JULIEN FORTIN dit BELLEFONTAINE (1621 –
abt. 1690)
and
GENEVIÈVE GAMACHE (1736-1709)
Julien and his wife Geneviève are 7th great grandparents to Vernon, Lila,
Edward, Valoie, and Colleen Parent and their generation.
It
was at Saint-Cosme-de-Vair on 9 February 1621,
on the border of the old Province
of Perche
in France,
where our ancestor Julien Fortin was baptized. He
had a sister, Hélène, and three brothers. He was the
half-brother of eight other children by Julienne Guillemin. His father, also a Julien
and the son of a Simon, was a butcher by trade.
Julien
Fortin Senior
Young
Julien lost his mother, Marie Lavye, on 24 November 1628,
when he was only seven years old. She
was the daughter of Gervais Lavye and had married Julien
senior on 26
November 1618 in the parish of Notre-Dame.
Grandfather Simon was not
there to see the marriage of Julien and Marie since
he had died the previous year on 10 April 1617.
Doctor Robert Giffard, proprietor
of the Seigneurie of Beauport
in New France,
returned to France
for a visit in 1634 and stayed
at the celebrated Inn
of the Cheval Blanc. It so happened
that this hostelry was owned by Gervais
Lavye, the maternal grandfather
of Julien. Our future colonist was about thirteen
years old and fascinated with the stories told by Seigneur Giffard about life in Canada.
Giffard went back to Canada,
but returned to France on a recruiting mission. As a
result, many of the local citizens of Perche
decided to emigrate in company with the seigneur, Julien
included.
The
twenty-nine year old Julien took himself to the port
of Dieppe
in Normandy,
embarked for New France,
and spent three long months
at sea because of heavy winds. The ship finally arrived at Québec
by the end of the summer of 1650. Disembarking with Julien
Fortin were passengers Simon Rocheron
and his sister Marie, a carpenter named Rouillard, the tailor Claude Bouchard, Simon Lereau, the ancestor of all the L'Heureux, and many other emigrants.
Arriving
in the country after two months of suffering at sea, Julien
Fortin dit Bellefontaine, lost no time getting
started. Perhaps he had some money set aside, or some economic
resources on which he could draw, because he bought a prime piece
of waterfront property just in front of
Ste-Anne-de- Beaupré on 26 December 1650. He sold it to Robert Caron on 27 March 1654
for the sum of 500 livres.
On
23
August 1657, Julien
became part owner of both the Seigneurie
of Beaupré and the Ile d'Orléans.
The seller was Sieur Charles
de Lauzon-Charny, Commandant-General of New
France, the son of Jean and Louise Giffard. Our ancestor was obviously well connected.
Julien paid 700 livres in
beaver pelts for this fiefdom.
On
11
February 1662, he sold it all to Msgr de Laval for 750 livres, but not without reward.
On 4
June 1659, our prosperous Julien was given a concession at Cape
Tourmente
of six arpents of river frontage by a league and a half in depth. Today this
territory goes by the name of "The Fortin Coast."
The census of 1666, 1667, and 1681 tells us that he lived there.
In 1667 he had two domestics in his employ, Léonard
and François Jarivet; he had
eight arpents of cleared land, seven beasts
in his stable, and he would live in Saint-Joachim until his
death.
Julien also owned lot number 149,
twelve arpents on the Saint Lawrence by forty-two arpents in depth. He purchased this land, located
in the territory known as La Petite Rivière de
Saint-François in Charlevoix country, for the sum of 280 livres
from Pierre Laforest dit Labranche and his wife
Charlotte-Anne Godin.
On
2 February 1660,
the Feast day of the Purification of
Mary, Julien was confirmed at
Château-Richer by Msgr François de Laval,
Bishop of Québec. On 6 October of the same year,
before Father François Le Mercier and Church warden Joseph Macé-Gravel, Julien made a gift
to the church of Notre-Dame de la Visitation at
Château-Richer, of 50 livres
and a little wooden house.
The
following year, 6
October 1661, he testified by deposition before the court on the
subject of the Iroquois ravages: the sacking of the farms of
Jean Picard, the widow Caron, and Claude Bouchard,
as well as the massacre of six people, among whom was
Louis Guimond.
