Étienne TRUDEAU
Biography

Étienne TRUDEAU — (1641 - 1712)

Pioneer Étienne Trudeau (Truteau) was laid to rest on July 22nd, 1712, at Montréal. Étienne had arrived in New France in 1659 aboard the St-André, a master carpenter engaged to work for the Sulpicians.

A few years after arriving, Étienne, "big and strong with proven courage," was noted for his bravery helping repel an attack by a group of Iroquois.

Étienne married Adrienne Barbier in 1667: all but one of their fourteen children were boys! They're ancestors of actress Angelina Jolie as well as the Canadian political family Trudeau.

While most of their children put down roots in the region of Montréal, son François settled in New Orleans. François's wife Jeanne Burel (Burelle) was one of three sisters who were among the "Pelican Girls," a group of marriageable young women who emigrated to Mobile in 1704 aboard Le Pélican. Mobile was reportedly "the first Catholic parish in Colonial French Louisiana." According to WikiTree, cartoonist Garry Trudeau (of Doonesbury fame) is a descendant of this couple.

The Burel sisters have a complicated history. Although they emigrated to Mobile from France, they were born in Québec (Cap St-Ignace). Their mother, Marguerite Roussel, was a fille-du-roi who married Étienne Burel after the death of her first husband. Étienne returned to France with his family around 1700.

[Sources: PRDH; Fichier-Origine; "Étienne Trudeau", Our French-Canadian Ancestors (vol.1, pp.171-178), Gérard Lebel (Thomas J. Laforest (tr.)), Édouard Sénécal illustrator, Palm Harbor, Florida, 1983.]

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