Pelletier Marie Francoise

When Nicolas Pelletier and his wife Jeanne (DeVoisy Roussi) arrived in New France in 1637, they joined the some 200-300 immigrants who were, after some 30 plus years, still trying to make the colony a reality.  It is, in part, because of this small population that we have such a tightly interwoven family tree.  We have many examples of what I am going to talk about next, but I found this example particularly interesting.

Nicolas (1596-1674) and Jeanne (1612-1689) are both my 9^th and 10^th great-grandparents.  Their 2^nd oldest son, my 8^th great-grandfather, Francois Pelletier dit Antaya (1635-1690) had immigrated to New France with his parents when he was about 2 years old.  His is an interesting story for another time.  

Their 5th child Marie Francoise (1642-1707) was born in Canada; she is both my 8^th and 9^th great-grandmother.  Marie Francoise’s descendants are the focus of this post. 

Marie Francoise married at age 12 and shortly thereafter her husband passed away.  Her 2^nd husband, Sebastien Lienard Durbois Mondor (1626-1701), my 8^th and 9^th great-grandfather, immigrated to New France in 1654 and married Marie Francoise on October 11, 1655; she was 13 years old and Sebastien was about 29 years old.

The couple would eventually have 13 children with the first being born in 1657.  Of the 13 children, 3 became direct ancestors in our family tree: Jean Francois (1657-1731) my 8^th great-grandfather, Sebastien (1669-1717) my 7^th great-grandfather and Eustache (1689-1749) my 7^th great-grandfather.  By the time all 3 of these ancestors were born the population of the colony had grown to about 12,000. 

Below are the branches of the family tree that show the direct descendant line from each of these ancestors to one of my grandparents.  Two of the branches reconnected when Jean Francois’ great-granddaughter married the grandson of his brother Eustache.  These 5^th great-grandparents are Jean Baptiste Lienard dit Mondor and Madeleine Dore.  They are each other’s 1^st cousin once removed. 

The programs used to organize ancestor information (Ancestry, Family Tree Maker,…) are not readily able to show these complex relationships.  I’ve been working on a labeling system so I can document when these relationships occur.  Until then, I continue to be surprised by the complexity of the branches in our family tree.

Thanks for visiting, come back soon,
Cindy

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