M. (1) 31 Aug 1676 in Montreal, New France
Wife: Marie-Anne Picard
M. (2) 17 Apr 1702 in Montreal, New France
Wife: Marie-Françoise Simon dite Lapointe
D. after 18 Nov 1725 in New France
As a boy, Charles Diel traveled to New France with the French army, then he made a career in the wilderness. He was born in about 1652 somewhere in Normandy, France to Phillipe Diel and Marie Anguetin. There are different towns named on each of his marriage records: Ste-Colombe near Rouen, and St-Rémy near Dieppe, and it's not known which was his birthplace. His father was said to be a laborer, and Charles likely received no education.
When Charles was 13-years-old, he boarded the ship Saint-Sebastien traveling with the Carignan-Sallières Regiment to America. Charles may have been a soldier (boys were sometimes enlisted as drummers or helpers), but he also may have been an indentured servant. The trip was difficult as the ship broke down along the way, and it took 112 days to arrive at their destination. Charles acquired the nickname “Lepetit Breton,” which likely referred to his youth among the older men around him.
Soldiers of the Carignan-Sallières Regiment in Canada. (drawing by Francis Back)
The activities of Charles’ first few years in New France are sketchy. He was said to be attached to the La Foulle Company of the Carignan-Sallières Regiment, which was sent to build forts in the Trois-Rivieres area, and Charles might have participated in that work. His name appeared among the 400 men who decided to remain in New France when the army was shipped back to Europe in 1668. In 1672, Charles was mentioned in a record which showed he was a resident of La Prairie, a settlement near Montreal. He had land there in a seigneury run by the Jesuits; his plot was 20 arpents deep with 4 arpents of river frontage. The settlers in La Prairie farmed their land during the day, but had their homes inside the fort, where they were protected from possible Iroquois attack.
On August 31, 1676, Charles married Marie-Anne Picard, daughter of Montreal pioneer, Jacques-Hugues Picard. At the time of the wedding, Charles was 24-years-old and his bride was not yet 13. She gave birth to their first child, a girl, in 1678, and they had eight more children, with the youngest born in 1695.
There is evidence that Charles was making trips out west as early as 1677. The first record of him at a French outpost was on a census taken that year at Fort Frontenac; he was listed as a man who “brought supplies” there. It’s likely he made several trips to Fort Frontenac and/or other places in the Great Lakes region during those years. The French had been pushing into the interior of North America to do business with various tribes; the Indians brought furs to gathering sites where the French would offer up beads, mirrors, metal tools, and other goods in exchange.
Charles had enough fur trading experience under his belt to organize an expedition with two partners in 1684. On September 23rd, a contract was drawn up spelling out the arrangement of a trip to Michilimackinac with Antoine Cailler and Pierre Lefebvre. The three men were authorized for over 2,616 livres of credit to pay for the goods they brought with them. Michilimackinac was at the point where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan; Charles and his partners had never been there and hired a guide for the journey.
In 1688, Charles was known to go on another fur trading expedition, this time to “the Outaouais country,” which was up the Ottawa River. He seems to have partnered again with same two men, plus one other partner, Andre Denny. Their credit agreement was for 1,063 livres, less than half of what they paid for goods four years earlier.
Between his long trips, he continued to spend time with his wife and children in La Prairie. His oldest son Pierre was kidnapped by Iroquois sometime during the late 1680s or early 1690s, and the boy never returned to the family, growing up among the Indians. Sadly, on February 4, 1697, Marie-Anne died at the age of 33. Five years went by before Charles married again, to Marie-Françoise Simon dite Lapointe. The wedding took place in Montreal on April 17, 1702, and they had four children born between 1705 and 1710.
Charles seems to have been involved in a custody arrangement for one of his granddaughters, Marie-Anne Bory. The child was born in Lachine on June 13, 1706 to Charles’ daughter, Marie-Anne, but sadly the young mother passed away just two years later, and in 1711, the child’s father died as well, leaving her an orphan. In a meeting held on November 24, 1712, Charles was given the girl to raise. But the following year on May 15th, he was summoned by the court to hand over his granddaughter to François Lesaulnier, who claimed he had a verbal agreement to be guardian for Marie-Anne. There is no further mention of this in any records, nor of the girl herself.
Court summons for Charles Diel in case involving custody of his granddaughter.
It’s not known exactly when Charles died. In his later years, his name appeared on several transactions of property and other records, with a final mention that he was alive at the time of his daughter Françoise’s marriage contract on November 18, 1725. He was certainly dead by the late 1730s. His widow Marie-Françoise died in 1757.
Children by Marie-Anne Picard:
1. Marie-Marguerite Diel — B. 18 Apr 1678, Montreal, New France; D. 26 Jul 1715, Montreal, New France; M. (1) Pierre Perras (1674-1699), 18 Nov 1696, Laprairie, New France; (2) Julien Bariteau Lamarche (1672-1736), 13 May 1700, La Prairie, New France
2. Pierre Diel — B. 24 Nov 1680, Montreal, New France
3. Jacques Diel — B. 2 Mar 1683, La Prairie, New France; D. young
4. Marie-Anne Diel — B. 7 May 1684, La Prairie, New France; D. 9 Dec 1684, La Prairie, New France
5. Marie-Anne Diel — B. about 1685, La Prairie, New France; D. 15 May 1708; M. François Bory (1676-?), 27 Oct 1704, La Prairie, New France
6. Charles Diel — B. 5 Aug 1688, La Prairie, New France; D. 20 Jun 1734, Longueuil, New France; M. (1) Marie-Jeanne Boyer (1694-1730), 17 Feb 1716, La Prairie, New France; (2) Marguerite Robert (1683-1766), 9 Sep 1732, Boucherville, New France
7. Marguerite Diel — B. 14 Jun 1691, La Prairie, New France; D. 25 May 1763; M. Jean Lacombe, 3 Feb 1711
8. Jacques Diel — B. 2 Feb 1693, La Prairie, New France; M. Marie-Anne Crepin, 13 Jul 1715
9. Catherine Diel — B. 9 Aug 1695, La Prairie, New France; D. 10 Aug 1695, La Prairie, New France
Children by Marie-Françoise Simon dite Lapointe:
1. Marie-Josephte Diel — B. 1705, St-Vincent-de-Paul, Laval, New France; D. 13 Jun 1775, St-Vincent-de-Paul, Laval, New France
2. Therese Diel — B. 1707; D. 6 Sep 1777, St-Vincent-de-Paul, Laval, New France
3. Marie-Françoise Diel — B. 19 Jan 1708, Montreal, New France; M. René Lariviere, 1 Dec 1725
4. Jean-François Diel — B. 24 Dec 1710, Montreal, New France; M. Françoise Potier, 2 Jun 1738, Kaskaskia, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
Quebec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, FamilySearch.org
Charles Diel, Our First Canadian Ancestor (website)
A Drifting Cowboy (website)
Charles Diel, Our First Canadian Ancestor (website)
A Drifting Cowboy (website)
