M. (1) 5 Nov 1662 in Quebec City, New France2
Wife: Marie Chalifour
M. (2) 16 Jun 1669 in Quebec City, New France3
Wife: Anne-Charlotte Petit
D. 30 Jun 1690 in Saint-Pierre, Île d'Orleans, New France4
Joachim Martin was like many of the men who populated New France: he started out as an indentured servant and made a life for himself when his service ended. He was born about 1636 in Aytré, France to Jacques Martin and Luce Chaslut.1 Aytré was a village on the coastline just south of La Rochelle, a major seaport for ships coming and going to New France. Joachim’s mother died when he was a young boy and his father remarried. The family moved into La Rochelle by 1649.5
On April 11, 1656, Joachim signed a contract to become a laborer in New France.1 The agreement said he was to receive the sum of 75 livres per year for three years. He boarded the ship Le Taureau on April 30th along with 30 other indentured men; the crossing took about six weeks, arriving at Quebec City on June 15th.6 Typically, Joachim would have been assigned to work for someone doing labor for their farm, household, or business, but no record survives of who he might have worked for.
Joachim's 1656 labor agreement.
After his term of service was up in February 1660, Joachim bought a farm in L’Ange-Gardien on the Beaupré Coast, but cancelled his purchase the following day.1 He may have at this point signed another contract of servitude. There was a shortage of women in New France, and on November 5, 1662, Joachim married a 13 year-old girl named Marie Chalifour at Notre-Dame de Quebec.2 Her father, Paul Chalifour, offered to build the couple a house 18 by 16 feet, and he promised to feed them “until All-Saints’ Day 1663,”1 but Marie died within the year.7 In 1664, Joachim settled on the Île d’Orleans; he was listed in 1667 as having 9 arpents of land under cultivation.8
Joachim married a second wife, Anne-Charlotte Petit on June 16, 1669 in Quebec City.3 Between 1671 and 1689, they had eight children. The family lived on Ile d’Orleans until 1680 when Joachim signed a 3-year sharecropping lease under Pierre Denis.1 The deal offered workable land with 6 arpents of river frontage in La Canardiére. The land had “a habitable house, barn, stable yards [and] garden.” Joachim was required to share half of his crops with Denis.
The 1681 census shows that Joachim owned a gun and 10 head of cattle, with 15 arpents under cultivation.9 In 1683, he was hired by a wealthy woman in Quebec City, Anne Auber, to deliver building materials for her new house; he was paid by the boatload.1 By 1685, Joachim and his family returned to Île d’Orleans, to the parish of Saint-Pierre, where his last two children were born.10,11 The house where the family of 10 lived measured 24 by 18 feet.1
Joachim's land in Saint-Pierre.
In 1690, Joachim spent 9 days in the hospital at Quebec City, but returned home, and he died on June 30, 1690 at the age of 54.4 His wife Anne remarried twice and outlived all of her husbands, dying on March 3, 1736 in St-Augustin, New France.12 They were ancestors of Ricky Gervais and Matt LeBlanc.
