Pierre Miville dit LeSuisse (known
as the Swiss) (about 1602-1669)
and Charlotte Maugis (about 1607-1676)
Pierre
Miville is the first pioneer of Swiss origin to come
with his family to New-France. According to noted genealogist and historian
Raymond Ouimet, Pierre Miville is “an exceptional ancestor". Pierre and
his wife Charlotte are 9th Great Grandparents to Vernon, Lila, Edward, Valoie, and Colleen’s generation.
Pierre
Miville is believed to have been born about 1602, in the diocese and canton of Freiburg, in the west of Switzerland. Freiburg is a 
chief town of the canton through which the Sarine River
flows, taking its source in the north of Sion (Sitten) in the Alps. However, we have no
documentary proof that Pierre Miville was born in the canton of Freiburg (no mention in the
parochial registers).
Captain (Capitaine) Pierre Miville was a master cabinetmaker (Maitre menuisier). Probably accompanied by many Swiss companions
who came to fight with the French army, Pierre Miville arrives in France during the 1620's. Since the year 1515, when
François the 1st defeated the Swiss in Marignan, Switzerland supplied soldiers to the king of France and at the seige of La Rochelle (1627-1628) Cardinal Richelieu's army included a
large Swiss effective force (1).
Was Pierre one of them? It's very possible for, on a wedding
act celebrated in St-Hilaire d'Hiers
on June 25, 1635, Pierre Miville’s roles as witness
is qualified as "souice de Monseigneur
le cardinal demeurant en Brouage..."
(Monsignor the Cardinal's Swiss, living in Brouage).
This Cardinal could be no other than Jean Armand du Plessis, Cardinal and Duke of Richelieu, the famed Prime
Minister to Louis XIII.
Originally
established as Jacopolis on Brouage
about 1555 as a trading port for salt, the city becomes rich and famous. With
all the major languages spoken in its walls by the 17th century, the
prosperity and strategic location of Brouage gave it
added importance during the religious struggles in France between Catholics and Protestants. Richelieu, who
had been made titular governor of Brouage by the
king, set out to strengthen the city’s defenses. The cardinal transformed the
landscape through magnificent building contracts that made Brouage
the most beautiful harbor in France as well as encouraged its expansion into one of the
largest seaports of the time with 4,000 inhabitants.
Cardinal
Richelieu's persecution of the Huguenots
(the name given most French Protestants) would culminate in the siege of
La Rochelle, their major stronghold. La Rochelle appeared among the fortified towns conceded to the
Protestants by the Edict of Nantes, 30 years earlier. The citizens of La Rochelle (called Rochelois)
resisted the royal authority and eventually rose up in revolt, aided by English
allies. But Richelieu decided to finish the resistance by building a dam
to close the port. Cut off by land and sea, the Rochelois
endured a terrible famine until they were forced to capitulate. Miville the
soldier was in camp in Brouage in 1628, at the time
when Richelieu took control of La Rochelle. On 1 November 1628 king Louis XIII made his
entry into a city ruined and depopulated by the siege. He proved kind in
victory, though, granting the rebels the peace of Alès which confirmed religious tolerance but
reduced the military privileges granted to the Protestants. The Protestants
were still too influential in the kingdom to revoke the generous Edict of
Nantes but already many Catholics were looking to ridden the kingdom of the
“troublesome” minority. The fall of La Rochelle eventually destroyed the center of Protestant power
in France and forced over 200,000 Huguenots to flee for more
tolerant lands, such as Switzerland, Germany, Holland,
and Britain.
Richelieu at La Rochelle
Miville
married Charlotte Maugis (or Mongis) dit (known as) Mauger about 1629 (definitely before 31 December
1632). The wedding ceremony
was held in Brouage, in the évêché
Saintes (“Holy ones”), in Saintonge,
of the current department of the Charente-Maritime, France. Charlotte Maugis was born about 1607 and came from
Saint-Germain in Saintonge.
Together, they have seven children, all born in France. From 1630 to 1643, Pierre Miville and they lived in
Brouage, fatherland of Champlain, where Pierre belonged to the garrison.
Three
of Miville's children's baptismal acts give precious
indications on Pierre Miville's relationship to local
leaders: That of Aimee tells us that her godfather was François Guibourg, lord of Val and secretary to the governor of Brouage, and Suzanne's
baptismal act indicates René Yvon, butler and cellarman to the same governor, as her godfather(2). The most
interesting christening act is that
of François:
"Ce
seize may 1634 a esté baptisé
François fils de Pierre Miville et de Charlotte Mongis & a eu pô parrain
François Saboureux Sr de St
Thomas sergent Major de Brouage et marraine Marie Boursier."
