Gagnier (Gagne) History Web Site
by Rev. John F. Gagnier
Section 6: The Association and A Note from Father Gagnier
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THE ASSOCIATION OF GAGNE-BELLAVANCE FAMILIES IN AMERICA
The Association of Gagne-Bellavance Families in America was founded on September 17, 1950.
It sponsored a reunion of over 5,000 cousins in 1953
to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of Pierre Gasnier (1610-1656) in
1653.
Photos of the 1953 reunion may be seen on the French language web site of
the Association.
A link to that site may be found at the bottom of the home page of this site.
Mr. Robert Gagne, a genealogist from Brossard, Quebec has served as
archivist and has indexed on computer, thousands of birth, baptismal, marriage
and death records of the descendants of Louis and Pierre Gasnier,
our first immigrants from France.
The present archivist of the Association is Jean-Yves Bellavance.
As a matter of uniformity, the two brothers and their wives are
considered the first generation.
Each member upon joining may request an outline of his or her genealogy tracing
it back to the first generation.
Some lines of the family have reached the 14th generation.
Another reunion of over four hundred cousins was held in 1994 at Sainte Anne de Beaupre to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the arrival in 1644 of Louis and Marie Gasnier and their daughter, Louise.
The Association holds its annual meetings in September.
You are encouraged to join the Association and thus support continuing research
and preservation of our history.
The Association has sponsored trips to the ancestral territories in France and the historical sites shown on this page.
PRESENTATION BY MR. AIME GAGNE
Mr. Aime Gagne of Montreal gave a presentation on the history of the
Association in 1997.
I am grateful to him for providing an English translation.
Here is a summary of that presentation:
"The Association has known two different periods, the first from
1950 to 1970 and the present one since 1991.
At the start the Association was set up only to celebrate the tricentennial of
the arrival of the first Gagne family
in New France, namely Louis and his wife Marie (Michel) Gasnier and their
daughter, Louise.
For many years, it was thought that they arrived in 1643. In 1988, the Perche-Canada Association published the fact that Louis, a miller by trade, was the first citizen of the town of Saint-Cosme-en-Vairais to leave for New France in 1644.
Nine years later in 1653, his elder brother, Pierre, a baker by trade,
also came to New France.
They came with three sons, but had buried infant twin sons in France. Sadly,
Pierre himself died in 1656.
In 1949, David Valmore Gagnier of Rochester, New York conceived the idea
of celebrating in 1953
the tricentennial of Pierre's arrival in 1653.
Mr. Eugene Gagne, a forestry engineer from Quebec City, became interested.
He was able to interest Father Adrien Gagne of the Quebec Seminary and Doctor
Daniel Gagne of Quebec City.
These three are considered the founders and were called by many the "three
musketeers."
[Note: Mr. David V. Gagnier (July 5, 1894-May 9, 1966) died unmarried in
Rochester, New York and was buried
in an unmarked grave at Mount Hope Cemetery. The Association is interested in
any information about him.]
A committee was formed to put together the gathering.
Two bishops of the Quebec province, Most Rev. Napoleon Labrie and Most Rev.
Charles-Omer Garant,
were named as patrons as they were Gagne decendants on their maternal side.
Judge J-Arthur Gagne of the Quebec Appeal Court was named honorary president.
The first meeting was held on September 17, 1950 and the organization was
later formally incorporated.
There were three types of members, Founders, who paid $5.00 and Active members,
who paid $3.00
and others who paid $1.00 annually.
A quarterly newsletter was started with Fr. Adrian Gagne as editor with the assistance of Brothers Magloire and Antonin. Brother Magloire ( born Ernest Gagne in the USA) compiled thousands of birth and death records which were published in installments in the journal. This research still serves our members as the source of our proven connection with the two ancestors.
The membership reached 2,000 by the time of the Mass Family Rally in
1953. Many regional meetings led up to this first rally of New France Pioneers.
The Quebec Historic Monuments Commission donated a plaque
that was placed on the Souvenir Chapel at Saint Anne de Beaupre and unveiled at
the rally in September 1953.
Other family associations have placed plaques there at their own expense.
The rally drew nearly 5,000 participants, many of whom visited the 17th century house built on the original foundations of Louis Gasnier (1612-1661.) There was a memorial Mass in the Basilica at Saint Anne.
While there was much initial enthuisasm and Labor Day pilgrimages in subsequent years, the membership dropped to 171 in only three years.
On October 9, 1961, a fire at the Quebec Commercial School destroyed most of the archives but Brother Magloire was able to reconsrtuct most of them. Father Adrien died April 15, 1963 and Brother Magloire single-handedly continued the journal until its 45th and final issue in 1971. Brother Magloire died Christmas, 1971.
