Money Values

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I am including this page generously done by Gerry Lalonde to give you some idea of the values of the day. It will help put some of the other information into terms you can relate to . ENJOY.

MONETARY VALUES IN 1650 - 1750 IN NEW FRANCE COMPATED TO TODAY

Compiled by Gerry Lalonde, ACGS Member #3312

When researching your ancestors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, if you go through the notarial acts to find your ancestors' farmland or homestead, you will read about the purchase of so many "arpents" of land for so many "livres", and many other units of measure of land, money, crops, etc. It would be very nice to know exactly what was bought for exactly how much money. Exact, we cannot be. But it is very important to our research to know roughly what we are reading in today's terms.

The best way to accomplish this is to equate everything to the value of labor; anybody's labor. First, the coin of the day was: 20 sols = 1 livre. There were other coins, but they were infrequently mentioned in the literature we encounter in our research. The following table shows the value in French livres of various labors during the period of 1650 to 1750 and compares that with wages of today.

Rates of Pay in 1650 and 1750 Livres and in 1997 Dollars
	Livres: Wages per 10-Hr. Day		Livres: Wages per 300-Day, 3000/Hr Work Year		Dollars: Wages per 2000 Hr/Work Year
YEAR	1650	1750	1650	1750	1997
Unskilled Labor	1	2	300	600	$15,000
Skilled Labor	3	6	900	1800	$40,000
Low Rank Official	2	4	600	1200	$30,000
High Rank Official	8	12	2400	3600	$80,000
Governor			12,000	12,000	$200,000

What we are trying to show, in table form is the rate of pay in 1650 compared to the rate of pay in 1750, expressed in the currency in circulation at the time (the livre), and that in turn compared to present day wages in dollars.

The first thing we notice is that, in those one hundred years, inflation doubled the price of labor. This is a very low rate of inflation and was common in the pre-industrial period. The next thing to note is that our ancestors worked a 3000-hour work year compared to 2000 hours worked per year today.

Let's use an example to show how buying a house in 1750 compares to buying a house today. Start with our ancestor, Pierre, who was a skilled stonemason earning 1800 livres per year. Back then, a good house cost an average of 4000 livres. That is 2.2 times his yearly wages. Today's skilled worker earns about $40,000 per year. If we multiply that by 2.2, it comes out to $88,000. This sum will buy a very modest house. If we factor in the fact that Pierre had to work half again as many hours as our modern skilled worker, then we must multiply our modern worker's wages ($40,000) by 3.3 (2.2 x 150%), which gives him a $132,000 house …much better. We can conclude that Pierre, in 1750 was in the same financial position as our modern skilled worker is today. Pierre's house had no inside plumbing, or electricity and a few other minor inconveniences; our modern skilled worker is at a slight advantage, but that's progress.

Next, let's look at the cost of other things that our ancestors had to buy. But first, we must look at other measures of the day in New France.

1 linear arpent = 192 Ft.

1 square arpent = 36,864 sq. ft., or 5/6 of an English Acre.

1 lieu = 84 arpents = three miles

1 toise = 6.4 ft

1 square toise = 40 sq. ft.

1 minot = 1.05 bushels

The following table gives the value of various goods in 1650 (the first figure) and in 1750 (the second figure).

COMMODITY VALUES IN 1650 AND 1750 EXPRESSED IN SOLS & LIVRES
COMMODITY	PRICES
1 Wheat Bread, 4 lbs	4 Sols	8 Sols
1 lb. Butter	12 Sols	20 Sols
1 lb. Beef	2 Sols	4 Sols
1 lb. Wheat Flour	2 Sols	4 Sols
1 Capon	1 Livre	2 Livres
1 Minot Wheat (60 lbs)	4 Livres	8 Livres
1 Minot Peas	4 Livres	8 Livres
1 Minot Corn	4 Livres	8 Livres
1 Gallon of Wine	1 Livre	1 Livre *
1 Hogshead of Wine = 63 US Gallons	50 Livres	50 Livres*
1 Gallon Hard Liquor	2 Livres	3 Livres
1000 Bd. Ft. Finished Lumber	40 Livres	60 Livres
1 Sow	20 Livres	40 Livres
1 Cow	50 Livres	100 Livres
1 Ox (7-8 Yrs. Old)	100 Livres	200 Livres
1 Horse	NA in 1650	250 Livres
1 Cord Wood	1 Livre	2 Livres
1 Church Pew (rental /year)	20 Livres	30 Livres
Farmland, raw, uncleared	Worthless	Worthless
Farmland, 20 Arpents, Cleared	500 Livres	1000 Livres
Farmland, 20 Arpents, Cleared, plus a cabin and barn	1000 Livres	2000 Livres
Farmland, 40 Arpents, Cleared, plus cabin, barn & stable	4000 Livres	6000 Livres

It cost about 6 Sols to feed a man for one day in 1650, and about 12 Sols/day in 1740. That means that about 30% of the income of an unskilled worker went for food.

· Note that the price of wine remained the same throughout the 100 years of the survey. Vive le vin!

Sources: The above data was compiled by Gerry Lalond, American-Canadian Genealogical Society, Manchester, New Hampshire, from the following sources:

Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties, by Reginald Olivier, in the "How To" section of the ACGS Library.

Les Crimes et les Chatiments du Canada Francais, by Raymond Boyer, Call #H246 in the ACGS Library.

The Seigneurial System in Early Canada by Richard Colebrook Harris, Call #H54 in the ACGS Library.