Marguerite  BOILEAU (BOISLEAU)

Jean Serreau de Saint-Aubin, born in Poitou in c1621, emigrated to Canada in c1660 and set himself up on the Argentenay seigneurie at Île d'Orléans. He married Marguerite, daughter of René Boileau or Boisleau, sieur de La Goupillière and Joachine Ferrand of St.-Jean Dersé, or Dercé, Diocese of Poitiers, probably at Québec in c1663. Marguerite gave Jean four children, born on Île d'Orléans. All was not happy in the Saint-Aubin household, however. A neighbor, Jean Terme of Switzerland, became obsessed with Marguerite and, despite Jean's warnings, "visited [her] too familiarly." Threats were exchanged between the husband and the neighbor. One day in July 1665, Jean surprised Terme with his wife. In the encounter that followed, Terme made the mistake of placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. Jean "dealt him a blow with a stick which proved fatal." The aggrieved husband was exonerated of the act, which, in the eyes of his fellow colonists, was clearly self-defense. He received "letters of remission and pardon" signed by King Louis XIV in February 1666, which were certified by the Supreme Council at Québec the following January. Nevertheless, at the request of his seigneuress, Madame d'Ailleboust, Jean and his wife were expelled from Île d'Orléans. In September 1676, Jean sold his property at Baie St.-Paul, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence below Île d'Orléans, to Msgr. Laval for 1,100 livres and took his family to Acadia. They settled at Passamaquoddy, on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. In June 1684, Jean was granted the seigneurie of Passamaquoddy, which included Île Ste.-Croix on Rivière Ste.-Croix, site of de Monts's first settlement. The seigneur and his family built their manor house on Île Archimagan, at the mouth of Rivière Ste.-Croix, near present-day St. Andrews, New Brunswick. In 1686, de Meulles found the seigneur with his wife and "his older and younger sons and a few servants" on Rivière Ste.-Croix. Marguerite gave Jean four children, including two sons who created families of their own.

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