House of Gagnon - User contributions [en]

Research Resources

2017-08-04T11:19:36Z

Gagnon:

==Books==
'''Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec by René Jetté'''

This cornerstone of French Canadian genealogical research lists Quebec marriages, births and deaths from 1621 to 1730 using parish records, census records, notarial records, and others. Jette sometimes includes several generations of a family, often taking them back to their origins in France. This edition includes a 37 page supplement of corrections that was added in 2002. More than 1100 pages of genealogical extractions.

==Internet Resources==
*http://www.upperstjohn.com/nellie/d151.htm

==Articles==
*http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03well.perche.t.html -- article about modern Perche

Gagnon Family History

2017-07-20T18:15:16Z

Gagnon:

Really good storytelling resource here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/a-country-of-immigrants-please/article1081576/

https://gagnonhistory.wordpress.com/page-1/a-gagnon-family-history/

http://www.lamaisondeprintemps-normandie.com/p/entre-1634-et-1651-environ.html
http://www.lamaisondeprintemps-normandie.com/p/famillegagnon-entre1634-et-1666-246.html

http://stella-elan.blogspot.com/2015/10/my-ancestors-percherons.html

Gagnon Family History
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A Gagnon Family History
This story can be downloaded here.

A Gagnon Family History

This is a brief history of the family of Marcel Gagnon and Louisa Remillard.

How did these two happen to marry in a corner of Washington State?

The answers, interestingly enough, have to do with France, England, felt hats, gold, and the medieval feudal system.

Contents:

The French Connection
La Gaignonierre
New France
The Percheron Immigration
Chateau-Richer
Marriageable Women
Carignan Soldiers
The Remillards
French and Indian Wars
Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
The Seigneurial System
A Failed Rebellion
Western Migration
Whitman Massacre
Frenchtown
Remillard – Gagnon Union
Author’s Note
Appendix A – Family Tree Charts

The French Connection
To someone with a passing knowledge of French, the last four letters of the surname Gagnon would indicate its country of origin. Like many other surnames, Gagnon is an occupational name for a farmer or cultivator. The name is derived from the Old French word “gagneau” which means to “till” or “cultivate.”1

The French connection doesn’t begin and end with the Gagnon name. Other French names in the North American Gagnon line include Drouin, Tremblay, Cochon, Gagne, Lacroix, Chapelier, Lepage, Gaumond, Daunais, St. Pierre, Bourgery, Falcon, Simard, Bonneau, Charles, Niel, Robert, Legendre, and Dauphin.2 Tremblay and Gagnon are among the most common French names in North America.

On the Remillard side the roots in France are even more extensive.3 In addition to Remillard we have the names Helie, Labbe, Pepin, Lapierre, Pinsonneault, Falcon, Tremblay, Longtin, Lambert, Herbert, Dupuis, Richard, Blanchard, Creste (Crete), Denis, Boucher, Gaudin, Labonte, Morisset, Choret, and others.

1 Other sources claim the name Gagnon comes from the Old French “gagnon” meaning “guard dog” used as a nickname for an over aggressive man. However, it seems doubtful that an unflattering nickname became a family name. Also, Gagnon is a rather recent spelling variation, occurring most often in Canada and the United States.

2 Some individuals also were known by alternate last names, called dit names. The English translation of “dit” is “said.” Many colonists of Nouvelle France added dit names as distinguishers. The dit name may signify an origin or land owned, a name of an ancestor, and such. Dit names were common among army soldiers.

3 The Remillard line is 92% French in origin. The Gagnon line is 62-75% French.

La Gaignonniere
Barnabé Gagnon4 (or Gaignon5) bought a farm on December 28, 1565 in the southern Normandy forest of Perche between Tourouvre and Ventrouze from Gervais Roger and Marion Aubert. Barnabé and his wife, Francoise Creste, farmed and ran an inn there. The hamlet would become known as “La Gaignonnière.” 6

Road to Gagnonierre

LaGagnonier

La Gagnonnière

tourouvre_france_mapLocation of La Gaignonierre

4 See Appendix A, Chart G10.

5 Other or older variations in spelling: Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gangnon, Gnaignon, Guaignon, Gaihaignon, Guainon, Guesnon, Gaisno, Gaisnon, Guaisnon, Gaigneux, Guenoux, Guenont, Gainon.Later Anglicizations include Ganeau, Goneau, Gonyo, Gagner.

6 La Gaignonierre, located in the Department of Orne, still exists and is used as a summer home.

New France
The French colony later known as Canada was permanently established in 1608 when Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.7 To put this event in historical perspective, it was the year after Jamestown was formed in Virginia, twelve years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, and 43 years after St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in what is now Florida.

Why build a colony at Quebec? Building a colony was expensive and required economic justification. Popular for decades, felt hats were made from the soft inner fur of beavers. A lucrative trade in beaver pelts was already underway in North America. The French had been trading with the natives along the St. Lawrence River, and Quebec’s location where the river narrowed made it an ideal place to focus and defend that trade.

Among the early inhabitants of the colony were Abraham Martin,8 a river pilot whose name is attributed to the “Plains of Abraham” above Quebec where he owned land, his wife Marguerite Langlois, along with her sister Francoise Langlois and her husband Pierre Desportes,9 the village baker, warehouse keeper, and investor in the colony. Francoise and Pierre would have a daughter, Helene, purported to be the first French child born in New France. These colonists were Gagnon-Remillard ancestors.10

CH6CHAM

Like Jamestown, Quebec struggled to survive, with many of the early settlers perishing from disease and harsh weather. To make matters worse, the English captured and held Quebec for a couple of years before giving it back to France. The English had destroyed the buildings, and less than 30 French people were left in Quebec.

After peace was restored, Champlain returned to Quebec and so did some former colonists. One was young Helene Desportes, although her parents did not return.11 Helene would marry twice and become a midwife like her aunt Marguerite.

New France, 1645

New France, 1645

7 Apparently they had died in France. Helene was close to Champlain, his wife was her godmother. Champlain left Helene $20,000 in his will.

8 See Appendix A, Family Tree Chart G14.

9 See Chart R29.

10 See Charts G14 and R29.

11 Acadia on the coast was established earlier, but not continuously at one location.

The Percheron Emigration
To help rebuild the tiny town of Quebec, Champlain employed the services of Robert Giffard, a ship’s surgeon and one of the first colonists, to help recruit new migrants. Being from the Perche region of France in lower (southern) Normandy, Giffard knew the residents there were well suited for cutting trees and enduring harsh winters. He went from town to town in Perche expounding the opportunities in New France. Many were captivated by the adventure and opportunity of a new life in the New World. The “Percheron Immigration,” as it would become known, had begun.

In March 1634, Giffard, his wife and children and about thirty colonists in four ships left Dieppe for New France. These settlers included Tourouvre master mason Jean Guyon12 and his wife Mathurine Robin, and Robert Drouin,13 a tile maker and bricklayer and a native of Pin-la-Garenne. After the perilous ocean voyage,14 they reached Quebec in June.

The following year Giffard recruited even more settlers from Perche. Among these immigrants were three of Barnabe Gagnon’s grandsons, Mathurin, Jean15 (Jehan), and Pierre.

It is likely Robert Drouin, the Guyons, and the Gagnon brothers met Champlain himself. Certainly they attended his funeral in December of 1635.

Quebec now had 132 settlers. Immigrants from the Perche region would continue to arrive for the next 30 years. Among those would be the Gagnon brothers’ mother, Renee Roger, their older sister Marguerite and her husband Eloi Tavernier, Mathurin’s daughter Marthe, and a cousin, Robert Gagnon. Virtually all Gagnons in North America are descended from these Gagnon immigrants.

The three Gagnon brothers opened a shop in Quebec City on the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town. Their business partner was Joseph Masse Gravel who later married Marguerite Tavernier, daughter of their older sister, Marguerite Gagnon.

Plaque, Gagnon Shop in lower Quebec City

Gagnon brothers in their Quebec shop16

Mathurin Gagnon, the eldest of the three brothers, was the only one who could read and write thus contributing greatly to their business success. His status is reflected in his membership in the La Compagnie des Habitants, a company of colonialists that held the fur trading monopoly in the early years of Quebec.

12 See Chart G13.

13 See Charts G2, G10.

14 Estimates place the death rate at 10% for those crossing the Atlantic in the 17th century, seafarers often dying from disease.

15 See Charts G2, G10. Other sources give later dates for the arrival.

16 Plaque at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Quebec.

Chateau-Richer
By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at Chateau-Richer, downstream from the city. In that year Jean Gagnon married newly-arrived Marguerite Cochon (Cauchon), who had come with her parents. Of the couple’s nine children two (Jean and Germain) were ancestors to the Gagnon-Remillard family.17

Robert Drouin, meanwhile, also acquired land at Chateau-Richer. After his first wife died, Robert married Marie Chapelier, a strong-willed and resourceful woman. One of their daughters, Marguerite Drouin, would marry Jean Gagnon’s son Jean.

Chateau-Richer land holdings

Gagnon and Drouin land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish

An indication that the Gagnons did well financially was the fact that Mathurin Gagnon returned to France and brought his mother and daughter back to Quebec. That would not have happened if life in New France had been a struggle for them. One could say the Gagnons indirectly benefited from the lucrative fur trade economy.

GagonHouse, Chateau-Richer
Jean Gagnon home, located between Chateau-Richer and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

Jean’s brothers, Pierre and Mathurin would also marry and have many children as well, spreading the Gagnon name.18

These marriages are more remarkable than they might appear. In the early years of Quebec, those who came were mostly men, recruited to help clear land and build. Only ten percent were women, and many of those came with husbands.

That Robert Drouin and the Gagnon men married at all speaks both to their early arrival and being well established in the colony. The daughters of the immigrants had their choice of many young bachelors, and these gentlemen were good catches.

17 See Charts G2, G10, and R8.

18 After Tremblay, Gagnon is the second most common French name in Canada.

Marriageable Women
Besides fur trappers and traders, New France needed skilled workers like carpenters and bricklayers as well as farmers and laborers to clear the land. Men recruited to come to Quebec were often under contact to work for three years. Many returned to France. A thriving colony also needed families. Early attempts to recruit couples and families had limited results. The investors turned to recruiting marriageable young girls to entice the men to stay.

Most, but not all, single women who migrated to New France were from poor rural families. Their prospects in France were not great. New France offered nothing more than the possibility of a better life. Arriving between 1634 and 1663, the 262 single women who came alone or in groups are now collectively called filles à marier — marriageable young girls.

the_arrival_of_the_french_girls_at_quebec_1667_-_c-w-_jefferys

In 1663 King Louis XIV sponsored a program to recruit young women migrants, strong ladies of good character. Over the next ten years, about 800 “Kings Daughters” (filles du roi) came to New France. The monarch paid their passage, furnished a hope chest (trousseau), and provided a dowry. By 1673 the population of New France had doubled, to over 3,000 people.

Both the Gagnon and Remillard families have filles à marier and filles du roi ancestors.

Carignan Soldiers
The growing colony increasingly struggled against the threat of Iroquois attacks. Demands were made for reinforcement of the small number of soldiers stationed in Canada. The French monarchy complied.

Six ships carrying 1,200 soldiers arrived in 1665. That winter the Carignan-Salieres Regiment, the first regular military unit to serve in Canada, attacked the Indians. Despite taking heavy casualties the Regiment stabilized the situation ensuring the survival of the French colony.

Encouraged to stay, some 450 soldiers settled in Canada after the Regiment returned to France. Among these were Gagnon and Remillard ancestors.

carignan-salieres_regiment_soldier

The Remillards
Francois Remillard,19 the first Remillard to migrate to New France, came from Limoges, France in 1681.20 Francois Remillard married Anne Gaboury soon after arrival at L’Islet Parish on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Although Francois Remillard didn’t appear in New France until after it had been well established, his descendents did marry into families whose immigrant ancestors arrived just as early as the Gagnon line. In fact, the Gagnon and Remillard families share multiple ancestors.21

Through the generations, the Remillard family moved upriver, living for many years in the La Prairie area south of Montreal.

Like the Gagnons, the Remillards are mostly descended from French Canadians. However, there are a couple of exceptions. One of those is the interesting story of Elizabeth Corse.

19 See Chart R2

20 Other spellings of Remillard: Roumihat, Rouillard, Remillaud, Remillon, Remillot, Remilleaux, Remilleau, Rameon. The origin of the name is probably a variation of the name Remy.

21 Grandparents in common: Jean Gagnon & Marguerite Drouin, Pierre Falcon & Genevieve Tremblay, Francois Pinsonneault & Anne Leper, Jerome Longtin & Marie-Louise Dumas, Louis Gagne & Marie Michel, and Perinne Meunier

French and Indian Wars
Elizabeth Corse22 was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696 to James Corse23 and Elizabeth Catlin. Three months later, Elizabeth’s father died, the first of the many tragedies of her eventful life.

Throughout the 17th century frequent hostilities between the French, English, and native tribes made Deerfield, on the edge of the English frontier, vulnerable to attack. In 1702 the War of Spanish Succession in Europe24 expanded to North America, becoming the second of the four French and Indian wars. While both sides had Indian allies, the French colonists, being outnumbered by more than ten to one, relied heavily on Indian warriors. The Indians themselves had scores to settle with enemies, both Indian and white, and the French joined forces with them in raiding English towns. Deerfield was one of their targets.

On the night of February 29,1704, a raiding party of over 200 natives from several tribes and 50 Frenchmen descended on Deerfield. Snow piled against the palisade made it easy to climb over it and open the gates. The fighting was haphazard but the raiders managed to kill 44 residents and take more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children. Two of those taken were eight year old Elizabeth Corse and her mother. Among those killed were Elizabeth’s grandfather and two uncles.

DeerfieldRaid1704

The raiders then returned north to Canada with their ill-prepared captives. Some 20 captives died on the 300 mile trek to Canada, either killed because the couldn’t keep up or dying from exposure. Only a handful managed to escape. Elizabeth’s mother was killed by the Indians seven days into the journey. When the group finally reached Canada, French authorities and sympathetic colonists began to acquire hostages from their Indian captors. The majority of those were traded for ransom or used for prisoner exchanges. Those who did not return to New England, 36 in total, remained in Canada as willing members of a tribe or members of French society. Elizabeth Corse was one of those who stayed.

Elizabeth was taken into the family of Pierre Roy and renamed Elizabeth Casse.25 Within a year she was baptized as a Catholic. At age sixteen she had a baby girl, but the child died shortly after birth. Later that year she married Jean Baptist Dumontet of La Praire, who was 37 years older. Together they had seven children. In 1730 one of Elizabeth’s brothers went to Canada to bring her back. It is not known if he found her, but if he did she chose not to return. After Dumontet died, she remarried to a man 8 years younger than her, Pierre Monet, and had another six children. Interestingly, Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth Dumontet, would later marry Pierre Monet’s brother.

Elizabeth Casse’s great-granddaughter, Rosalie Monet, would marry into the Remillard family of La Prairie. Rosalie was Louisa Remillard’s grandmother.

Elizabeth’s story was not unique. Not long after her abduction, another Remillard ancestor, Mathias Farnsworth26 at age 14 was taken captive on an Indian raid of Groton, Massachusetts when he was working in a field. After over a year of slavery, Mathias was purchased by seminary priests and was baptized. Unable to read or write, his name Farnsworth was eventually transformed into Phaneuf.27 In addition, Mathias took on the first name of his godfather, Claude. When he came of age, the priests rewarded his work for them with a house and land of his own.

22 See Chart R12.

23 Also spelled Corss or Cors. James Corse may have been a Scottish immigrant.

24 The European war is called the War of the Spanish Succession. For the British colonialists the North American theater was Queen Anne’s War. It was also known as the Third Indian War or the Second Inter-colonial War. The fourth of the French and Indian wars is the one Americans call “The French and Indian War” (singular).

25 Probably the name “Corse” spoken by an 8 year old with a New England accent sounded much like “Casse” to her French Canadian family. Sometimes Casse is recorded as Lacasse.

26 See Chart R11.

27 As in the case Elizabeth Corse, the French were unfamiliar with the English name and spelled it many different ways somewhat close to its pronunciation at the time.

Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
Near the end of the second French and Indian War, the French Colony of Acadia (Acadie) fell to the British, who renamed the colony Nova Scotia. The colonists agreed to neutrality but refused to sign an oath of loyalty. Forty years later when war broke out yet again (known today in the U.S. as “The French and Indian War”) this lack of allegiance became intolerable to the British. Thus began the tragic Expulsion of the Acadians (Le Grand Dérangement) from Nova Scotia.1

One family caught in this mass deportation were the Heberts2 of Grand Pre. The first wave of expulsion dispersed Acadians across the other British colonies. The Heberts, deprived of most of their possessions, were forced to go to Guilford, Connecticut, where they faced different religion, language, and customs. Among the children was 13 year old Anastasie.3 The exiled family stayed in Guilford for many years. Anastasie married a Guilford man, John Smith, at age 26. Her parents finally migrated about 1772 to La Prairie, Canada, an area where other Acadians had moved.31 John and Anastasie would also migrate to La Prairie, around 1889. Their oldest daughter, Cecile, married Louis-Marie Remillard, who was Louisa Remillard’s great-grandfather.32

After the British captured Quebec City in 1759 and Montreal in 1760 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War in Europe, or War of Conquest in French Canada), French control of Canada ended. French-Canadians were no longer French, but British subjects. However, the change in leadership did not affect the lives of the French-speaking peasantry. The British kept the French civil laws in place, including the seigneurial system.

Meanwhile, migrant pioneer Jean Gagnon’s great-great grandson, Pierre Gagnon, moved upriver to La Prairie, south of Montreal, where he married Marie-Anne Longtin to start a new life. Their son, Lucien (Julien) Gagnon, would play another notable role in Canadian history.

1 French Acadians (Acadiens) were widely dispersed. The best known are those who made their way to Louisiana, now called Cajuns (an alteration of Acadians).

2 See Charts R5, R14.

3 See Charts R1, R5.

31 The community of L’Acadie, south of Montreal, was formed by the Acadian refugees. It is now part of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

32 See Chart R1.

The Seigneurial System
Land ownership in New France wasn’t as simple as it is today in Canada or the U.S. Technically speaking, the king owned all the land, but in effect sections of land, seigneuries (fiefs), were held by nobles, clergy, or other people of privilege – the landlords. The “habitants”(censitaires) of the land, as the tenants were called, would buy a farm-sized piece of the seigneury but would still have to pay rents and various fees to the seigneur.

In New France the land was granted to the company which had the monopoly on the fur trade. The company in turn granted seigneuries for valuable services.For example, Robert Giffard obtained his seigneury as payment for recruiting colonists. Military officers were also given seigneuries for their service.

Because access to a river was vital for transportation, the farm divisions of the seigneuries were usually long and narrow. Typically, habitant parcels were ten times longer than the frontage width.

Few if any habitants complained about the seigneurial system. After all, it was not unlike the system in place in France, which had its roots in the middle ages. But as land became more scarce and farms were divided between surviving children, this vestige of the feudal system would become onerous for the peasant class.

A Failed Rebellion
After his first wife died, Lucien Gagnon33 married Sophie Régnier of Napierville, sold his La Prairie properties, and settled along the Richelieu River at Pointe-à-la-Mule in Saint Valentin parish. By peasant standards, Lucien was prosperous. He benefited from an inheritance from his father and two generous dowries. Also, Lucien was successful growing wheat, oats, barley and livestock. Even so, by 1834 he was deeply in debt to his English-speaking seigneur and overwhelmed by his fees. This angered Lucien immensely.

Lucien Gagnon

At this time, Canada was divided into two parts, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Lower Canada was predominately French-speaking and a majority were rural peasants. Growing discontent over social, economic, and political inequities led to the “Patriote” movement. By 1834 Lucien was ready to join the Patriotes.

In July Lucien took part in a Patriote meeting at nearby Napierville which 4,000 people attended. By that fall he was active in the movement, intimidating local Frenchmen who worked for the government, such as militia captains and justices, forcing them to resign their commissions. Undoubtably these threats took the form of charivari, a custom in which boisterous, costumed mobs would visit a home late at night to demonstrate their displeasure.

In October Lucien participated in an assembly in St. Charles which encompassed party members from six counties. Six thousand people were there. Some of the leaders wanted an armed rebellion, including Lucien’s friend, Dr. Cyrille Côté.

In November Lucien, convinced that the Patriotes in his region had to act, held an important meeting at his home which was attended by Côté, Édouard-Étienne Rodier, Ludger Duvernay, and others. They planned an attack on the village of Saint-Jean, but when the plan was discovered they fled to the United States. From there Lucien secretly went back to Canada, recruiting 60 men from Saint-Valentin and other parishes.

Elsewhere in Lower Canada, others were also taking up arms. A major victory at Saint Denis was followed by losses in which Patriotes were badly outnumbered. Upper Canada rebelled as well.

On December 6th, Lucien led his men on a raid, crossing the New York-Canada border. They were immediately overwhelmed by a much larger force of Loyalist volunteers. Two men were killed, Lucien was wounded twice, and the rebels retreated back over the border. That same month the governor of Canada posted a reward for the capture of Lucien Gagnon. Lucien’s farm was burned and his wife Sophie fled with their children. The next month his land and possessions were confiscated.34

During 1838 Lucien rose in the ranks of the rebellion, working closely with Dr. Robert Nelson and Dr. Côté, leading fugitives in the United States. These three represented the more radical element of the Patriote movement, wanting more immediate and forceful action, and importantly to Lucien, an end to seigneury. In February Nelson, with Cote, wrote a Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada. The next week Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon led 300-400 men in an invasion of Canada to form their new country. However, they were quickly repulsed and forced back across the border. Lucien, Nelson, Côté, and other leaders were arrested by U.S. authorities for violating the neutrality law, but were later released.

After the defeat, Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon began building an army by establishing secret Frères Chasseurs (Hunter Brothers) lodges on both sides of the border. Again, despite the price on his head, Lucien secretly went back to Canada. He traveled in many areas including La Prairie, Chambly, Beauharnois, and L’Acadie, recruiting farmers willing to fight for the cause.

Patriote Fighters, 1838

Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon then planned a second attack on November 3rd, to capture parishes along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then later to seize Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec. Once again they failed. As the Patriotes crossed the border they were immediately driven back by British troops and volunteers. On November 5th Côté, Gagnon, and Philippe Touvrey, a French officer recruited by Robert Nelson, led 500 Patriotes to Rouses Point, N.Y., to gather weapons and ammunition. They managed to repulse a picket of volunteers at the Lacolle bridge, but on their way back they were easily defeated by militiamen waiting for them. Lucien got away and reached the main body of Patriotes in Napierville. Learning that the regular troops under Sir John Colborne were about to arrive, Nelson, Gagnon, and Côté led their men south to Odelltown where on November 9th 1838, they battled a smaller group of Loyalists. When Loyalist reinforcements arrived, the Patriotes were vastly outnumbered and were forced to disperse. Lucien had courageously fought until the end of the battle when there was no longer any hope, and he reluctantly returned to the United States.

After Odelltown, the Patriote movement splintered and fell apart. Bitterly disappointed, Lucien quit the Patriotes in 1840. Many participants in the uprising were imprisoned, sent to Australia, or hanged. Lucien’s young son, Medard was imprisoned.35 Unable to return to Canada, a defeated and penniless Lucien died of tuberculosis in Corbeau, N.Y. on January 7, 1842. Sophie had his body, dressed in the Patriote costume of blue tuque (cap) and garments of Canadian cloth, brought back to Saint-Valentin as he had wished.

While the cause may have been just, the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 were doomed for lack of men, weapons, training, and organization. Informants, including the Catholic bishop, also hindered the efforts of the Patriotes. Many of their demands would eventually be met, but the Gagnon family would not benefit, for they were now destined for another country. During the time Lucien Gagnon was alive, other political, social, and economic forces were already at play, shaping the future of North America.

patriotemonument

Napierville Patriotes Monument 36

33 See Chart G1.

34 Inventory of Lucien Gagnon’s “lands, effects, and moveables” confiscated in January 1838 included 5 horses, 25 cattle, and large quantities of grain.</span

35 Also imprisoned and mentioned in subsequent dispositions is a Captain Julien Remillard.

36 Note Colonel Julien (Lucien) Gagnon and a Captain Julien Remillard. The connection between the two families possibly has its roots in the rebellion.

Western Migration
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, France no longer controlled land in North America, but the French settlers and fur traders stayed on. The beaver fur trade continued into the 19th century. As the beavers became scarce in the east, the search for furs pushed westward. The fur companies established trading posts (forts) throughout the west.

From the beginning the French used the native Indians as major suppliers of beaver pelts. As a result of this trade, the French usually had a closer relationship with natives than their English counterparts. With no white women in the areas they worked, the French trappers, traders, and voyageurs (transporters) often took native wives. Their mixed offspring were known as Metis.

When the Lewis and Clark expedition made their way to the Pacific in 1805 and returned in 1806, they relied on the ability of several French Metis. Their route skirted the lands of the Cayuse tribe. A small yet powerful tribe, the Cayuse adopted much of the nomadic lifestyle and warfare philosophy of the Plains Indians. They were closely allied with the larger Nez Percé tribe to the east, with whom they frequently intermarried. Proud and noble in their bearing, they were skilled horsemen, horse breeders, warriors, and traders. It is quite possible the explorers met and traded with the Cayuse.

Not long after Lewis and Clark explored the Pacific Northwest, employees of the fur trading companies came seeking furs. Trading posts were established along the Columbia River. One was built at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, Fort Nez Perces, later to be known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla.1

The fur trade was a boon to the Cayuse. Although catching beavers was beneath their dignity, they were able to use their trading skills to obtain coveted white man’s goods.

Next to come to the region were the American settlers following a trappers’ route, later known as the Oregon Trail, which led them to the fertile Willamette Valley. Among the first was Marcus Whitman, a Protestant missionary and doctor who established a mission near Fort Walla Walla in 1836. The pioneers passing through their lands provided another trading bonanza for the Cayuse, an opportunity of which they took full advantage. With supplies running low, the settlers were more than willing customers after their long trek. Unfortunately for the Cayuse, the settlers also carried white man’s diseases. Wagons with sick people detoured to Dr. Whitman’s mission in the Walla Walla Valley, passing through the heart of Cayuse country.

1 Old Fort Walla Walla was established in 1818 by the North-West Company which merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Furs were transported up the Columbia River, over the Rockies, and east to Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay Company abandoned the fort in 1857. Later Fort Walla Wallas were military forts near the present day city of Walla Walla.

.

Oregon Trail

Just as the Oregon Trail pioneers began arriving in the northwest, the fur trade was winding down, beaver felt hats finally going out of fashion. As a result, French Metis began settling in the Willamette Valley as well as on Cayuse land in the Walla Walla Valley. At this time, Mathieu Dauphin,1 an illiterate Metis, came to the area from Missouri. In 1840 he married a Cayuse woman named Suzanne.

1 See Chart G1. Mathieu (Matthew) Dauphin was variously known as Dofa, McDauphin, Duffy, etc.

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne and Mathieu would travel throughout the west, living in Utah, California, and Oregon before finally settling down in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington Territory. They would have seven children.

Whitman Massacre
As the first half of the 19th century came to a close, three historical events affected the Gagnons.

The first was the 1846 treaty with the British establishing the border at the 49th parallel instead of the lower Columbia River which the British had long hoped for and expected. This ensured that the future Washington Territory (and state) and the Walla Walla Valley would be American and not Canadian.

1846 was the year Suzanne gave birth to a daughter, Rosalie Dauphin.

The second event was in 1847. The Cayuse tribe, suffering from epidemics, had seen half their people die. Watching Doctor Whitman cure white people while the natives under his care died, many Cayuse believed he was purposely killing them. A band of warriors took matters into their own hands and murdered the Whitmans and twelve other people at the mission. Later known as “The Whitman Massacre,” the event resulted in the “Cayuse War” between the Indians and whites, mostly volunteers from the Willamette.

In 1850 five accused Cayuse were hanged for the Whitman Mission murders.1 They were baptized just before their deaths by Bishop Francis Blanchet, and Mathieu Dauphin acted as godfather. But the hangings did not end the hostilities, which lasted another five years. The Cayuse war finally ended in 1855 and a treaty was signed by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes and the government. Mathieu Dauphin acted as an interpreter during the peace treaty meetings. The tribes would forfeit most of their lands when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty four years later. During this time more tribes began to fight and war spread across the Northwest. More Cayuse would die.

The third significant event occurred in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Mathieu and Suzanne took their children to California’s Yuba River

gold field. Meanwhile, Marcel Gagnon, son of Lucien Gagnon, possibly along with brothers Pierre, Medard, and/or Lucien sailed to San Francisco2 in 1850 to try gold mining with thousands of others. While Marcel probably didn’t make a fortune in panning gold, he was successful enough to never lose his taste for prospecting, and continued searching for gold off and on for most of his life.

Just as in Oregon Territory, there were hostilities with native Americans in California which were caused by most of the same cultural conflicts as elsewhere in the country. Marcel volunteered to serve in the mounted militia to quell some of these hostilities. Marcel had noted the many abandoned sailing ships in the bay and concluded San Francisco had no future, and moved on.

Marcel made his way from California to French Prairie (south of Portland) and then to the small French community along the Walla Walla River, Frenchtown, to finally settle down to farm, raise a family, and to continue gold mining in the Northwest.

1 There is much speculation about the innocence of the convicted Cayuse. Some claimed they volunteered, taking the blame in order to appease the whites and thus save the tribe from more bloodshed.

2 Marcel’s obituary says he sailed around Cape Horn, but other family lore has him crossing the isthmus of Panama. Marcel would have been about 18 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Half-brother Medard would have been about 28, and Lucien, if he was with them, only 14. The 1870 census shows brothers Medard, miner, age 48, and Lucien, farmer, age 34, living with Marcel and his family. A 1910 obituary for older half-brother Pierre Gagnon, age 90, states he arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in 1868.

Frenchtown
Frenchtown was never a town, but merely a collection of cabins along the creeks from about present day Lowden to near the city of Walla Walla. Starting about 1824, French employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and their wives from local tribes, began building homes and farming amongst the Indian villages in the valley. By 1836 when Marcus Whitman arrived, there were a dozen Metis families living there. At the time of the Whitman Massacre in 1847, there were about fifty.

With renewed hostilities following the peace treaty signing in 1855 which was yet to be ratified, the Metis were forced out of the valley. In December of 1855 a four day battle, TheBattle of Walla Walla (aka The Battle of Frenchtown), was fought in the deserted Frenchtown between 300 Oregon volunteers and Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse, and Yakama (Yakima) warriors. Much of the action took place near the cabin of Joseph LaRocque and his wife Lizette Walla Walla which the volunteers used as a fortress.

Frenchtown, Washington Territory, 1872

After peace was restored in 1858 and the U.S. Senate finally ratified the peace treaty in 1859, the Cayuse were moved out. Some of the original settlers returned and many others began settling in the little community.1

Marcel married Mathieu’s and Suzanne’s daughter Rosalie in February 1864 and lived in Frenchtown. They would have seven children, one of whom was Marcel Junior, born in 1873. Sadly, Rosalie died in 1878 at age 32. Two years later, Marcel married Julia Raymond.

1 With the renewed turmoil at the end of 1855, most of the French moved out with friendly Indians, mainly to the Nez Perce lands. Some accounts have Marcel Gagnon coming to the area in 1852 or 1855, but he would not have been able to stay. He probably permanently settled in the valley around 1859-1864.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Rosaile Dauphine, Marcel Gagnon

Rosalie Dauphin, Marcel Jr.

Back in La Prairie, Joseph Remillard married Sophie Falcon1 in 1861 after his first wife died. The couple moved from Quebec Province to Ontario, settling in the small French-speaking town of Pain Court near Detroit. There, daughter Marie Louise (Louisa) was born in 1874. Tragedy struck the Remillards when Sophie died in 1883, leaving behind nine or ten living children.

sophiefalcon Sophie Falcon

Meanwhile, Romain (Raymond) Remillard, Joseph’s brother, had migrated to the United States and settled in Frenchtown on the Walla Walla River in the 1870’s.1 Sometime after Sophie’s death, Joseph moved to the United States, taking with him his children Noah, Helen, Louisa, and Phillip.2

1 Romain Remillard and his wife Jane (who was 30 years younger) had three daughters, born in Washington Territory approximately between 1876 and 1883. Jane was not listed in the 1885 census.

2 It is interesting to speculate that the Remillards and Gagnons, both families with roots in the Lapraire region, met previous to coming to Frenchtown. It is also worth noting that Dauphin and Suzanne were also in the California gold fields and possibly informed them of the French speaking valley of the Walla Walla.

