• What's New: How did it get to be July?
• This month's Feature:  Marie Marguerite PEPIN and her husbands, André Parent,  René Joseph Rodrigue, and Joseph Groinier.
• Cousin Speak
• Links
• Missing Links
• Ramblings from the Editor
• Newsy Bits
• NewsLetter info

WHAT'S NEW

How did it get to be July already?  I strongly suspect this is due to me trying to get ready for Brigade Days at Fort Langley on August 4 and 5.

This is why I'm a little late with this this month and will probably be a little late with it next month -- though, as I get ready for Brigade and the first physical meeting of the Children of Fort Langley, I'm adding bunches of new info to my family data base.  As I get deeper into the families of the men who worked at Fort Langley, I get more and more excited.  And between the info shared by the other descendants of these men and the info shared by you, I'm starting to see even more possibilities for connections.

Now, this may have much more to do with the fact that the First Families of New France had big families who intermarried with each other, but I do find it fascinating that there are so many ties with the fur trade.

THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Marie Marguerite PEPIN and her husbands, André Parent,  René Joseph Rodrigue, and Joseph Groinier.

Remember, before you go out and have these names and dates engraved upon the family silver, check'em in the Red and Blue Drouin, as well as the René Jetté, most especially the info on the older families.

Last month we looked at the children of Louis Pepin and wife Anne Elizabeth Boutin.  Louis is the youngest of Robert Pepin and Marie Crete's children.  This month we start with the third North American generation of Pepins, starting with the children of Louis' elder brother Jean Pepin.

At this point I'm going to switch to a notation system I've seen used on some of the genealogy e-mail lists.  In this system, Marie-Marguerite would be listed as Marie-Marguerite (2Jean, 1 Robert), meaning she's the daughter of Jean PEPIN and the granddaughter of Robert PEPIN.

Jean Pepin and Marguerite Moreau had a total of 16 children, 10 of these married and had children.  The first of these 10 is Marie-Marguerite and her three husbands, André, René, and Joseph.

Marie-Marguerite (2Jean, 1 Robert) was baptized 9 May, 1697 in Québec City and buried 29 March 1745.

Her first husband is André PARANT.  He is the youngest son and child of André PARANT and Marguerite COTÉ, and was baptized  2 Dec 1698.

Marie Marguerite PEPIN and André PARANT married 8 July 1720 in Charlesbourg, and their 5 chidren are:

1.  Marie-Marguerite, baptized 15 Aug 1742; married Charles BRACONNIER on 10 Sept 1742 in Québec; 6 children

--Extra info on Charles Braconnier.

...Charles was baptized 2 May 1706, son of Jean-Baptiste Braconnier and Françoise CHAPELAIN, and had 7 siblings

2.  François PARANT, baptized 2 April 1723; married Marie-Anne LEGRIS, on 7 Sept 1750 in Québec; 6 children

--Extra info on Marie-Anne LEGRIS

...Marie-Anne was baptized 9 Feb 1731, daughter of Claude LEGRIS and Marie-Joseph MARTIN dit JOLICOEUR.

3.  André-François PARANT, baptized 8 Sept 1725   4.  Louis PARANT, baptized 2 June 1728; married Marie-Louise MARCHAND 21 April 1749 in Québec; 9 kids.

5.  Louis PARANT, baptized 20 Feb 1730; married Louise PELLETIER 28 Aug 1758 in Québec; 4 kids

Marie Marguerite PEPIN and second husband René Joseph RODRIGUE married 29 April 1731 in Beauport, Québec.

René Joseph RODRIGUE, baptized 29 Aug 1704 in Beauport, is the son of René RODRIGUE and Elisabeth DAUPHIN.

According to Tanguay, Marie-Marguerite and René had no children -- but then again they weren't married all that long.

Marie Marguerite PEPIN and third husband Joseph GROINIER dit BISÊTRE married 20 Jan 1732 in Beauport.

Joseph GROINIER dit BISÊTRE, baptized 27 Jan 1700, son of Nicolas GROINIER and second wife Marie-Anne CHRÉTIEN.

1.  Marie-Charlotte GROINIER, baptized 28 Oct 1732; married Charles BONHOMME 3 Aug 1753 at Lorette.  7 kids.

2. Marie-Joseph GROINIER, baptized 18 Nov 1734; married Louis DAUVILLE 3 Nov 1761 in Québec.

--Extra info on Louis DAUVILLE

...After spending a couple hours looking for the marriage listing for Louis DAUVILLE and Marie-Joseph GROINIER, I come up with nothing.

3. Marie-Charolotte GROINIER, baptized 28 Nov 1736

4. Anonyme GROINIER, baptized 17 April 1739; buried 17 April 1739

--Extra info on Anonyme

...Anonyme translates unto "unnamed" or "not named".

