Michel Tourville Welcomes Home Agathe Bertrand

Michel Tourville (1787-1860), son of Michel Tourville and Catherine Marié, just like his brother Jean-Baptiste, made frequent visits to public notaries. One of them occurred at Notary Public Toussaint Limoges’ on February 9, 1828, and caught my eye—for a good reason that is. He took care of my 4th Great Grandmother, Agathe Bertrand.

Why, I asked myself, would Michel Tourville (who is not my direct ancestor) accommodate 72-year-old Agathe? Then it all made sense.

Michel Tourville Jr was married to Josephte Cantin whose mother was Amable Bertrand, Agathe’s sister. In fact, the two brothers married two sisters: Agathe Bertrand married Charles Cantin (my direct ancestors); and Amable Bertrand married Pierre Cantin (Josephte Cantin’s parents).

I surely do not want to confuse you, but just to be clear, my 2nd Great Grandmother Joséphine Cantin was Josephte Cantin’s first cousin once removed.

Agathe Bertrand died on May 29, 1828. She was buried in Rivière-des-Praries’ parish cemetery in Montréal (facing Île Jésus, now Laval). So during a period of three months, Michel Tourville, farmer of Isle Jésus, welcomed Agathe, his mother-in-law’s sister (or in other words his wife’s aunt), in exchange for her lifetime pension, consisting of ten bushels of wheat, one hundred pounds of bacon or half of a 200-pound pig, a gallon of rhum, four pounds of soap, four pounds of candles, four pounds of sugar, one quarter of salt as well as the following furniture: one bed, one buffet and its key, one chest and its key, one small card, one spinning wheel, one table, one cauldron, as well as linen and clothing. When Agathe passed away, the lifetime annuity was to be extinguished in favour of his son-in-law Athanase Jobin.

As a compensation, Michel would provide Agathe with board and room, linen and clothes, shoes and hats as needed, without any charges.

Athanase Jobin would part with the furniture, linen and clothes that he gave to Agathe while he took care of her, as long as he could keep the room she occupied in his home for his own use.

Don’t you love these notary contracts? Without even looking for it, I learned what happened to one of my ancestors, Agathe Bertrand, at the very end of her life. We furthermore know that Michel and Josephte—and their then four living children—were still living in Saint-François-de-Sales.

Still, I wonder why Athanase Jobin couldn’t take care of her mother-in-law anymore. Athanase and his wife Thérèse Cantin lived in Pointe-aux-Trembles (located at the very east-end of the island of Montréal) all their life. In 1828, they had five children.

Who knows?


For those of you wondering:

  • Amable Bertrand died in 1826; her husband Pierre Cantin, in 1834.
  • Charles Cantin died in 1809.

2 thoughts on “Michel Tourville Welcomes Home Agathe Bertrand

  1. Wish we had more of the Notary records in the US. There are so many questions I would like to have answered. While they don’t answer all the questions and sometimes they create more. It would be nice to know more of our ancestors daily lives.

    • These contracts are a real treasure for sure! When I do research in the States, I do wish too that to find these or the equivalent 🙂

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