The McCracken Family Home Page:Information about Etienne Trudeau
Etienne Trudeau (b. September 15, 1641, d. July 22, 1712)
Notes for Etienne Trudeau:Etienne Trudeau was the first Trudeau in America and the ancestor of all of the people of that name in North
America. He was the son of Francois Trudeau, a master mason, and Catherine Matinier of Notre-Dame-de-Cogne, La
Rochelle, Aunis, France, but was baptisted at Sainte-Margerite of that city on September 15, 1641. He had three
older brothers and one was born after him. He became a master carpenter at the age of eighteen.
Having attained this skill, on the 8 June, 1659, he signed a contract to do five years military service in New France. He left La Rochelle on the 2 July, 1659, aboard the SAINT ANDRE, a ship of 300 tons. Also aboard were Marguerite Bourgeoys, Jeanne Mance and two Sulpician priests, on their way to support the struggling little settlement up river from Quebec. During the crossing, the plague was declared to have been present and those who died aboard were immediately thrown into the sea with all that was used or touched by them.
The SAINT ANDRE fmally arrived at Quebec on September 7, 1659, where those aboard were encouaged to settle rather than go to the danger of the wilderness beyond. But the new settlers could not be dissuaded, They arrived at, what is now, Montreal on September 29. After his arrival in New France, Etienne was placed in the service of the Sulpicians at Ste. Marie to strengthen their quarters about a mile and one half from Ville Marie, the original name for Montreal. He was registered in the sixth squadron of the militia of Sainte-Famille, under the command of Corporal Gilbert Barbier, one of the twelve colonists who arrived in Ville-Marie in August 1642.
On the 6th of May, 1662, he with two other workers were caught in the open by fifty Iroquois who lay in ambush. Fleeing to the redoubt, Etienne led the small party in defence until reenforcements arrived. Loosing their advantage, the Iroquois retreated taking their wounded with them. Although the Indians had fired over 300 shots, the only damage was a gun broken when struck by a bullet.
Marragable females were very scarce in New France, and although nearly twice her age, on January 10, 1667, Etienne Trudeau married Adienne Barbier, the fourteen year old daughter of his former commander, Gilbert Barbier, and his wife Catherine de la Vau. In ten months Etienne and Adrienne had their first son who they named Etienne. The Godmother was Catherine, wife of the famous Charles Le Moyne. Their seventh child, born April 11, 1680, named Jean-Baptiste, is our ancestor. His Uncle Charles Barbier was his Godfather and his Aunt "barbe barbier' signed the baptismal document.
Son Louis, born four years later was baptised in the house of "Monsieur de Longueil". This would be the mansion of Charles Le Moyne, Seigneur-de-Longueuil.
Etienne, as well as many of the sons in his family of fourteen children, engaged in the fur trade, much to the family's profit. On the expiration of his military contract, Etienne had been conceded a piece of land at Montreal on the 10th of January, 1665, but he continued to ply his trade as carpenter and trained further as a mason. On 12 March, 1675, he received a concession at Longueuil of 3 arpents of river frontage by 20 arpents deep to where he moved in 1684. He became recorded as "carpenter and habitant".
The last child, Jacques, born into the family on November 15, 1694, had Marie-Francoise "Taitereau" as Godmother.
This was the twenty year old daughter of Louis Tetreau and Nathalie Landeau already married three years to Laurent
Benoit. That marriage of the seventeen year old daughter of "Louys Taitereau et Marie Noelle Landeau" of the Parish
of Champlain was attended by people from Quebec, Longueuil, Ville Marie, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Champlain.
This shows the mobility and close inter-relationships of these French Canadian settlers.
In 1696 Pierre LeRoy was employed by Trudeau, Demez (Demers or Dumas) and Benoit for fur trade to the west.
This Trudeau was probably one or both of the sons, Jean Baptiste and Joseph who were residents of Detroit (Fort
Pontchartrain) prior to 1710.
His twenty-one year old son, Nicolas, was killed at La Prairie on the 20th of June, 1699, fighting the English and their Indian allies who had come to attack Montreal. His twenty-six year old son Francois was off with the Le Moyne
brothers to the Gulf of Mexeco, establishing the French colony there at Old Mobile. Francois, like his father, was a craftsman, hearty and enterprising, well to-do, and had no difficulty catching Jeanne Burelle, one of the "King's Girls" sent there to wed the lonely bachelors, for his bride.
On the 6 December, 1709, Etienne and his wife "retired to a high room in the house of Marie Trudeau," their only daughter and her husband, Jean Arcand, with the father, Etienne, "in a bed, sick in body but sound in spirit". Later the couple spent nine years with their son Charles and his wife Madeleine Loisel on the farm of Etienne at Longueuil. They had made an agreement that Charles would inherit the property for looking after the parents until their deaths.
Charles Trudeau and his wife, Marie-Madeleine Loisel, are ancestors of our father, Henry Lynn Tatro. His brother, Jean-Baptiste Trudeau and his wife, Marie-Madeleine Parent, are ancestors of our mother, Grace Elizabeth Attix. Thus our parents have common ancestors in Etienne Trudeau and Adrienne Barbier
More About Etienne Trudeau and Adrienne Barbier:
Marriage: January 10, 1666/67, Montreal, New France.
Children of Etienne Trudeau and Adrienne Barbier are:
- +Jean-Baptiste Trudeau, b. April 11, 1680, Montreal, Quebec, d. July 16, 1764, Terrebonne, Quebec.
- Etienne Trudeau, b. November 14, 1667, Montreal, Canada, d. date unknown.
- Pierre Trudeau, b. September 24, 1669, Montreal, Canada, d. February 27, 1738/39, Longue Pointe, Quebec.
- Marie Trudeau, b. January 27, 1671/72, Montreal, Canada, d. April 03, 1744.
- Francois Trudeau, b. December 21, 1673, Montreal, Canada, d. 1739.
- Toussaint Trudeau, b. January 19, 1675/76, Montreal, Canada, d. February 12, 1753, Longueuil, Quebec.
- Nicolas Trudeau, b. February 20, 1677/78, Montreal, Canada, d. June 20, 1699.
- Joseph Trudeau, b. July 19, 1682, Montreal, Canada, d. May 03, 1745, Montreal, Canada.
- Charles Trudeau, b. March 24, 1683/84, Longueuil, Quebec, d. March 21, 1740/41, Longueuil, Quebec.
- Laurent Trudeau, b. April 07, 1686, Longueuil, Quebec, d. April 02, 1730.
- Louis Trudeau, b. December 13, 1687, Longueuil, Quebec, d. date unknown.
- Bertrand Trudeau, b. August 06, 1689, Longueuil, Quebec, d. date unknown.
- Augustin Trudeau, b. September 23, 1691, Montreal, Canada, d. November 18, 1709, Longueuil, Quebec.
- Jacques Antoine Trudeau, b. November 15, 1694, Longueuil, Quebec, d. date unknown.