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Jean Houymet was a native of Vrigny, which has been described as a small village of 180 inhabitants, located three miles to the southwest of Theims in Champagne.

On his marriage contract with Renee Gagnon, signed on Sunday, October 3, 1660, in the presence of Claude Aubert (Notary Public and Clerk of the Seigniory of Beaupre), the following is found:

Present, in their persons, were on the one hand, Jean Houymet, son and Heir of Nicolas Houymet and Perette Nicayse, his Father and Mother from the parish of Vrigny, Archdiocese of Rheims; and on the other hand, Renee Gognon, daughter of Jean Gagnon and Marguerite Cauchon, her Father and Mother, inhabitants of this Seigniory.

As for the church record of the wedding, this document has not been found. It is important to note, however that before 1661, missionaries were the ones who kept the reocrds at Notre-Dame in Quebec, and who served the areas of Chateau-Richer and Beaupre. Would they have gorgotten to register the marriage. This is entirely likey. given that the notarized marriage contract states: "The marriage will be done and accomplished, God willing, in the sight of Our Mother the Holy Apostolic, Catholic and Roman Catholic Church as son as possible.

Jean Houymet was born in 1634, since he was fifty-three years old when he died on November 18, 1687, in the parish of Sainte- Famille on the Ilde d'Orleans, where he was buried. He wife, Renee Gagnon was born in the region and was baptized on April 8, 1643 in the Notre Dame parish of Quebec. There is no information concerning her death, except for the fact hat it occured after she made a donation to Quebec's General Hospital on April 13, 1695, and before the marriage of her first son Jean to Marie on November 22, 1702, the record of which states that Renee was Dead.

Our ancestor's presence in New France can be traced, at the earliest, to Saturday, November 8, 1659, when he, Guillaume Thibault and Marie magdeleine LeFrancois signed a contract, in the presence of Notary Public Claude Aubert, for the purchase of some land.

There is also no document certifying Jean Houymet's exact arrival date in New France. It seems likely, however, that he arrived in 1659, given that there is no reocrded trace of him before November 8, 1859. Based on the opinion of Mr. J. Roland Auger, Genealogist emeritus in charge of the National Archives in Quebec, the following is a possibility:

That your ancestor should have arrived here in 1659 is entirely possible, for the first Canadian contract that mentions him dates from november 8, 1659. As you know, he would have come on the ship "Abraham's Sacrifice (Le Scrifice d'Abraham), which was carrying 300 casks (Clerk Charbonnier, March 14, 1659), and which arrived here in 1659. The ship's list of passengers has been lost. The only other vessel that came to Quebec that year was the "Sainte Andre", which was also carrying 300 casks, and was reserved for Montreal recruits, whose history was written by Father Archange Godbout.

There is thus no mistake about the name of the ship, unless of course, we should find a mention of Jean Ouimet dating before 1659.