Denise Sevestre: Her Voyageur Sons and the Fur Trade

 

Denise Sevestre (also known as Marie-Denise or Marie Denyse Sevestre) was a pioneering woman in New France whose family became intertwined with the fur trade—the economic engine of the colony. Born in Paris and arriving in Québec as a child in 1636, she outlived two husbands and raised a large blended family. While Denise herself was not directly documented in the trade, several of her sons worked as voyageurs (canoe-based traders and transporters) or merchants, participating in expeditions to the interior (pays d'en haut) to acquire beaver pelts and other furs for European markets. 

Her descendants' involvement highlights how ordinary settler families contributed to and benefited from the fur trade, from risky canoe journeys to Michilimackinac or the Illinois country to financing larger operations and acquiring land/seigneuries with trade profits.

Profile Notes for Denise Sevestre

• Full name: Marie Denise Sevestre (often recorded as Denise).
• Birth/Baptism: 29 October 1632, Paris, France (Saint-Étienne-du-Mont parish).
• Immigration: Arrived in New France in 1636 as a child with her parents.
• Death/Burial: 14 December 1700, Québec, Nouvelle-France (buried the same day at Notre-Dame parish, age ~68; some records list ~72).
• Parents:
• Father: Charles Sevestre (b. 17 January 1609, Paris; d. 8 December 1657, Québec), a printer/imprimeur.
• Mother: Marie Pichon (b. ~1600, France; d. 3 May 1661, Québec), widow of Philippe Gauthier de Comporte (m. 1618, Paris) before marrying Charles in 1628/29. Marie brought a daughter, Catherine Gauthier de la Chesnaye (b. 1626), from her first marriage; Catherine married Denis Duquet dit Desrochers (early Tadoussac trade associate).
• Siblings (from Charles and Marie): Jean (b. ~1630), Claude (b. 1633), Marguerite (b. 1636; d. 1720), Ignace dit Desrochers (b. 1636; d. 1661), Jeanne (b. 1641; d. 1648), Charles (b. 1646; d. 1661). 

Marriages:

1. Antoine Martin dit Montpellier (b. ~1620, Montpellier, France; d. 11 May 1659, Québec), married 18 June 1646, Notre-Dame de Québec (Denise was ~13–14; common in era for early settlers).
2. Philippe Neveu (Nepveu) (b. 13 April 1634, Voves, Chartres, France; d. 31 December 1720, Québec), tailor; married 4 August 1659, Notre-Dame de Québec (contract 20 July 1659, notary Guillaume Audouart).

Children (with verified list from PRDH/Drouin/ Fichier Origine/Nos Origines):

• With Antoine Martin (4 children; Antoine died young, limiting family size):
• Charles Martin dit Montpellier (b. 7 October 1651, Québec; d. 1715).
• Antoine Martin dit Montpellier dit Beaulieu (b. 24/28 August 1654, Québec; d. 6 April 1715; m. (1) Jeanne Cadieux 1690, (2) Marie-Thérèse Bonnet 1699).
• Marie-Thérèse Martin dite Montpellier dite Beaulieu (b. 28 November 1656, Québec; d. 3 October 1725; m. Mathurin Langevin dit Lacroix 9 October 1674, Québec).
• Jean-François Martin dit Montpellier Beaulieu (b. 2 December 1658, Québec; d. before April 1674).
• With Philippe Neveu (11 children total; family verified complete via PRDH; many died young):
• Madeleine Neveu (b. 25 November 1660; d. 27 October 1697; m. Jean-Charles Cadieux).
• Louis Neveu (b. 15 March 1662).
• Jacques Neveu (b. 6 March 1663; d. 22 June 1722; m. Michelle Chauvin).
• Philippe Neveu (b. 22 June 1665; d. 22 May 1676).
• Marie-Anne-Jeanne Neveu (b./d. 13 January 1667).
• Anne Neveu (b. 28 January 1668; d. 1 December 1702).
• Marguerite Neveu (b. 29 May 1669; d. 17 June 1734).
• Marie-Catherine Neveu (b. 2 July 1670; d. 5 July 1715; m. Guillaume Gaillard).
• Charles Neveu (b. 11 September 1671; d. 1705).
• Jean Neveu (b. 30 August 1673; d. 8 September 1673).
• Jean-Baptiste Neveu (Sieur de La Bretonnière) (b. 19 December 1676, Québec; baptized 20 December 1676; d. 24 June 1754, Montréal; m. (1) Marie-Jeanne Passard 1702, one daughter; (2) Françoise-Élisabeth Legras 1704, 14 children).

Notes on Voyageur Sons and Fur Trade Connections

Original notes are drawn from notarial contracts (e.g., Chambalon/Roy series) and secondary sources like Innis's The Fur Trade in Canada. Enhancements/corrections:

• Antoine Martin dit Montpellier (son from first marriage): Engaged 21 May 1694 (Québec notarial act); part of group (with Charles Neveu, Charles Cadieux, François Dumesny) contracted by Louis Rouer de Villeray for the Oudiette/Benac company to transport furs from Michilimackinac (via Nicolas Perrot and sieur Amiot/Daniel-Joseph Amiot to Jesuit warehouse). 
• Jacques Neveu (b. 1663): 27 September 1684 (Québec); contracted with Henri de Tonty (governor of Fort St. Louis, Louisiana, under La Salle) alongside Anthoine Duquet Madri. Terms: Tonty outfitted canoes/provisions; they traded for beaver pelts, split profits 50/50 after costs (Tonty half, voyageurs shared half); bonus 150 livres in pelts, personal trade allowance (rifle, capotes, shirts, blanket), +10 beavers. Original draft included crossed-out Boissel brothers. 
• Charles Neveu (b. 1671): Same 1694 Michilimackinac contract as Antoine Martin.
• Jean-Baptiste Neveu (b. 1676): Evolved from potential voyageur roots to major merchant/trader. Settled Montréal ~1701; Rue Saint-Paul business funded expeditions. Acquired Pawnee slave Marie (age 11) from brother Jacques for 200 livres (1709). Diversified into seigneuries (Dautré 1710, Lanoraie fully by 1721; expanded 1739). Built mills, kiln, chapel/presbytery; donated land for church (1744/1752). Militia colonel; churchwarden. Profits tied to financing fur trips to pays d’en haut. 

Denise Sevestre and the Fur Trade

Denise Sevestre's life bridges the earliest days of Québec settlement and the mature fur trade era. Arriving as a girl in 1636 amid Champlain's colony, she married young, endured widowhood, and rebuilt with Philippe Neveu. Her family grew amid the trade's expansion—beaver hats in Europe drove demand, and New France relied on Indigenous alliances and voyageur labor for pelts from the Great Lakes and beyond.

Her sons embodied this: Antoine and Charles in 1694 joined contracts to retrieve furs from Michilimackinac, a key Jesuit-linked hub. Jacques in 1684 ventured to Fort St. Louis with Tonty, trading goods for beaver in La Salle's Louisiana extension. Jean-Baptiste scaled up—using merchant profits to outfit expeditions, acquire enslaved labor (reflecting trade's darker networks), and invest in land/mills, becoming seigneur of Lanoraie.

Denise, a "mother of voyageurs," represents how settler women anchored families whose men (and later generations) fueled Canada's fur economy. Her legacy echoes in the contracts, seigneuries, and communities built on pelts—risky, profitable, and foundational to Canadian history.

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