Gabriel Rouleau (dit Sansoucy)

Tourouvre, Perche, France

Ste-Famille, Île d'Orléans, Québec, Canada

General Notes

[Translated from French to English by Robert Rouleau with babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate. Last corrections made by Marc A. Rouleau and Yves Rouleau .]

The ancestor Gabriel, possibly born in 1613, could be a descendant of Sebastién Rouollo (Rouleau) and of Catherine Sauvage who lived in Tourouvre, a small locality of the province of Perche in Normandy, in the North-West of France. Tourouvre is located at approximately 150 kilometers west of Paris.

Since so few people could read or write at that time, names were often recorded inconsistently - as they sounded to each priest or magistrate. Later, because of all the wars and invasions in this part of France, many records and official documents were lost or destroyed. Hence, the archival information from that time in France, like many other places, is scantily available and not entirely accurate where it exists.

We find very little documentation on the comings and goings of ancestor Gabriel. At the census of 1667, he declared to be 54 years old and at his death in 1673 he was given the age of 60.

Pierre Boucher, a person in charge of the store in the garrison of the Trois-Rivières, recruited colonists and among them, the list showed Gabriel Rouleau, lately arrived from France in 1649. Gabriel had to battle against the Indians and at the same time had to provide for all kinds of needs for the garrison. It was during this period of skirmishes with the Indians that Gabriel inherited his nickname of "Sanssoucy", or "without worry". It is probably within this garrison that Gabriel met his future wife Mathurine LeRoux. Anyway, we find Gabriel and Mathurine, on August 16, 1652, in front of the notary Audouart, in Québec City, to sign a marriage contract. Gabriel, "usually living in Trois-Rivières", promised to marry Mathurine LeRoux, a 16 year old girl, originating from the town of LaRochelle in France. Gabriel was then 40 years old.

Around 1652 Gabriel Rouleau was granted by Robert Giffard, Lord of Beauport, a land where he hastily built a log house. On August 12, 1653, his first born daughter, Louise, was baptized in Québec City. A first boy named Jean is also baptized in Quebec city on March 14, 1655. The war between rival Indian tribes intensified so much that at the end of August 1656, a fire, presumably caused by hostile Indians, burned down the Rouleau house and the two children of the couple perished in the flame.

A little time after this harsh misfortune, the Rouleau couple decided to establish a new household in Ste-Famille, Île d' Orléans, on a land conceded by Charles de Lauzon, Lord of Charny-Lirec. Gabriel built a house there and undertook the clearing of the ground. It is in this new residence that was born Jean Rouleau, baptized in Québec City on November 22, 1656. (One does not find any more trace of this Jean after 17 years of age). Gabriel finally received the deed of his land on June 26, 1657. The couple Gabriel and Mathurine had many other children:

Anne, baptized in Quebec on August 13, 1658, died 4 years later.

Pierre, baptized in Chateau-Richer on April 5, 1661, deceased around the age of 12.

Guillaume, a twin baptized in Château-Richer, May 3, 1662. He married Catherine Dufresne, February 3, 1688. They settled on a farm in St-Laurent, I.O. and had 5 children.

Anne, a twin baptized in Château-Richer, May 3, 1662. She married Jean Houde on August 23, 1678, and died on January 15, 1703 in St-Antoine-de-Tilly.

Catherine, born on April 3, 1664, deceased on April 6 of the same year.

Gabriel, baptized on July 15, 1665 in Château-Richer, married in first wedding, the widow Jeanne Dufresne, November 25, 1685. He settled on Jeanne's farm in St-Laurent, Île d'Orléans, which has since been always in possession of his descendants. He had 7 children. He married in second wedding, Catherine Roulois, February 6, 1713. They had 5 children.

Marie, born on July 1, 1667, married Pierre DuSault on November 2, 1687.

Claude, baptized on February 16, 1669 in Ste-Famille, I.O., but we do not find any more trace of him.

Joseph, baptized on May 13, 1672 in Ste-Famille, I.O., buried on May 23, of the same year in Ste-Famille.

Pierre, baptized on July 10, 1673 in Ste-Famille, I.O., deceased on July 13 of the same year in Ste-Famille

Gabriel Rouleau died at the age of 60 and was buried in the cemetery of Ste-Famille, I.O., February 23, 1673. Mathurine Leroux remarried on February 5, 1674 with Martin Mercier. She died in St-Laurent, I.O., at the age of 73 and was buried in the parochial cemetery on February 1, 1708.

Click here for details of Gabriel's family with Mathurine Leroux