PROVINCE OF POITOU: A province of France, bounded on the west by the Atlantic ocean, north by Brittany, Anjou and Touraine, east by La Marche and south by Angoumois and Aunis.

NORMANDY: An ancient province of northern France. Its boundaries were approximately as follows: west and north, the English Channel. Northeast, the Bresle River separated Normandy from Picardy. On the east, the Epte River separated the Normand area from the Francais area. Normandy takes its name from the Vikings, known as Nordmanni (Northmen). Normandy's provincial capitaol was Rouen.

BRITTANY: (Bretagne) takes its name from the Celts of Britain. A province in western France, it juts out into the Atlantic like a huge peninsula. Nanter, largest city of Brittany, is situated a the mouth of the Loire River, 35 miles from the sea. The Loire divides into four branches, forming islands over portions of which the city has spread. Two of the branches have been filled in and made into roads. Two of our ancestors sailed from this port town of Nantes in the year 1653.

It seems that everyone with the name of Papineau in their line, wants to know how closely related they are to the Canadian Politician, Louis Joseph Papineau. He was the son of Joseph Papineau and was born in 1786. His grandfather, Joseph Papineau, was a brother to Francois Papineau, my gr-gr-gr-gr- grandfather.

Louis-Joseph was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1808 and in 1815 became its speaker. He held that position almost continuously until 1837. He was regarded as the leader of the French Canadian people in their struggle against the government of Lower Canada and the English-dominated executive and legislative councils. Papineau inspired the Ninty Tow Resolutions, which was a statement of French Canadian grievances passed by the Assembly in 1834. In March of 1837, Lord Gosford, the Governor, rejected the demands of the Assembly and was authorized to appropriate provincial revenues without the consent of the Assembly. A protest followed and Papineau made some inflammatory speeches. According to accounts I have read by historians, Papineau never meant his speeches to stir up the hostilities to the extent that they did. On the night of November 22, 1837, hostilities began at St. Denis and Papineau abandoned the Patriot Force that was led by Wolfred Nelson and escaped to the United States. From the States he went to Paris and lived there until 1845 when amnesty was granted and he returned to Canada .

By 1841, Upper and Lower Canada had been united and a single legislature represented Canada East and West. Papineau again sat in the Legislature but he never regained his former prominence in politics. He died at his home at Montebello, Quebec, 24 September, 1871.

THE IROQUOIS & ALGONQUIN PEOPLE

A few words need to be said on the relationship of the Indians and their impact on the settlers of New France. I will not try and go into detail on Indian history, as I am poorly read on that subject. In the years that our ancestors were trying to settle in New France, the Iroquois League was made up of five Indian Tribes. They called themselves, "The people of the long houses". They were, the Mohawk, Oneida, onondaga, cayuga and Seneca. The Algonquins, (Also spelled Algonkin) was a name applied to a number of Algonkan-speaking bands and tribes living on both sides of the Ottawa River in Canada in forest areas.

We lost many of our ancestors to the Iroquois, who were ceaseless fighters and who made successful attacks on the St. Lawrence Valley in New France. The Algonquins and the Hurons were allies of the French. In the years 1648-1650, the Iroquois destroyed the Huron Confederacy and during the next ten years almost destroyed New France. The Marquis de Tracy led an expedition against the Iroquois in 1666. This by no means halted the Iroquois, only slowed them down for a time. In 1687, the Marquis de Denonville, led another fight against them. The Iroquois fought brilliantly and carried the fight right into the center of the French Territory. The Iroquois wiped out Lachine, a village near Montreal. In 1693-1696, Count de Frontenac, the Governor of New France, led a series of campaigns against the Iroquois which were successful. The Algonquin, who were allies of the settlers, were never great in numbers, and were almost annihilated by both the Iroquois raids and European diseases. (Information from the Encyclopedia Britannica).

THE KING'S DAUGHTERS

One of the more interesting periods in history as far as the French-Canadians are concerned, is the story of the "filles du roi", (daughters of the king). French Canadian historians generally, but not always, limited the women called this to those who arrived in New France during the years 1663-1673, inclusive. Women who arrived before the year 1663 were known as "filles à marier" (marriageable daughters), and in general paid for their own transport or made their own arrangements.

Elmer Courteau of South St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote a series of articles of the Kings Daughters for publication, "Lost in Canada", and all information on the subject written here, are direct quotes from his article. I felt this story would be of great interest to our family members. I have found many of our ancestors named in his article and they are listed after the story.

"It is almost impossible to be of French-Canadian descent and not have among on's ancestresses at least one with the somewhat mysterious notation that she was a "fille du Roi", a daughter of the King. This was the title given to the women immigrants from Franch who agreed to travel to the new lands in North America and marry a settler there in exchange for a dowry from the French King. If the woman married a settler or a common soldier, the dowry was 50 pounds. If she married an officer, it went up to 100 pounds.

