Plan de la seigneurie de Beauport

Martin Prévost

Martin Prévost (1611 – 1691)

variant spelling: Provost

Birth

Martin Prévost was born on January 4, 1611, in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) and was baptized the same day at the Church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Montreuil, Montreuil-sous-Bois, Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.[1]

“In the Year of Grace one thousand six hundred and eleven, on the fourth day of January, Martin, son of Pierre Prevost and Charlotte Vien his wife, was baptized and held over the holy baptismal font by Germain Mainguet, assisted by Raphael Cornu and Thomasse Cambrey, done as above.”

Parents

He was the son of Pierre Prévost and Charlotte Vié (Vien).[2]

Migration to New France

Around 1639, Martin Prévost embarked for Canada. He worked as a master valet and storekeeper for the Company of One Hundred Associates. His presence was also noted in Quebec in the records of notary Martial Piraube.

First Marriage

This marriage was the first in Canada between an indigenous person and a European Canadian immigrant.

On November 3, 1644, at Notre-Dame Parish in Quebec, Canada, 33-year-old Martin Prévost married 20-year-old Marie Olivier Sylvestre (Ouchistaouichkoue Manitouabe8ich), daughter of Roch Manitouabe8ich and Outchibahanoukoueou. The ceremony was attended by Sieur Guillaume Couillard de l’Espinay, Father Barthélemi Vimont, and Sieur Olivier Le Tardif de Honnefleur, who was the bride’s godfather. They subsequently settled in the seigneury of Beauport, where they had nine children, all baptized in Quebec.[3][4][5]

Children of Marie-Olivier Sylvestre & Martin Prévost

  • Marie Magdeleine Prévost (ca. 1647 – ca. 1648)
  • Anonymous Prévost (1648 – 1648)
  • Ursule Prévost (1649 – 1661)
  • Louis Prévost (ca. 1651 – 1686)
  • Marie Magdelaine Prévost (1655 – ca. 1662)
  • Antoine Prévost (1657 – 1662)
  • Jean Pascal Prévost (1660 – before 1710)
  • Jean Baptiste Prévost (1662 – 1737)
  • Marie Thérèse Prévost (1665 – 1743)

On June 5, 1656, René Maheu sold a house to Martin Prévost on behalf of Jean Baillargeon (ca. 1612-1694) in the lower town of Quebec, before notary Guillaume Audouart de Saint-Germain. However, this was done in a curious manner. Martin Prévost appeared before notary Audouart and purchased the house from René Maheu. Yet ten days later, he declared before the same notary that he had acted “for and to the benefit of Jean Baillargeon,” and the latter agreed to respect all conditions recorded in the deed!

Second Marriage

On November 8, 1665, in the chapel of Beauport, Canada, 54-year-old Martin Prévost married 47-year-old Marie d’Abancourt “dit” Lacaille, daughter of Adrien d’Abancourt “dit” Lacaille and Simone d’Orgeville.[6] The marriage was registered at Notre-Dame-de-Québec Parish. There were no children from this marriage.

Census of 1666

Martin Prevost, 55, resident; Marie d’Abancourt, 48, his wife, widow of Guillot Godefroi; Louis, 15; Jean, 6; Jean-Baptiste, 4; Thérèse, 7 months; Elizabeth, 9; Marie Houarlin, 33, domestic servant; Pierre Rouziliet, 27, servant. They lived in Beauport, Canada.

Census of 1667

Martin Prévost, 58; Marie Dabancour, his wife, 48; Louis, 17; Jean, 8; Jean-Baptiste, 6; Thérèse, 3; Marin Arlin, 30; La Fontaine, 24; 9 animals, 45 arpents under cultivation. They lived on the coasts of Beauport, Notre-Dame-des-Anges, or other places.

Census of 1681

Martin Provost, 71; children: Jean Paschal, 22, Jean, 20, Marie, 17; servants: Jean Proust, 25; Antoine Lesieur, 16; 2 firearms; 10 horned animals; 46 arpents under cultivation. They lived in the seigneury of Beauport, Canada.

Death

On January 27, 1691, at the age of 80, Martin Prévost died and was buried the following day in Beauport, Canada.[7]

He is one of the pioneers of French Canada and ancestor of a large portion of the Prévost/Provost families in North America.

First Canadian to Marry an Indigenous Woman of New France

PRÉVOST (Provost), MARTIN, one of the pioneers of Beauport, near Quebec, born around 1611, son of Pierre Prévost and Charlotte Vien, from Montreuil-sur-le-Bois-de-Vincennes (today Montreuil-sous-Bois), near Paris, died in Beauport on January 26, 1691.

Prévost’s presence is noted in Quebec, in the records of notary Piraube, from the year 1639. On November 3, 1644, he married Marie-Olivier-Sylvestre Manitouabeouich. This is the first marriage between a Frenchman and an indigenous person mentioned in the annals of Canada. The young bride had been given by her parents to the interpreter Olivier Letardif, who had her raised in the French manner, first at the Ursuline Sisters after serving as her godfather, and later with Guillaume Hubou and his family.

After his marriage and until his death, Martin Prévost was established in Beauport as an “habitant” (permanent resident of New France), which allowed him to have a site and a house in Quebec in 1667.

He married secondly (1665) Marie d’Abancourt, widow of Jean Jollyet (Jolliet) and of Godfroy (Guillot) Guillot dit Lavallée (ca. 1619 – before 1665).

Toward the end of his life, he signed his name as “Provost.” His descendants have adopted either spelling.

Honorius Provost

JR (Thwaites), IX: 103; XI: 93. — Land register of the Compagnie des I. O. (P.-G. Roy). — Jean Langevin, Notes sur les archives de Notre-Dame de Beauport (Quebec, 1860)

Sources

  1. Baptism – Martin Prévost – Fichier origine 243404. ↩︎

  2. Tanguay Vol. 1, p. 499 ↩︎

  3. Marriage Register Index – FamilySearch. ↩︎

  4. Marriage of Martin Prévost & Marie Olivier Sylvestre – FamilySearch. ↩︎

  5. Marriage of Martin Prévost & Marie Olivier (Silvestre) Manitouabeouich – PRDH. ↩︎

  6. Marriage of Martin Prevost & Marie Dabancour – FamilySearch. ↩︎

  7. Burial of Martin Prévost – FamilySearch. ↩︎

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