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Descendants of Catherine Annennotak

Generation No. 1

1. CATHERINE² ANNENNOTAK (NICOLAS¹ ARENDANKI) was born 1649 in Ancienne-Lorette,Quebec or La Conception, Ontario, and died January 11, 1708/09 in Bastican, Quebec, Canada. She married (1) JEAN DURAND DIT LAFORTUNE September 23, 1662 in Notre Dame de Quebec, Quebec, son of LOUIS DURAND and MADELEINE MALVANDE. He was born 1640 in Doeuil-sur-le-Mignon, St. Onge,Charentes Maritime,France, and died 1671 in St.Jean, I.O.Quebec. She married (2) JACQUES COUTURIER June 28, 1672 in Bastican, Quebec, Canada, son of JEAN COUTURIER and MARIE AUMONT. He was born 1646 in Queneville or Caen, France, and died 1697 in Bastican, Quebec, Canada. She married (3) JEAN LAFORD August 26, 1697.

Notes for CATHERINE ANNENNOTAK:
Catherine Annennontak [Anenontha] or Catherine Huron a full blooded Huron Indian[ some say Indian Princess] is the great-grandmother to Angelique Couturier Malbroue. She is the ancestor to numerous descendants in Canada from her marriages to Jean Durand ,Jacques Couturier and Jean Laford. Accounts about her and the history of the Huron Nation can be found in the Relation of the Jesuits, missionary letters, the sacramental record of Quebec and Notarial acts.

Catherine the Huron didn't always have the " Annennontak" name nor was it the Huron name given to her by her parents; even though it appears in various documents for several years. The surname " Annennontak" means " compassion must be given to her" and can be translated to mean something like "poor little thing" or a similar expression according to Huron Language specialists. This name does not appear until later and she signed her documents until her marriage : "Catherine,Huron" . Catherine, the little creature of god, Huron is what the Ursulines wrote about her in
her marriage record to Jean Durand. This appears to be the first time the name Catherine Annennontak, Huron is used. She is listed as the daughter of Nicolas Arendanki and Jeanne Otrihoandit, which are not their true names. These names were probably given to them by missionaries. The Arendanki name given to her father means " he who comes from beyond Arenda" This was the Huron name for the mission of Saint Marie-Madeleine where the family lived. I am unable to find if there is any special significance to the name "Otrihoandit" that was given to her mother.

The name " Annennontak" has several variations such as: Anonta, Anenontha, Anenonha and Anenotha.

Around 1600, the French gave the nickname "Huron" to an Indian tribe that dressed their heads with feathers which made them resembled the head of some animal. This name was already used by the French to mean a slovenly and unpolished person. "The head of a boar" is still a French expression and figuratively means that a Huron is person who isn't civilized and is uneducated.

The true name of the Huron Indians is "Ouendanke, which refers to a geographic area in the county and means "isolated or separated from others".
The Huron home territory consisted of an area 20 miles by 40 miles near the shores of George Bay with about 20 to 30 villages distributed within it.
This is in the current county of Simcoe and in the province of Ontario. The location of the tribe put it in a strategic location for both West and South travel routes.

The exact date of Catherine's birth is not know. She was given the birth date of 1649 by the sisters at the Ursuline convent where she was raised.
The destruction and the evacuation on March 16 and 17 in 1649 of the mission at St. Marie- Madeleine in the Parrish of Conception , the home of the Huron tribe and her parents. This mission was about two miles south of the village of Lafontaine in Ontario and it is reasonable to put Catherine's birth as between January and March 16, 1649.

In 1615 , the Recollect missionaries along with Champlain visited the Huron Country. The Recollect missionaries planned to remain in Huron country,
but it was the Jesuits in 1637 that promoted a prosperous community.

The Jesuits converted a large number of the Huron people to Christianity , including the villagers at the mission of St. Madeleine. Since Catherine's
parents were Christians and were given the Christian names of Nicolas and Jeanne , we have no other way to find their Huron names or identities.

On May 21, 1636, the Jesuits began to build a church in Conception Parrish. The superior for the Huron missionaries in 1649 was Father Ragueneau.
He had 12 missionaries under his direction and their names are recorded by the Realations of the Jesuits.

The Conception Parrish Father Chaumonot said that his Christian flock was the dearest in the world. The " Village of Believers" was the name given to this village because of their fidelity in the practice of Christian virtues. The Huron intelligence and character was also given high praise by Father Brebeuf.

