17th CENTURY FOOTPRINTS
BIRTH LOCATIONS IN FRANCE FOR MY ANCESTORS
I have traced my ancestry back to the 17th Century. Twelve of my 16 great grandparents were born in France, two were born in New France and two were born in Belgium.
The maps below show my paternal and maternal ancestors name, birth year and where in France they were born. The first map of France outlines my ancestral origins using the old provinces of France. The second map of France outlines my ancestral origins using the present day regions of France. It will be useful for you to refer to the ancestral charts available on the Surnames page to understand and keep track of who is who in this specific ancestral picture.
Here are 2 maps that show where my ancestors originated from in France. The first map uses old province names used during the French Regime. The second map shows uses the present day regions of France.
DOSSIERS FOR MY DIRECT ANCESTORS AND FOREFATHERS
Tracing our origins from Quebec to France is a very popular pastime. The Franco-Quebec Commission on Common Places of Memory has published a series of 12 books presenting the “places of memory” of the pioneers of French America. They are titled “These towns and villages of France….the cradle of French America”. See https://www.cfqlmc.org.
These books are written in French. If you wish to translate this into English, after you download the PDF file available for most of the volumes, you can copy and paste the text into a translator such as Google or DeepL.
The 12 volumes include details for more than 8,000 pioneers and 4,500 locations within France. Each town or village is presented as the geographical place of origin of the pioneers, with references to the history of these places, the heritage, the natural characteristics and the current local life. The commission undertook extensive research to prepare short dossiers for the pioneers of “French America”.
Here is the entry for my 7th great grandfather Charles Allaire in Volume 10:
I have prepared a table that indexes the entries for my direct ancestors and forefathers. What an exciting find to be able to locate a brief dossier for many of my ancestors! Hopefully some of the names within the table are also significant to your ancestry. Of course when you download the actual books from the website, you can search for your ancestor’s surname(s) within the various books that you download.
This tables provides the list of my ancestral surnames that have an entry in “These towns and villages of France….”
FRENCH ANCESTRY BY THE REGIONS OF FRANCE
You may be wondering how many total pioneers are documented in the books and how many of my ancestors will be documented on this family history blog.
To answer this question, I have also prepared a table that outlines the number of French Pioneers to Quebec as documented in the series of books “These towns and villages of France -cradle of French America” available at https://www.cfqlmc.org/villes-et-villages-de-france/ces-villes-et-villages-de-france-berceau-de-l-amerique-francaise. The final column in this table is labelled “Number of Family Ancestors and Forefathers” This is the scope of my family history research (and blog). It includes 46 surnames; 16 surnames for my direct ancestral great grandparents and 30 surnames of the French forefathers to my matrilineal great grandmothers.
INDEX FOR OUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS
There is a wonderful series of books (30 volumes) that describe the stories of the original settlers in New France. They are called “Our French-Canadian Ancestors”. Each volume contains between fifteen to eighteen biographies and sources are included at the end of each biography. The earliest volumes also include interesting articles about various aspects of the life during the French Regime in New France.
These books were written by Father Gerard Lebel who devoted his life to researching Quebec documents and then writing the stories about the settlers. Historian Jacques Saintonge and Father Lebel wrote all of the materials in French. In 1983, Thomas LaForest translated the biographies and put them into the thirty volumes along with some additional information that included some maps and historical articles.
Here is the entry for Charles Allaire my 7th great grandfather in Volume 10:
It is important to note that the images included in these books are not actual likenesses of our ancestors. They are a representation of the person with consideration for his occupation.
Access to these all the volumes of “Our French Canadian Ancestors” is now readily available in English. A gentleman by the name of Norm Hebert has posted all of the volumes on a Facebook page: If you Google search “Our French-Canadian Ancestors Facebook” you will reach his page. This is a private Facebook page so you must request permission to join the group before you can access the books.
There are 15 biographies for my ancestors and forefathers that are listed in the following table:
Here is the full index for all 30 volumes of “Our French Canadian Ancestors”. Have a look, maybe you will find some stories for your ancestors!
MY FRENCH ANCESTORS' ATLANTIC CROSSINGS
My French ancestors bravely crossed the Atlantic in ships that were powered only by wind. Only a small number of the maritime records for Atlantic crossings to New France during the French ancient regime include passenger lists. During my research I have discovered some voyage details for just over 1/3 of the ancestors that I have decided to track and write about. (Please refer to the Surnames tab in the Menu) In future blog posts I will include the voyage details for specific ancestors…..
The journey from the old country to New France included storms, water shortages, cold and wet conditions, pestilence and other hardships. I have prepared an introduction to the Atlantic crossings for readers to get a sense of the departure ports, ships, and conditions during a typical ship voyage during the 17th Century:
Here is an introduction to the Atlantic Crossings from France to New France that my ancestors completed. Details for specific ancestors can be found in blog posts.
QUEBEC ARRIVAL LOCATIONS MAP
My direct ancestors from France arrived in Quebec during the forty year period from 1658 to 1698. Settlers to New France established themselves along the banks of the St Lawrence River. The great River supplied fresh water, fish and a natural water route to travel on (boat in summer and sled in winter) and transport goods.
I have prepared a map titled “My Quebec Ancestral Origins” that outlines the arrival years and first locations for my direct ancestors in New France during the 17th Century:
NEW FRANCE 17th CENTURY SNAPSHOT FOR MY ANCESTORS
The previous map (titled “My Quebec Ancestral Origins”) shows only the general arrival location in Quebec for some of my direct ancestors. I have found several detailed maps that pinpoint where my ancestors actually settled. Together with census data a preliminary 17th Century snapshot into their lives is possible. The following document includes census transcripts and detailed location maps for the years 1666/67 and 1681 for Charles Allaire -my 7th great grandfather; Marie Asselin -my 7th great grandmother; Jean Beauchamp -my 8th great grandfather; Marie Chevreau -my 9th great grandmother. Census transcripts together with location maps for 1681 only are included for Marie Blanchard -my 9th great grandmother and Francoise Hurteau -my 9th great grandmother. Francois Meloche -my 6th great grandfather is not included here as he did not arrive to New France until very late in the 17th century.
This document provides a snapshot of family life in New France for some of my pioneer ancestors in the latter part of the 17th Century.
This concludes the introduction to the 17th century footprints that my ancestors made. Initial ancestral footprints have now been described, stay tuned for many, many, many more footprints and stories!