Two
gifts were recorded in the register of receipts and expenditures of the church of
Sainte-Anne. The first gift on 27 January
1665 reads: "given by
Bellefontaine 20 S," that is to say twenty sous or one livre. The second gift early in 1676 reads:
"received from bellefontaine two minots
of wheat." As
recorded by Notary Romain Becquet
on 18 August 1680, Julien
"gave to Pierre Voyer, Guillaume Boucher, and
Felix Auber, Wardens of Château-Richer,
for the churches of Château-Richer and Ste-Anne, a house situated
at Château-Richer nearby the church, with a
bakehouse at one end, bordered on one side by Thomas
(name illegible), for the use of the two churches equally
... the said donation made to the said churches because of the
great devotion that he has for them."
Thus
we see Julien Fortin as a man of generous faith and
also of sincere attachment to
Mary and Sainte-Anne.
On
11
November 1652, Julien
married the seventeen year old Geneviève Gamache, daughter of Nicolas Gamache
dit Lamarre and of
Jacqueline Cadot. They were from
Sainte-Illiers, diocese of Chartres,
in the Beauce Region of France.
Present at the ceremony were
the father of Geneviève, Nicolas Gamache,
the Sieur LeTardif,
Louis Gagné, and Claude Auber. Father Ragueneau, S.J.
blessed the marriage, which took place in the home of Louis Gagné, at Cape Tourmente,
which was at that time within the limits of Sainte-Anne's parish. The contract of marriage
had been made previously at the
house of Toussaint on the Cape,
22
August 1652, by notary Claude Auber.
On
21
October 1654, there was great joy around the
Fortin hearth for a daughter, Barbe, was born. On the 10th of the following month,
Father Paul Ragueneau went to the home of the home of
the said Bellefontaine on the Beaupré coast, to celebrate
the baptismal ceremony. The Grand Sénechal of the country, Jean de Lauzon,
acted as godfather. Barbe Aymont, wife of Sieur Le Tardif,
as godmother, gave the gift of her first name to
the baby. Then, another baby came along just about every
twenty-three months, until June 1677, when the
last was born. A total of eight boys and four girls, all baptized
at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré as follows:
1. Barbe, as mentioned above, was
born on 21
October 1654 and baptized on 4 November at Québec.
She married Pierre Gagnon, son of Pierre
senior and of Vincente Desvarieux,
in 1699 at Château-Richer. The
contract was notarized on 6 February 1669
by Aubert. They had eleven children, six boys and five
girls.
2.
Charles was born probably in 1656 since he was reported as ten years old in the census of
1666 and as twenty-five years old in the census of 1681. He
married Sainte Cloutier, daughter of Jean and
of Marie Martin, on 11 November 1681
at Château-Richer. The contract was
notarized the previous day by Aubert. They had ten
children, five boys and five girls. Shortly
after her marriage to Charles, Sainte gave birth to a son
fathered by Nicolas Thibault.
3.
Eustache was born probably in 1658 since he was
reported as
being eight years old in the 1666 census, nine years old in the 1667
census, and twenty-five years old in the 1681 census. He married
Louise Cloutier, daughter of René and of Marie
Leblanc, on 25
May 1693 at Cap-Saint-Ignace.
The contract was notarized on 29 March
by Jacob senior. They had eleven children, six boys and five girls.
Eustache served as a major of the militia at Cap
Saint-Ignace.
4.
Jacques was born on 12
January 1660 and baptized three days later at Québec. He married
Catherine Biville, daughter of François
and Marguerite Paquet, on 11 June 1689
at Québec. The contract
was notarized the previous day by Gilles Rageot. They
had eleven children, five boys and six
daughters.
5.
Geneviéve was born on 8 April 1662
and baptized the following
day at Château-Richer. She married Noël Gagnon, son of
Pierre
and of Vincente Desvarieux
and brother of Pierre
married Barbe,
on 8
July 1683 at Beaupré. The contract was
notarized the previous
day by Duquet. They had ten children, four boys and
six girls. Geneviève died on 21 March 1703
and was buried the next day at
Château-Richer. Noël married a second time to Barbe Cloutier on 12 January 1705
at Château-Richer. This second marriage was without children, but Barbe
Cloutier already had nine children from her
previous marriage to Charles Bélanger.
