Four Joseph Ménards
Who This Study Is About
| Item | As established |
|---|---|
| Name | Joseph Ménard (Maynard, Menard) |
| Baptism | Notre-Dame de Montréal, 7 June 1773 — PRDH individual 243488 (index; act not read) |
| Parents | François Amable Ménard (1749–1833, buried St-Benoît) and Marie Archange Béique Lafleur — PRDH family 47602 |
| Marriages | (1) Oka, 5 Feb 1798, Marie Hélène (also Marie Louise) Charlebois · (2) Rigaud, 30 Jan 1815, Angélique Guilbault · (3) St-Benoît, 10 Apr 1820, Suzanne Boyer, widow of Ignace Charlebois · (4) Bytown, 30 Nov 1837, Ursule Ladouceur, widow of François Brunet Létang |
| Places | Les Éboulis and the Baie de Carillon (Lac des Deux-Montagnes); seigneurie d'Argenteuil; Rigaud; Bytown, Templeton and Pointe-Gatineau (Ottawa valley) |
| Fur-trade service | Summer voyages to Lac la Pluie 1802–03 (probable); one wintering season for the North West Company, 1820–21 (documented) |
| Last record | Pointe-Gatineau, 28 April 1848, godfather. Death not found. |
| Relationship to the Guilbaults | Son-in-law of Gabriel Guilbault père; brother-in-law of Gabriel fils and Joseph Claude |
The Men Who Share His Name
No record in this study gives Joseph Ménard's age except his baptism, and no notarial act names his parents. Every entry naming a Joseph Ménard between 1797 and 1848 therefore had to be assigned by something other than the name: a spouse, a signature, a wage, or a place stated in the act.
| Man | What identifies him | How he is kept apart |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph Ménard (b. 1773), this study | Of Les Éboulis and Argenteuil; signs; married Charlebois, Guilbault, Boyer, Ladouceur | — |
| Joseph Amable Ménard (1754–1824) | Of the Grand Brûlé, St-Benoît; son of Pierre Jean Ménard and Marie Françoise Beaudin; married at Oka 12 Feb 1798, a week after our man | Different parents and wives; did not sign in 1798; dead by June 1824 |
| Joseph Ménard fils (b. 1799) | Son of our man; of St-Benoît; married Rigaud 1825 | Could not sign (1819, 1825); see Section Five |
| Joseph Ménard of Soulanges, and his son | 1825 census, Soulanges; the son enlisted in 1813 aged 19 | Place, age; the 1813 man could not sign — see Section Nine |
A "Joseph Ménard" in an index is not this man until a spouse, a signature or a figure ties the entry to him. Several census and contract entries were pulled during this research and set aside on exactly that basis; they are listed in Section Nine.
A Man Who Could Write His Name
Most voyageurs made a mark. Joseph Ménard signed — at his own marriage in 1798, at his second marriage in January 1815 (l'Époux seul a signé), at Gabriel Guilbault's remarriage a week later, at his daughter's baptism in November 1815 (le père présent a signé), on his engagement of February 1820, at his third marriage in April 1820 (L'Époux a signé avec nous), and beside his own name at his son's marriage in 1825.
The signature does two jobs. It ties the 1820 engagement to the man of the parish registers, and it rules out the namesakes, none of whom could sign. It has a limit, too: in 1842 and 1848, in his late sixties and seventies, he is recorded among those who n'ont su signer. Whether that reflects failing sight or hand, or only the curé's formula, the acts do not say.
Contract, Account and Cash: One Man in Three Books
The identification of Joseph Ménard as a North West Company winterer rests on three independent records that agree by arithmetic.
| 1820 | To sundries, Montreal Engagement Book fo. 261 | 499.5 |
| To balance | 100.15 | |
| 1821 | By wages | 600 |
| To amount of pay list (closing) | 133.15 | |
| By balance 100.15 · by sundries, Lac la Pluie book 33 | 133.15 |
Wage. The North West Company kept its books in a livre worth half the livre of Quebec currency — its own claim against the Franklin expedition states both rates. The contract's 1,200 Quebec livres are the ledger's 600.
