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Robert Lévesque & Jeanne Chevalier

Discover the story of Robert Lévesque, a master carpenter from Normandy, and Jeanne Chevalier, a Fille du roi, who helped found Rivière-Ouelle in New France. Their lives shaped one of the colony’s earliest settlements.

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Robert Lévesque & Jeanne Chevalier

A master carpenter and a Fille du roi in Rivière-Ouelle

 

Robert Lévesque (or Lévèque), son of Pierre Lévesque and Marie Caumont, was baptized on September 3, 1642, in Hautot-Saint-Sulpice, Normandy, France. His godfather was Robert Lévesque, and his godmother, Anne Gontier. Located around 35 kilometres northeast of Rouen, Hautot-Saint-Sulpice is now part of the Seine-Maritime département. It is a small rural community with fewer than 700 inhabitants, known as Hautotais. [Robert's surname appears in genealogical documents as Lévèque and Lévesque, but he signed Levesque].

1642 baptism of Robert Lévèque (Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime)

Location of Hautot-Saint-Sulpice in France (Mapcarta)

Saint-Sulpice Catholic Church in Hautot-Saint-Sulpice, circa 1905–1910 (postcard, Geneanet)

Hautot-Saint-Sulpice, 1900 (postcard, Geneanet)

Hautot-Saint-Sulpice, 1945 (postcard, Geneanet)

Arrival in New France

The exact date of Robert's arrival in New France is unknown, but he was documented there in 1674. He may have arrived on July 17, 1671, aboard Le Saint-Jean-Baptiste with Jean-Baptiste François Deschamps, the future seigneur of La Bouteillerie, departing from Dieppe.

 

“At the end of June 1671, the three hundred tonne ship Le Saint-Jean-Baptiste set sail again for Canada. It carried the Sieur de La Bouteillerie, a young gentleman from the Pays de Caux, with two carpenters, two masons and four labourers to clear the land that the King had given him, up to a thousand arpents. It also carried one hundred men, one hundred and twenty girls, fifty sheep and ewes, twenty donkeys, draperies, blankets and many other things for human use and living.”

 

Robert is believed to have been one of the two carpenters. He would have been 28 years old at the time.

After their arrival, Deschamps abandoned his first land grant due to the threat of Iroquois attacks. In October 1672, he obtained a new seigneurie from Intendant Jean Talon in a more favourable and less threatened location: the future site of Rivière-Ouelle. Deschamps and his workforce moved there. Over the following years, Robert and his companions cleared the land and helped build the seigneurial manor.

Land at Rivière-Ouelle

On November 10, 1674, Robert received his own land grant at Rivière-Ouelle. Deschamps, the seigneur of La Bouteillerie, granted him “twelve arpents of land facing the Hoüel River by thirty arpents deep.” The land was bounded by the river, uninhabited land, and that of Galeran Boucher. Robert also received a parcel of land three arpents wide and six arpents deep in “the meadows of the place called la grande anse, with fishing rights for salmon [...] at the place called la pointe du sudouest [the southwest point].”

Robert agreed to pay his seigneur six live capons for the first plot of land, 20 sols for the second, one twentieth of all salmon caught, and 15 sols in cens for the entire concession. These payments were due annually on the feast day of Saint Martin. He also agreed to have his grain milled at the seigneurial mill once it was built.

Robert Lévesque’s signature in 1674

Current satellite view of Rivière-Ouelle, showing evidence of the old seigneurial system (Mapcarta)

Robert also worked as a carpenter at the Séminaire de Québec as of July 6, 1675, earning a salary of two hundred livres.

Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier (or Lechevalier), daughter of Jean Alexandre Jacques Chevalier (or Le Chevalier) and Marguerite [Scorinan, Scoman, or Scorban?], was born around 1644, either in the parish of Saint-Jacques in Dieppe or the parish of Saint-Nicolas in the bishopric of Coutances. Both of these places are located in the former province of Normandy.   

Jeanne Marguerite left her homeland in 1671 to seek better opportunities in New France, probably aboard the ship Le Prince Maurice. She was one of the Filles du roi.