Ten mission were attached to St. Madeleine, which was one of the oldest, and there were also three post among the Algonquins. There were 64 whites, 18 of which were priests, the rest brothers ,laborers and 8 soldiers at the Huron post.

A war without mercy had been waged by the Iroquois against the Hurons for a number of earlier years. The Iroquois hated the French because of a treaty that had been made in 1611 under Champlain. The Iroquois waited until around 1637-1640 to start the true quarrel with the Huron.

The village of St. Joseph II was destroyed on July 4, 1648 and 700 people , mostly women and children ,were killed including Father Antoine Daniel.

More than 2000 Iroquois warriors invaded the Huron villages on March 16, 1649. The valiant Hurons were no match for the Iroquois. They were out numbered and the Iroquois had been furnished with firearms by the Dutch from New England. Missionaries and their converts were killed as the villages fell one after another. Intense cruelty was shown to Father de Brebeuf, when he was taken and tortured on that day. Poor Father Gabriel Lallemant under similar torments did not die until the next day and the hecatombe continued. Nicolas Arendanki, father of Catherine, was one of the 200 Huron warriors that went into battle against the Iroquois. The Huron were annihilated to the last man on the same day that the village of St. Madeleine fell.

The few Hurons that managed to flee searched for places of refuge. Some found it in friendlier tribes,and others got lost in the masses and lived among their conquerors while others just ran for their lives. The survivors[only 600] of the Saint Marie-Madeleine blood bath were nearly all women, children and cripples managed to find refuge on Isle St. Joseph in the Bay of George at a provisionary fort [Saint Marie II ] built by missionaries. The winter of 1649-1650 brought further hardship to the survivors. Starvation killed many, while it forced others to risk their lives fishing and to look for food where
they could be found by the Iroquois. The Iroquois were always on the lookout for any Huron survivors and killed them when found.

By the grace of God Catherine who was only a few months old was allowed to survive this terrible ordeal.

By the spring of 1650 only 300 Huron survivors were left out of the 600 that escaped on that terrible day in 1649. Fearing genocide of the remaining
Hurons, two surviving Huron Chiefs appealed to Father Rageneau, superior of the mission, for help in moving the remaining members of the tribe to
Quebec to live with the French who had been their friends. It was on June 10, 1650 that this poor band of Indians began trek to Quebec and their quest to keep the Huron Tribe from being annihilated.

The tribe traveled more than 700 mile by frail canoes which required over 60 portages. The were in constant danger of being discovered by the Iroquois. They 1st crossed Bay George [ north to south] where they reached Taureaux Bay. They traveled the entire French River ,Lake Nipissing,
Mattawa River, Ottawa River and the St, Lawrence River until reaching Quebec . Again God watched over this band of Indians and brought to
Quebec on July 25, 1650

Luckily the Hurons found the people of Quebec ,their religious and civil authorities willing to aid and find a place where they could regroup as a tribe.

A place 5 miles from Quebec on the Isle of d'Orleans was selected for the tribe on March 29,1651. the Hurons with help of Father Chaumonot quickly found a new mission and named it Saint Marie II. Father Chaumonot took care to keep the tribes regular lifestyle, chapel chants, songs and prayers.

Catherine lived at the mission with her mother for 4 more years. Her mother who was severely weakened by the hardships that she had been subjected to went to her God on July 1854. Father Chaumont gave her the last sacraments and promised to take care of her daughter.

Father Chaumont took Catherine to the Ursuline Convent in Quebec on July 21, 1654 and a record was made of this event.

"On July 21, 1654, Catherine, the beloved child of God, a Huron girl, bereft by reason of illness [translator's note: her mother's illness and eventual death] and her poverty as an orphan was given to us at the age of five. She is to be raised and educated at the convent as per the instructions of Father Chaumonot, who brought this child to us" [ taken from article on Catherine the Huron in "Les Voyageus" June 1995].

A new way of life began for this poor Indian child. Catherine's First communion and confirmation[ at age 10 1/2 on 8-10-1659 given by Monsignor Laval were made at the Ursuline Convent. Catherine was given a good education a at the convent and became the Protegee of Madame de la Peltrie, founder of the Ursulines in Quebec. \

On Sept 23,1662 a marriage contact is signed between Catherine 'The "Huron" and Jean dit Lafortune, son of Louis Durand and Madeleine Malvande of the parish of Deui in Saintonge. Other names on the contract were Laurent Duboug[4 days earlier married Marie-Felix Aronta [An Indian girl from Conception parish in Huron country and a member of the group that came to Quebec with Catherine] The marriage ceremony took place 3 days later on 9-26-1662. People that attended the ceremony were Madame de la Peltrie, Charles Gauthier, Sieur de Bosiverdon, Miss Thienette Despres, widow of Sieur Suplessis de Kerbodo, Sieur Martin Boutet Jean Guyon, Denis Duquet , and several other residents of Quebec. [Taken from " Les Voyageus " July 1995 article on Catherine the Huron].

