Marie Rollet

Marie was born in 1580. She died at the age of 69 on May 27th, 1649 in Quebec, PQ.

General Notes
- She emigrated in 1617 from France. She resided on a cliff above the main colony after 1617 in Quebec. In the summer of 1627, an incident at subject's farm strained relations between the French and the Indians. A disagreement between her baker and a Montagnais visitor over some bread led to the murder of the baker. (LeClerc, Christian: First Establishment of the Faith in New France. Vol. 1, p.296.) One of 34 people of French origin in Quebec at the onset of the English occupation. Before leaving Canada in 1632, Louis Kirke sold his young Madagascar Negro slave to a Frenchman for fifty écus. The boy was given to subject by the Frenchman to help with the farm. (Thwaites, Reuben Gold: The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Vol. 5, p.197.) Subject volunteered to board and educate some young Indian girls at her home. Sometimes when the girls were not sponsored, subject and her husband incurred the cost. After the arrival of the Ursuline nuns in 1639, Marie transferred her responsibility for the Indian girls to the nuns. She died on MAY 27 1649 in Québec City, Québec, New France. (97) She was buried on MAY 27 1649 in Notre-Dame Church, Quebec City, New France.(90) She has Ancestral File number 28471. She was Catholic. In 1627, Samuel de Champlain and a group of Recollet priests asked her to help with the baptism of Nancogauchit, the son of an influential Indian leader. Marie served as the child's Godmother, then hosted the celebration following the ceremony attended by a large group of colonists and Indians. In July 1632, upon the French return to Quebec, Mass was first celebrated again in Quebec in subject's home. (Thwaites, Reuben Gold: The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Vol. 5, p.41.) Served as an educator, advisor, godmother, farmer, diplomat, and trader. She was a liaison between the French and Indian communities.

Click here for details of Marie's family with Louis Hébert