Marie Olivier  SYLVESTRE MANITOUABEOUICH

Martin Prévost, born on Jan. 4, 1611, is the son of Pierre Provost and Charlotte Vié (Vien) of Montreuil-sous-Bois, a suburb to the east of Paris. Martin had had four brothers and one sister. He came to Canada around 1639 and married in 1644. According to the official records of New France, Martin Prévost was the first white to marry an indian. The wife of Martin called Marie Olivier Sylvestre, was of the Algonquian tribe. Her name at birth was Manitouabéouich and she was given the Christian name d'Olivier in honor of her adoptive father, Olivier LeTardiff, interpreter and commissioner general of the company of the One Hundred Associations. Martin Prévost and his family moved from Quebec to Beauport. He died at age 80, on Jan. 27, 1691.

In the early history of Canada, it was not until Olivier LeTardif became the personal representative and interpreter for Samuel de Champlain that we first hear the name Manitouabewich. This young Indian, of the Huron Nation, had been hired as LeTardif's own scout and traveling companion. Manitouabewich had been converted to Christianity by the French missionaries, and as part of the baptismal ritual, had been given the Christian name of Roch, in honor of St.Roch, the patron saint. Olivier LeTardif and Roch Manitouabewich traveled together for many years. It was the responsibility of LeTardif to establish a network of fur trading posts for the "Company" that Champlain had based at Quebec (l'Habitation at Basseville)...

It was in the atmosphere of this respected family of Guillaume Hubou and his wife Marie Rollet (when she married Guillaume Hubou, she was the widow of Louis Hebert) that Marie Olivier Sylvestre met and married Martin Prevost, friend of the Hubou family and a very personal friend of Olivier LeTardif. This marriage was to be the first marriage on record between an Indian girl and a French colonist. The marriage took place on the third of January 1644 at Quebec. Recorded as witnesses to the ceremony was Olivier LeTardif and Quillaume Couillard (father-in-law of LeTardif).

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