Case Study

Pierre Morin dit Champagne

Five Lines of Evidence — and Then the Muster Roll:
Proving and Confirming a Royal Soldier of New France

How five converging lines of evidence built the case for Carignan-Salières service — and then a 357-year-old military record confirmed what the evidence already proved

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5 Converging Evidence Lines

4 Independent Confirmations

1 Military Administrative Record

Marriage contract of Pierre Morin and Catherine Lemesle, notary Gilles Rageot, June 4, 1672, Act No. 871 — the document that should identify military service but does not explicitly state it

The Challenge

None of Pierre Morin's personal documents — his marriage contract, his parish records, his census entries — identify him as a soldier. His military service was established not by a single revelation, but by the convergence of five independent lines of evidence. Only afterward did the original muster roll confirm what the evidence already proved.

Pierre Morin was born around 1650 in Saint-Étienne-de-Brillouet, in the diocese of Luçon, Poitou (modern Vendée). He married Catherine Lemesle — a Fille du Roi from Rouen — at Notre-Dame-de-Québec on June 13, 1672. They had eight children. He died at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec on December 12, 1706, aged approximately 56.

His marriage contract, recorded by notary Gilles Rageot on June 4, 1672 (Act No. 871), identifies him as the son of Jacques Morin and Hilaire Guéry. It names Catherine as the daughter of the late Jean Lemesle, marchand bourgeois, and Marguerite Renard of Saint-Pierre-du-Châtel, Rouen. It establishes a communauté de biens under the Custom of Paris, with a douaire préfix of 300 livres.

What the contract does not say is the word soldat.

The marriage banns — preserved in two independent register copies — add critical detail the contract lacks. They describe Pierre as "habitant de la Petite Rivière," placing him at Petite-Rivière on the Côte-de-Beaupré at the time of his marriage. Three banns were published on June 6, 7, and 12, with the marriage on June 13 — an extremely compressed schedule consistent with Fille du Roi marriages, where the authorities facilitated rapid unions between demobilized soldiers and newly arrived brides.

The Problem of Common Names

"Pierre Morin" was one of the most common names in 17th-century France. Multiple men bearing this name lived in New France and Acadia simultaneously. The most dangerous confusion involves Pierre Morin dit Boucher (1634–1690), an Acadian ancestor married to Marie Martin who lived in Beaubassin and Port-Royal — and who was never a member of the Carignan-Salières Regiment.

A confirmation ceremony at Fort Chambly on May 20, 1668 (PRDH #403507) lists a "Pierre Morin" with origin "Xainctes" (Saintes, Saintonge). Though the date and location fit perfectly — Chambly was a Carignan-Salières fort during the demobilization period — the origin conflicts with four independent records placing our Pierre in the diocese of Luçon. The 1668 muster roll resolves this ambiguity: it lists a separate "Morin" in the Chambly company, while our Pierre Morin appears under the Naurois company. The Chambly confirmation almost certainly identifies the Chambly company's Morin — not ours. This record was examined and excluded per BCG evidence standards on two independent grounds: geographic conflict and company assignment.

The Methodological Challenge

None of Pierre Morin's personal records — contract, banns, parish register, census — call him a soldier. Proving that any individual served in the regiment requires building a circumstantial case — what genealogists call a "preponderance of evidence" — using parish registers, notarial records, census data, and patterns of settlement to link an individual to the known framework of regimental service.

This case study documents how that proof was constructed — and how the 1668 muster roll, listing Pierre Morin by name under the Naurois company, ultimately confirmed what the evidence already demonstrated.

Detail of signatures from the 1672 marriage contract showing Ruette d'Auteuil (Sovereign Council member), Bonomous, Rageot (notary), and other high-status witnesses — evidence of Pierre Morin's standing in colonial society

The Breakthrough

The proof is not in any single document. It emerges from the convergence of five independent evidence lines — each one circumstantial alone, but collectively overwhelming when examined together.

1. Timeline Analysis

Verdict: Classic ex-Carignan profile Strong Born ~1650, making him approximately 15–18 at the regiment's arrival in 1665 — ideal recruit age. Married in 1672, exactly fitting the pattern of soldiers demobilized in 1668, settling for 2–4 years, then marrying. He does not appear in the 1667 census as a head of household, consistent with active military service. His marriage to a Fille du Roi — women sent specifically to marry demobilized soldiers — completes the demographic profile.

2. Geographic Origin

Verdict: Four-source origin confirmation Strong Pierre came from Poitou (diocese of Luçon), one of the primary recruitment regions for the Carignan-Salières Regiment. His origin — Saint-Étienne-de-Brillouet — is confirmed by four independent primary documents: the 1672 marriage contract, the 1672 marriage banns (spelled phonetically as "Sᵗ Etienne de Briloy"), the 1706 Hôtel-Dieu admissions registry, and the 1706 burial register ("Sᵗ Estienne de l'euesché de Luson"). This level of origin corroboration is exceptional for a 17th-century colonial soldier.

3. Marriage Contract Witnesses

Verdict: High-status connections Strong The second page of the Rageot contract (image 280) reveals extraordinary witnesses. Denis-Joseph Ruette d'Auteuil — Seigneur and member of the Sovereign Council — signed "on the part of the groom." Also present: J. Bonomous (Bonamour), a known associate of the d'Auteuil family, and a witness whose name appears in records associated with the Naurois Company. The presence of a Sovereign Council member as witness for a supposedly ordinary settler is a powerful indicator of military-social connections.

