René Ouellette

René Houallet was born in Paris around 1641, the son of François Houallet and Isabelle Barre.

He left France for New France (now Québec) in 1661. Why he left remains a mystery: René's father was a wealthy Receveur-General — a kind of finance minister — and was likely born into wealth himself; there was no financial incentive for René to emigrate. Perhaps he was looking for adventure, or wished to live a simpler life. René himself was also a mysterious character, using the aliases René Vallet and René Oudin as a contract worker. He was even indicted for murder, although the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

By 1666 married his first wife, Anne Rivet. After the death of Anne in 1675, Rene moved to Rivière-Ouelle and married the widow Thérèse Migneaux in 1679. Despite owning two large farms — one of his own, the other from Therese's dowry — Rene was a terrible farmer and was constantly in debt, selling off parcels of land to keep afloat. Nonetheless, he managed to secure farmland for all his children. In 1690, he and four of his sons were helped defeat the army of William Phipps, which had stopped at Rivière-Ouelle on the way to Montréal. René died on January 15, 1722 and was buried in the cemetery at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière.

René had fifteen children in total. Among them was François Ouellette, born in 1693 at Rivière-Ouelle. He married Marie-Anne Bouchard and had a son named Michel Ouellette, born in Sault-au-Récollet, Montreal in 1743. By 1768 Michel was married to Thérèse Rheaume and living in St-Vincent-de-Paul, Laval. His son Gabriel was also born later this year. In 1794 Gabriel married Marie Morin in St-Laurent, Montreal. Sometime after marriage Gabriel and Marie moved eastward to St-Benoit. It is here that ancestor Gabriel Ouellette was born on October 14, 1801.