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From: http://pw1.netcom.com/~ahab/id8.html
Jacques arrived in New France in 1697 as a soldier and later became a miller at the mill of Les Mères de l'Hôtel-Dieu. He identified himself since a marriage as the first cousin of François Frechette who arrived some years before him (1677), and from whom descendence was the most important one; this inscription appears on the marriage contract of one of the sons of François, also named François, who married Marguerite Bergeron. But since they were basically cousins, it is a question of the descent of the same grandparents that needs to be identified in France. In theory, Jacques (who married Louise Gaye), the father of Jacques Frichet dit Desmoulins of St. Hilaire in Poitou and moved to Charlesbourg, had to be the brother of Etienne (who married Marie Belin), father of François de Saint-Martin de Ré and moved to St. Nicolas.
Grandfather of Journalist Jean-Baptiste Fréchette
Most of the descendants of Jacques moved to Charlesbourg, Loretteville in the area of Quebec, to Chambly and Montérégie, as well as Outaouais. Among the notable descendants of Jacques Frichet, one especially notices the journalist, Jean-Baptiste Fréchette who contributed in 1831 to the rebirth of the newspaper The Canadian, which strongly marked the era of Patriots of 1837-38.
Soldier and Original Farinier of Poitou
Jacques Frichet dit Desmoulins was originally from the town of Debrie, Parish of St. Hilaire, Diocese of Luçon in Poitou. The Frichets are an old family of this French province and one going back to the beginning of 16th century to Denis Frichet, notary (1501). One will find among the first ones in New France (Pierre, François, and Jacques) that they come from the same region. Jacques was a soldier of the Compagnie de la Canonniers du Roy; soldier in Dumesy, and mill farinier at the Mères de l'Hôtel-Dieu. Jacques was born between 1679 and 1682 and died in 1724, he contributed to the colonization of New France with his wife, Marie-Françoise, who he married in 1706. This is our first ancestor to come to New France, whether his parents ( his father is also named Jacques) accompanied him here and returned to France remains to be proved. In all the manuscripts, the names of Jacques Frichet and Louise Gaye (the parents) appear twice, the first one in their son's marriage contract (10-01 1706, J. Robert Duprac) and the second in the register of marriages of Charlesbourg, where the ancestor married Marie-Françoise Sarazin (11-01-1706). The contract indicated that Jacques, married to Louise Gaye, was dead; his death occurred before 1706. This is different from what Tanguay and Drouin say, that it wasn't the father, but the son, who was a soldier in Dumesny and who later became a miller at Charlesbourg. The confusion is caused by identical names.
Arrived in New France at 18 Years Old about 1697
His first presence is found in l'Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec where he was hospitalized. There were several periods varying between 5 and 20 days that he was in the hospital between 1697 and 1700. He was a soldier of Dumesny (or Jacques Le Picard Du Mesnil de Norrey; see his biography in Dictionnaire Biographique du Canada, T. 2, p. 433-434), at about 19 years old which means he was born in France about 1679, although it was said that he was 42 at his death in 1724 which would mean he was born in 1682. In the margin of the register is located the word "gaillard" and thanks to the counsels of a specialist of the militia for this period, I was able to learn that one inscribed in the margin for a soldier the name of his captain. In the present case, one did not register the name of Dumesny but the one of Pierre Rey-Gaillard, the commissioner of the artillery who was in charge of the Compagnie de la Canonniers du Roy.
Contemporary of Frontenac
One knows that Frontenac had a weakness for cannons and it was this that led him to start this company during these years. Frontenac required that each soldier of the company learned how to handle cannons, mortars, etc. The one that Captain Dumesny chose in his company was Jacques Frichet and this is the reason he is identified to Pierre Rey-Gaillard during this period. This information is confirmed by cross-checking the membership of Jacques Frichet to this company in a contract that stipulates the transfer of a lease of the mill (Transport of lease, 31-03-1699, François Grenaple). Jacques Frichet, was a quality soldier of Compagnie de la Canonniers du Roy and because of his training as a miller he was accepted in the company of Claude Panneton, "soldier of the Farrison du chateau Saint Louis in Quebec", a lease of François Groleau, miller, working for Nicolas de Neuville Dupont, owner of Mont-Carmel and member of the Counseil Souverain of New France.