Chauvin
St Thomas
P. Goupil Curé Marie Boursier
His
godfather was a soldier, quartermaster-sergeant of the city's garrison. The
quartermaster-sergeant was the one who presided over the troops exercises. One
of the act's signers was François Chauvin, an important person in Brouage for he was the engineer in charge of supervising
the erection of the fortification of the city. These baptismal acts prove
without a doubt that Pierre Miville was in good relationship with Brouage nobility.
The
last mention of the Miville family in Brouage is on
May 17, 1643, when Charlotte Mongis is godmother to Claude
Cotart, the son of Nicolas and of Jeanne Mouchette(3). The Mivilles seem
to have left for better skies. Why? In December 1642, Richelieu dies in Paris. As foreseen, Armand de Maille,
duke of Breze, becomes governor of Brouage, but in June 1646 he is killed while fighting in Orbitello (Italy). Ann of Austria, the regent of the kingdom of France, succeeds him. Since she can't fulfill her duty, she is represented by
lieutenant-general Louis Foucault, count of Daugnon,
already on the premises, who dismisses the former governors' menservants to
replace them by partisans.
The
disorders about the succession to government in the city pushed Miville to be
established at La
Rochelle. On 5 November 1646, before the notary Teuleron
of La Rochelle, he purchased for the annual rent of 16 pounds a piece of land
situated at the foot of the wall of Saint-Nicholas. The same day he hired the
master mason and stone-cutter Jacques Rionteau to
build him a stone house of 20 feet in length. However, this agreement was cancelled
on 12 December 1647. We
do not know the reason for this, but the family’s stay in La Rochelle was of short duration.
Pierre
Miville, now approximately 46 years old, is probably jobless when in 1648 an
uprising known as "war of the fronde'' breaks out,
which will become a civil war. Having lived in Brouage
for 15 years, the Miville family had definitely heard of Samuel de Champlain's
discoveries, himself a Brouage kid and since known as
"the father of the new France". Probably attracted by the new world
promises, Pierre then decides to try his luck with all his family.
Their elder child had died at five years of age, but the rest of the Miville
family emigrated from La Rochelle to New France on 23 August 1649. The remaining children were Marie, age 17,
François, age 15, Aimee, age 14, Madeleine, age 13, Jacques, age 10, and Suzanne, age 9. We will look at some of
them in more detail below.
One
must ask himself whether or not, prior to his departure for Québec, Pierre had
guarantees about his settlement in the colony for shortly after his arrival, he
obtains not one but two grants of land: The first occurred on 28 October 1649
Pierre, his sons, and four other men each received 30 arpents
of frontage land in the Lauzon seigniory
from Governor Louis d’Ailleboust. This is on the
coast of Lauzon (Côte Lauzon)
across from what is now called the Plains of Abraham, situated today near
Patton Road in the parish of Saint-David-de-l'Auberivière.
The other was in the suburbs of Québec, on the Grande-Allee,
between the seignories of Saint-François and Saint-Jean(4).
And
that's not the end of it. Pierre
also obtained 26 arpents of land area in Québec, on 19 November
1650. He had settled in
Québec and in 1654, Pierre Miville will proclaim having a "house located
in Québec continuous on one side to the enclosure of Squire Guillaume Vignal Priest and Chaplin ... consisting in twenty-four
fathom-measure of land in one direction and twelve on the other.. due to the
deed gift made over by Monseignor Jean de Lauzon advisor to the King on his State and Privy Council
Governor and lieutenant general for his majesty in the Country of New France..."(5). But on 9 August 1654 he sold his home and his land in Québec to Charles Phiippeau for the price of 500 pounds.
In
the autumn of 1655, he went to France and on September 19 he promised Claude Auber to release him from the sum of 19 pounds that he owed
to Switzerland, in the name of Abraham Richard, from La Rochelle. In the spring of 1656, Miville made an agreement
before the notary Moreau of La Rochelle with the master stone-cutter, Andre Bougret, but this contract was not followed.
Pierre
Miville probably had continued dealings with Jean de Lauzon.
Had they not both been to the service of Richelieu? Besides, at Aymee's wedding Miville's second daughter, Lauzon
will attend the ceremony thus showing his esteem to the family(6).
So following Miville’s return from France on 20 May
1656, the governor of Lauzon gave Pierre Miville a
piece of land in downtown Québec, a site of 20 feet by 26 feet at the Basse-Ville, on Saint-Pierre Street.(7)
Miville
(who practiced the trade of carpentry) was a good worker and man of initiative.
