Louis HOUDE dit DESROCHERS
Biography

From Rootsweb.com -- "Note: Louis Houde, son of Noel Houde and Anne Lefebvre was born in 1617 in Manou, diocese of Chartres in the county of Perche, now the department of Eure et Loire. He arrived in New France in 1647 and worked for at least three years in the household of the Seigneur Noel Juchereau de Chastelles. He quickly acquired land in Saint-Augustin, in Québec City (where the Grand-Allee is now) and in the Seigneury of Sillery. He married Madeleine Boucher on January 12, 1655 in her father's home at Chateau-Richer. Madeleine--daughter of Marin Boucher and Perrine Mallet--was fourteen years old. Within the next two years Louis acquired new farms in Beaupré and on the Ile d'Orleans. In 1658, the family was established on land with a frontage of four arpents (about 767 feet) along the river and extending into the island. They remained there over the twenty four years that saw the birth of thirteen of their fourteen children. (For most of the history of French Canada, land was held by "Seigneurs" or land-lords who received rents from those who held leases which were bought, sold and passed to heirs much like deeds.) As the children began to establish their own homesteads, the farm was obviously too small. Consequently, the family moved to Sainte-Croix de Lotbiniere (above Québec on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence) on a huge holding acquired from the Ursuline of Québec. The sons each had their own holding and some of them took surnames reflecting the characteristics of their land: Desrochers (stony), Desruisseaux (with brooks), Bellefeuille (with trees). Louis Houde was obviously successful in his business dealings and by way of philanthropy donated the land for the first church of Sainte-Croix. Although all records are lost, it is thought that Louis Houde died in 1712 at the age of 95. (His wife lived on to an equally venerable age.) The descendants of Louis Houde and Madeleine Boucher are now found throughout Canada and in many areas of the United States. (Gerard Houde, Woonsocket, RI) Information on deaths, births and marriages for this family is taken from PRDH Certificate # 917."



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