A Mother of Seventeen Children — Marie Archambault

B. 24 Feb 1636 in Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France¹
M. 28 Sep 1648 in Quebec City, New France²
Husband: Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne
D. 16 Aug 1719 in Montreal, New France³

It’s remarkable for one woman to give birth to 17 children. It’s more remarkable in the case of Marie Archambault, who lived through the challenging conditions of 17th-century New France.

Marie was born on about February 24, 1636 in Dompierre-Sur-Mer, France,¹ a town near La Rochelle. Her parents were Jacques Archambault and Françoise Toureau and she was one of about eight children. In about 1645, the family left France to start a new life in New France.⁴

Within a couple of years of arriving in New France, Marie and her two older sisters got married. All three were age 16 or under, and Marie was just 12-years-old. This was not an uncommon occurrence in New France at the time; men needed wives and there weren’t very many women living in the colony. So when a family like the Archambaults arrived, the daughters were sought out by male settlers. Almost all marriages were arranged by the parents, and often they were done as a sort of business transaction.

On September 28, 1648, Marie was married in Quebec City to Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne² (her sister Jacquette married Paul Chalifour on the same day). Urbain was ten years older than Marie and also an immigrant from France. He received a land grant in Montreal earlier that year,⁵ and took Marie there to live. Montreal wasn’t a city yet, or even a town — it was a remote outpost on the frontier with a small population, and it was under a constant threat of attack by the Iroquois, who wanted to drive the French settlers out.

When a girl of 12 got married, she often stayed with her parents for a year or two. This was not the case with Marie, and within a few months, she became pregnant. Marie gave birth on July 19, 1649 at the age of just 13.⁶ To make matters more difficult, she had twins. One of the babies, a girl, may have been stillborn and wasn’t named. The other was a boy who lived just a few days; he was buried in the cemetery near Marie's home. Two years later, she gave birth again, this time to a healthy boy who was named Paul.⁷

Baptism of Marie's firstborn son who died days later.

Conditions were very difficult in Montreal during that time because the Iroquois made a couple of vicious attacks on the settlers. One woman was tortured, then killed.⁵ When a large number of settlers joined the community in 1653, things started to become a bit safer, but not entirely. In 1661, Marie’s husband Urbain was captured and taken prisoner by the Iroquois. While she coped with the uncertainty of his whereabouts, she must have come to terms with the possibility that he was dead. Luckily, Urbain was able to escape his captors a few months later, and he returned home to Marie.⁵

Marie continued to have a baby about every two years until the youngest was born in 1679. Counting her (supposed) stillborn twin, she had a total of seventeen children. At least twelve of them lived to adulthood – nine sons and three daughters.

Urbain died on March 21, 1689;⁸ Marie lived another 30 years, passing away on August 16, 1719.³ It was said that by 1730, she had 420 known descendants.⁹ Among her famous descendants are Justin and Pierre Trudeau, Leo Durocher, Liza Minnelli, and Angelina Jolie.¹⁰

Children:
1. Baby Girl Tessier — B. 19 Jul 1649, Montreal, New France;³ D. 19 Jul 1649, Montreal, New France³

2. Charles Tessier — B. 19 Jul 1649, Montreal, New France;¹¹ D. 24 Jul 1649, Montreal, New France¹²

3. Paul Tessier — B. 5 Feb 1651, Montreal, New France;⁷ D. 26 Apr 1730, Longue-Pointe, New France;¹³ M. Marie-Madeleine Cloutier (1662-1748), 13 Oct 1681, Chateau-Richer, New France¹⁴

4. Madeleine Tessier — B. 19 Jul 1653, Montreal, New France¹⁵

5. Laurent Tessier — B. 3 Jun 1655, Montreal, New France;¹⁶ D. 27 Sep 1687, Montreal, New France;¹⁷ M. Anne-Geneviéve Lemire (1664-1750), 20 Oct 1681, Quebec City, New France¹⁸

6. Louise Tessier — B. 26 Mar 1657, Montreal, New France;¹⁹ D. 9 Apr 1727, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;²⁰ M. Pierre Payet dit St-Amour, 23 Nov 1671, Montreal, New France²¹

7. Agnés Tessier — B. 23 Mar 1659, Montreal, New France;²² D. 24 Jan 1733, Montreal, New France;²³ M. (1) Guillaume Richard dit Lafleur (~1641-~1690), 26 Nov 1675, Montreal, New France;²⁴ (2) Claude Duconge (~1669-1729), 21 Nov 1692, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France²⁵

8. Urbain Tessier — B. 7 Jun 1661, Montreal, New France;²⁶ D. 24 Mar 1685, Montreal, New France²⁷

9. Jean Tessier — B. Jun 1663, Montreal, New France;²⁸ D. 6 Dec 1734, Montreal, New France;²⁹ M. (1) Jeanne LeBer (~1671-1687), 16 Jan 1686, La Prairie, New France;³⁰ (2) Louise Caron (~1671-1703), 21 Apr 1688, La Pairie, New France;³¹ (3) Marie-Catherine De Poithier (~1669-1729), 27 Aug 1703, Montreal, New France³²

