Késsinnimek - Roots - Racines

  In past issues of our magazine, I have reviewed books on Native American marriages written by Paul J. Bunnell.
Paul sent me a copy of his latest work French & Native North American Marriages & Other Sources, Vol. 3. In his Forward Paul writes:

This third volume has many First Nation Eastern North American Peoples listed as recently as 1871 census. There are also some source cases of mid-Canadian records listed. And where "Amerindienne" is noted, they are Native American. Not all main highlighted surnames are the Native American, but could be the spouse of the Metis or Native American...

I want to thank all the genealogists and historians who have supported me through these many years of research. And I always worry over the information that I pass on to you, hoping it is what you are looking for, or at least that I am giving you the leads that pull out the truth in our verification process...

On page 4, Paul lists his five Sources:

GFF
Genealogies of First Families, at The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Canada, compiled by Robert F. Fellows, 6th Edition, Jan. 20006...

METIS
From Metis Webpage: http://metisgencom, Archives: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ submitted by various members of some other sources listed at this site... (and he lists several persons)... This site has been very valuable in connecting Metis but the information that has been submitted are from individual files and records and therefore must be verified

MIK
Mi'maq 1871 Nova Scotia Census, mostly compiled by Daniel P. Strouthes and found at the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Paul indicates that the information was submitted by people who really didn't understand the language and this may cause some misinforamtion)

MPR
Mi'kmaq Parish Registers dated 1764 to 1848 for Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon located in the St. Lawrence River Way. (Paul indicates that this is only a partial listing from the compilation of Charles A. Martijn)

PRDH
Programme de recherche en démographie historique, Généalogie canadienne-française du Québec. Website: www.genealogy.umontreal.ca...

It appears to me that his Sources were derived mostly, if not entirely, from Secondary Sources. In the first four Sources, there is reference to "compiled by". This means that this person made a "compilation" of the marriages found from the original or primary source, or even from another secondary source. Therefore, there could be errors, especially if the compiler was not well founded in the language of the primary or secondary sources being copied. Paul has listed many Native Americans for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, I'm wondering why he didn't use Stephen White's three volume work!

I did not have the time to verify every single piece of data that is contained in this booklet. The marriages start with

?, Charles
Charles...?(Negre (negro), married 10 April 1752 at Detroit, Michigan to Marie, an Amerindienne Panise and widow of Albert Parent.
Source - METIS

And the second entry is:
ACQUIN (Acquin), Gabriel
Born 1816 in New Brunswick, Chief of the Maliseets. Died Oct. 1901. Married #1 to Mary...? who was born 1821. Married #2 to Delurd who was born 1829. They settled on teh St. Marys Reserve, Saint Marys Parish, York County, New Brunswick. Children were:...? Born 1841, Francis, born 1843, died before 1881,...? VBorn 1845 married #1 Elizabeth, #2 Catherine, Hannah, born 1848 who married Peter Sapier...?Born 1851, Catherine born 1856, Stephen, born c. 1857.
Source - GFF

The last entries are:
WILMOT, Thomas
Listed in 1871 Nova Scotia Census as a Mi'kmaq, age 55, living in a Shanty, Illiterate, No Occupation Listed, Pictou County Division 3.
Source - MIK
ZASTE, Gonzague
Son of Andre Zaste and Marie Contre dit Sansoucy, born 5 April 1802, Berthier-en-Haut, Quebec, arried Angelique Parisien, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Parisien and Louise Forcier, born 1814 at Riviere-Rouge, married 18 May 1833 at St-Bonificae, Manitoba.
Source - METIS

ZASTE, Peter-Elmer
Son of Elzear Zaste and Adele Falcon, married Dorothy Tipps, daughter of William Tipps and Virginia Payes on 1 July 1944 at St. Ann, Belcour, North Dakota.
Source - METIS

There are 116 pages containing over 1044 individual entries. I must admit that Paul put a lot of work into compiling these marriages alphabetically.

I browsed through each page looking for any of my ancestors. I found several as listed below. The data found at the references listed for my website have all been verified using Primary Sources.

