Gilles LAUZON
Biography

Pioneer Gilles Lauzon passed away on September 21st, 1687, at Montréal (Ville-Marie).

Gilles, a tinsmith, had arrived in New France as part of La Grande Recrue of 1653. In 1656 he married the very young Marie-Anne Archambault. The couple had thirteen children before Marie-Anne's untimely death in 1685.

Around 1678 their household was struck by a fire which left the family in dire financial straits. It's reported that former governor Charles d'Ailleboust forgave most of the debt owed to him "in consideration of the poverty" caused by event.
At the time of Gilles's death, their youngest child Gilles was just three years old. The young Gilles and other siblings were left in the care of elder sister Catherine and her husband Jean Sicard.

Marie-Anne and Gilles have many notable descendants including actors Mark Wahlberg, Ryan Gosling and Jim Carrey. Another descendant, Charles (Don Carlos) Beaubien, made a name for himself as a fur-trader and land-owner in the American Southwest in the 1800's.

[Sources: PRDH; Les anciennes familles du Québec, Brasserie Labatt limitée, La Brasserie, Québec, p. 46; "Gilles Lauzon", Our French-Canadian Ancestors (vol.24, pp.104-114), Gérard Lebel, (Thomas J. Laforest (tr.)), Édouard Senécal illustrator, Palm Harbor, Florida, 1997]

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