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Added by Suzanne Burns
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Catherine Annennontak Arendanki

1648-1709
Born: Bourg Ste. Madeleine, LaConception
Died: Batiscan, Quebec, Canada

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Life Story
  • Birth

  • Story: Jean Durand

    <p>Jean Durand signed a three year contract to come to Canada as a colonist. He stated he was 20 years old. </p><p>He sailed from La Rochelle on LES ARMES&nbsp; d&#39;AMSTERDAM&nbsp; beginning of April 1660 and arrived in Quebec end of May.</p><p>It was during this period that the king of France decided to send young girls to Canada to become the wives. of the colonists. They were called the KING&#39;s DAUGHTERS..On October 3 1661 Jean Durand was engaged to one of these, Marie Fayette. They were to marry at later date.However before the wedding they changed their minds and cancelled their engagement on January 12 1662.</p><p>She married Nicholas Huot on July 24 1662.</p><p>The next girl to capture Jean&#39;s heart was a young indian maiden who had been a refugee from the massacre of the Huron Mission by the Iroquois in 1648. This mission is known as Martyr&#39;s Shrine at Midland Ontario. Her parents Nicolas Arendanki and Jeanne Otri-ho-Andet lived in the parish mission of La Conception. Nicolas was one of the first Indian chiefs to embrace the Christian religion and was well know to the missionaries Brebeuf and Lalemand and Jogues. Nicolas was among the missing and no doubt suffered martyrdom like many others on that fateful day.</p><p>Jeanne who had given birth to Catherine in 1648 was left without any means of support She along with others under the care of father Chaumonotfled to Petun Indian Country who were friends with the Huron. This is described with great details in the Jesuit Relations.The ones who survived arrived in Ile d,orleans during summer of 1954. The were taken care of by the Urselines. Catherine was among this group. The record show CONFIRMED at the Urselines convent August 10 1659. It was only 3 years later that Catherine and Jean Durand married, The contract says.</p><p>In the presence of Guillaume Andouart, here present Jean Durand dit Lafortune son of Louis Durand and Madeleine Malvande and Catherine Huronne. Three days later September 26&nbsp; 1662&nbsp; at the Basilique of Quebec</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