In 1657 he established in conjunction with the famous Levasseur
the brotherhood of the carpenters of Madame de Sainte-Anne. On July 30 of that
year, Jean Fouquet recognized as having received from
Pierre Miville the sum of 40 pounds that he had promised to replace in his name
to Jean Ranaud for 2 casks of wine. On 31 July 1661, Antoine Pepin contracted an obligation of 56 pounds
and 8 sols to Miville’s consideration.
Pierre
Miville will maintain throughout his life continuing relations, sometimes
turbulent, with the upper crust of the colony. Very quickly, the family acquired
a certain notoriety in New France. Indeed, this exceptional ancestor was courageous and his gaze inspired
confidence (to use the colloquial expression, he was cold with the eyes or “n’avait pas froid aux yeux”). Once Miville
alone faced a band of Iroquois tribesmen. Le Journal de Jesuites tells us that the
"Iroquois Onontagues" took one of his cows
and a sow on 6 May 1657 from in front of his house. Seven years later, he rebelled against the
colonial authorities who had refused to help him. Extremely dissatisfied,
Miville on 1 July 1664 organized a sedition and attempted to seize a
number of volunteers on board a ship in Québec harbor. He was stopped. Such an
act could not remain unpunished and Pierre was sent to the prison at Château Saint-Louis in
Québec. There he was judged, condemned to a fine of 300 pounds and banned in
perpetuity from the town of Québec.
This condemnation failed, however, to tarnish Miville’s
reputation in New-France.
On 27 August 1664, he and his wife acquitted Louis Rover de Villeray of the sum of 55 pounds for the receipt of the
inheritance of Ignace Sevestre.
Miville apparently tried to entice some of his compatriots to Canada. On 16 July 1665, the lieutenant-general of the king
(Sieur de Tracy, the lord of Tracy) gave Miville, his
sons and four other Swiss colonists frontage land of 21 arpents
by 40 arpents in depth (Riviere-Ouelle)
at Grande-Anse which is today in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière. Pierre Miville
directed them in the clearing of their farms on this concession which became
known as the "County of the Fribourg Swiss"
("Canton des Suisses Fribourgeois"). This attempt at colonization did not
last and the Swiss returned to their country, but not Pierre Miville. He stayed
on the coast of Lauzon where
he had a fief on the Chaudière River.
Respected by his fellow-citizens, Pierre Miville was also named captain of the
militia for the coast of Lauzon (Capitaine de la Côte Lauzon).
The
1667 census reports that Pierre Miville owned 8 horned animals, and 30 arpents of valuable land in Lauzon.
On 6 October 1667,
Miville received 2,000 pounds from Jean Talon, to whom he had sold a small
boat. The new owner of the vessel proclaimed himself extremely satisfied with
the transaction.
The
eldest daughter of Pierre Miville and Charlotte Maugis was named Marie. Marie
Miville was baptized on December 13, 1632, at Notre-Dame de Brouage.
She married Mathieu
Amyot dit (known as) Villeneuve on
November 22, 1650, in Québec. Together they have sixteen Amyot-Villeneuve
children, with five in particular who create many genealogy bonds for later
French-Canadian descendents. Among the most important were Pierre Amyot, born in 1653, who married Louise
Dodier in 1686.
The second, Anne-Marie Amyot was born in 1654. She is
the wife of Jean
Huard,
born about 1641 in the Chartres évêché.
The third, Marie-Francoise Amyot, was born in 1660.
She married Charles
Gingras
in 1675. The fourth was Catherine-Ursule Amyot, born in 1664, who became the wife of Jean
Duquet dit (known as) Desroches in 1683. Jeanne Amyot,
the fifth, was born in 1670 and married Paul Tessier
in 1691.
The
sons will be well-noted. The second Miville child, François, is baptized in Brouage on May 16, 1634. He will become lord of the manor of Bonne-Rencontre and was married in Québec on August 10, 1660, to Marie Langlois. Marie,
born in 1646, is the daughter of the pioneers Noël
Langlois and
Francoise Grenier. Langlois
arrived in New-France in 1634 along with Robert Giffard.
Of the twelve children of François Miville and Marie Langlois,
two girls are especially important. Marie Miville, born in 1665, married Michel
Gosselin in 1684.
The second, Jeanne Miville, born in 1671, married Denis
Boucher in 1689.
