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Birth name
Anne Cloutier
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Place of Birth
Basse-Normandie, France
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Place of Death
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
When Anne Cloutier was just ten, her father promised her in marriage to Robert Drouin, an employee of Robert Giffard, and the contract, signed on July 27, 1636; in the home of family friend Jean Guyon; went down on record as the first contract of it’s kind in Quebec. Drouin was 28, a brick maker from the the town of Pin-la-Garenne in Normandy, who had arrived that year.
Because of her age, the actual wedding did not take place for another year, on July 12, 1637; in the Church of Notre-Dame de Quebec; and even then, there was a stipulation in the marriage contract which stated that there were to be no conjugal visits between the bride and groom for two years. They later moved into the Cloutier home until three years later, when Robert’s indenture was up and he was granted land of his own.
Robert and Anne would have five children before her death on February 4, 1648. The following year, Robert remarried (Jean Chapalier) because Anne’s family did not approve of the match, her children were raised by them. Robert Drouin died on June 1, 1685; at Chateau Richer. Anne’s children were:
- Agnes Drouin – Was born on January 24, 1640 and died a week later on January 31.
- Infant Drouin – Was born on November 8, 1641 and died the same day.
- Infant Drouin – Was born on November 22, 1642 and died the same day.
- Genevieve Drouin – Was born on October 19, 1642 and died on December 4, 1710. She married Romaine Trepanier and had twelve children.
- Jeanne Drouin – Was born on November 10, 1646 and died on June 24, 1732. She married Pierre Maheu and had five children.
Anne Cloutier died at 22 years old after given birth to 6 children. It took twenty years, but when Louis XIV took control of the colonization of Canada, he, through his ministers, set up programs whereby women contracted to come to Canada for the sole purpose of marrying initiatives were known as The King’s Daughters.