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Those who came before us

Oscar Amyotte (Amyot/Amiot) was the 9th generation Amiot in Canada and the 7th generation born in Canada (Philippe and Mathieu where born in France). Below is a quick summary of the generations who came before us. 

 

Source: Quebec Geneology database: https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Amiot_Oscar&pid=989871&lng=fr

 

A brief history of Philippe Amyotte

SOURCE:  PHILIPPE AMIOT from "Our French-Canadian Ancestors" by Thomas J. Laforest

 

IMMIGRATION: 1635
The last name of Amiot or Amyot appears as a diminitive of the word "ami" or "amy". In the sixteenth century, it was pronounced: amio. More than one Amiot founded a family in Canada. The one who is of interest to us bore the first name of Philippe. The first to arrive in New France, he was also the first to die here and has the largest number of descendants among us.

ANNE CONVENT AND PHILIPPE AMIOT
It seems rather certain that Anne Convent, born about 1603, the daughter of Guillaume and Antoinette de Longval, came from Estrees, today Coeuvres-et-Valsery, the Canton of Vic-sur- Aines, Arrondisement of Soissons, in the Department of the Aisne, in the former territory of la Picardie. Anne and Philippe were married in France about 1626. They had two known children in the old country, Jean and Mathieu.

QUEBEC
The Amiot family arrived in Quebec in 1636. On August 26, their last child, Charles, was baptized. His godfather was the Chevalier Charles Huault de Montmagny, also the first governor of New France. He had been in the country since June 11, 1636. The godmother was Guillemette Hebert, the daughter of Louis and Marie Rollet and the wife of Guillaume Couillard. The officiating priest was Jean Dequen, a Jesuit, originally from Picardy.

We know that, the day after the arrival of the governor, another ship "commanded by Monsieur Courpon" brought 45 recruits to Quebec, according to the Relations des Jesuites. Did the Amiots arrive as passengers on this ship? A good hypothsis!

Here begins a mystery which has never been cleared up! Nothing in our history indicates the name of Philippe's native village, his trade, the location of his house at Quebec, or the date of his death. One fact remains certain, the inventory of his property, drawn up on Wednesday, September 7, 1639, at Quebec and authenticated, on the first of April 1658, by the Notary Audouart. Fortunately, we have learned many things from it.

Philippe enjoyed a certain comfort. His wife and children slept well and were well dressed: 5 pairs of sheets, a bed canopy, suits for Mathieu and Charles, "a doublet in gray berry cloth belonging to his son Mathieu", a beaver skin robe worth 17 livres. They mentioned a frying pan, eight pounds of pewter ware, a small boiler and so forth.

Monsieur Pierre Priseaux owed the estate "eight francs" and "the Great Sevestre eight francs". The surprise was to learn that, at his death, Philippe owned 96 perches of cleared land. It was not possible for me to locate this property. Philippe only lived about three years in the Colony but, thanks to his two sons, Mathieu and Charles, that short time was sufficient for him to firmly implant on Canadian soil a name borne today by thousands of descendants.

SECOND WEDDING
On September 26, 1639, Anne Convent was remarried at Quebec, to Jacques Maheu, born to Nicolas and Louise Clichon, from Buberte, in the Arrondisement of Mortagne, in Perche. The new couple seems to have lived uneventfully but happily.

Jacques, classified as a pioneer in 1640, on October 11, 1647, became the owner of six arpents of frontage on the Grande-Allee, to a depth of ten arpents. He was in France in 1647 and 1648. He was elected church warden of the parish of Notre-Dame de Quebec in 1656, 1657 and 1659, the year in which he was a member of the trading association of Tadoussac. On August 10, of the same year, he was confirmed by Msgr. de Laval.

Anne and Jacques had the joy of bringing into the world a daughter, Marie-Madeleine, baptized on September 28, 1641. However, she died on the following October 19. Their son, Jean Maheu, was baptized on May 31, 1643. He married Marguerite Corriveau, parents unknown and the widow of Rene Maheu and Jean Lefranc, on July 16, 1663. A merchant and resident of the capital, he died without descendants. As for Jacques Maheu senior, he died, on July 22, 1663, at Quebec.

Anne Convent accepted a third husband, Etienne Blanchon dit LaRose, on September 10, 1666. This Auvergnat, Blanchon, who arrived here as a soldier with the Carignan Regiment, had no children by Anne Convent. This most deserving Ancestress died at Quebec, on December 25, 1675, at the age of 65. The pastor, Henri de Bernieres, presided at her funeral the following day.

