Understanding dit names

Below is a link to a good article posted by The Drouin Institute that discusses the use of "dit names" commonly seen in French-Canadian family history records:

French-Canadian “dit names” and nicknames, by François Desjardins

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Ancestor, Horace Lefebvre, a founding officer of Athletic Club in Lowell, MA

A New Athletic Club Organized.

The French Canadian Athletic club has

been organized with  the  following  officers:

President, Louis Loranger; vice president

Horace Lefebvre;  secretary, J. A. F.

Monette; treasurer, J. A. McCrecher

Lowell Sun; 4 Jan 1896

Lowell, Massachusettes

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Monument for Robert Levesque & Jeanne Chevalier of Quebec

While not a tombstone, this monument remembers ancestors 

 Robert & Jeanne (Chevalier) Levesque

(our 7th G-Grandparents).

 The granite monument is about six feet tall and is located in the section of the Rivière-Ouelle cemetery reserved for ancestral families.

 (Photo: Studio Photo Guy Duguay, La Pocatière, QC)

The 1833 Marriage of Jean Baptiste Brouillet & Marie Josephte (Louise) Denis Laporte

On May 13, 1833, after 3 bans made during the "prones' of the parrish mass, between Jean-Baptiste Brouillette, living in this parrish, son of age of Jean-Baptiste Brouillette, farmer, and of Françoise Larrivée, his father and mother from this parrish, on one side, and Marie-Josephte Denys, daughter under age of Jean-Baptiste Denys, also farmer, and of Marie-Josephte Bachand, her father and mother, from this parrish, on the other side, no impediment being found, with the agreement of the parents, I undersigned priest received their mutual marriage consent and gave them the nuptial blessing, in front of Sieur Joseph Porlier, undersigned, Moyse Blanchet, friend of the spouse, of Jacques Daigle and Élie Smith, friends of the bride, and many others who could not sign.

Seeking French Canadian Research assistance

Identifying Pierre Robillard

For a while now I have been trying to determine the parentage of Pierre Robillard.  We have a birth date from his death certificate (son, Charles, was informant) of 27 Jan 1830 - place of birth: Canada; parents: Unknown
We also have from census records that he was born March 1831, Canada.
A daughter has in her 1891 census record that her father was born in Quebec.

Pierre (aka Peter/Petre) married Philanese/Philomene Ducharme (b. Nov 1836)- c.1856 place unknown.
I have not been able to locate a marriage record...yet.
To date, finding more information on these two ancestors has been frustrating.
Today, though, I located a baptism record that might be a match for our Pierre. 

The baptistm record is dated 30 January 1830 which would fall in line for a 27 January birth.  I am excited...this could be the break I have been searching for, but again, I think more information is needed to confirm it as belonging to our Pierre.   
Any thoughts, hints, or suggestions?

Below are the known children of Pierre (Peter) and Philomene (Ducharme) Robillard:

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Tanguay's Dictionnaire

An important genealogy resource for French-Canadian ancestry, Tanguay's Dictionnaire genealogique des familles canadiennes is available online. Covering the period of 1608-1760 in New France, this can certainly be of great assistance to many who are researching their Quebec ancestry.


Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
Don't know French?
"Patience, Padawan."
This site is pretty easy to figure out.
Enjoy.

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Towns of our Ancestors: Fribourg, Suisse

Freiburg, Switzerland    (Fribourg, Suisse)

Founded in 1157, Freiburg is located on the river Sarine on the Swiss plateau.

Its Old City with its medieval architecture, sits on a small rocky hill above the valley of the Sarine.

This was the hometown of our ancestor, Pierre Miville, born c.1602.  

Pierre married Charlotte Mauger (Maugis) and together with their 6 children settled in Quebec, New France abt 1649.

Occupation: ANCIEN MARGUILLIER

  I  recently located the death record of our ancestor Gervais Lambert Champagne (shown below) on PRDH.  It was here we found note of his occupation.

