Etienne LeBlanc (A 100 word essay)

  Etienne LeBlanc is the most interesting Ancestor I have. .He was born in Grand-Pre, Acadia. At a young age,  he was deported with his family to the American Colonies and imprisoned throughout  the “French and Indian War“ By 1776, Etienne was back in Quebec, and enlisted in the American Continental Army fighting the British to establish The United States. During the war, Etienne found the time to marry and father three children, and had his family with him at Albany NY at the end of the War. After the War, Etienne returned to Quebec and died there in 1834.

Jean Baptiste Quintin dit Dubois

  Jean Baptiste Quintin dit Dubois, my 8th g-Grandfather, was born on 16 may 1668 at Pont-Scorff, France. Jean Baptiste was the son of Claude Quintin and Claudine Lafalune and was the fourth of eight siblings to be baptized at Saint Aubin, the Parish Church of Pont-Scorff, France.

         
                   
 
  In 1688, at the age of twenty, Jean Baptiste arrived in Quebec as a Marine in the Lagloiserie Company of French Marines. The Marines formed the core of the New France military,  protecting Quebec from 1682 through 1755. Jean Baptiste would remain in Quebec for the rest of his life
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troupes_de_la_marine

  On 17 Jan 1695, at the age of twenty-eight, Jean Baptiste took for his wife a Marie Jeanne Delpe. The couple were married in the parrish of Sainte-Anne, in the town of Varennes Quebec. The couple lived in Varennes for the first few years of their married life, where the couple had their first three children.

  By 1700 Jean Baptiste would move his family to Repentigny Quebec. In Repentigny the family would grow with the birth of twelve more children for a total of fifteen all together.

  Jean Baptiste lived in Repentigny Quebec for the rest of his life, dying there on 1 March 1742 at the age of seventy-three.

For family genealogy see:  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I384771

Martha Woodbridge

  Martha Woodbridge, my 8th Great Grandmother, was born in Stanton, Wiltshire, England on 15 Jun 1658. She was the daughter of Reverend John Woodbridge (subject of an earlier post) and  Mercy Dudley, who had temporarily returned to England from Massachusetts.

  Martha returned to Massachusetts with her parents and married on 8 July 1680 a Cpt Samuel Ruggles (subject of an earlier post). Martha and Samuel would have ten children, six daughters and four sons. Martha would live to the age of eighty dying in 1838 in Billerica Massachusetts.

  While Martha's life may have seemed uneventful, she was part of a family which had an impact on early Massachusetts history.

  Martha's maternal Grandfather Thomas Dudley and her uncle Simon Bradstreet were Governors of Massachusetts Bay Colony. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Simon_Bradstreet_1854.jpeg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dudley

  Martha's Uncle, Joseph Dudley, was a Governor of  Massachusetts Colony.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dudley

  Martha's uncle, Benjamin Woodbridge, was the first graduate of Harvard College
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Woodbridge

  Martha's Aunt, Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet, was the first published poet of New England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Annebradstreet.jpg

  Martha's Grandson, Timothy Ruggles, would become a Politician and later a Tory Leader in the war of Independence, being banished to Nova Scotia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Ruggles_(Nova_Scotia_politician)

  Martha's Great Granddaughter, Bathsheba Spooner, would have the distinction of being the first women tried and excuted by a court of The United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathsheba_Spooner

For Family Genealogy See: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I340

Nicolas Audet dit Lapointe

  Nicolas Audet, my 9th Great-Grandfather, was born on 12 July 1637 in Mulais, Poitou France. Nicolas was the second of four children born to Innocent Audet and Vincende Reine.

                  Baptism at St Pierre, Mulais, France

  This year of 2013 marks the 350th anniversary of Nicolas Audet's arrival in the New World in 1663, where Nicolas would assume the surname of "Lapointe". Nicolas's early years in Quebec would mainly be in the employment of Monsignor Laval, Lord of Beaupré and île d'Orléans.

  On 22 June 1667, Monsignor Laval granted Nicolas 3 Arpents of land. Nicolas would continue to obtain more land throughout his life as he was in possesion of 75 Arpents of land upon his death.

  On 15 September 1670, at Ste-Famille, Isle d' Orleans, Quebec, Nicolas took for his wife a Madeleine Despres. From this marriage would be born eight son's and three daughters.

