The Great Choisser Disclosure
The Ancestors of John Choisser
Note: The dates shown along the left column give a general reference to the approximate time. More precise dates are given in the discussion. French records, primarily church records, reflect baptism and burial dates more often than the dates of birth and death, so some dates shown may differ from the actual dates by a short time. The sources for much of the early material seen here are indicated on this page. In addition, far more detailed research of the Brazeau family can be found on the late René Brazeau's site. Details on the ancestors of Charlotte Brazeau can be found by tracing back from this page of Linda Goodrich's site.
1625 Pierre Jeanne Pierre Jeanne
Quenneville Saye Marie Loret
| | | |
|______________| |________________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1650 Jean Denise
Quenneville Marie
Our story begins in France in 1625, just five years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, with the baptism of Pierre Quenneville in the Church of St. Nicolas, in Rouen, Normandie, France. He wed Jeanne Saye in that same church about twenty years later, on 6/18/1646. Among at least ten children of this couple was Jean Quenneville (6/14/1651-8/23/1701). Meanwhile in Paris, another couple, Pierre Marie and Jeanne Loret had a daughter, Denise Marie (1654-8/31/1720).
1625 Pierre Jeanne Pierre Jeanne
Quenneville Saye Marie Loret
| | | |
|______________| |________________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1650 Nicholas Perette Jean Denise
Brazeau Billard Quenneville Marie
| | | |
|______________| |______________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1675 Charles Genevieve
Brazeau Quenneville
Our story now moves to Montreal at a time when it had a population of only a few hundred people, with the marriage in 1662 of Nicholas Brazeau, a wheelwright by trade, to Perette Billard (1635-8/20/1705). Nicholas and Perette had three children - Charles (1662-4/25/1750), Nicholas (1663-), and Marie (1683-).
Twelve years later, Jean Quenneville and Denise Marie, now in Montreal, were married in the Church of Notre Dame on 2/12/1674, and they had ten children - one being Genevieve Quenneville (6/8/1676-7/16/1726).
1625 Pierre Jeanne Pierre Jeanne
Quenneville Saye Marie Loret
| | | |
|______________| |________________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1650 Nicholas Perette Jean Denise
Brazeau Billard Quenneville Marie
| | | |
|______________| |______________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1675 Edme Marie Charles Genevieve
Beurnonville Vistar Brazeau Quenneville
| | | |
|______________| |_________________|
| |
|___________________ |
| |
1700 Antoine Charlotte
Buernonville Brazeau
Charles Brazeau and Genevieve Quenneville were married in Montreal on 10/5/1693, and the couple had at least ten children - Gabriel (9/7/1694-), Marie-Catherine (1/14/1695-), Paul (10/22/1697-), Pierre (10/19/1699-), Francois (1701-), Joseph (1/28/1706-), Agnes (baptized 1/16/1712), Charlotte (4/7/1712-11/18/1735), Marie Gabrielle (1716-), and Pierre-Antoine (1717-).
Edme Buernoville and Marie Vistar were a couple from St.Pierre, Auxerre, France, and they had a son named Antoine Beurnonville in 1703.
1625 Pierre Jeanne Pierre Jeanne
Quenneville Saye Marie Loret
| | | |
|______________| |________________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1650 Nicholas Perette Jean Denise
Brazeau Billard Quenneville Marie
| | | |
|______________| |______________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1675 Edme Marie Charles Genevieve
Beurnonville Vistar Brazeau Quenneville
| | | |
|______________| |_________________|
| |
|___________________ |
| |
1700 Mathurin Nicole Antoine Charlotte
Choissêre Hébert Buernonville Brazeau
| | | |
|______________| |_____________|
| |
| ______________|
| |
1725 Jean Françoise Amable
Choissêre Buernonville
Antoine Beurnoville and Charlotte Brazeau were married in Montreal on 6/30/1732, but their marriage would be a short one due to Charlotte's untimely death just three years later. During this time they did have three children - Marie-Louise (1733-), Catherine (1734-), and Françoise Amable (1/16/1735-).
In 1721, Mathurin Choissêre and Nicole Hébert of Forges, Verdun, France, had a son, Jean. The couple and their son emigrated to Montreal in 1750.
1625 Pierre Jeanne Pierre Jeanne
Quenneville Saye Marie Loret
| | | |
|______________| |________________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1650 Nicholas Perette Jean Denise
Brazeau Billard Quenneville Marie
| | | |
|______________| |______________|
| |
|__________________ |
| |
1675 Edme Marie Charles Genevieve
Beurnonville Vistar Brazeau Quenneville
| | | |
|______________| |_________________|
| |
|___________________ |
| |
1700 Mathurin Nicole Antoine Charlotte
Choissêre Hébert Buernonville Brazeau
| | | |
|______________| |_____________|
| |
| ______________|
| |
1725 Jean Françoise Amable Charles Joseph Catherine Anne
Choissêre Buernonville La Buxiere Vivarenne
| | | |
|____________| |________________|
| |
| |
1750 Jean Baptiste Marianne
Choissêre La Buxiere
| |
|_____________________________|
|
|
1784 John
Choisser
Jean Choissêre and Françoise Amable Buernonville were married in the
Church of Notre Dame in Montreal on 4/22/1754. The couple would have
five children - Jean Baptiste (2/7/1755-), Marie Louise (7/4/1756-),
Jacques (7/23/1757-), Jean (2/7/1760-), and Genevieve Amable (3/19/1761-).
Their youngest son Jean moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois, a French town on the Mississippi River south of Saint Louis, and became a prominent citizen of the small town. His older brother Jean Baptiste became a merchant and frequently traveled between Kaskaskia and Montreal.
We turn now for a moment to another family. Charles Joseph LaBuxiere (2/11/1726?-4/28/1791), a native of France, and who was the man granted the first town lot in Saint Louis (in the area where the arch is now located), married Catherine Anne Vivarenne (1742?-12/19/1792) on 6/30/1757. (See this page for more about this couple.) (See this page for her ancestry; Charles's parents were Charles Leonard LaBuxiere and Renee Claret.) The ceremony took place at Fort Chartres, Illinois, in what is now the chapel at a state park there. This couple had numerous children. Among them have been reported the following, some names of which may be duplicates: Joseph Antoine (1758-), Antoine (4/9/1773-), Joseph Andre, Louis, Louis Joseph, François (3/12/1780-), Angelique, Constance, Celeste Marie Josephe (5/1/1778-) and Marianne (4/28/1765-).
Marianne La Buxiere and Jean Baptiste Choissêre were married on 7/9/1781 at the Church of St. Louis of France (now the Old Cathedral) in St. Louis. The couple would have two children - Jean Choissêre, born on 6/20/1784 in Kaskaskia, and Marie Louise Choissêre, born in 1790 in Montreal. (Reference has also been found to a third child, Charles Joseph, born on 5/16/1786, however family accounts do not mention this child, and it is presumed he died in infancy.) The couple and their two children traveled between Kaskaskia and Montreal a few times, finally settling down in Montreal. As a young man, Jean returned to the Illinois, and in the early 1800's settled in Shawneetown. There he anglicized his name to the form we now know him by - John Choisser.