1 See Chart R1

Remillard-Gagnon Union
The Remillards and Gagnons joined twice in Frenchtown. Noah Remillard married Sophie Gagnon in 1888, and in May 1892 Marcel Gagnon Jr. married Noah’s sister, Louisa Remillard.

MarcelMarie

Marcel and Louise first had a son, Joseph Philip (Philip). The family then moved from Frenchtown to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to take advantage of the Indian rights provided by the federal government. There Marie Amelia (Amelia), Ignatius Marcel (Martin), Wilfred Armandose (Bill), Fred Medard (Fred), and Robert Alvin (Al) were born. After moving to Waitsburg, where Marcel made a living as a saloon keeper, Ernest Edward (Ernie), Napoleon Arthur (Art), and Lucille Delores were born. The family then moved to Yakima where Bernice Delia was born.

With this new, fully American generation the French connection inevitably weakened. It interwove with other cultures as the family tree branched out. Frenchtown has long ceased to exist. No longer is French spoken in Gagnon family households. The family name was anglicized. It was a process that started some 300 years ago when migrants began leaving France.

Rather than lament the loss of our French, French Canadian, or even Native American cultures, we should remind ourselves that, like the multitude of ancestors before us, we are all part of the flow of constantly changing history.

Author’s Note:

Information contained in these pages is as accurate as possible. A number of interesting story lines and details were left out because they had doubtful origins, their sources conflicted, or they appeared dubious for other reasons. Still more research material was omitted because it did not add to the overall narrative or would have made for tedious reading. Even so, some details included may not be totally correct because they were needed to tie the three-century-long story together in an interesting way; significant questions of accuracy have been noted accordingly. The agonizing balance between completeness, accuracy, and readability has given me a new respect and sympathy for professional historians.

A special thanks to cousin Dorothy Gagnon Hall for her treasure trove of family information, my late aunt Lucille Gagnon Campbell for her research efforts, and to my wife Leslie (Cohen) Jurasek for her editing help.

— James Michael Gagnon, September 2016, Seattle Washington

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4 thoughts on “A Gagnon Family History”

Anita Powell
March 31, 2016 at 2:22 am
Thank You for this! This is my family! Suzanne Cayuse is my 4th great grandma. Most mentioned here are my direct descendants. This is great family history.
Blessings to you for all your work!

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Virginia Gagnon Moore
June 20, 2016 at 1:36 pm
My grandmother was Virginia Pitt maried to Joseph Gagnon, Salem, MA. My father was George Joseph Gagnon, born around, May 15, 1920, Salem, MA
Not sure if they are all connected.

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J. Gagnon
June 21, 2016 at 2:24 am
Virtually all Gagnons in North America are related if you go back far enough. The hardest people for me to find in my family tree were the ones in the 1800s. I doubt we are closely related, certainly no closer than 4th cousins.

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Jean Gallagher
October 2, 2016 at 1:54 am
This is wonderful. I have Gagnon’s in three different lines. I also have other ancestors mentioned in the article. Abraham Martin was a great, great…grandfather, also Robert Giffard was my 8th GG. It was wonderful to read the history of my family. Thank You.

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The Gagnons of Canada have four ancestors: Robert as well as Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, Tourouvre, Perche and La Ventrouze, Normandy in France, a small village called La Gagnonnière. Their father, Pierre and their mother, Renée Roger owned an ancestral land since 1565 on which they operated an inn.

It was in 1635 that the three Gagnon brothers met in Quebec City, where they opened a shop in the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town with a partner, Macé Gravel, who had married Marguerie, the three Gagnon's sister. They resold this trade to Pierre Pellerin in 1668. Subsequently, they settled in Chateau-Richer where they would have owned the domain Saint-Charles de Cap Tourmente.

In 1655, Robert arrived, the fourth ancestor who settled on a land of the island of Orleans acquired in 1656. Return to Mathurin, born October 22, 1606 in Tourouvre. At age 29, he left for Canada. He was educated, only to be able to sign his name.

He bought and sold several lands. He married in 1647, at 41, with Francoise Boudreau, 13 years old, daughter of François and Jeanne Jehan. They had 16 children, but only 9 were married. Mathurin died on April 20, 1690 and Françoise, on September 14, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Jean Gagnon, born on August 13, 1610 in Tourouvre, arrived in Quebec in 1635, aged 25 years. After the sale of his shop, he obtained a concession at Château-Richer. At the age of 30, he married on July 19, 1640 with Marguerite Cauchon, aged 20, daughter of Jean and Marguerite Cointal of the country of Caux. They had 8 children and 6 were married.

As for Pierre Gagnon, born on 14 February 1612 at the Gagnonnière, he settled on a sinuous ground also at Château-Richer. At the age of thirty, he married at Notre-Dame de Quebec on September 14, 1642, at Vincente Desvarieux, daughter of Jean and Marie Chevalier, of the country of Caux in Normandy. They had 10 children, three of whom married. Pierre-Paul was ordained a priest in 1677 by Bishop Laval and Mary Magdalene entered the convent of the Augustines at the age of 13 when she died nine years later.

The grave of Vincente took place on 2 January 1695 and that of Pierre on 17 April 1699 at Château-Richer.

The other Gagnon, Robert, was born in La Ventrouze in 1628. He was granted land at Sainte-Famille on Île d'Orléans in 1656. At the age of 29, he married Marie Parenteau, aged 16, daughter of Antoine and Anne Poisson of Saint-Nicolas de La Rochelle. They had 10 children, 6 of them married and 2 girls became nuns. Robert died on September 2, 1703, while Mary was buried on November 17, 1705 at the Sainte-Famille cemetery. The descendants of Robert who settled south of the St. Lawrence River at Rivière-Ouelle bear the nickname of Gagnon dit Belle-isles or Belzile.

In the various writings of France, in Tourouvre or La Ventrouze, we find the following graphs: Gangnon, Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gasgnon, Gaignion or Gagnon. The Gagnon family is one of the most numerous in French America.

Our tributes to the 1,700 Gagnon families in Saguenay-Lac-Jean.

Among the Gagnon descendants worthy of mention: Bertrand, lawyer of La Baie, judge of the Provincial Court; Christine, sociologist, member of the Quebec block of Quebec in the House of Commons; Claude, Jonquière, a judge of the Provincial Court; Louis and Joseph, businessmen, founders of the Gagnon & Frères stores; Marc, Chicoutimi athlete, gold medalist at the Olympic Games; Sylvain, athlete, Dolbeau, silver medalist at the Olympic Games; André, pianist and conductor; Clarence, painter; Jean-Louis, journalist, editor-in-chief of La Presse; Robin, military, of Arvida, Brigadier-General of the Canadian Army.

If you are interested in the history and genealogy of your family, we invite you to become a member of the Société de Genealogie du Saguenay: 418 693.8266.

Our sources: Archangel Godbout; Robert Prévost; Gérard Lebel, Jean Cournoyer. -

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They were named Mathurin, Jean, Pierre and Robert Gagnon. The first three were brothers and the fourth was their cousin. They came to live in New France about 1640, whereas this colony offered wealth only to those who worked hard. These men formed the great Gagnon family, whose heirs are found throughout Quebec, Canada and, no doubt, America. They came from the Perche where their surname had not yet adopted the form that is known to him today. The registers, the various contracts, and the engagements speak of Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but there is rarely any question of Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that would be responsible for the modification of the name.

La Gaignonniere, whose vestiges still exist, a few steps from Tourouvre, would be the birthplace of the children of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer, and of Magdeleine (or Renee) Roger: Marguerite in l598; Louys, in 1604; Mathurin, in 1606; Jean, in 1610 and Pierre, in 1616.

While this family was forgotten in the Perche, it took root on the soil of New France. The movement was initially initiated by Marguerite Gagnon, wife of Eloi Tavernier. The couple seems to have passed here before l640, prompting the brothers of Marguerite to do the same, soon after. For years, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre Gagnon were to embody family solidarity. Together, they settled in the Beaupré coast between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three men seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a land on the Place de la Basse-Ville, where a house was erected. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce,

The three men, although caught up in business, are already watching over their families. On July 29, 1640, in Quebec City, Jean married Marguerite Cauchon, a native of Dieppe, in Normandy. This was the first marriage contracted by one of the three brothers. The couple gave birth to ten children. The direct descendants of John were not, however, to be numerous. His daughters allied themselves with men whose names they perpetuated: Jeanne married Jean Chapeleau, Renée married Jean Houimet and Marguerite married Jean Caron.

Pierre Gagnon was married in Quebec City on February 14, 1642 to Vincente Devarieux, a Norman woman aged 18 years.

The eldest brother Gagnon, Mathurin, did not marry until l647. He was 4l years old. His wife was only thirteen. It was this couple who was to give the most of Gagnon to New France. When their fifteenth child was baptized in 1677, Mathurin had just celebrated his seventy-first birthday! Mathurin died in April 1690, at Château-Richer, twenty years after Jean and nine years earlier than Pierre.

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the first three, formed in turn a branch of the Gagnon family. Originally from La Ventrouze, in the Perche, he married Marie Parenteau in Quebec City on October 3, 1657. They gave birth to ten children.

After the disappearance of the four Gagnons, New France had just acquired a new patronymic which the first heirs, forty-five in number, were to spread to the regions of Laprairie, Chateau-Richer, and Yamachiche.

Source: Gagnon-Belzile Inc.

The GAGNON

The three brothers, Gagnon, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, who were in business, arrived from Le Perche with their mother in 1635, the son of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer and Renee Roger.

Daisy

Their eldest sister, Marguerite Gagnon, baptized on October 5, 1598, at La Gaignonnière, near Tourouvre in the present department of Orne, and widow of Antoine Bédard, is already in New France with her second husband. Éloi Tavernier, native of the parish of Saint-Malo, of Randonnai, of which she married on February 3, 1624, in France. The couple seems to have passed here in the early 1940s. She is in Quebec City, on May 1, 1644, at the marriage of her daughter Marguerite Tavernier, with the ancestor Joseph-Macé Gravel, known as Brindelière. Then Marguerite Gagnon, died in Château-Richer on December 7, 1677.

For years, the Gagnon family embodies family solidarity. Together, they settled on the Côte de Beaupré, between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three brothers seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a plot of land in the Lower Town, where they raised a house. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce, they bought a store.

Jeans

Jean Gagnon, baptized August 13, 1610, in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, present department of the Orne, is the first of the three brothers to found a home. On July 29, 1640, he led Marguerite Cauchon, daughter of the ancestor Jean Cochon and Marguerite Cointerel, to the altar of Beaupré, a native of the country of Caux, near Dieppe, in Normandy. At least eight children were born of this union, between 1641 and 1659, and five of them found foci which concern us in this genealogical description.

René Gagnon, born in 1643, married the ancestor Jean Houimet in 1660. Marguerite Gagnon, born in 1645, marries in 1661, Jean-Baptiste Caron, son of the ancestor Robert Caron and Marie Crevet. Jean Gagnon, married in 1670, Marguerite Drouin, daughter of the ancestor Robert Drouin and Marie Chapelier. Then the fourth, Germain Gagnon, born in 1653, married in 1688, Jeanne David, daughter of the ancestor Jacques David, called Pontiff and Marie Grandry. Marie Gagnon, born in 1659, became the wife of Louis Gagné, son of the ancestor Louis Gagné and Marie Michel.

The ancestor Jean Gagnon was buried on April 2, 1670, at Château-Richer, and Marguerite Cauchon dies on June 26, 1699 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec City.

Mathurin

Mathurin Gagnon was born on October 22, 1606, at the Gaignonniere, two miles from Tourouvre, where he was baptized. He is the most educated, for he is the only one who can sign his name.

Although he was the oldest, he was the last to marry on September 30, 1647, with Normande, Françoise Godeau, daughter of François Godeau and Jeanne Jehan or Panée, of La Roche-Guyon, in Normandy, Of thirteen years, whereas Mathurin is forty-one years at the marriage. The mother of Mathurin Gagnon, Renée Roger is present at their wedding, then dies later on an unknown date. Mathurin is aged of, his wife is only thirteen years old. Fifteen children were born to the couple, between 1649 and 1674, of which the only one that concerns us in this genealogy is Françoise Gagnon who married in 1672, Louis Prévost, son of the ancestor Martin Prévost and Marie Manitouabewich.

Mathurin Gagnon was buried on April 22, 1690 and Françoise Boudeau, on September 15, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Pierre

The youngest of the brothers, Pierre Gagnon, born February 14, 1612, is baptized on the 16th, at the Sainte-Madeleine church of La Ventrouze, Orne department. Pierre unites his destiny on the day of his 30th birthday, on February 14, 1642, to Vincente Desvarieux, aged 18, a native of St-Vincent d'Aubernail, in the country of Caux, archbishopric of Rouen, in Normandy, daughter of Jean Desvarieux And Marie Chevalier.

They have ten children together, between 1643 and 1660, including that which concerns us in this genealogy, Pierre Gagnon, born about 1646, who marries in 1669, Barbe Fortin, born in Beaupré in 1654, daughter of ancestors Julien Fortin and Geneviève Gamache. Of the eleven children of the couple, two sons concern us, they marry two cousins Bélanger. Joseph Gagnon, baptized in 1673, married in 1700, Agathe Bélanger, born in 1682, daughter of Jean-François Bélanger and Marie Cloutier. And Charles Gagnon, baptized in 1679, married in 1706, Anne Bélanger, born in 1686, daughter of Charles Bélanger and Barbe-Delphine Cloutier.

Vincente Desvarieux was buried on January 2, 1695 and the ancestor Pierre Gagnon, on April 18, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Robert

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the three brothers Gagnon and Marguerite, in turn forms a branch of the Gagnon family. Born in La Ventrouze, he was baptized on March 1, 1628, at the Sainte-Madeleine parish of La Ventrouze, in Perche. He is the son of Jean Gagnon and Marie Geffray or Geoffroy. Robert Gagnon arrived in New France about 1655, perhaps even a little before.

On April 2, 1656, he received on the site of the future parish of the Holy Family, a land of four arpents in front, the depth of which goes up to the projected road (about 64 arpents and a half). 'Île d'Orléans is located opposite the Côte de Beaupré.

Robert undertakes to close his property and to leave fifteen feet on each side of his lot and along the shore, with a view to passing a road there. The ancestor also has permission to fish in the river, in relation to his land. His immediate neighbors are Jacques Perrot, known as Vildaigre and Guillaume Landry, a compatriot of La Ventrouze.

He married in Quebec, on October 3, 1657, Marie Parenteau, born in 1641, at St-Nicolas de La Rochelle, daughter of Antoine Parenteau, farinier, carpenter and sawyer of long and Anne Brisson. Jean Gagnon, born on February 16, 1659, married in 1686, Jeanne Loignon, born in 1670, daughter of the ancestors Pierre Loignon and Marie Roussin. Jean Gagnon became one of the first pioneers of Rivière-Ouelle and also a militia captain for the entire south coast and Lower St. Lawrence.

Like most of the inhabitants, Robert Gagnon and Marie Parenteau lived at the beginning in a small wooden house constructed piece by piece, that is to say, the walls are made of logs placed horizontally on top of each other with A roof covered with long barks of elms. Then later, they go to the half-timbered type with square beams, sitting on a rectangle of stones.

The ancestor Robert Gagnon died on September 2, 1703, the year of a picote epidemic, but nothing indicates that he died of the consequences of the terrible disease.

Then his wife, Marie Parenteau, aged about sixty-two, died on November 17, 1705 and was buried the next day in the presence of Gervais Rocheron, my paternal ancestor, as a witness.

The known forms of Gagnon in the Perche were, Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but very rarely Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that is responsible for the modification of the name.

Gagnon Family History

2017-07-17T22:45:39Z

Gagnon:

Really good storytelling resource here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/a-country-of-immigrants-please/article1081576/

https://gagnonhistory.wordpress.com/page-1/a-gagnon-family-history/

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A Gagnon Family History
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A Gagnon Family History

This is a brief history of the family of Marcel Gagnon and Louisa Remillard.

How did these two happen to marry in a corner of Washington State?

The answers, interestingly enough, have to do with France, England, felt hats, gold, and the medieval feudal system.

Contents:

The French Connection
La Gaignonierre
New France
The Percheron Immigration
Chateau-Richer
Marriageable Women
Carignan Soldiers
The Remillards
French and Indian Wars
Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
The Seigneurial System
A Failed Rebellion
Western Migration
Whitman Massacre
Frenchtown
Remillard – Gagnon Union
Author’s Note
Appendix A – Family Tree Charts

The French Connection
To someone with a passing knowledge of French, the last four letters of the surname Gagnon would indicate its country of origin. Like many other surnames, Gagnon is an occupational name for a farmer or cultivator. The name is derived from the Old French word “gagneau” which means to “till” or “cultivate.”1

The French connection doesn’t begin and end with the Gagnon name. Other French names in the North American Gagnon line include Drouin, Tremblay, Cochon, Gagne, Lacroix, Chapelier, Lepage, Gaumond, Daunais, St. Pierre, Bourgery, Falcon, Simard, Bonneau, Charles, Niel, Robert, Legendre, and Dauphin.2 Tremblay and Gagnon are among the most common French names in North America.

On the Remillard side the roots in France are even more extensive.3 In addition to Remillard we have the names Helie, Labbe, Pepin, Lapierre, Pinsonneault, Falcon, Tremblay, Longtin, Lambert, Herbert, Dupuis, Richard, Blanchard, Creste (Crete), Denis, Boucher, Gaudin, Labonte, Morisset, Choret, and others.

1 Other sources claim the name Gagnon comes from the Old French “gagnon” meaning “guard dog” used as a nickname for an over aggressive man. However, it seems doubtful that an unflattering nickname became a family name. Also, Gagnon is a rather recent spelling variation, occurring most often in Canada and the United States.

2 Some individuals also were known by alternate last names, called dit names. The English translation of “dit” is “said.” Many colonists of Nouvelle France added dit names as distinguishers. The dit name may signify an origin or land owned, a name of an ancestor, and such. Dit names were common among army soldiers.

3 The Remillard line is 92% French in origin. The Gagnon line is 62-75% French.

La Gaignonniere
Barnabé Gagnon4 (or Gaignon5) bought a farm on December 28, 1565 in the southern Normandy forest of Perche between Tourouvre and Ventrouze from Gervais Roger and Marion Aubert. Barnabé and his wife, Francoise Creste, farmed and ran an inn there. The hamlet would become known as “La Gaignonnière.” 6

Road to Gagnonierre

LaGagnonier

La Gagnonnière

tourouvre_france_mapLocation of La Gaignonierre

4 See Appendix A, Chart G10.

5 Other or older variations in spelling: Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gangnon, Gnaignon, Guaignon, Gaihaignon, Guainon, Guesnon, Gaisno, Gaisnon, Guaisnon, Gaigneux, Guenoux, Guenont, Gainon.Later Anglicizations include Ganeau, Goneau, Gonyo, Gagner.

6 La Gaignonierre, located in the Department of Orne, still exists and is used as a summer home.

New France
The French colony later known as Canada was permanently established in 1608 when Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.7 To put this event in historical perspective, it was the year after Jamestown was formed in Virginia, twelve years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, and 43 years after St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in what is now Florida.

Why build a colony at Quebec? Building a colony was expensive and required economic justification. Popular for decades, felt hats were made from the soft inner fur of beavers. A lucrative trade in beaver pelts was already underway in North America. The French had been trading with the natives along the St. Lawrence River, and Quebec’s location where the river narrowed made it an ideal place to focus and defend that trade.

Among the early inhabitants of the colony were Abraham Martin,8 a river pilot whose name is attributed to the “Plains of Abraham” above Quebec where he owned land, his wife Marguerite Langlois, along with her sister Francoise Langlois and her husband Pierre Desportes,9 the village baker, warehouse keeper, and investor in the colony. Francoise and Pierre would have a daughter, Helene, purported to be the first French child born in New France. These colonists were Gagnon-Remillard ancestors.10

CH6CHAM

Like Jamestown, Quebec struggled to survive, with many of the early settlers perishing from disease and harsh weather. To make matters worse, the English captured and held Quebec for a couple of years before giving it back to France. The English had destroyed the buildings, and less than 30 French people were left in Quebec.

After peace was restored, Champlain returned to Quebec and so did some former colonists. One was young Helene Desportes, although her parents did not return.11 Helene would marry twice and become a midwife like her aunt Marguerite.

New France, 1645

New France, 1645

7 Apparently they had died in France. Helene was close to Champlain, his wife was her godmother. Champlain left Helene $20,000 in his will.

8 See Appendix A, Family Tree Chart G14.

9 See Chart R29.

10 See Charts G14 and R29.

11 Acadia on the coast was established earlier, but not continuously at one location.

The Percheron Emigration
To help rebuild the tiny town of Quebec, Champlain employed the services of Robert Giffard, a ship’s surgeon and one of the first colonists, to help recruit new migrants. Being from the Perche region of France in lower (southern) Normandy, Giffard knew the residents there were well suited for cutting trees and enduring harsh winters. He went from town to town in Perche expounding the opportunities in New France. Many were captivated by the adventure and opportunity of a new life in the New World. The “Percheron Immigration,” as it would become known, had begun.

In March 1634, Giffard, his wife and children and about thirty colonists in four ships left Dieppe for New France. These settlers included Tourouvre master mason Jean Guyon12 and his wife Mathurine Robin, and Robert Drouin,13 a tile maker and bricklayer and a native of Pin-la-Garenne. After the perilous ocean voyage,14 they reached Quebec in June.

The following year Giffard recruited even more settlers from Perche. Among these immigrants were three of Barnabe Gagnon’s grandsons, Mathurin, Jean15 (Jehan), and Pierre.

It is likely Robert Drouin, the Guyons, and the Gagnon brothers met Champlain himself. Certainly they attended his funeral in December of 1635.

Quebec now had 132 settlers. Immigrants from the Perche region would continue to arrive for the next 30 years. Among those would be the Gagnon brothers’ mother, Renee Roger, their older sister Marguerite and her husband Eloi Tavernier, Mathurin’s daughter Marthe, and a cousin, Robert Gagnon. Virtually all Gagnons in North America are descended from these Gagnon immigrants.

The three Gagnon brothers opened a shop in Quebec City on the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town. Their business partner was Joseph Masse Gravel who later married Marguerite Tavernier, daughter of their older sister, Marguerite Gagnon.

Plaque, Gagnon Shop in lower Quebec City

Gagnon brothers in their Quebec shop16

Mathurin Gagnon, the eldest of the three brothers, was the only one who could read and write thus contributing greatly to their business success. His status is reflected in his membership in the La Compagnie des Habitants, a company of colonialists that held the fur trading monopoly in the early years of Quebec.

12 See Chart G13.

13 See Charts G2, G10.

14 Estimates place the death rate at 10% for those crossing the Atlantic in the 17th century, seafarers often dying from disease.

15 See Charts G2, G10. Other sources give later dates for the arrival.

16 Plaque at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Quebec.

Chateau-Richer
By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at Chateau-Richer, downstream from the city. In that year Jean Gagnon married newly-arrived Marguerite Cochon (Cauchon), who had come with her parents. Of the couple’s nine children two (Jean and Germain) were ancestors to the Gagnon-Remillard family.17

Robert Drouin, meanwhile, also acquired land at Chateau-Richer. After his first wife died, Robert married Marie Chapelier, a strong-willed and resourceful woman. One of their daughters, Marguerite Drouin, would marry Jean Gagnon’s son Jean.

Chateau-Richer land holdings

Gagnon and Drouin land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish

An indication that the Gagnons did well financially was the fact that Mathurin Gagnon returned to France and brought his mother and daughter back to Quebec. That would not have happened if life in New France had been a struggle for them. One could say the Gagnons indirectly benefited from the lucrative fur trade economy.

GagonHouse, Chateau-Richer
Jean Gagnon home, located between Chateau-Richer and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

Jean’s brothers, Pierre and Mathurin would also marry and have many children as well, spreading the Gagnon name.18

These marriages are more remarkable than they might appear. In the early years of Quebec, those who came were mostly men, recruited to help clear land and build. Only ten percent were women, and many of those came with husbands.

That Robert Drouin and the Gagnon men married at all speaks both to their early arrival and being well established in the colony. The daughters of the immigrants had their choice of many young bachelors, and these gentlemen were good catches.

17 See Charts G2, G10, and R8.

18 After Tremblay, Gagnon is the second most common French name in Canada.

Marriageable Women
Besides fur trappers and traders, New France needed skilled workers like carpenters and bricklayers as well as farmers and laborers to clear the land. Men recruited to come to Quebec were often under contact to work for three years. Many returned to France. A thriving colony also needed families. Early attempts to recruit couples and families had limited results. The investors turned to recruiting marriageable young girls to entice the men to stay.

Most, but not all, single women who migrated to New France were from poor rural families. Their prospects in France were not great. New France offered nothing more than the possibility of a better life. Arriving between 1634 and 1663, the 262 single women who came alone or in groups are now collectively called filles à marier — marriageable young girls.

the_arrival_of_the_french_girls_at_quebec_1667_-_c-w-_jefferys

In 1663 King Louis XIV sponsored a program to recruit young women migrants, strong ladies of good character. Over the next ten years, about 800 “Kings Daughters” (filles du roi) came to New France. The monarch paid their passage, furnished a hope chest (trousseau), and provided a dowry. By 1673 the population of New France had doubled, to over 3,000 people.

Both the Gagnon and Remillard families have filles à marier and filles du roi ancestors.

Carignan Soldiers
The growing colony increasingly struggled against the threat of Iroquois attacks. Demands were made for reinforcement of the small number of soldiers stationed in Canada. The French monarchy complied.

Six ships carrying 1,200 soldiers arrived in 1665. That winter the Carignan-Salieres Regiment, the first regular military unit to serve in Canada, attacked the Indians. Despite taking heavy casualties the Regiment stabilized the situation ensuring the survival of the French colony.

Encouraged to stay, some 450 soldiers settled in Canada after the Regiment returned to France. Among these were Gagnon and Remillard ancestors.

carignan-salieres_regiment_soldier

The Remillards
Francois Remillard,19 the first Remillard to migrate to New France, came from Limoges, France in 1681.20 Francois Remillard married Anne Gaboury soon after arrival at L’Islet Parish on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Although Francois Remillard didn’t appear in New France until after it had been well established, his descendents did marry into families whose immigrant ancestors arrived just as early as the Gagnon line. In fact, the Gagnon and Remillard families share multiple ancestors.21

Through the generations, the Remillard family moved upriver, living for many years in the La Prairie area south of Montreal.

Like the Gagnons, the Remillards are mostly descended from French Canadians. However, there are a couple of exceptions. One of those is the interesting story of Elizabeth Corse.

19 See Chart R2

20 Other spellings of Remillard: Roumihat, Rouillard, Remillaud, Remillon, Remillot, Remilleaux, Remilleau, Rameon. The origin of the name is probably a variation of the name Remy.

21 Grandparents in common: Jean Gagnon & Marguerite Drouin, Pierre Falcon & Genevieve Tremblay, Francois Pinsonneault & Anne Leper, Jerome Longtin & Marie-Louise Dumas, Louis Gagne & Marie Michel, and Perinne Meunier

French and Indian Wars
Elizabeth Corse22 was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696 to James Corse23 and Elizabeth Catlin. Three months later, Elizabeth’s father died, the first of the many tragedies of her eventful life.

Throughout the 17th century frequent hostilities between the French, English, and native tribes made Deerfield, on the edge of the English frontier, vulnerable to attack. In 1702 the War of Spanish Succession in Europe24 expanded to North America, becoming the second of the four French and Indian wars. While both sides had Indian allies, the French colonists, being outnumbered by more than ten to one, relied heavily on Indian warriors. The Indians themselves had scores to settle with enemies, both Indian and white, and the French joined forces with them in raiding English towns. Deerfield was one of their targets.

On the night of February 29,1704, a raiding party of over 200 natives from several tribes and 50 Frenchmen descended on Deerfield. Snow piled against the palisade made it easy to climb over it and open the gates. The fighting was haphazard but the raiders managed to kill 44 residents and take more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children. Two of those taken were eight year old Elizabeth Corse and her mother. Among those killed were Elizabeth’s grandfather and two uncles.

DeerfieldRaid1704

The raiders then returned north to Canada with their ill-prepared captives. Some 20 captives died on the 300 mile trek to Canada, either killed because the couldn’t keep up or dying from exposure. Only a handful managed to escape. Elizabeth’s mother was killed by the Indians seven days into the journey. When the group finally reached Canada, French authorities and sympathetic colonists began to acquire hostages from their Indian captors. The majority of those were traded for ransom or used for prisoner exchanges. Those who did not return to New England, 36 in total, remained in Canada as willing members of a tribe or members of French society. Elizabeth Corse was one of those who stayed.

Elizabeth was taken into the family of Pierre Roy and renamed Elizabeth Casse.25 Within a year she was baptized as a Catholic. At age sixteen she had a baby girl, but the child died shortly after birth. Later that year she married Jean Baptist Dumontet of La Praire, who was 37 years older. Together they had seven children. In 1730 one of Elizabeth’s brothers went to Canada to bring her back. It is not known if he found her, but if he did she chose not to return. After Dumontet died, she remarried to a man 8 years younger than her, Pierre Monet, and had another six children. Interestingly, Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth Dumontet, would later marry Pierre Monet’s brother.

Elizabeth Casse’s great-granddaughter, Rosalie Monet, would marry into the Remillard family of La Prairie. Rosalie was Louisa Remillard’s grandmother.

Elizabeth’s story was not unique. Not long after her abduction, another Remillard ancestor, Mathias Farnsworth26 at age 14 was taken captive on an Indian raid of Groton, Massachusetts when he was working in a field. After over a year of slavery, Mathias was purchased by seminary priests and was baptized. Unable to read or write, his name Farnsworth was eventually transformed into Phaneuf.27 In addition, Mathias took on the first name of his godfather, Claude. When he came of age, the priests rewarded his work for them with a house and land of his own.

22 See Chart R12.

23 Also spelled Corss or Cors. James Corse may have been a Scottish immigrant.

24 The European war is called the War of the Spanish Succession. For the British colonialists the North American theater was Queen Anne’s War. It was also known as the Third Indian War or the Second Inter-colonial War. The fourth of the French and Indian wars is the one Americans call “The French and Indian War” (singular).

25 Probably the name “Corse” spoken by an 8 year old with a New England accent sounded much like “Casse” to her French Canadian family. Sometimes Casse is recorded as Lacasse.

26 See Chart R11.

27 As in the case Elizabeth Corse, the French were unfamiliar with the English name and spelled it many different ways somewhat close to its pronunciation at the time.

Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
Near the end of the second French and Indian War, the French Colony of Acadia (Acadie) fell to the British, who renamed the colony Nova Scotia. The colonists agreed to neutrality but refused to sign an oath of loyalty. Forty years later when war broke out yet again (known today in the U.S. as “The French and Indian War”) this lack of allegiance became intolerable to the British. Thus began the tragic Expulsion of the Acadians (Le Grand Dérangement) from Nova Scotia.1

One family caught in this mass deportation were the Heberts2 of Grand Pre. The first wave of expulsion dispersed Acadians across the other British colonies. The Heberts, deprived of most of their possessions, were forced to go to Guilford, Connecticut, where they faced different religion, language, and customs. Among the children was 13 year old Anastasie.3 The exiled family stayed in Guilford for many years. Anastasie married a Guilford man, John Smith, at age 26. Her parents finally migrated about 1772 to La Prairie, Canada, an area where other Acadians had moved.31 John and Anastasie would also migrate to La Prairie, around 1889. Their oldest daughter, Cecile, married Louis-Marie Remillard, who was Louisa Remillard’s great-grandfather.32

After the British captured Quebec City in 1759 and Montreal in 1760 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War in Europe, or War of Conquest in French Canada), French control of Canada ended. French-Canadians were no longer French, but British subjects. However, the change in leadership did not affect the lives of the French-speaking peasantry. The British kept the French civil laws in place, including the seigneurial system.

Meanwhile, migrant pioneer Jean Gagnon’s great-great grandson, Pierre Gagnon, moved upriver to La Prairie, south of Montreal, where he married Marie-Anne Longtin to start a new life. Their son, Lucien (Julien) Gagnon, would play another notable role in Canadian history.

1 French Acadians (Acadiens) were widely dispersed. The best known are those who made their way to Louisiana, now called Cajuns (an alteration of Acadians).

2 See Charts R5, R14.

3 See Charts R1, R5.

31 The community of L’Acadie, south of Montreal, was formed by the Acadian refugees. It is now part of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

32 See Chart R1.

The Seigneurial System
Land ownership in New France wasn’t as simple as it is today in Canada or the U.S. Technically speaking, the king owned all the land, but in effect sections of land, seigneuries (fiefs), were held by nobles, clergy, or other people of privilege – the landlords. The “habitants”(censitaires) of the land, as the tenants were called, would buy a farm-sized piece of the seigneury but would still have to pay rents and various fees to the seigneur.

