Françoise Hubou (~1638-~1692)

20121115034504!GlobeThe Pioneers from Mesnil-Durand, France

We have identified five persons who came from Mesnil-Durand in the 17th Century: Guillaume Hubou (about 1627), Barbe Hubou (1639), Mathieu Hubou (1641), Nicolas Goupil (1642) and Françoise Hubou (1662).

Here is the story of Françoise Hubou.


Although there is no baptismal act for Françoise Hubou in the Catholic registers of Saint-André du Mesnil-Durand (France), we are lucky enough to have an approximation of her birth year. In the 1667 Census, in Côte Saint-Ignace, in Sillery, she declared being 29, probably born then in 1638.

1667 Census

The family is listed in Côte Saint-Ignace, Sillery. The first two children, Michel, 10, and Charles, 8, are from the first marriage of Michel Desorcys with Françoise de la Barre.
Source: Library and Archives Canada Website, Census, 1667 (in French), item 48, MIKAN No. 2318857

Françoise is twelve years younger than her brother Mathieu Hubou. In New France records, her name first appears in two acts concerning her marriage to Michel Desorcys: their marriage contract before Notary Guillaume Audouart dit Saint-Germain, on September 30, 1662, and the religious act of their marriage, celebrated on October 17, 1662, in Québec’s Notre-Dame Parish.

It was Michel Desorcys’ second marriage. Françoise and Michel only had one daughter, Marie-Madeleine, born September 5 and baptized September 8, 1663, at Notre-Dame Parish in Québec. The child’s godmother was Suzanne Betfer, Françoise’s sister-in-law.

Françoise was a very popular godmother in Québec and Sillery as she has been one for nine children, including two Indian girls, between 1664 and 1677.

The only traces she left afterwards are in the Hôtel-Dieu of Québec (hospital) on April 17, 1690, and July 1, 1692. She declared being 50 on both accounts, but she actually was 52 and 54. She probably died in 1692.