The Other Pierre Morin: Disambiguation
The Other Pierre Morin
Purpose of This Note
Two men named Pierre Morin served in the Carignan-Salières Regiment. They appear on the same nine-page muster roll, separated by seven pages and assigned to different companies. Their origins lie in different provinces of France. One married, raised eight children, and left nearly a million descendants. The other vanished from the colonial record. This research note documents the evidence that separates them.
Researchers working with 17th-century New France records will encounter both men. Because they share a surname, a regiment, and a decade, confusion between them is easy — and consequential. The Chambly confirmation record (PRDH #403507) has been incorrectly attributed to the Naurois company's Pierre Morin in some research, creating false evidence chains. This note provides the primary-source basis for permanent disambiguation.
Pierre Morin of Xainctes: The Documentary Record
The entire known record for this man consists of three documents. Together, they establish his origin, his company assignment, and his status as a transient who left no family in New France.
Document 1: The 1668 Muster Roll — Chambly Company
The "Rolle des Soldats du Regiment de Carignan Salière qui se sont faits habitans de Canada en 1668" (Library and Archives Canada, Colonies D²ᶜ 47) lists approximately 400 soldiers across nine handwritten pages. On page 1, under the heading Chambly, the entry "Morin" appears — listed by surname only, without a given name, directly below the sergeant "La Pierre."
Document 2: The Chambly Confirmation — May 20, 1668
PRDH event #403507 records a Catholic confirmation ceremony held at Chambly on May 20, 1668. Seventeen men were confirmed. Entry #07 is Pierre Morin, with his origin recorded as XAINCTES (Saintes, in the province of Saintonge, now Charente-Maritime).
Why This Confirmation Cannot Be Our Pierre Morin
Two independent lines of evidence exclude this record from our ancestral Pierre Morin dit Champagne:
1. Geographic conflict. This Pierre's origin is recorded as XAINCTES (Saintes, Saintonge). Our Pierre Morin's origin is documented as Luçon, Poitou — confirmed across four independent sources: the 1672 marriage contract, the marriage banns, two Hôtel-Dieu admissions, and the 1706 burial register. Xainctes and Luçon are different cities in different provinces.
2. Company assignment. The muster roll places a "Morin" in the Chambly company and "Pierre Morin" in the Naurois company as separate entries. The confirmation ceremony was held at Fort Chambly — the Chambly company's garrison. The man confirmed there was almost certainly the Chambly company's Morin, not ours.
Supporting detail: Entry #17 on the same confirmation list is Etienne Abilliard, with origin recorded as LUSSON (Luçon). If our Pierre — who was from Luçon — had been present at this ceremony, his origin would have been recorded as Luçon or Lusson, not Xainctes.
Document 3: PRDH Individual Record #81890
The PRDH (Programme de recherche en démographie historique) at the Université de Montréal assigns this Pierre Morin individual record #81890. His profile is sparse:
Birth: Vers (approximately) 1643, Xainctes.
Status: Immigrant. Died outside of Québec.
Marriage: None recorded in Quebec.
Descendants: None known.
The designation "Died outside of Québec" means the PRDH found no death or burial record for him within the Quebec parish register system. He likely returned to France after the regiment's demobilization in 1668, or died in transit, or moved to a region — Acadia, the Pays d'en Haut — where records were not systematically preserved.
Two Morins, Two Companies: Side-by-Side Comparison
The following table documents every known point of distinction between the two men. Where a cell is empty, no evidence exists.
| Attribute | Chambly Company Morin | Naurois Company Morin |
|---|---|---|
| PRDH Individual | #81890 | #53641 |
| Full Name | Pierre Morin | Pierre Morin dit Champagne |
| Origin | Xainctes (Saintes), Saintonge | Saint-Étienne-de-Brillouet, diocese of Luçon, Poitou |
| Birth Year | c. 1643 | c. 1648–1650 |
| Parents | Unknown | Jacques Morin & Hilaire Guéry |
| Company | Chambly | Naurois (La Noraye) |
| Muster Roll Entry | Page 1: "Morin" (surname only) | Page 8: "Pierre Morin" followed by "Champagne" |
| Ship to New France | Unknown | Le Justice, departed La Rochelle May 24, 1665, arrived September 14, 1665 |
| 1668 Confirmation | Chambly, May 20, 1668 (PRDH #403507, Entry #07) | Not present at Chambly confirmation |
| Marriage | None recorded in Quebec | Catherine Lemesle, June 13, 1672, Notre-Dame-de-Québec |
| Children | None known | 8 children (1673–1690) |
| Death | "Died outside of Québec" — no record found | December 12, 1706, Hôtel-Dieu de Québec |
| Descendants | None | Est. 560,000–980,000 Québécois |
| Independent Confirmations | None beyond PRDH individual record | 1668 muster roll, PRDH, SFRSC, Verney (4 sources) |
The Muster Roll: Two Entries, Seven Pages Apart
The strongest evidence for separating these two men is the 1668 muster roll itself, which lists them under different companies on different pages of the same document. They are not the same entry. They are not a duplicated name. They are two separate soldiers enrolled in two separate units.