5. Mary-Louise GROINIER, baptized 16 March 1741; married Jean-Baptiste LAUZON 18 Feb 1760 Terrebonne (as Mary-Louise GRENIER); 1 child.

--Extra info on Jean-Baptiste LAUZON

...Jean-Baptiste LAUZON, baptized in 27 Oct 1698, son of Paul LAUZON and Marie-Anne QUENNEVILLE

...Prior to Mary-Louise GROINIER, Jean-Baptiste was married, about 1743, to Thérèse CORBEIL.  Jean-Baptiste and Thérèse had 7 kids.

6. Geneviève GROINIER, baptized 8 May 1743

7. Marie-Catherine GROINIER, baptized 24 March 1745

If you see something that doesn't quite agree with your personal family history, e-mail me and tell me about it.

COUSIN SPEAK

Writes Jeannette, on 7 July 2001, in regards to researching Acadian lines:

   "When the French neutrals in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were deported in 1755  a lot of the official records were lost or destroyed.  Some were deported all along the New England coast and as far south as Louisiana.  Others were sent to France and elsewhere.  Recently, Stephen White, who is in charge of the archives in New Brunswick, has published two volumes about the Acadians who were deported, after years of research, and these records are not available to me while we are in Florida during the Winter.  Some of our Acadian ancestors were deported to Mass., New York & Virginia."

On 12 June 2001, I got a thought provoking e-mail from a PEPPIN researcher in the British Isles, that goes pretty much like this:

   "Pepin means pip or seed in French - the surname (according to some friends who are French) is Norman.  Charlemagne's dad was Pepin (or Pippin) le Bref (the Short).  One of my Peppin great uncles spent his declining years trying to trace his ancestors, and got back to about the 1570s.  They all lived in the Somerset/ East Devon/Dorset area (even now that's where you find the name in phone books).  There is no record of whether they were Huguenots, came over with the Normans in 1066, or were economic migrants!.  My great uncle had the family tree transferred onto a roll of parchment, but my grandmother absent mindedly left it behind when she moved from Dorset to Essex in the late 1950s.

   "Judging by their other names (Magice, Maille, Etienne etc), the American/Canadian bunch of Peppans probably went straight over to the New World from France.  Since they're buried in an Anglican cemetery it's likely that they were Huguenots.  My family were also Anglicans - one of my forebears built the (very modest) parish church at Ash in Somerset in about 1840 (and is buried there).  He is supposed to have been a surgeon with the British army in India and to have returned slightly wealthy - probably the only Peppin EVER (in the branch to which I belong) to have made money!  My great-grandfather George Bedford Peppin was a Priest-Vicar (equivalent to a Canon) at Wells Cathedral in the late 19th century and two of his sons, Arthur Hamilton Peppin and my grandfather, Gerald Francis Codrington Peppin, also became Anglican clergyman.  I mention all these surnames (bestowed as second/third names commemmorating earlier family connections) just in case they may be of any use in USA researches).

   "There are Peppins in Australia and 'The Quest for the Golden Fleece' by Frank Clune, published in the 1960s, investigates George Peppin (and sons) who emigrated from Dulverton (on the Devon/Somerset borders) to Australia in the 1840s, and bred the merino sheep on which Australia's wool wealth is supposed to have been based.  They are supposed to have been distantly related to my branch of the family, and the fact that they died poor would seem to bear out this connection!  In the mid-1980s, as a result of a chance encounter, I made contact with an Australian Mylie Peppin whose father (it turned out) had the same 2nd name as my father - Sydenham - which is the name of a family to which the Somerset Peppins were linked by marriage in (I think) the 17th century.  (However she disclaimed any relationship with the sheep breeders!)

   "According to my dad, true Peppins are (like Charlemagne's dad!) physically short and square.  They are also hopeless at making money, very fond of music, and have a good sense of humour.  19th century Peppins invariably died before the age of 64, usually of heart disease."

I wrote her back and this is her reply:

   "I was telling my husband David  that you (like me) are a ' Pepin le Bref', and he said "Ask her if she has a double-ended nose". (Many Peppins have this nasal peculiarity - when you put your finger on the end of your nose you feel a groove with a bump at each side).  He also reminded me that the Cathedral at St. Denis, on the outskirts of Paris (the earliest gothic cathedral) has a medieval effigy of Pepin le Bref (the end of the nose seemed to be a normal shape!)  We also noticed that one of the 17th century effigies (St. Denis is full of them) had been carved by a 'Jean Pepin'.

   "At Conques in the south of France we once saw a reliquary that had been made for Pepin - a smallish house-shaped box in gold and enamel.  I can't remember which saint's bones it was supposed to have contained ...."