10. Claude Tessier — B. before 25 Dec 1665, Montreal, New France³³

11. Jacques Tessier — B. May 1668, Montreal, New France;³⁴ D. 23 Jun 1670, Montreal, New France³⁵

12. Pétronille Tessier — B. before 18 Mar 1670, Montreal, New France;³⁶ D. 18 May 1751, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;³⁷ M. Pierre Janot dit Lachapelle (1660-1725), 31 Jan 1684, Montreal, New France³⁸

13. Jean-Baptiste Tessier — B. before 26 Jan 1672, Montreal, New France;³⁹ D. 19 May 1736, Longueuil, New France;⁴⁰ M. Élisabeth Renault (1681-1747), 4 Nov 1698, Montreal, New France⁴¹

14. Pierre Tessier — B. Feb 1674, Montreal, New France;⁴² D. 23 Feb 1674, Montreal, New France⁴³

15. Jacques Tessier — B. before 2 Mar 1675, Montreal, New France;⁴⁴ D. 7 May 1738, Montreal, New France;⁴⁵ M. Marie Adhémar (1679-1754), 10 Mar 1699, Montreal, New France⁴⁶

16. Ignace Tessier — B. before 11 Mar 1677, Montreal, New France;⁴⁷ D. 3 Mar 1747, Montreal, New France;⁴⁸ M. Marguerite Luissier (1683-1748), 23 May 1703, Repentigny, New France⁴⁹

17. Nicolas Tessier — B. before 17 Jun 1679, Montreal, New France;⁵⁰ D. 7 May 1738, Montreal, New France;⁵¹ M. Marie-Genevieve Augé (1699-1748), 27 Jan 1716, Montreal, New France⁵²

Sources:
1    Baptismal record of Marie Archambault, Paroisse Saint-Pierre, Dompierre-sur-Mer, France Baptêmes, 1625-1656, Archives nationales de France
2    Marriage record of Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne and Marie Archambault, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
3    Burial record of Marie Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
4    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing for Jacques Archambault
5    WikiTree listing of Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne
6    Burial record of Baby Girl Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
7    Baptismal record of Paul Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
8    Burial record of Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne, Q.C.P.R.
9    The First French Canadians: Pioneers in the St. Lawrence Valley, Hubert Charbonneau and others, 1993
10  FamousKin.com listing of Urbain Tessier-Lavigne  
11  Baptismal record of Charles Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
12  Burial record of Charles Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
13  Burial record of Paul Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
14  Marriage record of Paul Tessier and Marie-Madeleine Cloutier, Q.C.P.R.
15  Baptismal record of Madeleine Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
16  Baptismal record of Laurent Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
17  Burial record of Laurent Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
18  Marriage record of Laurent Tessier and Anne-Genevieve Lemire, Q.C.P.R.
19  Baptismal record of Louise Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
20  Burial record of Louise Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
21  Marriage record of Pierre Payet dit St-Amour and Louise Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
22  Baptismal record of Agnes Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
23  Burial record of Agnes Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
24  Marriage record of Guillaume Richard dit Lafleur and Agnes Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
25  Marriage record of Claude Duconge and Agnes Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
26  Baptismal record of Urbain Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
27  Burial record of Urbain Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
28  Baptismal record of Jean Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
29  Burial record of Jean Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
30  Marriage record of Jean Tessier and Jeanne LeBer, Q.C.P.R.
31  Marriage record of Jean Tessier and Louise Caron, Q.C.P.R.
32  Marriage record of Jean Tessier and Marie-Catherine Poithier, Q.C.P.R.
33  Baptismal record of Claude Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
34  Baptismal record of Jacques Tessier (older), Q.C.P.R.
35  Burial record of Jacques Tessier (older), Q.C.P.R.
35  Baptismal record of Pétronille Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
37  Burial record of Pétronille Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
38  Marriage record of Pierre Janot dit Lachapelle and Pétronille Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
39  Baptismal record of Jean-Baptiste Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
40  Burial record of Jean-Baptiste Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
41  Marriage record of Jean-Baptiste Tessier and Élisabeth Renault, Q.C.P.R.
42  Baptismal record of Pierre Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
43  Burial record of Pierre Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
44  Baptismal record of JacquesTessier (younger), Q.C.P.R.
45  Burial record of Jacques Tessier (younger), Q.C.P.R.
46  Marriage record of Jacques Tessier and Marie Adhémar, Q.C.P.R.
47  Baptismal record of Ignace Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
48  Burial record of Ignace Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
49  Marriage record of Ignace Tessier and Marguerite Luissier, Q.C.P.R.
50  Baptismal record of Nicolas Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
51  Burial record of Nicolas Tessier, Q.C.P.R.
52  Marriage record of Nicolas Tessier and Marie-Genevieve Augé, Q.C.P.R.