Occupation:  ANCIEN MARGUILLIER      Translation: Former Warden

The warden (Latin matricularis, which keeps a record) was in each parish, whose burden was to keep record of who received the alms of the Church. He serves as Assistant Sacristan, appoints and dismisses the singers, the attendants, etc....
Un marguillier:  A churchwarden is person in charge of administering the property of the parish (land, renting land, schools, pensions and taxes), to ensure maintenance of premises, to keep the Parish register and prepare cases to be brought to the board.

Tombstone Tuesday - Evelyn Louise (Lefebvre) Imler

Evelyn Louise Lefebvre  

Born 10 Mar 1916 in New Bedford, Massachusetts

Daughter of  Joseph Vital Horace Lefebvre (1872-1926) 

& Marie Anne Turgeon (1887-1969)

On 30 Nov. 1932 she married Albert Edward St. John in New Bedford.

She later married  Author Morgan Hendricks (1946) then Robert Vernon Imler in March 1970.  Evelyn Louise (Lefebvre) Imler died 17 October 2005, in Chandler, Maricopa, Arizona.

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Doin' the Happy Jig

As said in the description of the 18th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture: "On the feast of St. Patrick, everyone likes to be Irish, at least for one day".

Well I finally came across our first documented ancestor from Ireland - so now at least my husband and children can celebrate the day with a happy jig without feeling like a poser!

Jig: a form of lively folk dance most associated with Irish & Scottish country dance music.

And where did I find this little piece of ancestral history?  At the PRDH while deep into researching our French-Canadian lines!

Voila:

(Marguerite Murphy)

A Treasure Chest Thursday for French-Canadian Researchers - PRDH

The University of Montreal's Program de Recherche en Demographie Historique (PRDH) is a virtual treasure chest for anyone researching French-Canadian ancestors in Quebec. It is a compilation of records and reconstruction of the population of Quebec from its beginnings in the 17th century - all presented in English.
The result:  "a computerized population register, composed of biographical files on all individuals of European ancestry who lived in the St. Lawrence Valley. The file for each individual gives the date and place of birth, marriage(s), and death, as well as family and conjugal ties with other individuals. This basic information is complemented by various socio-demographic characteristics drawn from documents: socio-professional status and occupation, ability to sign his or her name, place of residence, and, for immigrants, place of origin."

You can do initial searches on the site to determine if the have records of interest to you.  To view the records and associated compilations it is a fee based access.  Fees for a subscription are based on the number of hits made by the user on the data base. The more you think you will use the database the higher tier you should purchase.  I purchased the 500 click plan at abt $25 .  It is easy to purchase more, if needed, and there is no expiration date for usage.

Below is an example of an ancestor I located on the PRDH website.

Family view of Guillaume Gravel Brindeliere & Louise Legare.

We descend from their daughter, Marie Reine and Gabriel Gagnon.  Anything shown in blue is clickable and leads to more information.  So from this screen I can view:

 - Baptism and marriage record information for Marie Reine
 - Marie Reine's Family record with Gabriel
 - Baptism and death records for her siblings
 - The marriage record and individual records for her parents
 Plus the Family records of the parents origin allowing me to climb further up the branches of our family tree.

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. 

Our Canadian Ancestor's Home

This was the home of Joseph Roy - b.1768 

Son of Laurent Roy & Catherine Cordier.

Built c. 1805

The home is located in L'Acadie (about 35km south of Montreal), Canada.

Joseph married Charlotte Dupuis Patenaude on 19 Jan 1809 in Chambly, Canada.

Their daughter, Theotiste Henriette Roy, is our ancestor.

Posted as part of the Canadian Genealogy Carnival  "Home Sweet Home"(Photo taken in 1997 by Pierre Ducharme) 

Tombstone Tuesday - Deerfield MA Grave Marker

Monument marking the mass grave of the 56 settlers killed on 29 February 1704 by the French and Indian soldiers during Queen Anne's War.

One hundred twelve of the Deerfield villagers were taken captive and forced on an unforgiving, 300-mile winter-march to Canada during which 21 of the captives died. One of the children taken was our ancestor, Martha Marguerite French, who remained in Canada and married Jacques Roy.

