Étienne  LAFOND dit PEPIN

Biography
Pioneer Étienne Lafond died suddenly on September 15th, 1665, at Trois-Rivières, Québec. The parish registry does not mention a cause of death, but it's reported that 'since he was a man of uncommon stature and quality, his mortal remains were interred in the church itself.'

Early records indicate that Étienne was a servant of the Ursuline Nuns in New France and later a 'builder of houses and boats.' He became a 'great land-owner.'

In 1645 Étienne married Marie Boucher, sister of the illustrious Pierre Boucher of Boucherville. Marie outlived her husband by forty years and did not remarry. She's said to have been an 'excellent businesswoman,' possibly better than her famous brother at managing 'family affairs with authority and competence.'

The many notable descendants of Marie and Étienne include Queen Camilla of the UK, Angelina Jolie, and the Canadian political family Trudeau.
(Nos Ancêtres gives his surname as 'Pépin de Lafond,' but PRDH and other modern sources call him...Read MORE...


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1645 Marriage / Partner
Étienne LAFOND dit PEPIN and Marie BOUCHER 30 January 1645, Québec, Québec, Canada (Quebec City)

1646 Birth of Child
Jean LAFOND was born 21 May 1646, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1648 Birth of Child
Marie LAFOND was born 25 October 1648, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1652 Birth of Child
Geneviève LAFOND was born 29 February 1652, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1655 Birth of Child
Pierre LAFOND dit MONGRAIN was born 24 April 1655 , Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1658 Birth of Child
Françoise LAFOND was born 8 July 1658 , Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1661 Birth of Child
Étienne LAFOND was born 5 October 1661 , Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1664 Birth of Child
Augustin LAFOND was born 14 May 1664 , Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada (Three Rivers)

1665 - Death
Death found at Immaculee Conception, Trois Rivieres in Drouin Collection

15 Sept 1665

Etienne Lafond (also called Stephanus Lafond in body of death record)

'The civil registry of the three-rivers parish may have had some deficiencies more or less, but on 15 September 1665 the missionary priest did not fail to record the death of our ancestor Etienne. Written in Latin, the inscription reads: 'Repentia et improvisia mort abiit.' That is to say that the passage from this life to the next is sudden and often unexpected... Etienne was about fifty years old and, since he was a man of uncommon stature and quality, his mortal remains were interred in the church itself.'

Thomas J. Laforest
Our French-Canadian Ancestors : Volume VI, Page 192
Familysearch.org. Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) (Mormon Genealogy Records).
The French In North America: 1500-1783

1668 Trois Rivieres
'... 1668 - Marie Boucher, widow of Etienne Pepin de Lafond as well for herself as for her children. The two lots had been granted to the sieur de Lafond in 1656 and in 1650, and the land in 1656.'

Title Report
Author Public Archives Canada
Published 1885
Page 50