Gautier

or Gauthier

One usually reliable source traces this family to Philippe Gauthier, who lived in the parish of St-Étienne du Mont, Paris, and was married to Marie Pichon or Plichon in about 1622. They reportedly had two children: Charles (1624-1703) and Renée, our ancestor. When Philippe died about 1635, his wife Marie remarried and accompanied her new husband Charles Sevestre to Québec, taking her children along. Charles and Marie Sevestre are well documented (they arrived in 1636). However, I find no good evidence that Renée was a member of this family. On the contrary, her marriage to Louis Thibault took place in his home parish of Ste-Catherine (above) in La Flotte, Île de Ré, on October 29, 1643. It seems unlikely that Renée could have somehow gotten from Paris to La Rochelle on her own (her mother and stepfather were already in Canada) and married there before emigrating. Most likely Renée Gauthier is a native of the Île de Ré, parents unknown.

In any case, Renée was born about 1625, married in 1643, and was in Québec by 1665 - evidently without her husband, who must have died; she probably accompanied her teenaged son François-Louis Thibault, who was born in the Île de Ré in 1647 and signed on as an indentured servant beforing sailing from La Rochelle. She died in the parish of Ste-Famille (Île d'Orléans) on September 5, 1666. See Thibault for descendants.