Here to Stay: Lives In 17th-Century Canada – The Memoir Network | RSS

A Firm Writing Resolution: You Will Not Regret Formulating One for 2026

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 18:10:43 +0000

Resolutions can be tricky—just an exercise in fooling yourself! But they can also be a dynamic trigger. In this post, I will share a writing resolution that paid off big for me. If you have not decided on New Year’s resolutions for your writing, it is a good time to choose priorities for the […]

How an Idea Becomes a Book

Denis Ledoux — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:05:57 +0000

This is how an idea becomes a book. ___ Every month (at 1 PM/ET, 12 CT, 11 MT, 10 PT), you can participate in a live memoir-writing workshop on ZOOM. Usually, it occurs on the third Thursday of the month, but in November, I will be traveling to give a book talk on the third […]

Book recommendation: “Here to Stay”

Denis Ledoux — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:52:43 +0000

[This review of my latest book was posted on Substack on October 20, 2025, by Jean Edouard Pouliot. Thank you profusely, Jean, for your support in publishing Book recommendation: “Here to Stay”.] [Jean’s text] I wanted to mention a wonderful new book by my friend, Denis Ledoux, who has been writing for years about the […]

The Making of Here to Stay

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 14:37:18 +0000

Until October 31, 2025, Here to Stay / Lives in 17th Century Canada is available with no S/H. Get your copy today. In 1995, I became intrigued with tracing my ancestry to the first of the Canadian colonists who bore my patronym. Who were these of my people who came to North America four and […]

Many disparities between women in early Canada and in New England

Denis Ledoux — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 20:22:54 +0000

[Jeanne Mance, founder of the first hospital in Montréal (the Hôtel-Dieu) and a key figure among the women in early Canada.] We want to believe that European settlement of North America was identical, but it wasn’t. The French and the English colonies established different patterns. The women in early Canada had a more public presence. […]

Telling the Past as It Probably Was!

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 05:15:10 +0000

My latest book is Here to Stay / Lives in 17th-Century Canada. In this post, I want to make clear that people then lived with different paradigms. It’s the only way I can explain things. Telling the past of New France was not easy. As I was writing Here to Stay, a story of my […]

Have You ever Written an Advance Review?

Denis Ledoux — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 18:23:03 +0000

Write an Advance Review of Here to Stay/Lives in 17th Century Canada. Thanks for stopping by! I need you help. Here to Stay/Lives in 17th Century Canada is about to launch into the world. Your advance review of Here to Stay will be an important element of its success. What is an advance review of […]

Filles du Roi / Daughters of the King: Marthe Quittel Comes for a Husband

Denis Ledoux — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:15:04 +0000

Among the eight filles du roi aboard the Marie-Thérèse who were coming to find husbands was a woman from Normandy, Marthe Quittel, a Protestant from Rouen. (more…)

Marriage in New France: Barthélémi and Marthe Wed

Denis Ledoux — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 15:34:29 +0000

As was the custom in the colony, the wedding was set for a date soon after the contract signing. These were exceptional times. Winter was just three months away, and if Barthélémi and Marthe were to survive the long, cold months at the new farm in Chateau-Richer, there was much to be done. Until she […]

Louis Ledoux and Marie Valiquet Marry

Denis Ledoux — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:45:11 +0000

During his first decade in Canada, Louis did not marry. While his friend Adrien Sénécal was growing a family, Louis remained single, paying (one presumes) the bachelor tax. In the early 1670s, Louis moved from one settlement to another, but, by the end of the decade, he had become an habitant in Varennes where he […]