An overly romanticized portrait of the Filles du roi arriving at Québec ("Women coming to Quebec in 1667, in order to be married to the French-Canadian farmers," watercolour by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, Wikimedia Commons)

Jeanne Marguerite's first marriage

A few months after her arrival in Québec, Jeanne Marguerite married Guillaume Lecanteur dit Latour. She was about 27 years old. Her husband, an habitant of La Durantaye, was about 25. Notary Romain Becquet drew up their marriage contract on October 11, 1671. The contract followed the standards of the Coutume de Paris.

 

The Coutume de Paris (Custom of Paris) governed the transmission of family property in New France. When a couple married, whether or not they had a contract, they were subject to the community of goods: all property acquired during the marriage by either spouse became part of the shared estate. Upon the death of one parent, the community property was divided equally among the children. The surviving spouse retained half, while the other half was distributed equally among the children. Upon the death of the surviving spouse, their half was also divided among the children. Inventories were drawn up following each death to account for all assets.

Guillaume endowed his future wife with a douaire préfix of 300 livres—the share of property reserved for the wife should she survive her husband. For her part, Jeanne Marguerite contributed goods worth 300 livres to the community. She also received 50 livres “that His Majesty gave her in consideration of her marriage,” as a Fille du roi.

The couple married eight days later, on October 19, 1671, in the parish of Notre-Dame in Québec.

1671 marriage of Jeanne Marguerite and Guillaume (Généalogie Québec)

They had three children: Nicolas (1672-1692), Charles Nicolas (1675-1699), and an anonymous child born in 1678. Guillaume Lecanteur dit Latour died around 1678.  

 

Widowhood and remarriage

In the challenging environment of New France and 18th-century Canada, marriages lasting more than twenty years were uncommon. Upon the death of a spouse, it was often essential for the surviving partner to remarry swiftly. Most families were large, making the task of raising children alone particularly daunting. Widows faced greater difficulty than widowers in finding a new spouse, often having many children and limited financial resources. However, younger widows had a better chance of remarrying. On average, widows remarried within three years, while widowers typically found new wives within two years. In the colony’s earliest days, circumstances were slightly different: before 1680, about half of all widows and widowers remarried within a year of their spouse’s death.  

Marriage of Robert Lévesque and Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier

Notary Paul Vachon drew up the marriage contract between Robert and Jeanne Marguerite on April 21, 1679, in the home of Charles Letartre in L’Ange-Gardien. Robert, a 36-year-old maître charpentier (master carpenter), could sign his name; Jeanne Marguerite, aged about 35, could not. As usual, the contract followed the norms of the Coutume de Paris. This time, Robert signed with the addition of a mark—possibly a carpenter’s square—representing his trade.

Robert Lévesque’s signature in 1679

The next day, before the religious ceremony, Jeanne Marguerite again appeared before notary Vachon. In a notarial deed, she renounced the community property resulting from her marriage to Guillaume Lecanteur dit Latour. It appears that her first husband’s debts exceeded their assets. The deed included a short inventory of the community property, valued at 40 livres:

  • A pot without a lid and a spoon

  • An old, worn-out copper pail and a copper frying pan

  • A small lockable chest containing a silk justaucorps belonging to the deceased

  • Five silk shirts belonging to the deceased

  • The rest of the deceased’s clothing "were mostly lost where he died and [illegible] to have him buried”

  • An old axe and two old hoes

  • Three old blankets

  • Three towels and a tablecloth     

Robert and Jeanne Marguerite were married on April 22, 1679, at L'Ange-Gardien.

