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Execution of Marie-Josephte Corriveau in Quebec

When
1763
Where
Dodier's barn in Saint-Vallier; Ursulines of Quebec, Quebec City; Quebec City; Buttes-à-Nepveu, near the Plains of Abraham, Quebec
Episodes
4

Marie-Josephte Corriveau, a farmer's wife from Saint-Vallier, was tried by a British military tribunal for the murder of her second husband, Louis Étienne Dodier, and sentenced to death in 1763. After a first trial that convicted her father, a second trial on April 15 saw her confess; she was probably hanged on April 18, 1763, at the Buttes-à-Nepveu in Quebec, and her remains were gibbeted at a crossroads, inspiring enduring folklore.

Episodes

  1. January 27, 1763 · Dodier's barn in Saint-VallierDeath of Louis Étienne Dodier

    Corriveau's second husband was found dead in his barn with multiple head wounds on January 27, 1763.

  2. March 29 – April 9, 1763 · Ursulines of Quebec, Quebec CityFirst Trial Before the Military Tribunal

    A tribunal of 12 English officers under Lieutenant Colonel Roger Morris opened at the Ursulines of Quebec on March 29, 1763, ending April 9 with Joseph Corriveau's conviction.

  3. April 15, 1763 · Quebec CitySecond Trial and Confession

    At a second trial on April 15, 1763, Marie-Josephte testified she killed her husband with two hatchet blows while he slept, citing his ill-treatment.

  4. April 18, 1763 (probable) · Buttes-à-Nepveu, near the Plains of Abraham, QuebecExecution and Post-Mortem Exhibition

    Corriveau was probably hanged on April 18, 1763, at the Buttes-à-Nepveu near the Plains of Abraham in Quebec, and her remains were exhibited post-mortem at a crossroads.

Background and detail

Background. Marie-Josephte Corriveau was born in 1733 and baptised on May 14, 1733, in the rural parish of Saint-Vallier in New France. After her first husband Charles Bouchard was buried on April 27, 1760, she remarried on July 20, 1761, to Louis Étienne Dodier, another farmer from Saint-Vallier. On the morning of January 27, 1763, Dodier was found dead in his barn with multiple head wounds.

Trial by Court Martial. The inquiry opened in Quebec City on March 29, 1763, at the Ursulines of Quebec, charging Joseph Corriveau and his daughter Marie-Josephte before a military tribunal of 12 English officers presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Roger Morris. Many community members testified, including Isabelle Sylvain, Marie-Josephte's cousin. The case ended on April 9 with Joseph Corriveau sentenced to death for culpable homicide of his son-in-law, while Marie-Josephte was found to be an accomplice to murder and sentenced to 60 lashes and branding with the letter M.

Execution and Gibbeting. At a second trial on April 15, Marie-Josephte testified that she had killed her husband with two blows of a hatchet during his sleep, because of his ill-treatment of her. The place of execution was Quebec, on the Buttes-à-Nepveu near the Plains of Abraham, probably on April 18, 1763. Her remains were then exhibited post-mortem at a busy crossroads, a practice reserved in England for the most serious crimes.

Folkloric Aftermath. The public exhibition of her remains, the trial's repercussions, the rumour that her father would be convicted of murdering Dodier at his daughter's instigation, and gossip about her first husband's death stirred popular imagination. Legends grew in oral tradition, inflating the number of murdered husbands to as many as seven and likening la Corriveau to a witch.

People involved

Sources

  1. Marie-Josephte Corriveau Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-24

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.