Madeleine de Verchères
| Madeleine de Verchères | |
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Louis-Philippe Hébert's monument to Madeleine de Verchères at Verchères, Quebec in 1919
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| Born |
Marie-Madeleine Jarret de Verchères 3 March 1678 Verchères, New France |
| Died | 8 August 1747 (aged 69) Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, New France |
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Marie-Madeleine Jarret, known as Madeleine de Verchères (3 March 1678 – 8 August 1747) was a woman of New France (modern Quebec) credited with thwarting a raid on Fort Verchères when she was 14 years old.
François Jarret, of Saint-Chef in the department of Isère in France, joined the company of his uncle Antoine Pécaudy de Contrecœur to battle the Iroquois in New France (see Beaver Wars). They arrived there in August 1665, and on 17 September 1669 Jarret married the twelve-year-old Marie Perrot in Île d’Orléans. He was awarded a land grant on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River on 29 October 1672 in a seigneury called Verchères, and thereafter continued to increase his land holdings. The couple was to have twelve children, the fourth of whom was Marie-Madeleine, born in Verchères on 3 March 1678 and baptised that 17 April.
The seigneury underwent periodic Iroquois raids. In 1690 the matron of Verchères took command of a successful defense against an Iroquois assault on the stockade there. By 1692 the Iroquois had killed the Jarrets' son François-Michel and two successive husbands of their daughter Marie-Jeanne.
In the late 1600s the Iroquois mounted attacks on the settlers of New France, looting and burning their homes. On 22 October 1692 Madeleine's parents left the fort on business and to gather winter supplies. Madeleine and her brothers and sisters stayed at the fort. Now fourteen, Madeleine was in charge of the fort, with one very old man (Laviolette) and 2 soldiers.
One morning, some settlers left the fort to tend to the fields along with eight soldiers. Madeleine was in the cabbage garden, quite close to the fort. Suddenly, the Iroquois descended on the settlers. The men, caught off guard, tried to flee to safety. But the Iroquois were too quick for them and they were easily caught and carried off. Madeleine, working only 200 paces from the fort, had a head start on the Iroquois that were chasing her. One Iroquois caught up to her and grabbed her by her kerchief which she quickly untied, then Madeleine ran into the fort shouting, "Aux armes! Aux armes!" (To arms)
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