View of Chateau-Richer and the Île d’ Orléans, Québec (1787) by Thomas Davies
french roots
Gregoire Deblois was born in the small village of Champagne-Mouton, France to Francois Deblois and Marguerite Papelong. The year of his birth, 1632, brought welcome peace after decades of tension between the Huguenots (French Protestants) and Catholic King Louis XIII, which culminated in the Siege of La Rochelle, a nearby shipping port.
french Dit Names
As the progenitor of our Gregoire family in North America, you might be surprised to see Gregoire as his first name and Deblois as the surname. This is due to the French custom of adopting additional surnames called dit names…think of dit as meaning A.K.A. (also known as). All of Gregoire and Marguerite’s children adopted the dit name, Gregoire, for example, his son was named Joseph Deblois dit Gregoire (Joseph Deblois aka Gregoire). A dit name might be taken from a city name, the first name of an ancestor or an honorary name given by the royal family. In the case of Gregoire’s children, the dit name was likely added to honor him as the family’s original settler in New France.
Two centuries later when Gregoire’s 4th great-grandson, Julien Gregoire, settled in the US he chose to keep Gregoire as his surname rather than the original family name of Deblois. Some of our distant cousins in French Canada still use the name of Deblois and have dropped the dit name, Gregoire.
sailing for the new world
In March 1657, Gregoire signed a three-year indenture to work as a prison guard in Quebec in exchange for boat passage and a 70 livres/year salary (his salary was equivalent to $35,561 in US dollars today.) According to Thomas J. Laforest, Gregoire set sail on a ship named Les Armes d’Amsterdam in mid-April.
“Captain Jean Guyonneau, underway about the 10th of April, set his sails for New France. Bad weather took charge; he lost his rudder and almost lost his ship as well. Steering by sail, stricken and belabored, he barely made port Limerick, Ireland. After a month of refitting, the ship put to sea again, but hardly 24 hours later her seams opened. With the hull filling fast, and anchorage was made off a lee shore at Quilmar. By June 28th, repairs were once more completed; so for a third time these men set out to brave the North Atlantic. After seven storm-tossed weeks, on August 20th, the unlucky Dutch Caravelle finally put into Québec. For Gregoire Deblois, this year of 1657 would be the start of a new life.”
In 1661 Gregoire received a land grant on the Ile d’ Orleans along the St. Lawrence River. By the year 1681, he had accrued 18 arpents of good farmland (equivalent to about 15 acres) and six head of cattle.
marriage to Francoise
Francoise Viger, daughter of Robert Viger and Perrine Remillard, came to New France as a Fille a Marier (marriageable girl). Similar to the Filles du Roi who would come later, each Fille a Marier was given a small dowry and passage to New France in exchange for marrying a Quebec settler.
Gregoire and Francoise courted and eventually married on September 11, 1662 in Chateau Richer, located across the river from his property on the Ile d’ Orleans.
family life
Gregoire and Francoise had eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood. By the time Gregoire reached the age of 73 he was surrounded by thirteen grandchildren. In the fall of that year, 1705, Gregoire passed away and was buried at the Church Sainte-Famille near his home. Francoise was buried beside him in March 1712.
Gregoire’s land was divided equally among his children, with the plots decided by lottery. Hia son Jean drew the plot containing the family home. Ten generations of his successors would go on to live and farm on the property.
Suzy
October 27, 2019Hello, Michelle! I am one of your relatives who kept the de Blois (but not the Gregoire!). I live in San Francisco. 🙂
Michelle
October 27, 2019Wow! Isn’t it funny how family names and dit names diverge down the line? Thank you for saying hello. I also live on the west coast in northwest Washington.
France Gregoire
December 2, 2020Hi Michelle 🙂 I don’t know if the blog is still ongoing but I’m leaving this message anyway 🙂 I was just doing research on my ancestor Gregoire DeBlois and saw this page! wow it’s amazing. I’m from the city of Gatineau, a town in the province of Quebec Canada.
Gregoire DeBlois 1632-1705
Jean DeBlois Dit Gregoire 1665-1717
Francois DeBlois 1693-
Pierre DeBlois 1728-
Etienne DeBlois
Francois DeBlois Gregoire
Ferdinand Gregoire 1832-1928
Francois Gregoire 1862-1945
Eugene Gregoire 1893-1975
Yvon A Gregoire 1937-1991
and ME 🙂
Michelle
December 4, 2020Hi France,
Thank you for connecting. I descend from Gregoire DeBlois’ son Joseph (1664-1732). My 3rd great-grandfather, Julien Gregoire, moved from Quebec to Illinois in the mid-1800s and the line continues to my maternal grandfather Gregoire. I have never visited Quebec, but would love to someday!
I am planning to write a new blog post before the end of the year. It has been a busy transition from my previous job to full-time genealogy work, so I needed to take a brief break from posting.
Eric
February 17, 2023Hi Michelle,
France is my father cousin. 🙂
I’m also in Gatineau Qc
Grégoire DeBlois 1632-1705
Jean DeBlois Dit Grégoire 1665-1717
Francois DeBlois 1693-
Pierre DeBlois 1728-
Etienne DeBlois
Francois DeBlois Gregoire
Ferdinand Grégoire 1832-1928
Francois Grégoire 1862-1945
Eugene Grégoire 1893-1975
Léon-Paul Grégoire 1923-1990
Richard Grégoire 1946-2020
Eric Grégoire (me) 1974-
Éloi Grégoire 2006-
carole
February 6, 2021Hi France
Would like to be able to contact you . According to your list your Ferdinand Gregoire is brother to my great grandfather Charles Gregoire.
