Early Quebec Métis Girl — Madeleine-Euphrosine Nicolet

B. about 1628 near Lake Nipissing, New France¹
M. (1) 21 Nov 1643 in Quebec City, New France²
Husband: Jean LeBlanc
M. (2) 22 Feb 1663 in Quebec City, New France³
Husband: Elie Dussault dit Lafleur
D. 30 Sep 1689 in Quebec City, New France⁴

Madeleine-Euphrosine Nicolet was one of the first people in what is now Canada who was of a mixed European and Native American heritage. She was born in about 1628 at the village of her mother, located near Lake Nipissing, in present-day Ontario.¹ Her father was a French adventurer named Jean Nicolet, who was later the first European in Wisconsin.

Jean Nicolet had been sent to the interior of the fledgling colony in order to form good relations with the Huron tribes. This was part of an effort by Samuel de Champlain to secure his settlement at Quebec by paying respect to the indigenous people who might otherwise use violence against the French. Of the handful of young men who went on the mission, Nicolet had great success; it was said that he lived in the Nipissing tribe’s camp for about 8 years.⁵ He learned their language, traded with them, and lived with a Nipissing woman as his wife, fathering a child, Madeleine-Euphrosine.

The Nipissing tribe, which represented half of Madeleine-Euphrosine’s hertiage, were said to be a semi-nomadic people; each fall they traveled south to fish and hunt for their food for the winter. They weren’t “warlike,” and many were receptive to the teachings of French missionaries during the 1600s.⁶ Nipissings were known as traders, which ties in with why Nicolet was embedded with them. The goods they dealt were fur and fish in return for corn grown by the Hurons, then they traded all of these items with the French for European goods. Their trade network stretched from Hudson’s Bay in the north to the Winnebago tribe to the south. The Nipissings were also known for their spiritual ceremonies.”⁷

A man of the Nipissing tribe.

By the late 1630s, Madeleine-Euphrosine was brought to a Jesuit mission at a place called Sillery, about 5 miles west of Quebec City.⁸ St-Joseph Mission was founded in 1637 for the purpose of converting indigenous people to Christianity; people from several tribes lived there in small buildings and huts made of bark.⁹ The earliest record of Madeleine-Euphrosine was on January 18, 1642, when she was godmother to a Native American named Elisabeth.¹⁰ Some have speculated that the baptism was of her own mother, but it’s not known if she was ever at the mission, or if she was still living.

While Madeleine-Euphrosine seemed to be at the mission, Nicolet married a French woman in Quebec¹¹ and had two children with her. Unfortunately, he drowned in a boating accident at Sillery in October of 1642.¹² After she lost her father, Madeleine-Euphrosine remained at Quebec, and on November 21, 1643, she married a Frenchman named Jean LeBlanc.² The couple made their home in Quebec City; Madeleine-Euphrosine gave birth to five children between 1648 and 1660, but three of them died young. Then Jean was apparently killed by the Iroquois in 1662.¹³

Madeleine-Euphrosine's signature on her 1643 marriage contract.

Madeleine-Euphrosine found a new husband the following year, marrying Elie Dussault dit Lafleur on February 22, 1663.³ He was a few years younger than she was, and he made a living working on ships. They had a son born that August,¹⁴ which indicates she may have been pregnant before their wedding. She gave birth to three more children, all boys, with the youngest born in 1673.¹⁵

Madeleine-Euphrosine was widowed again with the death of her second husband by 1680, who seems to have drowned in the river.¹⁶ She sold her house in July of the following year,¹⁷ and died at Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec on September 30, 1689.⁴ Even though only three of her children produced children of their own, Madeleine-Euphrosine left a large number of descendants, with an estimated 100,000 living today.¹⁸ She was the ancestor of Leo Durocher.