Pay-off. The account closes on the pay list at 133.15. In the Montréal cash book (HBCA F.4/43 p. 55, copied in F.4/45 p. 69), among the men paid as the brigades came down about 11 August 1821, is Joseph Menard 267.10 — 133.15 doubled into Quebec currency. F.4/43 and F.4/45 are one account and its fair copy: one witness, not two.
Absence. Rigaud, 23 December 1820: Marie Clotilde baptized, father Voyageur Hivernant, not present. Rigaud, 22 February 1821: Suzanne Boyer buried, épouse en secondes noces de Joseph Ménard Voyageur Hivernant, husband not present.
Engaged for two winters, he served one and was paid off in the summer of the 1821 merger. The ledger's "Senr" is a clerk's way of distinguishing two men of one name, not a genealogical statement; it is the wage that assigns the account.
The Junior Account and the Son
On 20 December 1819, before the same notary and the same agent, Joseph Menard de la Paroisse de St Benoît, Seignorie d'Argenteuil engaged as middleman for three winters at 700 livres and 25 piastres. The printed illiteracy clause stands, and he made his mark: sa Jos. + Menard marque. He cannot be the man of Section Four.
| 1820 | To amount, Montreal Engagement Book fo. 267 | 147.5 |
| To 1 plain blanket 3 pt, Fort William book | 21 | |
| Note | Deserted Fall 1820 from Fort William |
The son, Joseph, baptized at Oka on 14 April 1799 (parents habitants de la Baie de Carillon), was twenty in December 1819, unmarried until 1825, and could not sign. He is very probably the X-mark middleman and the Fort William deserter. Two cautions keep this at probable: neither the act nor the account names a father; and the Montreal Engagement Book folio of the Junior account (267) falls after the Senior's (261), though his act is six weeks earlier. That book has not been located among the surviving HBCA F.4 volumes.
Marriage Into the Family
One week later, on 6 February 1815, the same register records Gabriel Guilbault's second marriage, to Josette Closier, en présence de Joseph Ménard gendre de l'Époux, who signed. On 7 November 1815 Gabriel and Josette stood godparents to Joseph and Angélique's daughter Anastasie. Angélique was buried at Rigaud on 16 April 1819, aged twenty-six, her father present; her husband is not named among those at the grave, which under the standing rule is not evidence that he was away.
Suzanne Boyer was his sister-in-law. PRDH gives her first husband, Ignace Charlebois, the same parents — Louis Joseph Charlebois and Marie Viau Janviau — as Joseph's first wife. Like the Ménards she was born at Pointe-Claire, where the 1817 family council sat.
"Gabriel Guilbeau" is unqualified. The witness may be Gabriel père or Gabriel fils. The question matters for the Guilbault study, not for this one; it is recorded and not resolved.
One Woman, Two Forenames — Twice
His first wife. She is Marie Hélène at her marriage (1798), in the 1815 marriage (défunte Hélène Charlebois) and in the 1817 petition (feue Marie Hélène Charlebois); she is Marie Louise at her son's baptism (1799) and in the 1817 deed of sale (feue Marie Louise Charlesbois). Same husband, same children, same estate: one woman. At her burial in 1813 the priest wrote Marie Hélène.
She died on 1 July 1813. Aged thirty-two, she was born about 1781, and was sixteen or seventeen — mineure — when she married. Her husband is not among those named at the grave. That is not evidence of where he was: the priest names those present, not those absent, and a summer burial in a voyageur family is exactly when the omission tempts a reading it cannot bear.
His daughter by Suzanne Boyer. The only child of the marriage is Marie Clotilde, born 22 December 1820. Suzanne died on 20 February 1821. In 1844, at St-Polycarpe in Soulanges, a Marie Delphine Ménard, fille de Joseph Ménard et de Suzanne Boyer, married Xavier Chauret, son of the late Ambroise Chauret and Scholastique Vallée, domicilié à St André, Haut Canada. Joseph and Suzanne were married from 10 April 1820 to her death on 20 February 1821; the one child that marriage could produce is the one baptized in December 1820. Unless a second couple of the same two names existed, Delphine is Clotilde.
