Jean-François-Germain CHASSE
Biography

Jean CHASSÉ — Faux-Saunier — (1711 - 1798)

French-Canadian pioneer Jean-François Chassé passed away on July 5th, 1798, at Kamouraska, Québec. Jean was one of many faux-sauniers (salt-smugglers) who were expelled from France in the early 1700's. High taxes on salt in France during those times led to the rise of the contraband salt trade. The French government treated transgressors with harsh punishments and even expulsion
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Jean married twice in Québec (Josèphe Mignault 1735; Angélique Asselin 1757) and had 17 children.

Apparently exile did not extinguish Jean's penchant for illegal activities. In 1747 he was imprisoned for counterfeiting money but "sprang the locks of his cell and disappeared without a trace," leaving his family behind. "His flight was probably to the fishermen of the Gaspé." After 2 or 3 years he was able to return and his eighth child Théotiste was born in 1751.

Jean-François and Josèphe Mignault are ancestors of former NHL star Marcel Dionne. Other notable persons with faux-saunier ancestors are Angelina Jolie (Claude Deveau) and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (Jean-Baptiste Gousse (Gource)).

[Sources: PRDH; Fichier-Origine; "Jean Chassé", Our French-Canadian Ancestors (vol.29, pp.70-81), Gérard Lebel (Thomas J. Laforest (tr.)), Palm Harbor, Florida, 1983. Denis Beauregard's Francogene website has a listing of faux-sauniers]

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