Individual Details
Pierre Perrot
(1654 - Abt 21 May 1741)
The Honor of Pierre Perrot: A Story of New France
The story of the Perrot family in North America begins on the bustling docks of Quebec City around 1680. Stepping off a crowded transatlantic vessel was twenty-six-year-old Pierre Perrot. Like many young Frenchmen of his era, Pierre had traded three years of his life as an indentured servant for a fresh start in the New World. His contract took him to the sprawling manor of Portneuf, where he worked under René Robineau, the local Baron.
It was during these early years of hard labor that Pierre’s path first crossed with a young girl named Geneviève Duclos. By the time the colonial census-taker arrived in 1681, both Pierre and Geneviève were listed side-by-side as servants on the Baron’s estate.
When Pierre’s contract finally expired in the fall of 1683, he chose not to return to France. Instead, he sought to build something of his own. The Baron granted him permission to claim a plot of raw, untamed forest along the St. Lawrence River in an area known as Cap-Santé. For eighteen grueling months, Pierre worked alone—felling massive trees, clearing brush, and erecting a small timber cabin.
On April 23, 1685, he walked into the office of notary François Genaple to sign his official land deed, proudly naming his new homestead Pointe-aux-Envieux. With a home finally secured, Pierre returned to Portneuf to marry Geneviève in late 1685. She was just sixteen or seventeen years old, standing beside her thirty-one-year-old husband on the edge of a new life.
Their quiet, hard-earned peace was shattered just months into their marriage. On March 30, 1686, a military expedition left Montreal bound for Hudson Bay. Among the ranks was a troubled soldier named Jacques Pourpoint. Unwilling to face the brutal wilderness march, Pourpoint slipped away from his detachment and deserted into the woods.
By early April, cold, hungry, and desperate, Pourpoint stumbled upon the isolated Perrot cabin. Finding the young Geneviève entirely alone, his worst instincts took over. He forced his way inside, assaulted and raped her, and then callously stole a suit of Pierre's clothes before vanishing back into the forest.
When Pierre returned home later that day, he found his teenage bride traumatized, weeping, and frozen in fear. As Geneviève recounted the horrific attack, Pierre faced a choice that would define his legacy. Rather than grabbing his musket and seeking bloody, vigilante justice in the woods, Pierre chose a more powerful path: he would use the law to reclaim his wife's and his family's honor.
On April 14, 1686, Pierre arrived in Quebec City to file a formal complaint with the Grand Marshall of New France. What followed was a testament to how seriously the colony took the defense of its early settlers:
The Capture
April 20–23, 1686
Within six days of Pierre's complaint, a military sergeant tracked down and captured Pourpoint. By April 23, the deserter was locked in a Quebec prison.
The Investigation
April 26–27, 1686
The Grand Marshall personally traveled down the river to the Perrot cabin to inspect the crime scene and retrieve the stolen clothing from a neighbor who had recovered them.
Spared from Travel
May 7, 1686
Recognizing that it was the crucial spring planting season and that Geneviève was miles away from the capital, court officials traveled directly to the homestead to take her testimony safely at home.
The Execution
May 22, 1686
The Sovereign Council found Pourpoint guilty of desertion and rape, sentencing him to death. At five o'clock that evening, after begging God's forgiveness outside the parish church, he was hanged in Lower Quebec.
With their honor legally restored and the stolen clothes returned, Pierre and Geneviève began the long process of healing. Their resilience was answered with new life; on August 24, 1686, just three months after the execution, Geneviève gave birth to their first child, Marie-Gertrude. Over the next two decades, despite the heavy rents demanded by the Baron, the couple successfully raised twelve children on their Cap-Santé farm.
By June 1702, seeking a fresh start and the support of extended family, the Perrots relocated to Batiscan to be near Geneviève’s relatives. This move sparked a prosperous new era. In May 1708, Pierre expanded his holdings by purchasing a substantial tract of land along the Batiscan River from the Jesuit priests. Three years later, in 1711, he sold the original Cap-Santé homestead for a handsome sum of 600 pounds, reinvesting the money into a beautiful new estate in Fief Ste-Marie, near Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade.
