Page 20 - Fortier Family History

Antoine Fortier's father Noël Fortier died 30 March 1683 and was buried at the cemetery in St-Laurent. He apparently never remarried and probably resided with his son Antoine's family in that parish. Burial of Noël Fortier, 1683 By 1693, Antoine Fortier became master and owner of a barge called La Sainte-Anne (of 25 tons displacement). A transaction recorded before a notary on 12 January of that year described an agreement to make three journeys with his barge and crew from Québec to Papinachois (about 200 miles down the St-Lawrence River) and to Chicoutimi (up the Saguenay River about 65 miles from Tadoussac). This is probably typical of the type of work that Antoine did to make a living. Antoine Fortier apparently died during one such expedition. On 11 October 1708 (Notary Jacob), an inventory of his estate states that he died near Papinachois "during the last Feast of Pentecost". This places his death at around 12 June 1707. La Sainte-Anne, the inventory shows, was later put up for sale by his nephew and major heirs. At the time of Antoine's death, his eleven surviving children ranged in age from eight to twenty-eight years. The two oldest children (Marie Madeleine and Antoine) had already married. By 1709 (the year of the cadastral map above), several of his older children, Marie Madeleine (wife of Gervais Pepin dit Lachance), Michel, Antoine, and Jean Baptiste, lived on rotures in nearby St-Jean parish. Antoine, Sr.'s roture was occupied, at that time, by his widow and their other children. In order to have a farm with enough acreage to sustain the new families, most of the children, as they grew up, had to find land elsewhere.