CHAPTER FIVE JEAN-BAPTISTE TOUPIN DU SAULT III (1732-1801) Birth and Act of Baptism. At Ecureuils. At Vercheres. Division and Sale of the Seigneurial Rights (1789). Jean Baptist III, first born son of Jean-Baptiste, Jr., and of Marie-Anne Dizy de Montplaisir, became the last principal or primary Lord of the Seigneury of Belair called Ecureuils. During his time and that of his brothers and sisters the fief of Belair fell forever from the hands of the seigneurial family of Toupin DuSault through a sale of all rights which they had inherited to Matthew MacNider on 6 April 1789. Jean-Baptiste III was born and was baptized at Champlain on 12 June 1732. He came into this world in the home of his maternal grandparents, the Dizy de Montplaisir with whom his mother and father resided because of the misunderstanding with their stepmother, Francoise Delisle, widow of Jean-Baptiste Toupin DuSault, Sr. The paternal grandfather, Jean Baptiste Toupin, Sr., Sieur DuSault, the third Lord of Belair, who remarried 14 Feburary 1724, died 17 days later leaving a widow without child, his second wife, Marie-Francoise Delisle. This widow continued to reside in the seigneurial manor at Ecureuils, creating many difficulties for the succession by outrageous claims against the heirs of the first marriage of her deceased husband. The difficulties were resolved only after ten years on 9 March 1734 1, with a cessation of the squabbling over the division of the goods between the heirs and the widow. The agreement was signed before the notary Barolet. The settlement permitted the father of Jean-Baptiste III to enter into the possession of his rights, goods and seigneurial titles and his coming to live in the manor house of Ecureuils. Seven months before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, on 19 February 1759. Jean Baptiste III married at Vercheres to Marie-Francoise Prive, the daughter of Michel Prive and Maris-Louise Legris. In the preceding year, on 30 January 1758, his cousin, Jean Baptiste Toupin dit DuSault, a descendant of one of the collateral branches of the same family, married Marie-Louise Prive, sister of Marie-Francoise above. The two cousins became thus brother-in-laws. Their identical first names and their marriages to two sisters has been the cause of confusion in those that followed in ascribing their respective descendants. Up to 1766 Jean Baptiste III, and his wife Marie-Francoise lived at the Manor house of Ecureuils where their first three children were born: Jean Baptiste, 1761, Louis-Joseph, 1764, and Marie-Scholastique, 1766. During this period of time, they moved to Vercheres ultimately to live with the Prive family. Here were born Scholastic-Juste, 1769, Louis Basile, born [22 June] 1772, [ancestor of thedusseau/duso families of Bay County, Michigan, and Toledo, OH] and Marie-Angelique, 1780. Their descendants who are numerous in this region generally go by the surname Toupin. 84
On 15 September 1780 Jean Baptiste, Jr., principal lord of Belair died in the manor house at Ecureuils and on the 17 th of the same month he was buried in the parish church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste of Ecureuils. When he died, he left nine living children of the fifteen children from his three marriages. The oldest son being Jean Baptiste III, who by right of primogeniture and inheritance became the principal seigneur of that part of the original fief still in the eldest branch of the family of Toupin DuSault de Belair. The settlement of the estate of Jean Baptiste, Jr., took place about five months after his death on 17 February 1781. This time there were no difficulties. It occurred under friendly terms as is demonstrated in the extracts below. The act of settlement gave to each of his nine living children and his widow Marie-Clothilde Ayde-Criquy their proper share. Each obtained a 10 th part and a ninth part of a piece of the said fief-domain as will be detailed later; 2 As to the fief of Belair, it consisted of that part of which the deceased Sieur Toupin was possessed following the settlement and division made before the deceased Master Barolet, on the date of 9 March one thousand seven hundred thirty four. This land was 18 arpents in frontage and one league in depth, which produced in the neighborhood of 70-72 livres and 20 sols of rent. It had a water mill, situated in the said seigneury on the Jacques-Cartier River, which turned by water power and which produced 52 minots of wheat, allowing for the heirs part of the said estate from the