On 17 June 2001, Jim Dick writes:

   "Wanted also to share a few things new on this side of the continent ... found a really neat family research organization right here in my backyard, about 1 hour from me, (The French-Canadian Genealogical Society of CT).  It's located in a quaint little old town in the Old County Courthouse on the Town Green.  Their records are supposed to be among the best in the country and the library has both the Loiselle and Drouin indexes, the Tanguay and Jette and the PRDH ( an indexed compilation of church and civic records and census materials) and much more.  Gave me goosebumps ... especially at only $20 bucks a year membership or $5 per visit!

   "Also, I wanted to know if you had the family info on Marie Crete (wife of Robert Pepin); if not, the attached I found in LaForest, Vol 1, Chapter 8 on her father, Jean. All in all, so far I've found biographies in LaForest of seven of my direct ancestors to be 'first families' in New France.  How lucky can a guy get?  Hard to believe this gent is still alive and writing this stuff down - must be in his 80's."

[Editor Note:  I'm going to be writing a letter to Mr Laforrest to see if I can get official permission to put his bios of our First Families of New France on the web site.]

On 5 May 2001 Karyl Hubbard writes:

   "The lastest newsletter had a couple of sites I hadn't seen that interested me.  The Pembina Census for 1850, for instance, and I thought I'd been through Pembina pretty thoroughly.  Two Antoine Pepins didn't surprise me, but I doubt that two Marguerite Davises existed at the same time to marry two Pepins.  The people behind door number two must be the half-breed half gggreat-uncle of Jerry's.  And I think he's the one buried at the Mission Cemetery.  Anyhow, since the old man was a blacksmith it makes sense that son would be too.  Wonder what happened to Marguerite and the ten or twelve kids they had when Papa was murdered?"

On 3 July 2001, Shane Pepin writes:

   "Hi, my name is Shane Pepin.  I just visited your site and I thought it was great.  I just wanted to tell you about this web page I found that my be use to you or to the people that go to your web. Please check it out. www.geocities.com/yosemite/gorge/3221/pepin.htm  I also signed your guest book.

   "Thanks Again, Shane"

[Editor Note: Kevin, you got a fan.  :)]

For those of you wondering still about Brent PEPIN's grandparents Lloyd and Luella PEPIN, I've not heard back from Brent pinsirb@hotmail.com on where they lived.

LINKS

The Tanguay -- aka (also known as) DICTIONNAIRE GÉNÉALOGIQUE des FAMILLES CANADIENNES depuis la fondation de la colonie jusqu'a nos jours par L'Abbé Cyprien Tanguay. Depuis 1608 jusqu'à 1700. Province de Quebec, Eusèbe Senécal, imprimeur - ëditeur -- MDCCCLXXI (1871) -- can be found online at: http://www2.biblinat.gouv.qc.ca/numtextes/at802.htm

For those of you with an interest in the first generation Pepin, Joseph-Marie Pepin (as I have him listed on my website at http://www.fortlangley.ca/pepin/pepin.html#jmp , Kevin Peppin has found a little more info about him on his web site at http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/3221/pepin.htm

MISSING LINKS

On 2 July 2001, Jill Cheramie writes:

   "My name is Jill Marie Cheramie (Benson, Lancour, Peppin). I came across your web site. I'm very excited to see all of the peppins. My grandma's maiden name was peppin, her first name is Valerie. She married my grandfather Henery Lancour in the 1920's. I just was wondering if I fit in the family tree some where?"

I answered her and this was her reply:

   "I talked with my mother and she said that my grandmother's parents names were David and Victorine and she said the way the name is spelt is papen. I Will try to find out more. And thank you again for answering.

   "Sincerly, Jill Cheramie"

[Editor Note: If you'd like to contact Jill, her e-mail addy is smellsgood55@hotmail.com -- Welcome to the list, Jill!]

On 15 June 2001, Tricia PEMPIN tpempin@hotmail.com writes:

   "I enjoyed your work alot and do not disagree, but have a question. I have been searching for information on the Pempin family.  Yesterday, I have located a census record stating that the father of Harry Pempin was born in France.  He was born in Switzerland as was his mother. The only other Pempin's I have been able to locate are in Ohio, it seems they started there in the 1800's.  Do you think this could be another spelling of Pepin?

   "Thanks , Tricia"

RAMBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR

I'm easily sidetracked -- always have been -- but as far as my own research with the Pepin line and the Fort Langley employees goes, it may actually be a good thing.

Like putting together this month's COUSINS.  I found that I had not done much more with Jean and Marguerite's kids than enter in their info and the names of their spouses.  As I hunted up the info for the kids and their spouses, I tied together some family lines (and yeah, I should find a way of making notes about that) and other than finding absolutely NO information on Louis DAUVILLE other than a couple of 1st generation individuals with that surname, this monster data base is going to take a lot more time than I had originally anticipated . . . but then again, I do that a lot, too.