The third Miville, Suzanne, was also baptized in Brouage on January 24, 1640. She is the key ancestor for us
as it is through her and her husband Antoine Paulet,
a naval carpenter, that we descend. Suzanne married
Antoine Paulet on April 12, 1655. Paulet was born about 1625, in
Dieppe, Normandie. Of their seven children,
the eldest one, Antoine Paulet married twice. His
first wife was Renée Graton. Following her death,
Antoine’s second wedding was on February 13, 1685, to Anne Loignon,
daughter of Pierre Loignon and Françoise Roussin.
It is through the marriage of Antoine Paulet and Anne
Loignon that our line continues.
Finally
the fourth Miville, Jacques, was baptized at St-Hilaire
d’Hiers on May 2, 1639. He married Catherine DeBaillon
on November 12, 1669, in
Québec. Jacques Miville dit (known as) Deschênes and
Catherine DeBaillon die the same day, January 27,
1688, victims of an epidemic that killed 1,400 people that year. The patronym Deschênes (des Chênes = The Oaks) in the beginning was a nickname
adopted in 1669 by Jacques to impress his wife, who was of noble origin.
Catherine was born about 1645, the daughter of Alphonse DeBaillon,
écuyer et seigneur (rider
and lord) of Valence and Mascotterie, and of damoiselle Louise de Marles,
of Montfort-l'Amaury, Île
de France, herself a daughter of the seigneur (lord) of Vaugien.
Catherine Baillon came to Canada in 1669 as one of the “fille
du roi” (daughters of the
king) emigrants sponsored by King Louis XIV. Because she belonged to an
influential and noble family, research has made it possible to go back 29
generations before Catherine to Bernard, king of Italy, who died into 815. Bernard was himself the son of Pépin Ier, also king
of Italy (died 795), whose father was none other than Charles Ier, known as Charlemagne, king of the Francs
from 768 to 814, and his wife queen Hildegarde.
Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome by the pope Léon III on
Christmas Day in the year 800. The singer Céline Dion, Jean Chrétien and Lucien Bouchard are three
illustrious Québécois who directly trace their lines back to Charlemagne.
However, our personal family record does not come through Jacques and
Catherine, so we cannot claim such descent.
Our
ancestor Pierre Miville dit (known as) LeSuisse (the Swiss) died on the evening
of October 14, 1669 in
his home in Lauzon, which also served as a chapel to
all the inhabitants of the seigniory. His funeral
took place the following day at the church in Québec and his body is buried in
the parochial cemetery.
Charlotte
Maugis followed in death on October 11, 1676. She is buried in the cemetery of the church on the
Coast of Lauzon (la Côte de Lauzon).
Notes:
Parts of this story are adapted from http://membres.lycos.fr/ancetre/MivilleP.htm.
Other information comes from "Les descendants de Pierre Miville Inc."
by Raymond Ouimet, a well-known and highly respected Canadian Historian,
appearing in the 1988 edition of Le Fribougeois and reproduced online at http://www.miville.com/history.htm.
1. Vaux de Foletier,
François de, Le siège de La Rochelle, éd. Quartier Latin et Rupella,
p. 206.
2. Baptisimal Acts of August 12, 1635 and January 24, 1640, Brouage.
3. Vigé, E. and J., Brouage,
history, visity, imprimerie
Delavaud, Saintes, 1987, p.
8.
4. Audouart Registry, October 28, 1649.
5. Audouart Registry, August 9, 1654.
6. July 2, 1652, Québec.
7. West Indies court-scroll 1667-1668: declaration by François Miville
on behalf of Pierre Miville, his father.
Armorial bearings of some of
the descendants of Pierre Miville. Device: S'unir
pour construire ("To
link itself to build.")
Etymology: Mivelaz comes from Mievilla quoted in Dompierre
in 1320. Myeville is a locality with Lentigny region known since 1320. This name would come from
Latin media villa and would indicate a site located between two
localities. Source: Paul Aebischer, Sur l'origine et la formation des noms de famille dans le canton de Fribourg (On the origin and the formation of the surnames
in the canton of Freiburg). Geneva: Olschki,
1923.
Variant Alternatives: Miville des Chaisnes, Miville-Deschênes, Miville-Déchène, Deschènes, Déchène, Deschenes, Mainville, Minville
Biography: Ouimet,
Raymond. Pierre Miville,
un ancêtre exceptionnel. Sillery (Québec): Éditions du Pellican/Septentrion.
1988. See also Honorius Provost, "Le canton de Suisses Fribourgeois," BRH, XX (1914), 233ff ; and J.-E. Roy, Histoire
de la seigneurie de Lauzon, I, 69-71.
Other Links:
L'Association des
descendants de Pierre Miville/The Association of the
descendants of Pierre Miville
Miville des Chênes website
Société de généalogie
de l’Outaouais website