Delphine Ménard in Ontario
The surname moves three times — Chauret, Charest, Cartier — and her forename once, to Mary. What holds it together is the couple: François-Xavier and Delphine Ménard appear as husband and wife in Quebec and in Ontario, and a son names his mother Mary Manare.
The 1844 marriage names Delphine's parents as Joseph Ménard and Suzanne Boyer, a ten-month marriage with one child. The 1851 and 1864 baptisms name the same couple, François-Xavier and Delphine Ménard, on either side of the move to Upper Canada. The 1873 marriage names the mother Mary Manare, and the 1906 records name Mary Cartier, widow of Francis X. Cartier, born in Quebec, aged 86 two days after Clotilde turned 86. No record yet uses the name Clotilde after her baptism. That gap remains, but no other daughter of this couple could be Delphine.
Bytown, Aylmer and Pointe-Gatineau, 1837–1848
PRDH links the 1837 marriage to this man; the act confirms it. The same PRDH family card carries four children born at St-André-Avellin in 1855–60, when Ursule (born 1790) would have been in her late sixties; they belong to another couple and are disregarded here.
He was alive on 28 April 1848, aged seventy-four. The death date of 23 February 1846 found in online trees is contradicted by this record; no burial has yet been found in the Notre-Dame of Bytown registers searched to 1847.
Gabriel Ménard of Bytown, aged about twenty-four in 1841, fits Angélique Guilbault's son Gabriel (born Rigaud 28 July 1817) by name, age and family. Neither act names his parents, so he is presented here as very probably her son, not as proved.
Records Examined and Set Aside
Each of these names a Joseph Ménard and was examined during this research. None is assigned to the son-in-law, and the reason is given so that none is reattached to him later.
| Record | Why it is not the son-in-law |
|---|---|
| SHSB, Chaboillez, 20 Dec 1797 — Joseph Ménard of Lac des Deux-Montagnes, second steersman, Michilimackinac | Unassigned: either this man or Joseph Amable; the act has not been read for a signature. |
| HBCA F.4/46 p. 14 — "Maniard Joseph", 350, English River, spring 1821 | Listed among men remaining in the North-West in spring 1821; the son-in-law was paid off and the son had deserted. Unassigned. |
| 1825 census, Soulanges — Joseph Menard (7) and Joseph Menard fils (5) | The son-in-law was of Argenteuil that October; his son married only in October 1825 and had no household yet. |
| 1825 census, Ramsay; St-Hyacinthe; Vaudreuil — Joseph Ménards | Other families, other districts. |
| 1831 census, St-Benoît — Jos. Ménard, household of 12 | Too large for a widower whose children were grown; probably another family. |
| 1831 census, Rigaud — J. Menard, household of 3 | A candidate, not identified: an adult man and two women, no children. Under review. |
The Documentary Life
The Joseph Ménard of the 1820 Beek engagement and the HBCA "Senior" account is Gabriel Guilbault's son-in-law. The identification rests on his signature, which matches 1798 and 1815; on the wage, which converts exactly from contract to ledger; on the pay-off, which converts exactly from ledger to cash book; and on the Rigaud registers, which describe him as a wintering voyageur, absent, in the same season. No competing Joseph Ménard can sign, and none fits the figures.
What This Study Does Not Yet Answer
- His death. Burials after April 1848 at Pointe-Gatineau, Aylmer, Templeton and Bytown; the 1851 census of Canada East.
- Gabriel Ménard of Bytown. Any act naming his parents as Joseph Ménard and Angélique Guilbault.
- The early engagements. The Chaboillez acts of 1797, 1802 and 1803, read for a signature.
- The Montreal Engagement Book. The volume behind folios 261 and 267, which might state age and parish; not among the surviving HBCA F.4 titles.
- The 1817 sale. Whether its singular a dit ne savoir signer refers to the crier or to the seller.
Complete Primary Source Documentation
Parish registers
- L'Annonciation d'Oka: marriages of 5 Feb 1798 (Maynard–Charlebois) and 12 Feb 1798 (Joseph Amable Ménard–Duchêne); baptism of Joseph Ménard, 14 Apr 1799.
