♂François Quintal

François Quintal (baptised 24 January 1644 – 3 February 1715) was a settler of Boucherville, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence opposite Montréal, who had been born in La Rochelle, France, and came to New France as a young man. He was the eighth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his son François Quintal (1682–).

Early life

He was baptised on 24 January 1644 in the parish of Sainte-Marguerite at La Rochelle, the son of Michel Quintard and Marie Genin. His own marriage record gives his parish of origin as Saint-Sauveur, another parish of the same city. A compiled file on French emigrants to Canada, which checks its entries against the registers, describes his father as a carter who later kept a tavern, born at Salles-lès-Aulnay, the son of a master tailor; it records that Michel married three times, and that Marie Genin (or Jeunin) was the widow of Denis Fardeau when she married him at La Rochelle in July 1641. The same file dates his arrival in New France to 1662, when he was about eighteen.

Marriage and family

He married Marie Gautier at Québec, in the parish of Notre-Dame, on 17 October 1678. The register describes him as single, living at Boucherville, a native of the parish of Saint-Sauveur in the town and diocese of La Rochelle, and the son of the late Michel Quintal and the late Marie Genin; both his parents were dead by then. The bride, also single, was the daughter of Charles Gautier and the late Catherine Lecamus. The marriage was performed by Henri de Bernières, curé of Québec. The groom was then about thirty-four and had been in the colony for some sixteen years.

The census of 1681 found the couple at Boucherville, François aged 35 and Marie aged 21. Their son François was born there on 6 June 1682 and baptised the same day; he later married Marie Guertin and raised a large family at Boucherville.

Death

He died at Boucherville on 3 February 1715 and was buried there the next day; the burial register gives his age as seventy.

Notes

The spelling of the surname settled in Canada as Quintal; in La Rochelle the family was Quintard, and the 1678 marriage record already writes the father’s name as Michel Quintal. His marriage record names Saint-Sauveur as his parish, while his baptism is in the register of Sainte-Marguerite. The 1681 census age of 35 is about two years too low for a man baptised in January 1644; his burial age of seventy fits the baptism.