1679 marriage of Robert and Jeanne Marguerite (Généalogie Québec)

The couple settled on Robert’s land in Rivière-Ouelle. They had at least six children, only three of whom reached adulthood:

  1. François Robert (1680–1765)

  2. Pierre Joachim (1682–1759)

  3. Joseph (1684–1755), the first child baptized at Rivière-Ouelle

  4. Jean Baptiste (1686–1687)

  5. Jean Baptiste (1688–1688)

  6. Marie Anne (1690–1690)

Life at the seigneurie

Robert and Jeanne Marguerite appeared in the 1681 census of New France, in the seigneurie of La Bouteillerie (Rivière-Ouelle), with their three children: Nicolas and Charles, from Jeanne Marguerite’s first marriage, and two-year-old François Robert. Robert was listed as a carpenter. He owned four guns, eleven head of cattle, and ten arpents of “valuable” land (i.e., cleared or cultivated). The census also listed the household of the seigneur of La Bouteillerie, Jean-Baptiste François Deschamps, as well as those of neighbours Jean Boucher (a wheelwright) and Jacques Thiboutot (a baker).

 

1681 census of New France for the Lévesque family (Library and Archives Canada)

 

On October 23, 1682, Robert Lévesque, Michel Bouchard, and Pierre Dancosse, habitants of the seigneurie of La Bouteillerie, asked notary Gilles Rageot to draw up a surveying contract with Jean Rouge, master surveyor for the city of Québec. Rouge agreed to produce a survey of the habitations located in the seigneurie. The three men acted on behalf of all local residents.  

A year later, Robert enlarged his land holdings. On July 29, 1683, he received another land grant from seigneur Jean-Baptiste François Deschamps, at La Bouteillerie. This parcel measured twelve arpents of frontage on the Ouelle River by forty arpents in depth and was located between the lands of Galeran Boucher and Thomas Langlois. It also included hunting rights. Robert agreed to pay twelve sols of rent and six live capons annually.

Heros of Rivière-Ouelle

In August 1690, Sir William Phips left Boston with a fleet of 32 ships and 2,000 men with the aim of seizing Quebec and pillaging the surrounding villages. Rivière-Ouelle was the first major village targeted. Governor Frontenac had ordered the Canadian militia to defend both banks of the river. In Rivière-Ouelle, the abbé de Francheville took the initiative and rallied the habitants to organize the defence of the village and Grande-Anse.

According to abbé Henri-Raymond Casgrain, Phips’s fleet dropped anchor off Rivière-Ouelle, and several boats rowed ashore. Francheville’s men, hiding in the forest, waited for the enemy. When they disembarked, the Canadians opened fire, killing and wounding several soldiers. Taken by surprise, the attackers quickly retreated to their ships.

Robert Lévesque is considered one of the “heroes of Rivière-Ouelle,” along with his stepsons Nicolas and Charles Lecanteur. When Phips reached Quebec, his troops were exhausted and short of ammunition. They were repelled by French and Canadian forces. At the end of October, Phips retreated toward Boston, marking the failure of his expedition.

"The defence of Québec by Mr. de Frontenac" (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

A major landowner in Rivière-Ouelle

On August 11, 1692, Robert and Jeanne Marguerite purchased land and “half of a point of land” located in Rivière-Ouelle from Joseph Regnauld [Renaud] and his wife, Marie Lehoux. The sale included “land and a dwelling containing twelve arpents of frontage located at Riviere Ouelle by forty-two arpents in depth.” The neighbouring lands belonged to René Hoylet [Ouellet] and Damien Bérubé. The couple also acquired “half of a point of land located at the aforementioned Riviere oüelle with all that it may contain,” including a house and farm buildings. 

For the twelve arpents, Robert and Jeanne Marguerite agreed to pay six livres and six live capons (or twenty sols per capon) in seigneurial rent per year on the feast day of Saint Martin, and twelve sols in cens. For the other plot of land, the couple promised to pay three livres and three live capons in rent, and six sols in cens. The sale price was 2,195 livres, which they paid in full over the following two years. With this transaction, Robert and Jeanne Marguerite became one of the largest landowners in the region.

Land donations and family tragedies

A few weeks later, on September 25, 1692, Robert and Jeanne Marguerite gave Nicolas Lecanteur, son of Jeanne Marguerite and her first husband, land in Rivière-Ouelle. The purpose of this gift was to “facilitate his advancement and settlement.” This was the twelve arpents of land purchased the previous month. Unfortunately, Nicolas was unable to benefit from it: he died five weeks later, on November 1, 1692, of unknown causes. The land then reverted to the community of Robert and Jeanne Marguerite.

