From 1959 and for 6 years, as a novice nun, Joan of Arc House in Ottawa was Claire’s home, so it was not an easy decision to leave it behind. Her father picked her up on March 25th, 1965, and 2 days later she began teaching Grade 1 in Richmond, Quebec. She never regretted her decision. She retired from teaching in 1998, her last teaching position being in Pierrefonds. 

Claire is the 8th generation on her mother’s side of the family to reside in Pointe Claire

Her 7th great grandmother Anne Heard was born in 1681 in Dover, New Hampshire. Anne was abducted twice by the Abenaki, the first time in 1690, but was rescued quickly. 

The second time was in 1692, when she was 11 years old, during the Candlemas Massacre, when 73 people were taken prisoner and the Abenaki kept Anne for a year. She was then brought to Montreal and purchased by a gunsmith named Pierre Prud’homme and his wife, Anne Chales, whom she lived with as a servant.

She married in 1705 to Sebastian Laviolette a weaver, in Notre Dame Church. He started buying land outside of the city gates of Montreal, and in 1707 he bought a parcel of land in what is now known as Valois Bay. 

They moved into their new home in 1714.  Today that land would be near Baie de Valois Street, towards the west of the Valois Bay. The land faced the water, and the house was built on the north side of the Chemin de Roy.  This was the same year that the Chemin de Roy was opened, now Bord du Lac/ Lakeshore Road. 

Their lives were not without heartache, between 1711 and 1720 they witnessed the deaths of seven of their children. Anne’s 11th child, Jacques was born in 1723. Only the first 3 children and Jacques survived to adulthood. 

In 1728 Sebastian died at the age of 49, leaving Anne financially stable. Three years later she married Claude Picard at St. Joachim Church, in Pointe Claire. Claude died in 1739 and Anne lived with her youngest son Jacques until she died on January 2nd, 1750, at the age of 69. She is buried in Pointe Claire. 

Contributed by Claire Lindell, who contributes to a website with a group of friends in Montreal, Quebec who meet on a regular basis to discuss genealogy research and brick walls. genealogyensemble.com