In New France the land was granted to the company which had the monopoly on the fur trade. The company in turn granted seigneuries for valuable services.For example, Robert Giffard obtained his seigneury as payment for recruiting colonists. Military officers were also given seigneuries for their service.

Because access to a river was vital for transportation, the farm divisions of the seigneuries were usually long and narrow. Typically, habitant parcels were ten times longer than the frontage width.

Few if any habitants complained about the seigneurial system. After all, it was not unlike the system in place in France, which had its roots in the middle ages. But as land became more scarce and farms were divided between surviving children, this vestige of the feudal system would become onerous for the peasant class.

A Failed Rebellion
After his first wife died, Lucien Gagnon33 married Sophie Régnier of Napierville, sold his La Prairie properties, and settled along the Richelieu River at Pointe-à-la-Mule in Saint Valentin parish. By peasant standards, Lucien was prosperous. He benefited from an inheritance from his father and two generous dowries. Also, Lucien was successful growing wheat, oats, barley and livestock. Even so, by 1834 he was deeply in debt to his English-speaking seigneur and overwhelmed by his fees. This angered Lucien immensely.

Lucien Gagnon

At this time, Canada was divided into two parts, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Lower Canada was predominately French-speaking and a majority were rural peasants. Growing discontent over social, economic, and political inequities led to the “Patriote” movement. By 1834 Lucien was ready to join the Patriotes.

In July Lucien took part in a Patriote meeting at nearby Napierville which 4,000 people attended. By that fall he was active in the movement, intimidating local Frenchmen who worked for the government, such as militia captains and justices, forcing them to resign their commissions. Undoubtably these threats took the form of charivari, a custom in which boisterous, costumed mobs would visit a home late at night to demonstrate their displeasure.

In October Lucien participated in an assembly in St. Charles which encompassed party members from six counties. Six thousand people were there. Some of the leaders wanted an armed rebellion, including Lucien’s friend, Dr. Cyrille Côté.

In November Lucien, convinced that the Patriotes in his region had to act, held an important meeting at his home which was attended by Côté, Édouard-Étienne Rodier, Ludger Duvernay, and others. They planned an attack on the village of Saint-Jean, but when the plan was discovered they fled to the United States. From there Lucien secretly went back to Canada, recruiting 60 men from Saint-Valentin and other parishes.

Elsewhere in Lower Canada, others were also taking up arms. A major victory at Saint Denis was followed by losses in which Patriotes were badly outnumbered. Upper Canada rebelled as well.

On December 6th, Lucien led his men on a raid, crossing the New York-Canada border. They were immediately overwhelmed by a much larger force of Loyalist volunteers. Two men were killed, Lucien was wounded twice, and the rebels retreated back over the border. That same month the governor of Canada posted a reward for the capture of Lucien Gagnon. Lucien’s farm was burned and his wife Sophie fled with their children. The next month his land and possessions were confiscated.34

During 1838 Lucien rose in the ranks of the rebellion, working closely with Dr. Robert Nelson and Dr. Côté, leading fugitives in the United States. These three represented the more radical element of the Patriote movement, wanting more immediate and forceful action, and importantly to Lucien, an end to seigneury. In February Nelson, with Cote, wrote a Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada. The next week Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon led 300-400 men in an invasion of Canada to form their new country. However, they were quickly repulsed and forced back across the border. Lucien, Nelson, Côté, and other leaders were arrested by U.S. authorities for violating the neutrality law, but were later released.

After the defeat, Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon began building an army by establishing secret Frères Chasseurs (Hunter Brothers) lodges on both sides of the border. Again, despite the price on his head, Lucien secretly went back to Canada. He traveled in many areas including La Prairie, Chambly, Beauharnois, and L’Acadie, recruiting farmers willing to fight for the cause.

Patriote Fighters, 1838

Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon then planned a second attack on November 3rd, to capture parishes along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then later to seize Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec. Once again they failed. As the Patriotes crossed the border they were immediately driven back by British troops and volunteers. On November 5th Côté, Gagnon, and Philippe Touvrey, a French officer recruited by Robert Nelson, led 500 Patriotes to Rouses Point, N.Y., to gather weapons and ammunition. They managed to repulse a picket of volunteers at the Lacolle bridge, but on their way back they were easily defeated by militiamen waiting for them. Lucien got away and reached the main body of Patriotes in Napierville. Learning that the regular troops under Sir John Colborne were about to arrive, Nelson, Gagnon, and Côté led their men south to Odelltown where on November 9th 1838, they battled a smaller group of Loyalists. When Loyalist reinforcements arrived, the Patriotes were vastly outnumbered and were forced to disperse. Lucien had courageously fought until the end of the battle when there was no longer any hope, and he reluctantly returned to the United States.

After Odelltown, the Patriote movement splintered and fell apart. Bitterly disappointed, Lucien quit the Patriotes in 1840. Many participants in the uprising were imprisoned, sent to Australia, or hanged. Lucien’s young son, Medard was imprisoned.35 Unable to return to Canada, a defeated and penniless Lucien died of tuberculosis in Corbeau, N.Y. on January 7, 1842. Sophie had his body, dressed in the Patriote costume of blue tuque (cap) and garments of Canadian cloth, brought back to Saint-Valentin as he had wished.

While the cause may have been just, the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 were doomed for lack of men, weapons, training, and organization. Informants, including the Catholic bishop, also hindered the efforts of the Patriotes. Many of their demands would eventually be met, but the Gagnon family would not benefit, for they were now destined for another country. During the time Lucien Gagnon was alive, other political, social, and economic forces were already at play, shaping the future of North America.

patriotemonument

Napierville Patriotes Monument 36

33 See Chart G1.

34 Inventory of Lucien Gagnon’s “lands, effects, and moveables” confiscated in January 1838 included 5 horses, 25 cattle, and large quantities of grain.</span

35 Also imprisoned and mentioned in subsequent dispositions is a Captain Julien Remillard.

36 Note Colonel Julien (Lucien) Gagnon and a Captain Julien Remillard. The connection between the two families possibly has its roots in the rebellion.

Western Migration
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, France no longer controlled land in North America, but the French settlers and fur traders stayed on. The beaver fur trade continued into the 19th century. As the beavers became scarce in the east, the search for furs pushed westward. The fur companies established trading posts (forts) throughout the west.

From the beginning the French used the native Indians as major suppliers of beaver pelts. As a result of this trade, the French usually had a closer relationship with natives than their English counterparts. With no white women in the areas they worked, the French trappers, traders, and voyageurs (transporters) often took native wives. Their mixed offspring were known as Metis.

When the Lewis and Clark expedition made their way to the Pacific in 1805 and returned in 1806, they relied on the ability of several French Metis. Their route skirted the lands of the Cayuse tribe. A small yet powerful tribe, the Cayuse adopted much of the nomadic lifestyle and warfare philosophy of the Plains Indians. They were closely allied with the larger Nez Percé tribe to the east, with whom they frequently intermarried. Proud and noble in their bearing, they were skilled horsemen, horse breeders, warriors, and traders. It is quite possible the explorers met and traded with the Cayuse.

Not long after Lewis and Clark explored the Pacific Northwest, employees of the fur trading companies came seeking furs. Trading posts were established along the Columbia River. One was built at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, Fort Nez Perces, later to be known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla.1

The fur trade was a boon to the Cayuse. Although catching beavers was beneath their dignity, they were able to use their trading skills to obtain coveted white man’s goods.

Next to come to the region were the American settlers following a trappers’ route, later known as the Oregon Trail, which led them to the fertile Willamette Valley. Among the first was Marcus Whitman, a Protestant missionary and doctor who established a mission near Fort Walla Walla in 1836. The pioneers passing through their lands provided another trading bonanza for the Cayuse, an opportunity of which they took full advantage. With supplies running low, the settlers were more than willing customers after their long trek. Unfortunately for the Cayuse, the settlers also carried white man’s diseases. Wagons with sick people detoured to Dr. Whitman’s mission in the Walla Walla Valley, passing through the heart of Cayuse country.

1 Old Fort Walla Walla was established in 1818 by the North-West Company which merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Furs were transported up the Columbia River, over the Rockies, and east to Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay Company abandoned the fort in 1857. Later Fort Walla Wallas were military forts near the present day city of Walla Walla.

.

Oregon Trail

Just as the Oregon Trail pioneers began arriving in the northwest, the fur trade was winding down, beaver felt hats finally going out of fashion. As a result, French Metis began settling in the Willamette Valley as well as on Cayuse land in the Walla Walla Valley. At this time, Mathieu Dauphin,1 an illiterate Metis, came to the area from Missouri. In 1840 he married a Cayuse woman named Suzanne.

1 See Chart G1. Mathieu (Matthew) Dauphin was variously known as Dofa, McDauphin, Duffy, etc.

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne and Mathieu would travel throughout the west, living in Utah, California, and Oregon before finally settling down in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington Territory. They would have seven children.

Whitman Massacre
As the first half of the 19th century came to a close, three historical events affected the Gagnons.

The first was the 1846 treaty with the British establishing the border at the 49th parallel instead of the lower Columbia River which the British had long hoped for and expected. This ensured that the future Washington Territory (and state) and the Walla Walla Valley would be American and not Canadian.

1846 was the year Suzanne gave birth to a daughter, Rosalie Dauphin.

The second event was in 1847. The Cayuse tribe, suffering from epidemics, had seen half their people die. Watching Doctor Whitman cure white people while the natives under his care died, many Cayuse believed he was purposely killing them. A band of warriors took matters into their own hands and murdered the Whitmans and twelve other people at the mission. Later known as “The Whitman Massacre,” the event resulted in the “Cayuse War” between the Indians and whites, mostly volunteers from the Willamette.

In 1850 five accused Cayuse were hanged for the Whitman Mission murders.1 They were baptized just before their deaths by Bishop Francis Blanchet, and Mathieu Dauphin acted as godfather. But the hangings did not end the hostilities, which lasted another five years. The Cayuse war finally ended in 1855 and a treaty was signed by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes and the government. Mathieu Dauphin acted as an interpreter during the peace treaty meetings. The tribes would forfeit most of their lands when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty four years later. During this time more tribes began to fight and war spread across the Northwest. More Cayuse would die.

The third significant event occurred in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Mathieu and Suzanne took their children to California’s Yuba River

gold field. Meanwhile, Marcel Gagnon, son of Lucien Gagnon, possibly along with brothers Pierre, Medard, and/or Lucien sailed to San Francisco2 in 1850 to try gold mining with thousands of others. While Marcel probably didn’t make a fortune in panning gold, he was successful enough to never lose his taste for prospecting, and continued searching for gold off and on for most of his life.

Just as in Oregon Territory, there were hostilities with native Americans in California which were caused by most of the same cultural conflicts as elsewhere in the country. Marcel volunteered to serve in the mounted militia to quell some of these hostilities. Marcel had noted the many abandoned sailing ships in the bay and concluded San Francisco had no future, and moved on.

Marcel made his way from California to French Prairie (south of Portland) and then to the small French community along the Walla Walla River, Frenchtown, to finally settle down to farm, raise a family, and to continue gold mining in the Northwest.

1 There is much speculation about the innocence of the convicted Cayuse. Some claimed they volunteered, taking the blame in order to appease the whites and thus save the tribe from more bloodshed.

2 Marcel’s obituary says he sailed around Cape Horn, but other family lore has him crossing the isthmus of Panama. Marcel would have been about 18 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Half-brother Medard would have been about 28, and Lucien, if he was with them, only 14. The 1870 census shows brothers Medard, miner, age 48, and Lucien, farmer, age 34, living with Marcel and his family. A 1910 obituary for older half-brother Pierre Gagnon, age 90, states he arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in 1868.

Frenchtown
Frenchtown was never a town, but merely a collection of cabins along the creeks from about present day Lowden to near the city of Walla Walla. Starting about 1824, French employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and their wives from local tribes, began building homes and farming amongst the Indian villages in the valley. By 1836 when Marcus Whitman arrived, there were a dozen Metis families living there. At the time of the Whitman Massacre in 1847, there were about fifty.

With renewed hostilities following the peace treaty signing in 1855 which was yet to be ratified, the Metis were forced out of the valley. In December of 1855 a four day battle, TheBattle of Walla Walla (aka The Battle of Frenchtown), was fought in the deserted Frenchtown between 300 Oregon volunteers and Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse, and Yakama (Yakima) warriors. Much of the action took place near the cabin of Joseph LaRocque and his wife Lizette Walla Walla which the volunteers used as a fortress.

Frenchtown, Washington Territory, 1872

After peace was restored in 1858 and the U.S. Senate finally ratified the peace treaty in 1859, the Cayuse were moved out. Some of the original settlers returned and many others began settling in the little community.1

Marcel married Mathieu’s and Suzanne’s daughter Rosalie in February 1864 and lived in Frenchtown. They would have seven children, one of whom was Marcel Junior, born in 1873. Sadly, Rosalie died in 1878 at age 32. Two years later, Marcel married Julia Raymond.

1 With the renewed turmoil at the end of 1855, most of the French moved out with friendly Indians, mainly to the Nez Perce lands. Some accounts have Marcel Gagnon coming to the area in 1852 or 1855, but he would not have been able to stay. He probably permanently settled in the valley around 1859-1864.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Rosaile Dauphine, Marcel Gagnon

Rosalie Dauphin, Marcel Jr.

Back in La Prairie, Joseph Remillard married Sophie Falcon1 in 1861 after his first wife died. The couple moved from Quebec Province to Ontario, settling in the small French-speaking town of Pain Court near Detroit. There, daughter Marie Louise (Louisa) was born in 1874. Tragedy struck the Remillards when Sophie died in 1883, leaving behind nine or ten living children.

sophiefalcon Sophie Falcon

Meanwhile, Romain (Raymond) Remillard, Joseph’s brother, had migrated to the United States and settled in Frenchtown on the Walla Walla River in the 1870’s.1 Sometime after Sophie’s death, Joseph moved to the United States, taking with him his children Noah, Helen, Louisa, and Phillip.2

1 Romain Remillard and his wife Jane (who was 30 years younger) had three daughters, born in Washington Territory approximately between 1876 and 1883. Jane was not listed in the 1885 census.

2 It is interesting to speculate that the Remillards and Gagnons, both families with roots in the Lapraire region, met previous to coming to Frenchtown. It is also worth noting that Dauphin and Suzanne were also in the California gold fields and possibly informed them of the French speaking valley of the Walla Walla.

1 See Chart R1

Remillard-Gagnon Union
The Remillards and Gagnons joined twice in Frenchtown. Noah Remillard married Sophie Gagnon in 1888, and in May 1892 Marcel Gagnon Jr. married Noah’s sister, Louisa Remillard.

MarcelMarie

Marcel and Louise first had a son, Joseph Philip (Philip). The family then moved from Frenchtown to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to take advantage of the Indian rights provided by the federal government. There Marie Amelia (Amelia), Ignatius Marcel (Martin), Wilfred Armandose (Bill), Fred Medard (Fred), and Robert Alvin (Al) were born. After moving to Waitsburg, where Marcel made a living as a saloon keeper, Ernest Edward (Ernie), Napoleon Arthur (Art), and Lucille Delores were born. The family then moved to Yakima where Bernice Delia was born.

With this new, fully American generation the French connection inevitably weakened. It interwove with other cultures as the family tree branched out. Frenchtown has long ceased to exist. No longer is French spoken in Gagnon family households. The family name was anglicized. It was a process that started some 300 years ago when migrants began leaving France.

Rather than lament the loss of our French, French Canadian, or even Native American cultures, we should remind ourselves that, like the multitude of ancestors before us, we are all part of the flow of constantly changing history.

Author’s Note:

Information contained in these pages is as accurate as possible. A number of interesting story lines and details were left out because they had doubtful origins, their sources conflicted, or they appeared dubious for other reasons. Still more research material was omitted because it did not add to the overall narrative or would have made for tedious reading. Even so, some details included may not be totally correct because they were needed to tie the three-century-long story together in an interesting way; significant questions of accuracy have been noted accordingly. The agonizing balance between completeness, accuracy, and readability has given me a new respect and sympathy for professional historians.

A special thanks to cousin Dorothy Gagnon Hall for her treasure trove of family information, my late aunt Lucille Gagnon Campbell for her research efforts, and to my wife Leslie (Cohen) Jurasek for her editing help.

— James Michael Gagnon, September 2016, Seattle Washington

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4 thoughts on “A Gagnon Family History”

Anita Powell
March 31, 2016 at 2:22 am
Thank You for this! This is my family! Suzanne Cayuse is my 4th great grandma. Most mentioned here are my direct descendants. This is great family history.
Blessings to you for all your work!

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Virginia Gagnon Moore
June 20, 2016 at 1:36 pm
My grandmother was Virginia Pitt maried to Joseph Gagnon, Salem, MA. My father was George Joseph Gagnon, born around, May 15, 1920, Salem, MA
Not sure if they are all connected.

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J. Gagnon
June 21, 2016 at 2:24 am
Virtually all Gagnons in North America are related if you go back far enough. The hardest people for me to find in my family tree were the ones in the 1800s. I doubt we are closely related, certainly no closer than 4th cousins.

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Jean Gallagher
October 2, 2016 at 1:54 am
This is wonderful. I have Gagnon’s in three different lines. I also have other ancestors mentioned in the article. Abraham Martin was a great, great…grandfather, also Robert Giffard was my 8th GG. It was wonderful to read the history of my family. Thank You.

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The Gagnons of Canada have four ancestors: Robert as well as Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, Tourouvre, Perche and La Ventrouze, Normandy in France, a small village called La Gagnonnière. Their father, Pierre and their mother, Renée Roger owned an ancestral land since 1565 on which they operated an inn.

It was in 1635 that the three Gagnon brothers met in Quebec City, where they opened a shop in the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town with a partner, Macé Gravel, who had married Marguerie, the three Gagnon's sister. They resold this trade to Pierre Pellerin in 1668. Subsequently, they settled in Chateau-Richer where they would have owned the domain Saint-Charles de Cap Tourmente.

In 1655, Robert arrived, the fourth ancestor who settled on a land of the island of Orleans acquired in 1656. Return to Mathurin, born October 22, 1606 in Tourouvre. At age 29, he left for Canada. He was educated, only to be able to sign his name.

He bought and sold several lands. He married in 1647, at 41, with Francoise Boudreau, 13 years old, daughter of François and Jeanne Jehan. They had 16 children, but only 9 were married. Mathurin died on April 20, 1690 and Françoise, on September 14, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Jean Gagnon, born on August 13, 1610 in Tourouvre, arrived in Quebec in 1635, aged 25 years. After the sale of his shop, he obtained a concession at Château-Richer. At the age of 30, he married on July 19, 1640 with Marguerite Cauchon, aged 20, daughter of Jean and Marguerite Cointal of the country of Caux. They had 8 children and 6 were married.

As for Pierre Gagnon, born on 14 February 1612 at the Gagnonnière, he settled on a sinuous ground also at Château-Richer. At the age of thirty, he married at Notre-Dame de Quebec on September 14, 1642, at Vincente Desvarieux, daughter of Jean and Marie Chevalier, of the country of Caux in Normandy. They had 10 children, three of whom married. Pierre-Paul was ordained a priest in 1677 by Bishop Laval and Mary Magdalene entered the convent of the Augustines at the age of 13 when she died nine years later.

The grave of Vincente took place on 2 January 1695 and that of Pierre on 17 April 1699 at Château-Richer.

The other Gagnon, Robert, was born in La Ventrouze in 1628. He was granted land at Sainte-Famille on Île d'Orléans in 1656. At the age of 29, he married Marie Parenteau, aged 16, daughter of Antoine and Anne Poisson of Saint-Nicolas de La Rochelle. They had 10 children, 6 of them married and 2 girls became nuns. Robert died on September 2, 1703, while Mary was buried on November 17, 1705 at the Sainte-Famille cemetery. The descendants of Robert who settled south of the St. Lawrence River at Rivière-Ouelle bear the nickname of Gagnon dit Belle-isles or Belzile.

In the various writings of France, in Tourouvre or La Ventrouze, we find the following graphs: Gangnon, Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gasgnon, Gaignion or Gagnon. The Gagnon family is one of the most numerous in French America.

Our tributes to the 1,700 Gagnon families in Saguenay-Lac-Jean.

Among the Gagnon descendants worthy of mention: Bertrand, lawyer of La Baie, judge of the Provincial Court; Christine, sociologist, member of the Quebec block of Quebec in the House of Commons; Claude, Jonquière, a judge of the Provincial Court; Louis and Joseph, businessmen, founders of the Gagnon & Frères stores; Marc, Chicoutimi athlete, gold medalist at the Olympic Games; Sylvain, athlete, Dolbeau, silver medalist at the Olympic Games; André, pianist and conductor; Clarence, painter; Jean-Louis, journalist, editor-in-chief of La Presse; Robin, military, of Arvida, Brigadier-General of the Canadian Army.

If you are interested in the history and genealogy of your family, we invite you to become a member of the Société de Genealogie du Saguenay: 418 693.8266.

Our sources: Archangel Godbout; Robert Prévost; Gérard Lebel, Jean Cournoyer. -

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They were named Mathurin, Jean, Pierre and Robert Gagnon. The first three were brothers and the fourth was their cousin. They came to live in New France about 1640, whereas this colony offered wealth only to those who worked hard. These men formed the great Gagnon family, whose heirs are found throughout Quebec, Canada and, no doubt, America. They came from the Perche where their surname had not yet adopted the form that is known to him today. The registers, the various contracts, and the engagements speak of Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but there is rarely any question of Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that would be responsible for the modification of the name.

La Gaignonniere, whose vestiges still exist, a few steps from Tourouvre, would be the birthplace of the children of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer, and of Magdeleine (or Renee) Roger: Marguerite in l598; Louys, in 1604; Mathurin, in 1606; Jean, in 1610 and Pierre, in 1616.

While this family was forgotten in the Perche, it took root on the soil of New France. The movement was initially initiated by Marguerite Gagnon, wife of Eloi Tavernier. The couple seems to have passed here before l640, prompting the brothers of Marguerite to do the same, soon after. For years, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre Gagnon were to embody family solidarity. Together, they settled in the Beaupré coast between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three men seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a land on the Place de la Basse-Ville, where a house was erected. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce,

The three men, although caught up in business, are already watching over their families. On July 29, 1640, in Quebec City, Jean married Marguerite Cauchon, a native of Dieppe, in Normandy. This was the first marriage contracted by one of the three brothers. The couple gave birth to ten children. The direct descendants of John were not, however, to be numerous. His daughters allied themselves with men whose names they perpetuated: Jeanne married Jean Chapeleau, Renée married Jean Houimet and Marguerite married Jean Caron.

Pierre Gagnon was married in Quebec City on February 14, 1642 to Vincente Devarieux, a Norman woman aged 18 years.

The eldest brother Gagnon, Mathurin, did not marry until l647. He was 4l years old. His wife was only thirteen. It was this couple who was to give the most of Gagnon to New France. When their fifteenth child was baptized in 1677, Mathurin had just celebrated his seventy-first birthday! Mathurin died in April 1690, at Château-Richer, twenty years after Jean and nine years earlier than Pierre.

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the first three, formed in turn a branch of the Gagnon family. Originally from La Ventrouze, in the Perche, he married Marie Parenteau in Quebec City on October 3, 1657. They gave birth to ten children.

After the disappearance of the four Gagnons, New France had just acquired a new patronymic which the first heirs, forty-five in number, were to spread to the regions of Laprairie, Chateau-Richer, and Yamachiche.

Source: Gagnon-Belzile Inc.

The GAGNON

The three brothers, Gagnon, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, who were in business, arrived from Le Perche with their mother in 1635, the son of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer and Renee Roger.

Daisy

Their eldest sister, Marguerite Gagnon, baptized on October 5, 1598, at La Gaignonnière, near Tourouvre in the present department of Orne, and widow of Antoine Bédard, is already in New France with her second husband. Éloi Tavernier, native of the parish of Saint-Malo, of Randonnai, of which she married on February 3, 1624, in France. The couple seems to have passed here in the early 1940s. She is in Quebec City, on May 1, 1644, at the marriage of her daughter Marguerite Tavernier, with the ancestor Joseph-Macé Gravel, known as Brindelière. Then Marguerite Gagnon, died in Château-Richer on December 7, 1677.

For years, the Gagnon family embodies family solidarity. Together, they settled on the Côte de Beaupré, between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three brothers seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a plot of land in the Lower Town, where they raised a house. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce, they bought a store.

Jeans

Jean Gagnon, baptized August 13, 1610, in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, present department of the Orne, is the first of the three brothers to found a home. On July 29, 1640, he led Marguerite Cauchon, daughter of the ancestor Jean Cochon and Marguerite Cointerel, to the altar of Beaupré, a native of the country of Caux, near Dieppe, in Normandy. At least eight children were born of this union, between 1641 and 1659, and five of them found foci which concern us in this genealogical description.

René Gagnon, born in 1643, married the ancestor Jean Houimet in 1660. Marguerite Gagnon, born in 1645, marries in 1661, Jean-Baptiste Caron, son of the ancestor Robert Caron and Marie Crevet. Jean Gagnon, married in 1670, Marguerite Drouin, daughter of the ancestor Robert Drouin and Marie Chapelier. Then the fourth, Germain Gagnon, born in 1653, married in 1688, Jeanne David, daughter of the ancestor Jacques David, called Pontiff and Marie Grandry. Marie Gagnon, born in 1659, became the wife of Louis Gagné, son of the ancestor Louis Gagné and Marie Michel.

The ancestor Jean Gagnon was buried on April 2, 1670, at Château-Richer, and Marguerite Cauchon dies on June 26, 1699 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec City.

Mathurin

Mathurin Gagnon was born on October 22, 1606, at the Gaignonniere, two miles from Tourouvre, where he was baptized. He is the most educated, for he is the only one who can sign his name.

Although he was the oldest, he was the last to marry on September 30, 1647, with Normande, Françoise Godeau, daughter of François Godeau and Jeanne Jehan or Panée, of La Roche-Guyon, in Normandy, Of thirteen years, whereas Mathurin is forty-one years at the marriage. The mother of Mathurin Gagnon, Renée Roger is present at their wedding, then dies later on an unknown date. Mathurin is aged of, his wife is only thirteen years old. Fifteen children were born to the couple, between 1649 and 1674, of which the only one that concerns us in this genealogy is Françoise Gagnon who married in 1672, Louis Prévost, son of the ancestor Martin Prévost and Marie Manitouabewich.

Mathurin Gagnon was buried on April 22, 1690 and Françoise Boudeau, on September 15, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Pierre

The youngest of the brothers, Pierre Gagnon, born February 14, 1612, is baptized on the 16th, at the Sainte-Madeleine church of La Ventrouze, Orne department. Pierre unites his destiny on the day of his 30th birthday, on February 14, 1642, to Vincente Desvarieux, aged 18, a native of St-Vincent d'Aubernail, in the country of Caux, archbishopric of Rouen, in Normandy, daughter of Jean Desvarieux And Marie Chevalier.

They have ten children together, between 1643 and 1660, including that which concerns us in this genealogy, Pierre Gagnon, born about 1646, who marries in 1669, Barbe Fortin, born in Beaupré in 1654, daughter of ancestors Julien Fortin and Geneviève Gamache. Of the eleven children of the couple, two sons concern us, they marry two cousins Bélanger. Joseph Gagnon, baptized in 1673, married in 1700, Agathe Bélanger, born in 1682, daughter of Jean-François Bélanger and Marie Cloutier. And Charles Gagnon, baptized in 1679, married in 1706, Anne Bélanger, born in 1686, daughter of Charles Bélanger and Barbe-Delphine Cloutier.

Vincente Desvarieux was buried on January 2, 1695 and the ancestor Pierre Gagnon, on April 18, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Robert

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the three brothers Gagnon and Marguerite, in turn forms a branch of the Gagnon family. Born in La Ventrouze, he was baptized on March 1, 1628, at the Sainte-Madeleine parish of La Ventrouze, in Perche. He is the son of Jean Gagnon and Marie Geffray or Geoffroy. Robert Gagnon arrived in New France about 1655, perhaps even a little before.

On April 2, 1656, he received on the site of the future parish of the Holy Family, a land of four arpents in front, the depth of which goes up to the projected road (about 64 arpents and a half). 'Île d'Orléans is located opposite the Côte de Beaupré.

Robert undertakes to close his property and to leave fifteen feet on each side of his lot and along the shore, with a view to passing a road there. The ancestor also has permission to fish in the river, in relation to his land. His immediate neighbors are Jacques Perrot, known as Vildaigre and Guillaume Landry, a compatriot of La Ventrouze.

He married in Quebec, on October 3, 1657, Marie Parenteau, born in 1641, at St-Nicolas de La Rochelle, daughter of Antoine Parenteau, farinier, carpenter and sawyer of long and Anne Brisson. Jean Gagnon, born on February 16, 1659, married in 1686, Jeanne Loignon, born in 1670, daughter of the ancestors Pierre Loignon and Marie Roussin. Jean Gagnon became one of the first pioneers of Rivière-Ouelle and also a militia captain for the entire south coast and Lower St. Lawrence.

Like most of the inhabitants, Robert Gagnon and Marie Parenteau lived at the beginning in a small wooden house constructed piece by piece, that is to say, the walls are made of logs placed horizontally on top of each other with A roof covered with long barks of elms. Then later, they go to the half-timbered type with square beams, sitting on a rectangle of stones.

The ancestor Robert Gagnon died on September 2, 1703, the year of a picote epidemic, but nothing indicates that he died of the consequences of the terrible disease.

Then his wife, Marie Parenteau, aged about sixty-two, died on November 17, 1705 and was buried the next day in the presence of Gervais Rocheron, my paternal ancestor, as a witness.

The known forms of Gagnon in the Perche were, Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but very rarely Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that is responsible for the modification of the name.

Gagnon Family History

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A Gagnon Family History
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A Gagnon Family History

This is a brief history of the family of Marcel Gagnon and Louisa Remillard.

How did these two happen to marry in a corner of Washington State?

The answers, interestingly enough, have to do with France, England, felt hats, gold, and the medieval feudal system.

Contents:

The French Connection
La Gaignonierre
New France
The Percheron Immigration
Chateau-Richer
Marriageable Women
Carignan Soldiers
The Remillards
French and Indian Wars
Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
The Seigneurial System
A Failed Rebellion
Western Migration
Whitman Massacre
Frenchtown
Remillard – Gagnon Union
Author’s Note
Appendix A – Family Tree Charts

The French Connection
To someone with a passing knowledge of French, the last four letters of the surname Gagnon would indicate its country of origin. Like many other surnames, Gagnon is an occupational name for a farmer or cultivator. The name is derived from the Old French word “gagneau” which means to “till” or “cultivate.”1

The French connection doesn’t begin and end with the Gagnon name. Other French names in the North American Gagnon line include Drouin, Tremblay, Cochon, Gagne, Lacroix, Chapelier, Lepage, Gaumond, Daunais, St. Pierre, Bourgery, Falcon, Simard, Bonneau, Charles, Niel, Robert, Legendre, and Dauphin.2 Tremblay and Gagnon are among the most common French names in North America.

On the Remillard side the roots in France are even more extensive.3 In addition to Remillard we have the names Helie, Labbe, Pepin, Lapierre, Pinsonneault, Falcon, Tremblay, Longtin, Lambert, Herbert, Dupuis, Richard, Blanchard, Creste (Crete), Denis, Boucher, Gaudin, Labonte, Morisset, Choret, and others.

1 Other sources claim the name Gagnon comes from the Old French “gagnon” meaning “guard dog” used as a nickname for an over aggressive man. However, it seems doubtful that an unflattering nickname became a family name. Also, Gagnon is a rather recent spelling variation, occurring most often in Canada and the United States.

2 Some individuals also were known by alternate last names, called dit names. The English translation of “dit” is “said.” Many colonists of Nouvelle France added dit names as distinguishers. The dit name may signify an origin or land owned, a name of an ancestor, and such. Dit names were common among army soldiers.

3 The Remillard line is 92% French in origin. The Gagnon line is 62-75% French.

La Gaignonniere
Barnabé Gagnon4 (or Gaignon5) bought a farm on December 28, 1565 in the southern Normandy forest of Perche between Tourouvre and Ventrouze from Gervais Roger and Marion Aubert. Barnabé and his wife, Francoise Creste, farmed and ran an inn there. The hamlet would become known as “La Gaignonnière.” 6

Road to Gagnonierre

LaGagnonier

La Gagnonnière

tourouvre_france_mapLocation of La Gaignonierre

4 See Appendix A, Chart G10.

5 Other or older variations in spelling: Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gangnon, Gnaignon, Guaignon, Gaihaignon, Guainon, Guesnon, Gaisno, Gaisnon, Guaisnon, Gaigneux, Guenoux, Guenont, Gainon.Later Anglicizations include Ganeau, Goneau, Gonyo, Gagner.

