Charles-François Marquis (François as we called him(it)), one of the first colonists of the Portage, receives on September 30th, 1723, by note of concession, a land of eight acres frontally by three leagues deep
( 1 league = 2.5 miles), of his father-in-law Joseph Blondeau, Lord of Rivière-du-Loup, concession that we called afterward " The Fief Marquis "

The whole front of this fief includes, in the first range of the Portage, six present acres of today
Mr. Albert Beaulieu and two other nearby acres on the east side, belonging to Mr. Alphonse Beaulieu. It is interesting to note that the wife of this last one, been born Madeleine Marquis, is a direct descendant of the first colonist of the Portage.

Charles-François Marquis married Marie-Anne Boucher, daughter of Pierre Boucher, on January 20th, 1724 to Kamouraska. (Pierre Boucher and Marie-Anne Michaud were his neighbors, their lands adjoining and being the same dimensions. The clan Marquis-Boucher possessed a territory including the parishes of Notre-Dame-du-Portage and Saint André today, that is 3,000 feet frontally by 14 kilometers deep. By the marriages, the clan got bigger with Michaud and Dumont.

Charles-François Marquis and Marie-Anne Boucher, married on January 20th to Kamouraska, had nine children among whom four only started a home and family. Five others, three girls and two boys, died before their majority. Two of his sons and one of his dauthers married children of Prisque Côté and Geneviève-Ursule Bernier and grandchildren of Jean-Baptiste Côté and Françoise-Charlotte Chorest, Lord of l'Isle-Verte.

1 - Agnès (1725-1727), buried to Kamouraska.
2 - Alexandre (1731-1754), died at Fort Duquesne, Ohio, USA.
3 - Geneviève (1736-1757, buried to Kamouraska.
4 - Marie-Anne (1739-1757) buried to Kamouraska.
5 - Jean-Baptiste (1741-1741 at 5 weeks) buried to Kamouraska.

6 - Joseph-Marie (1729-1752) married to Marie-Françoise Côté on October 27, 1752 at Trois-Pistoles, 13 children.
7 - Joseph-François (1734-1816) married to Agnès Côté in 1762 at Trois-Pistoles, 13 children.
8 - Madeleine born in 1740, died on Sept. 19, 1797, she married Jean-Baptiste Côté on January 09, 1769 at Saint-Louis, Kamouraska. Son of Prisque Côté and Ursule Bernier
9 - Jean-Baptiste (2) (1745-1816) married Marie-Claire Talon on January 11, 1768 at Saint-Louis, Kamouraska, 6 children,


- According to Paul Gauvreau, in his book on Isle-Verte (Lévis, on 1889), " formerly place of hunting and fishing of Maléchistes tribe arrived from the high lands by the corridor of the Portage of the Lake Témiscouata … Jean-Baptiste Côté was the third Lord of the Isle-Verte, the seigneury which he acquired on February 14th, 1711 from Mr. Pierre DeNiort de Laminottière or La Nonaye / Lanoraie, the second Lord in Isle-Verte, against two lands that he possessed at l'Ile d'Orléans, lands 30 and 31, cadastral lot 77, bought from Pierre Aubin [Ref. The book Les Terres de l'Ile d'Orléans 1650-1715, p. 28] … Then it was Jean Côté who succeeded his father in the seigneurial manor house built in 1773 near Rivière-Verte. Jean Côté abandoned to his brothers and sisters the West side of the seigneury, known under the name of Villeraie.

- Then it was Régis Garon in 1818, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé in 1820. The fief, brought under the hammer, was bought by Louis Gauvreau, ex-deputy who bequeathed the fief to his sons, Louis and Olivier Gauvreau, in 1822. In 1889, it was Louis-Narcisse Gauvreau who inherited from the title deed of the seigneury.
The heir of Jean Côté, Barthélémy Côté, kept the eastside (2 leagues) which passed afterward in Charles Bertrand's hands … The lordly house always exists in Isle-Verte, village. " Pp. 64-66.
The history of the seigneurial tenure of Isle-Verte began in 1685/86 with the first Lord, the Sieur D' Artigny. According to Jean-Baptiste Côté, the first colonist was a Bouchard .