Note the difference in how the two entries are recorded. The Chambly entry uses only the surname "Morin" — consistent with a soldier known primarily by his nom de guerre or dit name. The Naurois entry gives the full name "Pierre Morin," followed by "Champagne" as a separate entry on the next line — a pattern suggesting two different men in the same company rather than one man with a dit name.
What Happened to the Chambly Morin?
The honest answer is: we do not know. The PRDH designation "Died outside of Québec" tells us only that no death or burial record exists for him within the Quebec parish register system. Several possibilities exist:
Returned to France. Approximately 800 of the regiment's soldiers returned to France after demobilization in 1668. The muster roll lists soldiers who "became inhabitants," suggesting he initially intended to stay — but the absence of any subsequent record indicates he may have changed his mind or been unable to establish himself.
Died in transit or abroad. Mortality rates for Atlantic crossings remained high. He may have died during the return voyage or after arriving back in France, where his death would not appear in Quebec records.
Moved to an unrecorded region. Acadia, the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Country), and the western fur-trading territories kept far less systematic records than the St. Lawrence Valley parishes. Some soldiers disappeared into these frontier regions.
For Future Researchers
The most promising avenue for further identification would be the Archives Départementales de la Charente-Maritime, which holds the parish registers for Saintes (Xainctes). A baptism record for a Pierre Morin born c. 1643 in one of the city's parishes — Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pallais, or Saint-Eutrope — would confirm his identity and family. French military discharge ("congé") records at the Archives nationales d'outre-mer (ANOM) may also document his departure from New France.
Significance for the Pierre Morin Case Study
The existence of a second Pierre Morin in the same regiment is precisely why the five-line evidence methodology matters — and why the 1668 muster roll, while confirming our Pierre's military service, does not make circumstantial evidence obsolete.
The muster roll tells us a Pierre Morin served in the Naurois company. But it does not tell us that this Pierre Morin was born in Luçon, that his parents were Jacques Morin and Hilaire Guéry, that he married Catherine Lemesle in 1672, or that he died at the Hôtel-Dieu in 1706. The five converging lines of evidence — timeline, geographic origin, marriage contract witnesses, census patterns, and end-of-life records — are what connect the name on the roll to the man in the documents.
Without that methodology, a researcher could easily conflate the two men, attributing the Chambly confirmation (with its Xainctes origin) to the Naurois company's Pierre Morin — and arrive at the wrong province of origin, the wrong birth year, and the wrong biographical narrative.
The Chambly Confirmation and the Chambly Exclusion
The Chambly confirmation of May 20, 1668 (PRDH #403507) is excluded from our Pierre Morin's evidence on two independent grounds — geographic conflict (Xainctes ≠ Luçon, supported by four sources) and company assignment (muster roll places separate Morin in Chambly company, Pierre Morin in Naurois). Either ground alone would be sufficient for exclusion. Together, they make the case definitive. See the full methodology for the complete Chambly exclusion analysis.
Related Pages
This research note supports the Pierre Morin case study and methodology. For the full identification analysis and documentary evidence:
Case Study → Methodology → Documentary Biography →Sources
"Rolle des Soldats du Regiment de Carignan Salière qui se sont faits habitans de Canada en 1668." Library and Archives Canada, Colonies D²ᶜ 47. Nine manuscript pages listing approximately 400 soldiers by company. Page 1: "Morin" under Chambly company. Page 8: "Pierre Morin" under Naurois company. BAC PDF →
Confirmation at Chambly, May 20, 1668. PRDH event #403507. Seventeen men confirmed. Entry #07: Pierre Morin, Origin: XAINCTES. Entry #17: Etienne Abilliard, Origin: LUSSON (Luçon).
PRDH Individual #81890. Pierre Morin, born c. 1643, Xainctes. Status: Immigrant, Died outside of Québec. Programme de recherche en démographie historique, Université de Montréal. prdh-igd.com
PRDH Individual #53641. Pierre Morin [dit Champagne], born c. 1648, Saint-Étienne-de-Brillouet (Luçon). Married Catherine Lemesle, June 13, 1672. Died December 12, 1706, Hôtel-Dieu de Québec.
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