Jeanne Boucher

Biography

Jeanne Boucher’s move to New France brought her into a household whose livelihood was closely connected with her brother Marin. She came from Mortagne in the Perche, a historic region west of Paris in France, where she married Thomas Hayot at Saint-Jean on July 15, 1629. Around 1638 they crossed with their children Geneviève, Rodolphe and Jean. Adrien and Anne were born after the family’s arrival.

Thomas and Marin leased farmland belonging to the Jesuits at Beauport, now part of Québec city. Their partnership ended in 1646, and the Hayot family’s subsequent history was centered on Sillery, another settlement now within Québec city. These records place Jeanne’s family within a working agricultural community linked by both marriage and tenancy.

The family suffered a loss in 1651 when Geneviève died following childbirth; her infant daughter also died. Jeanne’s connections with the wider Boucher family continued: research identifies her as Marie Boucher’s aunt in the latter’s 1656 marriage contract with Charles Godin.

On January 14, 1670 Jeanne made a will before Romain Becquet. The notarial index preserves an entry specifically identifying her as Thomas Hayot’s wife. The will establishes that she was alive on that date. She died later in 1670, before Thomas entered a new marriage contract in September. Her exact death date remains unknown.