6 La Gaignonierre, located in the Department of Orne, still exists and is used as a summer home.

New France
The French colony later known as Canada was permanently established in 1608 when Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.7 To put this event in historical perspective, it was the year after Jamestown was formed in Virginia, twelve years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, and 43 years after St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in what is now Florida.

Why build a colony at Quebec? Building a colony was expensive and required economic justification. Popular for decades, felt hats were made from the soft inner fur of beavers. A lucrative trade in beaver pelts was already underway in North America. The French had been trading with the natives along the St. Lawrence River, and Quebec’s location where the river narrowed made it an ideal place to focus and defend that trade.

Among the early inhabitants of the colony were Abraham Martin,8 a river pilot whose name is attributed to the “Plains of Abraham” above Quebec where he owned land, his wife Marguerite Langlois, along with her sister Francoise Langlois and her husband Pierre Desportes,9 the village baker, warehouse keeper, and investor in the colony. Francoise and Pierre would have a daughter, Helene, purported to be the first French child born in New France. These colonists were Gagnon-Remillard ancestors.10

CH6CHAM

Like Jamestown, Quebec struggled to survive, with many of the early settlers perishing from disease and harsh weather. To make matters worse, the English captured and held Quebec for a couple of years before giving it back to France. The English had destroyed the buildings, and less than 30 French people were left in Quebec.

After peace was restored, Champlain returned to Quebec and so did some former colonists. One was young Helene Desportes, although her parents did not return.11 Helene would marry twice and become a midwife like her aunt Marguerite.

New France, 1645

New France, 1645

7 Apparently they had died in France. Helene was close to Champlain, his wife was her godmother. Champlain left Helene $20,000 in his will.

8 See Appendix A, Family Tree Chart G14.

9 See Chart R29.

10 See Charts G14 and R29.

11 Acadia on the coast was established earlier, but not continuously at one location.

The Percheron Emigration
To help rebuild the tiny town of Quebec, Champlain employed the services of Robert Giffard, a ship’s surgeon and one of the first colonists, to help recruit new migrants. Being from the Perche region of France in lower (southern) Normandy, Giffard knew the residents there were well suited for cutting trees and enduring harsh winters. He went from town to town in Perche expounding the opportunities in New France. Many were captivated by the adventure and opportunity of a new life in the New World. The “Percheron Immigration,” as it would become known, had begun.

In March 1634, Giffard, his wife and children and about thirty colonists in four ships left Dieppe for New France. These settlers included Tourouvre master mason Jean Guyon12 and his wife Mathurine Robin, and Robert Drouin,13 a tile maker and bricklayer and a native of Pin-la-Garenne. After the perilous ocean voyage,14 they reached Quebec in June.

The following year Giffard recruited even more settlers from Perche. Among these immigrants were three of Barnabe Gagnon’s grandsons, Mathurin, Jean15 (Jehan), and Pierre.

It is likely Robert Drouin, the Guyons, and the Gagnon brothers met Champlain himself. Certainly they attended his funeral in December of 1635.

Quebec now had 132 settlers. Immigrants from the Perche region would continue to arrive for the next 30 years. Among those would be the Gagnon brothers’ mother, Renee Roger, their older sister Marguerite and her husband Eloi Tavernier, Mathurin’s daughter Marthe, and a cousin, Robert Gagnon. Virtually all Gagnons in North America are descended from these Gagnon immigrants.

The three Gagnon brothers opened a shop in Quebec City on the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town. Their business partner was Joseph Masse Gravel who later married Marguerite Tavernier, daughter of their older sister, Marguerite Gagnon.

Plaque, Gagnon Shop in lower Quebec City

Gagnon brothers in their Quebec shop16

Mathurin Gagnon, the eldest of the three brothers, was the only one who could read and write thus contributing greatly to their business success. His status is reflected in his membership in the La Compagnie des Habitants, a company of colonialists that held the fur trading monopoly in the early years of Quebec.

12 See Chart G13.

13 See Charts G2, G10.

14 Estimates place the death rate at 10% for those crossing the Atlantic in the 17th century, seafarers often dying from disease.

15 See Charts G2, G10. Other sources give later dates for the arrival.

16 Plaque at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Quebec.

Chateau-Richer
By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at Chateau-Richer, downstream from the city. In that year Jean Gagnon married newly-arrived Marguerite Cochon (Cauchon), who had come with her parents. Of the couple’s nine children two (Jean and Germain) were ancestors to the Gagnon-Remillard family.17

Robert Drouin, meanwhile, also acquired land at Chateau-Richer. After his first wife died, Robert married Marie Chapelier, a strong-willed and resourceful woman. One of their daughters, Marguerite Drouin, would marry Jean Gagnon’s son Jean.

Chateau-Richer land holdings

Gagnon and Drouin land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish

An indication that the Gagnons did well financially was the fact that Mathurin Gagnon returned to France and brought his mother and daughter back to Quebec. That would not have happened if life in New France had been a struggle for them. One could say the Gagnons indirectly benefited from the lucrative fur trade economy.

GagonHouse, Chateau-Richer
Jean Gagnon home, located between Chateau-Richer and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

Jean’s brothers, Pierre and Mathurin would also marry and have many children as well, spreading the Gagnon name.18

These marriages are more remarkable than they might appear. In the early years of Quebec, those who came were mostly men, recruited to help clear land and build. Only ten percent were women, and many of those came with husbands.

That Robert Drouin and the Gagnon men married at all speaks both to their early arrival and being well established in the colony. The daughters of the immigrants had their choice of many young bachelors, and these gentlemen were good catches.

17 See Charts G2, G10, and R8.

18 After Tremblay, Gagnon is the second most common French name in Canada.

Marriageable Women
Besides fur trappers and traders, New France needed skilled workers like carpenters and bricklayers as well as farmers and laborers to clear the land. Men recruited to come to Quebec were often under contact to work for three years. Many returned to France. A thriving colony also needed families. Early attempts to recruit couples and families had limited results. The investors turned to recruiting marriageable young girls to entice the men to stay.

Most, but not all, single women who migrated to New France were from poor rural families. Their prospects in France were not great. New France offered nothing more than the possibility of a better life. Arriving between 1634 and 1663, the 262 single women who came alone or in groups are now collectively called filles à marier — marriageable young girls.

the_arrival_of_the_french_girls_at_quebec_1667_-_c-w-_jefferys

In 1663 King Louis XIV sponsored a program to recruit young women migrants, strong ladies of good character. Over the next ten years, about 800 “Kings Daughters” (filles du roi) came to New France. The monarch paid their passage, furnished a hope chest (trousseau), and provided a dowry. By 1673 the population of New France had doubled, to over 3,000 people.

Both the Gagnon and Remillard families have filles à marier and filles du roi ancestors.

Carignan Soldiers
The growing colony increasingly struggled against the threat of Iroquois attacks. Demands were made for reinforcement of the small number of soldiers stationed in Canada. The French monarchy complied.

Six ships carrying 1,200 soldiers arrived in 1665. That winter the Carignan-Salieres Regiment, the first regular military unit to serve in Canada, attacked the Indians. Despite taking heavy casualties the Regiment stabilized the situation ensuring the survival of the French colony.

Encouraged to stay, some 450 soldiers settled in Canada after the Regiment returned to France. Among these were Gagnon and Remillard ancestors.

carignan-salieres_regiment_soldier

The Remillards
Francois Remillard,19 the first Remillard to migrate to New France, came from Limoges, France in 1681.20 Francois Remillard married Anne Gaboury soon after arrival at L’Islet Parish on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Although Francois Remillard didn’t appear in New France until after it had been well established, his descendents did marry into families whose immigrant ancestors arrived just as early as the Gagnon line. In fact, the Gagnon and Remillard families share multiple ancestors.21

Through the generations, the Remillard family moved upriver, living for many years in the La Prairie area south of Montreal.

Like the Gagnons, the Remillards are mostly descended from French Canadians. However, there are a couple of exceptions. One of those is the interesting story of Elizabeth Corse.

19 See Chart R2

20 Other spellings of Remillard: Roumihat, Rouillard, Remillaud, Remillon, Remillot, Remilleaux, Remilleau, Rameon. The origin of the name is probably a variation of the name Remy.

21 Grandparents in common: Jean Gagnon & Marguerite Drouin, Pierre Falcon & Genevieve Tremblay, Francois Pinsonneault & Anne Leper, Jerome Longtin & Marie-Louise Dumas, Louis Gagne & Marie Michel, and Perinne Meunier

French and Indian Wars
Elizabeth Corse22 was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696 to James Corse23 and Elizabeth Catlin. Three months later, Elizabeth’s father died, the first of the many tragedies of her eventful life.

Throughout the 17th century frequent hostilities between the French, English, and native tribes made Deerfield, on the edge of the English frontier, vulnerable to attack. In 1702 the War of Spanish Succession in Europe24 expanded to North America, becoming the second of the four French and Indian wars. While both sides had Indian allies, the French colonists, being outnumbered by more than ten to one, relied heavily on Indian warriors. The Indians themselves had scores to settle with enemies, both Indian and white, and the French joined forces with them in raiding English towns. Deerfield was one of their targets.

On the night of February 29,1704, a raiding party of over 200 natives from several tribes and 50 Frenchmen descended on Deerfield. Snow piled against the palisade made it easy to climb over it and open the gates. The fighting was haphazard but the raiders managed to kill 44 residents and take more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children. Two of those taken were eight year old Elizabeth Corse and her mother. Among those killed were Elizabeth’s grandfather and two uncles.

DeerfieldRaid1704

The raiders then returned north to Canada with their ill-prepared captives. Some 20 captives died on the 300 mile trek to Canada, either killed because the couldn’t keep up or dying from exposure. Only a handful managed to escape. Elizabeth’s mother was killed by the Indians seven days into the journey. When the group finally reached Canada, French authorities and sympathetic colonists began to acquire hostages from their Indian captors. The majority of those were traded for ransom or used for prisoner exchanges. Those who did not return to New England, 36 in total, remained in Canada as willing members of a tribe or members of French society. Elizabeth Corse was one of those who stayed.

Elizabeth was taken into the family of Pierre Roy and renamed Elizabeth Casse.25 Within a year she was baptized as a Catholic. At age sixteen she had a baby girl, but the child died shortly after birth. Later that year she married Jean Baptist Dumontet of La Praire, who was 37 years older. Together they had seven children. In 1730 one of Elizabeth’s brothers went to Canada to bring her back. It is not known if he found her, but if he did she chose not to return. After Dumontet died, she remarried to a man 8 years younger than her, Pierre Monet, and had another six children. Interestingly, Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth Dumontet, would later marry Pierre Monet’s brother.

Elizabeth Casse’s great-granddaughter, Rosalie Monet, would marry into the Remillard family of La Prairie. Rosalie was Louisa Remillard’s grandmother.

Elizabeth’s story was not unique. Not long after her abduction, another Remillard ancestor, Mathias Farnsworth26 at age 14 was taken captive on an Indian raid of Groton, Massachusetts when he was working in a field. After over a year of slavery, Mathias was purchased by seminary priests and was baptized. Unable to read or write, his name Farnsworth was eventually transformed into Phaneuf.27 In addition, Mathias took on the first name of his godfather, Claude. When he came of age, the priests rewarded his work for them with a house and land of his own.

22 See Chart R12.

23 Also spelled Corss or Cors. James Corse may have been a Scottish immigrant.

24 The European war is called the War of the Spanish Succession. For the British colonialists the North American theater was Queen Anne’s War. It was also known as the Third Indian War or the Second Inter-colonial War. The fourth of the French and Indian wars is the one Americans call “The French and Indian War” (singular).

25 Probably the name “Corse” spoken by an 8 year old with a New England accent sounded much like “Casse” to her French Canadian family. Sometimes Casse is recorded as Lacasse.

26 See Chart R11.

27 As in the case Elizabeth Corse, the French were unfamiliar with the English name and spelled it many different ways somewhat close to its pronunciation at the time.

Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
Near the end of the second French and Indian War, the French Colony of Acadia (Acadie) fell to the British, who renamed the colony Nova Scotia. The colonists agreed to neutrality but refused to sign an oath of loyalty. Forty years later when war broke out yet again (known today in the U.S. as “The French and Indian War”) this lack of allegiance became intolerable to the British. Thus began the tragic Expulsion of the Acadians (Le Grand Dérangement) from Nova Scotia.1

One family caught in this mass deportation were the Heberts2 of Grand Pre. The first wave of expulsion dispersed Acadians across the other British colonies. The Heberts, deprived of most of their possessions, were forced to go to Guilford, Connecticut, where they faced different religion, language, and customs. Among the children was 13 year old Anastasie.3 The exiled family stayed in Guilford for many years. Anastasie married a Guilford man, John Smith, at age 26. Her parents finally migrated about 1772 to La Prairie, Canada, an area where other Acadians had moved.31 John and Anastasie would also migrate to La Prairie, around 1889. Their oldest daughter, Cecile, married Louis-Marie Remillard, who was Louisa Remillard’s great-grandfather.32

After the British captured Quebec City in 1759 and Montreal in 1760 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War in Europe, or War of Conquest in French Canada), French control of Canada ended. French-Canadians were no longer French, but British subjects. However, the change in leadership did not affect the lives of the French-speaking peasantry. The British kept the French civil laws in place, including the seigneurial system.

Meanwhile, migrant pioneer Jean Gagnon’s great-great grandson, Pierre Gagnon, moved upriver to La Prairie, south of Montreal, where he married Marie-Anne Longtin to start a new life. Their son, Lucien (Julien) Gagnon, would play another notable role in Canadian history.

1 French Acadians (Acadiens) were widely dispersed. The best known are those who made their way to Louisiana, now called Cajuns (an alteration of Acadians).

2 See Charts R5, R14.

3 See Charts R1, R5.

31 The community of L’Acadie, south of Montreal, was formed by the Acadian refugees. It is now part of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

32 See Chart R1.

The Seigneurial System
Land ownership in New France wasn’t as simple as it is today in Canada or the U.S. Technically speaking, the king owned all the land, but in effect sections of land, seigneuries (fiefs), were held by nobles, clergy, or other people of privilege – the landlords. The “habitants”(censitaires) of the land, as the tenants were called, would buy a farm-sized piece of the seigneury but would still have to pay rents and various fees to the seigneur.

In New France the land was granted to the company which had the monopoly on the fur trade. The company in turn granted seigneuries for valuable services.For example, Robert Giffard obtained his seigneury as payment for recruiting colonists. Military officers were also given seigneuries for their service.

Because access to a river was vital for transportation, the farm divisions of the seigneuries were usually long and narrow. Typically, habitant parcels were ten times longer than the frontage width.

Few if any habitants complained about the seigneurial system. After all, it was not unlike the system in place in France, which had its roots in the middle ages. But as land became more scarce and farms were divided between surviving children, this vestige of the feudal system would become onerous for the peasant class.

A Failed Rebellion
After his first wife died, Lucien Gagnon33 married Sophie Régnier of Napierville, sold his La Prairie properties, and settled along the Richelieu River at Pointe-à-la-Mule in Saint Valentin parish. By peasant standards, Lucien was prosperous. He benefited from an inheritance from his father and two generous dowries. Also, Lucien was successful growing wheat, oats, barley and livestock. Even so, by 1834 he was deeply in debt to his English-speaking seigneur and overwhelmed by his fees. This angered Lucien immensely.

Lucien Gagnon

At this time, Canada was divided into two parts, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Lower Canada was predominately French-speaking and a majority were rural peasants. Growing discontent over social, economic, and political inequities led to the “Patriote” movement. By 1834 Lucien was ready to join the Patriotes.

In July Lucien took part in a Patriote meeting at nearby Napierville which 4,000 people attended. By that fall he was active in the movement, intimidating local Frenchmen who worked for the government, such as militia captains and justices, forcing them to resign their commissions. Undoubtably these threats took the form of charivari, a custom in which boisterous, costumed mobs would visit a home late at night to demonstrate their displeasure.

In October Lucien participated in an assembly in St. Charles which encompassed party members from six counties. Six thousand people were there. Some of the leaders wanted an armed rebellion, including Lucien’s friend, Dr. Cyrille Côté.

In November Lucien, convinced that the Patriotes in his region had to act, held an important meeting at his home which was attended by Côté, Édouard-Étienne Rodier, Ludger Duvernay, and others. They planned an attack on the village of Saint-Jean, but when the plan was discovered they fled to the United States. From there Lucien secretly went back to Canada, recruiting 60 men from Saint-Valentin and other parishes.

Elsewhere in Lower Canada, others were also taking up arms. A major victory at Saint Denis was followed by losses in which Patriotes were badly outnumbered. Upper Canada rebelled as well.

On December 6th, Lucien led his men on a raid, crossing the New York-Canada border. They were immediately overwhelmed by a much larger force of Loyalist volunteers. Two men were killed, Lucien was wounded twice, and the rebels retreated back over the border. That same month the governor of Canada posted a reward for the capture of Lucien Gagnon. Lucien’s farm was burned and his wife Sophie fled with their children. The next month his land and possessions were confiscated.34

During 1838 Lucien rose in the ranks of the rebellion, working closely with Dr. Robert Nelson and Dr. Côté, leading fugitives in the United States. These three represented the more radical element of the Patriote movement, wanting more immediate and forceful action, and importantly to Lucien, an end to seigneury. In February Nelson, with Cote, wrote a Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada. The next week Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon led 300-400 men in an invasion of Canada to form their new country. However, they were quickly repulsed and forced back across the border. Lucien, Nelson, Côté, and other leaders were arrested by U.S. authorities for violating the neutrality law, but were later released.

After the defeat, Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon began building an army by establishing secret Frères Chasseurs (Hunter Brothers) lodges on both sides of the border. Again, despite the price on his head, Lucien secretly went back to Canada. He traveled in many areas including La Prairie, Chambly, Beauharnois, and L’Acadie, recruiting farmers willing to fight for the cause.

Patriote Fighters, 1838

Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon then planned a second attack on November 3rd, to capture parishes along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then later to seize Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec. Once again they failed. As the Patriotes crossed the border they were immediately driven back by British troops and volunteers. On November 5th Côté, Gagnon, and Philippe Touvrey, a French officer recruited by Robert Nelson, led 500 Patriotes to Rouses Point, N.Y., to gather weapons and ammunition. They managed to repulse a picket of volunteers at the Lacolle bridge, but on their way back they were easily defeated by militiamen waiting for them. Lucien got away and reached the main body of Patriotes in Napierville. Learning that the regular troops under Sir John Colborne were about to arrive, Nelson, Gagnon, and Côté led their men south to Odelltown where on November 9th 1838, they battled a smaller group of Loyalists. When Loyalist reinforcements arrived, the Patriotes were vastly outnumbered and were forced to disperse. Lucien had courageously fought until the end of the battle when there was no longer any hope, and he reluctantly returned to the United States.

After Odelltown, the Patriote movement splintered and fell apart. Bitterly disappointed, Lucien quit the Patriotes in 1840. Many participants in the uprising were imprisoned, sent to Australia, or hanged. Lucien’s young son, Medard was imprisoned.35 Unable to return to Canada, a defeated and penniless Lucien died of tuberculosis in Corbeau, N.Y. on January 7, 1842. Sophie had his body, dressed in the Patriote costume of blue tuque (cap) and garments of Canadian cloth, brought back to Saint-Valentin as he had wished.

While the cause may have been just, the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 were doomed for lack of men, weapons, training, and organization. Informants, including the Catholic bishop, also hindered the efforts of the Patriotes. Many of their demands would eventually be met, but the Gagnon family would not benefit, for they were now destined for another country. During the time Lucien Gagnon was alive, other political, social, and economic forces were already at play, shaping the future of North America.

patriotemonument

Napierville Patriotes Monument 36

33 See Chart G1.

34 Inventory of Lucien Gagnon’s “lands, effects, and moveables” confiscated in January 1838 included 5 horses, 25 cattle, and large quantities of grain.</span

35 Also imprisoned and mentioned in subsequent dispositions is a Captain Julien Remillard.

36 Note Colonel Julien (Lucien) Gagnon and a Captain Julien Remillard. The connection between the two families possibly has its roots in the rebellion.

Western Migration
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, France no longer controlled land in North America, but the French settlers and fur traders stayed on. The beaver fur trade continued into the 19th century. As the beavers became scarce in the east, the search for furs pushed westward. The fur companies established trading posts (forts) throughout the west.

From the beginning the French used the native Indians as major suppliers of beaver pelts. As a result of this trade, the French usually had a closer relationship with natives than their English counterparts. With no white women in the areas they worked, the French trappers, traders, and voyageurs (transporters) often took native wives. Their mixed offspring were known as Metis.

When the Lewis and Clark expedition made their way to the Pacific in 1805 and returned in 1806, they relied on the ability of several French Metis. Their route skirted the lands of the Cayuse tribe. A small yet powerful tribe, the Cayuse adopted much of the nomadic lifestyle and warfare philosophy of the Plains Indians. They were closely allied with the larger Nez Percé tribe to the east, with whom they frequently intermarried. Proud and noble in their bearing, they were skilled horsemen, horse breeders, warriors, and traders. It is quite possible the explorers met and traded with the Cayuse.

Not long after Lewis and Clark explored the Pacific Northwest, employees of the fur trading companies came seeking furs. Trading posts were established along the Columbia River. One was built at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, Fort Nez Perces, later to be known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla.1

The fur trade was a boon to the Cayuse. Although catching beavers was beneath their dignity, they were able to use their trading skills to obtain coveted white man’s goods.

Next to come to the region were the American settlers following a trappers’ route, later known as the Oregon Trail, which led them to the fertile Willamette Valley. Among the first was Marcus Whitman, a Protestant missionary and doctor who established a mission near Fort Walla Walla in 1836. The pioneers passing through their lands provided another trading bonanza for the Cayuse, an opportunity of which they took full advantage. With supplies running low, the settlers were more than willing customers after their long trek. Unfortunately for the Cayuse, the settlers also carried white man’s diseases. Wagons with sick people detoured to Dr. Whitman’s mission in the Walla Walla Valley, passing through the heart of Cayuse country.

1 Old Fort Walla Walla was established in 1818 by the North-West Company which merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Furs were transported up the Columbia River, over the Rockies, and east to Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay Company abandoned the fort in 1857. Later Fort Walla Wallas were military forts near the present day city of Walla Walla.

.

Oregon Trail

Just as the Oregon Trail pioneers began arriving in the northwest, the fur trade was winding down, beaver felt hats finally going out of fashion. As a result, French Metis began settling in the Willamette Valley as well as on Cayuse land in the Walla Walla Valley. At this time, Mathieu Dauphin,1 an illiterate Metis, came to the area from Missouri. In 1840 he married a Cayuse woman named Suzanne.

1 See Chart G1. Mathieu (Matthew) Dauphin was variously known as Dofa, McDauphin, Duffy, etc.

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne and Mathieu would travel throughout the west, living in Utah, California, and Oregon before finally settling down in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington Territory. They would have seven children.

Whitman Massacre
As the first half of the 19th century came to a close, three historical events affected the Gagnons.

The first was the 1846 treaty with the British establishing the border at the 49th parallel instead of the lower Columbia River which the British had long hoped for and expected. This ensured that the future Washington Territory (and state) and the Walla Walla Valley would be American and not Canadian.

1846 was the year Suzanne gave birth to a daughter, Rosalie Dauphin.

The second event was in 1847. The Cayuse tribe, suffering from epidemics, had seen half their people die. Watching Doctor Whitman cure white people while the natives under his care died, many Cayuse believed he was purposely killing them. A band of warriors took matters into their own hands and murdered the Whitmans and twelve other people at the mission. Later known as “The Whitman Massacre,” the event resulted in the “Cayuse War” between the Indians and whites, mostly volunteers from the Willamette.

In 1850 five accused Cayuse were hanged for the Whitman Mission murders.1 They were baptized just before their deaths by Bishop Francis Blanchet, and Mathieu Dauphin acted as godfather. But the hangings did not end the hostilities, which lasted another five years. The Cayuse war finally ended in 1855 and a treaty was signed by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes and the government. Mathieu Dauphin acted as an interpreter during the peace treaty meetings. The tribes would forfeit most of their lands when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty four years later. During this time more tribes began to fight and war spread across the Northwest. More Cayuse would die.

The third significant event occurred in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Mathieu and Suzanne took their children to California’s Yuba River

gold field. Meanwhile, Marcel Gagnon, son of Lucien Gagnon, possibly along with brothers Pierre, Medard, and/or Lucien sailed to San Francisco2 in 1850 to try gold mining with thousands of others. While Marcel probably didn’t make a fortune in panning gold, he was successful enough to never lose his taste for prospecting, and continued searching for gold off and on for most of his life.

Just as in Oregon Territory, there were hostilities with native Americans in California which were caused by most of the same cultural conflicts as elsewhere in the country. Marcel volunteered to serve in the mounted militia to quell some of these hostilities. Marcel had noted the many abandoned sailing ships in the bay and concluded San Francisco had no future, and moved on.

Marcel made his way from California to French Prairie (south of Portland) and then to the small French community along the Walla Walla River, Frenchtown, to finally settle down to farm, raise a family, and to continue gold mining in the Northwest.

1 There is much speculation about the innocence of the convicted Cayuse. Some claimed they volunteered, taking the blame in order to appease the whites and thus save the tribe from more bloodshed.

2 Marcel’s obituary says he sailed around Cape Horn, but other family lore has him crossing the isthmus of Panama. Marcel would have been about 18 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Half-brother Medard would have been about 28, and Lucien, if he was with them, only 14. The 1870 census shows brothers Medard, miner, age 48, and Lucien, farmer, age 34, living with Marcel and his family. A 1910 obituary for older half-brother Pierre Gagnon, age 90, states he arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in 1868.

Frenchtown
Frenchtown was never a town, but merely a collection of cabins along the creeks from about present day Lowden to near the city of Walla Walla. Starting about 1824, French employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and their wives from local tribes, began building homes and farming amongst the Indian villages in the valley. By 1836 when Marcus Whitman arrived, there were a dozen Metis families living there. At the time of the Whitman Massacre in 1847, there were about fifty.

With renewed hostilities following the peace treaty signing in 1855 which was yet to be ratified, the Metis were forced out of the valley. In December of 1855 a four day battle, TheBattle of Walla Walla (aka The Battle of Frenchtown), was fought in the deserted Frenchtown between 300 Oregon volunteers and Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse, and Yakama (Yakima) warriors. Much of the action took place near the cabin of Joseph LaRocque and his wife Lizette Walla Walla which the volunteers used as a fortress.

Frenchtown, Washington Territory, 1872

After peace was restored in 1858 and the U.S. Senate finally ratified the peace treaty in 1859, the Cayuse were moved out. Some of the original settlers returned and many others began settling in the little community.1

Marcel married Mathieu’s and Suzanne’s daughter Rosalie in February 1864 and lived in Frenchtown. They would have seven children, one of whom was Marcel Junior, born in 1873. Sadly, Rosalie died in 1878 at age 32. Two years later, Marcel married Julia Raymond.

1 With the renewed turmoil at the end of 1855, most of the French moved out with friendly Indians, mainly to the Nez Perce lands. Some accounts have Marcel Gagnon coming to the area in 1852 or 1855, but he would not have been able to stay. He probably permanently settled in the valley around 1859-1864.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Rosaile Dauphine, Marcel Gagnon

Rosalie Dauphin, Marcel Jr.

Back in La Prairie, Joseph Remillard married Sophie Falcon1 in 1861 after his first wife died. The couple moved from Quebec Province to Ontario, settling in the small French-speaking town of Pain Court near Detroit. There, daughter Marie Louise (Louisa) was born in 1874. Tragedy struck the Remillards when Sophie died in 1883, leaving behind nine or ten living children.

sophiefalcon Sophie Falcon

Meanwhile, Romain (Raymond) Remillard, Joseph’s brother, had migrated to the United States and settled in Frenchtown on the Walla Walla River in the 1870’s.1 Sometime after Sophie’s death, Joseph moved to the United States, taking with him his children Noah, Helen, Louisa, and Phillip.2

1 Romain Remillard and his wife Jane (who was 30 years younger) had three daughters, born in Washington Territory approximately between 1876 and 1883. Jane was not listed in the 1885 census.

2 It is interesting to speculate that the Remillards and Gagnons, both families with roots in the Lapraire region, met previous to coming to Frenchtown. It is also worth noting that Dauphin and Suzanne were also in the California gold fields and possibly informed them of the French speaking valley of the Walla Walla.

1 See Chart R1

Remillard-Gagnon Union
The Remillards and Gagnons joined twice in Frenchtown. Noah Remillard married Sophie Gagnon in 1888, and in May 1892 Marcel Gagnon Jr. married Noah’s sister, Louisa Remillard.

MarcelMarie

Marcel and Louise first had a son, Joseph Philip (Philip). The family then moved from Frenchtown to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to take advantage of the Indian rights provided by the federal government. There Marie Amelia (Amelia), Ignatius Marcel (Martin), Wilfred Armandose (Bill), Fred Medard (Fred), and Robert Alvin (Al) were born. After moving to Waitsburg, where Marcel made a living as a saloon keeper, Ernest Edward (Ernie), Napoleon Arthur (Art), and Lucille Delores were born. The family then moved to Yakima where Bernice Delia was born.

With this new, fully American generation the French connection inevitably weakened. It interwove with other cultures as the family tree branched out. Frenchtown has long ceased to exist. No longer is French spoken in Gagnon family households. The family name was anglicized. It was a process that started some 300 years ago when migrants began leaving France.

Rather than lament the loss of our French, French Canadian, or even Native American cultures, we should remind ourselves that, like the multitude of ancestors before us, we are all part of the flow of constantly changing history.

Author’s Note:

Information contained in these pages is as accurate as possible. A number of interesting story lines and details were left out because they had doubtful origins, their sources conflicted, or they appeared dubious for other reasons. Still more research material was omitted because it did not add to the overall narrative or would have made for tedious reading. Even so, some details included may not be totally correct because they were needed to tie the three-century-long story together in an interesting way; significant questions of accuracy have been noted accordingly. The agonizing balance between completeness, accuracy, and readability has given me a new respect and sympathy for professional historians.

A special thanks to cousin Dorothy Gagnon Hall for her treasure trove of family information, my late aunt Lucille Gagnon Campbell for her research efforts, and to my wife Leslie (Cohen) Jurasek for her editing help.

— James Michael Gagnon, September 2016, Seattle Washington

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4 thoughts on “A Gagnon Family History”

Anita Powell
March 31, 2016 at 2:22 am
Thank You for this! This is my family! Suzanne Cayuse is my 4th great grandma. Most mentioned here are my direct descendants. This is great family history.
Blessings to you for all your work!

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Virginia Gagnon Moore
June 20, 2016 at 1:36 pm
My grandmother was Virginia Pitt maried to Joseph Gagnon, Salem, MA. My father was George Joseph Gagnon, born around, May 15, 1920, Salem, MA
Not sure if they are all connected.

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J. Gagnon
June 21, 2016 at 2:24 am
Virtually all Gagnons in North America are related if you go back far enough. The hardest people for me to find in my family tree were the ones in the 1800s. I doubt we are closely related, certainly no closer than 4th cousins.

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Jean Gallagher
October 2, 2016 at 1:54 am
This is wonderful. I have Gagnon’s in three different lines. I also have other ancestors mentioned in the article. Abraham Martin was a great, great…grandfather, also Robert Giffard was my 8th GG. It was wonderful to read the history of my family. Thank You.

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The Gagnons of Canada have four ancestors: Robert as well as Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, Tourouvre, Perche and La Ventrouze, Normandy in France, a small village called La Gagnonnière. Their father, Pierre and their mother, Renée Roger owned an ancestral land since 1565 on which they operated an inn.

It was in 1635 that the three Gagnon brothers met in Quebec City, where they opened a shop in the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town with a partner, Macé Gravel, who had married Marguerie, the three Gagnon's sister. They resold this trade to Pierre Pellerin in 1668. Subsequently, they settled in Chateau-Richer where they would have owned the domain Saint-Charles de Cap Tourmente.

In 1655, Robert arrived, the fourth ancestor who settled on a land of the island of Orleans acquired in 1656. Return to Mathurin, born October 22, 1606 in Tourouvre. At age 29, he left for Canada. He was educated, only to be able to sign his name.

