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Article Published April 11, 2003
Finding Your Ancestors (Quebec, Canada)
By: Marielle A. Bourgeois, M.A., C.F.A. Biography & Archived Articles
One day, I wondered if I could find my ancestors who were from the Richelieu River Valley area, in the province of Québec, Canada.
I decided to visit cemeteries, surrounding the oldest churches of Québec, along
the Richelieu River. I knew that my paternal grandparents, by the surname
Bourgeois, had been born, lived, and were buried in the cemetery of the parish of
St-Mathias sur le Richelieu, one of the oldest parishes in Québec and an historical
monument.
I walked in the cemetery of the parish to St-Mathias, and that of a few
surrounding parishes, reading the stone inscriptions. I did not find stones marked
Bourgeois, other than that of my grandparents. I found stones marked Cournoyer,
which was the surname of my maternal grandmother. A priest who saw me taking
notes said "I suggest you take the ferry, go across the river to the parish of St-
Roch, where the priest there is a professional genealogist". I thanked him.
At St-Roch cemetery a man, dressed in plain clothes, with a smile in his face,
approached me. When I looked at him, I thought "This man has the same
facial expression as my brother". He asked me for my parents' names. He smiled
when I answered him. He was the curé and was named father Georges-Henri
Cournoyer. He invited me for dinner saying "we are family". He turned out to be
a third degree cousin of mine, on my mother's maternal side, a professional
genealogist at the service of the Province of Québec Health Department. He gave
me a file which contained my Cournoyer genealogy from my mother's name all
the way back to France, in 1620. I gave Father Cournoyer a hug, tears of joy in
my eyes. I had located over 350 years of ancestors in one evening.
With this gold mine of information in hand, I decided to review the Cournoyer
family file I had been given. (The Cournoyer surname in Québec today is very
familiar thanks to Yvan Cournoyer, a famous hockey player who represented the
Montréal Canadiens, from 1963 to 1979. Thanks also to Gérard Cournoyer,
Québec Minister of Transports and Communications, in the 1960's, and to Jean
Cournoyer, the well-know Québec Minister of Public Function, Minister of
Labor, and finally Minister of Natural Resources, in the 1960s-1970s.) After
many happy hours going over the records I thanked father Georges-Henri and left.
I then asked myself, "Suppose I never met Father Cournoyer, how would I have
traced my ancestors?" With that question in mind I wrote out the following
guidelines.
1. Start with what you know
I knew before I went to St-Mathias and other parishes in Québec that my
grandmother, Anna Cournoyer, had married a distinguished looking German man,
Henry Ritter, in Québec, at the turn of the century, in Sorel. The city of Sorel is
situated between Montréal and Québec City, on the South shore of the St.
Lawrence River. I also knew that Sorel was the region where my mother was born
and where my grandparents Ritter/ Cournoyer married, lived and died. Knowing
this much, I was able to specify where in Québec - SOREL - to begin my search.
2. Check your family papers and photos:
Going through my mother's albums I found the name of my great-grandfather,
Charles Cournoyer and my great-grandmother Adèle Mondou, written on the back
of a family photo. I now had a city and a few names to guide my research. On the
Web site http://www.sympatico.ca I searched for a list of "Eglises du Québec/
Churches of Quebec". I typed in "Sorel." The computer then provided me with
the list of the names and phone numbers of the churches in that area.
At random, I picked out the church of St-Pierre de Sorel and called the parish
office. I mentioned the names of my grandparents and indicated they had married
around 1900 (I knew that my mother was born in 1909 and that she was not the
oldest child). A nice lady agreed to check the parish records of marriages for that
time period. Later she called me back to say that my grandparents had not
married in St-Pierre. She suggested I check at Ste-Anne's church.
3. Request copies of marriage certificates:
A phone call to Ste-Anne's presbytery revealed that 'yes' my grandparents had
married in that parish. I requested a copy of the marriage certificate. The
marriage certificate provided me with the names of my grandmother Anna
Cournoyer's parents, Charles Cournoyer and Adèle Mondou, my great-
grandparents (names I had found on the back of a photo).
As was the fortunate custom in those days, the previous five generations of
Cournoyer lived in or near Sorel, in the general Saint-François du Lac area. By
requesting one marriage certificate at a time, for each generation traced, I
obtained the names of my previous generations of ancestors. In this way I
accumulated proof that I had found the right parents of each of my ancestors.
By the time I got to the migrating ancestor, I discovered that his name was Paul
HUS (no Cournoyer in the surname - for there had been a surname change),
married to Jeanne Baillargeon. Paul married Jeanne, a 14-year-old girl, in Cap de
la Madeleine, Québec, on June 16th, 1669. I obtained a certified copy of their
marriage certificate from the office of the notary Jean Cusson in Trois-Rivières,
Québec. From that marriage document, I found out not only the names of the
parents of the groom, but also the names of the parents of the bride and their
places of residence in France.
History adds spice to my ancestral story
Jeanne Baillargeon, who became Paul Hus' wife, was taken as a hostage of the
Iroquois, for about three years - from ages 8 to 11 (see photo).
The King of
France Louis X1V, paid money to the Iroquois Indians, through his Québec
intendant and representative, in order to get Jeanne back into the European
colony. This proved the high value placed on girls, the soon to be young ladies of
marriageable age, who could as mothers help populate the new colony.
Jeanne
and Paul had 14 children and left numerous descendants in Canada and the United
States. The surname of some of their descendants could have become:
Beauchemin; Capistran; Corporal; Cournoyer; Latraverse; Laventure; Lemoine;
Millé; Millet; Millette; Millier; Paul; Paulet; Paul-Hus, Paulhus and some have
become English versions of those names.
Marielle A. Bourgeois, M.A., C.F.A., Biography
Founder of the French/ European Ancestor Group,
P. O. Box 31172,
Santa Barbara, Ca. 93130,
Tel. 805 683 7768, Email: marielle@dock.net
Web page: http://searchancestors.com
© April 11th, 2003 M. A. Bourgeois. All rights reserved.
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