Marie-Madeleine Royer / Baugy

Life and times

General historical context. This section describes the times and places this person lived in. It is not documented fact about them; “likely” means just that.

Places

1. Quebec, New France 1662-ca. 1675
2. Beauport, New France ca. 1675-1743

What was happening

• 1663 Establishment of Royal Government in New France and the Sovereign Council · Quebec, New France
  In her infancy in Quebec, Marie-Madeleine's family would have likely experienced the transformation of New France from a commercial trading company into a direct royal province under King Louis XIV. Source
• 1665 Arrival of the Carignan-Salières Regiment · Quebec, New France
  Growing up in the Quebec settlement, Marie-Madeleine would have likely witnessed the arrival of French regular troops sent to pacify the colony and secure the settlements along the St. Lawrence. Source
• 1681 The 1681 Census of New France · Beauport, New France
  As a newlywed living with her husband Jacques Ménard in Beauport, Marie-Madeleine would have likely been personally enumerated during Intendant Duchesneau's comprehensive census documenting colonial homesteads. Source
• 1690 Battle of Quebec and Naval Bombardment of Beauport · Beauport, New France
  Caring for several young children on the Beauport coast, Marie-Madeleine would have likely had to seek inland refuge when Massachusetts militia under Sir William Phips bombarded and raided the Beauport shores. Source
• 1701 The Great Peace of Montreal · Montreal and New France
  As a mother of a growing family, Marie-Madeleine would have likely celebrated the landmark peace treaty signed in Montreal that brought long-awaited security against frontier raids to Beauport's farmsteads. Source
• 1713 The Treaty of Utrecht and Colonial Peace · New France
  Surviving into widowhood following the war, Marie-Madeleine would have likely welcomed the restoration of transatlantic trade and agricultural security across New France in her later years. Source

In context

Marie-Madeleine Royer / Baugy was among the early generation of French-Canadian women born in the St. Lawrence settlements of New France. Born in Quebec City in February 1662 to Madeleine Dubois and raised by her stepfather Michel Baugis, she grew up during the decisive transformation of New France into a royal province under King Louis XIV. In November 1680, she married French-born former soldier Jacques Ménard dit Deslauriers in Beauport, settling upon farm property generously provided by her stepfather. Marie-Madeleine raised a family of ten children while contending with the constant perils of frontier life, including King William's War and the 1690 Battle of Quebec, during which British forces bombarded the Beauport shoreline. She persevered through the Great Peace of 1701 and the anxieties of Queen Anne's War, maintaining her household through seasonal hardships and harsh Laurentian winters. Following the death of her husband in November 1716, Marie-Madeleine spent nearly three decades as a respected matriarch and widow in Beauport, living to the advanced age of eighty-one before passing away in March 1743.