I know the name doesn't appear, and since dit names are so unusual, and yet molded per each family branch, was wondering if anyone had any idea of how my branch got that name. It was pondered that there was once a and still is a St. Our's in France and New France, not sure right now if it still exsists in Canada, that maybe they lived near there. The first time that I saw the connection and the biggest breakthrough of the
Santure line was a marriage recorded recorded in
Monroe Co., Michigan at a Catholic church for a Catharine
Tessier dit
Santure who married a
Savoy (name might be wrong) She was a neice to my ggggrandfather. Thus lead me to the
Tessier line, which wound up being very easy to trace out of Detroit
Michigan.
The line in which I decend is as follows: According to the book The French Families of the Detroit River Region:
Urbanus
Tessier, son of Peter (Artus) and Jane Meine
Tessier, wife Mary
Archambault. Their son,
Ignatius Tessier, born March 11, 1677, married to Margaret Luissier. Son of
Ignatius and Margaret Luissier
Tessier, Peter,.born June 29, 1708, who married twice, once to Charlotte
Fortier, then to Geneveva
Parenteau. Son of Peter and Geneveva
Parenteau Tessier, Peter born Dec 11, 1747 married to Barbara Magdelene McDonald. Son of Peter and Barbara McDonald
Tessier, Dominice born April 1794 in Detroit who married Teresa
Chauvin at St. Antoine in
Monroe Michigan. Son of
Dominic and Teresa
Chauvin Tessier, Francis Xaviar born June 10, 1829 at St. Antroine, married Adelaide Eulalie
Beauregard. Son of Francis Xaviar and Adelaide (Nellie or
Addie) Philip O. Tessier dit
Santure, married
Isabella Raymond. Son of Philip and
Isabella, Leo who married Margaret
McCarter. Son of Leo and Margaret, Vernie Fredrick, who married
Ada Turner. Son of Vernie and
Ada, Paul who married
Pat, who are my parents.
By 1850 in
Michigan, the census takers were begging the french families to please shorten their names. They had originally been using the
Tessier name on census records, but it is generally known that the census taker asked them to choose one, the family name or the dit name. Around this time, Francis Xavier, and his brother
Hilary who also resided in
Monroe, chose to use the name
Santure. I have spent the better part of 10 years rounding up all of the Santure's that I can find. And there are not many. At some point around the generations of Leo
Santure, the families kind of fell apart. There were no communications between them. Although they lived very very close to each other. Our generations on down were told that "we are not related to any others", which is not true. I have been able to prove this with marriages, census, deaths etc.
We may never know why this particular branch of the family decided to use the dit name of
Santure, or Santour which was once recorded on a census, however, they do exist, and do decend from Urbanus
Tessier.
Paulette
Carpenter