Miville dit Le Suisse

Jacques Miville still lived with his parents in 1667 at the age of 27 and was believed to be a "coureur des bois" making a living off the fur trade. For example, in January 1684, he buys goods from Jean Maheux, a merchant in Quebec City, and promises to pay him in the springtime"when he gets back from his trip." In October 1669, he married Catherine de Baillon, daughter of the late Alphonse de Baillon and Lady Louise de Marle, who had been provided with a large dowry. The wedding was attended by numerous personalities including Mssrs Daniel de Rémy Chevalier Seigneur de Courcelles and Louis Rouer Sieur de Villeray. To our knowledge, the marriage contract is the first document in which Jacques Miville, the groom, is identified as "Sieur desChesnes". We can not explain why Jacques has this title, which would become the Deschênes surname of many of his descendants.



A short while after the signing of the wedding contract, Jacques hired two men to cut down trees on his concession of land located in grande Anse au Cap Martin. In the spring of 1670, he performs "navigation and every day work." During the 1670's he carries out fur trade: in 1677, he is known to promise payments in the form of beaver skins. However, he also buys property, and this gives the impression that he wants to work the land. In June 1674, he buys property from Sieur de La Bouteillerie, Lord of Rivière-Ouelle, a domain measuring 12 acres in width to the Saint-Jean River, a short distance west of Rivière-Ouelle, and what is today in Pocatiere. This concession of land was situated in an area fought over by the Lord of La Pocatiere and the Lord of Rivière-Ouelle. In the end Jacques is guaranteed ownership by the lady of La Pocatiere. He settles on this land before 1675, this is evident since his daughter Marie is born in Rivière Saint-Jean, not in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, as mentioned in Jette's dictionary. In 1676, he sells this property and buys another one in Riviere-Ouelle, where he lives for seven more years.

In 1684, he comes back to Rivière Saint-Jean to work as a farmer on his former property now owned by Charles Aubert de la Chesnaye, one of the richest notables in Nouvelle-France.

Jacques Miville died in Rivière-Ouelle Saint-Jean on January 27th, 1688: he was only 49. His wife died the very same day. He was buried the next day and Catherine, his wife, the following day. These simultaneous deaths are still unexplained. He was the father of six children aged from 6 to 17. Francois, his brother comes and settles in Riviere Saint-Jean, and becomes the guardian of his, Jacques children. Francois has ten children of his own, ages 2 to 20, all of them born in Lauzon between 1663 and 1686. He pays for the farm lease from 1689 to 1693 at which time he gets married to Jeanne Sauvenier, his second wife and her third husband, and moves to Rivière-Ouelle where he dies in 1711 at the age of 77.  Jeanne Sauvenier(Savonnet) brought to the marriage 10 children between the ages of 4 and 21.  Francois and Jeanne have one more child.  This was one huge family.

9th Generation Great Grandmother

JEANNE SAVONNET




The following information is taken from the bulletin La Source published by the "Association des familles Soucy".



Origin

Jeanne, according to the marriage contract with Damien Bérubé, was the daughter of Jacques and of Antoinette (Thoinette) Babilotte. She was born in Paris around 1650, since she gave her age as 29 years at the time of her marriage in 1679. Some words in the marriage contract, which were illegible, finally have been cleaned of stains and reveal that she originated from the Marais du Temple quarter. 



Date of birth

Thus far genealogical research has failed to precisely determine the date of birth of Jeanne as no birth or baptismal date have been found. The information of the census of 1681 complicate our research as Damien was noted to be 30 years old and Jeanne, 34. As we know that Damien was born in 1647, he must have been 34 years old in 1681. Jeanne who was 29 years old in 1679 must have been 30 or 31 years old in 1681 according to the date the census was taken. Alain Soucy has demonstrated that the census took place after the 24th of June 1681(2), probably in July. The date of birth of Jeanne would be between the day of the census and of the 21st of August. Her anniversary can not be before the census as she would be 31 years old instead of 30.



Savonnet, Savonet ou Sauvenier

The origin of the name Sauvenier comes from an annotation written in the margin of the marriage contract in order to summarize the content. This note reads: "m. Damien Bérubé & Jeanne Sauvenier". The calligraphy is more recent than that of the text of the document, this spelling is attributed to a reading error made by it's author.


As for Savonet, it seems that it is related to a regional accent. The name of Jeanne, after 1679, was written Savonet in religious documents but Savonnet in legal documents.


Meaning of Savonnet

The name Savonnet could have come from the word "savon" which, at the time, was a mixture used to dye one's hair red!



King's daughter?

Since her arrival in Canada, in the summer of 1670, coincided with the arrival of a contingent of the King's daughters ("filles du roi"), several authors believe that she was one of them. Because her first marriage contract with Jean Soucy was never found, it is impossible to know if she delivered the dowry to the King. We can only deduct that she was a King's daughter. It is even possible that she might have been married before she emigrated to New-France.



Marriage to Jean Soucy dit La Vigne

The marriage probably took place in the fall of 1670 but no documents relating to this union have ever been found. Jean and Jeanne resided firstly at "Isle-aux-Oies", and then at "L'Isle-aux-Grues" where their neighbour was Pierre Michel.  On these two islands Jeanne gave birth to 4 children:



Anne, born and baptized on the 15th September 1671;

Pierre, b. 13 April 1673 and baptized on the 16th April 1673;

Marie-Anne b. 15 February 1677 and baptized on the 26th of April 1675;

Guillaume, b. 5 April 1677 and baptized on the 1st of May 1677.

Jean Soucy died between the 1st of May 1677, a date when he was present at the baptism of his son Guillaume, and the 1st of August 1679, the month of the second marriage of Jeanne.

Marriage to Damien Berube

On the 22nd of August 1679, Jeanne married Damien Berube, then 32 years old, of Rivière-Ouelle. The certificate of marriage is registered at the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours of L'Islet-sur-Mer, but the ceremony probably took place at "L'Isle-aux-Grues". In effect, the witnesses Lord Paul Dupuis, Noël Langlois, Guillaume Lemieux and Jean Pelletier were all islanders.

Jeanne gave 6 children to Damien:



Jeanne-Marguerite, b. 27 October 1680 and baptized on the 15th of December 1680;

Pierre, b. 4 January 1682 and baptized on the 11th of February 1682;(corrected on August 01, 2009)

Ignace, b. in 1683;

Marie-Josephte, b. 28 October 1684 and baptized on the 6th of January 1685;

godfather, Pierre Hudon

Thérèse, b. in 1686

Mathurin, b. posthumous on the 17th of October 1688 and baptized on the 21st of November 1688; godfather, Mathurin Houallet; godmother, Anne Soucie.

On the 7th of March 1688, Jeanne buried her husband and, the following day, two of her daughters, Marie and Thérèse, under circumstances still unknown. Alone she assumed responsibilities for 8 children for the next 4 years.



Marriage to François Miville

Jeanne remarried in 1692 to François Miville and on the 18th of January 1694 she brought into this world an eleventh child, Marie-Françoise. She lost her third husband in 1711.



Death of Jeanne

She died on the 12th of March 1721 at the age of 70. Jeanne and Damien rest in the parish cemetery of Rivière-Ouelle.