An old French word, "mas" means an isolated rural (farm) house, hence the last names of Delmas, Dumais and Dumas. Several Dumases came to Canada, in particular, the Calvinist brothers Jean, Antoine and Alexandre, originally from Languedoc and two soldiers, René Dumas dit Rencontre and Pierre Dumas dit Langoumois.

We are interested in the life of Ancestor François Dumas, the son of François Dumas and Anne Rollin, who were originally from Nanteuil-en-Vallé, today a community in the Canton of Ruffec, Arrondisement of Angoulême, in Charente, in the former Province of Angoumois. This locality, situated on the right bank of the Argenton, owes its origin to a Benedictine abbey founded in the eleventh century.

We know little about the French life of François. According to our first Canadian censuses, he would have been born in 1642. The presence of François Dumas, in New France, was noted, for the first time, in the census of 1666, from which we can conclude that, he was here in 1665, perhaps in 1664. François was working, at that time, for the merchant Claude Charron, Sieur de Labarre, as a hired indentured mason. He had three work companions, men with trades: René Pelletier, a carpenter, Pierre Laine and Gabriel Dumas, masons. The latter was François' uncle. Uncle and nephew probably came to America together. According to Charles Aubert, Sieur de Lachesnaye, Claude Charron was, during this era, one of the biggest businessman in Québec and owner of a fief, on the Île d'Orléans. On 23 January 1667, François Dumas leased a farm for three years, in the Charron fief. This farm was located in the present territory of Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans, east of the Maheu River. At the time of the census, of that year, François had ten arpents of land under cultivation and he owned two head of cattle. His immediate neighbors were Jean Morriset and the Dieppois Jean Desmarais. On Tuesday, 5 July 1667, he was at Québec, with his Uncle Gabriel, to approve his marriage contract in the presence of the Notary Rageot. His beloved, a woman protected by the King, was the 20 year old Marguerite Foy. She was the daughter of Pierre and Catherine Blanchard, originally from L'Hermenault, the Arrondisement of Fontenay-le-Comte, Department of la Vendée, in Poitou. Present for the civil ceremony were the Marquis de Tracy, the governor de Courcelle, the Intendant Talon, Marie-Barbe de Boulogne, Gabriel Dumas, as well as companions and friends of the bride: Marie Roy, originally from Fontenay-le-Comte, Jeanne Le Duc, Marie Girard and others. François offered a prefixed dowry of 200 livres. Marguerite and François agreed to a preciput of 100 livres. The nuptial blessing probably had to be given on the Île d'Orléans by a traveling missionary. The act is lost.

On 26 October 1667, François canceled his farm lease with Claude Charron. Why? Perhaps, he had already received, verbally, a lot belonging to the seigneurie of Msgr. de Laval. We know that, on 9 August 1668, François obtained, from his first landlord, Claude Charron, the lease of a five year old milk cow. On 26 February, Msgr. de Laval gave an official property deed to Dumas. The land ceded had three arpents, in frontage. It was on the south side of the island, with neighbors André Gariteau and Marc Girard, in the parish of Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. François promised to pay 20 sols, in rent and 12 deniers for the cens, for each arpent of frontage. The bishop signed the document as did Jean Crete, Paul de Rainville and Notary Paul Vachon.

François Dumas was not afraid of work. Claude Charron was well aware of this. On 6 February 1671, the latter contacted François and asked him to take a lease for "three harvests finished and accomplished" on his farm on the island. This place was known, to François, as having not only good plowable land but, it also had a house, stable and barn, with animals and harness. The landlord would keep for himself half of everything. But, he did provide two oxen for the plowing and use of the said farm, two milk cows, one of which was presently found at the Desmarais home and the other at the home of Jean-Paul Maheu and also a plow. A cabinet kept in the said house would be for the use of owner Charron. On 13 August 1674, François decided to hire Antoine Leblanc dit Jolicoeur, to help him with the grain harvest, on his farm, except for the corn. He promised 25 livres tournois to his hired man, a pot of brandy and 50 smoked eels. The last detail proves that, Ancestor Dumas was also involved in eel fishing. Then, on 3 March 1680, Claude Charron, growing older, sold a piece of land, with three arpents, in frontage, to François Dumas. This property was located just next to the one that he was presently working. In the census of 1681, François Dumas and Marguerite Foy stated that, they owned a gun, 5 head of cattle and had 20 arpents of land under cultivation, on a property of six arpents in frontage. Six children ate at their table. The neighbors named were Antoine Leblanc and Antoine Marcereau.