In attempting to get the atmosphere of a period of history in which one's forefathers lived, the family historian should always try to obtain as much knowledge as he or she can about every condition of life in that era. Only then can the forces that motivated our ancestors have real life. A dowry in the period in which New France was being settled was of Crucial importance to a girl or woman in France. Women needed a dowry, no matter how small, to enter a convent as a nun, or to bring to a marriage. In a period when positions in life were bought and sold, the size of a girl's dowry generally determined her future position in life. Without a dowry a widow or an orphaned girl of this age had only the dreariest of lives to look forward to. There can be little doubt that the offer of a dowry from the king awakened a wild hope and even wilder dreams in the hearts and minds of many of our ancestresses in mid-17th century France. The story of that dream was often shattered on arrival in the wilderness....Records have the names of over 800 women who are thought to have left France for the New World with the promise of the King's bounty, the background of the girls, their ages, places of origin and other bits of history that are not available in Tanguay or Drouin.

Agreements to marry were made by the Kings daughters before they left France for the New World, and marriage contracts signed soon after arrival. These were not binding marriages for Catholics, and could be annulled. The bachelors in New France wanted wives and the women arriving had agreed in advance to marry. Love in that day and age, was always something our ancestors expected would come after marriage, if it was to be. It is amazing the large numbers of formal agreements to marry, made before a notary, that were annulled. There were even a number of civil marriages contracted, annulled, new partners obtained, another annulment, and the earlier partner back again, this time for the all important church ceremony. These civil agreements on the terms of the marriage were not lightly arrived at. The decision to seek an annulment had to be studied and couldn't have been made quickly. The annulments were always possible of course because it was the church ceremony that made the marriage official, and it was a real rarity when the civil agreement was drawn up following the church ceremony although it was not unknown. (Lost in Canada? Elmer Courteau).

All marriages listed took place in French Canada. To make it easier to locate the following "daughters of the King" in our family lines, I have numbered them to correspond with their numbers on the generation chart.

#465 ANTOINETTE LENOIR, born at St. Eustache of Paris, Ile-de-France, daughter of the deceased Jean Lenoir and Antoinette Sirois, signed, then annulled a marriage contract with Julien Meusnier 29 Sept. 1669, then married Jacques Le Beuf 29 Oct. 1669 at Quebec. Her dowry of 350 pounds 50 from the King.

#473 - MARIE CHARPENTIER, of St-Etienne du Mont, Paris, daughter of François Charpentier and Marie Gatau, who married Pierre-Jean Gendron dit Le Parisien, 11 Nov. 1671.

Samuel Papineau dit Montigny & Catherine Quevillon (m. 1704)

|

Marie-Marguerite/ Catherine / Marie-Louise/ FRANCOIS / Pierre / Jean-Baptiste / Joseph / Michel/ Louis |

Marie-Desanges / Marie/ Marie-Archange / Jacques / Marie-Joseph / Amable / PIERRE / Antoine/ Marie-Victor / Francois |

FRANCOIS (1813)

|

FRANCOIS (1836)

|

FERDINAND (1883)

|

Ida / Edward / Henry / MELINA+AGNAS (1921) / Louis / Della / Lilya / Celeste / Leola

|

DOROTHY MAY (1945) / Louise-Marie / Robert Oscar

|

MICHAEL-LOYE (1946-1964)

SAMUEL PAPINEAU AND CATHERINE QUEVILLON

Samuel Papineau dit Montigny was born in the 1670 at the village of Montigny, in the Province Poitou, in France. He was the son of Samuel Papineau (a merchant) and Marie Delain (Delair).

Samuel Papineau was a soldier in the Company of the Sieur d'Andresy, which arrived in Quebec about 1688. The latter, who died during the crossing, was replaced by Aloigny de La Groye. For ten years Papineau served faithfully under Frontenac and Galliere, and twas then discharged. On the 25^th of April, 1699, he acquired from the Sulpicians, a land grant of sixty acres on the Cote Saint-Michel. In 1705, he sold this land to Jean Guillebert, dit Laframboise, and in 1711 obtained ownership of a new grant of lant at Riviere-des-Preiries which he retained until his death.

Samuel was a private soldier and evidently never made much money. He concerned himself mainly with the land grants which were made to him from 1699 on. Samuel did 23 April 1737 and is buried at Sault-au-Recollet. He left only a few possessions as was shown by an inventory that was drawn up after his death. Samuel is the founder of the Papineau families in Canada. Samuel took the name of Montigny after his place of birth in France to distinguish himself from other Papineau mambers.

