Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY

(b. 18 May 1629 , Québec, Canada, New France d. , Montmagny, Québec, Canada )

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Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY was born 18 May 1629 in Québec, Canada, New France

Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY was the child of Guillaume COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY and Marie-Guillemette HÉBERT and the grandchild of: (paternal) Guillaume COUILLARD and Élisabeth DE VESINS (maternal) Louis HÉBERT and Marie ROLLET

Spouse(s)/Partner(s) and Child(ren):

Louis married Geneviève DESPRÉS 29 April 1653 in Québec, Canada, New France . The couple had (at least) 6 children. Geneviève DESPRÉS was born abt. 1639 in Paris, France. Geneviève died 11 May 1706 in Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City).

Occupation: Seigneur de L'espinay

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Québec Généalogie - Over time, Québec has gone through a series of name changes
From its inception in the early 1600s until 1760, it was called Canada, New France.
1760 to 1763, it was simply Canada
1763 to 1791 - Province of Québec
1791 to 1867 - Lower Canada
1867 to present - Québec, Canada.

Thanks to Micheline Gadbois MacDonald for providing this information.

Québec Généalogie - The Seigneurial System (1627 - 1854)
The seigneurial system was a form of land settlement modeled on the French feudal system. It began in New France in 1627 with the formation of the Compagnie des Cent-Associés (or Company of 100 Associates), which was initially responsible for handing out land grants and seigneurial rights. The land was divided into five by 15 kilometer plots, usually along major rivers like the St. Lawrence. They were then further subdivided into narrow, but long lots for settlement. These lots were usually long enough to be suitable for faming, and they provided everyone who lived on them with equal access to neighbouring farms and the river. There were three main groups of people who lived off the land in this system: Seigneurs, Habitants and Engagés

Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY was a seigneur.
Seigneurs were the most important colonists, as they were usually in the military or aristocracy prior to being a settler. These seigneurs then were charged with the task of subdividing large parcels of land into five by 15 kilometer concessions, then renting this land to a habitant. Under regulations set up by the French government in France, the seigneur could also set up a court of law, set up a mill on his land and organize a commune.

Source: Canada in the Making (www.canadiana.ca/citm/index_e.html)

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Family and Children of Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY

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Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY married

Geneviève DESPRÉS-- Date: 29 April 1653 Place: Québec, Canada, New France
Notre-Dame

Children of Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY and Geneviève DESPRÉS:

Jeanne COUILLARD (b.3 June 1654, Québec, Canada, New France d. 12 July 1702, Québec, Canada, New France )
m. Paul DUPUIS 22 October 1668 in Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Charles COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY (b.6 December 1655, Québec, Canada, New France d. 17 June 1656, Québec, Canada, New France )

Jean-Baptiste COUILLARD (b.2 May 1657, Québec, Canada, New France d. 8 March 1735, Québec, Canada, New France )
m. Geneviève CHAVIGNY (CHANVIGNY) 23 October 1680 in Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis COUILLARD (b.29 November 1658, Québec, Canada, New France d. 15 May 1728, Saint-Pierre-de-l'Île-d'Orléans, Canada, New France)
m. Marie FORTIN 4 May 1688 in Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)
m. Marguerite BELANGER 7 November 1712 in L'Islet, Québec, Canada (L'Islet-sur-Mer) (Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours)
m. Marguerite FORTIN 21 June 1716 in Montmagny, Québec, Canada (Saint-Thomas) (Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire)
m. Louise NOLIN 31 January 1719 in Montmagny, Québec, Canada (Saint-Thomas) (Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire)

Geneviève COUILLARD (b.24 October 1660, Québec, Canada, New France d. 8 September 1720, Montmagny, Canada, New France )
m. Pierre DENIS 27 September 1686 in Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Jacques COUILLARD (b.5 June 1665, Québec, Canada, New France d. 23 August 1737, Montmagny, Canada, New France )
m. Elisabeth LEMIEUX 21 January 1691 in Montmagny, Québec, Canada (Saint-Thomas) (Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire)

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Discovering the Ancestry of Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY: Events, Photos & Historical Records

1629 Birth
18 May 1629
Québec, Canada, New France

Baptism
Louys Couillart
18 May 1629
Notre-Dame-de-Québec
Familysearch.org. Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) (Mormon Genealogy Records).
The French In North America: 1500-1783

Biography
COUILLARD DE LESPINAY, LOUIS, fisherman, hunter, and seigneur; b. 1629, third child and eldest son of Guillaume Couillard and Guillemette Hébert, baptized 18 May 1629 at Quebec just two months before its capture by the Kirkes; d. 1678.

He received some education from the Jesuits but early showed a liking for movement and adventure. At 17, with four lively companions of about his own age – all rascals (“tous fripons”) comments the Journal des Jésuites – he made a voyage to Old France. Never daunted by danger, he had many narrow escapes and repeatedly turned up safe and sound after rumours of his capture or death. At the age of 21 he formed an association with seven other young men, for hunting seals, an occupation which entailed months of extreme hardships on the shores of the gulf.

On 29 April 1653, he married Geneviève Després in the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec. The following year he bought half the seigneury of the Rivière-du-Sud about 30 miles below Quebec on the south...Read MORE...

Dictionary of Canadian Biography (www.biographi.ca)

1629 Baptism

Familysearch.org. Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) (Mormon Genealogy Records).
The French In North America: 1500-1783

1653 Marriage / Partner
Louis COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY and Geneviève DESPRÉS 29 April 1653, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

He was 23 years old.

1654 Birth of Child
Jeanne COUILLARD was born 3 June 1654, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 25 years old.

1655 Birth of Child
Charles COUILLARD DE L'ESPINAY was born 6 December 1655, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 26 years old.

1657 Birth of Child
Jean-Baptiste COUILLARD was born 2 May 1657, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 27 years old.

1658 Birth of Child
Louis COUILLARD was born 29 November 1658, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 29 years old.

1660 Birth of Child
Geneviève COUILLARD was born 24 October 1660, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 31 years old.

1665 Birth of Child
Jacques COUILLARD was born 5 June 1665, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

Louis was 36 years old.

1666 Quebec

Louis Couillard Sr. de Lespinay .............34 bourgeois
Geneviefve Desprez ..........................27 sa femme
Jeanne Couillard ............................12 fille
Jean baptiste Couillard ......................8 fils
Louis Couillard ..............................7 fils
Geneviefve Couillard .........................6 fille
Jacques Couillard ............................1 fils
Et pierre Cretel ............................25 Cordonnier Engaigé
The first census of New France (1666)
The French In North America: 1500-1783

Added: 8/28/2010 3:52:56 PM - Updated: 12/17/2015 10:21:58 AM