Famous Descendants of Jean Guyon

An article on the famous descendants of Jean Guyon was posted on one of my genealogy sites. As I've discussed in previous posts, most French-Canadians have some shared ancestry, so it's no surprise that those of us descended from the LeFebvres (through the Cunninghams) are also descendants of Jean Guyon. He was, in fact, my 11xgreat-grandfather.

Jean Guyon was part of the Percheon Immigration, which came to New France in 1634 from the Perche region. He was very successful, with ten surviving children and (by some estimates) the second-largest number of descendants out of the early French settlers. According to Guyon's wikipedia page, 3/4 of old-line French-Canadians are descended from him. He (or his wife) were also the source of the mutation that caused Friedreich's ataxia in many generations of the family.

Some of his famous descendants include Celine Dion, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, and Madonna. Because of the on-going U.S. election, though, I was most interested to see Hillary Clinton on that list. In fact, while we share Guyon ancestry with Secretary Clinton, our relationship is closer. Clinton and I are 9th cousins once removed, through my 8xgreat-grandfather, Mathurin Gagnon.

Overview of the LeFebvres

This is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at the bottom of this post.

LeFebvre dit Boulanger

The LeFebvre dit Boulangers trace their origins back to the beginning of New France and the settlement of Québec. The first of our line in New France was Claude LeFebvre dit Boulanger, born in 1648 near Paris. Claude was confirmed November 11, 1665, in Québec city. It is not clear if his parents accompanied him to the colony. Claude worked for a man named Jacques Bilodeau on the  l'Île d'Orléans. On October 28, 1669, Claude married Marie Arcular, who was born in Paris in 1651. She came to Québec as a "fille du roi", literally "daughter of the king". Filles du roi were young women, most of whom were poor or orphans, who were given dowries and free transportation to New France by the crown, in the expectation that they would marry one of the many single men in the colony.

Given the LeFebvre's deep history in Canada, there are too many ancestors to name, including a number of filles du roi, colony leaders, and important land-owners. The descendants of Claude and Marie married into families with even earlier ties to the colony, including the descendants of Louis Hébert. Louis and his wife, Marie Rollet, were the first European farmers in Québec. Louis was an apothocary and noted horticulturalist in Paris when he was recruited by his friend, Samuel de Champlain, to bring his skills to the new colony in 1617. He had previously accompanied Champlain to Port-Royal, Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in 1606. Louis's son, Guillaume, married Hélène Desportes, who is believed to be the first European child born in the new colony, in 1620. Their daughter's descendants eventually married into the LeFebvre line.

The LeFebvres first moved to the United States in the late 1800s, as part of a large migration of French-Canadians out of Québec, where rising populations were making land and jobs scarce. Leon LeFebvre, and his new bride, Ombeline Blouin, moved to Lewiston, Maine, shortly after they were married in 1870. Lewiston was known for its "Little Canada" neighborhood, where immigrants could find a French-speaking Catholic church and school for their children. Lewiston was undergoing an economic boom and Leon was able to find a job as a millwright. They had six children in Maine, and in 1886 moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, another major mill town, so Leon could find work. Leon and Ombeline lived the rest of their lives in Minneapolis.

Leon and Ombeline's youngest daughter, Marie-Anne Medora LeFebvre, married Frank Cunningham before 1910. They, too, made their home in Minneapolis, where they raised their two children.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_H%C3%A9bert
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lefebvre-879
http://niche-canada.org/2014/11/26/lewiston-maines-little-canada-revealing-the-cultural-intentions-of-french-canadian-migrants/
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57401112

LeFebvres in Minneapolis

I went to a doctor's appointment in the Twin Cities today, and I took the opportunity to drop in at St. Mary's cemetery in South Minneapolis, to find the graves of my great-great-grandparents, Leon LeFebvre dit Boulanger (1848-1918) and Obeline (sometimes Ombeline) Blouin (1848-1926)

Leon and Obeline were born in adjacent very small farming towns, about 15 miles southeast of Quebec City. They were married in 1870 in Sherbrooke, a town east of Montreal, near the Maine border. I don't know why they were there. After their marriage, they moved to Lewiston, Maine, a major mill town. The French-Canadian population was booming at the time, and the first French Catholic church, St. Peter's, was built there in 1872. Leon and Obeline worshiped there, and it was there that their children were baptized.

In 1882, they moved to Minneapolis. Leon was a carpenter, and in the 1900 census his occupation is listed as "millwright". Presumably he moved to Minneapolis for more work or better pay. Although the family mostly used their "Boulanger" name while in Maine, in Minneapolis they used "LeFebvre", which is the name that has continued down through most of their children's children.

In the 1900 census, Obeline reported being the mother of eight children, only four of whom were still living. One of these was my great-grandmother, Dora LeFebvre Cunningham.

