VINCENT NICOLAS BOISSONEAU dit SAINTONGE
(1637-1715)

        He chose the latter. He married Anne Colin on October 18, 1669, (2)  in Saint Famille, on the island of Orleans. There are no documents to say where they settled, but they likely rented land in the parish of Saint-Jean Ile d’Orléans, which did not exist until this day. ‘in 1679. On April 7, 1674, the notary P. Duquet drew up a contract by which Vincent leased land from Simon Rocheron in Saint-Jean. Soon after, he bought Guy Baudin’s land in the same parish. This land remained in the hands of the Boissonneau family until the early 1900s. On September 13, 1715 (3), Vincent died in Saint-Jean Isle d’Orleans. He was seventy-eight years old. On September 17, 1715  (4), his burial took place in the Saint-Jean cemetery, Place Saint-Jean, Capitale-Nationale region, Quebec, Canada. According to a map of the settlements in 1709, the land of Vincent is identified as Lot 13 in the parish of Saint Jean.

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       Anne brought a dowry estimated at 200 pounds, plus her gift of fifty pounds from the king — a substantial amount, in their era. I found a calculator from 1751 (one hundred years later, which gave me an amount of £60,243.73).

        Vincent and Anne lived their lives on Isle d’Orleans in what was then called New France. They both lived until an advanced age. They buried the couple at Saint-Jean. Vincent died on September 14, 1715, (3) at almost 80 years of age. Anne lived several more years and died on July 29, 1719, at 75. The couple were both buried in the cemetery at Saint-Jean, Ile d’Orleans.

        The 1681 census says the family had three cattle and five acres of land value. 

        In his will, Vincent mentioned that Jean must continue farming the family land and take care of his brothers and sisters, one of whom was Jacques. This sentence in the will is proof that Jacques did not die in the cradle, as believed by some. Jean was also required to care for his parents until their death, making it necessary for him to return to Saint-Jean to carry out their wishes. 

        Since Vincent went by the surname Boissonneau dit Saintonge, his children and their descendants went by either the surname Boissonneau or Saintonge. Only two of his sons married, Jean and Nicolas. It would be fair to say that Jean’s descendants used the surname Boissonneau, (Boissonneault Boissonnault, Boissoneau, Boisoneau, Boissonneaux, Boissonnault, Boissoneault, Boisseneau, Boissennault, Boissenneault, Boissineau, Busseno, Bussino, Busseneau and Bussoneau). For my research, I will refer to them as Boissonneault to avoid confusion. Nicolas’s descendants use the surname Saintonge (St-Onge, Saint-Onge, St. Onge and St-Ange).  There are several exceptions and there are many with the surname Saintonge et al. that are of families other than the Boissonneault’s.

          One would wonder how this could happen. The geographical separation might explain it. Contact broke down between the families because of their geographic distance, causing them to evolve differently. Jean married and settled on the family farm while some of his descendants left the island and settled in villages along the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River just across from the Saint-Jean parish. Nicolas made his home in Quebec City, and one of his descendants became a navigator and left the area to settle in what is now Saint-Eustache, Québec, north of Montreal. He was the only male grandson of Nicolas to father children.

​Note: We pronounce the ditfit in dit Saintonge like the letter “d.”