Surname Saturday: Richard

Richard is a good place for me to start writing about an entire family line, because it's one of the few I've traced back to my ancestor that came to Canada, and it starts (ends?) fairly recently in my family tree. So it's a pretty big name in my family tree.

My paternal grandmother (Mémère) was Clemence Wilhelmina Marguerite "Maggie" Richard (Lavoie after she married). She was born on September 19, 1916, in a small town in Manitoba. Sometime before 1947, she married Louis Jacques Lavoie. They had 6 children, who eventually multiplied into 10 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren (so far). Mémère died on November 4, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is buried with her husband in the St. Boniface cemetery.

Maggie's parents were Alphonse Richard and Bertha Daigneault. Alphonse was born on July 18, 1889, in Cass County, North Dakota. This was during the time when many of my ancestors on both sides of the family moved to Cass County, and eventually back into Canada. This was apparently because of the homesteading opportunities in Dakota Territory at the time. He had a twin sister, but she died immediately. Alphonse married Bertha on November 22, 1910. He died on August 9, 1960, and is buried in the Green Acres Cemetery just outside of Winnipeg.

Alphonse was the son of Phillippe Albert Olivier Richard and Arthemise Ducharme. Albert was born in Mont Carmel, Quebec, on February 6, 1865. On July 26, 1887, he married Arthemise in St. Benedict, Cass County, North Dakota. After having a whole lot of children, an unfortunate number of whom died in infancy or as children, Albert died on July 2, 1940, in St. Francois Xavier, Manitoba.

The parents of Albert were Francois Alexis Richard and Elisabeth Levasseur. Alexis was born on November 8, 1935, in Quebec. On July 3, 1860, he married Elisabeth in St. Maurice, Quebec. Elisabeth died on July 21, 1906, in Wild Rice, Cass County, North Dakota, and in 1908 Alexis married her younger sister, Philomene. Alexis died on October 20, 1910, in Quebec.

Alexis was the son of Pierre Richard and Marie Reine Ducharme (dite Provencher, according to some websites). Pierre, born in 1801, married Marie around October 10, 1821. She died in 1845, and in 1846 he remarried, this time to Claire Lord. Pierre died in 1867.

[I should have known this would turn out to be a really long blog post. Sorry!]

Pierre's parents were Jean-Baptiste Richard and Charlotte Deshaies. Jean-Baptiste was born in 1776, and that's pretty much all I know about him and Charlotte.

Jean-Baptiste's parents were Jean-Baptiste Richard and Francoise Levasseur. Jean-Baptiste (Sr.) was born in 1746, and Francoise was born in 1750.

Jean-Baptiste Sr.'s parents were Joseph Richard and Francoise Cormier. Joseph lived from 1720 to 1770, and Francoise lived from 1724 to 1799.

Joseph was the son of Martin Richard and Marie Cormier. Martin was born in 1692, and married Marie around 1713.

Martin's parents were Martin Richard and Marguerite Bourg. Martin was born in 1665 in Port Royal, Acadia. In 1690, he married Marguerite (born in 1673 in Port Royal). Marguerite died in 1727 in Beaubassin, Acadia, and Martin died on February 6, 1748, also in Beaubassin.

Michel Richard dit Sansoucy was the father of Martin, and the first Richard (at least in my line) in Acadia. He was born in France in 1630. He married Madeleine Blanchard (Martin's mother) in 1656 in Port Royal. After Madeleine's death, he married Jeanne Babin. In 1687, he died in Port Royal.

Michel's parents are a topic of much debate, so I won't bother to speculate on them. For now, I'm focusing more on other lines, and on finding other descendents of my Richard ancestors.