Anne Ledet: A Life Shaped by Scandal and Survival
Anne Ledet
A Life Shaped by Scandal and Survival
Anne Ledet's story in New France begins with a marriage, a betrayal, and an annulment that would mark her children for generations. Arriving in the colony around 1652 from the port city of La Rochelle, she married a man who turned out to already have a wife in France—a discovery that dissolved her first union and left her daughters legally illegitimate. That she rebuilt her life entirely, marrying again within months and raising eleven children across two families, speaks to a resilience forged in the precarious world of early colonial settlement.
As a Fille à marier, Anne crossed the Atlantic without royal sponsorship or state protection. She carried instead the resources of her own determination and whatever connections the La Rochelle maritime network could provide. Her nearly half-century in New France—from the dangerous years of Iroquois raids through the relative stability of the late 17th century—left a demographic legacy that still echoes through millions of Quebecers today.
Origins: Angoulins, circa 1631
Anne Ledet (also recorded as Léodet or Laidette) was born about 1631 in Angoulins, a coastal village in the arrondissement and diocese of La Rochelle, in the former province of Aunis. She was the daughter of Nicolas Ledet and Isabelle Pineau.
Angoulins lay within the orbit of La Rochelle, one of France's most important Atlantic ports and a city deeply shaped by the Catholic–Protestant conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries. The proximity to this major port gave families like the Ledets access to the maritime networks that connected France to its colonies—networks that would carry Anne across the Atlantic around 1652.
What circumstances led a young woman of about twenty-one to leave her family and embark for New France? The records offer no answer. But La Rochelle was the primary embarkation point for settlers bound for the St. Lawrence, and Anne would have joined a small but steady stream of women making the dangerous crossing to a colony that desperately needed them.
January 28, 1653: First Marriage to Jean Neveu
On January 28, 1653, Anne married Jean Neveu (or Nepveu) at Notre-Dame de Québec. Jean was a mason, the son of Jacques Neveu and Marie Michel, from Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu in the arrondissement of La Roche-sur-Yon, diocese of Luçon, in Poitou. He had enlisted to go to Canada on June 10, 1645, at La Rochelle—seven years before Anne's arrival.
The couple had two children in quick succession. Daughter Marie Barbe was baptized December 3, 1653, at Québec City, followed by Suzanne, baptized October 11, 1655, at Sillery. The baptism record for Suzanne contains a revealing detail: her godfather was Gilles Pinel—the very man Anne would marry two years later. This connection suggests that Gilles already knew the family well before the bigamy scandal broke, perhaps through the Sillery community where his father Nicolas held a Jesuit land grant.
But Jean Neveu was harboring a secret that would shatter this family.
The Bigamy Scandal
Sometime before September 1657, it was discovered that Jean Neveu had left a wife behind in France. The revelation was devastating. In New France, where the Church governed marriage absolutely, there was only one thing besides death that could dissolve a union: bigamy.
Jetté claims that Jean Neveu or Nepveu died some time before 02 September 1657, when Anne remarried, but this is not the case. The remarriage was the result of the only other thing that could dissolve a marriage in New France: bigamy. It was discovered that Jean had a wife that he had left in France and he was expelled from the colony and forced to return to France.
— Peter J. Gagné, Before the King's Daughters: The Filles à Marier, 1634-1662Jean was expelled from the colony and forced to return to France. The annulment of his marriage to Anne carried a cruel consequence: their two daughters, Marie Barbe and Suzanne, were retroactively declared illegitimate—born out of wedlock—through no fault of their own or their mother's. The PRDH database still records both daughters with the notation that their parents' marriage was annulled due to bigamy, making them technically illegitimate children.
The Children Left Behind
The bigamy annulment rendered Anne's two daughters by Jean Neveu legally fatherless. Yet both survived, married, and raised families of their own—testimony to their mother's determination and to a colonial society that, whatever the legal stigma, needed every woman it could get.