                     Plaque honoring Nicolas Audet in Mulais France

  Nicolas died at the age of sixty-three on 9 December 1700 and was buried the following day at St Jean, lle d' Orleans, Quebec

For Family Genealogy See:  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I14949

Patrick Powers and Nancy Kiley

                           From Ireland to Iowa

  Patrick Powers and Nancy Kiley, my 3rd Great-Grandparents, were from County Cork,  Ireland. They married in Ireland about 1847 and had three children, a son and two daughters, born in Ireland from 1848 through 1850. Nancy Kiley evidently spent the first years of her married life in a pregnant state as she had the three children in a twenty-nine month period.

  In 1851, the Powers family immigrated to the United States first settling in New Jersey. Patrick Powers would work as a laborer in order to feed his growing family. Nancy Kiley would continue to do what she did best in that she bore four more children in New Jersey between the years 1851 and 1856. (This made seven children born in a period of seven years and six months)

  In 1856, the Powers family moved on to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where Patrick would continue to work as a laborer to support his family. While at Fond du Lac, Nancy would give birth to her final four childern. Nancy and Patrick would have ten children in an eleven year period.

  The Powers family made their final move around 1864, when they moved to Iowa. They would purchase a small farm near Fort Dodge Iowa and remain farmers for the rest of their lives.

  Nancy Kiley would die on 13 December 1876 and Patrick Powers would follow her in death on 19 August 1888. Nancy Kiley and Patrick Powers are buried in The Corpus Christi Cemetery of Fort Dodge Iowa.

                 Wording of Plaque placed in front of Farm

  The Kiley-Powers farm would remain in the family through three generations and was honored as a "Century Farm" for being in the same family for over 100 years. When the last "Powers" living on the family farm died without any heirs the farm was willed to the Iowa State University Agricultural Foundation. Unfortunately Iowa State University sold the property without informing the Foundation of their acquisition of the farm, and the proceeds from the sale were used for projects un-intended in the will. An agricultural scholarship in the name of Kiley-Powers is maintained to this day by the University

For Family Genealogy See:  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I16968

Michel Graton

  Michel Graton, my 3rd great-Grandfather, was born in the town of Saint-Eustache Quebec on 29 July 1800. Michel was the youngest of ten children born to Joseph Marie Graton and Marie Louise Plouf.

            Baptism record at Saint-Eustache Parish Church

  On 13 August 1822, a twenty-two year old Michel took for his bride a sixteen year old girl by the name of Louise Rollin. The couple were married in the town of Beauharnois Quebec and from this marriage would be born thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters.

              Marriage of Michel Graton and Louise Rollin

  The family would live and farm in the southwest part of Quebec, primarily in the Huntingdon Quebec area.

  In 1870, Michel's wife of forty-eight years passed away and was buried in Huntingdon Quebec. Michel would move to Prescott Ontario to live with one of his son's where he died at the age of eighty-eight on 5 April 1889. Michel was buried at the St Isadore Church in Prescott Ontario.

For family genealogy see:  http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=m-leblanc&id=I611

Mercy Dudley (A Governor's daughter and Reverend's Wife"

                                   Painting of the "Arbella"

  Mercy Dudley, my 10th g-Grandmother, was born on 27 September 1621 in Oakley, Northampton, England. Mercy was the youngest child born to Thomas Dudley and Dorthy Yorke.
 
  In 1630, at the age of nine, Mercy moved to the new world with her family as part of "The Winthrop Fleet" aboard the ship "Arbella".  Mercy's father would serve on and off as Govenor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her family originally settled in Newtown (present day Cambridge), moved to Ipswich and then onto Roxbury.

  At the age of Seventeen, Mercy married a John Woodbridge on 20 May 1639 at Andover Massachusetts. The couple would have twelve children, of which eleven would reach adulthood.

  Mercy's husband would teach school and become an ordained Minister at the urging of her father. In 1647, the couple would return to England, where her husband taught the Gospel for the the next seventeen years.

  On 27 July 1673, Mercy and her husband returned to the new world on the ship "Society". and they  would ultimately settle in Newbury Massachusetts. Mercy would die, at the age of sixty-nine,  in Newbury on 1 July 1691 and  was buried at the "First Parish Burying Grounds".