The French Side

 About 25% of my family originated in France, many departing from La Rochelle to start a new life in North America during Canada's earliest days of European colonization. 
The main branches of this part of my family consist of many Filles du Roi, soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment, and an Acadian connection. They include the following surnames. 

LECOMTE

  • My great-grandfather Robert Joseph Denis LeComte's (1904-1975) paternal family lines include Lecompte, Talbot, Lacombe, Blaise, Blanchet, Bernier, and Morin. 
  • The paternal family line founder Jean Baptiste Lecompte (1735-1802) was a relatively late arrival and came to Canada from Normandy in 1770.
  • The other family lines in this branch include original colonists who came to Canada as early as 1659, as well as famous founders Louis Hébert (Canada's first herbalist and apothecary to Samuel Champlain's expeditions) and wife Marie Rollet (Canada's first female French farmer and teacher).

TRIAL

  • My great-grandfather Robert Joseph Denis LeComte's maternal family lines include Trial (originally from Italy, and some of whom later settled in Maine, USA), Boisvert, Orion dit Champagne, and Boudreault. 
  • The (Orion dit) Champagne family lines were Acadians who in the 1650s lived in the Port Royal/Annapolis Royal area of what is now Nova Scotia. The Acadian families were dispersed during the Great Deportation of 1755, although some of them returned nearly a decade later to re-settle in Québec.

DESPINS

  • My great-grandmother Marie Eugénie Adrienne Despins's (1902-1988) paternal family lines include (Lefebvre dit) Dépin, Dubuc, Désy, and Hamelin (dit Grondines and dit Lanagière) and many of them arrived in Québec in the mid 1600s to become founding settlers of their various communities (for example, Grondines in Portneuf). 

LEVESQUE

  • My great-grandmother Marie Eugénie Adrienne Despins's maternal family lines include two distinct branches of Lévesque (dit Chamberland), and two distinct branches of Michaud. Many of the families in these lines also arrived in Québec in the mid 1600s to become founding settlers of their various communities and regions (for example, Kamouraska). 

  • Other family lines in this branch include original colonists who came to Canada as early as 1659 (and some even earlier). Surnames such as Deportes, Morin (dit Valcourt), Langlois, Grenier, Belanger, Guyon (or Gagnon), and Gagné (or Gasnier) dit Belleavance are among the earliest families in this branch.

Page last updated on April 21, 2024.