Marie Barbe Neveu
- Baptized December 3, 1653, Québec City
- Status: Born out of wedlock
- Married August 20, 1667, Nicolas Sylvestre Champagne
- Buried April 18, 1729, Neuville
- "Because her parents' marriage was annulled due to bigamy, she technically became an illegitimate child."
Suzanne Neveu Pinel
- Baptized October 11, 1655, Sillery
- Status: Born out of wedlock
- Married March 25, 1670, Nicolas Pot
- Married October 18, 1692, Jean Baptiste Devine
- Buried January 29, 1727, Québec City
Marie Barbe's 1667 marriage record to Nicolas Sylvestre Champagne identifies her as the daughter of Jean Neveu and Anne Ledet—preserving the names of both parents despite the scandal. The Bishop himself dispensed the publication of the banns for this wedding, perhaps a sign that the Church recognized the awkwardness of the situation and wished to smooth the way for the young woman.
Suzanne's story carried the stigma even further. Her 1670 marriage contract to Nicolas Pot, drawn up by notary Romain Becquet, lists her mother Anne "Laidette" as residing at Côte-Saint-Ignace and her father Jean "Nepveu" as deceased—a legal fiction, since Jean had been expelled, not killed. Suzanne took the surname "Neveu Pinel," incorporating her stepfather's name alongside her biological father's. She would marry twice and raise eight children with Nicolas Pot before his death, then marry again.
September 2, 1657: Second Marriage to Gilles Pinel
Anne did not remain unmarried long. On September 2, 1657, she married Gilles Pinel at Notre-Dame de Québec. The parish register records the dispensation of the banns "for good reason"—a discreet acknowledgment of the unusual circumstances that had dissolved her first union.
Gilles Pinel was a twin, baptized February 28, 1635, in the parish of Sainte-Marguerite in La Rochelle, Aunis. He was the third of five children of Nicolas Pinel, a carpenter and longsawyer, and Madeleine Maraud (or Marotte). Nicolas Pinel had enlisted at La Rochelle on April 5, 1645, with Emmanuel Le Borgne to go to Port-Royal, Acadia, for three years.
The elder Pinel returned to Québec City by September 1650, then came back to Canada with sons Gilles and Pierre. Nicolas Pinel received a land grant at Sillery from the Jesuits on January 23, 1652, but died from wounds sustained from an Iroquois musket and was buried September 18, 1655, at Notre-Dame de Québec. Gilles and his younger brother Pierre continued to cultivate their father's land, and Gilles also worked as a cooper.
— Peter J. Gagné, Before the King's DaughtersGilles was the brother of Pierre Pinel, who married Fille à marier Charlotte Fougerat—making the Pinel brothers doubly connected to the Filles à marier network. No marriage contract has been found for Anne and Gilles, but it is known that her second husband could not sign his name—a detail recorded in the marriage register.
Through this marriage, Anne gained not only a new husband but a family already established in the colony, with land at Sillery and connections to the Jesuit mission there. She also gained a partner who would stand beside her for over four decades.
Family Life: A Blended Household
Anne brought her two Neveu daughters into her marriage with Gilles Pinel, creating a blended family that would grow to eleven children total. With Gilles, Anne had nine children between 1658 and 1675, as the family moved from Sillery to Neuville over the course of nearly two decades.
