M. 15 Oct 1669 in Quebec City, New France
Husband: Antoine Bordeleau
D. in (probably) France
There were a couple of events in Pérette Hallier’s life which suggested that she didn’t adapt well to being a wife in New France. Pérette was born in about 1651 to Jean Hallier and Barbe Marignon in the village of Égly, France. Nothing is known known of her time in Égly, or whether she had any siblings.
Pérette’s parents both died probably when she was a young girl or teen, and she found herself living at Pitié-Salpêtrière, a hospital run by nuns in Paris. Pitié-Salpêtrière was notorious for taking in orphaned and unwanted children, and putting them to work in return for their room and board—not a truly charitable place. When Pérette came of age, she signed up as a Fille du Roi, promising to become the bride of a settler in New France in return for passage and a dowry. She likely also saw this as a way to escape Pitié-Salpêtrière.
The ship that took Pérette to America, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste, arrived in Quebec City on June 30, 1669 carrying 149 Filles du Roi. With such a large number of women, it must have been a challenge not to get lost in the crowd when the men came to court them. It took a few months, but Pérette did find a husband, Antoine Bordeleau, and married him on October 15th. Antoine had been a soldier in the Carignan Regiment that came to New France in 1665, and he was looking for a wife so he could start a family.
Pérette and her husband Antoine settled in the community of Neuville, where he had a grant of land with frontage on the St. Lawrence River. Pérette gave birth to two children there, a son Antoine in 1673 and a daughter Marie-Louise in 1676. The small number of children she had was unusual at a time when couples were encouraged to have large families.
In August 1675, Pérette had an encounter with a woman named Agathe Merlin which led to Merlin being arrested. The incident was said to have been a physical fight between them, but no details have survived. An initial ruling placed the blame on Merlin, but her husband appealed it, pleading that Merlin was pregnant at the time, and her release from jail was granted when the court annulled their previous judgment.
Pérette appears in the 1681 census living with her husband and their two children in Neuville. Shortly after, she seems to have gone back to France, abandoning her family. Did she decide she wasn’t cut out to be the wife of a colonist? Did she feel indifferent to her role as a mother? These are questions that are unanswered. There is no further record of Pérette.
Children:
1. Antoine Bordeleau — B. 18 Dec 1673, Neuville, New France; D. 4 May 1758, Portneuf, New France; M. Catherint Piché (~1677-?), 5 Mar 1696, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France
2. Marie-Louise Bordeleau — B. 15 Aug 1676, Neuville, New France; D. 1 Jul 1720, St-Antoine-de-Tilly, New France; M. Louis Croteau (1672-1747), 22 Nov 1695, Pointe-aux-Trembles, New France
Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)
King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers—1663-1673, Peter Gagne, 2000
Navires venus en Nouvelle-France (website)