annual and continuing sales and not redeemable according to the contract of sale by the said late Sieur Toupin and deeded over to Jean Lamotte and his successors in the act of 19 September one thousand seven hundred forty three before the late Master Barolet, notary; Besides a domain which was reduced currently to three arpents, two perches and four feet, with the exception of apiece of land on the coast sold by the Sieur Toupin to the said Sieur Alexis Toupin 3, his son, from the domain on which the manor house and other buildings were erected which the said parties of the said names, eager to enjoy, have made and partitioned through a deviation; In consequence of the eldest son Jean-Baptiste owning the said fief of Belair, he was concerned about the reduction both in property and revenues of the part consisting of nine arpents of frontage, in poor production, from the St. Lawrence River up to one league of depth, which produced at least thirty five [livres] in rentes in addition to 26 minots of wheat from rentes from the said water mill each year, as well as from the land and ownership of the said mill; In addition to the principal manor, consisting of a house, except such rights which the Veornneau heirs above would have, and half interest in the barns, sheds and stables, part also of the said domain which consisted for its part in one arpent, six perches, two feet, 2 iches of frontage by the said depth of 40 arpents; Also belonging to the nine Toupin heirs for their part and parts, each a ninth in the revenues of the said fief and mill and a portion of the other land in the revenues of the 85
said fief, four for each s ninth in the 26 minots of wheat, of the annual rentes, and 32 feet of land frontage by the said depth of the said domain, for each s ninth in the one arpent, six perches, two feet and two inches; To Louis-Antoine, Alexis, Catherine, Marie-Clothilde, to the said Dame Widow Toupin, to Augustin, Marie-Anne, to Magdeleine and to Jean-Baptiste Toupin, and from the second half, an equal quantity for each s said ninth, both inland and in revenue from the said fief and mill; And coming for the division of the said fief and domain, Sieurs Joseph DuSault and Jean Page, neighbors of the domain, chosen as arbitrators by the heirs, have visited, arbitrated and estimated the said domain though out its whole extent on pain of their soul and conscience; In regard to the manor which is found in the southwest part and near the lands of the said Alexis Toupin, a preliminary oath administered to the said arbitrators by their priest, in the customary manner, which is held by the undersigned notary, they gave their verbal report, in the presence of the said co-heirs, that the said domain being every where of equal reckoning and value, that it could be partitioned in two equal parts so as what would fall to the said heirs in the said names, without any fault or change, which the parties have found just and reasonable and in consequence they could make two lots as just and as equal as is able to be done. The first lot and what pertains to it will be from the present and for always one arpent, six inches [an error for perches], two feet, and two inches of frontage by forty arpents in depth, and half of the buildings, as is said elsewhere, and extending from the lot line of Alexis Toupin; in going to the northeast, also pertaining to the first lot, nine arpents of land frontage and one lieue in depth, extending from a line which separates the fief of D Auteuil and going north east up to the extent of the said nine arpents. The second lot and what also pertains to it from the present and for always, one arpent, six perches, two feet, and 2 inches of frontage by 40 arpents in depth, to the first lot line, being the totality of the said domain and half of the buildings as above and extending from the lot line of deputy Jean Dussault, going to the southwest up to the extent of the said first lot and also including in the lot the same quantity of nine arpents of land frontage by a depth of one lieue extending from the lot line of Antoine Godin, also being a part of the said domain, and going to the southwest up to the first lot. Which lots, the said parties and the said names agree are equal to the above, being just and equal, the heirs thus consening that the lots ownership be determined by the luck of the draw and for this purpose they called upon Alexis Dussault, a young boy not allied with either party whose hat was used. They made two paper tickets of equal size and folded up like each other, which the said Alexis Dussault, after having stirred them up in his hat, and with the consent of the parties, and in their presence, he pulled out one which he gave to the said Jean Baptiste DuSault III, eldest son, and the otherballot to the said widow Toupin. Upon reading the ballots, it was determined that Lot #1 was allotted to the said Sieur Toupin and the second one to his co-heirs. 86