6.
Joseph was born on 15
May 1664 and baptized five days later at Château-Richer. He
married Agnes Cloutier, daughter of Jean and
Marie Martin and sister of Sainte married to Charles, on 25 October 1691
at Château-Richer. The contract was notarized the previous day by Jacob senior. They
had six children, a daughter followed by five sons.
Joseph died prior to 12
July 1704 when notary Jacob conducted an inventory of
his estate for his inheritors. Agnes married for a second time
to Paul Cartier on 16
October 1705 at St-Joachim. They had but a
single daughter to add to the earlier Fortin children.
7.
Marie-Anne was born and baptized on 1 March 1666
at Château-Richer. She married
Jean Picard, son of Pierre
& of Renée de Suronne, in January of 1683 at
Beaupré. The contract was notarized on 12 January by Aubert. They had two children, a boy and a girl,
before Jean died and was buried on 29 November 1700
at Québec. Marie-Anne was Jean's third wife and there were children still at
home from his second marriage to
Marie-Madeleine Gagnon. Marie-Anne married a second time to Étienne Mirambeau,
son of Salomon and of Elizabeth Villeger, on 7 January 1702
at Québec. The contract was notarized eight days earlier by Chambalon.
Marie-Anne died before the year was up on 28 December without
further children. Étienne also married a second time
to Jeanne Levasseur on 22 April 1705
at Québec. This couple had six children.
8.
Julien was born on 17 April 1667
and baptized five days later
at Château-Richer. He died on 21 November 1687
and was buried the
next day at Saint-Joachim.
9.
Pierre
was born on 21
May 1669 at Beaupré and baptized three days later at Cap Tourmente. He married Marie-Gertrude Hudon,
daughter of Pierre
and of Marie Gobeil, on 4 July 1697
at Rivière-Ouelle. The contract was notarized five
days earlier by Chambalon. They had fourteen children, seven
boys and seven girls.
10.
Louis was born on 7
March 1671 and baptized twelve days later at Beaupré. He died on 8 December 1687
and was buried the following
day at Saint-Joachim.
11.
Jean was born between 10 June and 25 July of 1674 at Beaupré. He died prior to the 1681
census.
12.
Marguerite was born on 28
May 1677 and baptized eight days later at Cap Tourmente. She married Pierre-François Fromage,
son of Laurent and of Benoîte des Chazelles, on 23 November 1699
at Québec. The contract was
notarized two days earlier by Chambalon. They
had a son prior to Marguerite's early death and burial on 15 January 1703
at Québec.
If
great joy accompanies a large family, so must there be a few crosses to bear. In 1687, Julien and Louis, ages twenty and sixteen
respectively, died. Some months later, on 10 August of the same
year, Pierre Gagnon, the husband of Barbe, the
eldest, was buried at Sainte-Anne. All three were victims of
epidemics of scarlet fever and the measles, which swept the region
that year. Then the small-pox epidemic of 1702-03 took Geneviève, Joseph, Marie-Anne and Marguerite.
In
the year 1667, Father Thomas Morel set for himself the task of recording the miracles
accomplished through the intercession of Sainte-Anne of the
Little Cape. The following paragraph tells of a
prodigious event that happened to the Fortin family in 1666.
"Barbe Fortin, daughter of Julien
Fortin belle fontaine habitant of Beaupré age of twelve
years or about, attacked by a pleurisy and in danger of
death, having been recommended to Sainte-Anne by her father and mother who made
a vow and novena to her straight away received a perfect
cure at the end of the novena.”
We
do not know the exact date of the death of Julien
Fortin. We do know that on 18 June 1689,
Julien was godfather to his granddaughter Marie, the daughter
of Geneviève and of Noël Gagnon. Then
nothing more!