By 1723, Pierre had transformed into a highly successful, independent elder of the community, managing twenty arpents of fully cultivated land and operating a local windmill. As the years rolled on, his sons—François, Pierre, and Adrien—frequently left home to explore the deep continent as voyageurs (licensed fur traders), traveling as far as Michilimackinac to secure furs. Remarkably, in an era where dynamic diseases routinely devastated large families, every single one of Pierre and Geneviève's twelve children lived past the age of twenty-four.
After more than fifty-four years of a deeply intertwined life born out of hardship and survival, Geneviève passed away on July 5, 1740, at seventy-two years old. Pierre, having seen his family firmly rooted in the soil of Canada, followed his beloved wife less than a year later, dying at home on May 21, 1741 at the age of eighty-seven.
The parish priest noted that both died with immense piety, and nearly the entire region turned out for their funerals—a final, sweeping show of respect from the community for a quiet, resilient couple who had conquered tragedy to build a dynasty.
The story of the Perrot family in North America begins on the bustling docks of Quebec City around 1680. Stepping off a crowded transatlantic vessel was twenty-six-year-old Pierre Perrot. Like many young Frenchmen of his era, Pierre had traded three years of his life as an indentured servant for a fresh start in the New World. His contract took him to the sprawling manor of Portneuf, where he worked under René Robineau, the local Baron.
It was during these early years of hard labor that Pierre’s path first crossed with a young girl named Geneviève Duclos. By the time the colonial census-taker arrived in 1681, both Pierre and Geneviève were listed side-by-side as servants on the Baron’s estate.
When Pierre’s contract finally expired in the fall of 1683, he chose not to return to France. Instead, he sought to build something of his own. The Baron granted him permission to claim a plot of raw, untamed forest along the St. Lawrence River in an area known as Cap-Santé. For eighteen grueling months, Pierre worked alone—felling massive trees, clearing brush, and erecting a small timber cabin.
On April 23, 1685, he walked into the office of notary François Genaple to sign his official land deed, proudly naming his new homestead Pointe-aux-Envieux. With a home finally secured, Pierre returned to Portneuf to marry Geneviève in late 1685. She was just sixteen or seventeen years old, standing beside her thirty-one-year-old husband on the edge of a new life.
Their quiet, hard-earned peace was shattered just months into their marriage. On March 30, 1686, a military expedition left Montreal bound for Hudson Bay. Among the ranks was a troubled soldier named Jacques Pourpoint. Unwilling to face the brutal wilderness march, Pourpoint slipped away from his detachment and deserted into the woods.
By early April, cold, hungry, and desperate, Pourpoint stumbled upon the isolated Perrot cabin. Finding the young Geneviève entirely alone, his worst instincts took over. He forced his way inside, assaulted and raped her, and then callously stole a suit of Pierre's clothes before vanishing back into the forest.
When Pierre returned home later that day, he found his teenage bride traumatized, weeping, and frozen in fear. As Geneviève recounted the horrific attack, Pierre faced a choice that would define his legacy. Rather than grabbing his musket and seeking bloody, vigilante justice in the woods, Pierre chose a more powerful path: he would use the law to reclaim his wife's and his family's honor.
On April 14, 1686, Pierre arrived in Quebec City to file a formal complaint with the Grand Marshall of New France. What followed was a testament to how seriously the colony took the defense of its early settlers:
The Capture
April 20–23, 1686
Within six days of Pierre's complaint, a military sergeant tracked down and captured Pourpoint. By April 23, the deserter was locked in a Quebec prison.
The Investigation
April 26–27, 1686
The Grand Marshall personally traveled down the river to the Perrot cabin to inspect the crime scene and retrieve the stolen clothing from a neighbor who had recovered them.
Spared from Travel
May 7, 1686
Recognizing that it was the crucial spring planting season and that Geneviève was miles away from the capital, court officials traveled directly to the homestead to take her testimony safely at home.
