Julien Daubigeon

Biography

Julien Daubigeon’s Canadian life lasted barely two years, but records on both sides of the Atlantic preserve a family history longer than that brief interval. He came from the area of Le Temple-Mauperthuis, now Le Temple-de-Bretagne, near Nantes in western France. A marriage record dated September 13, 1646 links him with Perrine Meunier. Baptisms in France identify daughters Louise in 1648 and Jeanne in 1649.

On April 30, 1653 Julien entered a recruitment contract at Nantes before the notaries Léger and Bruneau. His occupation was that of a land clearer and agricultural labourer. He joined the Grande Recrue, the body of settlers recruited to reinforce Montréal, on the St. Lawrence River in present-day Québec, Canada, and crossed with Perrine. Their daughter Jeanne remained in France.

In November that year, the couple had Catherine baptized at Montréal. Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance stood as godparents. Julien did not live to see the family established over many years: he was killed in May 1655 during the colony’s conflict with the Haudenosaunee. Their daughter Claire was born in February 1656, after his death, and survived only a few weeks.

The separation from Jeanne remained a matter of family business long afterward. A receipt made in France in February 1677 records her receiving one hundred livres as her share of her late father’s estate, through Jacques Viau. That document follows the consequences of Julien’s migration across an ocean and more than two decades, connecting the daughter who stayed behind with the family he had begun in Montréal.

The burial listing places Julien Daubigeon at Hôtel-Dieu Cemetery (1654-1672), Montréal, Montréal Region, Québec, Canada.