On 6 June 1704, at Riviere-des-Prairies, Samuel married Catherine Quevillon, by whom he had nine children. Catherine was born 14 March 1686, the daughter of Adrien Quevillon and Jeanne Hunault (Gunault). When Catherine was an infant, she and a seven year old sister were carried off by the Iroquois and the sister was burned to death in front of Catherine. Catherine was ransomed after several years of captivity. (The records I read did not say who ransomed her). As I was reading of this event, and also checking the records of the Quevillon family, I found that the seven year old sister was probaly Francoise-Angelique who was Born 13 March 1681. Catherine was a baby at the time of the kidnapping, so the age of the sister would be right. Francoise is the only child listed to Adrien & Jeanne Queillon that does not have a marriage date. I have no proof of this, only supposition.

Catherine married four times and died at the age of ninety five. Catherine's four marriages are as follows:

1. Guillaume Lascombe, m. 30 July 1703 at St Amant

2. Samuel Papineau, m. 6 June 1704 at Rivieres-de-Prairies

3. Jacques Daniel, married 3 April 1742 at Sault-au-Recollet

4. Jean-Baptiste DeVerac, m. 18 February 1754

THE CHILDREN OF SAMUEL PAPINEAU & CATHERINE QUEVILLON

1. Marie-Marguerite, born 23 March 1705. Married at St-Laurent (near Montreal) to Jean-Baptiste Perillard on 20 August 1725. Jean-Baptiste was the son of Nicolas Perillard and Jeanne Sabourin. He was also a brother to Nicolas who married Catherine Papineau.

2. Catherine, born 13 December 1706. Married Nicolas Perillard at St-Laurent on 16 November 1730. Nicolas was the son of Nicolas Perrillard and Jeanne Sabourin.

3. Marie-Louise, born 28 April 1709. Married at St-Laurent to Pierre Paradis on 16 April 1725. He was the son of Jean Paradis & Jeanne Pasquier.

4. FRANCOIS, born 25 May 1712. Married at Montreal, Notre-Dame, to Marie-Joseph DeVautour on 7 Oct. 1737. She was the daughter of Antoine DeVautour and Genevieve Menard.

5. Pierre, born 20 Oct. 1714. Married at Sault-au-Recollet to Marie-Joseph Brignon on 30 June 1739. She was the daughter of Jean Brignon and Anne-Charlotte Provost.

6. Jean-Baptiste, born __. Married to Marie-Charlotte Martineau on 29 November 1743. She was the daughter of Jacques Baudry and Angelique Archambault.

8. Michel, born in 1723. Married Marie-Anne Sareau on 5 March 1753. She was the daughter of Jean Sareau and Marie-Therese Rose.

PIERRE PAPINEAU AND MARIE-JOSEPHE VINCELETTE

Pierre Papineau and Marie-Josephte Vinceletter were married at Chambly on 10 June 1782. Chambly is located about ten miles from Montreal, across the St. Lawrence River. Sher was the daughter of Jacques Vinceletter dit Laboitiere and Louis Barre. As of this date I have found only three of the children of Pierre & M-Josephte.

1. Josephte, married at Chambly to Joseph Courtamanche on 12 October 1801. He was the son of Joseph Courtemanche and M. Chs. Cardinal.

2. FRANCOIS, married at St. Constant, Laprairie to Louise Hebert on 1 March 1813. Louise was the daughter of Pierre Hebert and Marguerite Hebert.

3. Celeste, married at Montreal, Notre Dame, to Jean Gagnon on 23 September 1822. He was the son of Pierre Gagnon and Marguerite Lefebvre.

4. Pierre, married at Ste-Marie-Debuce, to Marie-Claire-Gagne on 21 September 1807. Sher was the daughter of Bernard Gagne & M-Joseph Morin.

FRANCOIS PAPINEAU AND MARIE-LOUISE HEBERT

Francois Papineau, son of Pierre Papineau and Marie-Josephte Vincelette, worked on a ferry boat crossing the St. Lawrence River. He was married at St. Constant to Marie-Louise Hebert on 1 March 1813. St. Constant is a village not far from Chambly. She was the daughter of Pierre Hebert and Marguerite Hebert. (Pierre Hebert was a farmer). At this date I can find only two of their children:

1. FRANCOIS, married at St. Isidore Lapririe, Anastasie Gagne, on 10 October 1836, She was the daughter of Joseph Gagne and Marguerite Boyer.

2. Joseph, married at St. Constant Laprairie to Mathelde Cardinal on 7 January 1839. She was the daughter of Pierre Cardinal and Anne Ste-Marie.