  • Marriage

  • Marriage

  • Marriage

  • Death

  • Residence

  • Story: Caterine Annannontok - Belle Fleur De Bois

    <p>Catherine was a Huron Indian. Her family was originally from &quot;Huronia&quot; in the Hudson River Valley. Her family then fled to the Georgian Bay area.<br><br>Perhaps the following historical overview of Catherine will provide you with a better understanding of movements of the Hurons.<br><br>Catherine Annennontak was born in 1649. It was the moon of Falling Leaves, (October) of 1648 that a tiny, bronze-tinted baby girl was born in a bark covered long house of the Huron&#39;s at Georgian Bay, near Lake Huron. The French mssionary, Chaumonot, baptized her with the name of Caterine Annannontok, and affectionately dubbed her Belle Fleur de Bois, Beautiful Flower of the Woods). Her father, Nicolas Arendanke, was one of three principal chiefs of the Bear Clan. Both he and his wife, Jeanne Orihoandet, were baptized by the black-robed Jesuits who came among their native peoples some years before. &quot;Katerie,&quot; strapped securely in her colorful, beaded cradle-board on her mother&#39;s strong back looked like a tine sepea-toned doll with raven-black hair, bright obsidian eyes, a pug nose, and a little mouth constantly moving. Originally, there were approximately 25,000-30,000 Hurons living peacefully in an area, roughly 40 by 20 miles, called &quot;Huronia&quot;. Since the coming of the white man in the early 1600&#39;s, many of the Hurons perished from starvation and the white man&#39;s diseases.<br><br>A far greater disaster struck in March 1649, when thousands of ferocious Iroquois from the Hudson River Valley attacked<br>and practically annihilated the entire Huron Nation, including the five North American Martyrs. Only about 300 Hurons, mostly women, children, the infirm and the elderly escaped to nearby St. Joseph&#39;s Island. One of the survivors, carried to safety by her loving mother was Catherine.</p><p>Sadly, her chieftain father was tortured and/or killed outright by the Iroquois on March 17th, 1649, while defending his people.<br>After three months of hiding and recuperating from wounds and sickness, the surviving band of Hurons made a desperate dash<br>for freedom by paddling their birch-bark canoes through hostile territory. Their perilous 1,500 mile escape route took them<br>from Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, along the French River, across Lake Nipissing, down the Ottowa River, along the mighty St. Lawrence, past the Lachine Rapids to Montreal Island, finally arriving at the Fortress City of Qu&#39;ebec. They arrived on July 28, 1649, six weeks after their journey began.<br><br>Kateri, Catherine&#39;s mother, and the other survivors of the Great Massacre were settled on the nearby Ile d&#39;Orleans. On July 21st, 1654, Catherine&#39;s heroric mother was suddenly cut down by fever, leaving her five year old, an orphan. The little Indian Princess was then bought to the Ursuline convent in Quebec City where she was raised and educated by the Catholic nuns there. She was so beloved by them, that they called her, La Petite Cr&#39;eature de Dieu, (Little Creature of God) On Sept. 23rd, 1662, the Belle Fleur de Boise contracted to marry Jean Durand, dit LaFortune, a soldier of the famous Carignan regiment. He was previously engaged to a fickle Parisienne who broke her promise to him and to a subsequent suitor before finally marrying her third choice. The soldier and princess wed at Quebec City on Sept. 26th, 1662 in the presence of many officials and friends. Jean signed his name &quot;J.Durand,&quot; while 14 yearr-old Kateri, signed her name &quot;Catherine Huron.&quot; During their nine years of happy marriage, they were blessed with three children; Marie, Ignace and Louis. Both sons and the husband of Marie (Mathurine Cadot), became adventurous voyageurs, (canoe-men), who engaged in the lucrative fur trade between Montr&#39;eal and the Great Lakes and the Pays d&#39;en haut, (high country, the west). Early in 1672, Kateri received a terrible shock. Her husband Jean died suddenly at the premature age of 35 years. Whether by accident, disease or tomahawk, Jean Durand left the &quot;Creature of God&quot; a young widow with three small children. The oldest was five years old, ironically, the same age at which Kateri had become orphaned.<br><br>During those dangerous and hard times, it was necessary to forego the usual mourning period, so Catherine chose, from several<br>suitors, Jacques Couturier, a 26 year-old Norman French bachelor as her second husband. The nuptials were at Quebec City on June 26th, 1672. To this union there were six enfants de le deuxieme lit (children of the second bed), namely: Charles, Jacques, (died in infancy), Genevieve, Denis dit Joseph, Jean-Francois, and Catherine(died one month old). Like their step-brothers before them, Charles, Joseph, and Jean-Francois became voyageurs and Coureurs de Bois (wood runners/rangers). Again, however, Kateri sadly lost her husband, Jacques, prematurely at the age of 31 years. He succumbed to an epidemic of measles and scurvy during the year 1687-1688, in which over 1,400 people perished, nearly one-eighth of the French population. </p><p>Ten years later Kateri married a third time, on August 26th, 1697, to Jean de Lafond, (1646-1716), widower of Catherine Senecal. He brought into this union three remaining dependent children from the eight begotten from his first wife. His mother was a sister to the first Governor of Three Rivers and the founder of Boucherville. It should be noted that Kateri signed herself, Catherine Durant on the marriage contract and Catherine Annannontak on the civil register. Shortly after this time, her heart was again broken by the loss of two of her sons in the flower of their youth. Ignace Durand died on Nov. 30th, 1697 at the age of 28 years, and Charles Couturier died on April 23rd, 1699, at the age of 26 years. There were no children born to her third and final marriage.<br><br>A decade passed before the final curtain came down on the life story of the Amerindian Princess. Catherin &quot;Kateri&quot;, Annannontak- Belle Fleur de Bois, The Little Creature of God - was taken from life&#39;s scene by an epidemic of yellow fever, called the French, Mal de Siam, (lit. Siam Sickness- perhaps like the 20th century Asian Flu). She had lived 60 summers in two cultures. Her sacred memory evokes the motto of Quebec Province, exemplified on it&#39;s auto license plates: Je Me Souviens, (I Remember). Let us remember with pride this bronze-tinted Native American as she really was, a beautiful, courageous, faithful, well-educated, intelligent (she spoke several languages), living, resourceful and humble individual. </p>

 
 
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