Verchères, Marie-Madeleine Jarret

   Born in 1678 in the fort on her father's seigniory on the St. Lawrence River, twenty miles below Montreal. In 1692 she heroically defended this fort, with the assistance of her two young brothers, two soldiers, and an old man of eighty. When the settlers were working in the fields, a band of Iroquois suddenly appeared and began their work of slaughter. Madeleine had barely time to reach the fort. She found everyone, including the two soldiers, demoralized, and, taking command, she ordered the little band to keep up constant firing. The Iroquois beseiged the fort for two days, but finally retired discomfited; and relief came from Montreal in another week. In 1706 she married Thomas Tarien de la Naudière; and in 1722 De la Perrade. In her later years she received a pension for life. The date of her death is not known.

   Index: F Defends fort against Iroquois, 319.

   Bib.: Parkman, Frontenac; Richard, Supplement to Report on Canadian Archives, 1899.