The Gautreau Brothers

Updated: July 28, 2015
Gilles and Jean Gautreau were the first Goodreau immigrants in my line to come from France.

The following story comes from:  http://gautreau.freeservers.com/gilles.html and http://gautreau.freeservers.com/jean.html
This website is in French, so I've tried to make sense of an automatic translation

"Gilles and Jean were the sons of Jehan Gautreau and Marie Rouer from La Flotte on the island of Ré. Both were baptized in the church of St. Catherine of La Flotte; Gilles in 1644 and his brother Jean in 1649. They spent their youth on the L'Ile Blanche (an island), near La Rochelle, where they left for the New World."

The location of L'Ile Blanche, near La Rochelle:

"Gilles signed a contract to work for a Jean Jacques Bernier before he set sail.  On April 25, he embarked on the Cat, of Holland, to New France. He arrived in Quebec June 18, 1665. That was a little under 2 months on board. He worked for Jean Jacques Bernier of Paris for three-years. He lived and worked on the Island of Orleans, which is near Quebec City.  He married Anne Pineau De La Vieville October 15, 1671. Their first three children were born on the Island of Orleans."

"In 1675 Gilles Gaudreau got two concessions south of the island. In 1678, Gilles Gaudreau decided to settle in Cap-Saint-Ignace, where he joined his brother Jean and his former boss Jacques Bernier. On 14 October he received the land grant to the cove which now bears his name, Anse-à-Gilles. His oldest three children were born there: Michel, Jacques and Jeanne. After the death of his wife Anne, Gilles Gaudreau remarried widow Catherine Renusson Augustine Alonzo. Gilles Gaudreau died at the age of 82 in 1726 at Cap-Saint-Ignace."

Quebec area:

The blue marker in the middle is the Island of Orleans.  The marker at the top right is the property he owned near Cap-Saint-Ignace.  Quebec City is bottom left, and the river is the St. Lawrence.

"Jean Gaudreau arrived in New France in 1670, five years later than Gilles.  In 1673 and 1674 he acquired two pieces of land, but he didn't stay with them.  He settled instead in 1675 at Cap-Saint-Ignace, near Jacques Bernier, Gilles' former boss.  On 31 July 1679 he married Marie LeRoy, daughter of Nicolas and Jeanne LeLièvre near Quebec City. Three children were born of their marriage: Charles, Jean-Baptiste, and a daughter who died in infancy, Marie-Anne.  Jean Gaudreau died at 35, in April of 1685. His widow became the second wife of Jean Fournier, and they had several children."

"Marie LeRoy's parents sailed from La Rochelle, France in 1662 and Marie was born in the Quebec area.  There has been a book written about her parents and the two generations following. Nicolas Leroy et Jeanne Lelievre: Une histoire a suivre."

I am a descendant of Jean and Marie, and they are my 10th great grandparents.

Jean's Family tree:

Jean Baptiste Gaudreau is my 9th great grandfather.

Updated July 28, 2015:
You can see that the spelling changes, even in this tree. The spelling of a person's name in that time was dependent on the person writing the records. Most people were not literate, and therefore did not write out (or spell) their name.

The following information I got from a record of a talk given to the American-Canadian Genealogical Society by Jean Yves Godreau.

Giles and Jean were not the first Gotreaus in New France. Francois Gotreau arrived to Acadia in 1632. Acadia was the area of and around Prince Edward Island, including Maine. Many descendants of Francois were deported by the English from 1755-1763. They were sent to other English colonies, but they fled on their own to Louisiana, then a French territory, back to New France, or overseas to France.

Giles' wife, Anne de la Vieville dit Pineau was a Fille du Roi. She was literate and well educated. Giles and Anne had six children together. Anne died in 1716.

When Jean settled at Cap-Saint-Ignace, he had been hired to build houses on the properties in that area. He was also hired to build the first church in area in 1683. Jean's cause of death is unknown due to the face that Priests in that time traveled from parish to parish and the relevant documents must have been lost. Jean's death inventory showed that he owned shoe making tools as well as several pairs of shoes, carpentry tools, five cows, four pigs, and no debts.