The data base now stands at 7081 individuals, which includes the collateral lines.  Below are the surnames *just* in the direct line of descent from Robert Pepin and Marie Crete:

Adam, Alaire, Alard, Algeo, André, Arneson, Badayac-Laplante, Balan, Barnèche, Beau, Bedard, Belisle, Bell, Belleau, Bergevin, Bidon, Bilodeau, Bissonet, Blanchet, Blomquist, Boetard, Boileau, Bonenfant, Bonhomme, Boulet, Boutin, Braconnier, Bragg, Brisard, Brousseau, Brown, Brunea, Buisson, Béliveau, Caillier, Campion, Caron, Caturia/Couturier, Champagne, Cherrier, Chester, Cire, Clouet, Cloutier, Clément, Colard, Collins, Comerford, Corriveau, Cosset, Cotenoir, Cottenoir, Coté, Courcy, Couture, Crete/Creste, Croistiere, Crépin, Dauville, Davis, DeChavigny, Deguire, Delasse, Demers, Denis, Derome, DeSantis, Desautels, Desnoyers, Desrosiers, Dietz, Dorval, Dube, Dubois, Duchesneau, Dunn, Eskierka, Fallon, Farr, Filion, Fournier, Fremot, Frenche, Frontigny, Furniss, Germain, Giguere, Gill, Girardier, Godfroy, Gordon, Grandmont, Gravelle, Grenier, Groinier,  Guibaut, Hamelin, Hebert, Heiniger, Hianveu, Houston, Hubbard, Hubert dit LaCroix, Hélie, Hély, Hévé, Impleman, Jacques, Javray, Johnson, Jolivet, Joyal, Keeney, Labelle, Landry, Laroche, Laurent, Lauzon, LaVaque, LeBrun, Lecours, Ledel, LeDuc, Lefevbre, Legris, Legros, Lemay, Lescot, Letarte, LeTourneau, Leveillé, Levesque, Loisel, Longtin, Lorion, Magice, Maie, Maillot, Maillé, Marchand, Marcheteau, Martin, Mason, Massal, Maurois, May, McCarthy, McClure, McGee, Mercereau, Miller, Montagnaise, Moore, Moreau, Morrisette, Métot, Nee, Neuman, Noel, Palmier, Parant, Parker, Patoile, Patraw, Paul, Pearl, Pelletier, Pepin, Peppan, PLante, Plouf, Prejean, Prudhomme, Quemleur, Quéret, Raté, Remillard, Renault, Richard, Robert, Robinson, Roche, Rodrigue, Roufiat, Rouleau, Rouse, Roy, Royre, Rufert, Ruffin, Rémillard, Salois, Samson, Saucier, Savard, Schaefer, Sellers, Semivan, Sheehy, Slade, Sorenson, Sweeney (Sevigny??/Choiniere??), Séglasse, Tanguay, Tassé, Tessier,  Thibault, Thibaut, Thomas, Thrall, Tibaut, Truran, Vachon, Vaillancourt, Valin, Vandermey, Vassor, Veilleux, Verrat, Vox, Vésina, Wenum, Wolf, Woodrich, Zoyarra, and Élie-Breton.

NEWSY BITS

Got the following tid bit and thought I'd share it as it pertains to dit names.

   "You show sabelle/Elizabeth Peppan.  In the Quebec Province, the name Elizabeth is always shown with Isabelle.  Evidently the two are used interchangeably.  I feel sure your "sabelle" should be Isabelle.

   "I have done extensive Quebec research, as 99% of my ancestors were original settlers there.

   "You mention five surnames.  Many of the French in Quebec use a surname along with a "dit" name.  Dit means called, also there are many spellings for the same name.   Thus May, Maille, Magice are likely the same name.  The first two would be pronounced the same.   The original name probably was Peppan dit Maille\Magice.  Many times, descendants drop the original name;  using the "dit" name as their legal surname.  Both names are equally legal.   Documents have had the same name spelled various ways, most people were illiterate, names were spelled creatively.

   "For example, my mother's family name was Tellier\LeTellier dit LaFortune.  About the 1800s they mostly became LaFortune.  My father's family name was Lagu\LaGue dit Sanscartier.  This family dropped the Sanscartier, remaining LaGue."

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

If you have family you want to share this with but they don't have a computer, please feel free to print it out and share it with them.  If you have family with a computer who you think might be interested in the newsletter, drop'em an e-mail and let'em know about it; feel free to pass along my e-mail address. 

If at anytime you wish to be change the way you receive the newsletter, drop me an e-mail at lisa@fortlangley.ca and tell me.