The 1704 Deerfield Massacre

The raid on Deerfield occurred during Queen Ann's War on February 29, 1704, when joint French and Native American forces attacked the English settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts, just before dawn, razing the town and killing fifty-six colonists. Of the colonists killed, twenty-two were men, nine were women, and twenty-five were children. A total of 109 residents, including the women and children who had survived the attack, were taken captive and forced on a months-long, 300-mile trek to Quebec in harsh winter conditions; twenty-one of them died along the way. More than sixty of those who reached Quebec were eventually ransomed or otherwise managed to make their way back to New England, but a number of others chose to remain in the French Canadian and/or Native American communities for the rest of their lives.

Our Ancestor -
Mary Baldwin Catlin
Born: Abt 1638
Father: Joseph Baldwin b: 1610 in Cholesbury, Buckinghamshire, England

Mother: Hannah Whitlocke b: 1613 or 1617

Marriage: John Catlin ( b: 1643) on 23 SEP 1662 in Wethersfield, Hartford, CT

Event: 29 FEB 1704 Deerfield, Massachusetts
Tradition states: The captives were taken to a house...and a Frenchman was brought in [wounded] and laid on the floor; He was in great distress and called for water; Mrs. Catlin fed him with water. Some one said to her, "How can you do that for your enemy?" she replied, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him water to drink." The Frenchman was taken and carried away, and the captives marched off. Some thought the kindness shown to the Frenchman was the reason of Mrs. Catlin's being left...

From New England Captives' Stories:"...With the tender sympathy of a Christian woman, she had held the cup of cold water to the parched lips of the wounded French lieutenant, craving it with piteous appeal. In the hurry of departure, either by design or by accident, none had claimed her as his captive....

Death: 04 APR 1704 in , Deerfield, Franklin, MA
"...mourning for her children, and would not be comforted, she lingered a few weeks, and died from the shock of that day's horror...."

Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada

Gare, Hôtel Grand Union, bureau de poste et Edifice Tourigny en 1892

Today I thought I'd try Randy Seaver's Easter Egg Hunt idea ... http://www.geneamusings.com/2009/04/my-genealogy-easter-egg-hunt.html

The town I chose was Victoriaville, Canada; the birthplace of Marie Anne Turgeon shown in http://tangledtrees.blogspot.com/2009/04/nearly-wordless-wednesday-lovely-couple.html

I have not looked into this place at all so this would be new...

Okay - what I quickly learned is that Victoriaville is located in Quebec & I had better brush up on my French because the local genealogy society website for that area is in French: Société d'histoire et de généalogiede Victoriaville. It will take a little slow & persistant work to eke out some family information from there but for now I am enjoying the 'album photos' on their website. Here are just a few:

Les débuts de l'éducation à Ste-Victoire.


Moulin à scie et usine électrique d’Achille Gagnon 1897.

L’Union des Cantons de l’Est au début du siècledernier.

Procession de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste de 1897. Au piedde l’hôtel Prince of Wales.

Occupation: Wheelwright

(image source: History of Work)
  
One of our French-Canadian Ancestors: 

1900 census: Peter (Pierre) Robillard of Norwich, New London, Connecticut; Age: 63; b. Aug 1831 Canada; wife: Philomene Ducharme b. Nov. 1836 Canada; Occupation: wheelwright

A wheelwright is a tradesman who builds or repairs wheels for carts or wagons. The wheels were traditionally made from wood and were banded by iron tires. Sometimes bone or horn were used for decorative purposes. The iron hoop or 'tire' was supplied by the blacksmith. Wheelwrights were sometimes also referred to as a wainwright. The word, wainwright, is the combination of the root words 'wain' (a large wagon for farm use) and 'wright' (a worker or maker). In modern times, wheelwrights continue to make and repair a wide variety of wheels for horse-drawn vehicles used in farming, equine competitions, and historical events. One such wheelwright shop is located in Colonial Williamsburg creating the wheels for the carriages used in the historic district.

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