This double occupation of soldier and miller will last until his marriage in 1706. As early in 1703, the Mères hospitalières de l'Hôtel-Dieu made an agreement with soldier Jacques Frichet that he take care of their mill at St. Bernard in the St. Ignace seigneurie. He therefore, becomes miller at the mill "Coste St. Bernard", the mill of the Mère de l'Hôtel Dieu, with a revenue of 150 wheat minots per year; this was renewed in 1719 so that is furnished for them 128 wheat minots per year (agreement or lease made with Jacques Frichet, 08-08-1719). It is interesting here to note that the ruins of this mill at Loretteville are the objects of our geological researches and that one discovered there a goblet of money of the kind soldiers possessed, with the inscription "Jacques".
Married Marie-Françoise Sarazin at the age of 26
On the 11th of January 1706, he married Marie-Françoise Sarazin, born in the Parish of St. Jerome l'Auvergne à Charlesbourg (c.m. 10-01-1706, J. Robert Duprac); she was the daughter of a doctor, Nicolas Sarazin. The last registration of Jacques Frichet as a soldier appears in the register of his marriage and he devoted himself entirely to his miller trade. As the miller at St. Bernard, he was well-known and had a full social life he can often be found as a witness for many baptisms, marriages, and burials of the period. The couple lived in Charlesbourg near the mill. In 1713, Jacques Frichet purchased land from Pierre Sasseville (06-08-1713, J. Etienne Dubreuil), that he obtained from Pierre Brosseau in 1710, who obtained it from the Jesuits in 1702; moreover this is the last contract (27-07-1702, François Genaple) that Jacques Frichet kept, the contract allows us to believe he could have lived in it since this time, maybe having rented it from its owners. After the birth of his first daughter, he was granted land by the Jesuits in the seigneurie of St. Gabriel (27-12-1706, François Genaple), that Benoit Dahaut had abandoned years previously, but he didn't live there. These two lands that he possessed were near Charlesbourg, in the area that will later become St. Ambroise de la Jeune Lorette, then Loretteville. The map of Sieur de Catalogne in 1709 indicates the exact location of his two properties, the one to the North being the one that he had purchased in 1713 and where he lived and the one to the way, between the neighbors Savar and Eli, was the one that the Jesuits granted to him.
He Dies about the Age of 42
Given that he was the cousin of François of St. Martin de Ré, we know that he and his wife Marie-Françoise had close links with François, a son of his cousin François, who married Marguerite Bergeron (this was the marriage that Jacques identified himself as "cousin germain" of the father.) At the time of tragic circumstances, Marie-Françoise Sarazin met up again with François and Marguerite Bergeron. While Jacques Frichet was dying at l'Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec, Marie-Françoise was pregnant with their ninth child. She stayed with François and Marguerite at St. Nicolas where daughter Marguerite was born in the middle of winter, Feb. 24, 1724. This girl unfortunately died a few days later on March 9, 1724 (buried at St. Nicolas in the tradition of Charlesbourg), all just before Jacques himself died. On the 16th of November, 1723, in fact, he entered l'Hôtel-Dieu and his will (20-11 1723, La Cetière) tells us that it was for a leg "escuapée." He died on April 2, 1724, at l'Hôtel-Dieu at the age of 42 (register of funerals, Vol. 1, page 6) and he was buried the next day at the Cemetery of the Poor on Charlevoix Street, next to l'Hôtel-Dieu. The inventory of his possessions was effectuated only at the remarriage of his wife, two years later (01-02-1726, Noel Duprac). His remains were moved about 1865 to the Belmont cemetery and the Cemetery of the Poor has closed.
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