On 11 August 1675, François Dumas and his Uncle Gabriel had promised Nicolas Rousselot dit Laprairie to do the masonry work on his house, located in the Upper-Town of Québec. The trade, of mason, was certainly more lucrative than that of farmer but perhaps more restrictive.
In 1679, François had also promised to build a chimney on the house of Émery/Mery Blouin, at the feast of Sainte-Anne. The latter had advanced him 25 livres in silver. As the mason Dumas did not appear for the work, Blouin stated, before the bailiwick of the island, on 6 February 1680, that he had lost his material, particularly his lime and sand. Dumas responded that M. de Villeray, in the name of the Seigneur Berthelot, had needed him to work during this period, at the seigneurial mill. Resigned, the accused was ordered to return the 25 livres advanced and to pay the cost of the lawsuit. This he did.

In the autumn of 1682, on 22 November, François made a deal with the merchant Denis Guyon. He was hired to do the masonry on a house measuring 23 feet by 24 feet, in the Lower-Town of Québec, a stone house with 1 gable, 2 chimneys, 3 doors and 9 windows, in cut stone, near Sieur Dupont, on the Rue Saint-Pierre. In spite of help from his children, François lacked the manpower. On 13 August 1684, he took into his service, for a month, at harvest time, Jean Lambert dit Dubois. The salary was 25 livres. Jean Lambert signed with his initials. The merchant Denis Guyon had recourse a second time, on 22 July 22 1685, to the services of Dumas, mason, for the construction of another house. The same day, François came to an agreement with the Swiss Georges Stems to cut the stone. Then, on 25 August 1686, François Dumas and Philippe Paquet, residents of the island, agreed to do all of the masonry for a duplex house on the Rue Saint-Pierre, in the Lower-Town, for the account of Nicolas Dupont, Sieur de Neuville.

Finally, on 29 October 1687, Dumas once again leased the fief of Charron but, for only a year. Over the years, François Dumas, farmer and mason, had become a respectable resident on the Île d'Orléans.

Seven new lives appeared at the Dumas home between 12 July 1669 and 28 October 1680; François, Charles, Marc-Antoine, Jeanne, Gabriel, Catherine and Marie, three daughters and four sons. However, Marc-Antoine and Gabriel left the Dumas family before adulthood. With the exception of the youngest, Marie, they all had their baptismal acts at Sainte-Famille.
1) François Dumas was born, on 12 July 1669 and baptized the 15th, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. He married Marie-Françoise Gervais, the daughter of Marin and Françoise Monvoisin, on 18 April 1689, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. They had twelve children, 9 boys and 3 girls. Marie-Françoise died 1 April 1716 and was buried the next day, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. François then married a second time to Jeanne Rouleau, the daughter of Gabriel and Jeanne Dufresne and the widow of Nicolas Baillargeon, the son of Jean and Marguerite Guillebourdeau, on 6 April 1717, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. This couple had eight offspring, 6 boys and 2 girls.
2) Charles Dumas was born, 7 May 1671 and baptized the 9th at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. On 12 August 1694, he took for his wife, Françoise Rondeau, the son of Thomas and Andrée Remondiere. This couple had four little ones, a daughter and 3 sons. Françoise passed on, on 12 October 1699 and was buried the next day, at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. Charles then married Marie Guignard, the daughter of Pierre and Jeanne Guillemet, on 21 May 1702, at La Durantaye. They also had four children, a daughter and 3 sons. What happened to Marie? But, Charles married again. This time, he married Marthe Garand, the daughter of Pierre and Renée Chanfrain and widow of Charles Branchaud, the son of Jacques and Antoinette Vincend, on 18 July 1712, at Beaumont. They had four children also, 2 girls and 2 boys.
3) Marc-Antoine was born 26 July 1672 and baptized the 29th, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. He died sometime before the census of 1681.
4) Jeanne was born 19 August 1673 and baptized 3 September 1673, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. She married Louis Marceau, the son of François and Marie-Louise Bolper, on 30 March 1697, at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. Eleven children were born to them, 5 girls and 6 boys.
5) Gabriel was born, on 8 September 1674 and baptized the 23rd, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. The last time that anything was mentioned of him was 11 January 1691, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans.
6) Catherine was born 17 May 1677 and baptized the 28th, at Sainte-Famille, Île d'Orléans. Louis Cauchon, the son of René and Anne Langlois, married Catherine, on 21 July 1698, at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans. They had thirteen children, 9 girls and 4 boys.
7) Marie was born and baptized 28 October 1680, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. On 3 February 1698, at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans, she married Pierre Audet, the son of Nicolas and Madeleine Després. This couple had eight babies, 4 girls and 4 boys. The five married children the second generation, of François Dumas and Marguerite Foy produced 64 children for a third generation.