Nicolas’s death was the fourth in the family in as many years. Robert and Jeanne Marguerite had lost their sons Jean-Baptiste and Jean-Baptiste in 1687 and 1688, probably victims of the smallpox epidemic that struck New France. Their daughter Marie Anne died in 1690, ten days after her birth, of unknown causes.

On October 11, 1698, Robert and Jeanne Marguerite donated the same land to Charles Nicolas Lecanteur, another son of Jeanne Marguerite from her first marriage. In a tragic case of history repeating itself, Charles Nicolas died less than a year later, on October 5, 1699. Once again, the land reverted to the community of Robert and Jeanne Marguerite.

Death of Robert Lévesque

Robert Lévesque died at the age of 57 on September 11, 1699. He was buried two days later in the Notre-Dame-de-Liesse parish cemetery in Rivière-Ouelle.

1699 burial of Robert Lévesque (Généalogie Québec)

Third marriage of Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier

On April 5, 1701, Jeanne Marguerite married Jean-Baptiste François Deschamps, the seigneur of Rivière-Ouelle, in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse in Rivière-Ouelle. Jeanne Marguerite was 57 at the time; her third husband was of a similar age. Deschamps was the widower of Catherine Gertrude Macart, who died in 1681.

1701 marriage of Jeanne Marguerite and Jean Baptiste François (Généalogie Québec)

Inventory of the property of Robert Lévesque and Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier

At the request of Jean-Baptiste François Deschamps, notary Michel Lepailleur de LaFerté drew up an inventory of the community property of Jeanne Marguerite and Robert on March 24, 1702. Jean-Baptiste François was acting as the guardian of the couple's minor children: François, Joachim, and Joseph. The eleven-page document listed the household's movable and immovable property and livestock, along with their estimated value. [The list below is partial, as several words are illegible.]

The kitchen included: a rack [chimney hook or hot hanger], a large fire shovel, two cooking pots with lids and spoons, a small pot (broken in two places) with its lid, an iron hotplate or brazier, a large frying pan, an old grill with spits, six pails (most of them copper), a yellow copper colander, steel forks, a small pepper mill, two old wooden buckets, thirty-seven terrines, a lantern, a table and six chairs of cherry and pine wood, two irons, a pinewood cupboard with four lockable panels and two drawers, four lockable wooden chests, two small hutches, and seven dishes of various sizes, thirteen plates, an old pot, an old goblet and thirty spoons, all of pewter.

Robert Lévesque's carpentry tools (artificial intelligence image created by the author with ChatGPT)

Tools included : three axes, a saw and an old, long, handsaw, two scissors, a plane (wood shaving tool), four old files, two hammers, two jointer planes, a grooving plane and a shoulder plane, two pairs of grooving or rabbet planes (used for making joints), one axe, six chains, an old ploughshare and hook, three hoes, two pitchforks and an iron hook, two razors and a honing stone, a chimney bar (for hanging pots), an iron lamp, a pair of cowbells or sleighbells, two small bells, an old hoisting rope for timber framing, planks of wood, pine timber for 600 madriers (thick planks or beams), and a barrel of lime.

Weapons included six old firearms and an old carbine.

In the bedrooms were: a canvas-covered feather bed with a bolster, two curtains, three old blankets (one green and two white), an old canvas bolster, four old dog-hair blankets, another blanket, an old bearskin, seventeen beaver [illegible], and a furnished bed "which is the one used by the said Dame Chevallier, consisting of [illegible words] a feather bed with its bolster, two small pillows, which we did not deem necessary to estimate and which has only been included in the present inventory for greater accuracy.”

Among the clothing and linens: twelve men’s shirts, a coat, four tablecloths, eighteen towels of varying sizes, six linen bed sheets, and two pairs of shoes.

