Gregoire DEBLOIS
Biography

The name Deblois harks back to the time of a celebrated town in France—Blois, the glorious gateway to the chateaus of the Loire, and of a saintly man, Charles de Blois, Duke of Brittany, writer and soldier, who died on the field of honor,nearby Sainte-Anne-d'Aurey, on the 29th of September,1364.Today we direct our attention to the ancestor, Gregoire Deblois, father of so many dignified descendants who bear either of his names, GREGOIRE as well as DEBLOIS.

A DIFFICULT CROSSING
It was on 3 March 1657, at La Rochelle, that Gregoire Deblois indentured himself in order to get to Canada. Notary Pierre Moreau signed him into the service of the merchants Grignon, Gaigneux and Masse, for three years' work as a prison guard in Quebec. In return, he was to get free passage and the assurance of a salary of 70 livres for each of these years. A ship named LES ARMES d'AMSTERDAM appeared inthe harbor of La Rochelle one fine day in mid-April. This 250-ton Dutchman, armed with 10 cannon and 6 blunder-busses , was chartered by her owner, Jacob Gillensen, to the three merchants named above, who then signed on aFrench crew for the passage. Captain Jean Guyonneau, underway about the 10th of April, set his sails for New France. Bad weather took charge; he lost his rudder and almost lost his ship as well. Steering by sail, stricken and belabored, he barely made port at Limerick, Ireland. After a month of refitting, the ship put to sea again, but hardly 24 hours later her seams opened. With the hull filling fast, an anchorage was made off a lee shore at Quilmar. By June 28th, repairs were once more completed; so for a third time these men set out to brave the North Atlantic. After seven storm-tossed weeks,on August 20th, the unlucky Dutch caravelle finally put into Quebec. For Gregoire Deblois, this year of 1657 would be the start of a new life.

ESTABLISHMENT
It is possible that Ancestor Deblois was a prison guard at Quebec but there is no proof of it. The next news we have of him comes on 2 February 1660, at Chateau Richer, when his name appears on the list of those confirmed by Mgr de Laval. It was on the feast day of the Purification of Mary that 173 people received the Sacrament: Gregoire was17th in line; Louis Joliet, the future discoverer of the Mississippi, is mentioned as the 132nd.

On 10 January 1661, Gregoire Deblois received a land grant from Seigneur Lauzon-Charnay, consisting of three arpents of river frontage in the Parish of Sainte-Famille d'Orleans. His neighbors were Jean Lehoux and Elie-Joseph Gaultier. He planted his first crop that spring but,on 25 July, he sold his land to Nicolas Gendron for 80 livres. Then in June of the next year, 1662, Gregoire obtained a concession of 3 arpents of river frontage from the widow d'Aillebout, who mistakenly believed that she was giving him a piece of land in Argentenay, d'Orleans. On 23 June 1664, she was supposed to have cleared this title before a notary. Here Gregoire built himself a cabin by the river shore and the census of 1667 tells us that he had 8 arpents of cleared land. On 8 March 1668, before Notary Paul Vachon at Quebec,Mgr de Laval conceded 3 arpents of river frontage to each of three men: Francois Rousseau, Francois Dupont and Gregoire Deblois. This was choice property, on the northc oast of the Isle d'Orleans facing the Church of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre across the river. In the case of Deblois, it was the same land he was already farming; the grant merely confirmed his presence and finally gave him a clear and unencumbered title.

We know that by 1681 he had 6head of cattle and 18 arpents of land. According to the Villenueve map of 1689, his neighbors were Francois Dupont and Robert Coutard; Gregoire had built a house and two barns on his property. After having spent five years getting the lay of the land,i.e. its climate, its forests, its great river full of fish, and experiencing the exigencies of farming, Gregoire thought it was high time he settle down to a solid and steady way of life. He courted Francoise, newly arrived in the country, the daughter of Robert Viger and Perrine Remillard. The Viger family was from the Parish of Doue-la-Fontaine in Anjou.The pair soon decided to get married, but first the contract! So, Gregoire Deblois, son of Francois and Marguerite Papelone, of the town Champagne-Mouton, in Poitou,took himself and his future companion to the house of the Notary Audouart, where a contract was signed on 3 August 1662. Thus did the Poitevan and Angevin, on 11 September 1662, in the Parish of Chateau Richer, unite their future days. Their own Parish of Sainte-Famille,although founded in 1661, had no church until 1669; then it was built under the direction of Father Dufrost de la Jemmerais. It was at Sainte-Famille that eight children were born and would grow up: of these eight, Joseph, Jean,Germain, Jean-Baptiste and Marie were married in the home parish; as for Reine, the wife of Xiste Lereau(L'Heureau), her marriage took place at Saint-Francois on the Isle d'Orleans.

The family suffered two bereavements: son Guillaume, baptized on 21 March 1668, was buried in April 1681, at 13years of age; son Charles Francois, born 22 October 1670 and died on 30 November 1689, at 19 years of age. His remains were taken overland, the river being not yet frozen,to the cemetery at the Hotel-Dieu, in Quebec. But there were so many family joys to erase these troubles; the marriage of the six children united Gregoire and Francoise to the families Rosseau, Dupont, L'Heureau and Pelletier as well as enlarging the circle of their friends.

DEPARTING CHRISTIAN SOULS
Work became more and more arduous for Gregoire. He was about 73 years old and his hair white with age. Around him he could count 13 lively grandchildren, each a blessing to him. However, in the fall of 1705, the bells tolled the hour of his departure and Our Ancestor left his adopted land for the eternity of Heaven. After a religious ceremony at the Church of Sainte-Famille, he was buried the 24th of November on the Isle d'Orleans. On 23 February 1706, in the home of son-in-law Xiste Lereau, Notary Etienne Jacob recorded the donation of Francoise Viger, the widow Deblois. Each child was to receive an equal share of her land, but which heir received which share was decided by lottery. "Five tickets of equal size ... the said tickets containing the name of each of the inheritors, all put in a hat, and after each drawing again shaken up." Later on that day, contracts of sale recorded by the same notary showed that the patrimony would remain with the brothers Germain and Jean and finally it would be Jean owning all of the family land. More than ten generations of his successors have lived on this farm, each adding to its history, improving the site and maintaining the fertility of the land.

As for Francoise Viger, "mater familias," she continued to live among her children at Saint-Francois on the Isle d'Orleans until—seven years after her husband's death—she too died and was buried beside him on 23 March 1712...

Laforest, Thomas J., Our French Canadian Ancestors, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, 1984

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