Individual Details
Marguerite Abraham
(5 Jan 1637 - Aft 9 Nov 1695)
Filles du Roi / King's Daughters. Brought a dowry valued at 100 pounds. Daughter of Godgaud Abraham of Blvd de la Tonneller in St-Eustache de Paris, and Denise Fleury.
Marguerite Abraham was born in 1645 in the parish of Saint-Eustache, in Paris, France.[¹] She came of age during a time of great change in France, when King Louis XIV was turning his attention to strengthening the French presence in North America. Answering the call for women to settle and populate New France, Marguerite became one of the Filles du Roi (“Daughters of the King”)—a group of women sent by the crown between 1663 and 1673 to help colonize the French holdings in North America.[²]
In crossing the Atlantic, Marguerite left behind the familiarity of Paris for the raw and untamed frontier of Île d’Orléans, near present-day Québec City. She arrived with the promise of a dowry from the king, a hope for marriage, and a future built on resilience, faith, and hard work.
On 6 November 1665, Marguerite married Ozanie-Joseph Lavigne Nadeau in the parish of Sainte-Famille, one of the earliest and most important Catholic parishes in the colony.[³] Their union marked the beginning of a family line that would deeply root itself in Québec over the generations to come.
Marguerite and Joseph lived first in Sainte-Famille before eventually settling in Beaumont, a developing seigneury along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River. Like many pioneer women, Marguerite’s daily life would have been defined by laborious domestic work—tending to the garden, preparing food, spinning wool, caring for livestock, and raising children in the often harsh conditions of colonial life. Yet she was also part of a larger story—the deliberate and strategic settlement of New France, with families like hers forming the social and demographic foundation of the colony.[⁴]
Marguerite Abraham passed away on 9 November 1695, at the age of 50, in Beaumont, Québec.[⁵] Her life, though framed by struggle and sacrifice, was instrumental in shaping the rural fabric of early Canada. As a Fille du Roi, a wife, a mother, and a settler, her legacy lives on through generations of descendants who continue to trace their roots back to this Paris-born pioneer.
Sources & Notes:
1. Burial record, Parish of Beaumont, 9 November 1695; Parish Registers of New France, BAnQ.
2. Parish records, Saint-Eustache, Paris, France; Archives de Paris.
3. Yves Landry, Les Filles du Roi au XVIIe siècle, Montréal: Éditions du Septentrion, 1992.
4. Marriage record, Sainte-Famille Parish, Île d'Orléans, 6 November 1665; Drouin Collection, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).
5. 1666 and 1681 Colonial Census Records, New France; Land records, Seigneury of Beaumont.
Marguerite Abraham was born in 1645 in the parish of Saint-Eustache, in Paris, France.[¹] She came of age during a time of great change in France, when King Louis XIV was turning his attention to strengthening the French presence in North America. Answering the call for women to settle and populate New France, Marguerite became one of the Filles du Roi (“Daughters of the King”)—a group of women sent by the crown between 1663 and 1673 to help colonize the French holdings in North America.[²]
In crossing the Atlantic, Marguerite left behind the familiarity of Paris for the raw and untamed frontier of Île d’Orléans, near present-day Québec City. She arrived with the promise of a dowry from the king, a hope for marriage, and a future built on resilience, faith, and hard work.
On 6 November 1665, Marguerite married Ozanie-Joseph Lavigne Nadeau in the parish of Sainte-Famille, one of the earliest and most important Catholic parishes in the colony.[³] Their union marked the beginning of a family line that would deeply root itself in Québec over the generations to come.
Marguerite and Joseph lived first in Sainte-Famille before eventually settling in Beaumont, a developing seigneury along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River. Like many pioneer women, Marguerite’s daily life would have been defined by laborious domestic work—tending to the garden, preparing food, spinning wool, caring for livestock, and raising children in the often harsh conditions of colonial life. Yet she was also part of a larger story—the deliberate and strategic settlement of New France, with families like hers forming the social and demographic foundation of the colony.[⁴]
Marguerite Abraham passed away on 9 November 1695, at the age of 50, in Beaumont, Québec.[⁵] Her life, though framed by struggle and sacrifice, was instrumental in shaping the rural fabric of early Canada. As a Fille du Roi, a wife, a mother, and a settler, her legacy lives on through generations of descendants who continue to trace their roots back to this Paris-born pioneer.
Sources & Notes:
1. Burial record, Parish of Beaumont, 9 November 1695; Parish Registers of New France, BAnQ.
2. Parish records, Saint-Eustache, Paris, France; Archives de Paris.
3. Yves Landry, Les Filles du Roi au XVIIe siècle, Montréal: Éditions du Septentrion, 1992.
4. Marriage record, Sainte-Famille Parish, Île d'Orléans, 6 November 1665; Drouin Collection, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).
5. 1666 and 1681 Colonial Census Records, New France; Land records, Seigneury of Beaumont.
Events
| Birth | 5 Jan 1637 | Saint-Eustache, Paris, Île-de-France, France |  | ||
| Christen | 5 Jan 1637 | Saint-Eustache, Paris, Île-de-France, France | |||
| Marriage | 6 Nov 1665 | Ste-Famille, Iles-d'Orléans, Québec, Canada - Ozanie-Joseph Lavigne Nadeau | | ||
| Death | Aft 9 Nov 1695 | Beaumont, Québec, Canada, Nouvelle-France | | ||
| Burial | 12 Nov 1695 | Sainte-Famille, Saint-Laurent, Québec, Canada, Nouvelle-France | |||
| Reference No | C495 | |
Families
| Spouse | Ozanie-Joseph Lavigne Nadeau (1637 - 1677) |
| Child | Jean-Baptiste Lavigne Nadeau (1669 - 1735) |
| Child | Denis Nadeau (1673 - 1759) |
| Child | Catherine Nadeau (1676 - 1746) |
| Father | Godegrand Abraham (1615 - 1645) |
| Mother | Denise Fleury (1623 - 1665) |
| Sibling | Simon Abraham (1635 - ) |
Endnotes
1. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
2. René Jetté, Professor, historian, demographer and Quebec genealogist., Genealogical Dictionary of Quebec Families Dating to 1730 (Montréal, Quebec, Canada: University of Montreal Press, 1983), .
3. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
4. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.
5. Diane Lebrun , "Ancestors of Calixte Perreault," pp. 1-137; Unpublished family tree, 2025-02-04, Al Perreault, Calgary, AB, Canada.