In the stable were eight cows, a two-year-old bull, two calves "from last year," two red-haired oxen, four large work oxen, two other young oxen (one red and white, the other black), six pigs, an old pair of broken wheels, and thirty-three aunes of canvas [1 aune ≈ 1.2 metres].

Food stocks inlcuded twenty-seven minots of wheat, fifteen minots of oats, twenty minots of peas, one barrel of lard, two empty barrels, and two half-barrels. [A minot was a measure once used for dry matter (seeds and flour) and which contained half of a mine. A mine corresponded to approximately 78.73 litres.]

The inventory also included 306 livres in cash, the couple's debts (totalling 511 livres), their land, their houses, and important documents.

The half-timbered house in which Jean-Baptiste François, Jeanne Marguerite, and their children were living measured forty-two feet long by twenty-three feet wide and was valued at 1,500 livres. 

The straw-roofed frame barn measuring forty feet by twenty feet was estimated at 400 livres. The straw-covered timber-framed stable measuring thirty by eighteen feet was valued at 250 livres. On the same land stood an old house measuring twenty feet by eighteen feet, covered with floorboards, appraised at 60 livres.

The marriage of Jeanne Marguerite and Jean-Baptiste François lasted only a few years. He died on December 15, 1703, and was buried the next day inside Notre-Dame-de-Liesse church in Rivière-Ouelle.

Jeanne Marguerite's last wishes

On June 20, 1711, Jeanne Marguerite and her sons François Robert, Pierre Joachim, and Joseph sold an habitation to Jacques Bois for the sum of 100 livres. The land, located at L’Anse-aux-Iroquois in the seigneurie of La Bouteillerie, measured four arpents of frontage on the St. Lawrence River.

Jeanne's last will and testament (artificial intelligence image created by the author with ChatGPT)

On January 30, 1713, Jeanne Marguerite dictated her last will and testament to notary Étienne Jeanneau. The document contained all the usual wording regarding her state of mind and her wishes as a “good Christian woman.” She asked to be buried in the church of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse “without any pomp or funeral ceremony and with the least expense that could be incurred.” She ordered that masses be said for the repose of her soul, as well as for that of her second husband Robert Lévesque and her deceased children.

She bequeathed the following sums to churches in the region:

  • 30 livres to the church of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse

  • 10 livres to the church of Saint-Louis in Kamouraska

  • 20 livres to the church of Bon-Secours in L’Islet

  • 20 livres to the church of Sainte-Anne in Beaupré

  • 10 livres to the church of Château-Richer 

  • 20 livres to the church of L’Ange-Gardien

  • 10 livres to the church of Saint-Thomas in Montmagny

  • 10 livres to the church of Saint-Michel in Sillery

She also gave a brand-new chest to her granddaughter Jeanne, daughter of François Robert.

Death of Jeanne Marguerite

Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier died on November 24, 1716, at the age of about 72. She was buried the next day in the parish cemetery of Notre-Dame-de-Liesse in Rivière-Ouelle. The burial record indicates that she was about 78 years old.

1716 burial of Jeanne Chevalier (Généalogie Québec)

Founders of Rivière-Ouelle

The lives of Robert Lévesque and Jeanne Chevalier offer a window into the formative years of New France. He arrived as a skilled carpenter and became a respected landowner; she crossed the Atlantic as a Fille du roi and, through three marriages and many hardships, helped lay the foundations of a lasting legacy. Their story is one of resilience, adaptation, and quiet determination. As early settlers of Rivière-Ouelle, they not only shaped their own family’s future but also contributed to the growth of a community that still bears the imprint of its founding families.

Commemorative plaque at the town hall of Hautot-Saint-Sulpice (photo by Havang(nl), Wikimedia Commons CC0)

Entrance to Hautot-Saint-Sulpice (photo by Havang(nl), Wikimedia Commons CC0)

 

Memorial at Rivière-Ouelle cemetery (photo by Gayle Lambert, used with permission)

 
 
 
Robert Lévesque & Jeanne Chevalier (article in PDF format)
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