Dans un Petit Village

On Monday, December 24, 1838, (Christmas Eve), Etienne Parent, the editor of Le Canadien, one of the most popular and political French language newspapers in Lower Canada wrote an inflammatory editorial to protest the treatment of patriotes who participated in the uprising in Lower Canada. It was an denunciation of the John Colborne's (the governor of Lower Canada) arbitrary measures. After the rebellion in Lower Canada was put down in 1837 the British government suspended the constitution that was created in 1791, dissolved the Legislative Assembly and created the the Special Council which effectively became the government of Lower Canada. The Special Council had all of the authority of the Legislative assembly. Their mandate was to re-establish peace and order in Lower Canada. Since there was no political process in Lower Canada, no elections or elected assembly, the Special Council could do whatever they wanted without having to worry about the wishes of the local population. ...

Up to this point, I have writing post about each of my direct ancestors, maternal and paternal. To be fair, I alternated from one side of the family to the other for each post. Starting with this post I am going to go in a slightly difference direction and, for the foreseeable future, I will focus my post on one ancestor, Etienne Parent. During the course of researching my parent ancestors I discovered Etienne Parent (1802 - 1874). He is not a direct ancestor. Etienne is descended from Etienne Parent, one of the original triplets of Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau. That would make Etienne Parent an uncle. Sorry, I have not worked out our exact relationship. Our relationship is not that important to my research. I have been researching Etienne Parent for over an year and I have collected an enormous amount of information from a variety of sources; Library and Archives Canada (LAC), The Internet Archives, Geneanet, Family Search, and a number of internet queries. As you can see i hav...

I will start this post about Simon Jacques Parent with the transcript of his baptismal record followed by the original French text. " The last day of 1729 was baptised Simon Jacques born of the legitimate marriage of Simon Parent and Jeanne Bedard, his wife. The godfather [was] Jacques Parent and the godmother [was] Marie Anne Duprac, have declared that they do not know how to sign their names [on the record].  (signed) Royet ." "le dernier jour de 1729 a este baptise Simon Jacques ne du mariage de Simon Parent et de Jeanne Bedard son épouse. Le parrain Jacques Parent [et la] marraine Marie Anne Duprac qui ont déclaré ne savoir signer de ce (anquis[enquis?] (signer) Royet." According the record, Simon Jacques Parent was born and baptized on the same day, December 31, 1729. Both of his parents, Simon Pierre Parent and Jeanne Parent attended his baptism along with the godparents, Jacques Parent and Marie Anne Duprac. Jacques Parent was Simon Pierre's cou...

I ended the last post on François Voyer (1774 - 1851) with the death of Madeleine Vandal on July 9, 1815. At that time François was a resident of L'Ancienne Lorette and as a 'cultivateur' or farmer, he had a farm in the seigneury of Gaudarville. In just over a year after the death of Madeleine Vandal, François married Judith Bertrand on July 30, 1816. They were married in Quebec City  at the Notre-Dame-de-Quebec. In the marriage record François and Judith's residence was in Quebec City. In the document that I will discuss in a little while François' residence is stated as L'Ancienne Lorette. I cannot explain this discrepancy. At the time of their marriage Judith parents were deceased. Her father, Jean Bertrand was a 'journalier' or 'labourer'. and Judith's mother was Félicité Trépanier. Judith Bertrand was born on September 27, 1779 in Neuville. Judith was 37 years old when she married François Voyer. Considering the time period, 37 was o...

François Voyer was born on January 7, 1774 and baptised on January 9, 1774 in L'Ancienne Lorette . François's father, Pierre Voyer, his grandfather, Pierre Voyer and his grandmother, Ursule Moisan were all in attendance at his baptism in L'Ancienne Lorette. To put his birth in historical perspective, François was born just eleven years after the conquest of Nouvelle France. The Quebec Act would not be passed by the parliament of Great Britain for another six months on June 22, 1774. An explanation of the Quebec Act would be appropriate at this point. The Quebec Act would expand the territory of Quebec by three times of its current size. It would include an area that would now be Southern Ontario, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. The Quebec Act would restore the right to religious practice to Quebec. Canadiens who held a political office had to renounce Catholicism. The Quebec Act would permit Canadiens who were in a political position to retain...

Pierre Parent, the son of Simon-Jacques Parent (1729 - 1802) and Marie -Anne-Jeanne Giroux (1730 - 1768?), was born on January 21, 1768 in Beauport, Quebec. Since Pierre was born five years after the conquest of Nouvelle France (1763), Beauport would have been in the province of Quebec, it would not become Lower Canada for another twenty - three years. Above, I put a question mark after Marie - Anne - Jeanne Giroux's date of death because I could only find one source that states that she died in 1768. There is an argument that this could be a valid date because there were no more children for Simon - Jacques Parent and Marie - Anne - Jeanne Giroux after 1768. Pierre was the last child to be born, he was born in 1768. If Pierre's mother died giving birth to Pierre or there were complications after birth that led to her death then this date would make all the sense in the world. Until I can establish more evidence, the year 1768 as the date of death for Marie - Anne - Jeanne Giro...

Carrying on from the last post about Francois Voyer and Delphine Faucher, I would like to start off with Joseph Claude Cresse de Courval. Courval was the parish priest who married Francois and Delphine. Joseph Claude Cresse de Courval (1762 - 1846) was much more than a parish priest. Joseph Claude Cresse de Courval was the son of Joseph Claude Paulin ( 1731 - 1785) and Genevieve Dumont. Joseph Claude Cresse de Courval was born on August 12, 1762. Joseph Claude Poulin, the seigneur of Nicolet, was the son of Claude Poulin (1700 - 1785) and Marie - Ann Lefebvre (1707 - 1785). Claude Poulin was, the seigneur of Nicolet and the son of Jean - Baptiste Poulin (1657 - 1727) and Louise Cresse (1675 - 1706). Jean - Baptiste was the prosecutor for the king and seigneur of Nicolet. Jean - Baptiste Poulin was the son of Maurice (Mauritius) Poulin de la Fontaine (1620 - 1727) and Jeanne Jallot (1622 - 1708). Maurice Poulin was the attorney general for the king in Trois Rivière. Maurice Poulin was...