He bought and sold several lands. He married in 1647, at 41, with Francoise Boudreau, 13 years old, daughter of François and Jeanne Jehan. They had 16 children, but only 9 were married. Mathurin died on April 20, 1690 and Françoise, on September 14, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Jean Gagnon, born on August 13, 1610 in Tourouvre, arrived in Quebec in 1635, aged 25 years. After the sale of his shop, he obtained a concession at Château-Richer. At the age of 30, he married on July 19, 1640 with Marguerite Cauchon, aged 20, daughter of Jean and Marguerite Cointal of the country of Caux. They had 8 children and 6 were married.

As for Pierre Gagnon, born on 14 February 1612 at the Gagnonnière, he settled on a sinuous ground also at Château-Richer. At the age of thirty, he married at Notre-Dame de Quebec on September 14, 1642, at Vincente Desvarieux, daughter of Jean and Marie Chevalier, of the country of Caux in Normandy. They had 10 children, three of whom married. Pierre-Paul was ordained a priest in 1677 by Bishop Laval and Mary Magdalene entered the convent of the Augustines at the age of 13 when she died nine years later.

The grave of Vincente took place on 2 January 1695 and that of Pierre on 17 April 1699 at Château-Richer.

The other Gagnon, Robert, was born in La Ventrouze in 1628. He was granted land at Sainte-Famille on Île d'Orléans in 1656. At the age of 29, he married Marie Parenteau, aged 16, daughter of Antoine and Anne Poisson of Saint-Nicolas de La Rochelle. They had 10 children, 6 of them married and 2 girls became nuns. Robert died on September 2, 1703, while Mary was buried on November 17, 1705 at the Sainte-Famille cemetery. The descendants of Robert who settled south of the St. Lawrence River at Rivière-Ouelle bear the nickname of Gagnon dit Belle-isles or Belzile.

In the various writings of France, in Tourouvre or La Ventrouze, we find the following graphs: Gangnon, Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gasgnon, Gaignion or Gagnon. The Gagnon family is one of the most numerous in French America.

Our tributes to the 1,700 Gagnon families in Saguenay-Lac-Jean.

Among the Gagnon descendants worthy of mention: Bertrand, lawyer of La Baie, judge of the Provincial Court; Christine, sociologist, member of the Quebec block of Quebec in the House of Commons; Claude, Jonquière, a judge of the Provincial Court; Louis and Joseph, businessmen, founders of the Gagnon & Frères stores; Marc, Chicoutimi athlete, gold medalist at the Olympic Games; Sylvain, athlete, Dolbeau, silver medalist at the Olympic Games; André, pianist and conductor; Clarence, painter; Jean-Louis, journalist, editor-in-chief of La Presse; Robin, military, of Arvida, Brigadier-General of the Canadian Army.

If you are interested in the history and genealogy of your family, we invite you to become a member of the Société de Genealogie du Saguenay: 418 693.8266.

Our sources: Archangel Godbout; Robert Prévost; Gérard Lebel, Jean Cournoyer. -

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They were named Mathurin, Jean, Pierre and Robert Gagnon. The first three were brothers and the fourth was their cousin. They came to live in New France about 1640, whereas this colony offered wealth only to those who worked hard. These men formed the great Gagnon family, whose heirs are found throughout Quebec, Canada and, no doubt, America. They came from the Perche where their surname had not yet adopted the form that is known to him today. The registers, the various contracts, and the engagements speak of Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but there is rarely any question of Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that would be responsible for the modification of the name.

La Gaignonniere, whose vestiges still exist, a few steps from Tourouvre, would be the birthplace of the children of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer, and of Magdeleine (or Renee) Roger: Marguerite in l598; Louys, in 1604; Mathurin, in 1606; Jean, in 1610 and Pierre, in 1616.

While this family was forgotten in the Perche, it took root on the soil of New France. The movement was initially initiated by Marguerite Gagnon, wife of Eloi Tavernier. The couple seems to have passed here before l640, prompting the brothers of Marguerite to do the same, soon after. For years, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre Gagnon were to embody family solidarity. Together, they settled in the Beaupré coast between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three men seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a land on the Place de la Basse-Ville, where a house was erected. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce,

The three men, although caught up in business, are already watching over their families. On July 29, 1640, in Quebec City, Jean married Marguerite Cauchon, a native of Dieppe, in Normandy. This was the first marriage contracted by one of the three brothers. The couple gave birth to ten children. The direct descendants of John were not, however, to be numerous. His daughters allied themselves with men whose names they perpetuated: Jeanne married Jean Chapeleau, Renée married Jean Houimet and Marguerite married Jean Caron.

Pierre Gagnon was married in Quebec City on February 14, 1642 to Vincente Devarieux, a Norman woman aged 18 years.

The eldest brother Gagnon, Mathurin, did not marry until l647. He was 4l years old. His wife was only thirteen. It was this couple who was to give the most of Gagnon to New France. When their fifteenth child was baptized in 1677, Mathurin had just celebrated his seventy-first birthday! Mathurin died in April 1690, at Château-Richer, twenty years after Jean and nine years earlier than Pierre.

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the first three, formed in turn a branch of the Gagnon family. Originally from La Ventrouze, in the Perche, he married Marie Parenteau in Quebec City on October 3, 1657. They gave birth to ten children.

After the disappearance of the four Gagnons, New France had just acquired a new patronymic which the first heirs, forty-five in number, were to spread to the regions of Laprairie, Chateau-Richer, and Yamachiche.

Source: Gagnon-Belzile Inc.

The GAGNON

The three brothers, Gagnon, Mathurin, Jean and Pierre, who were in business, arrived from Le Perche with their mother in 1635, the son of Pierre Gagnon, a farmer and Renee Roger.

Daisy

Their eldest sister, Marguerite Gagnon, baptized on October 5, 1598, at La Gaignonnière, near Tourouvre in the present department of Orne, and widow of Antoine Bédard, is already in New France with her second husband. Éloi Tavernier, native of the parish of Saint-Malo, of Randonnai, of which she married on February 3, 1624, in France. The couple seems to have passed here in the early 1940s. She is in Quebec City, on May 1, 1644, at the marriage of her daughter Marguerite Tavernier, with the ancestor Joseph-Macé Gravel, known as Brindelière. Then Marguerite Gagnon, died in Château-Richer on December 7, 1677.

For years, the Gagnon family embodies family solidarity. Together, they settled on the Côte de Beaupré, between Château-Richer and Sainte-Anne. In winter, the three brothers seem to prefer Quebec, where, forgetting the land, they turn into merchants. Always together, on August 14, 1651, they obtained the concession of a plot of land in the Lower Town, where they raised a house. A few years later, on October 6, 1658, enriched by agriculture and commerce, they bought a store.

Jeans

Jean Gagnon, baptized August 13, 1610, in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, present department of the Orne, is the first of the three brothers to found a home. On July 29, 1640, he led Marguerite Cauchon, daughter of the ancestor Jean Cochon and Marguerite Cointerel, to the altar of Beaupré, a native of the country of Caux, near Dieppe, in Normandy. At least eight children were born of this union, between 1641 and 1659, and five of them found foci which concern us in this genealogical description.

René Gagnon, born in 1643, married the ancestor Jean Houimet in 1660. Marguerite Gagnon, born in 1645, marries in 1661, Jean-Baptiste Caron, son of the ancestor Robert Caron and Marie Crevet. Jean Gagnon, married in 1670, Marguerite Drouin, daughter of the ancestor Robert Drouin and Marie Chapelier. Then the fourth, Germain Gagnon, born in 1653, married in 1688, Jeanne David, daughter of the ancestor Jacques David, called Pontiff and Marie Grandry. Marie Gagnon, born in 1659, became the wife of Louis Gagné, son of the ancestor Louis Gagné and Marie Michel.

The ancestor Jean Gagnon was buried on April 2, 1670, at Château-Richer, and Marguerite Cauchon dies on June 26, 1699 at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec City.

Mathurin

Mathurin Gagnon was born on October 22, 1606, at the Gaignonniere, two miles from Tourouvre, where he was baptized. He is the most educated, for he is the only one who can sign his name.

Although he was the oldest, he was the last to marry on September 30, 1647, with Normande, Françoise Godeau, daughter of François Godeau and Jeanne Jehan or Panée, of La Roche-Guyon, in Normandy, Of thirteen years, whereas Mathurin is forty-one years at the marriage. The mother of Mathurin Gagnon, Renée Roger is present at their wedding, then dies later on an unknown date. Mathurin is aged of, his wife is only thirteen years old. Fifteen children were born to the couple, between 1649 and 1674, of which the only one that concerns us in this genealogy is Françoise Gagnon who married in 1672, Louis Prévost, son of the ancestor Martin Prévost and Marie Manitouabewich.

Mathurin Gagnon was buried on April 22, 1690 and Françoise Boudeau, on September 15, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Pierre

The youngest of the brothers, Pierre Gagnon, born February 14, 1612, is baptized on the 16th, at the Sainte-Madeleine church of La Ventrouze, Orne department. Pierre unites his destiny on the day of his 30th birthday, on February 14, 1642, to Vincente Desvarieux, aged 18, a native of St-Vincent d'Aubernail, in the country of Caux, archbishopric of Rouen, in Normandy, daughter of Jean Desvarieux And Marie Chevalier.

They have ten children together, between 1643 and 1660, including that which concerns us in this genealogy, Pierre Gagnon, born about 1646, who marries in 1669, Barbe Fortin, born in Beaupré in 1654, daughter of ancestors Julien Fortin and Geneviève Gamache. Of the eleven children of the couple, two sons concern us, they marry two cousins Bélanger. Joseph Gagnon, baptized in 1673, married in 1700, Agathe Bélanger, born in 1682, daughter of Jean-François Bélanger and Marie Cloutier. And Charles Gagnon, baptized in 1679, married in 1706, Anne Bélanger, born in 1686, daughter of Charles Bélanger and Barbe-Delphine Cloutier.

Vincente Desvarieux was buried on January 2, 1695 and the ancestor Pierre Gagnon, on April 18, 1699, at Château-Richer.

Robert

Robert Gagnon, cousin of the three brothers Gagnon and Marguerite, in turn forms a branch of the Gagnon family. Born in La Ventrouze, he was baptized on March 1, 1628, at the Sainte-Madeleine parish of La Ventrouze, in Perche. He is the son of Jean Gagnon and Marie Geffray or Geoffroy. Robert Gagnon arrived in New France about 1655, perhaps even a little before.

On April 2, 1656, he received on the site of the future parish of the Holy Family, a land of four arpents in front, the depth of which goes up to the projected road (about 64 arpents and a half). 'Île d'Orléans is located opposite the Côte de Beaupré.

Robert undertakes to close his property and to leave fifteen feet on each side of his lot and along the shore, with a view to passing a road there. The ancestor also has permission to fish in the river, in relation to his land. His immediate neighbors are Jacques Perrot, known as Vildaigre and Guillaume Landry, a compatriot of La Ventrouze.

He married in Quebec, on October 3, 1657, Marie Parenteau, born in 1641, at St-Nicolas de La Rochelle, daughter of Antoine Parenteau, farinier, carpenter and sawyer of long and Anne Brisson. Jean Gagnon, born on February 16, 1659, married in 1686, Jeanne Loignon, born in 1670, daughter of the ancestors Pierre Loignon and Marie Roussin. Jean Gagnon became one of the first pioneers of Rivière-Ouelle and also a militia captain for the entire south coast and Lower St. Lawrence.

Like most of the inhabitants, Robert Gagnon and Marie Parenteau lived at the beginning in a small wooden house constructed piece by piece, that is to say, the walls are made of logs placed horizontally on top of each other with A roof covered with long barks of elms. Then later, they go to the half-timbered type with square beams, sitting on a rectangle of stones.

The ancestor Robert Gagnon died on September 2, 1703, the year of a picote epidemic, but nothing indicates that he died of the consequences of the terrible disease.

Then his wife, Marie Parenteau, aged about sixty-two, died on November 17, 1705 and was buried the next day in the presence of Gervais Rocheron, my paternal ancestor, as a witness.

The known forms of Gagnon in the Perche were, Gaignon, Gangnon, Gaignons, Gaignion or Gasgnon, but very rarely Gagnon. It is the pronunciation in use on this side of the Atlantic that is responsible for the modification of the name.

Filles à marier

2017-05-03T20:38:25Z

Gagnon: Created page with "The phrases "filles à marier" and "filles du roi" are liberally sprinkled throughout the pages of this site. But what were they? Who were they? And why are they so important?..."

The phrases "filles à marier" and "filles du roi" are liberally sprinkled throughout the pages of this site. But what were they? Who were they? And why are they so important? Read on......

What Were They?
The filles à marier were a group of 262 single girls who immigrated to New France between the years of 1634-1662. Peter Gagné, who authored the books that this information comes from, defined the filles à marier as follows:

*Must have been of marriageable age (ages 12-45).
*Must have immigrated before September 1663 (any girls after that are considered filles du roi).
*Must have either signed an enlistment contract, at least one marriage contract, or got married in the colony.
*Could not be accompanied by both parents.
*Could not be accompanied by or joining a husband.

These girls had their passage paid most often by various religious groups or companies that recruited settlers for the new colony. Once a girl arrived in Canada, they were either housed by religious communities or private homes. If a girl's marriage contract was signed at someone's home, it was a good sign that she had been lodged there until her marriage.
The biggest incentive for girls to leave their homeland and seek their husbands and fortunes in New France was fairly simple: In France, they would enter into arranged marriages with men chosen by their families. In the new colony, however, they could choose whom they entered into a marriage contract with. They could even change their mind afterward, annull that contract, and enter into another one with another man! What freedom!
But even at that, 262 girls in 28 years is but a trickle--an average of less than 10 girls a year. This would not populate the colony rapidly enough for it to become self-sustaining. What more could be done........?
Enter King Louis XIV. In 1663, he began overseeing the affairs of the new colony, which included the recruitment process for marriageable girls. Borrowing an old idea from the Spanish and English governments, the King--with help from Intendant Jean Talon and Jean-Baptiste Colbert of the Department of the Navy--began putting together a plan of action for recruiting what became known as the "Filles du Roi" or "Daughters of the King."
The girls that were chosen for this designation had to be very strong and healthy. They had to be able to bear children. They had to be free to marry and present proof of such in the form of a statement from a local priest or judge. And they could not be a prostitute or a woman of loose morals.
The chosen girls had their passage to New France paid for them and were given some clothes. They were also given a case with incidentals: ribbon, needle and thread, pins, scissors, comb, gloves, stockings, knives, handkerchief, bonnet, and 2 livres in cash (the livre is the equivalent of about $14.00 US).
Once they arrived in Canada, they were given clothing more suited to the colder Canadian climate. They were also given lodging and schooled in the tasks that would be required of them as wives in the colony; tasks from cooking and sewing to the making of natural medicines and farm work. This effort would be considered the first formal "home economics" training done in North America.

Men would come to these houses to choose their wives. The house mothers--the most notorious of these was Marguerite Bourgeoys--would, in the absence of their own families, counsel the girls on making a good choice.
A sharp girl paid attention as their fellow filles were being courted and learned exactly what to ask the men when their turn came: "How large is your farm?" "How many children do you have? How old are they?" "How many cows do you own?" "The chickens--they are good layers, yes?" The answers provided by the men allowed the girls to quickly decide if a potential suitor was right for her.
However, this game of 20 questions was not exclusive to the women. The men also had concerns--mainly about the size of the dowry that a potential bride could bring to the marriage--and usually were not shy about asking. The country was new, raw, primitive--a good match was based less on mutual attraction and more on the sum total of goods that would be brought to the marriage. The more resources a couple had between them, the better the chances for survival.

Once the choice was made and the marriage had taken place, they would receive a gift from the King of 50 livres to add to whatever dowry they would be bringing to the marriage.

Why Are They So Important?
The reason these women are important is because of their courage. But what did they do that was so courageous? Consider the following:

Leaving their homeland- For some girls, the decision to leave home followed the loss of one or both parents. Some were residents in French versions of poorhouses and felt that New France may have more opportunity for them than France did. And, as mentioned before, they could choose their own husbands in Canada rather than endure an "arranged" marriage to someone that was not to their liking.
It must also be mentioned that some of these girls were very young; at that period in history, a girl as young as 12 years old could be considered of marriageable age!
Understand, too, that the decision to leave their homeland came with the harsh reality that they would most likely never see their families again. This would be hard enough for an adult woman, never mind a teenaged girl!!
Nevertheless, these brave young women and teen girls fought their sadness and boarded their ships. And as they sailed out of their harbors, waving goodbye to those on shore, they took one long, last look through their veil of tears at their homeland--the last glimpse that most of them would ever have.

The sea voyage- Travel by sea in the 1600's was a long, primitive, and difficult undertaking. There were no private rooms or even cubicles for the passengers; they traveled in the ship's hold. There were also the odors of the food animals that traveled with them--live chickens, pigs, cows--that were brought along to be slaughtered as needed for meals during the duration of the trip.
These conditions might have been tolerable if the weather permitted one to stroll about the deck and breathe the fresh ocean air. But if the weather turned mean, passengers were confined to the hold--with the weather shut out and unable to vent the odors of human waste and livestock--and seasickness. This was a breeding ground for all manner of bacteria, from which fever and illness and infections such as boils could and did develop.
Once the livestock and fresh food supply was exhausted, the only food available was a kind of hard biscuit; not very tasty or nourishing, designed only to provide sustenance. The passengers frequently suffered dysentery, scurvy and loose teeth from this poor diet. One estimate claims that about 10% of the filles du roi died at sea.
Pirates were also a concern during the crossing.

Arriving in a new land- The filles did not have a clear and accurate picture of where they were actually going or what to expect when they got there. This time period was well before the days of full-color travel brochures (although I can almost see Intendant Talon designing one had the thought occurred to him!).
Many people in France confused Canada with the French territories in the Caribbean where many of the French prostitutes were exiled and thought it a place of sin and ill repute, and that only loose women would want to live there.
Still others viewed Canada as a barbaric, lawless piece of frozen tundra, devoid of any semblance of civilization, where one had to fend for themselves against Indian massacres and wild animals. Although the latter two could and did occur, they were not everyday occurrences.
There is no doubt that these young women and girls had no idea what to expect when they stepped off the ship in Canada.

Life in Canada- Once established in the colony, our brave heroines married and had large families. Twelve children or more was not only not uncommon but welcome, with the French government granting incentives to couples with large families. A family with 10 children qualified for 300 livres a year; families with 12 or more could net 400 lives per year. Could this be considered the first "child tax credit"? I think so!
Along with caring for all of the children, the women took care of the housecleaning, the laundry, the cooking, tending the garden, etc. They learned how to cook, preserve, and eat creatures they'd never seen before. They made their own soap and candles. They worked alongside their men at harvest time and learned how to preserve the fruits of their labors. There are no words to capture the hard work and effort that went into the above activities; all of which were performed manually, without the modern conveniences we rely so heavily on today.
Women also faced tremendous losses in this untamed, primitive land teeming with wild animals and Indians, both of which could be a danger to the settlers. Not to mention the spread of illness and disease in a land where doctors would be few and far between. It was not uncommon for a woman to lose more than one child to stillbirth, sickness, or misfortune. Some of the women were widowed multiple times; and the reverse also occurred, with men burying more than one wife.
Some of our brave female descendants accomplished even more. Fille à marier Marie Marguerie, for example, was in charge of the sacristy of the church at Trois-Riviéres for 50 years.

Who Were They?
The following is a list of the filles à marier and filles du roi that appear on this site. Those whose surnames are capitalized are Noël family direct line ancestresses.

Main Page

2017-05-03T20:28:20Z

Gagnon:

[[File:GagnonCoat.png|frameless|500px|left]]
==Family History==
[[Gagnon Family History]] 
==Paternal Lineage Chart==
[[Barnabé Gagnon (1547)]] 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1610)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1648)]] 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1685)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1730)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1755)]] 
[[Étienne Gagnon (1781)]] 
[[Élie Gagnon (1812)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1844)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1865)]] 
[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]] 

==Help Researching==
[[Research Resources]]

File:GagnonCoat.png

2017-05-03T20:27:54Z

Gagnon:

Main Page

2017-05-03T20:26:50Z

Gagnon:

[[File:GagnonCoatofArms.png|frameless|500px|left]]
==Family History==
[[Gagnon Family History]] 
==Paternal Lineage Chart==
[[Barnabé Gagnon (1547)]] 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1610)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1648)]] 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1685)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1730)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1755)]] 
[[Étienne Gagnon (1781)]] 
[[Élie Gagnon (1812)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1844)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1865)]] 
[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]] 

==Help Researching==
[[Research Resources]]

Mathurin Gagnon

2017-05-03T20:22:29Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person pic
|name=Mathurin Gagnon
|image=GagnonBrothers.jpg
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=October, 1606 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 20, 1690 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=Françoise Goudeau
|married=September 30, 1647 Notre-Dame de Quebec, Canada
|children=[[Marthe Gagnon (1636)|Marthe Gagnon]] (Gauthier) 
[[Marie-Madeleine Gagnon (1650)|Marie-Madeleine Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Mathurin Gagnon (1653)|Mathurin Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Francoise Gagnon (1655)|Francoise Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Vincent Gagnon (1658)|Vincent Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Marie Gagnon (1662)|Marie Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Marguerite Gagnon (1663)|Marguerite Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Francois-dit-Jacques Gagnon (1665)|Francois-dit-Jacques Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Flavien Gagnon (1666)|Flavien Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Jean Gagnon (1669)|Jean Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1672)|Pierre Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1674)|Joseph Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1677)|Joseph Gagnon]] (Goudeau)
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Merchant / farmer
}}
Mathurin Gagnon was born about Oct 1606 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 22 Oct 1606 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was a merchant and farmer. Member of the Communauté des Habitants. Left for Canada in 1635 with his brothers and opened a shop in Quebec city. Travelled to France on business in 1643. Around 1640 established himself at Château Richer on land 6-1/2 arpents de front by 126 arpents deep. This was next to land owned by his brother Pierre. He bought and sold much land between 1646 and 1674 in Château Richer. He died on 20 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec. He was buried on 22 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec.

Mathurin was born 22 October 1606 in La Gagnonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France.4
Before he left France for Canada, Mathurin was engaged to one Vincente Gauthier. Before a marriage could take place, Vincente and Mathurin had a child out of wedlock in 1636. Mathurin took responsibility for the child; and when he immigrated to Canada in 1637 he took the child--a girl named Marthe--with him. There is no mention of Vincente going to Canada. It can only be assumed that she died after--or maybe even during--the birth of Marthe.4
Mathurin was accompanied to Canada not only by his infant daughter, but by his two brothers as well. Mathurin was the best educated of the three; he was also the only one who could write. For this reason, he was the one who kept the accounts of the shop that the trio opened in Québec. In 1643, he was the one who traveled to France for the purpose of buying goods for the shop. In his personal life, he settled at Château-Richer in 1640 on land granted to him; then engaged in the common practice of buying and selling parcels of land; he would do this for the next 30 years or so.4
In 1647, his head was turned by one Françoise Boudeau or Goudeau. The bride was, at age thirteen, only two years older than his daughter! Françoise had been born in France, probably the Roche-Guyon area of Normandy, about 1649, daughter of François & Jeanne Jahan. Her father had died in France and her mother married Jacques Lehoux; sometime after this event, the family came to Canada. Françoise's stepfather was present at the wedding, as he signed the marriage record.2,4
The couple had sixteen children together; there is information for the following 14. All are believed to have been born at Château-Richer:

Mathurin Gagnon

2017-05-03T20:11:31Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person pic
|name=Mathurin Gagnon
|image=GagnonBrothers.jpg
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=October, 1606 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 20, 1690 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=Françoise Goudeau
|married=September 30, 1647 Notre-Dame de Quebec, Canada
|children=[[Marthe Gagnon (1636)|Marthe Gagnon]] (Gauthier) 
[[Marie-Madeleine Gagnon (1650)|Marie-Madeleine Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Mathurin Gagnon (1653)|Mathurin Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Francoise Gagnon (1655)|Francoise Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Vincent Gagnon (1658)|Vincent Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Marguerite Gagnon (1663)|Marguerite Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1672)|Pierre Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1677)|Joseph Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Marie Gagnon (1662)|Marie Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Francois-dit-Jacques Gagnon (1665)|Francois-dit-Jacques Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Flavien Gagnon (1666)|Flavien Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Jean Gagnon (1669)|Jean Gagnon]] (Goudeau) 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1674)|Joseph Gagnon]] (Goudeau)
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Merchant / farmer
}}
Mathurin Gagnon was born about Oct 1606 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 22 Oct 1606 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was a merchant and farmer. Member of the Communauté des Habitants. Left for Canada in 1635 with his brothers and opened a shop in Quebec city. Travelled to France on business in 1643. Around 1640 established himself at Château Richer on land 6-1/2 arpents de front by 126 arpents deep. This was next to land owned by his brother Pierre. He bought and sold much land between 1646 and 1674 in Château Richer. He died on 20 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec. He was buried on 22 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec.

Mathurin was born 22 October 1606 in La Gagnonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France.4
Before he left France for Canada, Mathurin was engaged to one Vincente Gauthier. Before a marriage could take place, Vincente and Mathurin had a child out of wedlock in 1636. Mathurin took responsibility for the child; and when he immigrated to Canada in 1637 he took the child--a girl named Marthe--with him. There is no mention of Vincente going to Canada. It can only be assumed that she died after--or maybe even during--the birth of Marthe.4
Mathurin was accompanied to Canada not only by his infant daughter, but by his two brothers as well. Mathurin was the best educated of the three; he was also the only one who could write. For this reason, he was the one who kept the accounts of the shop that the trio opened in Québec. In 1643, he was the one who traveled to France for the purpose of buying goods for the shop. In his personal life, he settled at Château-Richer in 1640 on land granted to him; then engaged in the common practice of buying and selling parcels of land; he would do this for the next 30 years or so.4
In 1647, his head was turned by one Françoise Boudeau or Goudeau. The bride was, at age thirteen, only two years older than his daughter! Françoise had been born in France, probably the Roche-Guyon area of Normandy, about 1649, daughter of François & Jeanne Jahan. Her father had died in France and her mother married Jacques Lehoux; sometime after this event, the family came to Canada. Françoise's stepfather was present at the wedding, as he signed the marriage record.2,4
The couple had sixteen children together; there is information for the following 14. All are believed to have been born at Château-Richer:

Robert Ronald Gagnon

2017-05-03T20:02:28Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Robert Ronald Gagnon
|nationality=[[File:Usflag.png]] American
|born=August 29, 1935 Livermore Falls, Maine
|died=April 30, 2014 East Orland, Maine
|father=[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]]
|mother=[[Rosa Yvonne Michaud]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Annette Pomerleau]] [[Diann Lynn Knutson]]
|married=May 25, 1957 (Pomerleau) November 19, 1977 (Knutson)
|children=[[Cindy Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Mark Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Christina Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Matthew Owen Gagnon|Matthew Gagnon]] (Knutson)
|residence=Livermore Falls, Maine Walnut Creek, California Hampden, Maine East Orland, Maine
|profession=Carpenter Banker School Bus Driver
}}

==A Little Background==
[[File:RosaBobby-c39.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Rosa and Bobby around 1939.]] [[File:Bobby-c39.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Bobby all dressed up around 1939.]]As the baby of the family, it is no surprise that he got a lot of loving attention from Rosa. She doted on him and Norman. There were a number of years between them and the older children, and when the war was declared, Albert, Bill and Rita had left for the military, and Blanche and Cecile were married, so the two youngest were at home alone with Rosa and Onesime. They naturally had a very different childhood than the older children, as the depression was over, and the economics of the family were much healthier just with fewer people to feed. Cecile got married the year he was born, and he was 7 when Blanche was married and Albert left for the war. Bill and Rita left soon after.

==A Few Pictures==
<gallery widths=180px heights=200px perrow=3 caption="Click on the photos below to view a larger image:">
File:OR-BobRita-c42.jpg|Onesime, Rosa, Rita and Bobby around 1942.
File:ORNR-c44.jpg|Onesime, Rosa, Norman and Bobby around 1944.
File:Bobby-HSGrad-Marshal-c53.jpg|Bobby was the marshal at his HS graduation in 1953.
</gallery>

==Bob Falls in Love==
[[File:BobAnnetteatGrangec50.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Bob (top left) and Annette (2nd row, 4th from right) at a grange dance in the early 50's.]]

==Louise's Memory of Bob and Annette's Wedding==
Bob and Annette had a lovely wedding. They had asked Blanche's daughter Judy to be the flower girl, but just before the wedding, she got sick with the measles or mumps. 6yr old Louise was asked to substitute, and Irene made her dress. It was light blue satin, with an overdress of white dotted swiss. Louise's 4yr old brother Michael was the ring bearer. At the reception, Albert and the LaPlante cousins played music and sang. Albert wanted to show of Louise's singing, and wanted her to sing too, but she was too shy. Albert tried to bribe her with a large Maine chocolate milk shake, but no go. Much to his frustration, Louise sang all the way home to Connecticut in the car!

==Bobby's Memories in his Own Words==
[[File:Bobby-incar-c46.jpg|left|thumb|275px|Bobby sitting in Bill's car just before the end of the war.]](NOTE: As told to [[Louise Bernadette Gagnon]] over a short period of time.) "Bill had a 36(?) Pontiac coupe at the time. When he went in the army, he stored it at Merle Deane's, a local ESSO dealer. I used to go up every week and sit in his car, and pretend to drive it. That was a big thing for me during the war. It kept me connected to my older brothers who were fighting the war for us at home.

My aunts Aldea, Freda and Mina were close to my mother and we saw them quite often, especially the LaPlantes (Aldea). Uncle Jim we saw very infrequently, he lived in Merrimack, Mass, a long distance to travel in those days. I don't remember when I found out Aunt Freda was in a nudist colony. That wasn't talked (about) in front of the children. It had to be somewhere around (when I was) 12, I think, but I'm not certain. Aunt Freda married at least 3 times, maybe 4, I don't know. She was very difficult to keep track of.

Aunt Freda and Aunt Mina married brothers the first time. Aunt Freda (married) Omer Pomerleau and Aunt Mina (married) Freddie Pomerleau. Both of them (Pomerleau men) were alcoholics and physically abused their wives. It was nothing for them to punch their wife in the face with a closed fist. Friday night was payday and then they would be drunk for the weekends generally. I saw a lot of abuse when I was a kid but never in front of my father, for he would have hospitalized them both if he had seen it. Joe Fournier was Aunt Mina's second and last husband.

As far as the children's personality traits, you saw them all as adults and they hadn't changed one bit from childhood. Bill, the oldest more serious, a thinker, planner, ambitious; Cecil quiet, not ambitious, quiet almost sneaky, a little wild, yes, she did run away; Jeannette died at 26 days old; Blanche, just exactly as you knew her - loved to have fun, raise hell and didn't mind getting tilted, but strong, hardworking, frugal and focused; Al was fun loving, a free spirit, friendly but could be very focused when he wanted to be; Rita, serious, shy (she won't admit this) focused, bright, tough and direct; Norman was less serious but not raucous, focused when he was interested, like the USMC but all of them very honest, straightforward, dependable and had their shit together.

Blanche left to be a housekeeper in Mass. when I was born, she was 15. She always liked to say that it was because I was so ugly and she knew that with another mouth to feed that there wouldn't be enough food for her to eat so she had to leave to find a way to eat. Rita can address when Cecile ran away, I wasn't born yet.

As far as my mother and father, the older children don't have a different perspective of my parents, they express it differently. My parents were very loving but my father didn't show it as readily as my mother but it was there. The older children complain that Norm and I got more than they and that is true. When we were born, all the children were gone except Rita, They had more to give us 'cause there was more left over. The one trait I didn't mention of the children is that everyone one of them is an accomplished bull shitter and that is what you heard mostly.

My aunt Aldea's children were Robert, Norman, Emile, Beatrice, Rene, Eleude(Wilfred), Antoinette, Ralph(T-Boy), Olivette, Gertrude and Pauline. She didn't have a Jeannette, my mother did. Emile married a Jeannette, maybe that's who you're thinking of. The boys all play musical instruments, my uncle played the fiddle, and the girls were basically quiet and serene. That's how they were all brought up.

Norm and I didn't have jobs on the farm. We moved from the farm when I was two and Norm was 5. Norm and I both learned to be carpenters from the same guy, Wilfred Mercier, a general contractor. I worked for Wilfred for three years, then Norm came on board after I moved to California and he came back to Maine (after Korea).

I went to Farmington State Teachers College in Farmington with Rita and left after two years and moved in with your folks (Albert and Irene) for l year, then moved to California. I got my degree in Banking and Finance years later, in 1970, through the American Institute of Banking. Then, in 1980 (I) got my masters from the Pacific School of Banking at the University of Washington, Seattle."

