Église de Chirac, vue du sud. Charente, France. Jack Ma. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chirac_eg2.JPG

Élizabeth Éthier, baptized on February 2, 1673, at the Notre-Dame parish in Montréal, is my 6th great-grandmother. She married Louis Forget on March 2, 1688, in Lachenaie where she was also buried in 1743. Apropos, their daughter Élizabeth (Forget) was Augustin Hubou dit Tourville’s wife, the first to use the “dit name” of Tourville.

Élizabeth Éthier’s parents, Léonard Éthier and Élizabeth Godillon, were married at the Notre-Dame parish in Montréal on September 22, 1670. He was a clog maker who was from Manot, in the department of Charente. She was a King’s Daughter, a native of Blois in Loir-et-Cher department in France.

We owe to Fichier Origine’s team the finding of Léonard’s baptismal record in the parish of Saint-Pierre in Chirac, department of Charente. Dated October 17, 1638, it establishes that he was born in Puyrichard in the same town and that his parents are Étienne Esthier and Marguerite Sabille or Sabelle. They also discovered his brother François’ record, a pioneer of New France as well. Their presence in Montréal dates back to 1670.

I had read that the death date of Léonard Éthier was unknown—probably in Lachenaie before 1690 as his wife Élizabeth Godillon reported being a widow in a notary act that very year. I, therefore, thought of the attack of Lachenaie by the Iroquois on November 13, 1689, in the context of which the third of Lachenaie population was killed and some, taken prisoners. According to his Master thesis, Le premier demi-siècle de Lachenaie (1670-1724), Mario Nadon wrote that Léonard and his brother François were most likely among the victims, as was Suzanne Betfer, widow of Mathieu Hubou, and some of her children. Unfortunately, even if the priest did mention in the parish records that numerous people were buried after the attack, he did not give any names.

Some survivors have chosen to leave Lachenaie after that fateful autumn. However, Élizabeth Godillon was not one of them. She never remarried and stayed in Lachenaie until her death, in January 1715.