The register of Notre Dame parish in Quebec for the 1662 reads as follows :

In the year of Our Lord, 1662, on Sept. 26, after the engagement and publication of only one Bann [the other two were dispensed], after making as announcement at the parish mass on Sept.24,and not finding any legitimate impediment. I, Henry de Dernieres, pastor of this parish, read the marriage ceremony to Jean Durand, son of Louis Durand and Madeleine Malvande, his mother and father of the parish,of the jurisdiction of Xaintes Diocese in Saintonge on the first part, and then to Catherine Annennontak, Huron, daughter of Nicolas Arendanki and Jeanne Otrihoandit, her mother and father of the village of St. Madeleine of Conception parish in Huron country, on the second part. After hearing their mutual consent, I solemnly joined them in marriage and gave the nuptial blessing in the presence of know witnesses, the Reverend priest heroes, Lalement, Superior, and Francois Le Mercier of the Company of Jesus, Sieur. Martin Boutet dit St. Martin, Sieur Jean Madry, etc.
H. de Bernieres
[Record taken from "Les Voyageus" July 1995 article]

According to the article in"Les Voyageus in July 1995, marriages between a Frenchman and an Indian from 1608 and 1667 over this 60 year span only happened 3 tomes. First between Laurent Dubouq and Marie-Felix Aronta; Second between Catherine Annennontak and Jean Durand ; third between Martin Prevost and Marie-Olivier-Sylvestre Manitouabewich [11-3-1644].

During Catherine's marriage to Jean Durand there are 3 children born Marie, Ignatius and Louis. When Jean Durand dies in late 1671,Catherine marries for a second time.

Catherine's second husband was Jacques Couturier or Le Couturier. They had 6 children , but their youngest child Catherine [3-16-1687] died at the age of 2 months. After Jacques death Catherine married [8-26-1697],Jean Lafond but the marriage ends on Jan.12,1709 with Catherine's death.

This report was written from an article in "Les Voyageus July 1995" that was from an essay by Ant. Champagne, C.R.I.C. published in Memoires de la Societe Genealogique Canadienne Francaise, Vol. 7, pp 114-9 and was translated by Donald J.Daigle and Anthony Tassin.

Children of CATHERINE ANNENNOTAK and JEAN LAFORTUNE are:

	i.		MARIE³ DURAND, b. April 21, 1666, Sillery, Quebec; m. MATHURIN CADAU, July 31, 1688.
	ii.		IGNACE DURAND, b. 1669, Quebec; d. November 30, 1697, Cap-St-Ignace,Quebec; m. MARIE CATHERINE MIVILLE, February 24, 1690/91, Quebec City, Quebec.
	iii.		LOUIS DURAND, b. November 13, 1670, Sillery,Quebec; d. 1741; m. ELIZABETH-AGNES MICHEL, September 09, 1698, Quebec.

Notes for LOUIS DURAND:
Louis Durand had 10 children by his first wife Elizabeth-Agnes Michel and 4 more by his second wife,Jeanne Houde. Louis was a trapper and he went
to the far reaches of the West and to the north to the land of the Eskimos [according to article in the "Les Voyageurs " July 1995]. Lamothe-Cadillas
founder of Detroit was supposed to be associated to Louis Durand.

Children of CATHERINE ANNENNOTAK and JACQUES COUTURIER are:

	iv.	CHARLES³ COUTURIER, b. February 25, 1672/73, Cap Rouge, Quebec, Canada; d. April 25, 1699.
	v.	GENEVIEVE COUTURIER, b. March 25, 1679, Cap Rouge,Quebec, Canada; d. WFT Est. 1680-1773.
2.	vi.	DENIS-JOSEPH COUTURIER, b. March 09, 1680/81, Cap Rouge, Quebec, Canada; d. WFT Est. 1728-1773, Canada.
	vii.	JEAN-FRANCOIS COUTURIER, b. March 29, 1684.
	viii.	CATHERINE COUTURIER, b. March 16, 1686/87, Bastican, Quebec, Canada; d. May 26, 1687, Bastican, Quebec, Canada.

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