The first was Marie-Louise-Thérèse AMIOT dit Villeneve on page 8, listed in Bunnell's book as "daughter of Daniel Amiot and Domithilde Kapiouapnokoue (Indian), born 10 Jan 1720 in Michillimakinac, married 2 June 1736 at Michillimakinac to Claude Gauthier St-Germain De Vierville, soldier, ecrivain du Roi (king's writer) 1748 to 1750 - Source - METIS".
I have this same ancestor listed on my website at http://www.leveillee.net/ancestry/famille10471.htm which is a copy of the data from PRDH. There is no date listed for her birth other than "before 1710 in an unknown location". No marriage date, but there is a date of death as 1714-11-07 at Montreal. If you will notice that there are discrepancies between the METIS source and PRDH. I wonder if these are two different women? I wish that I knew what the Primary source was so that I could make corrections to my website if needed.

On page 19, Paul lists BOUCHER, Pierre and source is listed simply as METIS. The verified data for this ancestor can be found on my Ancestry website at http://www.leveillee.net/ancestry/d307.htm. There are several links on that page for data collected at PRDH and the research of Jacques Dunant, an author of our magazine Késssinnimek - Roots - Racines.

There are several GAGNON ancestors in my lineage. However, none are apparently related to GAGNON, Jean-Baptiste as listed on page 43.

On page 43, GERMANEAU, Joachim is listed as married to Elisabeth COUC dit Montour, daughter of my 8th great-grandparents Pierre COUC and Marie Mite8m8g8k8e. There is verified data of this marriage and an historical account of who Elisabeth COUC or Madame Montour on my site at Élisabeth COUC & Joachim GERMANEAU. All the data on this page and on the links have been verified using Primary Sources. Please note that Elisabeth's was also known as "La Chenette", and not "LaVhenette" as listed on that page.

Paul listed four LAMBERT Metis. However, none of these are related to the many LAMBERT found in my website. By the way, if you go to Index of Names, there is an alphabetical listing of all ancestors with a link to their data.

On page 117, VIGEANT, Jean is listed as the son of Laurent Vigeant and Marie Boileau. There is a list of Laurent & Marie's children on my site at Laurent VIGEANT & Marie BOILEAU. I'm wondering if this "Jean" is the same as the JEAN who married ARCHANGE COLLET PICARD RIGAUD in Chambly on 29 September 1790. Perhaps his marriage to Marguerite, dite La Sauvagesse was his second marriage.

The translation of Jean Daigle was poorly done. I wrote to Paul about it. He wrote back. I'm including his comments and a better translation, which will appear in subsequent editions of Volume 3:

The early documents proving many French Acadian/Amerindian marriages were destroyed. These records also contained birth, death, and other types of contractual records. A quote (Translated to English) by Jean Daigle of Acadian Maritimes states the following:

The Acadians who had taken refuge on Île Saint-Jean only benefited from a brief respite, since a detachment under the command of Rollo rounded up approximately 2,500 inhabitants on the island and, during the second phase of the Deportation, banished them to France. Despite their efforts to escape the enemy, many Acadians who had hid in the woods and along the coastline continued to be captured. The arrests went on until 1763.

The odious nature of the Deportation was increased by the practice of burning all traces of Acadian habitation, thus preventing the population from returning. In addition, the practice of scattering individuals shattered solidarity and emotional ties. The dispersal resulted in the loss of many lives, especially on board ship. In some cases, over a third of the passengers perished because of poor sanitary conditions and the lack of food and fresh water. In other cases, vessels and passengers were lost at sea during storms. In addition to the loss of their belongings and separation from members of their family, the Acadians who landed in any of the colonies from Massachusetts to South Carolina were greeted with hostility by the local inhabitants, who complained about the unexpected arrival of these prisoners and the extra expenditures that they would incur.

Note: Summary of Jean Daigle's historical synthesis in Acadia of the Maritimes, published by the Chaire d'études acadiennes, Université de Moncton, 1995. Translation by Sally Ross. Ref: http://www.umoncton.ca/maum/acadian_hist_an.html

I just wish that Paul had listed the individual reference, source and page, after each Listing. This would have made it a lot easier for a researcher to go to the source for verification. Despite this criticism, I believe that Paul Bunnell created an interesting and worthwhile booklet in this Volume 3. It can prove useful to those who are seeking Native American or Metis ancestors in their lineage. For this reason, I can recommend that you read and study this book.