Jean Houymet

Jean Houymet or Wuillemet (1634? - November 18, 1687), son and heir of Nicolas and Pérette Nicayse, originated from Vrigny or Virginy, archdiocese of Reims located in the province of Champagne department of Marne in France. He is the only known ancestor to anyone whose name is Ouimet, Ouimette, Wimet, Vuilmet, Wemett, Wuillemet, or any of the 30 or so variations.

Biography

According to Roland-J. Auger, a highly skilled genealogist, Jean Houymet crossed over to New France in 1659 on the ship called “Le Sacrifice d’Abraham” in the company of the first bishop of New France, Monseigneur François Montmorency de Laval (see François de Laval). Jean Houymet landed in Québec City on Monday June 16th at around 6 pm. This fact was taken from the series of books entitles "The Jesuit Relations”.

In New France, more precisely at Château-Richer, he was hired to work for Guillaume Thibault. In November 1659, he bought a plot of land measuring 2 arpents of frontage (about 58.5 m)on the Saint Lawrence River near a stream named “La Rivière du Sault-à-la-Puce”.

The spelling of 'Houymet' is the one written by the notary Claude Aubert when he signed the marriage contract of Jean Houymet and Renée Gagnon, daughter of Jean and Marguerite Cauchon, October 3, 1660 in the seignory of Beaupré. On the same document, Jean Houymet indicated his mark at the bottom of the marriage contract with the letter “W”, whereas the family name must have originally been 'Wuillemet'. That’s what we find today at the archives of the Marne department in France. Nowadays in France, there are only a handful of Ouimets and Ouimettes. These persons are possibly immigrants from Canada or the United States.

The first child of this couple, a boy also named Jean, was born in the fall of 1661 in the parish of La Visitation de Notre-Dame located in Château-Richer. On April 10, 1662, a few months after the birth of this first child, Jean Houymet bought a plot of land measuring 2 arpents of frontage on the St-Lawrence River, on the northern portion of the Isle of Orleans. He settled there with his family in the parish of Sainte-Famille. Jean and Renée had nine children, of which three boys and a girl who later married and bore a descendance : Jean, Louis, Marguerite and Pierre. The other children are Marie-Madeleine, Gabriel, Jacques, Jeanne and Pierre.

What Jean Houymet or Wuillemet owned at the time of his death can be found in the inventory of his belongings in a contract dated October 26th 1688 written by the notary Vachon. This happened less than a year after his death at the age of 53 years old. This document reveals that Jean Houymet or Wuillemet was relatively rich at that time. Renée Gagnon, his wife, died between 1695 and 1702.

Today, the majority of their descendants are living in Montreal and Laval regions in the province of Québec.

References

* Recueil historique sur les Ouimet, Pauline Ouimet-Charron, 1999
* Dictionnaire des descendants de Jean Ouimet et Renée Gagnon, Pierre Ouimet et Al., 2000

See also

* New France
* Quebec

External links

* [http://www.associationouimet.net/ Official web site of l'Association des descendants de Jean Ouimet]
* [http://www.ffsq.qc.ca/ FFSQ - Fédération des familles-souches du Québec]
* [http://www.banq.qc.ca/portal/dt/accueil.jsp?bnq_langue=en Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec]