Jehan Lampron
The most distant ancestor that we know is Jehan Laspron, grandfather of Jean Laspron who emigrated to Quebec in 1665 as a soldier in the Carignan-Salières Regiment.  

Jehan Laspron - b. 1570
Our earliest known ancestor

                   Basilique Nôtre Dame

By the time of the French Revolution only a dozen monks remained in the priory, which was sold to private individuals and preserved. Today, La Charité sur Loire is officially recognized by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as part of France's legacy from the past, and their cultural heritage.

The sixteenth century in Europe was a time of unprecedented change. It was the beginning of the modern era, and it saw a revolution in almost every aspect of life. The century opened with the discovery of a new continent.

Jehan Laspron was born in the year 1570 in La Charité sur Loire, a small commune in the Nièvre department in central France.. The town of  La Charité sur Loire is populated by only 5,500 inhabitants, and was developed around a priory built by monks from Cluny on the right bank of the river Loire, between Nevers and Orléans.  The Order of Cluny also built  two churches, the big Notre-Dame's church, which was consecrated by Pope Pascal II on 9 March 1107, and the smaller St. Laurent's church.

Baker by profession

Jehan was a baker by trade. All the village baking would be done in either a communal oven or by the village baker. During the Middle Ages, bakers were a highly respected profession. It was common for each landlord to have a bakery, which was actually more of a public oven. Housewives of tenant farmers would bring dough that they had prepared to the baker, who would use the oven to bake it into bread. Tenant farmers were men who leased land from rich property owners and paid rent with either crops or money earned from the sale of crops. In the 1600's there was a tax on everything. Farmers had to pay rent to landlords, they were charged for use of the mill, bakery and winepress. If they wanted to trade land with someone, they were taxed on that as well. Access to the court system was questionable and full of fees and commissions.

Peasants often lived by bread alone 2 pounds a day if they were lucky. The bread was dark, a mixture of wheat and rye flour. They also ate peas and beans, wine, beer and sometimes skimmed milk. Medical treatment was little more than guesswork, and totally out of reach of the poor. Epidemics of dysentery, smallpox and typhus occurred regularly. Water supplies were contaminated. Bathing (once feared as a method of spreading diseases) was rare.                 
 

In 1590, life had become difficult for the common people everywhere in Europe. The weather had been cold and wet for three years and there have been at least three bad harvests in a row. The League warfare has destroyed transportation and food supplies. Bread is scarce and prices of food, fuel, and housing are high, while wages are low. The costs of war and the huge national debt have meant that taxes are also high. There have been peasant uprisings in some provinces, sometimes with Huguenots and Catholics alike uniting against the nobility. The effects of war have been so severe in Northern France that two-thirds of the population of Picardy are widows and orphans. The Spanish are still pressing hard against the northern border and these are bleak times, but Henri's leadership offers France some hope for the future.

Before he reached the age of twenty, Jehan Laspron married Marguerite Fiteau in La Charité sur Loire around 1589.  They had 11 children from 1590 to 1614, all born in the parish of St Jacques de La Charite sur Loire: Jacquette, Frances, Jeanne, Anne, Peter, Francis, Mary, Jean, Estienne, Jacques and Louis.

Next: The story of Jean Laspron, born 1611 g
He would be our next ancestor in our ancestry line of decent.
 

Jean Laspron b. 1611 - Timeline

 

Jean Laspron b. 1611 g