The Personal Life of Michel de Gannes

Michel de Gannes had an interesting first relationship in Louisbourg. In 1727, De Gannes became a regular visitor at the house of Pierre Carrerot, where he spent time with Carrerot's daughter, Marie-Anne, a widow of a former officer. During 1727 and 1728 Michel de Gannes visited the widow so much so that her parents began to think of him as a perspective son-in-law. This was a common assumption for the time because when a man spent so much time with a woman in the eighteenth century it was believed that he had intentions of marriage. Their relationship soon developed into more than a friendship and in June of 1728 Marie-Anne Carrerot realized that she was pregnant. De Gannes assured Marie-Anne that he was a man of his honour and that she had nothing to fear. With this promise made she waited patiently for him to make arrangements for marriage.

When Marie-Anne was well into her fifth month of pregnancy, realizing that De Gannes had done nothing about the marriage, she sought help from the governor and parish priest. Each offered their support and sympathies but they could do nothing to persuade the officer to marry her. Seeking consolation for his daughter's pain and humiliation, Pierre Carrerot took his daughter's predicament to the Conseil Supérieur and asked that Michel de Gannes be fined 10 000 livres. His claim for asking this amount was not only to compensate Marie-Anne for her loss of honour and forthcoming child care expenses, but to set an example that says that this type of deception would not be tolerated in the colony. The courts decided in Marie-Anne's favour in saying that all future child care expenses would be paid by Michel de Gannes. Also the infant would carry De Gannes name. On May 21, 1729, Marie-Anne had a daughter who was named Michelle Anne de Gannes. It is unknown what happened to the child.

It was not long before De Gannes was keeping company with another woman, Elisabeth de Catalogne, daughter of Gédéon de Catalogne and Marie-Anne Lemire. De Gannes had full intentions of marrying this woman and on November 14, 1730, only a year and a half after the birth of his illegitimate daughter, de Gannes and Catalogne went to the parish church to be married. The couple were prevented from being married on this day by Marie-Anne Carrerot. She interrupted the ceremony and submitted a formal complaint against the marriage of De Gannes to Catalogne. The complaint stated that if De Gannes were to marry, it should rightfully be Carrerot since he had fathered her child. The Conseil Supérieur reviewed Carrerot's argument with sympathy but decided in favour of De Gannes as it was his decision whom he chose to marry. Exactly one week later, on November 21, Michel de Gannes and Elisabeth de Catalogne were married. Of this marriage, came seven children.