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Facts and Events
“The following year, on 11 September 1668 at Quebec City, the former soldier married "une fille du roi", Marie Major. She was born on 26 February 1637 at Touques in the current Department of Calvados. The King of France had sponsored Marie's transportation to Canada to marry a colonist as a means of expanding the burgeoning colony in its fight against the English colonies in North America. Neither in the religious marriage entry nor in the contract signed a week earlier on 6 September 1668, was any mention made that Antoine was previously married to a deceased woman named Catherine Byot. We can wonder with good reason at this serious omission. The parish registers of the three churches of Joigny do not show a death entry for Catherine Byot. Did she die elsewhere? Was she abandoned by her husband in Joigny or elsewhere? Whatever the reason, Antoine did not judge it relevant to mention to either the notary or the pastor of Quebec that he had been previously married. Either his first wife was still living or he was incapable of rapidly producing a death certificate. In light of his pitiful demise, we cannot reject the theory that Antoine might have simply abandoned his first wife as a way out of difficulties in France.” - Antoine Roy and His Descendants in France and Canada, by Pierre Le Clercq, vice-chairman of the Société généalogique de l'Yonne
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