THE AMIOT SONS
Anne Convent and Philippe Amiot had three sons: Jean and Mathieu, both born in France and Charles , the Canadian. Jean At an early age, Jean Amiot was a donne of the Jesuits, his protectors. The orphan was sent out to the land of the Hurons, where he learned their language. The Amerindians called him Antaiok, a distortion of Amiot, because they held him in esteem.

Jean
In 1645, Jean settled at Trois-Rivieres, where he lived until his death. He often served as an interpreter. Pierre-Georges Roy (?) recounts that, Amiot, passing through Quebec in 1647, challenged all the young Indian boys to a race, "either with or without snowshoes. Several entered the race against him, but he beat them all".

On May 28, 1648, Jean Amiot and Francois Margerie crossed the Saint-Lawrence in a bark canoe, across from Trois-Rivieres. A storm rose suddenly and capsized their frail craft.. The two interpreters perished in full view of the Frenchmen on the shore, who were powerless to help them. Jean's body was found on June 10, near Sillery, where they buried him.

Jean, greatly devoted to Saint-Joseph, had said: "If I should happen to die, I desire that the lumber and materials with which I plan to build a house for myself, be used to build a small chapel in honor of Saint-Joseph".

After his death, on October 18, 1649, Jean's property, 50 arpents of land and his building materials were bought by Jacques LeNeuf, for 183 livres.

Mathieu

Mathieu Amiot, Sieur de Villeneuve, born in France about 1628, owned a small lot in 1655, measuring 54 feet in frontage, on the chemin (road) to Saint-Louis, to a depth of 18 feet, which ran as far as the southwestern part of the land of Sieur Chartier de Lotbiniere, near Cap-aux-Diamants.

On the occasion of his marriage to Marie Miville, the daughter of Pierre and Charlotte Maugis, on November 21, 1650, at Quebec, Mathieu received from his father-in-law, a plot of land on the Grande-Allee, bordering that of Jean Bourdon. Mathieu owned several other pieces of land; at Sillery, at the Chatellenie de Coulonges, at Saint-Augustin and at Cap-Rouge. The census of 1681 recorded the colonist Amiot as living in the Seigneurie of Maure, between Tugal Catin and Jacques Lemarie, where he owned three head of cattle and had thirty arpents of land under cultivation.

To summarize, let's recall that Mathieu was a valiant pioneer. In 1668, he was awarded letters of nobility. Unfortunately, they were invalid, wrote Father Archange Godbout, because they had not been registered. The Intendant Jean Talon wanted to amend this oversight by conceding at Villeneuve, on November 3, 1672, the Seigneurie of Pointe-aux-Bouleaux, near Sainte-Croix de Lotbiniere.

Mathieu and Marie raised a family of sixteen children, 8 girls and 8 boys, who have numerous descendants. Mathieu died, on December 18, 1688 and was buried the next day, at Quebec. As for Marie Miville, she died at the Hotel-Dieu, on September 5, 1702, during harvest time.

Charles

The Canadian Charles Amiot, the son of Philippe and Anne Convent, studied at the College des Jesuitses. At the age of of 14, he accompanied Father Francois-Joseph Bressani as a servant on a journey out to the land of the Hurons. Departing from Trois-Rivieres, on June 7, 1650, he was unable to return there because the English fleet had stopped below Montreal. On July 18, Charles entered Quebec. On May 2, 1660, he married Genevieve de Chavigny, the daughter of Francois and Eleonore de Grandmaison. However, he still had the blood of a voyageur in his veins. He accompanied Father Nouvel to the Ile aux Basques and to Lake Matapedia. In 1664, he and Father Nouvel went with some Papinachois as far as the Riviere aux Outardes and then to the Manicouagan.

On the first of November 1652, Charles had received, from Lauzon, a concession which was enlarged by another one with 5 arpents by 40, on August 18, 1659. What really interested Charles was the fur and eel business. He became a merchant at Quebec.

His family was not large and composed of three children. Pierre died after two months old; Marie-Madeleine joined the Ursulines. She became superior of her community at Trois-Rivieres, in 1709. It was also there that she died, on October 13, 1747, after 68 years as a nun.

