Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

Mon Petit Coin   by   Norm Léveillée


Pierre Léveillée aka Pierre Fourquin dit Léveillée

In my paternal lineage, there are three Pierre Léveillée: my son Peter (Pierre), who for the present is the last in my lineage with the Léveillée surname, is the third Pierre. The second is Pierre Fourquin dit Léveillée, who was born in 1686 in Lorraine, France and who married Barbe Félis in Vittel before 1723. Whether he stayed in France with his mother when his father, the first Pierre, came to New France as a soldier or came to New France with his father and mother, and then returned to Lorraine to marry Barbe Félis. I have as yet found data to support either of these suppositions.

Ironically, the first two "Pierre" are also ancestors of my father's maternal lineage.

The first was Pierre Fourquin dit Léveillée, son of Blaise FOURQUIN & Claude PIROT, who married before 1660 in Lorraine, France. Pierre was born, therefore, after 1660 in the ancient province of Lorraine, in Eastern France. On 25 February 1685, in the parish of St-Privat, in the town of Vittel, Diocese of Toul, Department of Vosges, Lorraine, France, my 6th great-grandfather married Anne Phélisse.

There is sketchy documentation on my ancestor. However, there is an entry in the Liste de migrants, Régiment de Carignan (List of immigrants, Carignan Regiment), year 1688: "LESVEILLE, Occupation: Soldat". On 6 July 1697, Iberville recruited men from Québec, at Plaisance, in the county of Papineau. The listing as number "40) leveillé; X dit (aka) Léveillé, soldat (soldier), n. (born) France, 1697 Plaisance". I am assuming that this reference is my ancestor. The "dit" (aka) surname "Léveillé" was most likely added because Pierre was a soldier bugler who "awoke" the troops. The French word "l'éveillé" means "he who awakens".

I often wonder what adventurous spirit overtook my 6th great-grandfather to come to New France toward the end of the 17th century. New France had been populated for only some 70 years before my "pépère" Pierre came to begin a new life and found a new world family. Did he first come alone and then send for his family? I know from my research that he had a son, also named Pierre. Did the first Pierre bring his wife and his child(ren) to settle in the area around Québec? I will continue my research to find data to prove my assumptions.

My Fourquiin-Léveillée ancestors eventually settled in Yamaska county, along the Yamaska River. Pierre's grandson Joseph François Fourquin-Léveillée, who was baptized around 1723 in Vittel, married Marie-Anne Giguère on 22 February 1762 in the parish of St-Michel d'Yamaska, province of Québec. He was listed on a baptismal certificate as "soldat du régiment de Languedoc" (soldier of the Languedoc Regiment). In the Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s there is an entry: "Fourquain, Joseph, 1762, Québec, from Norman Laybourn Emigrations of Alsaciens & Lorrains". There is a listing in the Chambre des notaires du Québec, Le Parchemin 20 Août 1767 (TR),Pillard, L. (1736-1767): "Echange de terre située à Yamaska en retour d'une terre située en l'île du Domaine entre Joseph Fourquin dit Leveillé et Marianne Giguère, son épouse, de Dyamaska, et Joseph Mondoux et Marguerite Petit, son épouse, Dyamaska". (In the Parchment 20 Aug 1767, Chamber of Notaries of Québec:"An exchange of land situated in Yamaskas ... between Joseph Forquin dit Leveillé and Marianne Giguère, his spouse, of Yamaska and Joseph Mondoux and Marguerite Petit, his spouse, of Yamaskas".

This seventh generation, my 4th great-grandfather Joseph François Fourquin-Léveillée was an ancestor of my father, in both his paternal and maternal lineage.
His first-born son Joseph Léveillée dit Fourquin married Marguerite Talussier-Lasalle on 20 May 1787 in St-Michel, Yamaska, Québec. Their great-granddaughter Angèle Léveillée, who married Louis Théroux, in the parish of St-David was the mother of my paternal grandmother Césarie THÉROUX, wife of Joseph LÉVEILLÉE, the parents of my father Jean-Baptiste Léveillée.
His third born child Jacques Léveillée dit Fourquin married Marie Saint-Germain on 15 Jan 1798 in St-Michel d'Yamaska. Their great-great-grandson Joseph Léveillée, who married Césarie Théroux on 15 Jan 1889 in St-David, Yamaska, Québec, was my paternal grandfather.

All the remaining ancestors, except my grandfather Joseph Aimé Léveillée, lived in that area along the Yamaska River, worshipping in either the parishes of St-Michel or St-David in Yamaska County, or from 1835 in the newly created parish of St-Aimé in Richelieu County.

My great-grandfather, Antoine Fourquin dit Léveillée liveds in the area where I was born, in Harris Village, Town of Coventry, Rhode Island, from 1870 through 1879 with his family, only to return to St-Aimé to die there in January 1880 at the age of 45 years.

My grandfather, Joseph Aimé Léveillée, as an adult, returned to Harris Village around 1908-1909 to set up a home for his family, who immigrated permanently to Harris Village in 1910. My grandfather dropped the "Fourquin" part of the surname, and used "Léveillée" as his family's surname in the United States. My father, Jean-Baptiste Léveillée was five years old when he immigrated with his family.

I would imagine that the life of any of my ancestors followed more or less in the same manner as I wrote about my great-great-grandfather Joseph Fourquin-Léveillée, the Town Crier of St-Aimé. Life for my Léveillée ancestors in Québec appeared to be the same from generation to generation. (See Jim Carten's "The Way It Was" in this issue).

The manner of life did change when the family immigrated to the United States. The ancestors were no longer farmers, or soldiers like the first two generations, but mill workers, brought to Coventry, Rhode Island by the English mill owners to work in the cotton industry. With the closing of the cotton mills in the 1950's, my generation, and subsequent generations, found other professions to make a living.

From the first "Léveillée", aka "Fourquin dit Léveillée" to my son's generation, here are the direct lineages:

    Jean-Baptiste Léveillée
    Jeannette Bélanger
    (m. 1932 in Coventry, Rhode Island)

    Normand A. Léveillée
    Annette Lavallée
    (m. 1963 in West Warwick, Rhode Island)

    Peter J. Léveillée

References:
(1)Hubert Charbonneau, "Du Saint-Laurent au Mississippi: les compagnons d'Iberville, La Rubrique du P.R.D.H.", Mémoires de la Société Généalogique Canadienne Française, volume 51 numéro 1 cahier 223 printemps 2000, p.46.
(2) Denis Beauregard Dictionnaire généalogique de nos origines Tome 2, Québec 1731-1799, Productions FrancoGène, p. 42.
(3) PRDH, Certificat de famille No. 39213.
(4) Ibid., Liste des migrants, Certificat No. 402511.
(5) Ibid, Certificat d'union No. 64528.
(6) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 350654.
(7) Ibid., Certificat d'union No. 83608.
(8) Ibid., Certificat de mariage No. 360817.


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Created 1 Feb 2003