Ouimet

also Houymet

This family originates in Vrigny, a village in the Champagne east of Paris and near Alençon and Reims (above) - today it has only 200 inhabitants, but produces a well-known champagne and other wines. Nicolas Ouimet and his wife Perette Nicayse lived there in the first half of the seventeenth century. We know of one son: the immigrant Jean Ouimet, who was born probably in 1637 and came to Québec about 1659 (his first apperance in the records is when he bought some land in November at Château-Richer). The only ship to arrive that year carrying settlers (on June 6) was Le Sacrifice d'Abraham. On October 3, 1660 he married Renée Gagnon (daughter of Jean; see Gagnon) at Beaupré. Here is a translation of the marriage record: "Present, in their persons, were on the one hand, Jean Houymet, son and heir of Nicollas Houymet and Poucette Nicayse, his Father and Mother from the parish of Vrigny, archdiocese of Rheims; and on the other hand, Renée Gagnon, daughter of Jean Gagnon and Marguerite Cauchon, her Father and Mother, inhabitants of this seigniory. The marriage will be done and accomplished, God willing, in the sight of Our Mother the Holy Apostolic, Catholic and Roman Catholic Church as soon as possible." Jean died on November 18, 1687 and was buried at Ste-Famille in the Ile d'Orléans; his wife (born in Canada in 1643) died between 1695 and 1702. During his lifetime he acquired a number of land parcels in the Ile d'Orléans.

Their nine children: Jean (1661-1749, married Marie-Josèphe Juin and Marie Bissonnet, 3 children); Louis (1663-1716, married Marie-Anne Genest); Marguérite (January 11, 1667, married November 16, 1688 at Ste-Famille to François Turcot); Marie-Madeleine (1672-1702; unmarried?); Gabriel (born and died 1675); Jacques (1676); Jeanne (1679-1716; unmarried?); Pierre (born and died 1681); and another Pierre (1683, married Marguérite Brault).

Here is a translation of the inventory of Jean's possessions at his death in 1687:

One trammel, two pots, one grill, two medium-sized cauldrons, one rifle, one mean chest, one old sifter or scieve, ten planters, the clothing of the deceased, two old coffers of which one has lock and key, one cannot be locked, two old tablecloths made of coarse fabric, two animal-skin covers, two old axes, two old hoes, one old hook, a pair of wheels, a cart with an old wheel, colter, and metal chain.
In the barn, eight hundred sheafs of wheat of which about one hundred and fifty have sprouted and are worthless, and one hundred and fifty minots have been ground and so improved, twenty-two minots of peas, eighty minots of oats, five hundred minots of hay, two old nets.

Next, the buildings: the skeleton of a house covered with planks; a little old house built from scrap material, in which they live and which is of little value; a barn made of planks and covered with straw and with an adjoining stable;

Next, the livestock: a pair of work oxen, a young pair of steer four years of age, one young steer about to turn three, four milk cows, three new calves, seven large pigs, six nursing pigs, eighteen turkeys, eight geese;

Next, the concession consisting of three acres of waterfront property on the Saint Lawrence River, for five pounds of wood;

Next, the titles and papers: the marriage contract between the deceased Jean Houymet and Marie-Renée; two contracts of concession, one of which was made by Mr. de Lauzon, Lord of Charny, of two acres of water-front land on the Saint Lawrence River on the northern passage on the date of the tenth day of April one thousand six hundred sixty-two, and the other made by Monsignor de Laval for three acres of the above-mentioned Concession on the above-mentioned river, which contract went before the notary-public on the date of the twenty-sixth day of January one thousand six hundred sixty-eight. As for active debts, the Community owes four minots of grain to Monsieur Jean Primont.

See Turcotte for descendants. See also this website for Jean Ouimet, former head of the Green Party of Québec.