| Children of First Marriage: Jean Neveu & Anne Ledet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Child | Baptism | Place | Marriage |
| Marie Barbe | Dec 3, 1653 | Québec City | 1667 Nicolas Sylvestre Champagne |
| Suzanne | Oct 11, 1655 | Sillery | 1670 Nicolas Pot; 1692 Jean Baptiste Devine |
| Children of Second Marriage: Gilles Pinel & Anne Ledet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Child | Baptism | Place | Marriage |
| Catherine (Marie Catherine) | Apr 10, 1658 | Québec City | 1671 Denis Massé |
| Françoise | ~1660 | — | — (d. 1703 Neuville) |
| Marie-Madeleine | ~1662 | — | 1680 François Vandal; 1700 Pierre Allard |
| François-Xavier | Jan 15, 1664 | Sillery | 1687 Marie Louise Constantineau |
| Élisabeth-Ursule | Jun 29, 1666 | Sillery | 1683 Michel Constantineau |
| Guillaume | Jan 16, 1669 | Sillery | 1692 Marie Madeleine Faucher StMaurice |
| Marie Anne | Jul 27, 1671 | Sillery | 1693 Romain Dubuc |
| Nicolas | Nov 30, 1673 | Québec City (born Neuville) | 1695 Marie Anne Constantineau |
| Jean | Nov 17, 1675 | Québec City (born Neuville) | 1699 Marie Romaine Constantineau |
The pattern of marriages is striking: three Pinel sons married three Constantineau siblings—François with Marie Louise, Nicolas with Marie Anne, and Jean with Marie Romaine—creating an extraordinary web of alliance between the two families. Élisabeth-Ursule also married a Constantineau, Michel, further deepening the connection.
Not all paths were smooth. Françoise Pinel, born about 1660, had an illegitimate child—a son baptized and buried on the same day, May 10, 1682, at Neuville. The PRDH records her as having a "child born out of wedlock," an echo of the illegitimacy that had marked her mother's first family. Françoise herself died in 1703 at Neuville without a recorded marriage. Marie-Madeleine, born about 1662, married twice: first to François Vandal in 1680, then to Pierre Allard in 1700, and was buried in 1715 at Neuville.
Anne herself appears in the colonial records as a community member beyond her own family. In 1661, she served as godmother at the baptism of Marie Anne Migneron at Sillery—evidence that by then she was an established and respected member of the parish, despite the scandal of her first marriage just four years earlier.
The 1666 Census: Côte Saint-Ignace, Sillery
The 1666 census of New France captures the Pinel household at the Côte Saint-Ignace in Sillery—the same area where Gilles's father Nicolas had received his Jesuit land grant in 1652. The census reveals a blended family under one roof, with Anne's Neveu daughters listed alongside the growing Pinel brood.
1666 Census - Sillery
- Gilles Pinel, 31, habitant
- Anne Ledettes, 35, sa femme de Nepveu
- Catherine Pinel, 8, fille
- Françoise Pinel, 7, fille
- Marie Magdelaine Pinel, 4, fille
- François Xavier Pinel, 3, fils
- Barbe Nepven, 13, fille
- Suzanne Nepven, 10, fille
Key Details
- Anne identified as "sa femme de Nepveu"—his wife, [formerly] of Neveu
- Both Neveu daughters living with the family
- Barbe Neveu age 13—four years from marriage
- Family at Côte Saint-Ignace, Sillery
- Gilles identified as habitant (farmer)
- Eight people in the household
The census notation beside Anne's name—"sa femme de Nepveu"—is remarkable. Rather than simply listing her as Gilles Pinel's wife, the census taker identified her by her former husband's name: she was Gilles's wife, but she was of Neveu. Whether this was a practical notation to explain the Nepveu-surnamed daughters in the household, or a lingering marker of the bigamy scandal, it preserved the shadow of Jean Neveu in a document nine years after his expulsion. The presence of Barbe and Suzanne Nepveu in the household confirms that Gilles accepted Anne's daughters as part of his family.
From Sillery to Neuville
By the 1680 census, the family had relocated to Neuville (St-François-de-Sales), on the north shore of the St. Lawrence west of Québec City. The move from Sillery to Neuville followed a broader pattern of settlement expansion along the river, as families sought larger landholdings and newer seigneuries offered opportunities.
At Neuville, the Pinel family put down deep roots. The baptism of Nicolas on November 30, 1673, notes the child was "born at Pointe-aux-Trembles" (the civil name for the Neuville/Dombourg area) but baptized at Notre-Dame de Québec—a common practice when no local priest was available. By Jean's baptism on November 17, 1675, the family's residence was recorded as Dombourg, and the baptism took place "in the chapel at Dombourg," confirming that the parish was developing its own religious infrastructure.