The Execution
May 22, 1686
The Sovereign Council found Pourpoint guilty of desertion and rape, sentencing him to death. At five o'clock that evening, after begging God's forgiveness outside the parish church, he was hanged in Lower Quebec.
With their honor legally restored and the stolen clothes returned, Pierre and Geneviève began the long process of healing. Their resilience was answered with new life; on August 24, 1686, just three months after the execution, Geneviève gave birth to their first child, Marie-Gertrude. Over the next two decades, despite the heavy rents demanded by the Baron, the couple successfully raised twelve children on their Cap-Santé farm.
By June 1702, seeking a fresh start and the support of extended family, the Perrots relocated to Batiscan to be near Geneviève’s relatives. This move sparked a prosperous new era. In May 1708, Pierre expanded his holdings by purchasing a substantial tract of land along the Batiscan River from the Jesuit priests. Three years later, in 1711, he sold the original Cap-Santé homestead for a handsome sum of 600 pounds, reinvesting the money into a beautiful new estate in Fief Ste-Marie, near Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade.
By 1723, Pierre had transformed into a highly successful, independent elder of the community, managing twenty arpents of fully cultivated land and operating a local windmill. As the years rolled on, his sons—François, Pierre, and Adrien—frequently left home to explore the deep continent as voyageurs (licensed fur traders), traveling as far as Michilimackinac to secure furs. Remarkably, in an era where dynamic diseases routinely devastated large families, every single one of Pierre and Geneviève's twelve children lived past the age of twenty-four.
After more than fifty-four years of a deeply intertwined life born out of hardship and survival, Geneviève passed away on July 5, 1740, at seventy-two years old. Pierre, having seen his family firmly rooted in the soil of Canada, followed his beloved wife less than a year later, dying at home on May 21, 1741 at the age of eighty-seven.
The parish priest noted that both died with immense piety, and nearly the entire region turned out for their funerals—a final, sweeping show of respect from the community for a quiet, resilient couple who had conquered tragedy to build a dynasty.
Events
| Birth | 1654 | France |  | ||
| Occupation | Bet 1678 and 1683 | Meunier-farinier - Portneuf, Canada, New France | |||
| Marriage | Bef 22 May 1686 | Québec, Canada, Nouvelle-France - Geneviève Duclos | | ||
| Death | Abt 21 May 1741 | Sainte-Anne, Trois-Rivières, Canada, Nouvelle-France | | ||
| Burial | 21 May 1741 | Sainte-Anne, Trois-Rivières, Canada, Nouvelle-France | | ||
| Alt name | Pierre Perreault | ||||
| Alt name | Pierre Perrault | ||||
| Reference No | C64 | |
Families
| Spouse | Geneviève Duclos (1668 - 1740) |
| Child | Marie Gertrude Perrot (1688 - 1773) |
| Child | Geneviève Perro (1692 - 1742) |
| Child | Louis Perot (1693 - 1718) |
| Child | Elisabeth Pero (1694 - 1778) |
| Child | Pierre François Perro (1696 - 1765) |
| Child | Adrien Perrault (1698 - 1783) |
| Child | Francois Perrot (1700 - 1757) |
| Child | Marie Magdaleine Perot (1702 - 1731) |
| Child | Marie Marguerite Perrot (1704 - 1728) |
| Child | Marie Joseph Perrot (1706 - 1784) |
| Child | Marie Angelique Perrot (1708 - 1778) |
| Child | Marie Francoise Perrot (1710 - 1792) |
Endnotes
1. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
2. "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WY-1CDY : Wed Jul 08 07:27:18 UTC 2026), Entry for Pierre Perrot (Perreault)..
3. .
4. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
5. .
6. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
7. "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WY-1CDY : Wed Jul 08 07:27:18 UTC 2026), Entry for Pierre Perrot (Perreault)..
8. "Find a Grave Index", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WY-1CDY : Wed Jul 08 07:27:18 UTC 2026), Entry for Pierre Perrot (Perreault)..
9. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.