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Grandpre Roots Part 2: Coming to America

Joseph Nazaire Grandpre 1820-1902 Joseph Nazaire Duteau de Grandpre was born in St. Cuthbert, D’Autray, Quebec, the oldest son of Joseph Duteau de Grandpre and Marie “Angele” Dacier Trunet. He was baptized in the St. Cuthbert parish (shown left) on December 16, 1820. Joseph’s 3rd great-grandfather was Charles Duteau, who fled France with his mother Jeanne Perrin in 1658. Their story is told in Grandpre Roots Part 1.  Marriage and Family On February 5, 1844 Joseph married Marie “Adeline” Berard...

Grandpre Roots Part 1: Huguenot Diaspora

The Siege of La Rochelle, 1628 Pierre Duteau was born into the eye of a storm; the brief lull in the midst of a religious war. His hometown of La Rochelle, France, an important seaside trading port for regional wine, cheese, and salt, became a stronghold for Huguenots, like himself, during the early 16th century. The conversion of French citizens to the “Huguenot” protestant beliefs of John Calvin, spurred conflicts with the Jesuit Catholic majority from 1562-1598. Pierre was born in...

Gregoire Deblois: Our First Gregoire in the New World

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,...

Siste Lavoy: Les Rébel

In the late hours of October 12th, 1837, Siste Lavoy lay hiding in the woods near the western shore of Lake Champlain, New York, in fear for his life. Just hours before he had taken up arms as a Patriote in the Canadian Rebellion and was now wanted by English soldiers. How had this simple farmer with a wife and three children come to this? Siste’s path to becoming one of Les Rébels of the Patriote movement began years earlier...