Great Warrior and leader, Roch Manitoueabeouich was baptized as a Catholic with the Christian name "Roch", and his Abenaki First Nations wife, Outchibahanouk Banoukoueou. Roch Manitoueabeouich was Born in a village on the shores of the Huron Lake around 1599. For many years he served as guide, and interpreter for Olivier Letardif, setting up fur trading posts for Samuel Champlain's company in the early years of the "New France". There is a posibility that Roch is Ojibwa and not Huron; Roch may have been adopted by a Christian Algonquin band such as the Weskarinis. Sometime between 1636 and 1639, he entrusted his daughter, Ouchistauichkoue, to His good friend Olivier Letardif to be schooled by Ursuline nuns, and raised as a French girl in a good French family. She Was Given the Christian name of Marie Sylvestre (Olivier for her Godfather, Sylvestre as child of the forest and Marie to please the catholic priest). When the girl was almost fifteen years old, she was married to Letardif's good friend Martin Prevost. Roch and his wife, settled with a Huron band at Sillery. His wife who was from the Abenaki band camped along the Bécancour River in 1602  

“Oueou” Outchibahanoukoueou  : It is said she was, born in about 1602, to an *Abenaki band living along the Bécancour River, Quebec. Oral histories, Jesuit Relations, historians, and others indicate that she is claimed as an ancestor by many Abenaki tribal members. As the wife of a Great Warrior and leader Roch Manitouabeouich. [*Abenaki peoples: As the white people encroached upon them, the Abenaki gradually withdrew from the coast of Maine, USA to New France (today Canada) and chiefly settled at Bécancour and Sillery, the latter being afterward abandoned by them for St. Francis, near Pierreville, Quebec. The Abenaki formed an early attachment for the French, chiefly through the influence of the missionaries, and carried on an almost constant war with the English until the fall of French power in America   

The tale of Marie Olivier Sylvestre and Martin Prevost is one that is weaved throughout the history of many Metis people of today.  The drive and ambition of the French court for wealth and land, the ambitious striving of the Company of 100 Associates, and the passion of the Church for converts began a legacy that resounds through the halls of history to this very day painting the family tree of Metis people across Canada and the World. 

For more of my Great Grandmother 12th generation story, please visit 

 https://www.omfrc.org/2016/12/marie-olivier-sylvestre-special-name-history 

It is in Sillery that Roch meets Outchibahanoukoueou (often referred to as Oueou).  Oueou was a young Abenaki woman.  Many of the Abenaki people who had lived along the Becancour River had made their way into Quebec as their territory and resources were destroyed by encroaching settlements, and they were further pushed out by the warring Iroquois.  Oueou is an ancestor claimed by many Abenaki people, and was born along the Becancour River around 1602-1606.  It is believed by many that the couple married at Sillery, but there is no official record of their marriage.  Roch and Oueou carried on their lives until the arrival of their first child, Marie Sylvestre Olivier.  Unbeknownst to them at the time, this very special little girl would come to hold a unique place in Canadian history, and be an important fountainhead to many Métis families from this region.

Her life was quite well documented, and we will discuss Marie, her life, and why she is such an important part of not only Métis history, but the history of Canada.

For much more information on the Historical Events and About my Great Grandmother Ancestor Marie Olivier Sylvestre (Ousibiskounesout Manitoubeouich) please follow this link https://www.omfrc.org/2016/11/church-company-special-child