As a consequence of holding the first lot, the said Seigneur Jean-Baptiste Toupin III promised and obligated himself as well as his assigns for the said second lot a road 18 feet in width, running along and at the bottom of the hill, as it exits the Royal Road, which will be closed. This road will be constructed and kept up by the owners of the second lot; also, as will be practical, a hill, in case of the need to cultivate the terrain which is on higher lands at a place which will be to be utilized by the said co-heirs and judged to be convenient, as hereafter stipulated... And the said heirs Toupin, following upon these present divisions, wished to know where the said 32 feet of land frontage with a depth of forty [arpents] for each of them, both that belonging to the one ninth on the said second lot and equally an arpent from the said fief for their second ninth for each to enjoy as their part and portion, there had been created nine lots. In the form and manner as above and selected by the said Alexis Dussault, concerning the second ninth, at the opening of lots drawn, it is found that the first lot, from the land belonging to Sieur Jean-Baptiste Toupin III, is that of the said Dame Widow Toupin, the second lot to Marie Clothilde, the third lot to Augustin, the fourth to Magdeleine, the fifith to Jean Baptiste Toupin III, the sixth to Sieur Godin and Marie-Anne Toupin, his wife, the seventh to Francois Lemay in her name as having married Dame Catherine Toupin, the eighth to Louis-Antoine Toupin and the ninth and last lot to Sir Alexis Toupin adjoining his lot line with the said deceased Jean Dussault, Jr. From these partitions, divisions, and chosen lots, the said parts comparing in quality, directing them to take effect, holding themselves ready and satisfied, to enjoy respectively the said goods for themselves and their assigns for always, peaceably to commence the said enjoyment from this day. Thus Jean-Baptiste III, who became the principal seigneur, came into possession of both the property and revenues of one quarter of the fief and original domain of Belair, also known as Ecureuils. Including the principle manor consisting of the house, barn, shed and garden, as well as the grounds and revenue of the mill on condition that he pledge to return from its profits what is due by right to his brothers and sisters in the correct proportions. The same day, on 15 Feburary 1781, Jean Baptiste III, as we have previously seen, having made a place for himself in the home of his parents-in-law since 1766 at Vercheres, sold to his step-mother, Marie-Clothilde Aide-Crequy, the part of his inheritance in the domain of Belair by an agreement drawn up by Bernard Plante 4 consisting of a piece of land Aone arpent, six perches, ten feet, and two inches of frontage by 40 arpents in depth with the house that served as the manor, a little addition with a bakery and half interest in the barns, sheds, and stables... under certain attached conditions. He kept, however, his part of the land goods, sales and revenues arising fom the fief of Belair and from the water mill as well as the title of the principal seigneur. The widow Toupin gained her part of the inheritance from her deceased husband, possessing one quarter of a ninth of the original domain and the seigneural manor of 87
Belair where she henceforth lived in the manner of its sole mistress. Some years later she married Jean Vesina. Her son, Jean-Baptiste Toupin DuSault, youngest in the family by the third marriage of his father, married 23 May 1796 to Madeleine Proux, and succeeded his mother in the domain and the manor house of Belair where he posed as a great lord without being so. In order to differentiate him from his older brother, the principal seigneur living at Vercheres, who also carried the same first name, the youngest was called Jean-Baptiste Bebe [Baby]. Eight years after taking possession of his rights to the fief of Belair, on 6 April 1789 [a few months before the French Revolution began], Jean-Baptiste III sold all of his rights to Matthew MacNider, a rich merchant of Quebec who wished to have a title in order to pursue more easily his ambition to be a Member of Parliament. The act of sale was drawn up at Neuville before Master F.