Louise Pelletier

Biography

On April 14, 1670, Louise Pelletier brought a practical problem before the Sovereign Council. Her husband, Jean Hayot, had left on a journey intended to last three years toward the country of the Outaouais, or Odawa. She reported that he had left her with five children and without resources. Her petition put the circumstances of the household before the colony’s highest governing and judicial body.

Louise had been born in the region around Québec city, on the St. Lawrence River in present-day Canada, in 1640, a daughter of Nicolas Pelletier and Jeanne de Voisy. She married Jean in November 1653. His family used several forms of its surname, including Hayot, Ayot and Ayotte. Their life together included settlement around Cap-Rouge, now part of Québec city, and, later, Neuville, also known as Dombourg, farther upstream on the St. Lawrence’s north bank.

She sought support rather than leaving the family’s situation solely to private arrangements. The council’s response is unknown. The length of Jean’s absence is uncertain.

By 1681, the census recorded Louise and Jean together at Neuville with nine children, four cattle and six arpents under cultivation. Jean died before November 1691, when Louise was described as a widow in a financial obligation. She survived into 1713 and was buried at Québec that November. The petition preserves a moment when she spoke for the immediate needs of her children; the later records follow the household beyond that period of separation.

The burial listing places Louise Pelletier at Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec, Québec, Capitale-Nationale Region, Québec, Canada.