Rene Alexandre LeMoyne

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Rene Alexandre LeMoyne (1668–December 21, 1727) was born to Jean LeMoyne and Marie Madeleine de Chavigny in Quebec City.

In 1704, when he was 36, he asked for Barbe Margane de La Valtrie's hand in marriage. She accepted and the announcement was already published when Rene backed out. Barbe's mother brought the affair in front of a tribunal in the name of her daughter. The ruling of October 25, 1704 ordered Rene to pay the sum of 600 pounds to the young girl. Barbe married Etienne de Bragelongue fifteen years later.

He married on 2 February 1712, in Montreal, on his certificate are the names : Chavalier Claude de Ramezay (Governor of the Island of Montreal), Alexis de Fleury (Conseiller du Roi) and Louis D'Ailleboust (Escuyer (Squire), Sieur d'Argenteuil). At this time his title was Sieur des Pins et Seigneur de Ste. Marie.

He migrated towards Montreal where the center of fur trade activity was. The voyagers would leave from Montreal towards the "High Country". He acquired an arriere-fief on Ile St Joseph, in the seigneury of Boucherville (an island just off the eastern part of the island of Montreal) on October 12, 1702. In the book Vie de Madame Youville he is described as "an honest bourgeois that lives off the product of his land".

A document of July 9, 1717 called him Sieur des Pins de Boucherville; and mentioned him returning from a trip by canoe to Montreal after having successfully concluded his treaty, which doubtless was in connection with the fur trade in which he was engaged. There are also notarized documents that indicate he was involved in land management and fur trade.

He was Captain of the Militia and also was involved in the fur trade. The Captain of the Militia was responsible to execute the orders of the Governor and Intendant of the Colony. They were not only involved in military aspects where they enrolled and drilled all capable of war, but were involved in recruitment and the establishment of public works such as road making.

He also worked in the fur trade, documents cite expeditions that were sponsored to Outaouais (the Ottawa Indians) and the Michilimackinac. (I think this is the Makinaw Indians).

In 1732 (* date erroneously cited in text of Roger LeMoine, as he died in 1727) he formed a partnership with the Governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay. He was also one of the five stockholders of the Compagnie de la Nord (n.b. this indicates possible involvement with the Longueil family as Pierre d'Iberville was also involved with this company).

Popular myth cites trading with the Indians as the exchange of trinkets, beads and alcohol for commodities, this may be so in certain regions, but in New France bartering was competitive. It was done mostly through the Huron and Ottawa Indians that acted as middlemen between the tribes of further North and West. The Indians knew the value of their furs and would often let the prices rise as there was also demand in the North (Hudson Bay) and South (American colonies). They would demand quality goods of metal, kettles, tools and guns for themselves and their suppliers.

He died on 21 December 1727, according to the death registry of Boucherville, where he is buried.

Extract of The Registry of Baptismes, Marriages and Graves, of the Parish of the Tres Sainte Famille, of Boucherville, Chambly County, Quebec, the year of 1727:

Ce vingt unieme jour de decembre mil sept cent vingt-sept a ete inhume par monsieur J. Isambard, cure de Longeuil, Rene le Moine sieur des pins capitaine de milice de cette paroisse de Boucherville, age d'environ cinquante-huit ans. Pressens: frere louis, maitre d'ecole, et moy cure soussigne.

J. le Tessier, Cure de Boucherville

J. Isambard, Cure de Longeuil

Frere Louis

His children include: Rene, Jean Baptiste I, Ignance, Marie Anne, Jacques Joseph, Marie Marguerite, Marguerite Therese, Elizabeth, Antoine, Jean Baptiste II and Marie Catherine.