-X. Larue 5, notary. Jean-Baptiste was not present, but was represented by his son Alexis Toupin who signed the record of the sale, having power of attorney given to him on 31 May1788 before Master Duvernay at Vercheres. By this document, Jean-Baptiste III sold for the sum of 1600 livres...all rights whatever which may be held currently by the said Sieur Jean-Baptiste Dussault III as original seigneur of the fief of Belair, its circumstances, and dependencies with the arrears of...of sales, honorific rights and other rights which may currently be held by the said Jean-Baptiste Dussault in his title of original Lord of the land fief and seigneury of Belair and all which said rights may consist or retain without exception in any manner whatsoever or to take back such rights as may have come to the said Jean-Baptiste Dussault III through the death of his late father, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Dusault, Jr., which survived his father and followed the settlement drawn up by the late Master Plante, notary, on 15 February of the year one thousand seven hundred eighty one... And on the same date of 6 April 1789 6, before the same notary, F.-X. Larue, for the sum of 1244 livres and nine sols, Marie Clothilde Aide-Crequy, widow of Jean-Baptiste Toupin, Jr., surviving lord of Belair, and remarried to Jean Vezina for her and her miner children of her first marriage, that is Alexis, Augustine, Eustache Faucher dit Chateauvert for Madeleine Dussault selling to Matthew MacNider Whatever rights they may have, each for their own part, in the quarter of the said total of the fief land and seigneurie of Belair, but not comprising the domain and the buildings above nor comprising equally the sale proceeding from the flour mill on an annual basis into perpetuity sold by the deceased Jean Baptiste Toupin Sieur DuSault, [then] living seigneur of Belair in Marcotte... And on the same 6 April 1789, before the same notary F.-X. Larue, as well for the sum of 750 livres Jean Vesina for his wife Marie-Clothilde Aide-Crequy, for himself and their minor children, Eustache Faucher for his wife, and for Augustin Dussault, boy, sold their rights to the water mill to Mathew MacNider. Thus, thirty years after the conquest of New France by England and after one hundred seventeen uninterrupted years, the reign of the Toupin DuSault Family over the fief of Belair, the Seigneurie of Ecureuils, came to a decisive end. Honorific titles and rights of possession passed into the hands of the conquerors. The difficulties which followed the conquest and the impoverished numbers of Canadians put the Toupin DuSault under the 88
obligation of selling their rights. Except for the original seigneur Jean Baptiste III who sold everything and even quit Ecureuils, the co-seigneurs of the eldest branch, Alexis Thomas, Louis, Augustine, Jean Baptiste Bebe, Marie-Anne, Marie-Madeleine, Marie- Catherine, Marie Clotilde held on to the possession of their respective parts of the original domain. They alone continued to live at Ecureuils where even today [1959] we find their descendants occupying a part of the ancestral domain; Alexis Thomas married Madeleine Carpentier, Augustine remained a bachelor, Jean-Baptiste Bebe married Madeleine Proux as did Marie Anne, Dame Joseph-Alexis Godin, Marie Clothilde, and Dame Jean-Baptise Page. Louis married Francoise Blais, and set himself up at Yamachiche, and Marie-Catherine, wife of Francois Lemay, at Neuville. It is in the descendants of Alexis-Thomas that we find today the representatives of the eldest branch of the Toupin DuSault. They are now known under the name of Dussault dit Toupin. 89
CHAPTER FIVE NOTES 1. AJQ, Barolet Registry, 9 March 1734: Action to stop the accounting of the division of the the goods of the late Sieur Toupin for the sons Toupin and Joseph Delisle, guardian of the minor Toupin children. 2. AJQ, Bernard Plante Registry, 15 February 1781, division of the Seigneury of Belair between the widow of the late Toupin and his heirs. 3. AJQ, Bernard Plante registry, 5 April 1780, sale by J,-Bpte Toupin DuSault, Seigneur of Belair to his son Alexis Toupin Du Sault. 4. AJQ, Bernard Plate registry, 15 Feburary 1781, contract of sale by Sieur Jean-Baptiste Toupin Du Sault, Seigneur of Belair to Madam Marie-Clothilde Aid-Crequy, his stepmother. 5. AJQ, F.-X.Larue registry, 6 April 1789, act of sale by Alexis Dussault, as proxy for Jean Baptiste Toupin III, of all of the latter s rights and titles to the Seigneurie of Belair to Matthew MacNider. 6. Idem. Sale by Marie-Clothilde Aide-Crequy for herself and her minor children, Alexis Augustin, and Madeleine, equally, and all their rights in the Seigneury of Belair to Matthew Mac Nider. 90
