Francis A. Thibadeau 2

This line is Grandpa Thibadeau's Grandmother's lineage. Click on it to make it larger. 

With this line, I'm heading all the way back to the 1600s, where the tree starts with Olivier LeTardif at the top. Seven of the sixteen names were born in France. All of the sixteen died in Quebec. Some, mostly those toward the top, were born in Quebec, including Marie Boucher (1644-1712). Marie's parents, Marin Boucher (1589-1671) and Perrine Mallet (1598-1687) were born in France. 

According to Wikipedia, "Marin Boucher was a pioneer of early New France and one of the most prolific ancestors of French Canada, being the ancestor of most of the Bouchers of North America, particularly in the Province of Quebec, Northern New Brunswick, Ontario and Western Canada. Estimates of the number of families in Canada and the United States descended from Marin Boucher run as high as 350,000, although most of them do not bear the name Boucher today because Marin's line produced more daughters than sons."

Marin and Perrine were part of the first settlers who established themselves in Quebec City. The Bouchers, including Gaspard Boucher, were stonemasons and carpenters. When I look at photos of the beautifully maintained 17th century architecture in Old Quebec, I wonder if Marin helped place some of those stones.

All of the first settlers of Quebec knew Samuel de Champlain. In fact, "because of some work done for Samuel de Champlain, the Founder of the colony, Marin Boucher was deeded Chaplain's clothes in his will when he died." 

This monument to Louis Hebert, considered to be the first European settler in Canada, has a plaque on the back with the names of the first settlers. Names from our lineage include Marin Boucher, Perrine Mallet, and Olivier Tardif.

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I'm thinking I need to add Quebec City to my list of places I would like to visit someday! It's amazing how many of our ancestors were first settlers, either in the U.S. or in Canada. Port Royal, from last week's post, was actually the first European settlement north of Florida. 

Next week, I'll share what I've found about Rev. John Moore (1619-1657), our 9th great-grandfather, and how he brought the word of God to the wilderness of Newtown, Long Island, New York, now commonly known as Queens. 






Other Sources:

"The Real First French Settlers of Quebec"

"They Walked with Champlain at Quebec"

Francis A. Thibaudeau

Sorry this is so tiny. You can click on it to make it larger, and
I'll send a larger copy of the screen shot with the email.

Francis A. Thibaudeau's (1862-1943) ancestry was a tough one for a while. And, interestingly, more than one person said, "What have you found out about Grandpa Thibaudeau?"  The line above shows Grandpa's Grandfather's line. In the next Blog, I'll open up Grandpa's Grandmother's line. 

Grandpa was born in Bangor, Maine on July 26, 1862. His father, Regis, was also born in Maine, in 1822. He and his wife Marie Gauvin had 11 children and Grandpa was number nine. Census records from 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 and 1900 show Regis, a farmer, living at Van Buren, Aroostook, Maine, United States. The area is one of the only French speaking areas of the U.S. The 1901 census shows him living with his son, also Regis, in New Brunswick. He died at the age of 85 in Maine. (longevity!) Grandpa's mother, Marie, died in 1898.

The yellow line is the US - Canada border, and the curve is the northern most tip of Maine. 

While each generation has a story, I'm skipping back to Pierre R. Thibodeau (1631-1704), since he was born in France. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, our 6th great grandfather was a "miller, settler, founder of the Acadian family of that name". He settled in Port Royal, Nova Scotia, a settlement that did not last too long, however, it's now a Canadian Historical site, similar to Willliamsburg. Old Pierre is buried at the Port Royal site. 

He arrived in Acadia in 1654. According one history site, "By the 1650s, New France was still severely under populated and in constant danger of being overrun. In 1660, New France nearly fell to hostile Iroquois tribes.." In 1663, by order of King Louis XIV, New France became a French province, and gained more protection from the King. I also read that no one could emigrate to New France unless they were Catholic. No Huguenots allowed! 

By the way, the several spellings of Thibadeau, Thibodeaux, Tibodo, etc. come from the census records, which were done by hand. 

The green leaves on the Ancestry.com screen shot indicates there may be more information. I've decided not to pursue any links beyond the U.S. (except for Gram in Scotland). I've also followed some links and they didn't fit for one reason or another. 

To prepare for next week's entry, who was the founder of Quebec? Really. Look it up. Our 7th great grandparents were good buddies with him.

Have a good week!

MK