The First L'Heureux's in Canada

Simon L'Herault, our ancestor, was born in 1626 in the parish of Saint-Cosme-de-Vair, in Perche, France to Rene and Marguerite L'Herault. Because of the few educated people at that time, we will find that the spelling of L'Heureux was changed somewhat over the 1600's until it started staying consistent by the time of Simon's death.

Simon came to Canada around 1652, inspired by the recruiting operation of the colonizationist Robert Giffard. He was accompanied by his sister, Marie, married to Gervais Bisson, and their three children, as well as Gervais' brother and his family.

Simon married Suzanne Jarousseau (feminine - Jaroussel) on November 27, 1655. Suzanne had come to Canada witth her widowed mother. Once in Canada, her mother remarried, was again widowed, and remarried a third time to Maurice Arrive, who was to become Suzanne's Step-father.

Once married, Simon and Suzanne obtained land next to Suzanne's parents.Their name on the legal transaction now appeared as Simon "Lereau."

Together, they had seven children; five girls and two boys.

On April 21, 1670, Suzanne's mother died. Suzanne's step-father remarried two months later. As Suzanne was to inherit half of Mr. Arrive's property, Simon demanded an inventory to be done and by July 26 of the same year, they received one and one half acres.

On the 2nd of November, 1670, Simon assisted in the marriage of his eldest daughter, Marie, from his hospital bed. Ten days later, he passed away. As the public records show, he had been a well known man in his time. Besides his name being mentioned as a witness to Mathurin Gerber's marriage, and as God-father to several children, his name also appeared at the Sovereign Council of Quebec. Apparently, he paid the passage of a labourer at the cost of 38 pounds, 5 shillings. His name was also mentioned as having an employee whose wages were garnisheed for a debt due to a former employer after a lengthy illness.

With a farm to run and children to take care of, Suzanne remarried soon after Simon's death. She drew up a marriage contract with Robert Coutard at which time he agreed to support Suzanne's children until they attained the age of 15 years. The following day, she began to draw up an inventory of all her possessions to protect her children's inheritance. House, barn, shed, oven, 58 acres of land, cultivated and prairie, all the furniture, kitchen utensils, animals, and even their small family mirror were all listed. This inventory took about one month to complete.

Suzanne and Robert were married on February 9, 1671. Their first child was born in January of 1672, and soon after, Robert contested the inheritance divisions and wanted his own children, born to he and Suzanne, to be included in the original inheritance papers. From what we can gather, Suzanne let him know in no uncertain terms that if he were to ask for too much, he could land up with very little. He finally agreed to accept the "foreman's" house and a small portion of the land suitable for cultivating. This difficult and complicated procedure was finally resolved towards the 1700's. Suzanne and Robert had three other children. Our ancestor born of Suzanne's first marriage was Sixte L'Herault, who was born on October 9, 1667 at Ste Famille. He was 27 years old when he married Reine Deblois on the 15th of February, 1694. They had eight children and lived on Ile d'Orleans. He passed away in 1717, at the age of 50.

With Suzanne's insight and care for her children, she insured that the L'Heureux name was secure in the history of Canada and that the future of the L'Heureux's would be safeguarded.