HANTRAYE, CLAUDE (often incorrectly written Hautraye, but he signed Hantraye), notary; b. probably 10 Dec. 1723 at Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcourt, France, son of Noël Hantraye and Marie Hamond; m. 9 Jan. 1753 Marie-Marguerite Debuire in Quebec; m. secondly 26 Nov. 1759 Marie-Françoise Viger in Montreal; d. 15 Jan. 1777 at Saint-Jean-François-Régis (now Saint-Philippe-de-Laprairie, Que.).

In 1754 Claude Hantraye was sent to be storekeeper at Fort Saint-Frédéric (near Crown Point, N.Y.), where he apparently remained for only a year. He stayed long enough, however, to be one of the minor figures accused in the affaire du Canada and he was sentenced in absentia on 10 Dec. 1763 to banishment from Paris for five years and a fine of 50 livres.

Hantraye lived at Prairie-de-la-Madeleine (La Prairie, Que.) after the surrender of Montreal, and he was still there in 1765; in that year he began drawing up deeds as a notary, although his commission has not been found. Most of the deeds he prepared during this period are land grants for René Cartier, seigneur of La Salle. In November 1767 Hantraye moved to Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue (Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu), where he became the first resident notary.

In May 1772 he settled in Saint-Jean-François-Régis. He drew up deeds there for nearly five more years, continuing to devote his time in part to René Cartier’s land grants and many commercial transactions. Hantraye apparently continued his professional activities uninterrupted by the American occupation in 1775–76 and he signed his last deed on 30 Dec. 1776, He died on 15 Jan. 1777 and was buried in the crypt of the parish church of Saint-Jean-François-Régis.

Jean-Jacques Lefebvre