Marie Lorgueil

The Project

In 1654, a young French woman named Marie d'Orgueil crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin a new life in New France. She told colonial officials she was 16 years old. She was actually 20.

This strategic deception—and its discovery through rigorous genealogical research—opens a window into the life of an extraordinary ordinary woman. From her 1634 baptism in Bordeaux, France, to her 1700 burial in Montreal, and continuing through her descendants' legal battles until 1738, we have assembled more than 50 documents that trace Marie's complete life and her remarkable family legacy.

This documentary biography applies BCG (Board for Certification of Genealogists) standards to transform genealogical research into narrative history. Each episode examines a phase of Marie's life—and her family's legacy—through the lens of primary source evidence, demonstrating how systematic research can recover complete lives from the archival record.

Marie Lorgueil was not famous. She held no office and wrote no books. But her fully documented life reveals truths about women's agency, colonial survival, and human resilience that speak across four centuries. And her children and grandchildren would carry her strategic intelligence into colonial courtrooms for generations.

The Episodes

Methodology

This documentary biography applies the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) as defined by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Each episode includes:

Part I: The Narrative — Readable storytelling for general audiences, presenting Marie's life as continuous history rather than disconnected facts.

Part II: Evidence Analysis — Systematic evaluation of primary sources following GPS requirements: exhaustive research, complete citations, evidence analysis, conflict resolution, and sound conclusions.

Part III: Source Citations — Complete documentation sufficient for independent verification, including repository information, collection identifiers, and access details.

Documentary Evidence Gallery — Each episode includes images of primary source documents with transcriptions, translations, and analytical notes.

This hybrid structure separates storytelling from scholarship while keeping both accessible. Readers can engage with Marie's story at whatever level of detail they prefer.

Research Credits

Gilles Brassard — Located Marie's baptism record in Archives Bordeaux Métropole (January 2023), correcting a 4-year age error that would have distorted her entire chronology.

Peter Gagne — Research compilation providing leads to widow settlement documents, legal case references, and other primary sources.

Generations of Quebec genealogists — Indexing, transcription, and digitization work that made these records accessible.

Storyline Genealogy — Documentary biography research, writing, and BCG-compliant evidence analysis.