Children (all by Anne-Charlotte Petit):
1. Louis Martin — B. 12 Jun 1671, Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, New France;13 D. 24 May 1749, Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere, New France;14 M. Louise-Angelique Ratté (1680-1749), 12 Jan 1700, St-Pierre, Ile d’Orleans, New France15
2. Marie-Anne Martin — B. 4 Apr 1673, Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, New France;16 D. 6 Feb 1709, Riviére-Ouelle, New France;17 M. Pierre Roy (~1669-1734), 12 Feb 1691, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France18
3. Marguerite Martin — B. 6 Jan 1675, Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, New France;19 D. 14 Nov 1751, Quebec City, New France;20 M. (1) Jean-Pierre Jollet (~1670-?), 18 Feb 1692, St-Laurent, Île d’Orleans, New France;21 (2) Henri Rémi Picoron (1677-1746), 9 Feb 1705, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France22
4. Marie-Angelique Martin — B. 4 Mar 1678, Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, New France;23 D. 9 Nov 1758, St-Pierre, Île d'Orleans, New France;24 M. (1) Pierre Chantal dit Lafleur (~1667-1707), 12 Jan 1696, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;25 (2) Pierre Chatigny dit Lepine (~1681-1731), 26 Nov 1710, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France26
5. Catherine-Françoise Martin — B. 19 May 1680, La Canadiére, New France;27 D. 16 Jan 1747, Kamouraska, New France;28 M. Jean-Baptiste Labouriére (1680-?), 11 Feb 1697, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France29
6. François-Lucien Martin — B. 22 Jun 1683, Quebec City, New France;30 D. 13 Feb 1747, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;31 M. Marie-Françoise Autin (1689-1747), 25 Nov 1710, Riviere Ouelle, New France32
7. Jean-Baptiste Martin — B. 2 Dec 1686, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;10 D. 4 Aug 1761, Kamouraska, New France;33 M. Marie Genest Labarre (1670-1761), 25 Feb 1710, St-Pierre, Ile d’Orleans, New France34
8. Marie-Charlotte Martin — B.16 Jan 1689, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;11 D. 3 Dec 1749, St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, New France;35 M. (1) Louis Vernas dit Dufresne (?-1720), 25 Feb 1710, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;36 (2) Pierre Raté (1699-?), 14 Oct 1725, Quebec City, New France37
Sources:
1 Our French-Canadian Ancestors, Vol. 26, Gerard Lebel (translated by Thomas J. Laforest), 1990
2 Marriage record of Joachim Martin and Marie-Chalifour, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
3 Marriage record of Joachim Martin and Anne-Charlotte Petit, Q., C. P. R.
4 Burial record of Joachim Martin, Q., C. P. R.
5 WikiTree listing of Marie Martin (Joachim’s sister)
6 “Les engagés levés par François Peron pour le Canada en 1656,” Le blogue de Guy Perron
7 Burial record of Marie Chalifour, Q., C. P. R.
8 Recensement de 1667 en Nouvelle-France
9 Recensement de 1681 en Nouvelle-France
10 Baptismal record of Jean-Baptiste Martin, Q., C. P. R.
11 Baptismal record of Marie-Charlotte Martin, Q., C. P. R.
12 Burial record of Anne-Charlotte Petit, Q., C. P. R.
13 Baptismal record of Louis Martin, Q., C. P. R.
14 Burial record of Louis Martin, Q., C. P. R.
15 Marriage record of Louis Martin and Louise Angelique Raté, Q., C. P. R.
16 Baptismal record of Marie-Anne Martin, Q., C. P. R.
17 Burial record of Marie-Anne Martin, Q., C. P. R.
18 Marriage record of Pierre Roy and Marie-Anne Martin, Q., C. P. R.
19 Baptismal record of Marguerite Martin, Q., C. P. R.
20 Burial record of Marguerite Martin, Q., C. P. R.
21 Marriage record of Jean-Pierre Jollet and Marguerite Martin, Q., C. P. R.
22 Marriage record of Henri Rémi Picoron and Marguerite Martin, Q., C. P. R.
23 Baptismal record of Marie-Angelique Martin, Q., C. P. R.
24 Burial record of Marie-Angelique Martin, Q., C. P. R.
25 Marriage record of Pierre Chantal dit Lafleur and Marie-Angelique Martin, Q., C. P. R.
26 Marriage record of Pierre Chatigny dit Lepine and Marie-Angelique Martin, Q., C. P. R.
27 Baptismal record of Catherine-Françoise Martin, Q., C. P. R.
28 Burial record of Catherine-Françoise Martin, Q., C. P. R.
29 Marriage record of Jean-Baptiste Labouriére and Catherine-Françoise Martin, Q., C. P. R.
30 Baptismal record of François-Lucien Martin, Q., C. P. R.
31 Burial record of François-Lucien Martin, Q., C. P. R.
32 Marriage record of François-Lucien Martin and Marie-Françoise Autin, Q., C. P. R.
33 Burial record of Jean-Baptiste Martin, Q., C. P. R.
34 Marriage record of Jean Baptiste Martin and Marie Genest Labarre, Q., C. P. R.
35 Burial record of Marie-Charlotte Martin, Q., C. P. R.
36 Marriage record of Louis Vernas dit Dufresne and Marie-Charlotte Martin, Q., C. P. R.
37 Marriage record of Pierre Raté and Marie-Charlotte Martin, Q., C. P. R.
