Marie-Anne Houde

Born in Ste. Sophie de Lévard on April 12, 1890. Her first husband was Napoléon Gagnon. Six children were born of this first marriage, but several died at a very young age. On February 1, 1918, when she was a widow, she married Télesphore Gagnon. This second marriage produced three children, including twins who were born in the Quebec City prison. Condemned to hang following her trial for the murder of her stepdaughter Aurore, she had her death sentence commuted to life imprisonment on September 29, 1920. She was released on July 3, 1935 and died on May 12, 1936, in Montreal, having developed cancer while in prison.