M. (1) before 1620 in France
Husband: Abraham Martin
M. (2) 17 Feb 1665 in Quebec City, Quebec
Husband: René Branche
D. December 1665 in Quebec City, New France
Marguerite Langlois was among a handful of people who populated the outpost of Quebec during its beginnings. Some have said that she was born in 1599, and it's believed that she came from Dieppe, France, but nothing is proven. When Marguerite came of age, she married a man named Abraham Martin at an unknown location in France.
Around this time, Samuel de Champlain led an effort to plant the first permanent settlement on the St. Lawrence River in Canada. In order to make a French colony successful, he believed it made sense to include women (previously only men participated in such ventures), so he recruited young married couples. Marguerite and Abraham, along with her sister Françoise and her husband, were among them.
Marguerite arrived by 1620, when the colony was no more than a few wooden buildings within a stockade, and a single farm beyond its walls. It must have been a huge challenge for her to set up a household and begin her family in such a place. For the first few years, the men outnumbered the women about 60 to 6. The women at the outpost had to serve as midwives for each other, including Marguerite. She herself gave birth to a son, Eustache, on October 24, 1621, who was said to be the first male of European descent born in Canada. Marguerite had two more children during the early years, in 1624 and 1627. The child born in 1627, Hélène, was the goddaughter of Champlain, and she was likely named for his wife, Hélène Boullé.
Marguerite was the mother of the first two children listed in Quebec's parish registers.
The Quebec colony got by for almost a decade, but in July of 1629, some Englishmen overpowered it and took control. Most of the settlers returned to France on an English ship, including Marguerite's family. The travelers stopped for a time at a camp near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, and it took over three months before they arrived in Dieppe. Life was a struggle because they were more or less refugees, with no means of support. This is probably why when the French reclaimed Quebec five years later, the Martin family moved back.
Marguerite and Abraham lived in Quebec City for the rest of their lives, and between 1635 and 1648, they had six more children. Abraham died in September 1664, and Marguerite married a much younger man, René Branche, on February 17, 1665. Sadly, though, she passed away that December.
Marguerite had thousands of descendants, including Madonna, Jim Carrey, Bridget Fonda, Justin Bieber and Alex Trebek.
Children (all by Abraham Martin):
1. Jehan Martin — B. about 28 Sep 1616, Dieppe, France; D. (probably) young
2. Eustache Martin — B. 24 Oct 1621, Quebec City, New France; D. before 1663
3. Marguerite Martin — B. 4 Jan 1624, Quebec City, New France; D. 25 Nov 1679, Château-Richer, New France; M. Etienne Racine (~1607-1689), 22 May 1638, Quebec City, Quebec
4. Hélène Martin — B. 21 Jun 1627, Quebec City, New France; M. (1) Claude Etienne, 22 Oct 1640, Quebec City, New France; (2) Medard Chouart Des Groseillers (1618-1698), 3 Sep 1647, Quebec City, New France
3. Marguerite Martin — B. 4 Jan 1624, Quebec City, New France; D. 25 Nov 1679, Château-Richer, New France; M. Etienne Racine (~1607-1689), 22 May 1638, Quebec City, Quebec
4. Hélène Martin — B. 21 Jun 1627, Quebec City, New France; M. (1) Claude Etienne, 22 Oct 1640, Quebec City, New France; (2) Medard Chouart Des Groseillers (1618-1698), 3 Sep 1647, Quebec City, New France
5. Pierre Martin — B. about 1 Aug 1630, Dieppe, France; D. (probably) young
6. Marie Martin — B. Apr 1635, Quebec City, New France; D. 25 Apr 1699, Quebec City, New France; M. Jean Cloutier (1620-1690), 21 Jan 1648, Quebec City, New France
7. Adrien Martin — B. Nov 1638, Quebec City, New France
8. Madeleine Martin — B. Sep 1640, Quebec City, New France; D. Feb 1688, Lachenaie, New France; M. (1) Nicholas Forget (~1620-1680), 6 Feb 1653, Quebec City, New France; (2) Jean-Baptiste Fonteneau dit Saint-Jean (1647-1688), 1 Feb 1681, Lachenaie, New France
9. Barbe Martin — B. Jan 1643, Quebec City, New France; D. 4 Oct 1660, Quebec City, New France; M. Pierre Biron (~1626-?), 12 Jan 1655, Quebec City, New France
10. Anne Martin — B. 23 Mar 1645, Quebec City, New France; D. 14 Jan 1717, Ile d'Orleans, New France; M. Jacques Ratté (~1630-1699), 12 Nov 1658, Quebec City, New France
11. Charles-Amador Martin — B. 6 Mar 1648, Quebec City, New France; D. 19 Jun 1711, Ste-Foy, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. 2, William Stewart Wallace, 1945
Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles du Quebec, Jette, Rene, 1730
Hélène’s World: Hélène Desportes of Seventeenth Century Quebec, Susan McNelley, 2014
Phantoms of the French Fur Trade:Twenty Men Who Worked in the Fur Trade Between 1618 and 1758, Timothy J. Kent, 2015
WikiTree
Famous Kin (website)
Famous Kin (website)