4. Census & Residence Corroboration

Verdict: Two-source location match Strong The 1667 census records a "Pierre Martin, age 22, domestique" in the household of Simon Guyon at Petite-Rivière — a probable identification based on the common Martin/Morin name swap, matching age, and unmarried servant status typical of recently demobilized soldiers. The 1672 marriage banns independently confirm Pierre Morin as "habitant de la Petite Rivière," corroborating the census identification with a second source at the same location five years later. By the 1681 census, the family had moved to Québec Lower Town with 5 cattle and 10 arpents cleared — settlement in the Québec region consistent with soldiers from companies maintaining ties to the capital.

5. Death and End-of-Life Pattern

Verdict: Typical ex-soldier aging Moderate Pierre died at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec on December 12, 1706. The Registre journalier des malades records his admission on November 18, 1706, noting: "Morin, Pierre (56 ans), paroisse Saint-Étienne, Poitou, décédé le 12-126." The burial register independently records: "Pierre morin agé de 56 ans de Poiton de la Paroisse de Sᵗ Estienne de l'euesché de Luson mort le 12ᵐᵉ Decembre." Catherine was admitted on December 1 — thirteen days before Pierre's death. His hospital death and her simultaneous admission suggest a shared illness in their final weeks.

Page 8 of the Rolle des Soldats du Regiment de Carignan Salière, 1668 — showing Pierre Morin listed by name under the Naurois company in the official military muster roll held at Library and Archives Canada

The Result

Four independent sources — including the original 1668 muster roll listing Pierre Morin by name under the Naurois company — confirm his service. Three genealogical authorities evaluated the circumstantial evidence and independently reached the same conclusion. Then the military administrative record proved them right.

The Muster Roll

The Rolle des Soldats du Regiment de Carignan Salière qui se sont faits habitans de Canada en 1668 — the official list of soldiers who became inhabitants of New France — survives in the colonial archives at Library and Archives Canada. Nine handwritten pages list approximately 400 men by company. Under the heading "Naurois," Pierre Morin appears by name — the first entry in the company roster. This is a primary military administrative document explicitly identifying him as a soldier of the regiment.

Four Independent Confirmations

The 1668 Muster Roll (Library and Archives Canada, Colonies D²ᶜ 47): "Rolle des Soldats du Regiment de Carignan Salière qui se sont faits habitans de Canada en 1668." Pierre Morin listed under Naurois company. The primary military source.
PRDH-IGD (Université de Montréal): Lists Pierre Morin (#53641) as "Pionneer" with status "Immigrant." The List of Migrants database (#402529) explicitly places him as soldier #01 in the Compagnie de La Noraye, circa 1668.
La Société des Filles du roi et soldats du Carignan (SFRSC): Their January 2025 alphabetical listing of confirmed Carignan-Salières soldier-settlers includes "Morin, Pierre" in La Noraye company. He does not appear on their separate "Unconfirmed Soldier-Settlers" list.
Jack Verney, The Good Regiment: His definitive study identifies Pierre Morin dit Champagne as a verified soldier, arrival 1665, Quebec. Arrival record in Appendix B, pp. 145–185.

Resolving the Company Name

Sources reference two company names: Naurois and La Noraye. These refer to the same unit. Captain Pierre de Naurois commanded the company that arrived in 1665. In 1672, the captain received a seigneurial grant that became the Seigneury of Lanoraie. Over time, records began referring to the company by this geographic name rather than the captain's surname. The PRDH and SFRSC use "La Noraye"; the muster roll and other sources use "Naurois" or "Navrois." For genealogical purposes, both names identify the same military unit under the same captain.

Historical Significance

Pierre Morin represents the first generation of royal soldiers sent by Louis XIV to secure New France — men who arrived as teenage recruits in 1665, built the Richelieu fortifications, campaigned against the Mohawk in 1666, and then chose to stay. His marriage to Catherine Lemesle, a Fille du Roi, embodies the exact social engineering policy France used to transform a military frontier into a permanent colony. Together, they produced between 560,000 and 980,000 Québécois descendants across 13 generations.

The Evidence Base

Reconstructed from the 1668 muster roll (Rolle des Soldats, Library and Archives Canada, Colonies D²ᶜ 47), the 1672 marriage contract before notary Gilles Rageot (BAnQ, CN301, S238, Act 871), the 1672 marriage banns (two independent register copies, both confirming "habitant de la Petite Rivière"), the 1672 marriage register at Notre-Dame-de-Québec, the 1667 and 1681 censuses of New France, the Registre journalier des malades of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (1689–1760), the Hôtel-Dieu burial register, PRDH-IGD individual and family records, the Fichier Origine, the SFRSC confirmed soldiers list (January 2025), Denis Beauregard's Genealogy of the French in North America database, and Jack Verney's The Good Regiment: The Carignan-Salières Regiment in Canada, 1665–1668 (arrival record, Appendix B). Evidence examined and excluded: Chambly confirmation of May 20, 1668 (PRDH #403507), origin Xainctes — rejected on two independent grounds: geographic conflict with four Luçon sources, and the 1668 muster roll placing a separate Morin in the Chambly company.

This summary presents the case study findings. The full methodology documents each evidence line with complete primary source analysis, document gallery, and archival citations — including the 1668 muster roll, marriage contract, marriage banns, census pages, Hôtel-Dieu registry, burial register, and military attribution records.

Read the Full Methodology → Read the Documentary Biography → Access the Complete Research File →

Pierre Morin dit Champagne

The Challenge

The Breakthrough

The Result

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