Isaac Bedard (Born a Protestant and died a Catholic)

Huguenot Cross

  Isaac Bedard, my 9th G-Grandfather, was born about 1616 in LaRochelle France. Isaac was the son of Jacques Bedard and Marie Guerineau, French Protestants also known as "Huguenot's". 

  Isaac's grew up in LaRochelle in troubled times between the Huguenots and Catholics, culminating in the blockade of his city and the eventual confication of his Protestant Church by the winning forces of The Catholic Church. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_La_Rochelle 

  Isaac married a Marie Girard, a fellow Huguenot, on 20 March 1644 in LaRochelle. Between 1644 and 1658 the couple would have six sons and one daughter born in LaRochelle and all would be baptized in  the Huguenot faith. Sadly only two sons, of the six children, would live past the age of two.

  On 20 April 1660, in LaRochelle, Isaac and his family renounced the Huguenot Faith and were baptized in the Catholic Faith. It is speculated that the family renounced their Huguenot faith in order to emmigrate to New France where being a Catholic was requirement for residency. 

                                        Isaac Bedard "The Carpenter"

  Isaac and his eldest son sailed to New France by 1661 and set up residency in Quebec City. Isaac's wife and younger son would join him in Quebec by 1663 and  a daughter would be born there in 1664. By 1866. the family would further move to the village of Saint-Jerome in the Charlesbourg area where they would permanently settle. 

  Isaac's occupation was a "Master Carpenter". In New France, he would take on carpentry jobs, while primarily working on his farm.  Isaac died in Charlesbourg on 14 Jan 1689 and was buried there on 15 Jan 1689. (See Burial Record:)

                 Burial Record

  

Jean Pierre (Peter) Kieffer

  My 4th g-Grandfather was born "Jean Pierre Kieffer" on 8 December 1798 in Uhrwiller, Bas-Rhin, France. Pierre or Peter as he was to be  known, was the son of Johann Kieffer and Anna Steinmetz.

   On 24 November 1823 in Uhrwiller, at the age of twenty-four, Peter took for his wife a Catherine Richert. The couple would have two daughters born in Uhrwiller in 1824 and 1826.

  Peter, a farmer by trade, would take his family to the New World, first to Canada where a third daughter was born in 1829. From Canada Peter again moved his family, this time to Stark County Ohio. The family would reside in Ohio for the next ten years where two sons and a fourth daughter would be born. By 1840 Peter moved his family for the last time to Indiana where his last daughter was born in 1840.

  Peter would acquire land and farm for the rest of his life in Cleveland Township, just north of Elkhart Indiana. Peter was a resident farmer of Cleveland Township for over thirty years when he died on 15 August. Peter was buried at the Salem Cemetery in Granger Indiana.

  For family genealogy see:  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I12387

Anne Cloutier (A bride at eleven years old)

    Anne Cloutier, my 9th g-Grandmother, was born 19 January 1626 in Mortagne France to Zacharie Cloutier and Xainte Dupont. At the age of eight she arrived in the New World  with her parents as one of the earliest families to settle in New France.

  At the age of ten, Anne was contracted to marry a twenty-nine year old brickmaker named Robert Drouin who was a resident at the Cloutier household. The marriage contract stipulated that the marriage would take place after a wait of one year, and that the newly married couple would remain at her parents residence, with no conjugal visits for two more years. The marriage took place on 12 July 1637 (See marriage record)

  Anne would give birth to her first child six days after her fifteenth birthday; a daughter named Agnes, on 25 January 1641. This child would live for only six days. In the next six years Anne would give birth to five more children, three daughters and two sons, of which only two daughters would survive birth and grow to adulthood.

  Anne would die at the age of twenty-two on 4 February 1648 and would be buried in Quebec, New France the following day. Her two surviving daughters would be raised by her parents.

For Family genealogy see:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I4238