After the marriage of his eldest son, François, in 1669, did François Dumas wonder if he would have another quarter of a century to enjoy the benefits of life? On the occasion of the marriages of their children, Marguerite and François were pleased to favor them with material gifts. The biographer François Dumas, who studied the marriage contracts of the two sons and three daughters, stated that: "...the eldest received 175 livres, 9 sols, 6 deniers, according to a receipt on 3 June 1691; Charles, 200 livres; Jeanne, 250 livres; Marie, a piece of land with three arpents in frontage, the one ceded by Msgr. de Laval, on 26 February 1669; Catherine, a dowry of 250 livres."

In 1698, François and Marguerite were living alone on their farm. The following year, they thought that, they had covered a means to obtain a less risky security. On 9 October, their son-in-law, Louis Marceau and daughter, Jeanne Dumas, agreed, in a notarized contract, to go live at the home of their parents and in-laws, as owners of a farm of two arpents, in frontage, with house and outbuildings. We are allowed to doubt if this really happened. Louis Marceau continued to "hem and haw". He even profited from the negotiations to obtain some security from his father-in-law: for example, a debt of 159 livres, on 5 November 1700; of 600 livres, on 6 November 1700; of 93 livres, 15 sols, on 7 April 1704. François Dumas must have paid off these debts himself, fully and entirely. How to explain this?... The Intendant, in a ruling, on 15 January 1709, annulled the donation made to the son-in-law, Marceau. Obviously, some family problems!

On 16 November 1707, Pierre Audet bought two arpents of frontal land belonging to his father-in-law, for 400 livres and being hair bent and tired from the weight of their years, gave what they could transfer of all of their properties to their eldest son, François, on the condition that, he pay 375 livres, an amount owed to the widow of Lotbinière. Then, the two went to end their days at the house of their son François, a resident of Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. François Dumas, about 74 years old, according to the registry, died as a result of an indigestion, after being confessed and receiving absolution. A doctor today would probably conclude a heart attack. Burial was recorded by the pastor Yves Leriche, on 24 February 1714, at Saint-Laurent, Île d'Orléans. As for Marguerite Foy, she died on 12 January 1718 and was buried at Saint-Jean, Île d'Orléans, two days later, a Friday. She was about 80 years old, stated by the curate Nicolas Boucher.

This biography was taken from Our French-Canadian Ancestors by Thomas J. Laforest: Volume 28- Chapter 7- Page 67 [7-27-99 by James Gagne, www.jamesgagne.net]


François married Marguerite Foye, daughter of Pierre Foye and Catherine Blanchard, on 5 Jul 1667 in Île d'Orléans, Québec, Canada.1 (Marguerite Foye was born in 1636 in L'Hermenault, Maillezais, Poitou, France,1 2 5 died on 12 Jan 1718 4 and was buried on 14 Jan 1718 in St-Jean, Île d'Orléans, Québec, Canada 4.)

Marriage Contract, 5 Jul 1667, Île d'Orléans, Québec, Canada.

François and Marguerite had 116 descendants as of 31 Dec 1729.
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