The following notes will throw some light on the life of Nicolas, his whereabouts and his sad death in Nouvelle France.

Hired by Jean Deschamps upon fulfilling an order given by François Deschamps, Seigneur (Lord) de la Bouteillerie, our ancestor Nicolas, equipped with his master carpenter's diploma arrives at Rivière-Ouelle in 1672 to participate in the construction of the manor. In 1862, this municipality celebrated the 300^th anniversary of its foundation, an event well documented in a book written by Paul-Henri Hudon "Rivière-Ouelle 1672-1962". In 1972, our association was celebrating at Deschambault the 3^rd centennial of Nicolas' arrival in Nouvelle-France.

Once his contract was terminated at Rivière-Ouelle in 1675, Nicolas decided to make his career in Nouvelle-France rather than returning to his small village of the Potherie in Normandy as stipulated in his contract. He finds work on Beaupré's hill while he probably lived at Château-Richer, since on the 3^rd of july 1676, he serves as a witness on a land transaction involving the church fabric of Beauport. The Beauport church was under construction and construction ended the same year and it is most likely that Nicolas worked for this construction for it is said in the document that Nicolas was a master carpenter.

It's at Château-Richer that Nicolas met his bride to be, Marie-Françoise, daughter of Jean Plante and Françoise Boucher. The marriage contract was signed on October 20, 1676. On November 8, Reverent L.G. Brullon, a travelling missionary who was visiting the Notre-Dame de la Visitation parish of Château-Richer, blessed the marriage, the newlyweds, Nicolas and Françoise were respectively 28 and 22 years old.

The first child of the couple was christened in a parish of Beaupré's hill, but unfortunately no document was found due to the lack of a resident priest at Château-Richer.

In the early part of colonialism, it was said that to be useful to the community, each man had to acquire a piece of land and break it up for tillage. This is how Nicolas, in order to respect the custom, became a labourer after having purchased a piece of land from Jean Moreau on September 8 1678 and after having cleared all the trees and roots, etc. This land was located on the Island of Orléans in the parish of St-Famille. The land had a frontage of 3 acres stretching from the northern part of the island on the St-Lawrence river to approximately the center of the island. A house and several buildings were already in place.

Nicolas and Marie-Françoise raised 13 children and only 6, 2 sons and 4 daughters, got married. Of the seven others, 4 died at young age , namely Marie born on December 5, 1679 who died 6 days after, Gentien, born on April 26, 1683, died on the following May 6, Jean, born on August 23, 1686, died on October 9 1688 and Marguerite, born on January 3, 1698, died on January 10, 1699. Louis, born on April 30, 1693, died 10 years later on April 19 1703.

In 1702, Nicolas 11 is now 25 years old and decides to move away from the family and try his luck at Deschambault working for the Seigneur (Lord) François of Chavigny. Nicolas still has Antoine now 18 and Louis 9 years old to help him out. After having verbally allocated a piece of land to Nicolas 11, the Chavigny Seigneur (Lord) follows up with an official document from a notary Joseph Fleury de la Gorgendière acting for Jacques Fleury de Deschambault with written confirmation. A house is built and the same year, he marries Marie-Anne Perrot, daughter of Marie Chrétien and Jacques Perrot. Unfortunately, the marriage act was never found. The exact marriage date and location are unknown. Their first child Nicolas 111 was baptised at Cap-Santé on may 17, 1708.

Nicolas and his family went through a series of misfortune: Louis dies in 1703 at the age of 10 and Antoine drowns while swimming across the St-Lawrence river. This is just too much for Nicolas, now 54. He is alone to support his wife and 3 children. Jean is 3, Marie-Anne is 9 and Madeleine is 14 years old. Marie, helping the mother with the daily routine gets married to Jean-Baptiste Marcotte on June 12, 1708. She is 28 so we can understand why the new couple decides to live with Nicolas and Françoise. Nicolas worn out by hard work and griefs dies 5 months later, and is buried at the Sainte-Famille cemetery on December 17, 1708.

Three years later, on July 23^rd, two of his daughters Madeleine and Geneviève married at Sainte-Famille, Jacques Perrot and Jean-François Naud. Both couples decided to go and live at Deschambault. Marie-Anne, now 16 years old, visits her 2 sisters very often and this is how she met Pierre Groleau and got married at Deschambault in 1720.

One more left, Jean-Baptiste born in 1701. No one knows exactly when he came to Deschambault, but he was around in 1721 when he witnessed a marriage contract between his brother Nicolas 111 and his second wife Marie Thérèse Groleau. Jean-Baptiste also got married at Deschambault in 1720.

In 1726, Nicolas? widow, Marie-Françoise Plante died in mid April on the farm at l'Île d'Orléans. Jean-Baptiste, the last survivor still living at the farm with the Marcotte family, make frequent trips to Deschambault at his brother place Nicolas and at his sisters Madeleine Perrot and Geneviève Naud. He made up his mind to leave the farm and he moved to Deschambault and married Marguerite Chapelain, daughter of Joseph Chapelain, holder of the title fief of Lachevrotière. Jean-Baptiste and Marguerite only had one son called Joseph, given the nickname "Fichon" who continued the family line.

All the events that marked Nicolas' family make us understand why Deschambault became the cradle of the Paquin family in America.