Pierre was born in the heart of Paris, in the parish of St-Germain de l'Auxerrois, sometime around 1637, the son of Nicolas Nolan and Michelle Perrier who had married sometime around 1624. Given the timeframe, location and the obviously Irish surname "Nolan", Pierre is likely to have been the grandson of an Irish emigrant who fled to France around 1603 as part of what came to be known as the "Flight of the Earls" following the defeat of the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale.
In 1663 when we find Pierre in Quebec city he held the post of Artillery Commissioner in the French military and had business interests in both France and New France, i.e. in Paris as a merchant and in Quebec city as a "cabaretier" (cabaret owner). He must also have distinguished himself militarily since he bore the title of "Chevalier" (Sir/Knight).
More Information on Pierre, Catherine and children:
Pierre Nolan married Catherine Houart in Quebec city on January 18, 1663, and later that year seems to have sailed back to France with her. The following Spring, their first child, Marie-Michelle, was born on March 30, 1664, in La Rochelle and baptized a few days later in the St. Bathélemy church. Given that Pierre and Catherine's second child, Jean-Baptiste, was born on July 6, 1666, onboard a ship bound for Quebec city, it would appear that Pierre and Catherine spent their first couple of years together in France before returning to Quebec city.
Like Pierre, Catherine Houart seems to also have been a descendant of an Irish emigrant who fled to France after the Battle of Kinsale. Both her parents, Thomas Houart (sic Howard) and Nicole Guerout, were born in Rouen, France, around 1605 and she herself was born in Torcy-le-Grand (St-Ribert), Seine-Maritime, France. Catherine had also previously been married to a Guillaume Legeay-Desmares.
Pierre and Catherine appear to have lived most of their married life in the lower-town area of Quebec city where they had an inn. All their children married into fur-trading families and in time their grandson, Charles Nolan Lamarque, son of Jean-Baptiste, became one of Montreal’s most important fur merchants, reputed to have sent the most voyageurs to the west and the farthest.
Children of PIERRE NOLAN and CATHERINE HOUART:
Marie Michelle Nolan (1664-1730) m. Louis de LAPORTE de LOUVIGNY (c1657-1725), a fur trader, in Quebec city in 1688; they had the following children:
Jean/Jean-Baptiste Nolan (1666-bef.1717) m. Marie Anne LAMARQUE (c1668-1744) in Montreal in 1688 and became a well-known fur merchant; Marie Anne was the daughter of Jacques and Marie POURNIN de LAFAIX, a fur-trading family, and seems to have followed her husband on his fur-trading expeditions. After Jean-Baptiste died sometime before 1717, she remarried at Fort Detroit, marrying the Captain of the Company that had built the fort, that is Alphonse de TONTY de Paludy (1650/59-1727).
Children of JEAN-BAPTISTE NOLAN and MARIE-ANNE LAMARQUE:
Charles Henri (Urbant) Nolan (1694-1754) m. Marie Jeanne LEGARDEUR de St-Pierre de Repentigny in Montreal in 1727; Marie-Anne was the daughter of a fur trader, Jean-Paul Legardeur, Sieur de St-Pierre, and Marie-Josephe Leneuf de Lavallière. In time, Charles became one of the biggest financiers of the French fur trade in the decades preceding the takeover of New France by the English in 1759.
Charles-Urbant (bet.1728-1730)...
Jacques-Marie (bet.1728-1730)...
François-Amable(bet.1728-1730)...
Jean-Marie Nolan, sieur de Lamarque, a younger brother of the better known Charles Nolan, joined the French military becoming a lieutenant in 1717, then a captain in 1719; in 1720, he was the French commander at the Battle of Pensacola. By 1725, he had switched his interests to the fur trade and we find him at Fort Detroit on his way out west as a voyageur in the company of his wife Marie Navarre. In the late 1730s, we also find him accompanying his brother Charles and the French explorer Sieur de LaSalle on their expedition to Mandan country in present-day North Dakota.
Marie-Louise/Louise-Suzanne Nolan (c1701-1782) m. Charles François de MÉZIÈRES de L'ÉPERVANCHE at Fort Detroit in 1727
Nicolas-Augustin Nolan (1705-????) went on fur expeditions to the west.
Catherine Nolan (c1668-1746) m. Mathieu François MARTIN de LINO in Quebec city in 1685; they lived in Quebec city and had the following children:
Catherine(c1688-1740) m. Jean François HAZEUR in Quebec city in 1708
Jean François m. Marie Angelique CHARTIER de LOTBINIÈRE in Quebec city in 1712
Geneviève (c1699-1738) m. Gaspard ADHÉMAR in Quebec city in 1720
Jean Marc m. Marie Anne PEYRAN in La Rochelle (St. Jean-de-Perrot), France, in 1721
Charles m. Rose PEYRAN in La Rochelle (St. Barthélemy), France, in 1717/1722
Thierry Nolan, born in Quebec city in 1671, is believed to have gone on fur-trading and exploration expeditions to the west. In 1725, at Fort Detroit, we find a Louis Thierry Nolan, born in 1695, who was on his way out west as a voyageur. The latter may have been a son of Thierry.
Anne Nolan (1674-1703) m. François DEJORDY (c1666-1726), a fur trader, in Montreal in 1696; they had the following children:
Catherine (1702-1755) m. Michel MOÈTE dit MORASSE in Trois-Rivières in 1726
Marie Anne m. Louis Hector LEFOURNIER DUVIVIER in St-Sulpice, Quebec, in 1720
