Working From the Age of Eight — François Dubois

B. 12 Nov 1668 in Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, New France
M. 18 Jan 1695 in Quebec City, New France
Wife: Marie Guay
D. 27 Feb 1714 in Quebec City, New France

When François Dubois was still a young child, his step-father sent him to live with a neighbor as his servant. François was born on November 12, 1668 in Ste-Famille, Île d’Orleans, the oldest son of Jacques Dubois and Catherine Vieillot dite Miranda. His father was a Carignan-Saliéres Regiment soldier and his mother was a Fille du Roi. The couple saw the birth of three more children, one of whom died as an infant. Then in March 1675, Jacques died suddenly. François’ mother, who was pregnant, remarried almost immediately; her child was born that October.

Young François now fell under the care of his new step-father, Pierre Guenet, who also had the responsibility of supporting the three younger children. Guenet was a recent immigrant who was about 10 years younger than François’ mother; he worked as a mason and fisherman, as well as a farmer, but still struggled financially. So in 1677, he found a way to relieve a small part of his burden by hiring out François to another Île d’Orleans farmer named Gilles Gautreau. The contract dated January 24th stated that “for a period of five years beginning on February 1, 1677 François will be taken care of and treated humanely for the work ordered by Gilles, and his salary will be his clothing at the end of the five-year contract.”

François was just 8-years old when his contract began. Presumably he performed chores on a farm, but the details aren’t documented. The man he worked for, Gautreau, had two young children at the time of the contract with a third along the way. The following year, he moved his family to Cap-St-Ignace on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, and this seems to have terminated the contract. So François step-father found a new arrangement for him working for Gabriel Gosselin, one of the largest landowners on Île d’Orleans. François served Gosselin for about the next three years, enumerated among his household in the 1681 census.

A few years later at age 15, François was again hired out as a servant, this time to a doctor in Quebec City named Timothée Roussel. The doctor worked at Hôtel-Dieu, and he was described as often being “sharp-tempered.” One source stated that François had been “suffering from a great pain in his right leg for two years,” which suggests an injury of some sort. Perhaps treatment he received for his leg led to the service contract with the doctor.

By 1687, François’ was living among his family again, and for a time, he joined his step-father to work as a mason. On July 20th, they contracted for a project working for two men, presumably to help construct a building. The job paid them 78 livres, with François getting 28 livres as his share.

In July 1693, François was a few months from his 25th birthday, an age when he was due to get some land that his father left him in his will. But another man was using the land as part of his farm (his step-father had made that arrangement back in 1680), so François sued to get the man to vacate it. He won his case and took possession of the property. Eighteen months later, he married Marie Guay, a 20-year-old woman from Lauzon; the wedding took place on January 18, 1695 at Notre-Dame in Quebec City.

Little is known about François’ married life. He and his wife had nine children born between 1696 and 1712, with at least five who died young. François died at Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec City on February 27, 1714; why he was in the hospital is a mystery. Wife Marie outlived him by many years, dying in 1747.

Children:
1. François Dubois — B. 10 May 1696, St-Pierre, Île d'Orleans, New France; D. 7 Jun 1696, St-Pierre, Île d'Orleans, New France

2.  Jacques Dubois — B. 14 Jun 1697, Beaumont, New France; D. 22 Mar 1781, Quebec; M. (1) Marie-Madeleine Desevre (1699-?), 8 Aug 1717, New France; (2) Marie-Thérèse Migneron (1697-1742), 11 Nov 1720, St-Foy, New France; (3) Marie-Marguerite Menard (1718-1788), 30 Jun 1744, Beauport, New France

2. François Dubois — B. 1698, New France; D. about 1 May 1732, Rivière-aux-Etchemins, New France; M. Marie-Angélique Cadoret (1701-?), 27 Jul 1723, Pointe-de-Lévy, New France

4. Pierre Dubois — B. 26 May 1699, Beaumont, New France; D. 6 Feb 1703, Beaumont, New France

5. Jaen Dubois — B. 24 Jun 1701, Beaumont, New France; D. 19 Feb 1703, Beaumont, New France

6. Marie-Anne Dubois — B. 1705, New France; D. 20 Jul 1733, Levis, New France; M. François Boulet (1707-?), 29 Oct 1732, Levis, New France

7. Marie-Catherine Dubois — B. 15 Jun 1708, Lauzon, New France; D. 12 Aug 1711, Lauzon, New France

8. Joseph Dubois — B. 16 Jun 1710, Beaumont, New France; D. 12 Aug 1711, Beaumont, New France

9. Louis Dubois — B. 25 Apr 1712, Lauzon, New France

Sources:
Généalogie du Quebec et d’Amérique française (website)

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'à nos jours, Cyprien Tanguay, 1890Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1997
King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers—1663-1673, Peter Gagne, 2000
Le Pionnier Pierre Ganet (website)
Dictionary of Canadian Biography (website)
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