Surname Saturday - French-Canadian Ancestors: Lefebvre

Surname: Lefebvre
Origin: French Definition: A derivation of the French occupational name Fevre, which described an iron-worker or smith. From the Old French "fevre" meaning craftsman. Similar French surnames include Fabre, Faivre, Faure, and Lefèvre. This is the French equivalent of the English surname SMITH. 

We are lucky in that we have a pretty well defined Lineage for our Lefebvre ancestry. I give much credit to the American-Canadian Genealogical Society for assisting me with this branch of our tree.

 - Joseph Vital Horace Lefebvre, born Nov. 1872 in Manchester, New Hampshire, married Marie Anne Turgeon in New Bedford, Massachusetts
 - Joseph Lefebvre (b. 1846 L'Acadie, Canada) & Julia Louise Lambert
 - Vital Lefebvre (b. 1809 L'Acadie, Canada) & Theotiste Henriette Roy
 - Toussaint Lefebvre m. Marie-Louise Lefebvre (daughter of Pierre Lefebvre & Amable Sorel) 1797 in La Prairie, Quebec
 - Nicolas Lefebvre m. M.Louise Brosseau in 1767 in La Prairie 
 - Pierre Lefebvre b. 11 Nov 1709 in Montreal m. Marguerite Moquin in 1734
 - Geoffroy Lefebvre b. Dec 1677 in Montreal m. Marie-Madeleine Michel-Michaud in June 1704
 - Jean-Baptiste Lefebvre from Saint-Germain (pictured right), Amiens, Picardie, France  m. Cunegonde Gervaise in Montreal 14 Jan 1676.  He was the son of Geoffroy Lefebvre & Jeanne Mile. 

Black Sheep Sunday - Bigamy in New France

Main Entry: big·a·my
Pronunciation: \bi-gə-mē\

Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English bigamie, from Medieval Latin bigamia, from Latin bi- + Late Latin -gamia -gamy

Date: 13th century

: the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another



The first case of bigamy in New France was that of Michel Chauvin-Sainte-Suzanne.  Although married to Louise Delisle in France where she remained, he married in New France (Canada) on 29 July 1647 at Quebec.  This second wife was Anne Archambault (our ancestor), daughter of Jaques Archambault & Francoise Toureau, by which he had two children, Paul Chauvin (b. 1650) & Charlotte Chauvin (b. 1651) who both died young.  Charged by the governor, Michel was commanded to pay fifteen hundred livres to Anne, and he returned to France.  Anne remarried on 3 Feb 1654 in Montreal to Jean Gervaise, son of Urbain Gervaise and Jeanne Pebise, and together they had 9 children.
(source:American-Canadian Genealogist Issue 81, Vol. 25, No.3, 1999)
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