Children by Jean LeBlanc:
1. Jacques LeBlanc — B. 13 Jul 1648, Quebec City, New France;¹⁹ D. about 29 Nov 1669, New France²⁰

2. Marie-Madeleine LeBlanc — B. 15 Jul 1652, Quebec City, New France;²¹ D. 28 Dec 1708, St-Pierre, Île d’Orleans, New France;²² M. Jean Pichet (1634-1699), 1666, Montmorency, New France²³

3. Baby LeBlanc — B. 26 Mar 1654, Quebec City, New France;²⁴ D. about 10 Apr 1654, Quebec City, New France²⁵

4. Marguerite LeBlanc — B. about 25 Jun 1655, Quebec City, New France;²⁶ D. about 2 Nov 1661, New France²⁷

5. Noël LeBlanc — B. 10 Jan 1660, Quebec City, New France;²⁸ D. about 5 Apr 1660, New France²⁹

Children by Elie Dussault dit Lafleur:
1. Louis Dussault — B. 25 Aug 1663, Quebec City, New France¹⁴

2. Pierre Dussault — B. 31 Jul 1665, Quebec City, New France;³⁰ M. Marie Rouleau (1667-1703), 2 Nov 1689, New France³¹

3. Jean-François Dussault — B. 4 Jan 1668, Quebec City, New France;³² D. before 24 Apr 1719, Lauzon, New France;³³ M. Marie-Madeleine Bourassa (1673-1742), 8 Jan 1692, Pointe-deLévy, Lauzon, New France³⁴

4. Charles Dussault — B. 21 May 1673, Quebec City, New France;¹⁵ D. before 12 Feb 1697;³⁵ M. Henrietta Balan (1677-1715), 16 Nov 1693, La Durantaye, New France³⁶

Sources:
1    Généalogie du Québec et d'Amérique française listing of Euphrosine-Madeleine Nicolet
2    Marriage record of Jean LeBlanc and Madeleine-Euphrosine Nicolet, Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
3    Marriage record of Elie Dussault dit Lafleur and Madeleine-Euphrosine Nicolet, Q., C. P. R.
4    Burial record of Madeleine-Euphrosine Nicolet, Q., C. P. R.
5    Champlain’s Dream, David Hackett Fischer, 2009
6    Nipissing Tribe (Access Genealogy article)
7    Nipissing History (website)
8    When Jean Nicolet married Marguerite Couillard in 1637, that Madeleine-Euphrosine must have lived among the French by that time (if not before)
9    “The first Indian ‘Reserves’ in Canada,” George F. G. Stanley, Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1950
10  Baptismal record of Élisabeth Manit8k8e, Q., C. P. R.
11  Marriage record of Jean Nicolet and Marguerite Couillard, Q., C. P. R.
12  Burial record of Jean Nicolet, Q., C. P. R.
13  Généalogie du Québec et d'Amérique française listing of Jean Leblanc
14  Baptismal record of Louis Dussault, Q., C. P. R.
15  Baptismal record of Charles Dussault, Q., C. P. R.
16  Généalogie du Québec et d'Amérique française listing of Elie Dussault dit Lafleur
17  Contract of sale for Madeleine Nicolet, 27 Jul 1681, BAnQ
18  Distorted Descent: White Claims to Indigenous Identity, Darryl Leroux, 2019
19  Baptismal record of Jacques Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
20  Burial record of Jacques Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
21  Baptismal record of Marie-Madeleine Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
22  Burial record of Marie-Madeleine Leblanc, Q., C. P. R. 

23  Marriage record of Jean Pichet and Marie-Madeleine Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
24  Baptismal record of Baby Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
25  Burial record of Baby Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
26  Baptismal record of Marguerite Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
27  Burial record of Marguerite Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
28  Baptismal record of Noël Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
29  Burial record of Noël Leblanc, Q., C. P. R.
30  Baptismal record of Pierre Dussault, Q., C. P. R.
31  Marriage record of Pierre Dussault and Marie Rouleau, Q., C. P. R.
32  Baptismal record of Jean-François Dussault, Q., C. P. R.
33  Burial record of Jean-François Dussault, Q., C. P. R.
34  Marriage record of Jean-François Dussault and Marie-Madeleine Bourassa, Q., C. P. R.
35  Marriage record of Yves Bechette and Henriette Balan, Q., C. P. R.
36  Marriage record of Charles Dussault and Henriette Balan, Q., C. P. R.