The Richer dit Louveteau in North
America
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This site of genealogical and historical interest refers to the Richer dit
Louveteau in North America: that is to say, the descendants of Jacques Eriché
(Richer) and his spouse Marie Joffrion (Geoffrion) who were married on the
7th of April 1698 in the church of Notre-Dame in Montreal.
The contents of this site are of necessary evolutionary. Following your
commentaries and suggestions I will be able to add further information. It
will also be interesting to add the results of other inquiries respecting our
family. I invite all of you to come forward and add your information to the
family saga.
I suggest reading Jeanne-Elise (Richer) Olsen's book called As i remember
them, published by the University of Calgary Press in 2002. She gives a vivid
account of her family living in Quebec and then leaving to settle in
Saskatchewan, in the 1920s.
In each generation the family circle increases. Also it becomes very difficult to
follow all of the branches. For my part I shall present the seven first
generations of my ascendant line up to that of my grandfather, hoping to place
them in their historic context.
The contents of this site have been made possible by research undertaken
mainly in the parish records and the notarial documents from and around
Montreal, in general genealogical works and in history books related to
Quebec. Citation of all of my sources would have unnecessarily encumbered
this text.
But with the name of the parish for the vital records (birth, marriage and
death) and of the notary for the legal documents (sales, wills, donations...) and
the date, in the text, one may very well refer to the original documents now
kept at the National Archives of Quebec.
Names and texts in italics are transcriptions of the original documents.
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THE RICHER DIT LOUVETEAU TODAY
Most of the Richer dit Louveteau are to be found in Quebec, notably in the
Montreal region; in the Laurentides where in Saint-Eustache I believe is the
largest concentration; in the Outaouais and a few in the Quebec City area and
in the Saguenay Lac-St-Jean region. In Ontario one finds them in the Ottawa
region and in the East and North of the province.
One finds them also in the West of Canada where a few are established - some
spell the name Richier. In the United States they are to be found in New York,
in Kentucky, in New Mexico, in Oregon, where they have taken the name of
Lefto, Leftault, Lifto - all derived from 'Louveteau'.
It seems that none of the Richer dit Louveteau family followed the major
trend of emigration from Quebec to the New England states in the second half
of the nineteenth century to work in the manufacturing industry of Rhode
Island, Massachusetts or New Hampshire.
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There exists another Richer family in North America, the ancestor of which
emigrated to Canada in the seventeenth century. Pierre Richer, from Anjou,
was married to Dorothy Brasssard on the 5th of November 1671 in Quebec.
Early on, this family established itself in the region of La Perade, between
Quebec and Three Rivers, while Jacques' family remained on the island of
Montreal. Most of the Richer in Central Quebec and of Three Rivers are
descendants of Pierre and his wife Dorothy.
There is no family link between Jacques and Pierre, as we can see by their
patronymics and their differing places of origin.
In Quebec among the thousand most common patronymics that of Richer
(including the Louvetot and Laflèche) counts as 207th in frequency between
Charest and St-Jean.
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THE NAME RICHER DIT LOUVETEAU
All through the eighteenth century one encounters in various writings, in
registries of marriage and of burial, the names Eriché, Hériché, Héricher and
then Richer, followed by Louveteau and sometimes by Louvetot. It was only
in the nineteenth century that our ancestors adopted definitely the name
Richer.
However the name Héricher is still today met with in France. It ranks 7,017 in
the list of the most common names! Most are living in the Seine-Maritime area
where our ancestor came from. Between 1966 and 1990, there were 203 new
borns with the name Héricher in this area.
The origin of the name Héricher
Before we speak about our own family name, let us go back in History.
According to the dictionary Larousse de la généalogie, names or family names
appeared in Western Europe in the tenth century and became general in the
twelfth.
Before, that is during the Roman era, each person had three names whereas
the Germanic invaders had only one, usually related to warfare. With the
coming of Christianity in the third century, newly converted were given only
one name. It could be of christian, german, latin or even greek origin as long
as it marked a break with one's pagan past.
In the tenth century, people began to give nicknames so as to differentiate the
four Joseph and the three Mary living in the same community. Gradually
these nicknames became family names in the tenth century. These family
names can be divided into four categories.
First and the most popular one was the unique christian name already
mentioned. For instance Bernard was a germanic name, Thomas came from
the bible and Antoine was of roman origin. Second were names of
geographical places such as Picard or of a neighborhood like Dupont (bridge).
In third place were names linked to a craft such as Boulanger (Baker).
The final category were actually nicknames expressing a physical
characteristic such as Leblond (the blond one), Legrand (the tall one); a trait
of character such as Courtois (the polite one), Gaillard (the strong one) or
Lépine (the thorny one); or parenthood such as Cousin, Gendre (son-in-law) or
Besson (twin).
