I am looking for information on my great-great grandfather, Louis Esdras PAQUIN.

He was born in Québec about 1827, according to information from the 1860 and 1870 United States Federal censuses.

Sometime between 1850 and 1860, he came to Kankakee, Kankakee Countyy, Illinois - an area known as "Petit Canada"

He married Félicité GAUTHIER in Kankakee - she too was born in Québec.

They had four children, all born in Illinois: (Félicité) Josephine, born 1859, (Clara Marie) Louise, born 1861, Louis E. born 1864, and Elia Velma born 1874.

I have been unable to identify Louis' or Félicité's parents - however, I thought that Louis' "middle" name - Esdras - was unusual, and might be a helpful clue in identifying his family in Québec.

I have found that a Louis PAQUIN was born in Louiseville, Maskinongé, on 17 Oct 1826 - son of François PAQUIN and Marie-Louise GRAVEL; I wondered if this might be the same man as my great-great-grandfather, Louis Esdras PAQUIN?

Does anyone have acces to information regarding the "middle" name of the Louis PAQUIN born 17 Oct 1826 in Louiseville? Or if there might be any other information linking him to my great-great grandfather?

Any help would be appreciated.

François Paquin // son of François & Louise Pombert-Duruisseau
Birth : 12 september 1787, Louiseville (Maskinonge County)
Dead : 06 may 1829, Louiseville
Marriage : 28 august 1815, Louiseville
Louise Gravel // daughter of Pierre & Louise Ouellette
Birth : 15 april 1792, Louiseville
Dead : 24 june 1876, St-Paulin (Maskinonge County)

Children Paquin & Gravel :

• François // birth : 15 may 1816, Louiseville // dead : 24 february 1901, St-Paulin
Marriage : 23 february 1846, St-Leon-le-Grand (Maskinonge County)
Elisabeth Lafond // daughter of Jean-Baptiste Moise & Marie Lamothe // birth : 01 june 1828, St-Léon-le-Grand // dead : 11 june 1903, St-Paulin

• Louise // birth : 07 september 1817, Louiseville // dead : 05 november 1896, St-Alexis-des-Monts (Maskinonge County)
Marriage : 06 september 1841, St-Léon-le-Grand
Etienne Bellemare // son of Joseph & Marie Rivard-Loranger // birth : 29 august 1818, Louiseville // dead : 18 august 1877, St-Alexis-des-Monts

• Joseph // birth : 20 january 1819, Louiseville

• Pierre // birth : 27 december 1820, Louiseville // dead : 09 july 1824, Louiseville

• Antoine // birth : 05 september 1822, Louiseville

• Charles // birth : 09 february 1824, Louiseville (from Wisconsin at his marriage)
Marriage : 05 august 1851, St-Paulin
Rosalie Paquette-Lavallée // daughter of Jean-Baptiste & Louise Boisvert // birth : 27 april 1836, Louiseville

• Joseph // birth : 17 septembre 1825, Louiseville // dead : 22 septembre 1825, Louiseville

• Louis // birth : 17 october 1826, Louiseville

• Léandre // birth : 11 december 1828, Louiseville

François Paquin // son of François & Marie-Anne Gregoire
Birth : 02 november 1758, Louiseville
Dead : 25 june 1837, Louiseville
Marriage (1) : 13 november 1786, Louiseville
Louise Pombert-Duruisseau // daughter of Pierre & Charlotte-Amable Paille
Birth : 03 november 1764, Louiseville
Dead : 18 february 1796, Louiseville
Marriage (2) : 15 august 1796, Louiseville
Louise Giguere // daughter of Joseph & Genevieve Lessard
Birth : 20 april 1771, Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre
Dead : 20 may 1819, Louiseville
Marriage (3) : 21 august 1820, Maskinonge (Maskinonge County)
Marie Lefebvre-Villemure // daughter of Louis-Didace & Genevieve Veillette // and widow of Nicolas Beland

Francois Paquin // son of Nicolas & Therese Groleau
Birth : 14 october 1724, Deschambault
Dead : 05 january 1806, Louiseville
Marriage : 22 november 1751, Deschambault
Marie-Anne Gregoire // daughter of Jean-Baptiste & Josephte Chapelain
Birth : 12 april 1729, Deschambault
Dead : 22 december 1790, Louiseville

Nicolas Paquin // son of Nicolas & Francoise Plante
Birth : about 1677
Dead : 13 april 1731, Deschambault
Marriage (1) : 10 octobre 1705, Deschambault
Anne Perrault // daughter of Paul & Marie Chretien
Birth : 07 july 1682, Repentigny
Dead : 09 june 1720, Deschambault
Marriage (2) : 13 janvier 1721, Deschambault
Therese Groleau // daughter of Pierre & Genevieve Laberge
Birth : 20 october 1688, Neuville
Dead : 14 december 1724, Deschambault

Nicolas Paquin // son of Jean & Renee Fremont // Carpenter
Birth : 05 april 1648, Rouen (France)
Dead : 17 december 1708, Ste-Famille (Ile d’Orleans)
Marriage : 18 november 1676, Château-Richer
Francoise Plante // daughter of Jean & Francoise Boucher
Birth : 27 january 1655, Quebec
Dead : 18 april 1726, Ste-Famille (Ile d’Orleans)

Jean Paquin and Rene Fremont // from LaPoterie-Cap-d’Antifer, Le Havre, Rouen, Normandie (Seine-Maritime).

