Gabriel Gosselin (1621 - 1697) and Françoise Lelièvre (1636 - 1677)

The ancestor for Gosselin in North America is named Gabriel, son of Nicolas Gosselin and Marguerite Dubréal. Gabriel was born in 1621 in Combray, a community about five kilometers south-east of Thury-Hartcourt, Low-Normandy (Basse-Normandie), in the department of Calvados (a word meaning Apple-brandy!), arrondissement of Falaise (meaning Cliff district), France. His native house survives as does the old St-Martin church with its closed down well where Gabriel received baptism. Today, the population of Combray does not reach 200 people; there are no Gosselin family members, nor are descendants of his brother Jean Gosselin (born in 1616, deceased in 1690) found there.

Gabriel Gosselin crossed the Atlantic about 1652 when he was more than 30 years old. We find him in New-France on 31 November of that same year, when  Jacques Gourdeau de Beaulieu gives him about four arpents of frontage land, at the end of the island of Orleans (l'île d'Orléans or I.O.) in what is today Ste-Pétronille.

Gabriel signed a marriage contract on 22 June 1653 with Françoise Lelièvre. She was a native of Nancy, in Lorraine, the daughter of Christophe Lelièvre and Georgette Clément. Their marriage nuptials were performed on 18 August  1653 in Notre-Dame de Québec church.

He was a strong and active man. The first period of Gabriel Gosselin's life as a Québecoise extends from 1652 to 1677, a quarter century, during which  he struggled highly and merrily (débat vivement et gaiement), as a large landowner on the island and father of a large family.

In the census of 1666, Gabriel Gosselin has three men mentioned as "hired servants": François Noël (22 years old), and two other co-workers: Jean Pacaud, origin unknown, and Louis Sivadier, a native of Ansac-sur-Vienne, in Poitou, France. François Noël had a continuing relationship with the Gosselin family. At Noël's marriage to Nicole LeGrand on 22 October 1669 on the island of Orleans, Gabriel Gosselin was present for the ceremony. The Noël estate was later  appraised by Ignace Gosselin and Guilaume Couture at 1,200 livres. On 16 March 1687, François Gosselin, son of ancestor Gabriel, acquired 3 arpents of frontage in Québec remaining from a land purchase made by François Noël in 1670. The agreement said Gosselin would pay the seigneurial rents and the annual 27-1/2 livres to the seller, who had to give these funds to his seigneur. However, Gosselin paid 35 livres tournois in cash, a sort of benevolent gift. Francois Poisson, resident of Gentilly, passing through Québec, signed as a witness to this sale.

Children
 

Gabriel and Françoise had nine children together. The oldest, Ignace Gosselin, carries on the line of descent for our family. Unfortunately the baptismal certificate is lost for Ignace Gosselin, who was born in 1655. Ignace married Marie-Anne Raté, the daughter of Jacques Raté and Marie-Anne Martin, on 23 November 1683 in Saint-Pierre, island of Orleans. Together, they have thirteen children, in St-Laurent, in the island of Orleans. The tenth child, Marie-Madeleine Gosselin, born on 22 May 1700, became the wife of Jean Leclerc on 11 November 1720. Jean is the son of the ancestor Pierre Leclerc and Isabelle-Élisabeth Rondeau. Jean Leclerc and Marie-Madeleine's daughter, Marie-Marguerite Leclerc (1693-1750) continues the line through her marriage to Nicolas Baillargeon (1684 - 1749).

Death of Françoise Lelièvre and remarriage

Alas! In 1676, his wife Françoise Lelièvre died. He entered a second marriage, this time with Louise Guillot on September 28, 1677, at Ste-Famille, island of Orleans. They have two children.

Until 1684, Gabriel Gosselin was active in business. That year he suffered a stroke, which for a time paralyzed much of his body. But his health problems could not keep him down. Recovering a bit, in 1689 Gabriel put his affairs in order, providing an even division of his property and other wealth for his children. His last years, from 1689-1697, are those of an old man who bravely faced the threat of full paralysis. He is remembered as honest, judicious, peaceful, and a Christian of good stock.

Note: The Monte Carlo Restaurant, 21 Rue Sous Le Fort, is located in the Gabriel Gosselin House, which is one of the oldest in Quèbec City.

More Information:

Association des familles Gosselin/Gosselin Family Association

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