At
the second marriage of Barbe to Pierre Lessard on 16 April 1690, Julien did not sign as a
witness, so it is reasonable to assume that he died between
those two dates, some say in September 1687. It has also been
reported that Julien died at the Hotel-Dieu of Québec on 10 August 1692.
We
note with interest, that our ancestor Julien lived to
an age of about seventy, his
father Julien senior was alive in France for most of this time having
survived until 30
January 1679. What news did he receive from his
legacy to New France?
Geneviève Gamache continued to live from the inheritance of her late husband, but she would
end her days in the home of her son Charles at L'Islet, not far from the fief of her brother Nicolas
Gamache dit
Lamarre. She was buried at Notre-Dame de Bonsecours, at l'Islet,
on 5
November 1709.
On
17
August 1777, a third generation Fortin was
ordained a priest.
Jean-Marie Fortin was the Curé of Sault -au-Récollet, of Lotbinière,
of Sainte-Foy, and of Saint-Jean on the ile d'Orléans.
In
addition to the surname Bellefontaine, some descendants of Julien
Fortin also took the following surnames: Desrosiers,
Forts, Fortain,
Forton, Furtaw, Furtin, Hermel, Lafortune, Legrandeur,
Leonard, Paris
and Plermel.
JULIEN
FORTIN DIT BELLEFONTAINE - ALSO COPIED FROM THE INTERNET
It
was at St-Cosme-de-Vair fur, of the diocese of Mans,
at the edge of the Perche, France
where Julien Fortin was baptized on February
9, 1621. His father, of the same first
name, Julien Fortin, was a butcher. Our ancestor lost
his mother, Marie Lavoye, at age of seven
years, in November 1628.
Between 1648 and 1650, Julien
Fortin decides to cross the Atlantic
in company of his friend Claude Bouchard, and other inhabitants of his birthplace,
namely, Simon, Marie, and Gervais Rocheron,
and Simon Lereau.
On
November
11, 1652 at Cap-Tournament, he married Geneviève Gamache dit
Lamarre who was fourteen years younger than him. She
had been baptized on October 3, 1636
in Saint-Illiers the City, Mantes La Jolie,
in Chartres,
current department of Yvelines, in France,
and was the daughter of Nicolas
Gamache, and Jacqueline Cadot.
She was the sister of the pioneer Nicolas Gamache,
Seigneur of Islet.
Julien and Geneviève
had twelve children. On October 21 1654, a daughter was born,
she was baptized Barbe Fortin, on the 10 November 1654
at the Bellefontaine home on the coast of Beaupré.
In 1666, Barbe "contracted pleurisy and was in
danger of death, having been
recommended to Sainte-Anne by her father and mother who had made
a novena to Ste-Anne", at the end of which, Barbe
was completely cured. On February 6, 1669,
she married Pierre Gagnon, who
was born in 1646. Their two sons married two Bélanger
sisters, the daughters of Jean-François Bélanger
and Marie Cloutier. On August 10, 1687,
Pierre Gagnon, the husband of Barbe, was buried with Ste-Anne de Beaupré, victim
of the epidemic of scarlet fever and measles which prevailed
that year in the area.
The
second child of the couple Julien and Genevieve is Charles Fortin, who was born in
1656. He married in 1681, Xaintes Cloutier,
born in 1661, and who was the daughter of Jean Cloutier
and Marie Martin. Their daughter, Genevieve Fortin, born in
1686, married in 1705 to Louis Lemieux.
Eustace
Fortin, born in 1659, became a major of militia in the Cap-St-Ignace.
He married in 1693, to Louise Cloutier, born in
1676 a daughter of Rene Cloutier
and Marie-Élisabeth Leblanc. With
the third generation, their son Louis Fortin, born in 1711, married
in 1730, to Françoise Blanquet. The son of Louis
Fortin and Françoise Blanquet, Augustin Fortin, continued the descent with the
fourth generation, with his marriage in 1777, to Anne-Marie
Duchesne. Then, in the fifth generation, their daughter,
Helene Fort, married in 1812 to Pierre Bilodeau.
Jacques
Fortin was born on January
12, 1660. He married on June 11, 1689,
to Catherine Biville, born in 1674, daughter of François Biville
dit LePicard and of
Marguerite Paquet. This couple had
eleven children.
