Canada, on the south side of the street between Saint-Gabriel and Bonsecours. The compiled ownership record follows her interests there from 1686 through 1704, spanning her first marriage, widowhood and remarriage. These entries give a physical location to a life otherwise traced mainly through parish records.

Baptized at Montréal on August 11, 1667, Marie was a daughter of Charles Tétard dit Forville and Anne Lamarque. Her parents had married in the same town the previous year. She grew up among younger siblings, including a sister Catherine.

Marie married the merchant Jean Dulignon, sieur de La Mirande, on October 9, 1684, after a contract made the day before. Their son, known as Jean-Baptiste, was baptized in June 1686. Jean died while that child was still young; the surviving references place his death between February 1687 and March 1689.

On December 20, 1694 Marie married Antoine Duquet dit Madry. Their son Antoine was born the following September. Her two sons thus belonged to different paternal families, Dulignon and Duquet, while their mother's name remained visible in the Montréal property record.

Antoine Duquet died in 1733. Marie survived him by nineteen years. She died on May 26, 1752, aged eighty-four, and her burial was entered the next day in the register of Montréal's Hôpital général.