Esther SUREAU dite BLONDIN (1809-1890)

Born in 1809 on her father’s farm on Côte Terrebonne in the city of the same name, Esther BLONDIN lived like other female children of her era. She learned the chores necessary to become a good wife & homemaker.

At age 20, she was hired as a domestic for a village merchant. Soon afterward, she accepted a similar job at the convent of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame (CND), who staffed the local school. It is thanks to the sisters that Esther learned to read & write, knowledge that was not deemed essential by her parents for a daughter. Eventually, Esther entered the community of the CND sisters having been attracted by the lifestyle of the Sisters for whom she worked. She had to leave the novitiate because of illness. Esther then met a former CND novice, who had opened a school in Vaudreuil, QC where she began her teaching career.

In 1850, with the encouragement of the Montréal clergy, Esther founded the Roman Catholic religious teaching community of the Sisters of Saint Anne. As a nun, she was known as Sister Marie-Anne. Esther died in 1890 at the Mother House of the Sisters in Lachine, QC.

Female founders of religious communities in Québec did not have an easy life. Like all women of their era, the sisters were subject to the clergy, who regulated every aspect of their daily life even though they were quite capable of administering schools, hospitals and other social institutions. Despite their abilities, the Sisters were looked upon by the all-male clergy as “inferior” beings, who must be “guided” at all times by the watchful authority of men.

Hence, it may be worth your while to read one or more biographies of such women in QC as Esther BLONDIN. Such reading will bear witness to the influence that the Roman Catholic Church had upon the life of our ancestors in QC during the 17th, 18th & early 19th centuries.

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SUREAU dit BLONDIN
(1)
Jacques SUREAU
Honorée POULLET
Poitou (Vienne) FRANCE
(2)
Hilaire SUREAU dit BLONDIN
Louise PARADIS
1691-06-18
Québec City, QC
(3)
Pierre SUREAU dit BLONDIN
Agnès LEDOUX
1723-05-18
Montréal, QC
Catherine PETITCLERC
1745-01-07
Terrebonne, Terrebonne County, QC
(4)
Jean-Baptiste SUREAU dit BLONDIN
Thérèse MARIÉ
1778-02-02
Terrebonne, Terrebonne County, QC
(5)
Jean-Baptiste SUREAU dit BLONDIN
Marie-Rose LIMOGES
1804-10-08
Laval, Île-Jésus County, QC
(6)
Esther BLONDIN
(1809-1890)