Pierre Payet dit St Amour

Pierre Payet dit St Amour

Was a corporal in Carignan-Salières Regiment arriving in June 1665. More details of his life can be found in https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Payet-4

The battle of Rivière-des-Prairies at the Grou coulée

Cpl. Pierre Payette/Payet dit Saint-Amour,taken prisoner by the Onondagas 2 July 1690 in an attack on Coulee fort. He was freed and returned to Point-aux-trembles,Montreal,1693. He was the only survivor of the battle of Coulee Fort.

Pierre Payet dit St.-Amour, from whom you descend, had a heroic adventure, which memory is recalled by a monument at the Pointe-aux-Trembles.*

The tourist who walks on the eastern point of the Ile-de-Montreal, at the place where the Boulevard Gouin curves to the south in order to join the Notre Dame street, notice between the road that he follows and the waters of the river of the Prairies, on the bank of the deep gulch which was called two and a half centuries ago and is still called “la coulee Grou, a monument erected by the Commission of Historical Sites and Monuments of Canada.

If you happen to pass by that place, we suggest to you to do as we have done: get out of your car and read on the face of this monument one of the most moving pages of the history of Canada. This reading is yet more interesting for you than for the ordinary traveler because you would see there the history of one of your ancestors, and you can tell yourself that you are treading the soil that he preserved for future generations.

The inscription which you will see on the facade of this monument is as follows: The 2 July 1690, Mr. de Colombet, at the head of 25 men, attacked 100 Iroquois near here. He was killed with 9 of his soldiers, as well as 30 enemies. Jean Grou, owner of this farm, and 3 of his companions were captured by the savages and burned alive. Joseph Lajeunesse, descendant of Jean Grou, gave the piece of ground and the stones for this monument.

This inscription, by its concise style, is quite eloquent and dispenses with all commentary.

The registers of Pointe aux Trembles of Montreal, on the date of 2 November 1694, completes the history of the battle and gives us the names of those who were killed, those who were burned by the savages, and the one who was captured by the savages and afterwards liberated: the last is your ancestor, Pierre Payet.

Reproduced here word for word the parish register of the Pointe-aux-Trembles, on the date of 2 Nov. 1694: The 2nd of July 1690, the Iroquois killed at the tip of the Island, near the coulee of Jean Grou, Mr. Colombe, former lieutenant, Joseph de Montenon Lord of the rue, that the enemies burned the same day behind the fort of La Chenaye (Lachine), Guillaume Richard dit Lafleur, our lieutenant of the militia, Jean Jalot, our surgeon. Jean Delpue dit Parisot, Joseph Carrier dit Larose, Jean Raynaud dit Planchar burned by the Onieouts with Jean Grou, and the Bohemian in the presence of Father Millet, Jean Beaudoin, son, Pierre Masta, and an employee of the great Bauchant by name Pierre Payet dit St. Amour was captured in the attack and taken prisoner the 2 July 1690, he was given to the Onieouts who spared his life, so we asked father Millet to come over in the month of February 1691 of Onieout where also his life is spared.

Le dit St.-Amour is returned to the fort in 1693.

As we very much feared the Iroquois, we quickly buried the bodies of those who had been killed at the same time, at the location where the massacre took place; it was until the 2nd of Nov. 1694 that we removed their remains to the cemetery, where we buried them in the presence of nearly all the parishioners.

As we can see by the above excerpt from the register of the Pointe-aux-Trembles, four of the combatants of the coulee Grou were taken prisoner by the Iroquois, and three of them were burned alive. Our forefather, Pierre Payet, alone was spared. Nevertheless, it is without doubt that before he was to obtain this mercy to be subjected as his companions to all kinds of torture during the journey to the land of Iroquois and during the first few days of his captivity.

In the registers of the Pte.-aux-Trembles, on the date of the 9th Jan. 1691, we find the record of the baptism of Claude, a son of your ancestor, Pierre Payet dit St.-Amour. The child is designated posthumous, because it was supposed at that time his father was massacred by the Onieouts. He remained a prisoner for three years, as we have stated earlier, after which he was liberated. He still lived long years and it was only in 1719 that this hero was to die peacefully of the first period of the colonie.

*Eastern tip of the island of Montreal, Canada, near where the River des Prairies flows into the St. Lawrence River. In 2014 visit to discover this monument, I found that it is no longer there. However, there was a park on the eastern side of the island, between Rue Bellerive and the St. Lawrence River, from 81st Avenue to 92nd Avenue, called Pierre-Payet Park. It is no longer marked at the park, but it is visible on and named Pierre-Payet Park by Google Maps.

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An editor .... Septentrion ......... www.septentrion.qc.ca ....... decided to publish his most interesting work, on the Iroquois Indians, under the title of IROQUOISIE, all in 4 volumes. In the fourth volume … While leafing through this book I saw that there was also a question of a certain Pierre Payet dit St-Amour ... and as I had read the Ahnentafel files that you had sent me by email, I recognized the same individual, here is what the book says about this Pierre Payet called St-Amour:

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page 152 .... Thus, towards the end of June 1693, an Onneiout, named Tareha, arrived in Montreal as an ambassador. He is accompanied by a freed French prisoner named St-Amour, Probably Pierre Payet dit St-Amour, captive of the Iroquois for 4 years. The latter had been captured at Pointe-aux-Trembles. The release of a prisoner is ordinarily for Indians and Iroquois the means of entering into negotiations. Tareha says he comes at the behest of Father Millet who, although virtually a prisoner, exercises all the weight of his influence for peace. He wants us to ask him in exchange for St-Amour, an Onneiout of his parents who is a prisoner at the St-François-Xavier mission. (It s' Tareha is immediately taken to Quebec, where he soon sees the governor. He offers symbolic gifts. The Onneiouts, they say, are in favor of peace. But they dare not send an embassy because they fear an irritated father. But Tahera told the other tribes that he was coming to New France for an arrangement. The peace offer actually comes from the three main Onneiut clans. The messenger absolutely limits the offer he brings and it seems that there is no ambiguity about his words ...................... ..