FRANÇOIS NAU -THE ANCESTOR

IMPORTANT STEPS OF HIS LIFE

·          IN FRANCE (1646 - 1666) 

·         IN NEW FRANCE (1666 - 1676)

·         A STOP AT AUX ECUREUILS (1677-1687)

·         AT DESCHAMBAULT (1687 - 1709)

·         FEW DOCUMENTS AND PICTURES

 

Imaginary picture - François NAU

 

IN FRANCE ( 1646-1666 )


Traces of NAUs in FRANCE disappear in the 16th Century. The center of the original patrimony seems to be located in west-central France. From there diffusion to various regions and countries of Europe occurred.

It is in this region, in the small village of TURQUANT, which is located in the ancient French province of Anjou, that our ancestor François Nau, son of Jean Nau, wine maker, was born in 1646.

Turquant still exists. It is located on the southern edge of the Loire a few miles east of Saumur. It is a pleasant village of wine makers that Richard NAUD revives in this album of photographs taken June 24, 2014 where we see its town square full of large trees and its church dating back to the 15th Century. It is in this church dedicated to Saint-Aubin, an ancient bishop of Angers, that François was baptized on Sunday 14 January 1646.

Jean, François' father, died on January 11, 1656 of an "oppression of the chest". His mother, Urbanne Marie Pillet, died on October 21, 1657. What happened then to François, and to his sister Madeleine who was baptized on 25 October 1648? They were orphans aged 11 and 10 respectively. Were they adopted by relatives or friends? In what conditions did they live? We do not know anything of this period, but we do know that, at the age of 20, François decided to leave his birthplace to settle in New-France.

In 1666, he boarded the sail boat Le Saint Jean-Baptiste with 34 other passengers and 35 crew members. The ship, piloted by Captain Pierre Fillye, sailed for the new world from the port of LA ROCHELLE on 17 May 1666.

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IN NEW-FRANCE (1666-1676)


On 11 August 1666, the sailing ship Le Saint-Jean-Baptiste anchored opposite Quebec at the mouth of the Saint-Charles River.

François Nau disembarked and left immediately by canoe for the Manor of Lotinville with his master Bertrand Chesnay de la Garenne. There was no road and no bridge over the Montmorency River. Having reached Ange-Gardien, he had to paddle up the Petit-Pré River, also called Lotinville River, up to the embankment in front of the Manor of the Seigneur de Lotinville.

It is here, at the Manor, that Francois became a servant or hired hand with eight other colleagues. They contributed to making the domain one of the most beautiful of the Beaupré region. The domain measured 6 arpents (350 meters or 1200 feet) wide. Bernard Chestnay was one of the most prosperous bourgeois of the colony.

The second farm to the east belonged to the Jobidon Family. Marguerite, who was only 5 years old when François arrived, would become his wife. She was fifteen when they married at Château-Richer on 20 July 1676.

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A STOP AT "AUX ÉCUREUILS"(1677-1687)


On 17 March 1678, the Seigneur Jean Toupin, Sieur Du Sault, cedes, before Notary Gilles Rageot, a farm of 3 arpents (175 meters) by 40 (2338 meters), in the seigneurie recently created under the name of Bélair dite la Pointe-aux-Ecureuils, to François Nau. His two friends, Pierre Groleau and Pierre Grenon, each obtained a concession.

François's concession is adjacent and west of the seigniorial domain. The domain measured 7.8 arpents from the river by 40 arpents. It was located across the church of Les Ecureuils and the road of the manor that leads to the river. The manor was situated close to the cliff across from the church. François's farm was to the west of the current rue du Couvent.

François erected a first house with narrow windows and logs squared by ax. Then, in 1679, he settled his wife, Marguerite Jobidon, and his son François, in their new home. The oldest son, Jean, had died soon after birth in 1677. All his children, up to 1687, the year his wife Marguerite died of typhus, were born in this house. His last child, Michel, had died shortly before her own death. Marguerite was 26 when she died. The children that survived their mother include François (8 years), Geneviève (5 years), Marguerite-Ursule (3 years) and Jean-François (22 months). Marguerite, the mother, was buried on 27 November 1687 in Neuville Cemetery.

It is here in Neuville, 8 months later on 1 July 1688, that François, then 42 years, married his second wife Marie-Thérèse Chaillé, 21 years and a native of Beauport. They had nine children.

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DESCHAMBAULT (1687-1709)


After the death of his first wife, Marguerite Jobidon, François Nau moved to Deschambault. Even before his second marriage at Neuville, he is listed in the Census as living in the Seigneurie de Deschambault. He is said to be a widower with 4 young children. He is the owner of a building and has Pierre Groleau and Antoine Bussière as neighbors.

On the 3rd of May 1696, Seigneur Jacques-Alexis de Fleury Deschambault cedes officially to François Nau a farm of 3 arpents by 30 and another to his son, François, who will be 17 at the end of the month. .

A few years later, François Nau, father, moved a little further to the west on a new farm granted on 8 August 1704 by François Chavigny, Sieur de la Chevrotière. This plot of land measured 3 arpents by 40 and was located next to the seigniorial domain of La Chevrotière and the new St-Antoine Chapel. He started again clearing his new land. It is on this farm that François passed away at the age of 63. He was buried on 20 March 1709 in the small cemetery of the St-Antoine Chapel.

 

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Last modified April 5, 2015