Michel
GOSSELIN dit COMMIS
Josephte DESCHAMPS
Helpful background for understanding names and places that may appear in Michel'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 — 1773
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)1791 - The Constitutional Act divides Québec into Upper and Lower Canada1818 - 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 England1830 - June 26 - William IV becomes King of England1837 - June 20 - Victoria becomes Queen of England1841 - February 11 – Act of Union - The two colonies of The Canadas are merged into the United Province of Canada 1843 - The Christmas card is invented (Sir Henry Cole and John Callcott Horsley, England) 1845 - The rubber band is invented (Stephen Perry, England)1852-53 - The Grand Trunk Railway receives its charter.1854 - The French seigneurial system of land tenancy is finally abolished in Canada East.1857 - Ottawa chosen by Queen Victoria as the capital of the united colony of Canada.View charts and other tools for this ancestor and family.
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Sainte-Famille-de-l'île-d'Orléans, Province of Québec, Canada
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