The Lague Gazette

Executed Grandparents
by
Margaret LaGue-Hobler

Did you know some of the LAGUES have grandparents who were executed in 1672?

Charles LaGue married Marie-Francoise Littlefield 21 Sept 1746 at La-Pointe-Olivier (now St-Mathias), Rouville, PQ They are the great-grandparents of Marie-Francoise.

Her parents were Pierre-Augustin Littlefield and Marie-Genevieve Brunel. Her parents were Jacques Brunel and Suzanne Bertault. Suzanne's parents were Jacques Bertault and Gilette Bonne -- the ones who were executed.

Suzanne's sister, Isabelle was married to Julien Latouche. He was a drunk, abusive, didn't work, her parents had to feed her, etc. Her parents decided to poison him. That didn't work, so they killed him in the barn. Isabelle was only 13, and her father forced her to marry him.

I mentioned this to Andree . . . , she became curious, and found a site which gave ALL the gory details -- more even that I had.

Following is from my file: from the book Searching Through the Old Records of New France: For all of those Precious Genealogical Details, a translation by Armand H. Demers, Jr. of father Cyprien Tanguay's A Travers les Registres.

"Jacques Bertault and Gilette Baune...the Bertaults were (each) to be removed from their Quebec prisons by l'executeur-de-la-haute-justice (the public executioner), brought before the city's parish church, both with ropes around their necks and burning torches in their hands, he, Bertault, "nud en chemise', and she, Baune, also "nue en chemise', but from the shoulders to the waist, and there, kneeling, to beg for God's and the king's forgiveness for the crimes which they had committed: moreover Bertault was sentenced to be strangled on a CROIX ST-ANDRE, which was to be placed on a scaffolding set up for that purpose in the main square of the upper City, and then to have both arms and legs broken by sharp blows from an iron rod: also condemned Baune to be present at the execution of her husband, and to be hanged and strangled in a gallows which was also to have been built for that purpose in the said place, ordered further that after the execution of Bertault, his body was to be brought on the 'wheel' to the Public Square at Cap-aux-Diamants, to serve as an example, and, in consideration of the (youthful) age of the said Isabelle Bertault, and in good faith, (the Conseil) sentenced (Isabelle) Bertault to pay a reasonable fine in the stated form and manner, and to assist at the execution of her father and her mother, also sentenced Bertault, Baune and Isabelle, jointly, to a fine of 60 livres (about $12.00 to be applied, half to the Recollets to pray for the rest of the soul of the said Julien Latouche and to pay the (court) expenses, the balance of their belongings already obtained and yet to be confiscated for the King, and obligated the Conseil to return to Nicolas and Jeanne Bertault, minor children of the said Jacques Bertault and Gilette Baune, the remaining half of the fine together with the said confiscation."

From: Councelle (Conseil Souverain Register)

Andree found a site giving all the gory details. Check http://www.ilos.net/~lhowland/html-fr/bertault.txt.

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Background Details

The ancestor of Marie-Francoise Litrefil/Littlefield was Pierre-Augustin Litrefil who was really Aaron Littlefield from Wells, Maine. He was stolen by the Indians at age 6 or 7, and given to the French to raise in Chambly. The Littlefield family originally descended from Francois Littlefield born about 1550 in Titchfield, England.

Marie--Barbe-Louise Stebenne married to Charles LaGue II, in 1784, at Pointe-Olivier,(now St-Mathias), descended from Joseph Stebbins who was also stolen by the Indians, age 4 in 1703/4 from Deerfield, MA. He was her grandfather. Joseph Stebenne is the progenitor of the French line of Stebbins. This line goes back to William Stebbins, Bocking, Essex Co., England, born about 1521. It is said this line goes back to Dukes of Normandy, Charlemagne, etc. This has not been documented.

Some of the LAGUES descend from both lines.

It is surprising how much is learned when doing research. I thought I was 100% French-Canadian.

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Editor's Note

Being stolen by the Indians must have been a terrifying experience. Abductions had been happening for some time. The most famous is the abduction of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson from Lancaster, MA, in February 1675 during King Philip's War. Mrs. Rowlandson wrote of her captivity, entitling it A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It was extremely popular at the time and, I believe, has never been out of print! The Gutenberg Project has made the complete text of Mrs. Rowlandson's Narrative available online.

You can find it at: http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=851. It is an interesting look into the life of the Native Americans in the Northeast at the time as they attempted to stop the English colonials from taking over more of their land. It is also the story of a deeply religious woman's testing and triumph. I highly recommend it.

From Annette: I signed with a wonderful agent this summer and she has four of my books out at five pub houses. Bantam, Doubleday, Dell (which is one house now; they keep eating each other up) just requested a complete on A Perfect Scandal "as soon as possible," which can be a great thing. It might mean an author didn't get her book in on time and they need to plug somebody in fast. Here's hoping.

Annette has won a number of awards for her novels. She is this month's Road to Romance author of the month.

From Vicki: I don't know who got me into this, but I was recently named to Miami-Dade Community College's college-wide Distance Education Committee. Miami-Dade, with six campuses in Miami, Florida, is the largest community college in the country, serving over 125,000 students annually. It's distance education component, called Virtual College, delivers courses over the internet. There are currently over 200 faculty members who have courses online or who are developing courses. Right now, most of the students are local people who cannot attend a traditional class. However, that is changing. In the next term, which begins in January, we expect to have students from many other countries from military people stationed in Germany to one interested student in Kuwait. The college is interested in expanding its Virtual College reach into Latin America and South America where there is great interest in learning English.

The committee is a steering committee that will bring together the work of about eight subcommittees dealing with different aspects of distance education at Miami-Dade. I don't know which subcommittee I'll be working on, but whatever it is, I'm sure this is going to be an interesting ride.

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