Charles-Joseph Amiot, the third and last child and husband of Marie-Gabrielle Philippe du Hautmesny, was a ship's captain and also a fur merchant. He became lord of the Seigneurie of Vincelot.

Charles died too young, at the age of 33, on December 11, 1669, at Quebec. His widow was remarried to Jean-Baptiste Couillard, Sieur de L'Espinay, on October 23, 1680. This strong woman and Seigneuresse, in more than title, was buried at Quebec, on April 21, 1724.

 

Another Brief Summary

Source: http://www.leveillee.net/ancestry/histnotes.htm

• Philippe Amyot arrived in Canada in the summer of 1635 from Soissons. He was accompanied by his wife, Anne Convent, and two sons, Jean and Mathieu. 
  
  On August 26 1636, he baptised another son, Charles at Québec. 
  
  Four years after his arrival in New France, Philippe Amyot died. However, through his sons, Mathieu and Charles, he established a long line of descendants which today number in the thousands. 
  
  Mathieu Amyot was a decisive and entrepreneurial man. He was granted land concessions at Trois Rivières, Sillerie, and neat Québec. From the last concession he took the name Villeneuve since it was situated near pointe Villeneuve. 
  
  With that pace, it is no wonder that he became one of the notable settlers in the colony. 
  
  The intendant, Jean Talon, sought to obtain a title for him from the king. These were granted by Louis XIV in 1668, but unfortunately Mathieu Amyot failed to have them registered with the sovereign council of New France and they became worthless. Although he was titled, he never became a Noble. He died December 18, 1688. 
  
  His brother, Charles, who was ten years younger, started to travel with the missionaries at 14. 
  
  Aside from being a merchant living in the lower town (of Québec), he received many land grants. The importance of the role he played in Québec placed him among the most noted of the time. 
  
  Unfortunately, Charles Amyot died at an early are on December 10 1669 only nine years after his marriage. 
  
  
  

And a few additional details

Original source no longer available: http://www.geocities.com/philippeamyot/HistoireAmyotAng.html

• He was born in Picardie around 1600.In around 1625 he got married in Estrée 
  ( Today Couvre, in the district of L'Aisne ) in Soissonais with Anne Convent the daughter of Guillaume Convent and Antoinette de Longval. We don't know much about the life of Philippe and Anne Convent in France. We have found a act of sale from Antoine Courand notary. 
  In this act of sale of the Notary Courand 20th january 1626, we find out that Philippe Amyot bought
  the house of Antoinette Longeuval in Espiré. Must a been a big house. 
  In the act, the house have 14 rooms and (32 arpents de terre )
  
  In the spring of 1635 Philippe Amyot and his wife their two sons, Mathieu and Jean boarded a ship in 
  Dieppe destination New France. In the beginning of the summer they arrived in Kébec. It was during th time of M.Champlain. I was not there, but I presume that M.Champlain was on the roads whit his straw hat, 
  his whip and his wagon, and his pair of bulls to greet these new arrivals, the minute they arrived. In those days it's was not often that a contingent of new arrivals landed. Usually it occurred only once a year. 
  
  What did philippe Amyot do in Kébec ? We don't know. When he died we still don't know ? However its certain that he died in the year 1639. The burial act was not registered in the record of Quebec. 
  Certain alledge that he died by drowning, and because his body was never found, they never registered his death. Other presumed that they just simply forgot to re-enter his burial act when they reconstructed that 
  the parish register after the fire in the chapel Notre-Dame de la Recouvrance, in 1640. 
  Notary Audouart 7th September 1639 inventoried of the possesion of Philippe Amyot 
  
  In September 1639, Anne Convent, the widow of Philippe Amyot, married Jacques Maheu ; 
  they had two sons and one daughter. 
  
  She became widow once again in July 1663, she married for a third time a man by the name of Etienne Balnchon dit Larose. ( Notary contract Bequet the 5th may, 1666 ) She was 65 and Etienne 35. 
  Though scandal was not in vogue in Québec at that time, it must have made good gossip ;
  just the age different alone was enough. 
  ( Notary Duquet 10th January 1676 inventoried of Etienne Blanchon & Anne convent )
  The 5th January, 1674 she gives to the children of her son Mathieu an estate located in the bases ville of Québec. ( Act of Bequet ) Unfortunately this property will later be dispute between Marie Minville and her Children. Anne convent died in 1674
  ( Notary Becquet 23th Febuary 1674 Testament of Anne Convent )