PART 2 From Jean-Baptiste Toupin Dussault III, Fifth and Last Lord Dussault, to Michigan and Ohio Compiled and written by: Patrick LaVoy Tombeau, Ph.D. 1462 Middlewood Drive Saline, MI 48176-1278 (734) 429-9945 Tombeaucomcast.net 91
Afterword Matthew MacNider Matthew MacNider, a rich Quebec merchant, was born in Scotland, perhaps in Paisley, the son of William and Ann MacNider., and married there in 1761. He purchased the Seigneury of Belair at LaPointe aux Ecureuils from Jean-Baptiste Dussault III and co-heirs on April 6, 1789, and purchased a second seigneurie, Grondines, in 1792. He purchased these seigneuries with the hope of becoming a Member of the Canadian Parliament. This he accomplished on 10 July 1792, He served until his term expired on 31 May 1796. He died in 1811 and his seigneuries passed into other hands until the institution of seigneury was abolished in the mid 19 th Century. The Seigneury of Belair at La Pointe aux Ecureuils While for a great part of its history, this location continued under the name of La Pointe aux Ecureuils, in 1967 it merged with the town of Donnacona. The successor church to the chapel built by the third Lord Dussault, St. Jean-Baptiste A La Pointe-aux-Ecureuils, still stands and can be found at 980 Notre Dame Street, Donnacona, Quebec, Canada. The Farm at Sault a la Puce Background: The ancient Du Sault home, Midground: Auberge Du Sault a la Puce, Foreground: River Du Sault a la Puce This was the first property owned by the DuSault Family. Olivier Tardif granted it to Toussaint Toupin, First Lord DuSault, on 14 June 1650. It contained seven arpents and 2 perches frontage (about 1400 feet wide) facing the Royal Road and St. Laurence River and was one league in depth (about 2.4 miles). The 1680 map of Catalogne indicated that the river of Sault a la Puce flowed on his land and acted near the front as a boundary line between his land that of Zacharie Cloutier. On the Cloutier property, this same map shows a water mill along side the River Sault a la Puce near its mouth into the St. Laurence. Toussaint Toupin lived on this farm from 1647-1655. He then lived in Quebec from 1655-1671 when he returned there to spend his remaining years. He died on 10 August 1676 on this farm. His son Antoine possessed this land after his death according to the 1680 Catalogne map. 92
Jean Baptiste Dussault III Jean Baptiste Toupin Dussault III, last Seigneur of Belair, was born on 12 June 1732 in Champlain and died 29 Ocotober 1801 a Vercheres where he was buried the next day. He married twice. His first wife was Marie-Francoise Prive, born at Vercheres 25 March 1738 at Vercheres, the daughter of Michel Prive and Marie-Louise Legris. Jean-Baptiste and Marie Francoise were married on 19 February 1759 at Vercheres. They lived with his mother s family the Dizy dit Montplaisir Family. Of his first marriage, Jean Baptiste Dussault III had seven known children: 1. Marie-Madeleine, born 28 April 1760. Date of death and further circumstances are unknown. 2. Jean-Baptiste, born 21 May 1761. Date of death and further circumstances are unknown. 3. Louis-Joseph, born 1764. Date of death and further circumstances are unknown. 4. Scholastique, 1766-1766. 5. Scholastique, born 1769; married Pierre Charles Jacques; date of death unknown. 6. Louis-Basile, born 14 June 1772, Vercheres; married 20 January 1794, Louise Amiot, daughter of Jean-Marie Amiot and Louise LaVigne. The dates of death of Louis Basile and Louise Amiot are unknown. But they are known to have been living at St. Antoine de la Valtrie at the time of their son Jean Baptiste IV s marriage in St. Sulpice in 1803. Family oral tradition in the William Duso branch also states that Louis Basile Dussault lived in St. Antoine. This branch is ancestral to the Toledo, Ohio, and Bay County, Michigan Dusseau/Duso Families. Louis Basile and Louise Amiot had two known children; Louis and our ancestor, Jean Baptise Dussault IV, who married Tharcile LaForest, in Sulpice, Canada and came to the U.S. in the 1840 s. 7. Marie-Angelique, 1781-84. Jean Baptiste Dussault III married a second time to Marie Audet dit LaPointe in 1782. Of this union there were no known children. 93