ELEVENTH GENERATION

1976. Robert BOULAY dit Boulet @ was born about 1631. He died on 24 Mar 1707 in Montmagny, Montmagny, P.Quebec. He was buried on 25 Mar 1707 in Montmagny, Montmagny, P.Quebec. <From "Our French Canadian-Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest. vol.15 pg.42-52>

Robert Boulay would have been born about 1630, according to information available in Canada. He said he was from Saint-Germain de Loise, a small locality now part of the developed area of Mortagne-au-Perche, department of the Orne and diocese of Sees. The names of his father and mother are unknown. However, the archives of Mortagne inform us that the Boullays were represented at Loise for a long time: Robert, a drapery weaver, and Vincent. At Mortagne itself, there was Louis, a cobbler; Jean, a tanner; and Robert, a master serge-maker.

In 1662 there was a dreadful famine. Some parish registers mention "death from starvation". A traveling missionary in Perche in 1663 recounts that "the weakest of the workers had abandoned everything, their servants had become beggars". Robert was living during this disasterous time. He had heard talk of New France, which for a quarter-century had attracted many Percherons. The godfather of their daughter Jacquine had been Jean Juchereau, Sieur de LaFerte, a very influential person in Canada.

In the spring of 1662, Robert Boulay borrowed 20 livres from Charles Turgeon, to buy articles essential to life and paid his passage to La Rochelle. After arriving at the port with his wife and their little daughter on 23 June 1662, Robert met with his creditor Turgeon who required a paper signed by the notary Moreau as a guarantee of his loan consented to verbally. Among the passengers, it was necessary to help each other, but prudently. By 8 November of that year, Robert Boulay had paid back the amount that he had borrowed.

In 1661 Pierre Boucher returned to Paris to demonstrate to the King the urgent needs of the colonists and soldiers of New France. He was listened to with kindness. In June 1662, one hundred soldiers and one hundred workers were at the Bay of Chefdebaye, near La Rochelle. His Majesty had chartered two ships: the 300 ton l'Aigle d'Or, commanded by Captain Nicolas Gargot, and the Saint-Jean-Baptiste. About 300 passengers, including Robert Boulay and his family, came to Canada aboard these two ships. No document, however, tells us the date of departure. Furthermore, the passenger list of each ship has not been discovered.

It was a long and very difficult passage in which the immigrants had to suffer hunger and thirst. Pierre Boucher stated on 17 October 1663 that he had lost 33 workers at sea or since their arrival.

By the 1650's the Ile d'Orleans was the land of promise for many of the immigrants. It was also the cradle of a great number of French-Canadian families, in particular the Boulays. Where did the Boulay family spend the winter after their arrival? No one has an answer. but in 1663 Charles de Lauzon-Charny verbally ceded 3 arpents of front land to Robert Boulay. A copy of the contract notarized by Paul Vachon on 6 March 1664 attests to this fact.

The census of 1666 shows that Robert, 36 years old, Francoise Garnier, 36 years old, and their 3 children lived on the island; the census of 1667 details their livestock: 5 head of cattle; their cleared land: 6 arpents. A success for that time.

On 22 June 1667 Robert acquired a concession at Saint-Jean. On 22 February 1669 Msgr de Laval gave him the deed to the property. During these two years, Robert had begun to clear his new lot. On 25 November 1670, he sold his property at Sainte-Famille to Jean-Galleran Boucher, an inhabitant of the Beaupre Coast. Sale price: 400 livres, including 165 paid on the spot.

Robert Boulay had lived on the north side of the island; he had worked on the south side. Wouldn't it be good now to open land on the south bank which was more attractive with its virgin forests and abundant wild game? On 19 November 1675, Pierre Mourier acquired Boulay's 3 arpents of frontage at Saint-Jean. Robert pocketed 165 livres and his wife Francoise Garnier received a pair of French shoes worth 5 livres. The sale was signed at Beauport by the notary Vachon, in the presence of Michel Huppe and Jean Crete. If Robert did not know how to write, he did know how to conduct business!

Robert feared improvising as much as immobility. Before leaving the Ile d'Orleans, he received in the name of his son Jacques, 3 arpents of frontage at the Pointe-a-la-Caille (Montmagny). This concession was dated 19 June 1674. At 45 years of age, Robert rolled up his shirt sleeves and again began to work hard with axe and pick.

In 1681, Boulay was indeed living in the seigneurie of Riviere-de-Sud with his wife and children. He owned 1 gun, 5 arpents under cultivation, and 6 head of cattle on his farm. Son-in-law Pierre Joncas lived only a few arpents from his father-in-law. For nearly a quarter-century, Ancestor Boulay applied himself to this land at Montmagny, and even enlarged his domain; this time without looking elsewhere.

If the Boulay parents did not know how to write, they did value education. They sent their daughter Jacquine, in Canada called Jacqueline, to study with the Ursulines of Quebec. He was married to Francoise GRENIER @ about 1658 in of St-Germain-de-Loise, Mortagne, Perche, France.

1977. Francoise GRENIER @ was born in 1630. She died on 28 Jan 1709 in Montmagny, Montmagny, P.Quebec. She was buried on 29 Jan 1709 in Montmagny, Montmagny, P.Quebec. Children were:

i. Jacquine BOULAY was born in 1659. She was baptised on 10 Apr 1659 in Loise.
988 ii. Jacques BOULAY @.
500 iii. Martin BOULAY dit Boulet @.