- The seigneury of L'Ile d'Orléans became Mgr. de Laval's property in 1668, seigneury which he exchanged for l'Ile-Jésus (today St-Vincent-de-Paul in the North of Montreal), on April 24th, 1675, to the Sieur François Berthelot. Ref. L'Ile dOrléans by Michel Lessard. Edition de l'homme, 1998.

" Isle-Verte was a place of foothold and\or transit for the Marquis, Caron, Côté and Malenfant". Four lineages which interbreed themselves by the marriages in Isle-Verte.

The Marquis were intended to go alongside the Lords: Joseph Blondeau, the 2nd husband of Agnès Giguère, was the Lord of Rivière-du-Loup.

Charles-François Marquis, thanks to his industriousness and to his perseverance, acquired a certain ease. The inventory of its possessions, made in 1757, is an eloquent testimony: More than seven long pages written by the solicitor Joseph Dionne, gives a value of about 1600 pounds, enormous sum for that time if we consider that the land is not included and that the value of the house and the shed were estimated to less than 375 pounds ($75).

Charles-François Marquis, being born on May 23rd, 1700 in Quebec, died on September 30th, 1754 at 54 years, and was buried on October 01st, 1754 in the Cradle of Kamouraska. After his death, her widow Marie-Anne Boucher assembled the family which elected a guardian to both minors, François and Jean-Baptiste, this last one not even being nine years old. It was in this particular case that Simon Dumont, their uncle and neighbor, helped by a surrogate guardian, their elder brother Joseph-Marie, a bridegroom for two years, but being still left to the paternal house. After study of the case, it was decided to postpone at a letter date the payment of the succession.

Now, in autumn, 1757, three years after Charles-François's death, three of the children being now adults, the guardians, unanimously with all the interested, asked to the solicitor Joseph Dionne to make the arrangements necessary for this settelment of the succession. They proceeded as follows:

- November 8th in the morning, inventory of the possessions of the deceased.
- November 8th in the afternoon, donation of Lady Marquis to her children.
- November 9th in the morning, shouted with furniture.
- November 9th a the afternoon, division of the land in four equal parts, each of two acres frontally.

Here is how the solicitor registered the procedure:

" It was, by the undersigned solicitor, made four notes and after notes well rolled and blurred in a hat, it was said by the parties we would begin the draw by giving the northeast side, by going to the southwest, and which both of the northeast would be obliged to put-up a fence and a ditch between the line of said Sieur Dumont and them two, and both of the southwest with the heirs of late Michel Boucher.

Then after, we made a little boy approach to draw said notes, the first one was pulled and begun as said by the northeast, the first share of the inheritance fell to Jean Le Marquis; follows the second to François Le Marquis; follows the third fell to Joseph Le Marquis; and the fourth fell to Madeleine Le Marquis, joining said heirs of Michel Boucher; and as both acres of said Madeleine and both of Jean Le Marquis are less cultivated than both of the said Joseph and François Le Marquis, it was arbitrated and been advisable that Joseph would give to her sister Madeleine the sum of 15 pounds and that François Le Marquis would give to his brother Jean Le Marquis also the sum of 15 pounds ".

This act was made in the presence of Jean-Baptiste Michaud and François Albert, inhabitants of the Islet-du-Portage, and signed by Joseph Marquis, by Jean-Baptiste Michaud and by the solicitor Joseph Dionne.

What proves that even in this period when the public schools were not existing, a lot of our ancestors already possessed a minimum of instruction.

It is rather remarkable that three heirs Marquis were united by marriage with descendants of Côté family, Lord of Isle-Verte.

Rechearch by Yvon Marquis-Joubert

Translation by Jean-Marie Marquis

Reviewed by William Marquis