The Pinel-Ledet family's move to Neuville placed them among the founding families of that parish. Three Pinel sons would marry three Constantineau siblings there, creating an interlocking network of family alliances that bound the community together through marriage as surely as the seigneurial system bound it through land.
Suzanne's Marriage Contract: A Window into Family Relationships
The 1670 marriage contract between Suzanne Neveu and Nicolas Pot, preserved in the PRDH, offers a rare glimpse into the family dynamics of Anne's blended household. The document lists Suzanne's residence as Côte-Saint-Ignace—the Pinel family home at Sillery—and identifies her mother Anne "Laidette" as present, while her father Jean "Nepveu" is noted as deceased.
The description of Jean Neveu as "deceased" rather than "expelled for bigamy" was a merciful legal fiction. In practice, a man banished to France was as good as dead to his colonial family. The notation allowed Suzanne to marry without the full weight of her father's scandal being rehearsed in a legal document.
Death at Neuville: 1700
Gilles Pinel was buried January 15, 1700, at Neuville (St-François-de-Sales). Anne survived him by nearly a year, dying at approximately sixty-five years of age. She was buried December 14, 1700, at Neuville, with her son Guillaume Pinel and other community members present.
Anne had lived nearly half a century in New France—from her arrival around 1652 to her death in 1700. She had survived a bigamous first husband, the stigma of annulment, Iroquois raids that killed her father-in-law Nicolas Pinel, and the ordinary hardships of colonial life. She raised eleven children across two families, saw most of them married, and died surrounded by the community she had helped build at Neuville.
Historical Significance
Anne Ledet's life illuminates a reality that genealogical records often obscure: the vulnerability of women in early New France to the deceptions of men who crossed the Atlantic leaving families behind. The bigamy of Jean Neveu was not unique—colonial records document other cases of men discovered to have wives in France—but its consequences for Anne and her daughters were particularly visible.
That Anne rebuilt her life so quickly speaks both to her own resilience and to the demographic realities of the colony. Women were scarce and essential. A woman with two young daughters, freshly released from an annulled marriage, could find a new husband within months—not despite the scandal, but partly because the colony's need for women and mothers overrode social stigma.
The Pinel-Ledet family's deep roots at Neuville, and the remarkable pattern of three sons marrying three Constantineau sisters, illustrate how founding families wove themselves into the fabric of their communities through strategic marriage alliances. Anne's eleven children and their descendants represent one of the many threads connecting the earliest settlers to millions of modern Quebecers.
Document Gallery
Sources and Further Reading
Anne Ledet's story has been reconstructed from parish registers, notarial records, and colonial censuses preserved at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and accessible through FamilySearch. Key sources include:
- Peter J. Gagné, Before the King's Daughters: The Filles à Marier, 1634-1662 — The definitive biographical dictionary of early female immigrants to New France, including Anne Ledet's entry with the critical bigamy discovery.
- PRDH (Programme de recherche en démographie historique) — The comprehensive database of Quebec vital records, documenting both marriages, children, and the "born out of wedlock" status annotations.
- Notre-Dame de Québec Parish Registers, 1621-1679 — Original marriage, baptism, and burial records from FamilySearch.
- Census of Canada, 1666 — Archives des Colonies, Série G1, preserving the Pinel household enumeration at Sillery.
- Neuville (St-François-de-Sales) Parish Registers — Burial records for both Gilles Pinel and Anne Ledet, 1700.
- Romain Becquet Notarial Records, 1670 — Marriage contract between Suzanne Neveu and Nicolas Pot.
Research Note: This profile documents Anne Ledet as part of the Souliere Line's Founding Mothers collection. The methodology combines traditional genealogical research with PRDH database analysis and FamilySearch parish register examination to recover stories that might otherwise remain hidden in the archives.
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