Les Richard de Belle-Île-en-Mer
In all of my genealogical research for the last thirty years, I had never seen any document showing the nickname “Sansoucy” even if all the Acadian articles and books always mentioned Michel Richard dit Sansoucy. Recently, I thought about asking Stephen A. White, Genealogist at the Center for Acadian Studies at the University of Moncton about the origins of the name “Sansoucy”. Here is his answer:
“The nickname Sansoucy is mentioned four times in the declarations of Belle-Île-en-Mer, always attributed to the ancestor Richard who came from France. This one is given the first name of Michel once, in the declaration of Pierre Doucet (Doc. Inéd., Vol. III, p. 54), but he is also mentioned as René in the declaration of Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre (ibid ., vol. II, p. 178) and in that of Pierre Richard (ibid., vol. II, p. 191). Then, Pierre Trahan’s statement (ibid., Vol. III, p. 111) makes no mention to his first name at all. “. Stephen A. White, genealogist
Following this response, I began to search the internet for more information on the “Declarations of Belle-Île-en-Mer” It was a document that I did not know about at all. What a great surprise! I discovered a few articles giving a little more information and I also discovered the documents mentioned by Mr. White in his response. These documents are the unpublished Documents on Canada and America Second and Third Volumes published in 1889 and 1890 respectively which give transcriptions of the original registers compiled in 1767. These documents are available on the Internet in PDF format at the following address : https://www.hathitrust.org/ and by searching for “Collection of unpublished documents on Canada and America”.
Here is the introduction by Father H.R. Casgrain found on page 165 of the second volume which explains how these documents were created.
When Father LeLoutre returned to France after his long captivity on the island of Jersey, he continued to care for the Acadians; and he did so with the same ardor and perseverance that he had deployed in Acadia to rescue these unfortunates from the hands of their enemies.
On November 8, 1765, he disembarked at Belle-Isle-en-Mer, and was followed there by seventy-eight Acadian families whom the king wanted to settle there. Belle-isle-en-mer is a small island located a few leagues from the coasts of Morbihan. It is divided into four parishes: Le Palais, or north center, Bangor, or south center; Sauzon, at the western end; and Locmaria at the east end.
Upon their arrival, the Acadians were divided between these four parishes. Each of the seventy-eight families first received a land grant; then, at the request of Father LeLoutre, the king had them build 78 houses, and gave each family 1 horse, 1 cow, 3 sheep, plus a sum of 400 pounds for the original settlement costs. With a view of supplementing the registers of the parishes where the Acadians came from, the States of Brittany, on which Belle-Isle depended, ordered in 1767 to take in writing the sworn depositions of the heads of families, in order to trace their origin in France and their filiation.
These registers or genealogical records are still found in each of the parishes of Belle-Isle. Thanks to the kindness of Father Le Bayon, parish priest of the Palace, I was able to make a copy of the register of his parish; and from those of others.
The register of the Palace parish, which we publish below, is preceded by a few notes written by Mr. Rameau, who made a careful study of it.
L’abbé H.-R. Casgrain
Documents inédits sue le Canada et l’Amérique
Publiés par Le Canada-Français, Tome Deuxième, 1889, Page 165 – 194
Note : The registers for the 3 other parishes (Bangor, Sauzon and Locmaria) can be found in Volume Three published in 1890 (Pages 5 – 59)
Pages 191 to 194 contain the genealogical information of Pierre Richard living in 1767 in the village of Kbellec, Parish of Le Palais in Belle-Île-en-Mer. Pierre first marries Marie-Josephe LeBlanc, daughter of Antoine LeBlanc and Anne Landry in Saint-Charles de Mines (Grand-Pré). He then marries Françoise Daigre, daughter of Olivier Daigre and Françoise Granger, in Morlaix, Paroisse de Saint-Mathieu in 1763.
Pierre was the son of Pierre Richard and Magdeleine Girouard. This Pierre being the son of René Richard and Magdeleine Landry. René was the son of Michel Richard dit Sansoucy and Magdeleine Blanchard.
In addition to the statement by Pierre Richard (Richard dit Sansoucy), we find in the two volumes, information on the following surnames:
- Aprendestiguy de
- Marignon
- Aucoin
- Babin
- Barrieau
- Basile
- Benoit
- Bernard
- Blanchard
- Bodard
- Bonnière
- Boudrot
- Bourg
- Bourgeois
- Brasseau
- Breau
- Brun
- Canol
- Célestin dit Bellemère
- Chaussegros
- Comeau
- Daigre
- Darois
- Doiron
- Doucet
- Dubois
- Dugas
- Duon
- Dupuis
- Gareau
- Gaudet
- Gautrot
- Girouard dit La Varanne
- Granger
- Guérin
- Hébert
- Lalande dit Bonappetit
- Lambert
- Landry
- Lapierre
- LeBlanc
- Léger dit Larosette
- Lejeune
- Longuépée
- Martin
- Melanson
- Mercier
- Ouellet
- Pellerin
- Pesseley
- Pitre
- Poirier
- Prétieux
- Renaud
- Rimbault
- Robichaud
- Semer
- Thériot
- Thibodeau
- Trahan
- Vincent
If you have a chance, check out these documents. It’s a very interesting read.
Article: Paul Richard
Published in the Richard Assocaition of New Brunswick’s newsletter, November 2019