With no further ado, some pictures of their graves:

This is the shared tombstone for Leon and Obeline. As far as I can tell, none of their children are buried nearby, but I haven't checked all of the names yet.

A close-up so you can see the inscription. It says "Leon Lefebvre 1848-1918 Obeline Lefebvre 1848-1928"

An overview of the cemetery where they are buried. That's their tombstone just left of center. It really is a lovely area, although the dirty, melting snow at the tail end of a January thaw doesn't do it justice.

If you go to St. Mary's you may find yourself wondering, as I did, "where, in this giant cemetery, are the graves I'm looking for?" I took this screenshot of the map on my phone while I was standing at the grave. the blue dot marks the spot.

French Canadians: What we mean by an "isolated population"

In Anthropology classes, you'll hear the French Canadians referred to as an "isolated population", meaning that there is little intermarriage/breeding with other ethnic/racial groups. (You'll also see the word "inbred", but we try to avoid that because it has negative connotations.) In truth, French-Canadian populations have long mixed with Native and other European communities, however, there is a tendency toward endogamy. Because of the "isolation" of French-Canadian communities, there are certain genetic markers associated with French-Canadian ancestry, as well as unusually high incidence of certain genetic diseases, particularly Tay-Sachs.

As I work on the genealogy of my French-Canadian ancestors, I'm getting a much more visceral understanding of what we mean by "isolated". My great-grandmother, Medora LeFebvre, was born in Maine, but her parents were both born in the area around Quebec City, and following their families back, with only one exception, every single one of her direct-line ancestors has their ultimate origin in Quebec City in the early to mid 1600s. (The one exception is an English soldier from the mid-1700s). Most of the French-speaking Catholic inhabitants of Quebec City married other French-speaking Catholics (whether of European or Native ancestry), making the effective breeding population quite small. Now, obviously, there were other French-speaking Catholic communities, and people were continuously moving between them. I'm only 1/8 French Canadian, for example, and there are lots of other people with mixed French-Canadian ancestry.

If we think about this mathematically, however, we can see why most French-Canadians have some overlapping heritage. Take the specific case of Quebec City: Quebec City was founded in 1608, but grew quite slowly. According to wikipedia, (granted, not the most impressive source), in 1665, the town only had 550 people, a quarter of whom were in religious orders. This means that only a little over 400 people made up the reproducing population of the city (and of course, many of those would have been children, so not yet of reproductive age). If we're generous, we can say that 350 years ago, or around 17 generations back, Quebec City had about 450 potential ancestors. Seventeen generations back, we each have a total of 131,072 ancestors. If all of your ancestry is in Quebec City prior to 1665, then you are likely related to almost everyone who lived in the city at that time, and most of them would be related to you through multiple lines (that is, they would repeat over and over in your family tree).

 Of course, many people's French-Canadian ancestors - even the ones from Quebec City - migrated into New France after 1665. But French migration was cut off when the French lost control of the city in 1763, at which time the population was about 8,000 people. That is 252 years ago, or over 12 generations back, when we each have 4,096 ancestors. Again, anyone whose ancestry is rooted in the French population of Quebec City is very likely to be related to almost anyone else with similar ancestry, since each of us is probably related to half of the inhabitants of the town in 1763. (OK, that's not quite true, because of repeats, but you get the idea).

The practical effect of this isolated population is that most French-Canadians - particularly if they are from the same region of French Canada - are related to each other on some level. When I see that a person has French-Canadian ancestry in Quebec City, I know I'm almost certain to have some connection. Wikitree.com has a fun feature that allows you to calculate your relationship to anyone who is in their system. Here are some tidbits from our family:

I am 9th cousins with the new Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, through our common descent from Charles Cloutier, one of the early immigrants to Quebec City, who arrived in 1634. We have 46 known common ancestors in the last 25 generations.

Madonna (the singer) and I are 7th cousins, twice removed. We share 50 known ancestors in the last 25 generations, the closest being my eighth great-grandfather (her sixth), Charles Fortin, who was born in Quebec in 1656. I find this a particularly funny relationship because Madonna's family and mine (on my father's side) have deep roots in Bay City, Michigan. My grandmother knew her grandmother. But we're related through my mother's side.

Sticking with singers, Celine Dion and I are also 7th cousins (once removed). We have 125 known common ancestors in 25 generations, starting with Pierre Morin, born in Port-Royal, Acadia (eastern Canada) in 1662.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and I are 7th cousins, once removed. We share my 8th great-grandfather, Mathurin Gagnon, who was born in Perche, France, in 1606, and migrated to Quebec City sometime before 1641.

I'm sure there are a bunch more. If I run across any in the process of genealogy, I'll let you know.