Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

The name Fourquin dit Léveillé changes to Léveillée

by Norm Léveillée

Several months ago, a cousin asked me when and why did our ancestor dropped one of the two names associated with our ancestors: Fourquin dit Léveillé.

From our very first ancestor, Pierre Fourquin Léveillé who came to New France in 1688 as a soldier in the Carignan Regiment

"LESVEILLE, Occupation: Soldat" in the Liste de migrants, Régiment de Carignan, year 1688

Please refer to www.leveillee.net/ancestry/d52.htm for information on this first ancestor.

Down from this Ninth Generation ancestor through the Eighth Generation "Pierre Fourquin dit Léveillé" also known as "Fourquain dit Léveillé" and the Seventh Generation "Joseph François Fourquin dit Léveillé" who was the first to marry in New France in the parish of St-Michel d'Yamaska in 1762 - two of his sons were to be my paternal and maternal grandparents: Joseph and Jacques - to the Third Generation "Joseph Aimé Léveillée", my grandfather, through these generations, both names were used - at times Fourquin or Fourquain being the "dit" name; at other times Léveillé being the "dit" name.

After having received the baptismal certificates, parish of St-Aimé de Richelieu, of each of my grandfather's twelve children, I suddendly realized the "when" of my cousin's original question. If you go to the Parish Registers on this site, and look at the first three children - all daughters:

i.    Marie Césarie aka Cécilia born on 16 & baptized on 17 January 1890
ii.   Marie Argentine Rosana born & baptized on 7 December 1891
iii.   Marie Parmélie Anna born 23 & baptized 24 September 1893

you will notice that my grandfather signed his name "Joseph Fourquin dit Léveillée" - using "Fourquin" as the main name and "Léveillée" as the dit name. Please, notice also that he used an extra "e" as the end of the dit name - really for the first time.

With the next two sons, the priest indicated that the father did not know how to sign - which was an error on Father Caron's part. How did this occur? The copy of the Baptismal Certificate that is on my site comes from the "Greffe" or Town Hall copy. So, when Father Caron, whenever, made out the second copy for the Town Hall, he mistakenly indicated that the father could not sign. The next time that I have the occasion to visit St-Aimé in Québec, I will attempt to view the "Parish" copy of the Register to ascertain how my grandfather signed this register for the two following sons:

iv.  Joseph Alzide Léveillée born 28 & baptized 29 October 1894
v.  Joseph Aimé Léveillée born 28 & baptized 29 May 1896

When my aunt Juliette was baptized in 1899, her father signed his name as "Joseph Léveillée", dropping the "Fourquin" and using the "dit" name as the family name. This is also true for the other children born in St-Aimé de Richelieu from that year on:

vi.  Marie Juliette Léveillée born & baptized 15 March 1899
vii.  Joseph Antoine Olivier Léveillée born & baptized 7 May 1901
viii.  Marie Evonne Bernadette Léveillée born on 3 & baptized on 4 July 1903
ix.   Jean-Baptiste Léveillée born 23 & baptized 24 June 1905
x.   Joseph Homérile Léveillée born 12 & baptized 13 March 1907
xi.  Marie Ida Léveillée born 12 & baptized 13 February 1909

Basing myself on the above documents, the "when" year is 1899. From that point on, my grandparents' family name was now "Léveillée". The "Fourquin" had been dropped by many of Antoine Fourquin dit Léveillé's children. My cousin's grandmother Marguerite, signed her name as "Marguerite L'Éveillée" as the godmother of my father:

ix.   Jean-Baptiste Léveillée born 23 & baptized 24 June 1905

As to the "why", had I been into genealogy when my grandfather was alive, I could have asked him. I asked my godmother "Aunt Ida", before she passed away in 2005, but she couldn't answer other than, it simplified our family name.

When my grandfather's family immigrated to Rhode Island in 1905, the family name was officially "Léveillée" and it has been used in that manner by my paternal uncles and aunts, and all my cousins. The "Fourquin" part was left in St-Aimé de Richelieu, Québec in the year 1899. We know the when but we will never know why my grandfather and some of his brothers and sisters dropped the "Fourquin" and adopted "Léveillée" as the official family name.

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Created 1 Feb 2003