This web site was announced at the 1996 annual meeting of the Association
in Rimouski, Quebec
and in the March, 1997 Journal of the Association.
It is now the official English language web site of the
Gagne-Bellavance Family Association.
Its address: http://www.gagnier.org
is listed in each bulletin along with the current address of the French
language site.
HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR FAMILY TREE:
For an additional fee of $20.00 Canadian over and above dues, each member receives a family tree which gives the names of ancestors back to one of the two original brothers, Louis and Pierre, described in this site, who emigrated from France to Quebec in 1644 and 1653. The next two sections show my genealogy or "ascendency" as our genealogist calls it.
Americans are required to pay $20.00 in US Dollars as there is a bank fee for cashing the check in Canada.
The Association's genealogist has thousands of records of births, deaths,
and marriages in Quebec.
He also has some records which have been submitted to him by Americans.
The addition of the information you provide will add to our datebase and make future research easier for your descendants.
We presently have over 140,000 persons listed in the database beginning with the first two brothers and their parents.
NOTE ABOUT A NEW PUBLICATION OF THE ASSOCIATION: Genealogy CD-ROM
A database gathering all the descendants of Pierre and Louis Gasnier is
now available. As a result of 6.5 years of work, with about 6,600 pages with an
index at the end, this database contains up to 140,000 names and 65,000
marriages. Each descendant is linked to a parent or a sibling.
This CD-ROM is in PDF format readable by Acrobat Reader. It is compatible with
PC or Macintosh and it is available in English and French.
Each copy costs $100.00 plus $5.00 for shipping (CANADIAN DOLLARS.) Send your
order to Mr. Jean-Yves Bellavance at the address below.
You may send your request for a family tree to:
Mr. Jean-Yves Bellavance
Association of Gagne-Bellavance Families in America
C. P. 6700
Quebec, P.Q. G17 2W2
CANADA
His e-mail address is: jybell@videotron.ca
"The family tree provided is legal size, dimensions of 8 1/2 x 14 inches.
The sheet of your ascendance contains the names of your Gagne ancestors in direct line ( yourself, your father, grandfather, etc.)
For each one except yourself, I have provided the name of the spouse, date, parish, and county of the marriage.
On a white sheet, (letter size) you will find the same information, including the name of the in-laws.
I will require one month preparation.
If, however, I cannot provide the information
within the aforementioned time period, a refund will be issued."
A personal note from Father Gagnier
Thank you for visiting this web site.
I have created it so that English speaking descendants may benefit
from years of research done by the Association of Gagne-Bellavance Families in
America.
The input, comments and suggestions of readers are welcome and have
already helped to improve this website.
If you have comments or suggestions:
You may use the "Mail" link found at the bottom of this page or the
home page.
You may put a public or private note on my guest page with the link found on
the home page.
You may e-mail me directly at gagnier@dor.org
PLEASE NOTE: I am not a professional genealogist!
Therefore, I cannot answer specific questions about your ancestry.
On this site you have everything I know about our common heritage.
Where do you fit in? There is one sure way to find out.
JOIN THE ASSOCIATION!
HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR FAMILY TREE:
As noted on the membership form available on this site, for an additional fee
of $20.00 Canadian over and above dues, each member receives a family tree
which gives you the names of your ancestors back to one of the two original
brothers, Louis and Pierre, described in this site, who emigrated from France
to Quebec in 1644 and 1653.
NOTE: If you are an American, the Association requires that you pay for the family tree with twenty American dollars as they are charged a fee for cashing your American check.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A MEMBER TO OBTAIN A FAMILY TREE,
BUT WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN!
You should check with a local genealogical society in your area about how
to provide as much information as you can on your application to the
Association.
The association's genealogist has thousands of records of births, deaths, and
marriages in Quebec.
He also has some records which have been submitted to him by Americans.
If you are an American, you can help in this regard. If you are requesting a
genealogy,
please trace your own ancestry back to the ancestor who left Quebec for the
United States.
Otherwise, there is only about 50% probability that the genealogist can make
the connection for you.
My ancestry below will give you a good example of how this can be done.
The genealogist will be happy to add your information so as to make his
database that much more complete.
Again, PLEASE JOIN THE ASSOCIATION!
The Association of Gagne-Bellavance Families in America would love to welcome you as a new member and thus to welcome your support of ongoing research. Also, please share news of this site with others in your family.
In my travels to France and Quebec, I took pictures of our historical sites for this site.
It is my hope that the Internet will be a way of letting others know about the Association of Gagne-Bellavance Families in America and its work, and our exciting family history as well.
It was my privilege to celebrate Mass at the site of Louis Gasnier's
baptism, the Church of St. Martin in Ige, France, when I observed my fifth
anniversary in 1983 and again on September 26, 1997.
