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The life of François Le Ber
Biography
François Le Ber came from the Pîtres area near Rouen in Normandy, in northern France. Born around 1622, he was established in the Montréal area of New France, in present-day Québec, Canada, by about 1660. The ship and date of his Atlantic crossing remain unknown.
He married Jeanne Testard at Montréal on December 2, 1662. Their family included a daughter, Marie Le Ber. Records identify François and his brother Jacques with Montréal’s citizen militia in 1663. Québec heritage records also associate François with a farmhouse at Pointe-Saint-Charles, southwest of old Montréal, purchased with neighboring land by Marguerite Bourgeoys in 1668.
François was a farmer and landholder at La Prairie, across the St. Lawrence River from Montréal in present-day Québec, Canada. A historical-society study of the inventory made after his death documents the community property he had held with Jeanne Testard.
The inventory brings the household’s work into view through its possessions: two plough oxen, three cows, a cart and the iron fittings of a plough, along with augers, files and cutting tools. Indoors were pewter dishes, hemp sheets, a locking fir chest and an old silver cup. These goods belonged to the couple's shared estate.
The estate included rural concessions and a small village house built of timber, with plank floors, a thatched roof and a chimney made with earth and chopped straw. The inventory was prepared in 1698, after François’s death in 1694; its contents describe the estate at that later date.
The two La Prairie properties were valued together at 2,800 French livres in the 1698 inventory. François had died on May 19, 1694.
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Family relationships
Parents
Partners
Children with Jeanne Tétard / Testard
A life in dates
10 events
- Migration
Established in the Montréal region after leaving Normandy; exact voyage date and ship unresolved.
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Show on map → - Militia Service
Member of Montréal citizen militia with brother Jacques.
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Show on map → - Property Transfer
Farm house and neighboring land associated with François Le Ber were purchased by Marguerite Bourgeoys.
Pointe-Saint-Charles (Montréal), Quebec, Canada
Show on map → - Land Concession
Received a La Prairie concession recorded in the later estate inventory.
La Prairie, Quebec, Canada
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Concessions and later household — La Prairie.
La Prairie, Quebec, Canada
Show on map → - Estate Inventory
The 1698 posthumous inventory documented land, livestock, tools, household goods and property values belonging to the marital community of François Le Ber and Jeanne Testard. Recorded items included two plough oxen, three cows, a cart, plough fittings, pewter dishes, hemp sheets, a locking fir chest and an old silver cup. The small village house had timber walls, plank floors, a thatched roof and a chimney of earth and chopped straw.
La Prairie, Quebec, Canada
Show on map → - Connection to this place
Origin — Pistre (Pîtres), diocese of Rouen, France.
Pistre (Pîtres), diocese of Rouen, France, Eure
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Settlement, marriage and militia — Montréal.
Montréal, Quebec, Canada
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More about this person
Other names
François Le Ber
Work & roles
bourgeois
farmer-colonist
Notes & sources
Family records
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography — Jacques Le Ber dit La Rose
- DNA consolidated biography and timeline evidence and decisions
- L’Héroïne chrétienne du Canada — genealogy of the Le Ber family
- Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec — Maison Saint-Gabriel
- Société d’histoire de La Prairie — Bourassa roots in La Prairie
- Société d’histoire de La Prairie — François Le Ber (1622–1694)