M. (1) 13 Apr 1674 in Contrecoeur, New France
Wife: Marie Devault
M. (2) 1688 in New France
Wife: Marie-Anne Favreau
D. 10 Feb 1716 in Contrecœur, New France
Twenty-one children is a lot of offspring, even for an early settler in New France, but Antoine Emery dit Coderre left such a legacy. He was born in the village of Le Vieux Sarrazac, France on August 6, 1643; his parents were Megny Aymeric and Marguerite Pasquau, who had at least two other children. When he came of age, Antoine joined the military as part of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, and he sailed from La Rochelle on May 13, 1665 on board the ship La Paix. After a journey of several months, he arrived at Quebec on August 19th.
Antoine’s unit was the Contrecœur company, serving under Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur. Like most of the companies, the Contrecœur soldiers were sent first to build some forts along the Richelieu River, but afterwards, they camped for the winter at Montreal. This seems to have become their base of operation for the rest of the time. Like many of the men, after his service was up, Antoine chose to make his life in New France.
Carignan-Salières Regiment soldiers in Canada.
Antoine’s company leader Pécaudy de Contrecœur also stayed on in New France, and settled in the Montreal area, and Antoine acquired a concession nearby in an agreement dated November 5, 1667. Five years later, the area became formally designated as the seigneury of Contrecœur. On November 26, 1670, Antoine was named in a document as leasing a cow in the settlement of Verchéres, also close to Montreal, so he may have farmed there at some point. He took a wife around this time, a Fille du Roi named Marie Devault; they got formally married on April 13, 1674, but this was after they already had four children. By 1687, Marie gave birth to seven more; of their eleven children, five died young.
During his marriage, Antoine moved back to Contrecœur on 90 arpents of land that fronted the St. Lawrence River. The 1681 census showed that he had 8 cattle and 16 arpents under cultivation. On December 6, 1687, Marie died, probably from giving birth to their youngest child, who also died about the same time. It wasn’t long after Antoine lost his wife that he decided to leave Contrecœur because it was so vulnerable to attack from the Iroquois; several other settlers did the same. His new home was at Boucherville, and he lived there for at least the next ten years. It was a good move because Contrecœur was attacked in 1691 and many houses were burned.
At age 44, Antoine married Marie-Anne Favreau, the 16-year-old daughter of one of the soldiers he had served with in the Contrecœur company. Antoine agreed to a contract on June 6, 1688 promising to marry her within 3 months. The actual wedding date isn’t known because the record is lost. The couple had ten children born between 1690 and 1711. Meanwhile, Antoine acquired more land, probably to have property he could pass to his many sons. On April 18, 1695, he signed a lease from merchant Pierre Perthuis for a tract that had 6 arpents of river frontage in Pointe-aux-Trembles. Then on January 27, 1699, he acquired 100 arpents of land at Saint-Sulpice.
Antoine was residing back in Contrecœur when he passed away on February 10, 1716. He was survived by his wife Marie-Anne, six daughters and eight sons. Marie-Anne remarried and lived until 1737. Antoine and Marie-Anne were the ancestors of June Foray, the voice of Rocky the Squirrel.
About the name Coderre
Antoine added “dit Coderre” to his name at the time he migrated to New France. It was common for immigrants to add “dit names” to their surname to indicate where they came from. Most of his descendants shortened the name, with some using "Emery" and others using a variation of "Coderre." The mystery of the name Coderre may have been solved when a 20th century descendant visited the site of the village where Antoine was baptized and discovered there had been another village nearby named Le Coderc. Both places are long gone and only exist today as the ruins of some old buildings. It’s likely that Le Coderc was where Antoine lived as a boy.
