The Story of Pierre (1648–1725)

Pierre Hogue leaves France from the port city of St. Malo, on a ship called the “St. Michel,” and arrives in “New France” in the summer of 1672 along with recruits of the Carignan Regiment. The regiment is there to help quell hostilities with the native tribes and provide protection for the settlers. It is unclear if he is a member of this group, but some sources have him rising to the rank of sergeant in the Levasseur Company of the regiment. Upon completion of his enlistment, he remains in “New France,” marries, and begins a family. His service provides him with a monetary award of 100 livres¹ (a French currency unit possibly equal to the English pound) and a piece of land of 4 arpents (roughly 3 and half acres).

Following is additional information I received from Hiral Hogue, a long distant cousin living in Canada, which comes from some historical publication (source unknown to me) and is as follows (which I translated from French as best I could:

“Pierre Hogue, son of Jean Hogue and Nicole Dubus, from the parish of Bellfontaine, near Amiens in Picardie, enters into a marriage contract with Marie-Madeleine Canachita, a continental native (Amerindienne), on Monday, 14 November, 1672. They are wed on Tuesday the 22nd in Montreal. Their marriage produces two children before Marie-Madeleine dies 3 years later on Monday, 28 September, 1676. Their first born Claude, dies at the age of 13,² and Pierre dies at the age of 22, a drowning victim (circumstances unknown).

“Pierre remarries in Montreal on Tuesday, 10 November, 1676, to Jeanne Theodore. She is baptized in Montreal on Wednesday, 8 August, 1663, daughter of Michel Theodore and Jaqueline Lagrange. She is 13 years of age at this point in time, but the marriage is probably not consummated until 1679 [she is now 15 or 16] and her first child is born in January of 1680. This union (of Pierre and Jeanne) produces 8 children.

“Upon her father’s death and the subsequent sale of a parcel of land, Jeanne receives 100 livres, and she and Pierre settle in Riviere-des-Prairies in 1681, where he tries his hand at trapping and fur trading. However, he is not successful, and continually runs into debt. Jeanne, fearing that Pierre will ruin them both, obtains a separation of property in December of 1698. Due to another inheritance from the father’s estate, she purchases land in Riviere-des-Prairies in 1700, eventually exchanges that for another piece of land (possibly smaller and of less value) in Isle Jesus (present day Laval) in 1707, with the difference in value to be paid to Jeanne by an annual rental of 31 livres and 19 sols, which she in turn uses to pay off Pierre’s debts. They relocate to Isle Jesus in 1712 on land given to Pierre from “le Seminaire de Quebec” (circumstances unknown), and after a while they return to Riviere-des-Prairies where in 1725 he dies at the age of 77.”

“For reasons unknown, there is evidence that Jeanne has an illegitimate son with Jacques Amelot Sanspeur in 1694, and he is named Francois. Jacques, at the time, is a sergeant in the Lavasseur Company of the Carignan Regiment. His age is unknown but Jeanne would be 31 at this time. The circumstances of this relationship are unknown. She and Pierre presumably reconcile because they have two additional children after her “affair,” one in 1703 and the last child in 1705. She dies in Riviere-des-Prairies in 1730 at the age of 67.”

As stated earlier, the above is my translation from a document I received from Ms. Marie-Josee Hogue, which she received from her father, Hiral Hogue. Clearly, Pierre and Jeanne had their problems, which, in the course of my research, seems to be the rule rather than the exception for the Hogue clan.

The first 300 years of existence for the Hogues must have been difficult, and I guess you could say the difficulties still continue today in some respects. [Albert], generation #9, my “Pepere Hogue,” was a millworker and apparently doing well until he lost everything when the Great Depression hit New England. My father, [Damase], likewise worked in the mills, joined the Navy during WWII, married, and played the trombone in a local band to provide some additional income for a growing household. My mother also worked in the mills for a time in addition to bringing up a family and the responsibility that goes along with raising children. With nothing better than a 8th-grade education, I suppose mill work was the best option for them both until eventually all the mills went South, where labor and operating costs were lower. My Mother and Father found other jobs, but life was always a struggle.

And life for our forefathers could not have been any easier. Unfortunately, the information contained in my research tells only of the birth, marriage, and death of these individuals; a very small part of life (albeit very important ones). I have no information on their day-to-day lives, and I can hardly imagine what it was like. And I wonder if I could have done any better under the circumstances. Hopefully, “The Hogue Family Tree” and its contents provide some insight of who we are and where we come from.