Thoughts on the First Simards

Here's the tree for the earliest Simards that I have found:

The 14 children of Noel and Mary Madeline are:
Pierre Simard was born April 30, 1663
Noël Simard was born on October 7, 1664
Marie Madeleine Simard was born on January 4, 1667
Étienne Simard was born and baptized on March 4, 1669
Francoise Simard was born and baptized on September 4, 1671
Joseph Simard was born on February 4, 1674.
Augustin Simard was born on April 3, 1676.
François Simard was born in September, 1678.
Rosalie Simard was born on November 13, 1680. She was the first child registered in the baptismal records of Baie St. Paul.
Paul Simard was born on November 25, 1681.
Marguerite Simard was born on January 14, 1684
Jean Simard was born on May 27, 1686.
Marie-Madeleine Simard was born in January 1689, after her sister of the same name had died
Catherine Simard was born in May, 1692

Here is where Puymoyen, Angoulême is in France.

When Pierre and his son Noel immigrated in the 1600's, Canada was known as New France.  They went back to France at least once.  It must have been an interesting journey.  Not to mention I can't even imagine what life was like in the 1600's in France, or in the 'New World".  I can't blame Pierre's wife for not wanting to make the trip, as I'm sure life was hard enough.

A pic of Pierre's home in France: (from findagrave.com)

Noel and Madeline were married at Chateau Richer in 1661, which was the first organized village in New France.  The church there, La Visitation-de-Notre-Dame, wasn't officially established until 1668.  Eventually they moved their family to Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec. Chateau Richer and Baie-Saint-Paul are about 70km or 43 miles apart.

Noel and his wife Madeline wife had a large family with fourteen children.  They were still having children when their oldest were starting their families. The Catholic Church strongly encouraged couples to have large families as their duty to God and the King on France.

A map of Quebec with part of the US for perspective. Chateau Richer and Baie-Saint-Paul are top right.

In  Baie-Saint-Paul, there is  a monument commemorating Noel, Madeline, and their daughter Rosalie as early settlers. I would love to go there and see it.

The monument:

When doing research in Quebec, all the documents are in French. Google Translate has been very useful.

Noel and Madeline are my 8th great grandparents.