M. 20 Oct 1665 in Quebec City, New France
Husband: Jean Bourassa
D. 5 May 1676 in Quebec City, New France
When a woman signed a contract offering to marry a stranger in New France, she was giving herself to a life of producing lots of children. For Perrette Valleé, this decision may have shortened her life.
Perrette was born in about 1645 in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, a city in the Champagne region. She was the daughter of Nicolas Vallée and Madeleine Major (or Mayor), but all that’s known about her parents are their names. Perrette had enough education that she could sign her name. When she was about 20, she was living in Paris in the parish of Saint-Sulpice. It’s not known whether she was on her own or with any of her family.
During the 1660s, an opportunity came up for young women to get paid to move to America. They would get free passage and a dowry in return for a promise to marry a settler who needed a wife. It was an effort supported by the king in order to populate New France. It’s known that the parish of Saint-Sulpice had a priest who recruited many women, and this is probably how Perrette became a Fille du Roi.
The ship that brought Perrette to New France was the St-Jean-Baptiste, which sailed out of Dieppe during the late summer of 1665, arriving in Quebec on October 2nd. (There are some sources which state the ship arrived in June, but given that many Filles du Roi married in October, it seems more likely that this is the correct date.) On board were from 80 to 90 women; this was the peak year of the Filles du Roi program.
Three days after arriving, Perrette signed a contract to marry a man named Jean Bourassa, who was about 33. The contract signing was attended by an impressive group of people, including the governor of New France, Daniel de Rémy de Courcelles, and Jean Talon, who was in charge of the civil administration of the colony. Talon had been the one who suggested the Filles du Roi idea to the king, and he had only recently been appointed to his post in New France; he also was born in Perrette’s hometown of Chalons-sur-Marne. Besides these two men, other witnesses to the contract were the head of the French army in New France, two women who ran the hospital, and two seigneurs who held land near Quebec City. There were several other marriage contracts that day, and this may be why so many important people were gathered at the signing.
Daniel de Rémy de Courcelles and Jean Talon.
Perrette and Jean’s wedding took place on October 20th. It's unclear where they made their home afterwards because they were missing from the 1666 and 1667 censuses, but eventually they settled on the south shore of the St. Lawrence in Lauzon. There was a big incentive for new wives to have large families (if a couple had ten children, they’d get 300 livres as an annual pension), and Perrette gave birth to a son in 1667. This was followed by six more, born between 1669 and 1675. Then on May 5, 1676, Perrette died while in labor, trying to give birth to her eighth child. The baby wasn’t named and was likely stillborn. She was buried at the cemetery of Notre-Dame de Quebec.
It isn’t known whether Perrette had medical difficulties leading up to her last pregnancy, but her body probably wore out in having so many children in a short time. Her husband remarried six months later.
Perrette's burial record in the parish register.
Children:
1. François Bourassa — B. 13 Apr 1667, (probably) Lauzon, New France
2. Pierre Bourassa — B. 11 Feb 1669, (probably) Lauzon, New France
3. Jeanne Bourassa — B. about 1670, (probably) Lauzon, New France; D. about 1682, (probably) Lauzon, New France
2. Pierre Bourassa — B. 11 Feb 1669, (probably) Lauzon, New France
3. Jeanne Bourassa — B. about 1670, (probably) Lauzon, New France; D. about 1682, (probably) Lauzon, New France
4. Jean Bourassa — B. 24 May 1671, (probably) Lauzon, New France; M. Marie-Françoise Méthot, 10 Jan 1698, St-Nicolas, Lévis, New France
5. Marie Bourassa — B. about 1672, (probably) Lauzon, New France
6. Marie-Madeleine Bourassa — B. 13 Sep 1673, (probably) Lauzon, New France; D. 9 Mar 1742, St-Antonie-de-Tilly, New France; M. Jean-François Dussault (1688-1719), 8 Jan 1692, St-Jospeh de la Pointe-de-Lévy, Lauzon, New France
7. Catherine Bourassa — B. about 1675, (probably) Lauzon, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers—1663-1673, Peter Gagne, 2000
Historire de la Seigneurie de Lauzon, Volume 1, Joseph-Edmund Roy, 1897
La Fondation Lionel-Groulx (website)
