Pierre
ROBERT dit LAFONTAINE
Françoise GIRARD Helpful background for understanding names and places that may appear in Pierre's Québec records.
Québec has been described by several names during different periods of its history. Knowing the period name can make older records easier to recognize.
Thanks to Micheline Gadbois MacDonald for providing this information.
When the first settlers came to Québec from France, it was a custom to add a "dit" nickname to the surname. The English translation of "dit" is "said." Colonists of Nouvelle France used dit names as distinguishers. A settler might use one to differentiate a branch of the family from siblings, sometimes choosing a name connected with the place to which the family had relocated.
A dit name could also result from a casual adoption or from honoring the family that had raised someone. In other cases it identified the town or village in France from which the person originated. The custom ended around 1900, when people increasingly used only one name, either the dit nickname or the original surname.
Source: American-French Genealogical Society, Woonsocket, Rhode Island (www.afgs.org/ditnames/index1.html)
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Birth — 1755
1763 - France cedes its North American posessions to Britain by the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years War (French and Indian War). Quebec City French-speaking Catholics were now under the rule of Protestant Britain under King George III.
1775 - The Battle of Québec was fought on December 31 between the American Continental Army and British defenders of Québec City. It was the first major defeat for the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
1784 - The bifocal lens is invented (Benjamin Franklin, United States)
1785 Marriage / Partner1790 Birth of Child1791 - The Constitutional Act divides Québec into Upper and Lower Canada1811 Marriage of Child1818 - Canada's border is defined as the 49th Parallel from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.1820 - January 29 - George IV becomes King of England
Death — 1823View charts and other tools for this ancestor and family.
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