BOISSONNEAULT JEAN-BAPTISTE (1708-1753)

Occupation: Farmer

 

      ​Jean-Baptiste was born 1708 (1), St- Jean, Ille de Orleans, Quebec, eldest son of Jean and Marguerite (Choret). His siblings comprised five sisters and four brothers.

          ​On February 4, 1734 (2), he married Marie-Josephte Demeule at the church in Saint Jean parish, isle d’Orleans built the same year. According to the Church register kept by the Drouin Brotherhood a note cand be found. Their marriage would have taken place either between September 1733 and April 1734, or between April 19th and July 27th 1735. The actual entry has been lost.

          ​Jean-Baptiste and Marie Josephte Demeule had eight children: Jean-Baptiste, Elizabeth, Marie-Madeleine, Marie-Josette, Marie-Louise, Jean-Francois, Pierre-Noel, Marguerite, Joseph-Marie and Marie-Genevieve

           ​Jean died the 3rd of April 1753 (3), when his youngest son Joseph was only three years of age. His youngest daughter would have been an infant.

Note:

          ​Some Boissonneau-dit-Saintonge dropped the Boissonneau part and kept St-Onge, however this appears more in the County of Deux-Montagnes, north of Montreal in the 1700s. To this day, this branch of the Boissonneau family still carries the surname St-Onge. You might also have a few Boissonneau who switched their name to St-Onge in the States, in the late 1800s simplifying matters, but they are the exception.

          ​The St-Onge in the Gaspé area is from Payan-dit-St-Onge. Some kept the name Payan and some the name St-Onge. Saintonge per se was never a surname. Used as a “dit” addition to people who emigrated from the province of Saint Onge in France and added to their name. There were approximately twenty-five surnames in New France that had “dit Saintonge” added to them. Payan was the largest group.

​          ​The former French province of Saintonge is now called the Department of Charente-Maritime. You’ll notice that sometimes Saintonge is without the hyphen, the reason being that the former province of Saintonge appeared that way. The word “Saintonge” came from Latin. In the Christian tradition, there never was a Saint named Onge. People started writing it “St-Onge” because it sounded like the name of a Saint, such as St-Pierre or St-Jean (surnames well known in Canada).