Guillaume Laberge was the son of Robert de la Berge who inherited
Maison
Laberge. He had one older step-sister, Marie-Ursule Durand, three
older sisters,
Genevieve, Françoise,
and Catherine, and two older brothers, Francois and
Nicolas.
Because times were difficult at the turn of the century (1700), Francois
left for Montréal and Nicolas left to voyage down the Mississippi to
work at a tanning
factory. Nicolas wound up a few years later at Fort Louis de La
Louisiane,
in Mobile in 1705.
In 1703, Guillaume signed a contract to go to Fort
Pontchatrain du Détroit
under the command of Antoine Laumet de La
Mothe, sieur de Cadillac.
Guillaume
decided not to honor that contract and,
instead, stayed at
Maison Laberge in the home that would be
handed down for generations
to come.
Taken from Pierre-Lionel's book translation, page 254 &
255:
 |
02 Feb February 1697: Nicolas with his younger
brother Guillaume,
had acquired their father Robert’s three arpent (2.53 acre)
property shortly before the expiration of the lease the following
April.
Nicolas had then moved back to L’Ange-Gardien to live. After paying
96 pounds a year, or a total of 480 pounds for the five year lease,
plus 50
pounds for the rental of a cow, and probably having to pay for half
the
value of the cow that died during the lease, he had not become very
rich, since the profits went to pay the price of the rental, when
they
were insufficient even for that. He eventually decided to dispose of
the
land, whose upkeep had cost him quite dearly. |
|
February 8, 1702: Nicolas Laberge sells his
half of the estate to his
brother-in-law Guillaume Maroist. The property consisted of
full half
of the three arpent (2.53 acre) acquired with his brother Guillaume
from their parents, Robert Laberge and Françoise Gosse. |
|
08 Feb 1702: Nicolas Laberge sold his half to
Guillaume Maroist and left
for the Mississippi. |
|
22 April 1703, the Sovereign Council dismissed all of
Marie-Ursule Durand's
petitions. |
|
April, 1703: Guillaume Maroist, who had bought
half of the Laberge
estate from Nicolas and with certain stipulations, insisted on
taking
possession of it and asked Nicolas' wife and children to vacate
Maison Laberge. |
|
12 Oct 1703: Guillaume Laberge signed a
contract to go to Fort
Pontchatrain du Détroit. |
|
15 Mar 1704: Balif of Beaupré orders Nicolas
Laberge (represented by
his wife Magdeleine Quentin & brother Guillaume) to complete the
stipulations of the contract of 02 Feb 1697. Robert would take
back
possession if the stipulations were unpaid. |
|
19 April 1704: The
court renders a decsion. Guillaume Maroist was
required to pay pounds to Robert &
Françoise and he would retain
possession and use of Nicolas' half of the land. |
|
The lawsuits would continue past the deaths of
Guillaume Maroist in
1708, Robert in 1712, and
Françoise in 1714, but nothing would change. |
|
The land on the west side of the estate which was sold
by Nicolas Laberge
to Guillaume Maroist would be passed on to the descendants of
Guillaume Maroist & Catherine Laberge. The east sideof the
estate along with
Maison Laberge would be passed on to the descendants of Guillaume
Laberge & Marie-Anne Quentin. |