The name Héricher belongs to the last category. According to the Dictionnaire
Larousse des noms et prénoms, the name Héricier and his derivatives Hérichier
and Héricher (Eriché as it was written in Jacques' marriage certificate in
1698), with or without the article Le, means hérissé that is 'with bristling hair'.
Does that mean that our ancestor had a difficult character who became
irritated easily. In French hérissé comes from the animal hérisson
(hedgehog).Or was he a brave man always ready to go to the barricade to
defend himself? I guess one has to question his own character to have part of
the answer!
Origin of the nickname Louveteau
It was a military tradition to give nicknames to new recruits. When Jacques
joined the army, Louvetot was added to his family name. This was the name of
his home town in Normandy.
This nickname will gradually dissapear from the written documents but will
live up to this day in the oral tradition of the family. Even today, in the United
States, some have their names Lefto, Lifto, Leftault derived from Louvetot.
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THE PLACE OF ORIGIN OF OUR ANCESTOR
Jacques mentions at the time of his marriage in 1698 that he comes from
Louveteau (Louvetot) in Normandy. We find mention of this name in the
Marriage Certificate in the church and in the Marriage Contract drawn in the
office of the Notary.
At the time there were in Normandy two places called Louvetot (meaning
meeting place of wolves). The first is now a commune (municipality) situated
near Yvetot, to the north-west of Rouen.
Picture of the town hall of Louvetot. There are fewer than 1,000 inhabitants
in the community.
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Hotel situated at a crossroads coming in to Louvetot.
The second Louvetot is a hamlet which is now part of the commune of
Grigneuseville, also in Seine-Maritime, but to the north-east of Rouen. The
ancestor of the Leduc of America, Antoine, comes from this last place and a
public square has been dedicated to him.
Thanks to the research initiated by Jean-Claude and Francois Richer, we
know now that our ancestor Jacques came from the first Louvetot. Although
the birth certificate of Jacques has been lost, the parish register being
incomplete for the 1660s, the birth certificate of his sister was found. She was
born on April 1st, 1671 and named Catherine. Then, on June 12 of the same
year, his mother Catherine Pain is buried. Two months later, on August 16th,
there is a mention of his father's burial.
Jacques, our ancestor who came to North America was therefore orphaned at
the age of seven. We have to wonder, then, what happened to him between
1671 and 1698 when he joined the army and came to New France.
A few years later, on March 5th, 1688, still in the parish of Notre-Dame of
Louvetot, there is mention of a Jeanne Hericher who acted as godmother.
Could this be another member of the family of Jacques the father (and
Catherine Pain)?
Were our ancestors Protestants for a time?
Jacques the father birth certificate was probably found : August 24th, 1636, in
the registry of the protestant church at Lintot. His parents are Jean Hericher
and Magdallaine Desruyaux of Gruchet, a locality situated about 20
kilometres from Louvetot. Is it possible that our French ancestors were
tempted for a time by Protestantism?
From 1598 to 1685 the protestants - the Huguenots - were tolerated in France
except in Paris and in other very precise locations. From 1560 to 1598 France
was torn by wars of religion between the followers of John Calvin and the
majority Catholic church.
During the wars of religion we saw the assassination of Henri III and the
accession of Henri IV (Bourbon), a protestant. In order to achieve peace and
to reconcile the warring factions in his kingdom, Henri IV is said to have
remarked "Paris is worth a mass". Five years later the Edict of Nantes
restored freedom of religion to the protestants in all centers but in Paris and
in royal cities.
Less than a century later in 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes.
Everyone had to become a Catholic or quit France: which edict provoked an
important exodus of persons affected, principally to Scotland.
This was not the case with our ancestor's family. Between 1636, the year
Jacques's father was baptised in a protestant church, and the 1660s the family
had return to the catholic fold.
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My name is Louis Richer and I was born on March 9th, 1945 at
Coteau-Station in Quebec. My parents are Eloi and Laurence Dupont. I am of
the ninth generation of Richer dit Louveteau in North America. I studied
History at the University of Ottawa and then Public Administration at the
University Laval. I worked close to thirty years in the field of Conservation of
Canadian Cultural Heritage in Quebec. Since 1975 I have been living in the
City of Quebec. I am now retired.
During the past years I have prepared a book on the history of my family. By
the same token I became interested also in the genealogy of the Richer dit
Louveteau in North America. Over the last thirty years I have collected more
than 5,000 names of Richer and compiled more than 2,000 records of
marriages. All of these names, which extend to twelve generations of Richer
dit Louveteau, are recorded on the computer, which makes it easy to refer to
them. I am still adding names to my data base.
If you wish to know if you are a member of our family I shall be happy to send
you a list of your ancestors. In order to locate you in the family tree I need
your parents' and grandparents' names. Send your request to my e-mail
address. Also, your comments and suggestions regarding this site will be
much appreciated.
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