Simon-Pierre  DENIS

Biography
DENYS DE BONAVENTURE, SIMON-PIERRE, officer in the colonial regular troops; b. at Trois-Rivières, 22 June 1659, son of Pierre Denys de La Ronde and Catherine Leneuf; m. in 1693 Jeanne Jannière, widow of Jean-François Bourdon*, Sieur de Dombourg; d. at Rochefort, 7 Feb. 1711, and was buried there in the original church of Saint-Louis.

Bonaventure’s date of birth is frequently given as 15 Feb. 1654 but family papers show this to be the birth date of his uncle, Simon-Pierre Denys de Saint-Pierre, with whom he is sometimes confused. Saint-Pierre was the son of Simon Denys* de La Trinité and François Du Tartre. He became a lieutenant in the colonial regular troops, and while still young was wounded in an encounter with the Iroquois, taken prisoner, and burned. Le Jeune states that Bonaventure was married first in 1686 to Geneviève Couillard, but according to the family records she was the wife of another of his uncles, Pierre Denys Du Tartre.

Bonaventure entered the colonial regular...Read full story


Dictionary of Canadian Biography, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003

1666 Quebec
pierre Denis Escuyer sr. de laronde..........35 habittant
demoiselle Catherine le Neuf ................26 sa femme
Jacques Denis ................................8 fils
Simon pierre Denis............................6 fils
Marguerite Denis .............................9 fille
Angelique Denis .............................5 fille
francoise Denis .............................2 fille
francois Savin ..............................26 domestique Engaigé
Jacques d. Laverdure ........................30 Engaigé
Jacques d. le Sauvage .......................32 Engaigé
Charles .....................................18 Engaigé
Et Marie Boyleau ............................16 servante

The first census of New France (1666)
The French In North America: 1500-1783