Process: Pierre Janson dit la Palme

The first Lapalme ancestor on Quebec soil was Pierre Janson dit la Palme. Janson was born in 1661 in St-Sulpice de Paris, Île-de-France, and died in Montreal on the 13th of February 1743. Master stone carver, mason and surveyor, Janson was known as "la Palme" for his habit of using the palm of his hand to measure the stone he needed to chisel.

Janson immigrated to New-France around 1687. On September 20 1688, he married François Couillard's widow Marie-Anne (Esther) Dannezé who had four children under her charge and a fifth married daughter living in Varennes. Having come to New-France in 1668 as a fille du roi, Marie-Anne died soon after giving birth to her first child with Janson. On the 29th of October 1698, he married the widow Madeleine Ursule Rancin and had another eight children. It is believed that she also died from the complications of childbirth. On the 26th of January 1704, he married Marie-Geneviève Pelletier who bore him fifteen children. Five of the sons who reached adulthood chose stone masonry as their livelihood: Christophe, Louis, Dominique, Charles and Philippe.