Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Hélène Desportes

Female Aft 1620 - 1675  (< 54 years)


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  • Name Hélène Desportes  [1
    Birth Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Baptism Aft 7 Jul 1620  [2
    Gender Female 
    Death 24 Jun 1675  Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3
    Burial 24 Jun 1675  Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Person ID I5839  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2023 

    Father Pierre Desportes,   b. Lisieux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 18 May 1629, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Françoise Langlois   d. Aft 18 May 1629 
    Marriage Abt 1620  Lisieux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Family ID F3669  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Guillaume Hébert,   b. Abt 1614, Paris, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Sep 1639, Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 25 years) 
    Marriage 1 Oct 1634  Notre-Dame-de-Québec, Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 4
    Children 
    +1. Françoise Hébert,   b. Bef 23 Jan 1638   d. Bef 16 Mar 1716 (Age < 78 years)
    Family ID F15897  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2023 

    Family 2 Noël Morin,   b. Abt 1606, Brie-Comte-Robert, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Feb 1680, Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 74 years) 
    Marriage 9 Jan 1640  Notre-Dame-de-Québec, Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 4, 5
    Notes 
    • Contract filed with notary Martial Piraubé 27 Dec 1639.
    Children 
     1. Germain Morin,   b. Bef 15 Jan 1642   d. 20 Aug 1702, Hôtel-Dieu, Québec City, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age > 60 years)
    +2. Louise Morin,   b. Bef 27 Apr 1643   d. 28 Apr 1713 (Age > 70 years)
     3. Marie Morin,   b. 19 Mar 1649   d. 8 Apr 1730, Montréal, Québec Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)
    Family ID F3647  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Apr 2023 

  • Notes 
    • She was a godchild of Hélène Boullé, the wife of Samuel Champlain. In his will, Champlain left her 300 livres, equivalent to about $15,000 in modern money.

      From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography:

      DESPORTES, HÉLÈNE (Hébert; Morin), said to be the first white child born in New France, daughter of Pierre Desportes and Françoise Langlois; m. Guillaume Hébert in October 1634; m. secondly Noël Morin 9 Jan. 1640 at Quebec; d. 24 June 1675.

      The date of Hélène’s birth has not been definitely fixed. Dionne says that she came to Quebec with her parents in 1613, Sulte that she was born in Quebec about 1622. Statistics from other sources indicate that she was 14 years old in 1634, 38 in 1659, 46 in 1666, and 48 in 1667. Anne Hébert, according to Champlain, had died in childbirth prior to 1620; but since there is no further mention of her child, it was presumably still-born. Eustache Martin was born in October 1621. If, however, we assume Hélène’s birthdate to be 1620, which seems most probable, her claim is established as being the first white child born alive in the St. Lawrence region. (Sulte, to be sure, claims for Guillemette Hébert the honour of being the first-born Canadienne, on the assumption that Louis Hébert had his wife with him in Acadia in 1606, but Lescarbot’s evidence refutes this.) [...]

  • Sources 
    1. [S5177] Joy Reisinger, "Who Were the Parents of Joseph Cloutier (1695-1776) of St-Pierre-du-Sud, Quebec?" The American Genealogist 69, January 1994.

    2. [S38] Genealogy of the French in North America, by Denis Beauregard. Complete version, 2024.

    3. [S2180] Dictionary of Canadian Biography., date only.

    4. [S6880] James L. Hansen, "Historic Ancestors: Louis Hébert." The Genealogist 22:170, Fall 2008.

    5. [S2180] Dictionary of Canadian Biography.