Jacques Fortin, born in
1691, married in 1721, to Genevieve
Lacroix.
Julien
Fortin, born in 1694, married in 1719, to Marie Tremblay.
Marie
Fortin, born in 1700, married in 1715, Étienne
Tremblay.
Marguerite
Fortin, born in 1702, married in 1727, François Perron.
François-Xavier
Fortin, born in 1703, married in 1726, Marie-Madeleine Tremblay.
Brigitte
Fortin, born in 1708, married in 1726, Louis Tremblay.
The
ancestor, Julien Fortin dit
Bellefontaine died between June 18 1689,
when he acted as godfather to his grand-daughter and April
16, 1690, when he was not present for the second
wedding of his
daughter, Barbe, to Pierre Lessard,
nor at the signing of the marriage contract on October 24 1691,
for his son, Joseph. It is also
possible that he died at the Hotel-Dieu de Quebec on August 10, 1692.
Genevieve
Gamache,
lived her remaining days with her son
Charles Fortin, in Islet. She was buried at Our-Lady of Bonsecours, in Islet, on November 5, 1709.
-----------
!BIRTH-PARENTS-CHRISTENING-SPOUSE-DEATH:
L'Abbe Cyprien Tanguay, DICTIONNAIRE GENEALOGIQUE DES
FAMILLES CANADIENNE, 1608-1800; Vol 1,
p 236, Vol 4, p 67. Books
in possession of Vernon F. Parent.
Name: Julien FORTIN
BIOGRAPHY: Called Bellefontaine
Sex: M
Birth: 1621 in St-Cosme-de-Vair (St-Cosme-en-Vairais),
Maine (Sarthe), France
Death: 10 Aug
1692 in Hôtel Dieu de Québec, Québec 1
Baptism/bapteme:
9 Feb 1621 St-Cosme-de-Vair
(St-Cosme-en-Vairais), Maine (Sarthe),
France 2
Occupation: Boucher, seigneur en partie de Beaupré (1657)
Alias/autres noms: Bellefontaine
Note: Il acheta 1/8 des seigneuries de
Beaupré et de lÎe d'Orléans à Charles
de Lauzon,
le 23 aout 1657 et les revendit à Mgr. de Laval le 11
février 1662
Source: DGFQ/René Jetté, p. 431
Father: Julien FORTIN b: ABT 1600
in St-Cosme-de-Vair (St-Cosme-en-
Vairais), Maine
(Sarthe), France
Mother: Marie LAVYE b: ABT 1600
in France
Marriage
1 Geneviève GAMACHE b: 13 Oct 1636 in St-Illiers-la-Ville, com. De
Breval, Orleanais
(Yvelines), France
Married: 11 Nov
1652 in Québec, Québec 3
Note: Le mariage est enregistré au
registre de Québec mais il a été célébré à Cap-Tourmente,
Montmorency. Contrat Aubert, 23 October 1652--(Jetté, p.431)
Children
1. Barbe FORTIN b: 21 Oct 1654 in
Québec, Québec
2. Charles FORTIN b: 1656 in Château-Richer, Montmorency,
Québec
3. Eustache FORTIN b: 1659
4. Jacques FORTIN b: 12 Jan 1660
in Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec
5. Geneviève FORTIN b: 8 Apr 1662
in Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec
6. Joseph FORTIN b: 15 May 1664 in Château-Richer,
Montmorency, Québec
7. Marie-Anne FORTIN b: 1 Mar
1666 in Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec
8. Julien FORTIN b: 17 Apr 1667 in
Château-Richer, Montmorency, Québec
9. Pierre FORTIN b: 21 May 1669
10. Louis FORTIN b: 7 Mar 1671 in
Beaupré, Montmorency, Québec
11. Jean FORTIN b: 1674 in Beaupré, Montmorency, Québec
12. Marguerite FORTIN b: 28 May 1677
Sources:
1.DGFQ (dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec),
René Jetté
(1983), p. 431
2.FICHIER ORIGINE
3.LDS FILM # 1289658 - BMS de N-Dame
de Québec
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