Paula Gregoire-Jones
December 26, 2020Hi Michelle,
My nephew found your blog, we had been wondering why our name was Gregoire instead of DeBlois. We also are descended from GREGOIRE DEBLOIS and it looks like our tree is the same until Nicholas Gregoire – 1775 to 1857 – then we have Nicholas Gregoire 1801-1849, Toussaint Gregoire 1836-1909 who immigrated during the Civil War to Iowa, George Gregoire 1887-1962 (my grandfather) and my father, Paul Gregoire 1931-2003. We have our tree on ancestry. Most of the work was compiled by my father and I uploaded it to Ancestry after his death.
Michelle
December 27, 2020Hi Paula,
Thank you for saying hello! I recognized your name immediately as your Ancestry tree was very helpful in my research! I had a difficult time making the U.S to Quebec cross-border connection for my 3rd great grandfather, Julien Gregoire (b. 1831). Nicholas and Toussaint were the names of Julien’s witnesses on his naturalization papers. When I found your tree through our DNA connection on Ancestry I noticed Nicholas and Toussaint, sons of Nicholas Sr. They ended up being Julien’s cousins who had also immigrated and that was the key to finding the records for Julien in Quebec. Thank you for putting your father’s research online and I am glad you enjoyed the blog post!
Mary Serie
January 8, 2021Hi Paula,
Thank you for all the work you have completed.
We are having a Family Trivia night this weekend, and I just started googling and picked up your post.
Then I started asking cousins about my mom’s side of the family. Her family’s name was Deblois in France but changed to Gregoire when they settled in Illinois before my grandpa moved to a farm close to Ghent, MN. The family line originated and lived in Champagn mouton in France to Sainte Famille Canada to Kankakee, IL to Ghent, MN. Does this sound like part of your family tree also? Thanks much for sharing your post.
Michelle
January 8, 2021Hi Mary,
Thank you for sharing your family heritage. It does sound very similar. Feel free to email me if you would like to try and figure out a family connection.
Best,
Michelle
Pierre
August 26, 2022Hi,
I have traced our de Blois ancestors in France up to around +-1500.
I wonder if you have details on our ancestors in France ?
Regards.
Pierre
Pierre
August 26, 2022Hi,
I have been able to trace the Deblois ancestors in France back to +-1500.
I was wondering if you have information on the DeBlois family in France ?
Merci.
Pierre
Michelle
February 18, 2023Hello Pierre,
Thank you for checking in. I haven’t started researching the family in France yet. I would be interested in any information you would be willing to share.
Thank you,
Michelle
Dick
February 18, 2023Hi Michelle,
My wife is a ‘de Blois’ which got me to research all people with that name. My understanding is that the name came to be used when the bastard children of Jean II de Châtillon, count of Blois, Dunois etc. (1338-1381) having no rights to the titles were called ‘de Blois’ (FR) or ‘van Blois’ (NL). One son ‘Guy batard de Blois’ lived in Tholen, Zeeland, Netherlands and nearly all his offspring still live in the Netherlands. Another son ‘Jean batard de Blois’ was knight and diplomat, travelled a lot, inherited a property in France. His offspring live in the Netherlands and France, probably through Hugenot refugees also in UK, USA and Canada, possibly through Grégoire also in Canada and USA.
My theory is: the main tree of de Blois became protestant, while Grégoire’s branch remained Catholic. This may have been the cause for Grégoire to sign for a contract in New France. Unfortunately I can’t find a source to connect Grégoire’s father François to the main tree.
I do have nearly all persons in the tree in my database and continue to upload parts into The Family Tree of FamilySearch.
Regards,
Dick
Michelle
April 8, 2023Hello Dick,
That is very interesting. I haven’t researched much beyond Gregoire, so I look forward to looking at your work. Thank you for sharing!
Christine Bergeron
August 3, 2023Bonjour
Votre travail est très intéressant.
J’ai connu une famille De Blois à Québec en 1981. Je leur ai fait découvrir où se trouve Champagne-Mouton dans le dictionnaire Petit Larousse qui était sous leurs yeux depuis des années. Je suis Française et je vis au coeur de la France. Passionnée de généalogie comme vous.
La ville de Blois a été ville royale pendant des années jusque sous François Ier au 16ème siècle. Il existait une famille de Comtes de Blois. L’un d’eux fait partie de mes ancêtres.
Je pense que votre ancêtre s’appelait Grégoire, nom de famille très fréquent dans l’Ouest de la France. Peut-être que lors de l’enregistrement pour l’embarquement sur le bateau ou dans la distribution des terrains en Nouvelle France, un autre Grégoire était avant lui. Et pour faire la différence, on lui a demandé d’où il venait. Il aurait répondu ”de Blois ” et serait devenu Grégoire de Blois.
C’était très habituel à cette époque.
Bien cordialement depuis la France
Christine Bergeron
Michelle
August 30, 2023Thank you for commenting, Christine. I suppose it was possible that he was distinguished as Gregoire de Blois (from Blois) on the ship. Amazing how seemingly small details during migration may have had a lasting impact on the descendants.