==Robert Passes==
Robert Ronald Gagnon, 78, passed away peacefully at home on April 30th, 2014, surrounded by his children and loved ones. He was born August 29, 1935 in Livermore Falls, the last of eight children of Onesime and Rosa Gagnon. He was baptized at St. Rose of Lima in Jay on September 1st, 1935. He had his Confirmation into the Catholic Church on September 22, 1946. That faith would turn into a deep foundation for his entire life, defining everything that he was. After graduating from Livermore Falls High School in 1953, he attended Farmington State Teacher’s College for two years, before marrying Annette Pomerleau on May 25th, 1957. They would go on to have three children.

After moving to California, Robert was inducted into the Army on June 26th, 1958, serving his country as his brothers had done before him. After returning from his time in the military, he began his career in banking at Security Pacific Bank, where he would eventually rise to become a Senior Vice President. He spent the next thirty years in the industry at various banks in both California and Maine. He remarried on November 19, 1977, to Diann Knutson, and they would go on to have one child, eventually moving back to Maine in 1984. Everyone around him was impacted by his warm personality, love and zest for life, the lessons he taught, the never-ending but always charming stories he told, and his devotion to helping friends and family.

Known affectionately as “Pépère” and “Uncle Bob” to virtually everyone and his family, he leaves a hole that can never be filled by anyone. Universally beloved by his family and friends, he is survived by his sister Rita Fuller of Jay; four children, Cindy Gagnon of CA., Mark Gagnon of CA., Christina Foster and her husband Mike of Gray; and Matthew Gagnon and his wife Erin of VA, two step-children, Erin Smith of Carmel and Wendy Neito and husband Michael of CA., as well as grandchildren, Michael, Annabell, Amelia, Alec and Colleen, and his partner of fourteen years, Sue Violette.

Robert Ronald Gagnon

2017-05-03T20:01:36Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Robert Ronald Gagnon
|nationality=[[File:Usflag.png]] American
|born=August 29, 1935 Livermore Falls, Maine
|died=April 30, 2014 East Orland, Maine
|father=[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]]
|mother=[[Rosa Yvonne Michaud]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Annette Pomerleau]] [[Diann Lynn Knutson]]
|married=May 25, 1957 (Pomerleau) November 19, 1977 (Knutson)
|children=[[Cindy L Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Mark S Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Christina Marie Gagnon]] (Pomerleau) [[Matthew Owen Gagnon|Matthew Gagnon]] (Knutson)
|residence=Livermore Falls, Maine Walnut Creek, California Hampden, Maine East Orland, Maine
|profession=Carpenter Banker School Bus Driver
}}

==A Little Background==
[[File:RosaBobby-c39.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Rosa and Bobby around 1939.]] [[File:Bobby-c39.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Bobby all dressed up around 1939.]]As the baby of the family, it is no surprise that he got a lot of loving attention from Rosa. She doted on him and Norman. There were a number of years between them and the older children, and when the war was declared, Albert, Bill and Rita had left for the military, and Blanche and Cecile were married, so the two youngest were at home alone with Rosa and Onesime. They naturally had a very different childhood than the older children, as the depression was over, and the economics of the family were much healthier just with fewer people to feed. Cecile got married the year he was born, and he was 7 when Blanche was married and Albert left for the war. Bill and Rita left soon after.

==A Few Pictures==
<gallery widths=180px heights=200px perrow=3 caption="Click on the photos below to view a larger image:">
File:OR-BobRita-c42.jpg|Onesime, Rosa, Rita and Bobby around 1942.
File:ORNR-c44.jpg|Onesime, Rosa, Norman and Bobby around 1944.
File:Bobby-HSGrad-Marshal-c53.jpg|Bobby was the marshal at his HS graduation in 1953.
</gallery>

==Bob Falls in Love==
[[File:BobAnnetteatGrangec50.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Bob (top left) and Annette (2nd row, 4th from right) at a grange dance in the early 50's.]]

==Louise's Memory of Bob and Annette's Wedding==
Bob and Annette had a lovely wedding. They had asked Blanche's daughter Judy to be the flower girl, but just before the wedding, she got sick with the measles or mumps. 6yr old Louise was asked to substitute, and Irene made her dress. It was light blue satin, with an overdress of white dotted swiss. Louise's 4yr old brother Michael was the ring bearer. At the reception, Albert and the LaPlante cousins played music and sang. Albert wanted to show of Louise's singing, and wanted her to sing too, but she was too shy. Albert tried to bribe her with a large Maine chocolate milk shake, but no go. Much to his frustration, Louise sang all the way home to Connecticut in the car!

==Bobby's Memories in his Own Words==
[[File:Bobby-incar-c46.jpg|left|thumb|275px|Bobby sitting in Bill's car just before the end of the war.]](NOTE: As told to [[Louise Bernadette Gagnon]] over a short period of time.) "Bill had a 36(?) Pontiac coupe at the time. When he went in the army, he stored it at Merle Deane's, a local ESSO dealer. I used to go up every week and sit in his car, and pretend to drive it. That was a big thing for me during the war. It kept me connected to my older brothers who were fighting the war for us at home.

My aunts Aldea, Freda and Mina were close to my mother and we saw them quite often, especially the LaPlantes (Aldea). Uncle Jim we saw very infrequently, he lived in Merrimack, Mass, a long distance to travel in those days. I don't remember when I found out Aunt Freda was in a nudist colony. That wasn't talked (about) in front of the children. It had to be somewhere around (when I was) 12, I think, but I'm not certain. Aunt Freda married at least 3 times, maybe 4, I don't know. She was very difficult to keep track of.

Aunt Freda and Aunt Mina married brothers the first time. Aunt Freda (married) Omer Pomerleau and Aunt Mina (married) Freddie Pomerleau. Both of them (Pomerleau men) were alcoholics and physically abused their wives. It was nothing for them to punch their wife in the face with a closed fist. Friday night was payday and then they would be drunk for the weekends generally. I saw a lot of abuse when I was a kid but never in front of my father, for he would have hospitalized them both if he had seen it. Joe Fournier was Aunt Mina's second and last husband.

As far as the children's personality traits, you saw them all as adults and they hadn't changed one bit from childhood. Bill, the oldest more serious, a thinker, planner, ambitious; Cecil quiet, not ambitious, quiet almost sneaky, a little wild, yes, she did run away; Jeannette died at 26 days old; Blanche, just exactly as you knew her - loved to have fun, raise hell and didn't mind getting tilted, but strong, hardworking, frugal and focused; Al was fun loving, a free spirit, friendly but could be very focused when he wanted to be; Rita, serious, shy (she won't admit this) focused, bright, tough and direct; Norman was less serious but not raucous, focused when he was interested, like the USMC but all of them very honest, straightforward, dependable and had their shit together.

Blanche left to be a housekeeper in Mass. when I was born, she was 15. She always liked to say that it was because I was so ugly and she knew that with another mouth to feed that there wouldn't be enough food for her to eat so she had to leave to find a way to eat. Rita can address when Cecile ran away, I wasn't born yet.

As far as my mother and father, the older children don't have a different perspective of my parents, they express it differently. My parents were very loving but my father didn't show it as readily as my mother but it was there. The older children complain that Norm and I got more than they and that is true. When we were born, all the children were gone except Rita, They had more to give us 'cause there was more left over. The one trait I didn't mention of the children is that everyone one of them is an accomplished bull shitter and that is what you heard mostly.

My aunt Aldea's children were Robert, Norman, Emile, Beatrice, Rene, Eleude(Wilfred), Antoinette, Ralph(T-Boy), Olivette, Gertrude and Pauline. She didn't have a Jeannette, my mother did. Emile married a Jeannette, maybe that's who you're thinking of. The boys all play musical instruments, my uncle played the fiddle, and the girls were basically quiet and serene. That's how they were all brought up.

Norm and I didn't have jobs on the farm. We moved from the farm when I was two and Norm was 5. Norm and I both learned to be carpenters from the same guy, Wilfred Mercier, a general contractor. I worked for Wilfred for three years, then Norm came on board after I moved to California and he came back to Maine (after Korea).

I went to Farmington State Teachers College in Farmington with Rita and left after two years and moved in with your folks (Albert and Irene) for l year, then moved to California. I got my degree in Banking and Finance years later, in 1970, through the American Institute of Banking. Then, in 1980 (I) got my masters from the Pacific School of Banking at the University of Washington, Seattle."

==Robert Passes==
Robert Ronald Gagnon, 78, passed away peacefully at home on April 30th, 2014, surrounded by his children and loved ones. He was born August 29, 1935 in Livermore Falls, the last of eight children of Onesime and Rosa Gagnon. He was baptized at St. Rose of Lima in Jay on September 1st, 1935. He had his Confirmation into the Catholic Church on September 22, 1946. That faith would turn into a deep foundation for his entire life, defining everything that he was. After graduating from Livermore Falls High School in 1953, he attended Farmington State Teacher’s College for two years, before marrying Annette Pomerleau on May 25th, 1957. They would go on to have three children.

After moving to California, Robert was inducted into the Army on June 26th, 1958, serving his country as his brothers had done before him. After returning from his time in the military, he began his career in banking at Security Pacific Bank, where he would eventually rise to become a Senior Vice President. He spent the next thirty years in the industry at various banks in both California and Maine. He remarried on November 19, 1977, to Diann Knutson, and they would go on to have one child, eventually moving back to Maine in 1984. Everyone around him was impacted by his warm personality, love and zest for life, the lessons he taught, the never-ending but always charming stories he told, and his devotion to helping friends and family.

Known affectionately as “Pépère” and “Uncle Bob” to virtually everyone and his family, he leaves a hole that can never be filled by anyone. Universally beloved by his family and friends, he is survived by his sister Rita Fuller of Jay; four children, Cindy Gagnon of CA., Mark Gagnon of CA., Christina Foster and her husband Mike of Gray; and Matthew Gagnon and his wife Erin of VA, two step-children, Erin Smith of Carmel and Wendy Neito and husband Michael of CA., as well as grandchildren, Michael, Annabell, Amelia, Alec and Colleen, and his partner of fourteen years, Sue Violette.

Template:Infobox person

2017-05-03T20:01:07Z

Gagnon:

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Template:Infobox person

2017-05-03T20:00:56Z

Gagnon:

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File:GagnonBrothers.jpg

2017-05-03T19:32:58Z

Gagnon: Gagnon uploaded a new version of File:GagnonBrothers.jpg

Jean Gagnon (1610)

2017-05-03T19:29:55Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person pic
|name=Jean Gagnon
|image=GagnonBrothers.jpg
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=August 13, 1610 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 2, 1670 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Marguerite Cauchon]]
|married=July 29,1620 Dieppe, Rouen, France
|children=[[Jeanne Gagnon (1641)|Jeanne Gagnon]] [[Renée Gagnon (1643)|Renée Gagnon]] [[Marguerite Gagnon (1645)|Marguerite Gagnon]] [[Jean Gagnon (1648)|Jean Gagnon]] [[Étienne Gagnon (1650)|Étienne Gagnon]] [[Germain Gagnon (1653)|Germain Gagnon]] [[Raphaël Gagnon (1656)|Raphaël Gagnon]] [[Marie Gagnon (1659)|Marie Gagnon]]
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Commerce
}}
[[File:JeanGagnonLand.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Gagnon land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish. Highlighted is the possession of Jean Gagnon. Immediately to the west of Jean's holding is that of [[Mathurin Gagnon|Mathurin]], and west of Mathurin's land was that of the third brother, [[Pierre Gagnon (1612)|Pierre]].]]'''Jehan (Jean) Gagnon''' was born about Aug 1610 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 13 Aug 1610 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He emigrated in 1635. He died on 2 Apr 1670 in Château-Richer, Québec. Worked in commerce.

By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at [[Château-Richer]], downstream from the city, on the St. Lawrence river front. Jean's land was 7 arpents by 126 arpents deep. [[Château-Richer]] was established In 1626, when Samuel de Champlain built the first farm in the Saint Lawrence valley, to feed the people of Quebec city. Jean Bourdon's map of 1641 is the earliest source that mentions the name "Chateau Richer," referring only to the cape or headland on which stands the present church. From 1640 to 1652 he bought and sold land in Chateau Richer, but always kept his original land.

He was married to [[Marguerite Cauchon]] on 29 Jul 1640 in Québec-ville, Québec. Four sons and five daughters. They had eight or nine children (different sources mention different numbers); two sons and four daughters, who all married, and two who died at a young age.

Template:Infobox person

2017-05-03T19:20:16Z

Gagnon:

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Template:Infobox person

2017-05-03T19:19:40Z

Gagnon:

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Template:Infobox person

2017-05-03T19:18:23Z

Gagnon:

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Jean Gagnon (1610)

2017-05-03T19:15:55Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Jean Gagnon
|image=GagnonBrothers.jpg
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=August 13, 1610 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 2, 1670 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Marguerite Cauchon]]
|married=July 29,1620 Dieppe, Rouen, France
|children=[[Jeanne Gagnon (1641)|Jeanne Gagnon]] [[Renée Gagnon (1643)|Renée Gagnon]] [[Marguerite Gagnon (1645)|Marguerite Gagnon]] [[Jean Gagnon (1648)|Jean Gagnon]] [[Étienne Gagnon (1650)|Étienne Gagnon]] [[Germain Gagnon (1653)|Germain Gagnon]] [[Raphaël Gagnon (1656)|Raphaël Gagnon]] [[Marie Gagnon (1659)|Marie Gagnon]]
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Commerce
}}
[[File:JeanGagnonLand.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Gagnon land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish. Highlighted is the possession of Jean Gagnon. Immediately to the west of Jean's holding is that of [[Mathurin Gagnon|Mathurin]], and west of Mathurin's land was that of the third brother, [[Pierre Gagnon (1612)|Pierre]].]]'''Jehan (Jean) Gagnon''' was born about Aug 1610 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 13 Aug 1610 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He emigrated in 1635. He died on 2 Apr 1670 in Château-Richer, Québec. Worked in commerce.

By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at [[Château-Richer]], downstream from the city, on the St. Lawrence river front. Jean's land was 7 arpents by 126 arpents deep. [[Château-Richer]] was established In 1626, when Samuel de Champlain built the first farm in the Saint Lawrence valley, to feed the people of Quebec city. Jean Bourdon's map of 1641 is the earliest source that mentions the name "Chateau Richer," referring only to the cape or headland on which stands the present church. From 1640 to 1652 he bought and sold land in Chateau Richer, but always kept his original land.

He was married to [[Marguerite Cauchon]] on 29 Jul 1640 in Québec-ville, Québec. Four sons and five daughters. They had eight or nine children (different sources mention different numbers); two sons and four daughters, who all married, and two who died at a young age.

File:GagnonBrothers.jpg

2017-05-03T19:15:39Z

Gagnon:

Pierre Gagnon (1612)

2017-05-01T19:58:50Z

Gagnon:

Pierre Gagnon was born about Feb 1612 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 14 Feb 1612 in Ste-Madeleine de La Ventrouze, Perche, France. (4109) He emigrated to New France (Québec) in 1635. Opened with brothers Mathurin and Jean a store (60 feet frontage by 24 feet deep) on rue St-Pierre, in the lower town of Quebec city. The store was sold to Pierre Pellerin 9 Oct 1668. Received a land concession in Chateau Richer, 6-1/2 arpents of river frontage by 126 arpents deep. He died on 17 Apr 1699 in Château-Richer, Québec.

He was married to Vincente Desvarieux on 14 Feb 1642 in N. Dame de Québec. They had ten children; two sons and one daughter married. One son became a priest, one daughter became a nun, and the other five died at a young age.

Pierre was born in La Gagnonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France on 14 February 1612 but was baptized three miles away in Ventrouze. He came to Canada in 1637 with his brothers.4
Also like his brothers, he was granted a concession at Château-Richer, located between his brother Mathurin and the younger Jean Cochon. He had six arpents of river frontage. Pierre did not seem to engage in the buying and selling of land as his brothers did. In 1657, he ceded half an arpent of land to Nicolas Lebel; eleven years later it was returned to him. That is the only land transaction known.4

On 14 September 1642, Pierre married Vincente in Québec. She was a fille a marier from St. Vincent d'Aubermail, Caux, Normandy, France. She was born there about 1622 to Jean & Marie Chevalier. She is believed to have come to Canada about 1642. Neither Pierre nor Vincente could sign their marriage record.3,4

Mathurin Gagnon

2017-05-01T19:57:33Z

Gagnon:

Mathurin Gagnon was born about Oct 1606 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 22 Oct 1606 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was a merchant and farmer. Member of the Communauté des Habitants. Left for Canada in 1635 with his brothers and opened a shop in Quebec city. Travelled to France on business in 1643. Around 1640 established himself at Château Richer on land 6-1/2 arpents de front by 126 arpents deep. This was next to land owned by his brother Pierre. He bought and sold much land between 1646 and 1674 in Château Richer. He died on 20 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec. He was buried on 22 Apr 1690 in Château-Richer, Québec.

Mathurin was born 22 October 1606 in La Gagnonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France.4
Before he left France for Canada, Mathurin was engaged to one Vincente Gaulthier. Before a marriage could take place, Vincente and Mathurin had a child out of wedlock in 1636. Mathurin took responsibility for the child; and when he immigrated to Canada in 1637 he took the child--a girl named Marthe--with him. There is no mention of Vincente going to Canada. It can only be assumed that she died after--or maybe even during--the birth of Marthe.4
Mathurin was accompanied to Canada not only by his infant daughter, but by his two brothers as well. Mathurin was the best educated of the three; he was also the only one who could write. For this reason, he was the one who kept the accounts of the shop that the trio opened in Québec. In 1643, he was the one who traveled to France for the purpose of buying goods for the shop. In his personal life, he settled at Château-Richer in 1640 on land granted to him; then engaged in the common practice of buying and selling parcels of land; he would do this for the next 30 years or so.4
In 1647, his head was turned by one Françoise Boudeau or Goudeau. The bride was, at age thirteen, only two years older than his daughter! Françoise had been born in France, probably the Roche-Guyon area of Normandy, about 1649, daughter of François & Jeanne Jahan. Her father had died in France and her mother married Jacques Lehoux; sometime after this event, the family came to Canada. Françoise's stepfather was present at the wedding, as he signed the marriage record.2,4
The couple had sixteen children together; there is information for the following 14. All are believed to have been born at Château-Richer:

Eleude James Michaud

2016-11-29T15:19:19Z

Gagnon: That was a photo of Alexandre and Sophie

{{Infobox person
|name=Eleude James Michaud
|nationality=[[File:Canada.png]] Canadian (British subject)
|born=December 5, 1868 St. Andre, county of Mamagnic, Canada
|died=, 1984 Livermore Falls, Maine
|father=[[Andre Michaud ]]
|mother=[[Adele Soucy Michaud]]
|religion=Roman Catholic (RC)
|spouse=[[Unknown, died in childbirth]] [[Adelaide Gousse]]
|married=1887 or 1888 1890
|children=[[Onesime, died as baby]] [[Wilfred,died as baby]] [[Eleude, died as baby]] [[Adelard died as baby]] [[Elaine,died as baby]] [[Rosa Yvonne Michaud]] [[Ida Michaud]] [[Alcide (Jim) Michaud]] [[Aldea Michaud]] [[Rosime, died as a baby]] [[Lumina Michaud]] [[Alfreda Michaud]] 
|residence=Lewiston, Maine Chisholm, Maine Keegan, Maine
|profession=Night watchman for Central Maine Railroad
}}

==Eleude's Life==
N.B. The following account was written by Rosa herself, in response to requests by her children and grandchildren to talk about the "olden days". Only spelling and grammatical changes have been made for clarity. The facts above have been gleaned from the story and other known facts.

"My father was born on Dec 5, 1868 in St Alexandre, county of Mamagnic, Canada, the son of Andre and Adele Soucy Michaud into a family of 14 children. The night my father was born it was a stormy winter night. Shortly after my grandmother began labor, the house caught on fire. As the nearest farm was 10 miles away, the only place for shelter was the barn. So, my father was born in a manger on December 5, 1868.

My father had seven sisters: Exite Michaud St Onge, married to Joe; Adeline Michaud St Onge, married to Alphonse; Marance Michaud Fournier, married to George; Matilde Michaud Derouier, married to Onesime; Celina Michaud Roy, married to Joe; Louise Michaud LaPointe, married to Omer; and Annie Michaud Carr, married to George. My father also had seven brothers: Andre, died as an infant; Joseph, wife Odilie Paradite; Alphonse, wife Mary Bourgette; Johnny, wife Anna Paradic; Eleude; Andre, wife Anna Beauregard; and Horace, wife Josephine Potvin.

When he was a young boy, my father’s family came to the United States and settled in Lewiston, where he grew up. At the age of 9, he was what they called a water boy for Hills Cotton Mills, carrying water in a pail, giving a drink to whomever was thirsty. In those days, there were no water fountains in the mill.

At the age of 19, he married, although I can’t recall the girl’s name. She died of childbirth a year later, and the baby boy died with her.

==Eleude and Adelaide's Marriage==
At the age of 22, he married my mother, who was only 15 years old. My mother and father had ttwelve children – 5 boys and 7 girls. However, four boys and one girl died as babies before I was born – they were Onesime, Wilfred, Eleude, Adelard and a little girl, Elaine. This must have been very difficult on my parents. I was born on February 8, 1900 in Lewiston, Maine, on a very cold night. I was the first of my parents’ children to live past the age of a baby.

When I was eight months old, my folks moved from Lewiston to Chisholm, where I grew up on Main St. There was a nice young girl who worked in our house: Aldea Beaudette. My mother had her help in the house and care for us children. Later, in 1905, my sister Aldea was born and was named for her. I remember that night. When my sister was baptized, Aldea Beaudette became her godmother, and later entered the convent.

My father was a night watchman for Maine Central Railroad, in the roundhouse right across the street from Chabot’s. There was what they call a round table – my father backed the engine onto it, to turn the engine. I had a good time playing on the train when I was young.

One spring, my father bought a little farm in East Jay, but my mother did not like it there. I went to school in a little schoolhouse that Herbert Fuller later turned into a nice home of his own. I remember my sister Ida and I picking strawberries with an old, gentleman named Parker Smith. He would talk to us in English and we would answer in French. The following fall we moved back to Chisholm, and the following spring we moved back to East Livermore, because my mother said she would try again. Unfortunately, it was no better, because my father was a night watchman. He was gone at night, and would sleep during the day, so we were alone all the time.

The second time we moved back to town, my father bought a house from Pierre Bolduc, which is the house where Altaire Legere lives today. Pierre Bolduc and his wife became my sister Ida’s godparents."

Château-Richer

2016-10-03T02:39:55Z

Gagnon: Created page with "In 1626, Samuel de Champlain established in Château-Richer the first farm in the Saint Lawrence valley, to feed the people of Quebec city. Jean Bourdon's map of 1641 is the e..."

In 1626, Samuel de Champlain established in Château-Richer the first farm in the Saint Lawrence valley, to feed the people of Quebec city. Jean Bourdon's map of 1641 is the earliest source that mentions the name "Chateau Richer", referring only to the cape or headland on which stands the present church. But the origin of this name remains uncertain. In 1646, Olivier Letardif, Lord and Chief Prosecutor, granted 20 concessions to the inhabitants of Château-Richer so that they could officially establish themselves properly.[1][4]

In 1678, the local parish was formed, named La Visitation-de-Notre-Dame. On March 15, 1753, Château-Richer became very first organized village in New France. In 1832, the post office opened. In 1845, the municipality was first established but abolished in 1847. It was reestablished in 1855 when it was incorporated as a parish municipality.[1][4] Château-Richer was the county town of defunct Montmorency County.[5]

Jean Gagnon (1610)

2016-10-03T02:39:45Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Jean Gagnon
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=August 13, 1610 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 2, 1670 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Marguerite Cauchon]]
|married=July 29,1620 Dieppe, Rouen, France
|children=[[Jeanne Gagnon (1641)|Jeanne Gagnon]] [[Renée Gagnon (1643)|Renée Gagnon]] [[Marguerite Gagnon (1645)|Marguerite Gagnon]] [[Jean Gagnon (1648)|Jean Gagnon]] [[Étienne Gagnon (1650)|Étienne Gagnon]] [[Germain Gagnon (1653)|Germain Gagnon]] [[Raphaël Gagnon (1656)|Raphaël Gagnon]] [[Marie Gagnon (1659)|Marie Gagnon]]
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Commerce
}}
[[File:JeanGagnonLand.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Gagnon land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish. Highlighted is the possession of Jean Gagnon. Immediately to the west of Jean's holding is that of [[Mathurin Gagnon|Mathurin]], and west of Mathurin's land was that of the third brother, [[Pierre Gagnon (1612)|Pierre]].]]'''Jehan (Jean) Gagnon''' was born about Aug 1610 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 13 Aug 1610 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He emigrated in 1635. He died on 2 Apr 1670 in Château-Richer, Québec. Worked in commerce.

By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at [[Château-Richer]], downstream from the city, on the St. Lawrence river front. Jean's land was 7 arpents by 126 arpents deep. [[Château-Richer]] was established In 1626, when Samuel de Champlain built the first farm in the Saint Lawrence valley, to feed the people of Quebec city. Jean Bourdon's map of 1641 is the earliest source that mentions the name "Chateau Richer," referring only to the cape or headland on which stands the present church. From 1640 to 1652 he bought and sold land in Chateau Richer, but always kept his original land.

He was married to [[Marguerite Cauchon]] on 29 Jul 1640 in Québec-ville, Québec. Four sons and five daughters. They had eight or nine children (different sources mention different numbers); two sons and four daughters, who all married, and two who died at a young age.

Jean Gagnon (1610)

2016-10-03T02:17:39Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Jean Gagnon
|nationality=[[File:France.png]] French [[File:Newfrance.png]] Canadian (French subject)
|born=August 13, 1610 [[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France
|died=April 2, 1670 Chateau-Richer, Québec
|father=[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)|Pierre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Renée Roger]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Marguerite Cauchon]]
|married=July 29,1620 Dieppe, Rouen, France
|children=[[Jeanne Gagnon (1641)|Jeanne Gagnon]] [[Renée Gagnon (1643)|Renée Gagnon]] [[Marguerite Gagnon (1645)|Marguerite Gagnon]] [[Jean Gagnon (1648)|Jean Gagnon]] [[Étienne Gagnon (1650)|Étienne Gagnon]] [[Germain Gagnon (1653)|Germain Gagnon]] [[Raphaël Gagnon (1656)|Raphaël Gagnon]] [[Marie Gagnon (1659)|Marie Gagnon]]
|residence=[[La Gaignonnière]], Perche, France Château-Richer, Quebec
|profession=Commerce
}}
[[File:JeanGagnonLand.jpg|thumb|left|500px|Gagnon land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish. Highlighted is the possession of Jean Gagnon. Immediately to the west of Jean's holding is that of [[Mathurin Gagnon|Mathurin]], and west of Mathurin's land was that of the third brother, [[Pierre Gagnon (1612)|Pierre]].]]'''Jehan (Jean) Gagnon''' was born about Aug 1610 in La Gaignonnière, Tourouvre, Perche, France. He was baptized on 13 Aug 1610 in St-Aubin de Tourouvre, Perche, France. He emigrated in 1635. He died on 2 Apr 1670 in Château-Richer, Québec. Worked in commerce. In 1640 received land concession on St. Lawrence river front, 7 arpents by 126 arpents deep in [[Château-Richer]]. From 1640 to 1652 he bought and sold land in Chateau Richer, but always kept his original land. He was married to [[Marguerite Cauchon]] on 29 Jul 1640 in Québec-ville, Québec. Four sons and five daughters. They had eight children; two sons and four daughters, who all married, and two who died at a young age.

By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at Chateau-Richer, downstream from the city. In that year Jean Gagnon married newly-arrived Marguerite Cochon (Cauchon), who had come with her parents. The couple had nine children.

File:JeanGagnonLand.jpg

2016-10-03T02:08:16Z

Gagnon: Land in Chateau-Richer owned by the three Gagnon brothers after coming to New France. Highlighted is the land owned by Jean Gagnon.

Land in Chateau-Richer owned by the three Gagnon brothers after coming to New France. Highlighted is the land owned by Jean Gagnon.

Gagnon Family History

2016-10-03T01:35:05Z

Gagnon:

Gagnon Family History

2016-10-03T01:34:37Z

Gagnon: Created page with "Skip to content Gagnon Family History Home A Gagnon Family History Family Tree Files More… About HomeHomeA Gagnon Family History A Gagnon Family History This story..."

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A Gagnon Family History
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A Gagnon Family History

This is a brief history of the family of Marcel Gagnon and Louisa Remillard.

How did these two happen to marry in a corner of Washington State?

The answers, interestingly enough, have to do with France, England, felt hats, gold, and the medieval feudal system.

Contents:

The French Connection
La Gaignonierre
New France
The Percheron Immigration
Chateau-Richer
Marriageable Women
Carignan Soldiers
The Remillards
French and Indian Wars
Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
The Seigneurial System
A Failed Rebellion
Western Migration
Whitman Massacre
Frenchtown
Remillard – Gagnon Union
Author’s Note
Appendix A – Family Tree Charts

The French Connection
To someone with a passing knowledge of French, the last four letters of the surname Gagnon would indicate its country of origin. Like many other surnames, Gagnon is an occupational name for a farmer or cultivator. The name is derived from the Old French word “gagneau” which means to “till” or “cultivate.”1

The French connection doesn’t begin and end with the Gagnon name. Other French names in the North American Gagnon line include Drouin, Tremblay, Cochon, Gagne, Lacroix, Chapelier, Lepage, Gaumond, Daunais, St. Pierre, Bourgery, Falcon, Simard, Bonneau, Charles, Niel, Robert, Legendre, and Dauphin.2 Tremblay and Gagnon are among the most common French names in North America.

On the Remillard side the roots in France are even more extensive.3 In addition to Remillard we have the names Helie, Labbe, Pepin, Lapierre, Pinsonneault, Falcon, Tremblay, Longtin, Lambert, Herbert, Dupuis, Richard, Blanchard, Creste (Crete), Denis, Boucher, Gaudin, Labonte, Morisset, Choret, and others.

1 Other sources claim the name Gagnon comes from the Old French “gagnon” meaning “guard dog” used as a nickname for an over aggressive man. However, it seems doubtful that an unflattering nickname became a family name. Also, Gagnon is a rather recent spelling variation, occurring most often in Canada and the United States.

2 Some individuals also were known by alternate last names, called dit names. The English translation of “dit” is “said.” Many colonists of Nouvelle France added dit names as distinguishers. The dit name may signify an origin or land owned, a name of an ancestor, and such. Dit names were common among army soldiers.

3 The Remillard line is 92% French in origin. The Gagnon line is 62-75% French.

La Gaignonniere
Barnabé Gagnon4 (or Gaignon5) bought a farm on December 28, 1565 in the southern Normandy forest of Perche between Tourouvre and Ventrouze from Gervais Roger and Marion Aubert. Barnabé and his wife, Francoise Creste, farmed and ran an inn there. The hamlet would become known as “La Gaignonnière.” 6

Road to Gagnonierre

LaGagnonier

La Gagnonnière

tourouvre_france_mapLocation of La Gaignonierre

4 See Appendix A, Chart G10.

5 Other or older variations in spelling: Gaignon, Gaingnon, Gangnon, Gnaignon, Guaignon, Gaihaignon, Guainon, Guesnon, Gaisno, Gaisnon, Guaisnon, Gaigneux, Guenoux, Guenont, Gainon.Later Anglicizations include Ganeau, Goneau, Gonyo, Gagner.

6 La Gaignonierre, located in the Department of Orne, still exists and is used as a summer home.

New France
The French colony later known as Canada was permanently established in 1608 when Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.7 To put this event in historical perspective, it was the year after Jamestown was formed in Virginia, twelve years before the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock, and 43 years after St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish in what is now Florida.

Why build a colony at Quebec? Building a colony was expensive and required economic justification. Popular for decades, felt hats were made from the soft inner fur of beavers. A lucrative trade in beaver pelts was already underway in North America. The French had been trading with the natives along the St. Lawrence River, and Quebec’s location where the river narrowed made it an ideal place to focus and defend that trade.

Among the early inhabitants of the colony were Abraham Martin,8 a river pilot whose name is attributed to the “Plains of Abraham” above Quebec where he owned land, his wife Marguerite Langlois, along with her sister Francoise Langlois and her husband Pierre Desportes,9 the village baker, warehouse keeper, and investor in the colony. Francoise and Pierre would have a daughter, Helene, purported to be the first French child born in New France. These colonists were Gagnon-Remillard ancestors.10

CH6CHAM

Like Jamestown, Quebec struggled to survive, with many of the early settlers perishing from disease and harsh weather. To make matters worse, the English captured and held Quebec for a couple of years before giving it back to France. The English had destroyed the buildings, and less than 30 French people were left in Quebec.