I also celebrated Mass in the church of the 1638 marriage of Louis Gasnier and
Marie Michel
at St. Martin-du-vieux-Belleme on October 11, 1999.
You will find below a chart of my family's origins in Rochester, New
York. I am an eleventh generation descendant of Louis Gasnier (1612-1661)
After the chart is information about another Gagnier family in the Rochester,
New York area.
My great-grandfather, an eighth generation descendant of Louis, came to
Rochester from Montreal in 1865.
After establishing himself as a shoemaker, he returned to Montreal to bring his
wife and six children to their new home in Rochester.
They had ten more children for a total of sixteen. My grandfather was the
fourteenth.
My great-grandparents were married
on August 18, 1857 at the Church of Notre Dame in Montreal, Quebec:
Pierre Gagnier (March 11, 1836 - March 24, 1913)
Virginia Guyette Gagnier (October 9, 1838 - October 12, 1913)
The chart below outlines their sixteen children and what little I know
about them. Only one changed the spelling of the name. That was Napoleon Gagner
who lived to be 92, the last male survivor of the ninth generation of our
family line. There are many descendants of Pierre and Virginia. I do not know
many of them, but I hope they will contact me to help fill in the missing
information on the chart. The photo below shows Pierre and Virginia Gagnier
from a postcard dated September 19, 1907 at the ages of 70 and 68. The picture was perhaps taken on the
occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage on August 18 of that
year. They are buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester, New York as are
many of their children.
Photo of Pierre and
Virginia (Guyette) Gagnier, 1907
My grandparents were married at Our Lady of Victory Church
(also known as "The Little French Church")
on August 16, 1907 in Rochester, New York:
John William Gagnier (October 15, 1876 - January 21, 1910)
Jennie Schuller Gagnier Englert (May 13, 1888 - December 5, 1949)
Church of Marriage of Pierre & Virginia
(Guyette) Gagnier on August 18, 1857
|
16 Children: Pierre and
Virginia (Guyette) Gagnier of Montreal and Rochester |
||||||
|
# |
Name |
Birth 18-- |
Death 19-- |
Name of Spouse |
Place of Marriage |
Date of Marriage |
|
1. |
Joseph C. Pierre |
06/10/58 |
|
|
|
|
|
2. |
J. A. Oliver |
11/08/59 |
|
|
|
|
|
3. |
Mary Louise |
07/29/61 |
08/06/43 |
John Arnold |
|
|
|
4. |
Napoleon Gagner |
11/17/62 |
11/24/54 |
Louise Hook |
Saint Peter & Paul |
05/05/1892 |
|
5. |
Derick |
03/31/64 |
|
|
|
|
|
6. |
Augustine |
05/02/65 |
06/11/12 |
Emma Sellnow |
|
08/04/1888 |
|
7. |
Emma |
07/14/66 |
01/06/60 |
Albert Francis |
Our Lady of Victory |
02/02/1889 |
|
8. |
Josephine |
08/05/68 |
|
Adolph Guyette |
Our Lady of Victory |
02/17/1887 |
|
9. |
Marie Desilda |
07/24/69 |
|
|
|
|
|
10. |
Louis |
07/16/70 |
04/01/14 |
Jennie Stuvenhauer |
|
|
|
11. |
William |
01/10/72 |
|
|
|
|
|
12. |
Edward |
04/09/73 |
07/25/53 |
|
|
|
|
13. |
Nellie |
02/02/75 |
06/25/15 |
Edward Springer |
Our Lady of Victory |
02/06/1893 |
|
14. |
John William |
10/15/76 |
01/21/10 |
Jennie Schuller |
Our Lady of Victory |
08/16/1907 |
|
15. |
George Oliver |
12/14/79 |
08/29/50 |
Barbara Reisinger |
Our Lady of Victory |
03/30/1902 |
|
16. |
Marie Virginia |
04/29/82 |
|
|
|
|
In the seventh and final section below entitled
"Your place in the family,"
are instructions on how you can calculate
your relationship to me or any other family member.
On the home page is a link to membership information and a membership form.
The home page has other genealogical links.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
My guest book is available at the link below.
You may contact me by e-mail at gagnier@dor.org
or use the mail link below.
Thank you for your visit and God bless you.
Personal Arms of
Father John F. Gagnier (c) 1996
Sign my guestbook by clicking here.
Send feedback about this site, click right here!
Click
here for Section 7: Your Place in the family
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Section Five: Family Commemorative Plaques |
|
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Home Page |
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Gagnier (Gagne) History Web
Site
by Rev. John F. Gagnier
Last modified on Monday, August
15, 2005