LEDUC JOURNAL #11 (spring 1992)
by Pierre Leduc (#213)
(c) Association des Familes Leduc Inc, duplication unauthorised without permission.
Pierre Leduc (Three Pierre's born in France)

We do not know anything about the first Pierre Leduc and his wife Marie, other than that they had a child named Pierre. This child later becane a master-furbisher: a craftsman who sells ans polishes swords.

We can confirm that he was baptised on June 14, 1645 in the parish of Saint-Laurent, Rouen, Normandy, France. The Chief Curator of the Archives for that region of Haute-Normandie, department of the Seine-Maritime, has sent me a photocopy of the baptismal document of the said Pierre Leduc.

There was only one church for the parish of Saint-Laurent which later became the Musée Le Secq-des-Tournelles (ironworks), rue Jacques-Villon in Rouen. The origin of this parish is quite old. Letters from Richard II, Duke of Normandy in the year 1024, mention the Saint-Laurent church in the suburb of Rouen. In 1650 this parish counted 2,500 souls while Rouen, the capital of Normandy, had from 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants between 1600 and 1800. Rouen was the second city of the Kingdom. The parish records of Rouen are very well preserved with only a few discrepancies between 2640 and 1792. However, the Chief Curator ... was not able to trace the baptismal document of the third Pierre after searchinf the parish records of Saint-Laurent between the years 1670-1680. This third Pierre, the pioneer, was a master-boilermaker: a craftsman who made and sold cauldrons, portable stoves and othes kitchen ustensils.

As soldier in the Compagny of La Motte in 1691, accompanied by sieur Villebon, Pierre spent some fifty days sailing across the Atlantic on the ship "Le Soleil d'Afrique". His regiment camped at Ile Perrot July 6, 691, and left the following day for Acadia (now Nova Scotia and a part of New Brunswick). Nine years later, after completing his military service, my ancestor embarked upon his third career: farmer. In a notary document befors Mr. J.B. Poitier, December 31, 1700, we learn that he obtained from Sulpicians of Montreal

which is approximatly 12 hectares or 1,500,000 square fet on the island of Montreal somewhere between Lachine and Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue. Reading this four-page docment, of which I have copy, we learn amongst ther things that Pierre was not able to sign his name, and that his neighbours were Pierre Saboutin and Yves Beix.


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