After peace was restored, Champlain returned to Quebec and so did some former colonists. One was young Helene Desportes, although her parents did not return.11 Helene would marry twice and become a midwife like her aunt Marguerite.

New France, 1645

New France, 1645

7 Apparently they had died in France. Helene was close to Champlain, his wife was her godmother. Champlain left Helene $20,000 in his will.

8 See Appendix A, Family Tree Chart G14.

9 See Chart R29.

10 See Charts G14 and R29.

11 Acadia on the coast was established earlier, but not continuously at one location.

The Percheron Emigration
To help rebuild the tiny town of Quebec, Champlain employed the services of Robert Giffard, a ship’s surgeon and one of the first colonists, to help recruit new migrants. Being from the Perche region of France in lower (southern) Normandy, Giffard knew the residents there were well suited for cutting trees and enduring harsh winters. He went from town to town in Perche expounding the opportunities in New France. Many were captivated by the adventure and opportunity of a new life in the New World. The “Percheron Immigration,” as it would become known, had begun.

In March 1634, Giffard, his wife and children and about thirty colonists in four ships left Dieppe for New France. These settlers included Tourouvre master mason Jean Guyon12 and his wife Mathurine Robin, and Robert Drouin,13 a tile maker and bricklayer and a native of Pin-la-Garenne. After the perilous ocean voyage,14 they reached Quebec in June.

The following year Giffard recruited even more settlers from Perche. Among these immigrants were three of Barnabe Gagnon’s grandsons, Mathurin, Jean15 (Jehan), and Pierre.

It is likely Robert Drouin, the Guyons, and the Gagnon brothers met Champlain himself. Certainly they attended his funeral in December of 1635.

Quebec now had 132 settlers. Immigrants from the Perche region would continue to arrive for the next 30 years. Among those would be the Gagnon brothers’ mother, Renee Roger, their older sister Marguerite and her husband Eloi Tavernier, Mathurin’s daughter Marthe, and a cousin, Robert Gagnon. Virtually all Gagnons in North America are descended from these Gagnon immigrants.

The three Gagnon brothers opened a shop in Quebec City on the Rue Saint-Pierre in the lower town. Their business partner was Joseph Masse Gravel who later married Marguerite Tavernier, daughter of their older sister, Marguerite Gagnon.

Plaque, Gagnon Shop in lower Quebec City

Gagnon brothers in their Quebec shop16

Mathurin Gagnon, the eldest of the three brothers, was the only one who could read and write thus contributing greatly to their business success. His status is reflected in his membership in the La Compagnie des Habitants, a company of colonialists that held the fur trading monopoly in the early years of Quebec.

12 See Chart G13.

13 See Charts G2, G10.

14 Estimates place the death rate at 10% for those crossing the Atlantic in the 17th century, seafarers often dying from disease.

15 See Charts G2, G10. Other sources give later dates for the arrival.

16 Plaque at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Quebec.

Chateau-Richer
By 1640 the three Gagnons had each acquired adjacent farmland along the north side of the St. Lawrence River at Chateau-Richer, downstream from the city. In that year Jean Gagnon married newly-arrived Marguerite Cochon (Cauchon), who had come with her parents. Of the couple’s nine children two (Jean and Germain) were ancestors to the Gagnon-Remillard family.17

Robert Drouin, meanwhile, also acquired land at Chateau-Richer. After his first wife died, Robert married Marie Chapelier, a strong-willed and resourceful woman. One of their daughters, Marguerite Drouin, would marry Jean Gagnon’s son Jean.

Chateau-Richer land holdings

Gagnon and Drouin land holdings in 1641, Chateau-Richer Parish

An indication that the Gagnons did well financially was the fact that Mathurin Gagnon returned to France and brought his mother and daughter back to Quebec. That would not have happened if life in New France had been a struggle for them. One could say the Gagnons indirectly benefited from the lucrative fur trade economy.

GagonHouse, Chateau-Richer
Jean Gagnon home, located between Chateau-Richer and Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec, Canada

Jean’s brothers, Pierre and Mathurin would also marry and have many children as well, spreading the Gagnon name.18

These marriages are more remarkable than they might appear. In the early years of Quebec, those who came were mostly men, recruited to help clear land and build. Only ten percent were women, and many of those came with husbands.

That Robert Drouin and the Gagnon men married at all speaks both to their early arrival and being well established in the colony. The daughters of the immigrants had their choice of many young bachelors, and these gentlemen were good catches.

17 See Charts G2, G10, and R8.

18 After Tremblay, Gagnon is the second most common French name in Canada.

Marriageable Women
Besides fur trappers and traders, New France needed skilled workers like carpenters and bricklayers as well as farmers and laborers to clear the land. Men recruited to come to Quebec were often under contact to work for three years. Many returned to France. A thriving colony also needed families. Early attempts to recruit couples and families had limited results. The investors turned to recruiting marriageable young girls to entice the men to stay.

Most, but not all, single women who migrated to New France were from poor rural families. Their prospects in France were not great. New France offered nothing more than the possibility of a better life. Arriving between 1634 and 1663, the 262 single women who came alone or in groups are now collectively called filles à marier — marriageable young girls.

the_arrival_of_the_french_girls_at_quebec_1667_-_c-w-_jefferys

In 1663 King Louis XIV sponsored a program to recruit young women migrants, strong ladies of good character. Over the next ten years, about 800 “Kings Daughters” (filles du roi) came to New France. The monarch paid their passage, furnished a hope chest (trousseau), and provided a dowry. By 1673 the population of New France had doubled, to over 3,000 people.

Both the Gagnon and Remillard families have filles à marier and filles du roi ancestors.

Carignan Soldiers
The growing colony increasingly struggled against the threat of Iroquois attacks. Demands were made for reinforcement of the small number of soldiers stationed in Canada. The French monarchy complied.

Six ships carrying 1,200 soldiers arrived in 1665. That winter the Carignan-Salieres Regiment, the first regular military unit to serve in Canada, attacked the Indians. Despite taking heavy casualties the Regiment stabilized the situation ensuring the survival of the French colony.

Encouraged to stay, some 450 soldiers settled in Canada after the Regiment returned to France. Among these were Gagnon and Remillard ancestors.

carignan-salieres_regiment_soldier

The Remillards
Francois Remillard,19 the first Remillard to migrate to New France, came from Limoges, France in 1681.20 Francois Remillard married Anne Gaboury soon after arrival at L’Islet Parish on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Although Francois Remillard didn’t appear in New France until after it had been well established, his descendents did marry into families whose immigrant ancestors arrived just as early as the Gagnon line. In fact, the Gagnon and Remillard families share multiple ancestors.21

Through the generations, the Remillard family moved upriver, living for many years in the La Prairie area south of Montreal.

Like the Gagnons, the Remillards are mostly descended from French Canadians. However, there are a couple of exceptions. One of those is the interesting story of Elizabeth Corse.

19 See Chart R2

20 Other spellings of Remillard: Roumihat, Rouillard, Remillaud, Remillon, Remillot, Remilleaux, Remilleau, Rameon. The origin of the name is probably a variation of the name Remy.

21 Grandparents in common: Jean Gagnon & Marguerite Drouin, Pierre Falcon & Genevieve Tremblay, Francois Pinsonneault & Anne Leper, Jerome Longtin & Marie-Louise Dumas, Louis Gagne & Marie Michel, and Perinne Meunier

French and Indian Wars
Elizabeth Corse22 was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1696 to James Corse23 and Elizabeth Catlin. Three months later, Elizabeth’s father died, the first of the many tragedies of her eventful life.

Throughout the 17th century frequent hostilities between the French, English, and native tribes made Deerfield, on the edge of the English frontier, vulnerable to attack. In 1702 the War of Spanish Succession in Europe24 expanded to North America, becoming the second of the four French and Indian wars. While both sides had Indian allies, the French colonists, being outnumbered by more than ten to one, relied heavily on Indian warriors. The Indians themselves had scores to settle with enemies, both Indian and white, and the French joined forces with them in raiding English towns. Deerfield was one of their targets.

On the night of February 29,1704, a raiding party of over 200 natives from several tribes and 50 Frenchmen descended on Deerfield. Snow piled against the palisade made it easy to climb over it and open the gates. The fighting was haphazard but the raiders managed to kill 44 residents and take more than 100 hostages, mostly women and children. Two of those taken were eight year old Elizabeth Corse and her mother. Among those killed were Elizabeth’s grandfather and two uncles.

DeerfieldRaid1704

The raiders then returned north to Canada with their ill-prepared captives. Some 20 captives died on the 300 mile trek to Canada, either killed because the couldn’t keep up or dying from exposure. Only a handful managed to escape. Elizabeth’s mother was killed by the Indians seven days into the journey. When the group finally reached Canada, French authorities and sympathetic colonists began to acquire hostages from their Indian captors. The majority of those were traded for ransom or used for prisoner exchanges. Those who did not return to New England, 36 in total, remained in Canada as willing members of a tribe or members of French society. Elizabeth Corse was one of those who stayed.

Elizabeth was taken into the family of Pierre Roy and renamed Elizabeth Casse.25 Within a year she was baptized as a Catholic. At age sixteen she had a baby girl, but the child died shortly after birth. Later that year she married Jean Baptist Dumontet of La Praire, who was 37 years older. Together they had seven children. In 1730 one of Elizabeth’s brothers went to Canada to bring her back. It is not known if he found her, but if he did she chose not to return. After Dumontet died, she remarried to a man 8 years younger than her, Pierre Monet, and had another six children. Interestingly, Elizabeth’s daughter, Elizabeth Dumontet, would later marry Pierre Monet’s brother.

Elizabeth Casse’s great-granddaughter, Rosalie Monet, would marry into the Remillard family of La Prairie. Rosalie was Louisa Remillard’s grandmother.

Elizabeth’s story was not unique. Not long after her abduction, another Remillard ancestor, Mathias Farnsworth26 at age 14 was taken captive on an Indian raid of Groton, Massachusetts when he was working in a field. After over a year of slavery, Mathias was purchased by seminary priests and was baptized. Unable to read or write, his name Farnsworth was eventually transformed into Phaneuf.27 In addition, Mathias took on the first name of his godfather, Claude. When he came of age, the priests rewarded his work for them with a house and land of his own.

22 See Chart R12.

23 Also spelled Corss or Cors. James Corse may have been a Scottish immigrant.

24 The European war is called the War of the Spanish Succession. For the British colonialists the North American theater was Queen Anne’s War. It was also known as the Third Indian War or the Second Inter-colonial War. The fourth of the French and Indian wars is the one Americans call “The French and Indian War” (singular).

25 Probably the name “Corse” spoken by an 8 year old with a New England accent sounded much like “Casse” to her French Canadian family. Sometimes Casse is recorded as Lacasse.

26 See Chart R11.

27 As in the case Elizabeth Corse, the French were unfamiliar with the English name and spelled it many different ways somewhat close to its pronunciation at the time.

Acadia and the British Conquest of Canada
Near the end of the second French and Indian War, the French Colony of Acadia (Acadie) fell to the British, who renamed the colony Nova Scotia. The colonists agreed to neutrality but refused to sign an oath of loyalty. Forty years later when war broke out yet again (known today in the U.S. as “The French and Indian War”) this lack of allegiance became intolerable to the British. Thus began the tragic Expulsion of the Acadians (Le Grand Dérangement) from Nova Scotia.1

One family caught in this mass deportation were the Heberts2 of Grand Pre. The first wave of expulsion dispersed Acadians across the other British colonies. The Heberts, deprived of most of their possessions, were forced to go to Guilford, Connecticut, where they faced different religion, language, and customs. Among the children was 13 year old Anastasie.3 The exiled family stayed in Guilford for many years. Anastasie married a Guilford man, John Smith, at age 26. Her parents finally migrated about 1772 to La Prairie, Canada, an area where other Acadians had moved.31 John and Anastasie would also migrate to La Prairie, around 1889. Their oldest daughter, Cecile, married Louis-Marie Remillard, who was Louisa Remillard’s great-grandfather.32

After the British captured Quebec City in 1759 and Montreal in 1760 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War in Europe, or War of Conquest in French Canada), French control of Canada ended. French-Canadians were no longer French, but British subjects. However, the change in leadership did not affect the lives of the French-speaking peasantry. The British kept the French civil laws in place, including the seigneurial system.

Meanwhile, migrant pioneer Jean Gagnon’s great-great grandson, Pierre Gagnon, moved upriver to La Prairie, south of Montreal, where he married Marie-Anne Longtin to start a new life. Their son, Lucien (Julien) Gagnon, would play another notable role in Canadian history.

1 French Acadians (Acadiens) were widely dispersed. The best known are those who made their way to Louisiana, now called Cajuns (an alteration of Acadians).

2 See Charts R5, R14.

3 See Charts R1, R5.

31 The community of L’Acadie, south of Montreal, was formed by the Acadian refugees. It is now part of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.

32 See Chart R1.

The Seigneurial System
Land ownership in New France wasn’t as simple as it is today in Canada or the U.S. Technically speaking, the king owned all the land, but in effect sections of land, seigneuries (fiefs), were held by nobles, clergy, or other people of privilege – the landlords. The “habitants”(censitaires) of the land, as the tenants were called, would buy a farm-sized piece of the seigneury but would still have to pay rents and various fees to the seigneur.

In New France the land was granted to the company which had the monopoly on the fur trade. The company in turn granted seigneuries for valuable services.For example, Robert Giffard obtained his seigneury as payment for recruiting colonists. Military officers were also given seigneuries for their service.

Because access to a river was vital for transportation, the farm divisions of the seigneuries were usually long and narrow. Typically, habitant parcels were ten times longer than the frontage width.

Few if any habitants complained about the seigneurial system. After all, it was not unlike the system in place in France, which had its roots in the middle ages. But as land became more scarce and farms were divided between surviving children, this vestige of the feudal system would become onerous for the peasant class.

A Failed Rebellion
After his first wife died, Lucien Gagnon33 married Sophie Régnier of Napierville, sold his La Prairie properties, and settled along the Richelieu River at Pointe-à-la-Mule in Saint Valentin parish. By peasant standards, Lucien was prosperous. He benefited from an inheritance from his father and two generous dowries. Also, Lucien was successful growing wheat, oats, barley and livestock. Even so, by 1834 he was deeply in debt to his English-speaking seigneur and overwhelmed by his fees. This angered Lucien immensely.

Lucien Gagnon

At this time, Canada was divided into two parts, Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). Lower Canada was predominately French-speaking and a majority were rural peasants. Growing discontent over social, economic, and political inequities led to the “Patriote” movement. By 1834 Lucien was ready to join the Patriotes.

In July Lucien took part in a Patriote meeting at nearby Napierville which 4,000 people attended. By that fall he was active in the movement, intimidating local Frenchmen who worked for the government, such as militia captains and justices, forcing them to resign their commissions. Undoubtably these threats took the form of charivari, a custom in which boisterous, costumed mobs would visit a home late at night to demonstrate their displeasure.

In October Lucien participated in an assembly in St. Charles which encompassed party members from six counties. Six thousand people were there. Some of the leaders wanted an armed rebellion, including Lucien’s friend, Dr. Cyrille Côté.

In November Lucien, convinced that the Patriotes in his region had to act, held an important meeting at his home which was attended by Côté, Édouard-Étienne Rodier, Ludger Duvernay, and others. They planned an attack on the village of Saint-Jean, but when the plan was discovered they fled to the United States. From there Lucien secretly went back to Canada, recruiting 60 men from Saint-Valentin and other parishes.

Elsewhere in Lower Canada, others were also taking up arms. A major victory at Saint Denis was followed by losses in which Patriotes were badly outnumbered. Upper Canada rebelled as well.

On December 6th, Lucien led his men on a raid, crossing the New York-Canada border. They were immediately overwhelmed by a much larger force of Loyalist volunteers. Two men were killed, Lucien was wounded twice, and the rebels retreated back over the border. That same month the governor of Canada posted a reward for the capture of Lucien Gagnon. Lucien’s farm was burned and his wife Sophie fled with their children. The next month his land and possessions were confiscated.34

During 1838 Lucien rose in the ranks of the rebellion, working closely with Dr. Robert Nelson and Dr. Côté, leading fugitives in the United States. These three represented the more radical element of the Patriote movement, wanting more immediate and forceful action, and importantly to Lucien, an end to seigneury. In February Nelson, with Cote, wrote a Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada. The next week Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon led 300-400 men in an invasion of Canada to form their new country. However, they were quickly repulsed and forced back across the border. Lucien, Nelson, Côté, and other leaders were arrested by U.S. authorities for violating the neutrality law, but were later released.

After the defeat, Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon began building an army by establishing secret Frères Chasseurs (Hunter Brothers) lodges on both sides of the border. Again, despite the price on his head, Lucien secretly went back to Canada. He traveled in many areas including La Prairie, Chambly, Beauharnois, and L’Acadie, recruiting farmers willing to fight for the cause.

Patriote Fighters, 1838

Nelson, Côté, and Gagnon then planned a second attack on November 3rd, to capture parishes along the south shore of the St. Lawrence and then later to seize Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec. Once again they failed. As the Patriotes crossed the border they were immediately driven back by British troops and volunteers. On November 5th Côté, Gagnon, and Philippe Touvrey, a French officer recruited by Robert Nelson, led 500 Patriotes to Rouses Point, N.Y., to gather weapons and ammunition. They managed to repulse a picket of volunteers at the Lacolle bridge, but on their way back they were easily defeated by militiamen waiting for them. Lucien got away and reached the main body of Patriotes in Napierville. Learning that the regular troops under Sir John Colborne were about to arrive, Nelson, Gagnon, and Côté led their men south to Odelltown where on November 9th 1838, they battled a smaller group of Loyalists. When Loyalist reinforcements arrived, the Patriotes were vastly outnumbered and were forced to disperse. Lucien had courageously fought until the end of the battle when there was no longer any hope, and he reluctantly returned to the United States.

After Odelltown, the Patriote movement splintered and fell apart. Bitterly disappointed, Lucien quit the Patriotes in 1840. Many participants in the uprising were imprisoned, sent to Australia, or hanged. Lucien’s young son, Medard was imprisoned.35 Unable to return to Canada, a defeated and penniless Lucien died of tuberculosis in Corbeau, N.Y. on January 7, 1842. Sophie had his body, dressed in the Patriote costume of blue tuque (cap) and garments of Canadian cloth, brought back to Saint-Valentin as he had wished.

While the cause may have been just, the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 were doomed for lack of men, weapons, training, and organization. Informants, including the Catholic bishop, also hindered the efforts of the Patriotes. Many of their demands would eventually be met, but the Gagnon family would not benefit, for they were now destined for another country. During the time Lucien Gagnon was alive, other political, social, and economic forces were already at play, shaping the future of North America.

patriotemonument

Napierville Patriotes Monument 36

33 See Chart G1.

34 Inventory of Lucien Gagnon’s “lands, effects, and moveables” confiscated in January 1838 included 5 horses, 25 cattle, and large quantities of grain.</span

35 Also imprisoned and mentioned in subsequent dispositions is a Captain Julien Remillard.

36 Note Colonel Julien (Lucien) Gagnon and a Captain Julien Remillard. The connection between the two families possibly has its roots in the rebellion.

Western Migration
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, France no longer controlled land in North America, but the French settlers and fur traders stayed on. The beaver fur trade continued into the 19th century. As the beavers became scarce in the east, the search for furs pushed westward. The fur companies established trading posts (forts) throughout the west.

From the beginning the French used the native Indians as major suppliers of beaver pelts. As a result of this trade, the French usually had a closer relationship with natives than their English counterparts. With no white women in the areas they worked, the French trappers, traders, and voyageurs (transporters) often took native wives. Their mixed offspring were known as Metis.

When the Lewis and Clark expedition made their way to the Pacific in 1805 and returned in 1806, they relied on the ability of several French Metis. Their route skirted the lands of the Cayuse tribe. A small yet powerful tribe, the Cayuse adopted much of the nomadic lifestyle and warfare philosophy of the Plains Indians. They were closely allied with the larger Nez Percé tribe to the east, with whom they frequently intermarried. Proud and noble in their bearing, they were skilled horsemen, horse breeders, warriors, and traders. It is quite possible the explorers met and traded with the Cayuse.

Not long after Lewis and Clark explored the Pacific Northwest, employees of the fur trading companies came seeking furs. Trading posts were established along the Columbia River. One was built at the mouth of the Walla Walla River, Fort Nez Perces, later to be known as (Old) Fort Walla Walla.1

The fur trade was a boon to the Cayuse. Although catching beavers was beneath their dignity, they were able to use their trading skills to obtain coveted white man’s goods.

Next to come to the region were the American settlers following a trappers’ route, later known as the Oregon Trail, which led them to the fertile Willamette Valley. Among the first was Marcus Whitman, a Protestant missionary and doctor who established a mission near Fort Walla Walla in 1836. The pioneers passing through their lands provided another trading bonanza for the Cayuse, an opportunity of which they took full advantage. With supplies running low, the settlers were more than willing customers after their long trek. Unfortunately for the Cayuse, the settlers also carried white man’s diseases. Wagons with sick people detoured to Dr. Whitman’s mission in the Walla Walla Valley, passing through the heart of Cayuse country.

1 Old Fort Walla Walla was established in 1818 by the North-West Company which merged with the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821. Furs were transported up the Columbia River, over the Rockies, and east to Hudson’s Bay. Hudson’s Bay Company abandoned the fort in 1857. Later Fort Walla Wallas were military forts near the present day city of Walla Walla.

.

Oregon Trail

Just as the Oregon Trail pioneers began arriving in the northwest, the fur trade was winding down, beaver felt hats finally going out of fashion. As a result, French Metis began settling in the Willamette Valley as well as on Cayuse land in the Walla Walla Valley. At this time, Mathieu Dauphin,1 an illiterate Metis, came to the area from Missouri. In 1840 he married a Cayuse woman named Suzanne.

1 See Chart G1. Mathieu (Matthew) Dauphin was variously known as Dofa, McDauphin, Duffy, etc.

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne Cayuse

Suzanne and Mathieu would travel throughout the west, living in Utah, California, and Oregon before finally settling down in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington Territory. They would have seven children.

Whitman Massacre
As the first half of the 19th century came to a close, three historical events affected the Gagnons.

The first was the 1846 treaty with the British establishing the border at the 49th parallel instead of the lower Columbia River which the British had long hoped for and expected. This ensured that the future Washington Territory (and state) and the Walla Walla Valley would be American and not Canadian.

1846 was the year Suzanne gave birth to a daughter, Rosalie Dauphin.

The second event was in 1847. The Cayuse tribe, suffering from epidemics, had seen half their people die. Watching Doctor Whitman cure white people while the natives under his care died, many Cayuse believed he was purposely killing them. A band of warriors took matters into their own hands and murdered the Whitmans and twelve other people at the mission. Later known as “The Whitman Massacre,” the event resulted in the “Cayuse War” between the Indians and whites, mostly volunteers from the Willamette.

In 1850 five accused Cayuse were hanged for the Whitman Mission murders.1 They were baptized just before their deaths by Bishop Francis Blanchet, and Mathieu Dauphin acted as godfather. But the hangings did not end the hostilities, which lasted another five years. The Cayuse war finally ended in 1855 and a treaty was signed by the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla tribes and the government. Mathieu Dauphin acted as an interpreter during the peace treaty meetings. The tribes would forfeit most of their lands when the U.S. Senate finally ratified the treaty four years later. During this time more tribes began to fight and war spread across the Northwest. More Cayuse would die.

The third significant event occurred in 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Mathieu and Suzanne took their children to California’s Yuba River

gold field. Meanwhile, Marcel Gagnon, son of Lucien Gagnon, possibly along with brothers Pierre, Medard, and/or Lucien sailed to San Francisco2 in 1850 to try gold mining with thousands of others. While Marcel probably didn’t make a fortune in panning gold, he was successful enough to never lose his taste for prospecting, and continued searching for gold off and on for most of his life.

Just as in Oregon Territory, there were hostilities with native Americans in California which were caused by most of the same cultural conflicts as elsewhere in the country. Marcel volunteered to serve in the mounted militia to quell some of these hostilities. Marcel had noted the many abandoned sailing ships in the bay and concluded San Francisco had no future, and moved on.

Marcel made his way from California to French Prairie (south of Portland) and then to the small French community along the Walla Walla River, Frenchtown, to finally settle down to farm, raise a family, and to continue gold mining in the Northwest.

1 There is much speculation about the innocence of the convicted Cayuse. Some claimed they volunteered, taking the blame in order to appease the whites and thus save the tribe from more bloodshed.

2 Marcel’s obituary says he sailed around Cape Horn, but other family lore has him crossing the isthmus of Panama. Marcel would have been about 18 when he arrived in San Francisco in 1850. Half-brother Medard would have been about 28, and Lucien, if he was with them, only 14. The 1870 census shows brothers Medard, miner, age 48, and Lucien, farmer, age 34, living with Marcel and his family. A 1910 obituary for older half-brother Pierre Gagnon, age 90, states he arrived in the Walla Walla Valley in 1868.

Frenchtown
Frenchtown was never a town, but merely a collection of cabins along the creeks from about present day Lowden to near the city of Walla Walla. Starting about 1824, French employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company and their wives from local tribes, began building homes and farming amongst the Indian villages in the valley. By 1836 when Marcus Whitman arrived, there were a dozen Metis families living there. At the time of the Whitman Massacre in 1847, there were about fifty.

With renewed hostilities following the peace treaty signing in 1855 which was yet to be ratified, the Metis were forced out of the valley. In December of 1855 a four day battle, TheBattle of Walla Walla (aka The Battle of Frenchtown), was fought in the deserted Frenchtown between 300 Oregon volunteers and Walla Walla, Cayuse, Palouse, and Yakama (Yakima) warriors. Much of the action took place near the cabin of Joseph LaRocque and his wife Lizette Walla Walla which the volunteers used as a fortress.

Frenchtown, Washington Territory, 1872

After peace was restored in 1858 and the U.S. Senate finally ratified the peace treaty in 1859, the Cayuse were moved out. Some of the original settlers returned and many others began settling in the little community.1

Marcel married Mathieu’s and Suzanne’s daughter Rosalie in February 1864 and lived in Frenchtown. They would have seven children, one of whom was Marcel Junior, born in 1873. Sadly, Rosalie died in 1878 at age 32. Two years later, Marcel married Julia Raymond.

1 With the renewed turmoil at the end of 1855, most of the French moved out with friendly Indians, mainly to the Nez Perce lands. Some accounts have Marcel Gagnon coming to the area in 1852 or 1855, but he would not have been able to stay. He probably permanently settled in the valley around 1859-1864.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Marcel Gagnon, Sr.

Rosaile Dauphine, Marcel Gagnon

Rosalie Dauphin, Marcel Jr.

Back in La Prairie, Joseph Remillard married Sophie Falcon1 in 1861 after his first wife died. The couple moved from Quebec Province to Ontario, settling in the small French-speaking town of Pain Court near Detroit. There, daughter Marie Louise (Louisa) was born in 1874. Tragedy struck the Remillards when Sophie died in 1883, leaving behind nine or ten living children.

sophiefalcon Sophie Falcon

Meanwhile, Romain (Raymond) Remillard, Joseph’s brother, had migrated to the United States and settled in Frenchtown on the Walla Walla River in the 1870’s.1 Sometime after Sophie’s death, Joseph moved to the United States, taking with him his children Noah, Helen, Louisa, and Phillip.2

1 Romain Remillard and his wife Jane (who was 30 years younger) had three daughters, born in Washington Territory approximately between 1876 and 1883. Jane was not listed in the 1885 census.

2 It is interesting to speculate that the Remillards and Gagnons, both families with roots in the Lapraire region, met previous to coming to Frenchtown. It is also worth noting that Dauphin and Suzanne were also in the California gold fields and possibly informed them of the French speaking valley of the Walla Walla.

1 See Chart R1

Remillard-Gagnon Union
The Remillards and Gagnons joined twice in Frenchtown. Noah Remillard married Sophie Gagnon in 1888, and in May 1892 Marcel Gagnon Jr. married Noah’s sister, Louisa Remillard.

MarcelMarie

Marcel and Louise first had a son, Joseph Philip (Philip). The family then moved from Frenchtown to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon to take advantage of the Indian rights provided by the federal government. There Marie Amelia (Amelia), Ignatius Marcel (Martin), Wilfred Armandose (Bill), Fred Medard (Fred), and Robert Alvin (Al) were born. After moving to Waitsburg, where Marcel made a living as a saloon keeper, Ernest Edward (Ernie), Napoleon Arthur (Art), and Lucille Delores were born. The family then moved to Yakima where Bernice Delia was born.

With this new, fully American generation the French connection inevitably weakened. It interwove with other cultures as the family tree branched out. Frenchtown has long ceased to exist. No longer is French spoken in Gagnon family households. The family name was anglicized. It was a process that started some 300 years ago when migrants began leaving France.

Rather than lament the loss of our French, French Canadian, or even Native American cultures, we should remind ourselves that, like the multitude of ancestors before us, we are all part of the flow of constantly changing history.

Author’s Note:

Information contained in these pages is as accurate as possible. A number of interesting story lines and details were left out because they had doubtful origins, their sources conflicted, or they appeared dubious for other reasons. Still more research material was omitted because it did not add to the overall narrative or would have made for tedious reading. Even so, some details included may not be totally correct because they were needed to tie the three-century-long story together in an interesting way; significant questions of accuracy have been noted accordingly. The agonizing balance between completeness, accuracy, and readability has given me a new respect and sympathy for professional historians.

A special thanks to cousin Dorothy Gagnon Hall for her treasure trove of family information, my late aunt Lucille Gagnon Campbell for her research efforts, and to my wife Leslie (Cohen) Jurasek for her editing help.

— James Michael Gagnon, September 2016, Seattle Washington

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4 thoughts on “A Gagnon Family History”

Anita Powell
March 31, 2016 at 2:22 am
Thank You for this! This is my family! Suzanne Cayuse is my 4th great grandma. Most mentioned here are my direct descendants. This is great family history.
Blessings to you for all your work!

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Virginia Gagnon Moore
June 20, 2016 at 1:36 pm
My grandmother was Virginia Pitt maried to Joseph Gagnon, Salem, MA. My father was George Joseph Gagnon, born around, May 15, 1920, Salem, MA
Not sure if they are all connected.

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J. Gagnon
June 21, 2016 at 2:24 am
Virtually all Gagnons in North America are related if you go back far enough. The hardest people for me to find in my family tree were the ones in the 1800s. I doubt we are closely related, certainly no closer than 4th cousins.

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Jean Gallagher
October 2, 2016 at 1:54 am
This is wonderful. I have Gagnon’s in three different lines. I also have other ancestors mentioned in the article. Abraham Martin was a great, great…grandfather, also Robert Giffard was my 8th GG. It was wonderful to read the history of my family. Thank You.

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Gagnon:

[[File:GagnonCoatofArms.png|frameless|500px|center]]
<CENTER>
[[Paternal Lineage Chart]] 
[[Gagnon Family History]] 
[[Barnabé Gagnon (1547)]] 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1610)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1648)]] 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1685)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1730)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1755)]] 
[[Étienne Gagnon (1781)]] 
[[Élie Gagnon (1812)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1844)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1865)]] 
[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]] 
</center>

==Help Researching==
[[Research Resources]]

Matthew Owen Gagnon

2016-10-02T23:04:43Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person
|name=Matthew Owen Gagnon
|nationality=[[File:Usflag.png]] American
|born=December 10, 1980 Walnut Creek, California
|died=Alive
|father=[[Robert Ronald Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Diann Lynn Knutson]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Erin Elizabeth Carpenter]]
|married=September 2, 2006 Saint Joseph Catholic Church, Brewer, Maine
|children=[[Alec Stephen Gagnon]] [[Owen Robert Gagnon]] [[Aimée Alice Gagnon]]
|residence=Walnut Creek, California Hampden, Maine Orono, Maine Old Town, Maine Bangor, Maine Brewer, Maine Annapolis, Maryland Alexandria, Virginia Yarmouth, Maine
|profession=Chief Executive Officer, Political Strategist
}}

Main Page

2016-07-28T22:19:06Z

Gagnon:

[[File:GagnonCoatofArms.png|frameless|500px|center]]
<CENTER>
[[Paternal Lineage Chart]] 
[[Barnabé Gagnon (1547)]] 
[[Pierre Gagnon (1572)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1610)]] 
[[Jean Gagnon (1648)]] 
[[Joseph Gagnon (1685)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1730)]] 
[[Dominique Gagnon (1755)]] 
[[Étienne Gagnon (1781)]] 
[[Élie Gagnon (1812)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1844)]] 
[[Alexandre Gagnon (1865)]] 
[[Onesime Gagnon (1892)]] 
</center>

==Help Researching==
[[Research Resources]]

File:GagnonCoatofArms.png

2016-07-27T21:34:14Z

Gagnon:

File:Onesime.png

2016-04-21T03:58:15Z

Gagnon: Gagnon uploaded a new version of File:Onesime.png

This is a digital painting done by Matthew Gagnon on April 20th, 2016

Onesime Gagnon (1892)

2016-04-20T20:11:12Z

Gagnon:

{{Infobox person pic
|name=Onesime Gagnon
|image=Onesime.png
|nationality=[[File:Usflag.png]] American
|born=March 26, 1892 Soldier Pond, Maine
|died=January 8, 1968 Livermore Falls, Maine
|father=[[Alexandre Gagnon (1865)|Alexandre Gagnon]]
|mother=[[Sophia Labbé]]
|religion=Roman Catholic
|spouse=[[Rosa Yvonne Michaud]]
|married=June 26, 1916 St. Remi RC Church Keegan, Maine
|children=[[Onesime Wilfred (Bill) Gagnon]] [[Cecile Rosa Gagnon]] [[Blanche Alice Gagnon]] [[Yvonne Jeanette Gagnon]] [[Albert Adelard Gagnon]] [[Rita Lumina Gagnon]] [[Norman Raymond Gagnon]] [[Robert Ronald Gagnon]]
|residence=Soldier Pond, Maine Livermore Falls, Maine
|profession=Paper mill worker
}}
==Onesime and Rosa==
Rosa and Onesime met in April, 1916, when Onesime was 24. He worked at Brown Lumber Mill as a shingle buncher. At the time, mill work was seasonal. In the fall and winter the river would freeze, stopping all log traffic on the river. The mill would shut down until the spring when the ice would melt and release all the logs. But the spring drive of logs was a busy time.