FRANCOIS PAPINEAU & ANASTASIE GAGNE

Francois Papineau, son of Francois Papineau and Marie-Louise Hebert, was a farmer in the St. Isidore Laprairie area. He was married at St. Isidore to Anastasie Gagne on 10 October 1836. She was the dauthter of Joseph Gagne and Marguerite Boyer. At this writing I have located only three children of this couple.

1. Anastasie, married at St. Urbain Chat. To Oliva Cliche on 10 October 1859. He was the son of Pierre Cliche and Marguerite Couroux.

2. Isaac, married Elizabeth Wilson.

3. FERDINAND, born March 1856. Married Marie-Antoinette Dontigny in the year 1883. Marie-Antoinette was the daughter of Luc Dontigny and Eloise Godin (Gaudin).

FERDINAND PAPINEAU & MARIE-ANTOINETTE DONTIGNY

Ferdinand Papineau, son of Francois Papineau and Anastasie Gagne, was born near Laprairie, not far from Montreal, in March of 1856. He entered the United States in 1870 and was naturalized on 30 October, 1909. He married Marie-Antoinette Dontigny in 1883. Ferdinand died 22 May 1932 in Wells Township, just north of Escanaba, Michigan.

Marie was born 27 June 1865 in Champlain, District Trois Rivierres. She was the daughter of Luc Dontigny and Eloise Godin. Marie and Ferdinand raised their children in Escanaba, Michigan. From family conversations I learned that Marie left Ferdinand in Escanaba some time in the early 1900s and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. She made a home for her children there and worked at various jobs including the Lymanhurst, a hospital for children, located on Chicago Ave. In South Minneapolis, which later became the "Kenney Institute." (Named for Sister Kenney of Australia who introduced her methods for rehabilitating Polio victims). In Marie's later years she moved to Kansas City, Missouri to make her home with one of her daughters Lilyan, and Lilyan's husband, Rhea Thompson. Marie remained with them until her death on 1 August 1957. Marie is buried at Resurrection Cemetery, St. Paul, Minnesota. Marie's mother, Eloise (Godin) Dontigny also came to Minneapolis with he r daughter Marie. Eloise had been a widow for some years. Eloise died 26 January 19113 and is buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Minneapolis. Ferdinand and Marie's children are as follows:

1. Ida, born 3 March 1884. Died on her 15^th birthday on 3 March 1899 at Escanaba.

2. Edward, born January 1886. He married Maude Chino? Shino? (Family conversations tell me she was a pretty Indian girl from Duluth, MN). They had one son Richard. Edward left his wife and son in the early years of their marriage. I have been told that Maude and Richard moved to California. The family looked for Edward for many years, but heard nothing of him until his death in the 1950s. A Catholic Priest wrote to Escanaba and told of Edward's death in New Orleans, LA. At the time of his death, there were still relatives living in Escanaba. If Edward had withed when he was ill, he could have contacted his family and would have received the help he needed. Also, perhaps out there somewhere is a first cousin by the name of Richard Papineau, that I have never met.

3. Henry, born May 1889. Died 9 March 1907 of Typhoid fever. He is buried at St. Ann's in Escanaba.

4. Melina-Agnas, born 22 April 1891 In Escanaba. Married Oscar Ludvig Knudson on 18 May 1921 in Minneapolis, MN. Melina did Thanksgiving Day, 24 November 1977 in Minneapolis.

5. Louis, born 5 July 1892 in Escanaba. Married Leona Bennenoese on 21August 1918. They have lived all their married life in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. They have tow children, Jane and Louis Jr, called "Jud." Louis died May 16, 1980, Leona died 14 June, 1980.

6. Delia (Della), norn 5 April 1896 in Escanaba. She married Eugene Tomorug on 19 Octobor 1920 in Oakland, California. Eugene was born 21 August 1893 in Wasseley, Austria, son of Denetrous Tomorug. Eugene came to Canada in 1910, then to the United States. Eugene met Della while both were working one summer at Glacier National Park. Eugene became a U.S. Citizen in the 30s. Della and Eugene had three children - Eugene Jr, born 12 November 1921 at Oakland, CA, Joyce, born 11 September 1927 at Hayward, CA and Jane Aglea, born 14 November 1930 and died 29 November 1930 at Hayward. Della died 25 April 1978.

7. Lilyan, born 26 July 1903 at Escanaba. Married Rhea Wood Thompson 3 November 1947. At this writing they live at Grove, OK.

8. Celeste, born 22 Feb. 1908. Married Harold Lind (now deceased). Celeste still lives in Grove OK.

9. Leola, born 7 April 1910. Married Harry C. Denis on 16 February 1949.

Note: Two infants died at birth and are buried at St. Ann's in Escanaba, Michigan.

Additional Material