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From: La Revue du Histoire du Quebec, Cap Au Diamants
http://www.capauxdiamants.org/genealogie/Details.asp?DevID=21
Ville-Marie was founded in 1642, by the members of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal. After ten years of effort, the existence of the colony is in danger and reinforcements are necessary in order to ensure its survival. Jeanne Mance persuades Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal, to go to France and recruit colonists to breathe new life into the colony. With the support of Jerome Royer, of Dauversière, a recruitment campaign takes place in Maine and Anjou, in particular in the area of La Flèche, in order to engage a minimum of 100 men. The objective was achieved.
Between May and March 1653, 117 men sign contracts of service for a period from three to five years towards the Compagnie de Montréal. On July 20, 1653, 102 of these men, accompanied by M. of Maisonneuve, embark from Saint-Nazaire, on the Saint-Nicolas de Nantes. Marguerite Bourgeoys and thirteen young women also form part of the travellers. This group of immigrants will, from now on, be known under the name of the Grande Recrue de 1653 (Great Recruit of 1653) by the Quebec genealogists. After a painful crossing, the ship lands in Quebec on September 22, 1653. On November 16, 1653, the Grande Recrue arrives at Ville-Marie.
The year 2003 marks the 350th birthday of this event which ensured the survival and the development of Ville-Marie. Several of these volunteers married and left descendants bearing today the evocative names of Cadieu, Deschamps, Livernois and several others. Within the rolls of the Grand Recrue de 1653, appear the ancestor of the Valiquette families.
Jean Valiquet, son of Jean Valiquet and Nicole Langevin, was baptized on July 14, 1632 in the parish of Saint-Vincent du Lude, county of La Sarthe, located 20 kilometers to the south-west of La Fleche in Anjou. He signed his contract of service on April 16, 1653, as a clearer and a ploughman for five years, with the expectation of annual wages of 80 livres.
After completing his contract, Jean Valiquet is establishes himself in New-France and practices his trade of metal worker and arms manufacturer, in support of cultivating grounds at Isle de Montreal and within Boucherville. he receives his first land concession, May 17, 1659. We can find in the solicitors records other transactions and contracts of acquisition of land during following years.
September 23, 1658 is celebrated the marriage of Jean Valiquet with Renee Loppé, daughter of Jean Loppé and Marie Desprez, natives of Saint-Jean de LaMothe, another locality of Anjou. From this union were born eight children between 1660 and 1676. Only four of them will live to the age of marriage. Pierre, progenitor of the line, marries Marie-Élisabeth Campeau, August 15, 1701. The three girls marry men bearing the names of Ledoux, Dupre and Martinbault. Renee Loppé dies before March 1679. She is thus saved from the scandal which strikes her husband, and especially his/her children.
September 7, 1679, Jean Valiquet is arrested for molestation by the bailliage of Montreal and condemned to be hung on the public place until dead. On 27 October, Valiquet appeals this sentence in front of the sovereign Council of Quebec. The reading of the minutes of the lawsuit describes the charges carried against Valiquet. Thus, "Valiquet declared is reached and convinced to have carnal copulation with the older[?] of his daughters, and to have made an attempt to seduce of others two ". November 21, 1679, thanks to the presentation of extenuating circumstances and with the testimony of Jacques Milot, his sentence is commuted to banishment with perpetuity from the island of Montreal. Moreover, all the goods of Valiquet are confiscated.
Valiquet becomes thus a wandering Canadian, living in the area of Quebec, in particular in Lauzon, where he works for other inhabitants. Between 1684 and 1688, in company of Pierre Houdan, he farms the land and fields of the Dauteuil seigniory. In 1692, he rents land from Jean-Baptist Céloron, located at Sainte-Marie. Jean Valiquet dies, penniless, August 20, 1696, in the Hospital of Quebec.
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