An Expert in Digging Wells — Jacques Archambault

B. 1605 in L’Ardillière, La Rochelle, Aunis, France¹
M. (1) 24 Jan 1629 in La-Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, France¹
Wife: Françoise Toureau
M. (2) 26 Jan 1666 in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, New France²
Wife: Marie Deneau
D. 15 Feb 1688 in Montreal, New France³

The early French population of Canada was made of rugged people, some of whom brought unique skills to the colony. One of these was Jacques Archambualt, who among other things, knew how to find potable water. And he has been credited with digging the first well in Montreal.

Jacques was born in 1605 in the village of L’Ardillière, France,¹ which is a few miles inland from La Rochelle. His parents were Antoine Archambault and Renée Ouvrard, and he had at least one brother and one sister.⁴ On January 24, 1629, Jacques married Françoise Toureau (also spelled Tourault) in the town of La-Roche-sur-Yon.¹ They had seven children, all born in France between 1630 and 1642, one of whom died young. Records show that Jacques may have been a winemaker in the La Rochelle area.⁴

The house where Jacques was born in L'Ardillière (now called Saint-Xandre), France.

In about 1646, he and his family boarded a ship bound for New France.⁴ Jacques was under contract to Pierre Lagardeur de Repentigny, and on October 2, 1647, he signed a five-year lease on some of Lagarduer’s land.⁴ Jacques was granted another piece of land in Cap-Rouge on September 15, 1651.⁴ This property had 4 arpents of frontage on the St. Lawrence River.

During his family’s time in New France, Jacques married off three of his daughters, with two of the marriages happening on the same day in 1648.^5,6 The colony had a shortage of marriageable women, and the arrival of his daughters must have interested many of the men of New France. One of his daughters, Marie, was only 12-years-old at the time of her marriage. She married a man named Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne, who had been granted land in the new settlement of Montreal.

Jacques became interested in joining the Montreal settlement, too, and for the next few years, he seems to have spent some of his time there.⁴ Montreal was having trouble developing because of its proximity to the Iroquois. The importance of the location to the French was due to the fur trade, which was pushing further and further into Indian territory. The settlers in the Montreal settlement were constantly on guard to defend their homes.

During 1651, an incident with the Iroquois directly involved Jacques. On May 6th, some Iroquois warriors came upon two settlers named Jean Chicot and Jean Boudart. The Iroquois followed Boudart to his house where they captured his wife, and when he tried to fight them off, he was killed. Three other settlers arrived on the scene to help, and one of them was Jacques. Unfortunately, Boudart’s wife was taken away, then tortured and burned alive. After not being able to help the Boudarts, Jacques and his companions went out to look for Jean Chicot. They found he had been scalped and left for dead, but he somehow survived and lived another 16 years.⁷

Later that year, Jacques suffered a personal tragedy involving the Iroquois raids. On July 26th, a force of 200 warriors attacked Montreal. Jacques’ 20-year-old son Denis was firing a cannon at the attackers, but it exploded, killing him.⁴

The French had to find a long-term solution for the Iroquois problem or give up settling in Montreal. They needed to strengthen their numbers by getting more people to commit to staying there. On November 18, 1652, Jacques was granted 30 arpents near Montreal’s newly-built fort.⁴ As the focus turned to developing Montreal into a town, Governor Paul de Chomedey commissioned Jacques to build a well at the fort.⁴ Jacques signed a contract on October 11, 1658 and was paid 300 livres for the project. The well was such a success, he was hired to build a well at the hospital the following year, and another well for a man’s farm the year after that. The well at the fort was the first ever built in Montreal, and the site today bears a plaque with Jacques’ name on it. 

The site of the first well built in Montreal. (Source: Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

On December 9, 1663, Jacques' wife Françoise died.⁸ He married a widow named Marie Deneau (also spelled Denot), on January 26, 1666.² Jacques lived out the rest of his life amongst his family. In 1678, his surviving son Laurent, along with his sons-in-law, offered him a pension because he was too old to work.⁹ Jacques died on February 15, 1688.³

Because Jacques arrived in New France at least a generation before most others and his daughters married so young, he has hundreds of thousands of descendants. The most famous of them are Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Jack Kerouac, Jim Carrey, Kelsey Grammer, Bridget Fonda, Jane Krakowski, Dan Aykroyd, Alex Trebek, Adrienne Barbeau, Leo Durocher, Liza Minelli, Mark Wahlberg and Angelina Jolie.¹⁰

Children:
1. Denis Archambault — B. 12 Sep 1630, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;⁴ D. 26 Jul 1651, Montreal, New France¹¹

2. Jacquette Archambault — B. 12 Sep 1630, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;¹² D. 17 Dec 1700, Ville de Quebec, New France;¹³ M. Paul Chalifour (1612-~1679), 28 Sep 1648, Quebec City, New France¹⁴

3. Anne Archambault — B. about 1632, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;¹⁵ D. 29 Jul 1699, Montreal, New France;¹⁶ M. (1) Michel Chauvin (1612-?), 27 Jul 1647, Quebec City, New France;¹⁷ (2) Jean Gervaise (1616-1690), 3 Feb 1654, Montreal, New France¹⁸

4. Marie Archambault — B. 24 Feb 1636, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;¹⁹ D. 16 Aug 1719, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;²⁰ M. Urbain Tessier (1626-1689), 28 Sep 1648, Quebec City, New France²¹

5. Marie-Anne Archambault — B. about 1638, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;²² D. 8 Aug 1685, Montreal, New France;²³ M. Gilles Lauzon, 27 Nov 1656, Montreal, New France²⁴

6. Louise Archambault — B. 18 Mar 1640, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;²⁵ D. young⁴

7. Laurent Archambault — B. 10 Jan 1642, Dompierre-Sur-Mer, La Rochelle, Aunis, France;²⁶ D. 19 Apr 1730, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France;²⁷ M. Catherine Marchand (~1644-1713), 7 Jan 1660, Montreal, New France²⁸

Sources:
1    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Jacques Archambault 
2    Marriage record of Jacques Archambault and Marie Deneau, Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
3    Burial record of Jacques Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
4    Our French-Canadian Ancestors, Gerard Lebel (translated by Thomas J. Laforest), 1988
5    Marriage record of Paul Chalifour and Jacquette Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
6    Marriage record of Urbain Tessier and Marie Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
7    Montreal: A History, Robert Prevost, 1995
8    Burial record of Françoise Toureau, Q.C.P.R.
9    Inventaire des greffes des notaires du Régime français, Vol. 1, Pierre-Georges Roy and Antoine Roy, 1942, p. 226  
10    FamousKin.com listing of Jacques Archambault  
11    Burial record of Denis Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
12    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Jacquette Archambault 
13    Burial record of Jacquette Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
14    Marriage record of Paul Chalifour and Jacquette Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
15    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Anne Archambault 
16    Burial record of Anne Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
17    Marriage record of Michel Chauvin and Anne Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
18    Marriage record of Jean Gervaise and Anne Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
19    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Marie Archambault 
20    Burial record of Marie Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
21    Marriage record of Urbain Tessier and Marie Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
22    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Marie-Anne Archambault 
23    Burial record of Marie-Anne Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
24    Marriage record of Gilles Lauzon and Marie-Anne Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
25    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Louise Archambault 
26    Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française listing of Laurent Archambault 
27    Burial record of Laurent Archambault, Q.C.P.R.
28    Marriage record of Laurent Archambault and Catherine Marchand, Q.C.P.R.