- Ste-Madeleine-de-Rigaud: burial 3 Jul 1813 (Marie Hélène Charlebois, S.22); marriage 30 Jan 1815 (Ménard–Guilbeault); marriage 6 Feb 1815 (Guilbeault–Closier); baptism 7 Nov 1815 (Anastasie, B.93); burial 16 Apr 1819 (Angélique, S.23); baptism 23 Dec 1820 (Marie Clotilde, B.123); burial 22 Feb 1821 (Suzanne Boyer, S.9); marriage 17 Oct 1825 (Ménard fils–Roy, M.59).
- St-Benoît (Deux-Montagnes): marriage 10 Apr 1820 (Ménard–Boyer, M.21).
- Notre-Dame de Bytown (Basilique Notre-Dame d'Ottawa): marriage 30 Nov 1837, no. 36 (Ménard–Ladouceur); marriage 23 Nov 1841, M.70 (Gabriel Ménard); baptism 18 Dec 1842, B.280 (Leander Napoleon Ménard).
- St-Paul d'Aylmer: marriage 4 Jul 1842, M.3 (Lapierre–Létang).
- St-François-de-Sales, Pointe-Gatineau: baptisms 28 Apr 1848, B.45 (Amélie Lapierre) and 7 May 1848, B.48 (Léon Rocbrune dit Larocque).
- St-Polycarpe (Soulanges): marriage 26 Aug 1844 (Chauret–Ménard); baptism 2 Jun 1851, B.115 (Joseph Alizier Charest; PRDH 5790238).
- Ontario Roman Catholic registers (Ancestry, Ontario, Canada, Roman Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1760–1923; Staples, Tilbury, Wardsville, Simcoe, Thamesville, Bothwell, 1855–1910): St Paul's, Thamesville, baptism 1 Jan 1864 (Theresa Meleton Cartier); St Ignatius, Bothwell, burials 21 Apr 1903 (Francis Cartier) and 26 Dec 1906 (Mrs Cartier), Wardsville cemetery.
Civil registration
- Ontario death registration, Division of Bothwell, 1906, no. 014045 (Mary Cartier, d. 24 Dec 1906); Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, via Ancestry.
- Ontario marriage registration, Division of Bothwell, Kent County, 3 Nov 1873 (Joseph Cartier and Mary Holleran); Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Marriages, via Ancestry.
Notarial records · BAnQ Vieux-Montréal
- Greffe de John Gerbrand Beek, CN601,S29: engagements of 20 Dec 1819 (Joseph Menard de St Benoît; FamilySearch DGS 008864168, frame 2629) and 4 Feb 1820 (Joseph Menard des Éboulis; frame 2799).
- Petition to the Court of King's Bench, Montréal, 11 Sep 1817; order of I. Ogden, 12 Sep 1817; avis de parents before Louis Thibaudeau N.P., Pointe-Claire, 24 Sep 1817; homologation, 10 Oct 1817.
- Sale, Joseph Ménard as tutor to Gregor McGregor, 14 Oct 1817, minute no. 398, notaries Deguire and F. E. Globensky (Vaudreuil; passed at Rigaud).
- Greffe de Jean-Marie Mondelet fils, 06M-CN1-295, no. 3663, 5 May 1813 (Joseph Ménard of Soulanges); FamilySearch DGS 008832965, image 659.
Hudson's Bay Company Archives · Archives of Manitoba
- HBCA F.4/32, North West Company General Ledger, fos. 671–672 (reproductions supplied by HBCA, October 2026). Transcribed, not reproduced.
- HBCA F.4/43 p. 55 and F.4/45 p. 69, Montréal cash disbursements, August 1821 (one account and its copy).
- HBCA F.4/46, North West Company servant balances, spring 1821, pp. 13–15.
- HBCA F.4/56, North West Company accounts current, 29 November 1823 (currency rates).
Indexes and databases
- Société historique de Saint-Boniface, Voyageur Contracts Database, "Menard, Joseph" (28 notices, 1754–1820).
- PRDH-IGD: individuals 243488, 141959, 174041, 605649, 601178, 626480; families 47602, 79439, 110790, 125194; unions 5697985, 13366479, 13549750.
- Library and Archives Canada, censuses of Lower Canada, 1825 and 1831.
- Ancestry, Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1802–1967.