Olivier Le Tardif (1602-1665)
Olivier Le Tardif is undoubtedly the ancestor of the vast majority of Tardif families in America. Numerous short biographies have been published about him, most of them inspired by the works of Monsignor Gosselin and A. Ducharme. Here is another brief summary of Olivier Le Tardif’s life, based on previous and recent research.
Jacques Tardif (1645-1724)
Jacques Tardif was born on March 22, 1645, in Saint-Candé-le-Vieil, in the archdiocese of Rouen, France. He was the son of Pierre Tardif and Barbe Bourguignon. His name appears in the 1666 and 1667 censuses, and he lived on Île d’Orléans, where he worked. On October 6, 1669, at Notre-Dame Church in Québec, he married Barbe d’Orange, daughter of Pantaléon and Jeanne Nepveu, originally from Saint-Saturnin, in the diocese of Chartres, in Orléanais.
Jean Tardif (1707-1740)
Jean Tardif is the ancestor of another branch of the Tardif family in Canada. He was originally from Saint-Nicolas de La Rochelle in Aunis (Charente-Inférieure). It is worth noting that La Rochelle was a key hub for outfitting expeditions and recruiting settlers for the Québec community and the Company of New France. La Rochelle likely contributed the largest group of settlers—around 600—to New France.
Pierre-Auguste Tardiff (1852 – 1889)
Pierre-Auguste Tardif was born in 1852 and married Françoise Bodet around 1874, probably in the Juigné-les-Moutiers region in France, where he passed away on January 5, 1889. His death record states: « On the sixth day of January 1889, the body of Pierre Tardif, husband of Marie Bodet, who passed away yesterday in Haut-Breil at the age of 36, was buried by us, the undersigned priest, in the presence of Jean Esnault and François Hervé, who declared they could not sign. »
Jean-Baptiste Tardif
The exact origins of this branch of the Tardif families remain unknown. During the marriage of Jean-Baptiste Tardy and Léocadie Marin in Rimouski on August 20, 1833, the priest of Saint-Germain de Rimouski parish did not mention the groom’s parents in the civil registry, as required. This omission is often significant and suggests an unusual circumstance that was deliberately left undisclosed. Here is the full marriage record:
Edouard Bélanger dit Tardif
The origins of another group of Tardif descendants remain unclear. This lineage traces back to Edouard Bélanger, who married Olympe Portuguais on January 28, 1845. This Edouard Bélanger was buried under the name Edouard Tardif on March 29, 1859.
Nicolas Tardy
Nicolas Tardy, originally from France, was a miller and owned a flour mill in the Roman district, Péage canton, in the Drôme region. Married to Philomène Audrapt, they had at least six children.