A few months after meeting, on June 26, 1916, they were married at St. Remi church in Keegan, Maine, by Father St. Martin. They made their home in Keegan, but in the fall of 1916 when the mill shut down, Rosa and Onesime went to Wallagrass for the winter.

[[File:OnesimeRosaWed-061616-cropped.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Onesime and [[Rosa Yvonne Michaud|Rosa]] on their wedding day on June 26, 1916.]]

Rosa’s parents, who had moved to the northern part of Maine in 1914, never liked “up country”, so they had decided to return to Chisholm. Her father was soon able to get a job in the paper mill in town. In February 1917, Rosa’s father spoke to the foreman of the finishing room about the possibility of a job for Onesime. Fortunately, the mill was hiring, and the foreman said yes, tell him to come, he has a job. Onesime and Rosa planned to have a large family, and discussed names for their children. Now it was the custom of the day, especially in Catholic French families, to name children after the Holy Family - i.e. every male child after Joseph, and every female child after Mary (Marie in French), who were Jesus's parents on earth. Onesime and Rosa followed this custom for their family, often without their children's knowledge. (For instance, Albert did not learn that his real first name was Joseph until he enlisted in the military). Rosa was lucky enough to become pregnant about a month after their wedding. [[File:GagnonFam2c22.jpg|right|thumb|200px|left|A photo of the Gagnon siblings around 1922. Onesime holding Cecile, Bill, Rosa holding Blanche, Albert seated as a baby.]]

On April 6, 1917, war was declared war with Germany. Because he was already married with a pregnant wife, Onesime was lucky that he was not called up for war. Two days later, Rosa delivered their first baby, a son they named Joseph Onesime Wilfred, whom they called Wilfred or Bill. The following year Marie Rose Cecile "Cecile" was born on May 6, 1918. Alice "Blanche" on July 7, 1919, Marie Yvonne Jeannette "Jeannette" on April 5, 1921 (who died 25 days later), Joseph Albert Adelard "Albert" on August 3, 1922, and Marie Rita Lumina "Rita" on May 30, 1924.

[[File:GagnonSiblings-1927-fixed-cropped.jpg|eft|thumb|300px|left|A photo of the Gagnon siblings around 1926. In this photo, you can see the various children's personalities beginning to emerge.]]

In the summer of 1926, Rosa and Onesime bought a house down on Shuy Flat. This allowed them to be near Rosa’s parents. Rosa’a father was sick in bed with cancer, and her mother needed assistance caring for him. At the time, the children in the family were: Bill, 9, Cecile, 8, Blanche, 7, Albert, 4, and Rita, 2.

==1927 - Multiple Tragedies Strike the Young Family==
On January 26, 1927 at 5:30 in the morning, their house burned down. Onesime was able to wake all the children, and get them out. He threw 5 year-old Albert down the stairs in the excitement, and grabbed Rita, who was 3, by her arm. He ran down the stairs as they were collapsing, falling to the floor at the last several steps. The outside temperature was 40 degrees below zero. Onesime, Rita and Albert suffered from frostbite. Onesime on his ears, Albert and Rita had developed frostbite on their feet. The family lost everything in the house, and were left homeless with five children. Luckily, there was a little insurance, so in a week they were able to move to a place in Chisholm and start housekeeping again. Now Chisholm was not an incorporated town on its own, it was a census designated place (CDP) in the Town of Jay, Maine.

On February 12, 1927, Rosa’s father died at the age of 58 years, still a young man. Sometime later, Rosa’s mother married Pierre Bolduc, who had sold them the house in town. Then on April 8, 1927, Onesime’s only sister Odelie died at the age of 32 years, less than two years after her husband passed away. By then, she had been crippled and living in a wheel chair seven years. When Odelie died, Onesime’s parents, who had gone to live with her to help, came back and lived in Chisholm.

Sometime in 1927, 5 year-old Albert was out playing when he was run over by a truck. He was injured and lay in bed for several days, having difficulty regaining consciousness. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, he was eventually able to fully recover.

Not long after, Onesime’s mother became ill with cancer of the liver. At one point, it was thought that she had died. The custom at the time was to lay out the body of a family member in the house, where friends and other family members would visit, pray and grieve. Common people could not afford to have a funeral home provide services, and this meant that bodies were often not embalmed. Albert remembered the time his grandmother was laid out in the house, and the wake being in progress. His grandmother, however, was not dead, but only in a coma. She abruptly sat up and wanted to know why everyone was there. The children ran from the house, thinking they had seen a ghost. It certainly caused quite a commotion. She did eventually die on January 26, 1928 in Onesime’s home.

==Temporary Move North and Return==
A few months later, in June of 1928, Onesime’s father wanted to go back up country. As Onesime was the only child left, his father strongly suggested that Onesime to move back with his family to a new town in the Northern part of Maine called Madawaska. The Frazer family had built a paper mill there. It was a small town then, but it didn’t take very much time to later grow into a large city.

There was tension between Rosa, Onesime and Onesime’s father, and they didn’t get along very well. Frankly, Rosa detested her father-in-law. In her opinion, he was disgusting and disrespectful, as evidenced by the fact that he would often blow his nose on her kitchen window curtains! (Yuck!) Although Rosa could normally influence Onesime to get what she wanted, she was unable to change his mind on this subject. She also resented the influence his father was able to wield upon him, especially since she knew Onesime did not really want to return to the lumber mill and to wages lower than he was currently earning. Regardless, Onesime and Rosa packed up their belongings and their 5 young children and moved back to nearby Keegan, where they had been married. You can imagine how difficult it must have been with Bill only 10, and Rita, the youngest, 3.

Not surprisingly, they did not stay long. It was very cold – sometimes 60 degrees below zero! When you went out, you had to pinch your nose if you wanted to breathe. Because Onesime's job paid less, they took on other work to make ends meet. In the fall of 1929, they worked for a local farmer picking potatoes. As soon as the crop was harvested, they shipped their furniture by freight, and with their family, drove their car back home to Chisholm. They were lucky, as they were able to easily find and rent another place in Chisholm to live right away, and it only took one week for their furniture to arrive from the shipper. In addition, Onesime was able to get his job back at the J.P. mill. He continued to work there for the rest of his career, and they vowed to never leave the Livermore area again - a vow they kept.

Author's Note: If you were to look at a map of Maine, you would find that Chisholm is not a town of its own. It is/was considered a Census Designated Area (CDP) and as a village, is actually part of Jay.

==1931 The First Farm on Moose Hill==
In April 1931, they bought the farm on Moose Hill, where they were very happy. They had a large house, a barn, a horse, two cows, and pigs. They also had a sheep named Queenie, which the children raised on a bottle. The first time she was shorn, she produced 16 ½ pounds of wool. They had a big vegetable garden and even cultivated strawberries, blackberries, and plenty of blueberries. There were also trees with apples and pears. Rosa canned a lot that first year – 950 quarts of all different kinds of fruit! All the kids in the family had chores to do: feeding and caring for the animals, weeding, harvesting, cleaning, cooking and sewing.

On March 12, 1932, Joseph Norman Raymond was born. The children, not surprisingly, were often curious about where babies came from. Albert was especially precocious. When Norman arrived, Albert asked his mother where the baby had come from. His mother carefully explained to him the story that was common to tell children in those days. Namely, that an Indian would hide in the closet, leave the baby, and then escape from the house through the woods. Albert rushed outside to see if he could find the Indian’s tracks.

From the time she was very little, Rita looked up to her older brother Albert. He loved all of the animals on the farm, and often mimicked the sounds they made, which was very entertaining. Albert and Rita cared for Queenie, the sheep, who often followed them as they walked thru the fields on the farm. Rita also followed her brother everywhere, and it was Albert’s job to make sure that she got to school and back safely. Eventually, because Albert was never seen without either Rita or Queenie (or sometimes both!), the other "neighborhood" children teased him and called him Mary, and singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” every time they saw him. Albert, being a good sport, took this in stride but looked for opportunities to tease them in return.

==1933 A Second Fire==
In November of 1933, Onesime’s father took sick. Onesime took him to St. Mary’s hospital, where he died four days later at the age of 68 years. He was buried in the Livermore area with his wife Sophie.

That same year, at Christmas, Onesime and Rosa walked to midnight mass, as it was a nice evening, snowing, but not cold. They returned home at 4 o’clock in the morning, since it was four miles one way. It began to snow, and snowed steadily for two days straight. Onesime couldn’t get to work because the road was not plowed, and there was four feet of snow. On December 29th, 4 days after Christmas, the plow finally went by the house at 9 o’clock in the morning, and at 11:00 the house was on fire. Luckily, Onesime was home. He screamed for the small children to run from the house, and he and the older ones helped to save the car and all of the furniture, except the kitchen stove.

Once again, they were in the street. None of the food they had in the cellar could be saved, because with of all the water they used to try to save the house, everything froze. They had bought the farm from Lawyer Grua, and he had an apartment that would be available in a few days. After staying with Rosa’s sister Alfreda for 3 days, they bought a stove and moved to Reynolds St. in town.

==1934 Second Farm on Moose Hill==
In the spring of 1934, Mr. Grua helped the family build another small house on Moose Hill, where they started again. They moved their family into the house, even though the house was not completely finished. The family always enjoyed living on a farm on Moose Hill. It was a wholesome life, where you could raise a family, grow your own food, and where neighbors knew each other, and helped each other out. There were plenty of kids to play with, too, between the LaPlante’s, the Record’s, the Mitchell’s and the Gagnon’s.

That first year, while they were re-building, they did not get any livestock. The house was not livable that first winter, because it was unfinished. So, in the winter of 1934 they moved in with Rosa’s mother down in Shuy Flat. That winter, Onesime often gave the kids rides to and from school, which was a few miles away, by letting them ride in the back of the wagon. The children were developing very distinct personalities. Wilfred (Bill) was serious, a thinker and planner - he had ambitions. Cecile was very quiet and shy, very private, a real loner. Blanche was strong, hard-working, frugal, ambitious. Albert was fun-loving, a free spirit, strong, funny, creative and a practical joker. Rita was very serious, shy, tough, direct and a good saver. Rosa became pregnant with Bobby.

==1935 A Year of Changes==
In the spring of 1935, Onesime and Rosa had completed the work on the house. They bought 2 cows, a horse, and a baby lamb named Peter, which the kids raised by nursing him on a bottle. The family at that time consisted of Bill, 17, Cecile, 16, Blanche, 15, Albert, 12, Rita, 10 and Norman, 3.

In that same spring, while Rosa was pregnant for the last time, their oldest daughter Cecile, who had already run away form home once before, was married to Ernest Robinson, a man nearly as old as Rosa herself. While Onesime and Rosa did not actually approve, at least they thought that being married might tame Cecile’s wild side.

In addition to growing and canning fruits and vegetables, Rosa and Onesime also made their own wine and beer. Wilfred, as the oldest, was often called upon to help bottle it, and hide it from the younger children. The family was not rich – the children, while they always had enough to eat, had a limited amount of clothes. Most of then were made for by Rosa herself either on her treadle sewing machine, or were hand-knit. Each of the children owned one outfit that was for “Sunday best”. For the boys, this meant white shirts.

On one such Sunday, while Wilfred was retrieving a bottle of wine for his father, he took Albert with him. Now, this was a great privilege, because the younger kids did not know where the wine was hidden. We are not sure whose idea it was, but the fact remains that Wilfred and Albert stole a bottle of wine for their own use. (Of course, we suspect the older brother influenced the younger brother, but we have no proof. And clearly, Albert was quite capable of thinking up the scheme himself, as well!!)

So, while Wilfred carried the requested bottle to his father, Albert was sent to a designated hiding place with the extra bottle. Not wanting to get caught, he ran with the bottle under his clean, white shirt. Albert didn’t get away with much – the bottle exploded, spraying all the red contents all over Albert and his clean white shirt. (Needless to say, the escapade was discovered by laundry day, because it is very difficult to get red wine stains out of white cotton, and the smell of wine is easily detectable, to say the least.)

The family planted a large garden, and there were fruit trees and bushes, too. It was probably this summer that the kids remember best, running around barefoot, romping in the fields, sliding on day-old cow flops and competing for distance. The family joined the Grange Hall, where there were community events, especially at harvest time. Living on the farm, in a big family where one had to do one’s share and contribute, was good experience for later life.

They all loved living on the farm, especially Albert and Rita, who were old enough to be happy-go-lucky children, discovering all the opportunities for fun that a farm could represent, but were not so old that the work was a hardship. Besides being very competitive, the one trait that all of the children developed was the ability to tell a story, and throw the bull!

Albert and Rita always played in the hay loft of the barn, even though they were told not to, mostly because it could be dangerous being up so high from the ground. One day they started making tunnels in the hay, and discovered 2 bushels of pears. Rosa had asked Onesime to hide the pears up in the hay so that they would ripen a little faster, and she would then be able to can them at the end of the season. However, Albert and Rita began taking pears to school, and making many new friends, because they would share the pears. When it was time to can the pears, Onesime discovered, much to his dismay, that there was only a peck of pears left – hardly enough to can. Although Albert and Rita were punished for taking the pears, they continued to play in the hay.

Sometimes, they would have competitions, walking across the beams. Now, it was pretty dangerous to do this. Walking over the hay loft, if you fell off, at least you fell into the piles of hay and would get hurt. However, one day when Albert and Rita were scampering across the beams in the barn, Rita slipped, and fell all the way to the floor of the barn, breaking her arm.

Rosa, having had so many children, had developed difficulties moving her bowels, and kept a supply of Ex-Lax in her bedroom. Ex-Lax was distributed looking very much like Hershey bars of chocolate – easily broken into chunks. Albert and Rita would sometimes find their mother going into her bedroom and coming out shortly thereafter chewing something. Thinking that she had hidden candy that she did not want to share, Albert and Rita devised a plan to investigate the next time Rosa left the house. They discovered the two small boxes, and they each devoured a box of their own. Over the next several hours, they made many, many trips outside to the 3-holer outhouse, using many, many pages of the Sears catalog as toilet paper. Their mother only said, “Next time, maybe you’ll ask first”.

The kids were taught to be industrious, and the neighbors always had plenty of jobs they could farm out to the kids on the hill. Albert got a job picking beans for the elderly Mr. LaPlante, but it didn’t last long. Albert, who always loved to carry rocks around, especially in his pockets, put rocks into the bottom of the pail, and filled the rest of the pail with beans. He was fired from his job shortly thereafter.

Many of the kids worked for “Grammy” Royce, who was notoriously stingy. Albert used to tell the story that he and Rita got a job at Mrs. Royce’s picking potato bugs from her potato plants. It was back-breaking hard work, and the bugs moved pretty fast, so they were hard to catch. You had to kill them, too, or they would crawl out of the bucket. “Grammy” Royce would pay them each a penny when they would collect 100 bugs. After Albert finished collecting his 100 bugs, and saw the penny he had earned from all that work, he complained to “Grammy” Royce and said that he was not going to do it anymore – it was too much work for not enough pay!

Often, Rita and Albert would get jobs together, like weeding in the onion patch. Albert, who always had a lot of charm, would sometimes relax, because he was able to convince his sister to do some of his work.

Rita got a job at Stone Record’s place as a cook, where she earned $3 a week. She was very hard-working, and was a good saver. Of all of the kids, she probably had the most money, and was serious about how it would get used for her future. She remembers the time that Bill and Blanche had decided that they wanted to walk 4 miles into town, to the beer hall, and get a beer and dance. They didn’t have enough money, and asked Rita to borrow 10 cents. Rita, who did not approve of such a frivolous way to spend the money she worked so hard to earn, refused. They eventually borrowed the money from Albert, who was much more cavalier.

Now Rosa was always concerned about the impression her family made on others. It was important to her that none of her kids get into trouble with the law and bring embarrassment and shame on the family. “Grammy” Royce, an elderly woman in the community, was also known for her position on drinking, and was famous in the town for temperance.

[[File:Wilfred-HSGrad-35.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Bill's High School Graduation picture]]
In June of 1935, Wilfred graduated from high school, and that summer he worked for Mr. Winfield on his farm, as it was during the depression and work was scarce. Wilfred later joined the CCC’s and was in New Hampshire for sometime. [[url = \url{http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps]]

On August 29, 1935, the last of their children, Joseph Robert Ronald was born in Rosa’s mother’s house in Shuy Flat, with Rosa’s mother acting as mid-wife. By now, the family was getting large (7 children). Of course, there was no indoor plumbing. There was a large outhouse built on the farm to accommodate the large family. Albert and the other children would often reminisce as adults about the good times on the farm, and the “3-holer” that set their farm apart as being distinctive.

There were also neighborhood corn husking parties at Hersey Record’s place – where ears of popcorn were husked, and bunches were tied together and hung on the barn rafters to dry. Every once in a while, while husking, a red ear of corn would be encountered, and the lucky person who discovered it was allowed to select a person of their choice and kiss them. Rita especially liked this game, because it gave her an opportunity to kiss Frank Record.

==1936-1941 Back to Town and More Changes==
In March of 1936, there was a big flood because the dam broke, so Bill got an opportunity to work with the team of men who were rebuilding the dam. Rosa’s mother, stepfather and sister Ida, who lived down on Shuy Flat, were evacuated from their home, and moved in with Onesime and Rosa for a week. It was very crowded since it was such a small house. In order to make do, everyone slept in shifts.

About this time, Blanche was about 15 and had decided to leave home and go to work. Now for many years, she would tell Bobby that it was because he was so ugly as a baby. However, the real reason was probably more because her sister had left and gotten married, there was a new baby in the house. It was also the depression, and she wanted to strike out on her own, and relieve the family of the responsibility of having to feed her. It also satisfied her sense of adventure. She moved to Boston, and got a job as a housekeeper and nanny for a Jewish family, and worked there for a while. She left that place of employment when the husband made a pass at her. However, with her references, she was able to get another job as a housekeeper and nanny in the Boston area shortly thereafter. She was earning good money in those days, and would sometimes take the train home, bringing presents for Norman and Bobby, who were small. Blanche always had a very generous heart.

In the summer of 1936, Wilfred had an opportunity to get a job in the mill. Onesime knew that they would now need two cars. Instead, the family decided that it was time to temporarily give up the farm. They sold their livestock (but not the farm itself), and moved back to town.

Around the same time, Bill acquired a 1936 Pontiac coupe. Albert found and bought a 1933 Chevy coupe with a rumble seat, which he rode around in, and gave rides to his younger brothers and sister, Norman, Bobby, and Rita.

In 1939, Bill was laid off from the mill. He went to Dexter, Maine to learn to be a machinist, and then later, to learn to be a tool and die maker. Although he returned to J.P. mill, he was soon laid off again. Clearly, the news in the world was not good. Europe was now embroiled in a war with Germany. Bill went to Connecticut to find work, and the family did not know if he would return to Maine (in fact, Bill did not return to Maine to live until his retirement many years later). Before Bill left, Rosa and Onesime decided to sieze the opportunity to have a family portrait taken.

[[File:Gagnonfamilyc39-fixed-cropped.jpg|left|thumb|350px|The family (standing from left): Albert, Cecile, Bill; (seated from left): Rita, Rosa, Norman, Onesime holding Bobby in sailor suit, and Blanche.]]

At that time, jobs were very hard to come by, as the depression was still on. Now that the family was not living on the farm and growing much of their own food, it was difficult to feed the family. Bill had already been in the CCC’s, and it was now Albert’s turn. In October of 1939, Albert, who had completed school through the 8th grade, went into the CCC’s to help support the family. It was not uncommon for the oldest boys to join the CCC’s, earn their own room and board, and send money home. Albert was in the CCC’s twice.

While Wilfred and Albert were away from home, Onesime and Rosa decided to try to re-start by the farm, moving out of the town and back to the little house on Moose Hill. However, it was never the same. They were unable to re-capture the quality of farm life, because Norman and Bobby were not old enough, and with Wilfred and Albert both gone, Onesime was left without boys to help him run the farm. Shortly thereafter, they gave up the farm for good and permanently moved back to town.

[[File:RosaOnesime25thanniv2-0641.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Still happy after 25 years.]]

In 1941, Rosa and Onesime were very proud to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in June.

==1942 and During World War II==
Albert left for the war in 1942, and Bill left in 1943. By this time, Cecile was already married and having children, and Blanche was married in 1942 as well. Rita graduated from high school shortly thereafter and joined the Navy, stationed in San Francisco.[[File:Rita-WWII.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Rita in the Navy.]] So all of the older children were gone, and Norman and Bobby were only 12 and 9 respectively. Of course, during the war, many items were rationed: gasoline, sugar, and flour to name a few. Each family was issued a ration card, and could only purchase the rationed items by using their ration coupons. This was a huge change, and when ever anyone would complain about the hardships, they were told, “don’t you know there’s a war on?” This usually limited further complaints, especially because everyone was in the same situation. Families got very creative, and there were “Victory Gardens” everywhere, to supplement the food supply. Bartering also became very popular, as goods and services were traded.

Norman and Bobby were raised as an almost separate generation. The economics of the family had also changed, as the depression was over, and jobs were plentiful. The family had more money and fewer children to support. However, the younger boys were encouraged to get their own little part time jobs to have spending money.

During the war, Rosa had a severe nervous breakdown that lasted three years. In the window of the house was a display of stars, indicating how many of the family’s children were away fighting in the war. There was a lot of stress during this time, especially getting mail. You dreaded the mail because you didn’t want to receive word that one of your loved ones had been killed in action, or taken prisoner.

Mail delivery was very delayed. In addition to the collection of outgoing mail from soldiers on the front line, and audited by the War Department. It was especially important that no soldier should send home information that could be stolen by the enemy to pinpoint troop locations or deployment plans. Any information like this was redacted from the letter – that is, it was actually cut out of the paper. After being redacted, the letters were photostated. It was called V-mail – “V” for Victory. Albert’s mail was redacted much more than Wilfred’s, because he would try to be sneaky and made up code for his locations – but it never worked.

Bobby also sold Cloverine salve. He worked for months to sell the product, walking all over town to earn enough points to buy a jackknife. Once he was able to get his jackknife, he convinced his parents to buy him 8” tall boots, so he could stick his knife in them, and really look special.

Norman and Bobby were quite a handful, and were doted on by their parents. They enjoyed playing practical jokes on each other. One day, Rosa, who had always had trouble with her bowels, discovered items missing from her bureau. It seems that Norman and Bobby had stolen what they thought were chocolates, and it was ex-lax instead. They became quite sick from their little joke. Clearly, those who are unaware of history are doomed to repeat it.

==War is Over==
On May 10, 1945, the war in Europe ended, and on August 15, 1945, Japan admitted defeat. In August of 1945, Rosa had some teeth out and they opened up her sinuses. This minor surgery escalated when they discovered that she had cancer in her jaw. She was in the hospital thirty-seven days, and had treatments three times a week for over a year and a half. Before the cancer went into remission, she also had a nervous breakdown, that lasted three years.

On Christmas day, 1945 Albert finally returned home from the war. Although Japan was defeated in August, it took him several months to get home. He traveled on a troop ship across the Pacific Ocean, went through California, traveled by train across the country, processed out at Fort Dix, NJ, took a train home but fell asleep, missed his stop, and had to hitchhike. Some cop saw Albert hitchhiking and gave him a ride home. Because he had spent three years in the South Pacific and contracted malaria, he had difficulty with the cold winter weather, and slept in front of the stove for three months until he re-acclimated to the North.

During the war, people who had been held as prisoners in Japan were slowly returned to the United States. The night that one of the ships docked in San Francisco bay, Rita met Jack B. Lee, a descendant from Robert E. Lee. They were married on November 25, 1945 in San Francisco.

Wilfred, who had not yet married, was the first one to come back home after the war. When he arrived, Norman and Robert were very ill with scarlet fever and the house was quarantined. So, until the quarantine was lifted, Wilfred had to go live with a cousin, Flossie Beaulieu.

When he was in the army, Wilfred had been engaged to a nice girl named Connie, who lived in Brunswick. He expected that they would marry soon after his return, but when he came back from the war, she broke the engagement. Brokenhearted, he moved back to his job in Connecticut. Later, he met a nice girl, Orena Potvin. They were married in Manchester, N.H. on Sept 27, 1946.

Sometime after the war, one of the neighbors had purchased old Mrs. Royce’s house. Albert, who was always known as a big strong guy, was asked to help the neighbor move in. In the process, they also discovered several civil war items and letters stuck in one of the walls.

==1948 and Early 1950's==
[[File:Rosa-daughtIsabella-1948.jpg|left|thumb|225px|Rosa was a long-time member of the church women's group, The Daughters of Isabella. This photo from Spring of 1948.]]In early 1948, Rosa made a trip to Canada with the group she belonged to from the church, The Daughters of Isabella. Later that year, Rosa’s mother, Adelaide died. She was in her 90’s. Rosa was very affected by her death, and missed her terribly. Later that same year, Albert joined Wilfred in Connecticut, at first living with Wilfred and Rena. Later, he found other living arrangements in a rooming house on Prospect Ave, in West Hartford, within walking distance to the gasoline station they bought and operated. (more about that in Albert’s Story).

Then in February of 1949, the doctor advised Rosa to get a job outside of the house, as she was depressed and anxious. A shoe shop had opened in North Jay, and she got a job there. At first, she had a lot of difficulty because she was nervous. She couldn’t stand the noise of the stitching room. Finally, she became adjusted to the environment and working outside of the house. She thoroughly enjoyed her job, and eventually worked at the shoe shop 13 years.

On Christmas day of 1949, Rosa and Onesime decided to buy several building lots on Park St and Birch St within the town limits of Livermore Falls. In February of 1950, the family traveled to Connecticut to attend Albert's wedding to Irene. It was there that Norman met the of love of his life, Irene's younger sister, Yolande. [[File:RosaBobOnesime.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Rosa, Onesime and high school student Bobby, after Norman was deployed to Korea, circa 1952.]]

As soon as it was Spring, Onesime, Norman and Bobby began construction on a small house on one of the lots on Park St. with advice periodically from a local carpenter/contractor, Wilfred Mercier. The boys got a lot of valuable building experience that summer. They completed the building of the little house on Park St by the summer. This is the house that that most of the grandchildren remember them living in. Rosa and Onesime were very happy in the small, cozy house for many years. It was the last time they would ever move.

By this time, it was only Norman and Bobby who lived with the them. The house, which only had 2 bedrooms, was large enough for their small family. Everyone else was grown and had left home. Norman, who graduated from high school that June, wanted to go into the military like his older brothers had done. His parents would have preferred for him to go to school, but he was adamant. Although he was in excellent health, he almost did not make the height requirement, as he was the shortest of the four brothers, and a little sensitive about it. Bobby began working for Wilfred Mercier part-time, and continued doing that for the next three years, until he finished high school.

==1957 Onesime Retires from the Mill, and their Later Years==
[[File:Onesimeretiresc57-cropped.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Click on this picture to read the article of Onesime's service at the mill.]] In February of 1963, Patty remembers that she and her siblings were outside sliding, across the road from Memere’s house when she saw Rosa come out of the house. Suddenly, she slipped on the ice and fell. Now Rosa (Memere) often played pranks on the grandchildren, and at first they thought she was kidding them. It quickly became clear that she had seriously injured herself, and Patty came running and called for medical help. [[File:Rosa-brokeleg-1963-cropped.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Rosa with a broken leg, 1963.]] It turned out that Rosa had broken her leg, and because of her difficulty in now getting to work, she called the foreman and retired for good.

Onesime and Rosa had some government bonds, so they could have tried again to have a larger house of their own, abut her leg operation was expensive and they didn’t have medical insurance. They ended up using up all of their savings on the operation.

Onesime and Rosa enjoyed their retirement. They took many trips together, and even went to California quite a few times, because by this time both Bill and Bobby lived out there with their families. [[File:RosaOne-CA1-c1958-cropped.jpg|left|thumb|200px|]] Once, they went by car with Annette and Bobby (who notoriously disliked flying) on Route 66, and came back by the south route in order to stop in Alabama for three days to visit Clarence Fournier (Mina’s son). On one trip to California, they even went by bus - that was quite a trip! They were on that bus from Tuesday morning at 8 o’clock to late Friday afternoon, but they enjoyed the adventure, going through all the cities and states. However, most of the time that they traveled to California they went by plane. Now, Onesime almost always wore a hat – inside, outside, it didn’t matter – he liked to wear a hat - a fedora. There’s a great picture of him inside a Las Vegas casino, wearing his hat. [[File:RosaOne-CA2-c1958-cropped.jpg|right|thumb|200px|]]

==50th Wedding Anniversary==
On June 16, 1966, Onesime and Rosa's children collaborated on hosting a large celebration, held at Murray Hall right in town, and invited all of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren as well as their many friends and other relatives. Rosa, in honor of her golden anniversary, wore a gold lame dress, and Onesime was in a new blue suit. There was music and dancing, and food and plenty of drink.

[[File:OR-50th-1.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Rosa and Onesime dressed up to go to the 50th anniversary party.]][[File:OR-50th-2.jpg|thumb|200px|Rosa singing at the party.]]

A good time was had by all. Rosa, as the spokesperson for the couple (Onesime was a man of few words), made a short speech and thanked all of her children for the wonderful party. And then she also took the opportunity to sing for her guests. Not surprisingly, Albert and the LaPlante cousins also played and sang adding to the festivities. The only small disappointment on the day was the small scandal caused by Rosa's sister Mina. Always jealous of her older sister, Mina had decided to try to upstage Rosa by also wearing a gold lame dress, which annoyed Rosa immensely, especially since Mina had not "earned" it, she had divorced her first husband.

==Onesime's Illness and Death – Rosa’s Own Words==
Rosa tells the next part of their story in her own words:

“In April, 1967, Onesime started to get sick, trouble with his stomach. He was operated on in August, but they discovered he had cancer throughout his body, and could not fix the problem. A strong man like that – they gave him 5-6 months to live, and gave him some chemotherapy, which caused him to lose his hair. The children all got together and brought him his Christmas early and bought him a very nice suit. It looked so nice on him.

In September, he wanted to go back to his birthplace, and to the town where he grew up. We left on a Friday with our daughter Rita driving for us. Onesime was in the back seat with a pillow and blanket to make him more comfortable. He was so pleased – I will never forget the look on his face when he went to mass in Keegan. We slept in Madawaska and the next day headed for Fort Kent. There we visited all of his cousins, since none of his aunts and uncles were living. The next morning we went to Soldier Pond and Wallagrass, to the church where he was baptized and he made his first communion. He came home from this trip very pleased, satisfied and happy.

On January 8, 1968, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, God called him, and he passed away, so peacefully. It was quite a blow after being married to him for over 51 years. The Thursday before he died, he told me that he would always watch over me.

He did – two years later, he sent me his best friend."

==Author's Note==
To finish reading about Rosa's life, please return to her page [[Rosa Yvonne Michaud]], and the section after her marriage to Onesime.

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Gagnon: This is a digital painting done by Matthew Gagnon on April 20th, 2016

This is a digital painting done by Matthew Gagnon on April 20th, 2016

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Gagnon: Gagnon uploaded a new version of File:Aleck.jpg

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