Jacques Tardif was born on March 22, 1645, in Saint-Candé-le-Vieil, 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 resided on Île d’Orléans, where he worked. On October 6, 1669, at Notre-Dame Church in Quebec, he married Barbe d’Orange, daughter of Pantaléon and Jeanne Nepveu, originally from Saint-Saturnin, diocese of Chartres, in Orléanais. She was probably born in 1637, as she was recorded as being 44 years old in the 1681 census. She passed away on September 14 and was buried the next day, September 15, 1717, in Beauport at the age of 79. Jacques Tardif died and was buried on November 3, 1724, in Beauport, also at the age of 79.
Several notarized documents in his name indicate transactions he made throughout his life. For example, he signed his marriage contract on September 28, 1669, before notary Romain Becquet. On June 2, 1667, he received a land grant from Bishop Laval in Saint-Jean on Île d’Orléans. On September 22, 1668, Joseph Lemarié transferred a concession of twenty acres of land to him, and he received a concession from Letardif in exchange. A few months later, on December 10, 1668, he received a concession of two acres of land from Joseph Giffard, Lord of Beauport, in the Beauport seigneury, subject to a feudal rent of 50 sols. However, on the same day, he sold a forty-acre plot of land, including its dependencies, in the village of Fargy to Michel Lecourt. A few months later, on July 22, 1669, a legal dispute arose between Lady Marie Regnouard, widow of Robert Giffard, Lord of Beauport, and several residents of Fargy, including Jacques Tardif, regarding land division, fence placement, etc. The full document on this matter is found in the Judgments and Deliberations of the Sovereign Council, vol. 1, pp. 563-565. Finally, in 1681, he was settled in Beauport and owned 17 acres of cultivated land.
Lastly, he was generally known as Tardif, although in two documents he was referred to as Letardif. However, he signed as Tardif. By the fifth generation, the name had changed to Tardy. It is also noted that the first generations settled in the village of Beauport, but by the fifth generation, his descendants had permanently relocated to Rivière-des-Prairies, in the Montreal region.