Children by Marie Devault:
1. Marie-Elisabeth Emery dite Coderre — B. about 1670, New France; D. 27 Dec 1755, Contrecœur, New France; M. Nicolas Bonin, 8 Feb 1685, Contrecoeur, New France
2. Pierre Emery dit Coderre — B. 29 Jan 1671, Boucherville, New France; D. 7 Mar 1746, Lanoraie, New France; M. Marie-Jeanne Énaud, about 1720
3. Jean-Baptiste Emery dit Coderre — B. 2 Apr 1672, (probably) Contrecœur, New France; D. before 1681, (probably) Contrecœur, New France
4. Louis Emery dit Coderre — B. 14 Mar 1674, Contrecœur, New France; D. 10 May 1703, Contrecœur, New France; M. Marie-Madeleine Leclerc (?-1758), 2 May 1697, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France
5. Marie Emery dite Coderre — B. 6 Feb 1676, Contrecœur, New France; D. before 1681, (probably) Contrecœur, New France
6. Antoine Emery dit Coderre — B. 4 Feb 1677, Contrecœur, New France; D. 30 Mar 1677, Contrecœur, New France
7. Marie-Madeleine Emery dite Coderre — B. 27 Feb 1678, Contrecœur, New France; D. 9 Jun 1760, Boucherville, New France; M. Mathurin Favreau (~1676-?), 11 Jan 1700, Contrecœur, New France
8. Marguerite Emery dite Coderre — B. 1680, Contrecœur, New France; D. 30 May 1758, Saint-Sulpice, New France; M. Nicolas Jouanne, 24 Sep 1708, Contrecoeur, New France
9. Françoise Emery dite Coderre — B. 3 Oct 1682, Contrecœur, New France; D. 3 Dec 1758, Saint-Sulpice, New France; M. Jean-Baptiste Laperche dit Saint-Jean (~1674-?), 11 Jan 1700, Boucherville, New France
10. Anne Emery dite Coderre — B. 24 Dec 1684, Contrecœur, New France; D. 3 Jan 1685, Contrecœur, New France
11. Marie Emery dite Coderre — B. Oct 1687, Repentigny, New France; D. 4 Dec 1687, Repentigny, New France
Children by Marie-Anne Favreau:
1. Antoine Emery dit Coderre — B. 4 Jun 1690, Boucherville, New France; D. 29 Feb 1736, Contrecœur, New France; M. Marguerite Brunel, 10 Feb 1716, Montreal, New France
2. Marie-Anne dite Coderre — B. 19 Mar 1692, Boucherville, New France; D. 4 Mar 1768, Saint-Sulpice, Quebec, M. Ignace Piché, 16 Jun 1717, Contrecoeur, New France
3. Louis Emery dit Coderre — B. 1 Jun 1694, Boucherville, New France; D. 14 Apr 1763, Saint-Ours, New France; M. Elisabeth Menard (1699-1781), 10 Nov 1719, Verchéres, New France
4. Catherine Emery dite Coderre — B. 24 Feb 1696, Boucherville, New France; 12 Aug 1768, Verchéres, Quebec; M. Michel Bouvier, 19 Mar 1718, St-Ours, New France
5. Joseph Emery dit Coderre — B. 24 Feb 1698, Boucherville, New France; D. 21 Apr 1762, Vaudreuil, New France; M. (1) Marie Perrin (1702-?), 6 Jul 1725, Ste-Anne-de-Bout-de-I’lle, New France; (2) Marie-Louise Brunet, 30 Apr 1737, Ste-Anne-de-Bout-de-I’lle, New France
6. François Godere — B. about 1700, (probably) Contrecœur, New France; M. Agnes Richard (1719-?), about 1735
7. Jean-Baptiste Emery dit Coderre — B. 23 Jan 1703, Contrecœur, New France; 7 May 1756, Saint-Ours, New France; M. Marie-Barbe Meunier, 20 Mar 1728, Contrecoeur, New France
8. Gabriel Emery dit Coderre — B. about 1705, (probably) Contrecœur, New France; D. 18 Jun 1770, Saint-Sulpice, Quebec; M. Genevieve-Agathe Dalpec (1713-?), 26 Jan 1733, Saint-Sulpice, New France
9. Jacques Emery dit Coderre — B. 2 Aug 1708, Contrecœur, New France; D. 2 Nov 1767, Saint-Ours, Quebec; M. Marguerite Gazaille (1713-?), 12 Nov 1731, Contrecœur, New France
10. Ursule Emery dite Coderre — B. about 1711, (probably) Contrecœur, New France; D. 17 Dec 1744, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, New France; M. Joseph Meunier, 18 Nov 1737, Contrecœur, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Our French-Canadian Ancestors, Gerard Lebel (translated by Thomas J. Laforest), 1990
Emery dit Coderre and Coderre dit Lacaillade, Rootsweb.ancestry.com
Migrations.fr (website)
