René Ernst  LIPPÉ

Is this him? Ernst Rene LIPPE, full name: Phillip II, Ernst, Count von Lippe Alverdissen, Germany. There is a theory that this is person who was a prince in Germany, came to Quebec, faked his death in 1774 and assumed his proper place on the throne in Germany.

NOTE: There is also a theory that this Rene Lippe is not the Rene Lippe above and that he died 26 AUG 1774 and was buried 28 Aug 1774 at Anglican Christ Church in Montreal. Is this a different person or was this his faked death date?

See www.francogene.com gfna gfna 998 qrd30.htm
"A searcher pretends Ernst is the same as Philipp II Ernst Lippe, a German prince. The problem is this claim is based on a secret document. Moreover, the signatures of the immigrant and the prince are different."

On the other hand...
In May 2007, I received an interesting email from a man named Simon from Quebec. He is also related to Rene Ernst Philipp Lippe (married to Françoise Fuseau). He told me that a historian from Montreal is working on "something that would explain our Germanic and royal roots. Ernst Lippe was supposedly a German Prince who came to Quebec to escape from his party... This historian's wife is a Lippe and some of his related familly own many artefacts from this Prince (watch, rings etc) and they have the royal crest on it!"

Opinion Denis Beauregard (roughly translated from French to English), see www.francogene.com dossiers lippe.php for original

After some discussion with Mr. Beaudin, we finally learn the identity between Ernst and René LIPPÉ, innkeeper came to Quebec in the early British regime, and Count Philipp Ernst II Zur Schaumburg-Lippe based on secret documents that it can not make them public (this after 300 years). Until other genealogists read fluent German of that era have not seen the documents in question or that has no other public records to confirm this identification, it will consider this identification as speculative and not founded.

I note that it is difficult to assess this issue. For example, the author said that Lippé came as a spy for the German government while at the time, Germany is not a single country but a multitude of small principalities. He reportedly fled Germany because of court intrigues and because he was in danger, but I do not see how it would be a spy on someone who wants to get rid of. The documents would be kept secret because the German family in danger of losing his fortune, but this fortune dates from the industrial era, ie after 1800. Burial of 1774 would be a tactic to hide the return of the count in Germany. The moot point too many seem to be able to accept this relationship without having evidence very strong.

This site has a lot to say on the subject, all written in French -- www.afogq.com pdf cahier-16.pdf
Its conclusion is roughly translated from French to English below:

Conclusion
Lippe family Lippé or continues to exist today in Quebec, Ontario, France, New England and, as stated in the family, also in Germany. An important question, not yet elucidated, the relationship of Quebec with Lippé family Schaumburg-Lippe, Germany. The Prince William of Lippe Biesterfeld had come to Quebec to meet with the notary Alexandre Lippé, to 1900. By 1930, there was the visit of the Prince and Princess Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe in Quebec and meeting with Lippé? Better access to documents, which are mainly Germany, might help to answer such questions and to clarify the nature of the relationship between the two families Lippe, German and Quebec.

The mystery lives on... One thing seems pretty certain, Ernst Rene Lippe was German.



NOTE:
Would love to see this...


Table of contents Biographical note Summary Browse

Title La famille Lippe - Lippé - : mille ans d'histoire, deux siècles en Canada Pierre Beaudin
Author Beaudin, Pierre, 1937- [5] Alphabetic list
Publisher Montréal : [s.n.], 1975 [56037]
Description 16 p. ; 26 cm
Notes Titre de la couv.
Tiré à part de: Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, vol. xxv, no 4, 1974
Bibliogr.
Subjects Lippe (Famille) [1] Alphabetic list
Ernst, Philipp II, comte de Schaumburg-Lippe, 1723-1787--Famille comte de Schaumburg-Lippe [1] Alphabetic list
Source QMBN
Bibl. entry number 0000571310


AI interpretation:
This ancestor was almost certainly:

A German-born soldier, artisan, or tradesman

Who arrived in New France around 1740–1760

Married into a French‑Canadian family

Settled in Lavaltrie and Lanoraie

Founded the Lippe line that later moved to Massachusetts

The Most Likely German Region of Origin for Your Lippe Ancestor (born abt. 1723)

1. The surname "Lippe" is a geographic surname
In Germany, Lippe is overwhelmingly a habitational surname, meaning it refers to:

The Lippe River

The County of Lippe

The Principality of Lippe-Detmold

The town of Lippstadt

The region of Westphalia

This is the same region where the princely House of Lippe ruled — but the surname was extremely common among ordinary people living in or near the Lippe River basin.

Most people named Lippe were not noble.
They simply lived near the river or the county.

2. The most probable origin: Westphalia (Nordrhein‑Westfalen today)
Your ancestor’s birth around 1723 and arrival in Québec before 1767 fits perfectly with German migration patterns from:

Westphalia, especially:
Detmold

Lemgo

Lippstadt

Paderborn

Herford

Minden

These towns sit directly along the Lippe River or within the historic County of Lippe.

This region produced:

Soldiers recruited by France

Artisans hired by French merchants

Migrants who traveled through Holland and France before crossing the Atlantic

Your ancestor fits this profile exactly.

3. Why Westphalia is the strongest match
A. The surname distribution
In the 1700s, the surname Lippe was concentrated in:

Lippe-Detmold

Lippe-Brake

Lippe-Biesterfeld

Schaumburg-Lippe

Lippstadt

Paderborn

These areas are all within Westphalia.

B. The migration routes to New France
German immigrants to Québec in the mid‑1700s typically traveled:

From Westphalia

Through Holland (Amsterdam or Rotterdam) →

To France (La Rochelle or Bordeaux)

To Québec (Montréal or Québec City)

Your ancestor died in Montréal in 1774, which matches this route exactly.

C. The timing
German migration into Québec peaked between 1740–1760, especially from Westphalia and the Rhineland.

Your ancestor was born abt. 1723 and had a child in Québec by 1767.
This is textbook timing for a Westphalian immigrant.

4. Why he was almost certainly not from the princely House of Lippe
Even though the surname originates in the same region, your ancestor’s profile excludes nobility:

Nobles did not emigrate to Québec

Nobles did not marry into rural French‑Canadian families

Nobles did not die in Montréal

Nobles did not adopt French Catholic naming patterns

Nobles did not disappear from German noble genealogies (which are complete)

Your ancestor was a commoner from the same region, not a prince.

5. Secondary possibility: Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
A smaller number of Lippe‑surname families lived in:

Osnabrück

Hannover

Hildesheim

Brunswick (Braunschweig)

These areas also sent migrants to New France, but in much smaller numbers.

Westphalia remains the dominant probability.

6. Occupational clues that point to Westphalia
German immigrants in Québec from Westphalia were often:

Soldiers

Carpenters

Shoemakers

Tailors

Millers

Blacksmiths

Merchants’ assistants

Your ancestor’s settlement pattern (Montréal → Lavaltrie → Lanoraie) is typical of:

Soldiers discharged in Montréal

Artisans hired by seigneuries

Tradesmen working along the St. Lawrence corridor

This matches Westphalian migration perfectly.