Louis Bouchard

Biography

Louis Bouchard was born on February 12, 1680 in the Beaupré region, along the north side of the St. Lawrence downstream from Québec city in present-day Québec, Canada, a son of Claude Bouchard and Louise Gagné. A family-association history distinguishes his birth from his baptism at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré on April 20. His adult family was established at La Prairie, across the river from Montréal, where he married Suzanne Lefebvre on February 25, 1715.

Their wedding involved more than selecting a date. The association reports that the grand vicar, de Belmont, granted permission because the couple were related, in a letter written three days before the marriage. A notarial catalogue also identifies Suzanne's marriage contract on the wedding day.

The household included Marie-Josèphe, Louis, Marie-Charlotte and Marie-Catherine. The two younger daughters died in infancy. After Suzanne's death in 1721, Louis married Françoise Dania at La Prairie in December 1724. His daughter Marie-Josèphe died in 1727, and Louis himself died at Montréal's Hôtel-Dieu on November 17 that year, aged forty-seven. His son Louis survived to adulthood.