Claude VANDANDAIGUE
life

Claude and Marie


The only son of Joseph Vandendaique and Louise Chalifour was born at Petit
Village, in Beauport Qué. and was baptised on May 2nd 1682. He was given the name of his godfather, Claude Ballif who was an architect. It is at that place called Le Petit Village du Bourg de Beauport that Claude and his sisters Jaquette, Marie-Anne, Marie-Louise and Charlotte lived before four of them left to establish themselves at Montréal between 1707 and 1715.

The oldest, Jaquette, given the name of her maternal grandmother Jaquette Archambault, had settled along with her husband Pierre Boutillet in the village of St-Pierre, Seignerie de Notre-Dame des Anges. She died prematurely in 1714 leaving two small children. The death of her husband a year later and the fact that Jaquette had lost touch with her siblings forced the Vandandaigue grandparents to look after their grandchildren.

In 1704, when Marie-Louise married Jacques Gervais, her parents gave them the farm and house in le Petit Village. However, when Marie-Louise and her husband left for Montréal, the parents took back the farm. Therefore, on February 13th 1707, at the office of notary Louis Chabalon, Joseph Vandandaigue and his wife again gave their farm to a child. This time it was to Claude who was still a minor. He would not attain his majority until he reached his 25th year on the 2nd of May. The act of cessation stipulated that Joseph had acquired that land in 1688 ten years after his marriage with Louise Chalifour and it now included "a farm and house situated at the said small village parish of Beauport, consisting of two acres in width and reaching to the lands of the Royal Borough, along with the buildings situated thereon and where they actually settled without any reservations and without keeping anything back.... along with two black bulls aged four to five years, a grey dappled horse aged 14 or 15 and two pigs." The duties included in that act left no doubt as to Claude Vandandaigue's occupation. He did not follow in his father's footsteps as a carpenter. Those possessions and animals already belonged to him and he surely was cultivating the land. In addition he must continue cultivating the acre of land "adjoining the land of Thomas Doyon" for the benefit of his parents until the surviving one died. Claude must also keep Joseph and Louise in the home. "Should there be a case of incompatibility, the said son must build, at his expence, an addition of reasonable size
measured from the pitch of the main house where is the chimney on the south east side, to be their private dwelling." After having reached his majority, Claude confirmed the act of cessation and on the 5th of November 1708, he married Marie Brideau daughter of the late Jean Brideau and Marie Crête also of Beauport. A marriage contract was drawn 29-10-1708 by Chambalon. Five children were born at Beauport between 1709 and 1714. But in 1715, after the death of his sister Jaquette and following the example of his three other sisters already established on the island of Montréal, Claude Vandandaigue along with his
wife and four surviving children, left Beauport to go and live at St-François-de-Sales de
l'Isle Jésus near Montréal. He sold the property to the Jesuits who undertook to respect all
the conditions of the agreement Claude had undertaken with his parents when the property had been given to him in 1707. Claude and Marie established themselves on a farm situated on the Rivière des Prairies on Ile Jésus. That farm is located at 1.8 km. from the actual Montée des Moulins, in the Duvernay section of Laval. Thirteen other children were to be born at St-François-de-Sales. Over and above being very prolific, the couple seemed to be very much in demand in the small community. Their names appear regularly in the parish registers. Claude is one of the few people on the island able to sign his name. It must be noted that he never took the nickname of "Gatebois". He is often called to sign the register at marriages. Both are often named godparents in the baptism register. This leads us to believe that Marie Brideau, without a doubt, carried out the duties of mid-wife in her small community. Although he was often present as witness and godfather, Claude Vandandaigue did not seem to have served in more important roles such as soldier or church warden. Nevertheless, the couple was greatly appreciated. In spite of being present at various ceremonies more often than he should have been, Claude was not negletful of his personnal affairs. We find his signature on many notarized contracts. In that way he acquired, for his children, farms on Ile Jésus as well as on the south shore, more precisely at St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu where many of his sons established themselves. We don't know which one among them inherited his house at St-François-de-Sales but we know that Claude settled his son Joseph on a nearby farm. As early as 1727 Claude was acquiring farms at St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu and his sons Claude, Jean-Baptiste, Pierre-Joachim and André settled there from 1740. Claude died at St-François-de-Sales de l'Ile Jésus on March 10th 1752 in his 71st year. His wife Marie died in 1776 at the venerable age of 85. His children set family roots at St-Vincent-de-Paul de l'Ile Jésus and as far as the Richelieu Valley.

Written by Pierre Gadbois and translated by Micheline Gadbois Macdonald




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