Jacques Diel and Marie Anne Crepin

JACQUES DIEL, born 02 FEB 1693 in Laprairie, Quebec, was the son of Charles Diel and Marie Anne Picard. He had eight or nine siblings including a brother, born 2 MAR 1683, also named Jacques, of whom little is known. Jacques worked in the Montreal area as a blacksmith and taillandier, an artisan or craftman who makes sharp edged tools for farmers. He died 23 SEP 1745 in Pointe aux Trembles, Montreal.

MARIE ANNE CREPIN, daughter of Claude Crepin and Marie Vaudry, was born 26 JUL 1695 in Montreal. She married Jacques Diel 13 JUL 1715 in Bout de L'Ile, Montreal.

Jacques Diel and Marie Anne Crepin had eighteen (18) children of which seven died in infancy or early childhood. Another five died between the ages of seventeen and thirty-three. Marie had a child every year but one between 1716 and 1731 and three more thereafter. Although this might be an extreme case, New France had a high infant mortality rate that was accepted as a hard fact of life to be counterbalanced only by an uncontrolled birth rate.

No birth is recorded for 1729; but if Marie had a miscarriage or still-birth, it would not have been recorded.The church would not have kept a record unless the child had been baptized. The same is true of the other years up until her last child was born in 1740. This means that the infant mortality rate was even higher than records indicate.

The conditions in colonial New France provided a miserable environment for those that survived the womb. The short growing season and harsh winters meant that fresh fruit and vegetables were not available. People, especially women and children, stayed indoors for much of the winter with little exposure to sunlight. Deficiency diseases resulted to which growing children were particularly succeptible. With death and disease such common ingredients of everyday life, it's not hard to imagine that severe mental depression must have been widespread. Even today people are said to suffer the "winter blues" or "cabin fever" when winter brings shorter days and subdued sunlight.

Scientists who recently studied bones exhumed from Quebec cemeteries that were used from 1691 through 1844 discovered that the population in general endured poor health due to improper diets. Rickets and anemia claimed many of the children. The poor diet must also have resulted in a weakened immune system and increased succeptibility to infectious diseases which were common due to the lack of sanitation.

Childbirth itself resulted in death for many women who were undernourished. Deformed pelvic girdles prevented normal delivery. Anemia and repeated pregnancies taxed women's health to the point of failure. Fetuses could not develop to full potential in an undernourished mother. The period after weaning and the transition to an inadequate diet is when malnutrition took a heavy toll on infants.

For all the pain, suffering, and disappointment that women like Marie Anne Crepin had to endure, it's likely that the process of natural selection produced hardy survivors who were inherently endowed with the ability to survive under adverse conditions.


Children of Jacques Diel and Marie Anne Crepin


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