Thank you, Claire, for your kind and thorough response to my request for information.

From what you posted on the message board, I am still uncertain if my greatx2 grandfather Louis Esdras Paquin is the same Louis Paquin born in Louiseville, though. The Louis Paquin born in Louiseville seems to have left no further trace in the area - some of his siblings have apparently remained in Louiseville, but this Louis did not - at least, there is no date of death or further information on descendants. That could possibly be because he emigrated, which would be consistent, but not solid proof.

I will need to keep trying to make this connection.

If you have any other suggestions for possbile leads, please let me know!

Je vous remercie de votre assistance.

I do not know if this will help you or not. My wife's side of the family traces back to a Louis Paquin that we've always shown as born abt 1827 - quite close to the 1826 date you have found.
Our Louis Paquin (her great-grandfather; we do not have a middle name currently) married in Canada and had 10 children. Family lore says he passed away in St Leon, QUE. Some of the older of his children remained in Canada but most emmigrated to Minnesota, where my wife was born.
We would be interested in where you found the birth record of the Louis that you have. We've not been working that branch of the tree recently so you may have found her great-grandfather rather than your relative.

Good morning,

I think that you were talking about this family. Reference : from the Register of those parish : St-Leon-le-Grand, Ste-Ursule, Louiseville. You could find also all those informations at Ancestry.ca (Drouin Microfilm) original act.

Louis Paquin / born 29 april 1826, Louiseville (Maskinonge County) / died 18 april 1874, St-Leon-le-Grand / son of François-Regis & Euphrosine Giguere
Marriage : 15 february 1847, St-Leon-le-Grand (Maskinonge County)
Clarisse Marcotte / born 03 february 1829, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 04 october 1898, St-Leon-le-Grand / daughter of Godefroy & Louise Lesage

Children Paquin & Marcotte:

Marie / born (?)
Marriage : 22 july 1879, St-Leon-le-Grand
Joseph Bergeron / born 30 may 1854, Ste-Ursule (Maskinonge County) / son of Louis & Marie Lambert

Edouard / born 08 march 1849, St-Leon-le-Grand
Marriage : 14 september 1869, St-Leon-le-Grand
Sophie Lamy / born 22 may 1841, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 10 septembre 1896, St-Leon-le-Grand / daughter of Laurent & Angelique-Julie Coulombe

Elie / Born 24 january 1851, Ste-Ursule

Isidore / born 20 november 1852, Ste-Ursule
Marriage : 04 february 1873, St-Leon-le-Grand
Helene Bergeron / born 05 april 1849, Ste-Ursule / daughter of Antoine & Lucie Caron

Marie-Elisa / born 18 february 1854, Ste-Ursule

Regis / born 11 January 1856, Ste-Ursule / died 29 august 1857, St-Leon-le-Grand

Elzida-Malvina / born 26 jun 1857, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 23 august 1858, St-Leon-le-Grand

Elie / born 03 january 1858, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 10 april 1933, St-Leon-le-Grand
Marriage : 17 july 1876, St-Leon-le-Grand
Olive Bergeron / born 30 august 1854, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 17 august 1926, St-Leon-le-Grand / daughter of Jean-Baptiste & Olive Roy

Elvina / born 19 june 1859, St-Leon-le-Grand

Clarisse / born 15 july 1862, St-Leon-le-Grand

Louis-Abraham / born 21 december 1863, St-Leon-le-Grand

Anne / born 11 july 1865, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 01 april 1936, St-Leon-le-Grand
Marriage : 25 june 1884, St-Leon-le-Grand
Adolphe Lamy / born 15 march 1852, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 25 april 1923, St-Leon-le-Grand / son of Louis & Sophie Lesage

Louise / born 21 may 1867, St-Leon-le-Grand / died 15 august 1894, Ste-Ursule
Marriage : 01 september 1885, St-Leon-le-Grand
Noe Lefrançois / born 22 february 1862, Ste-Ursule / died 19 may 1926, Ste-Ursule / son of Alexis & Felicite Bellemare

Unknow / born & died 05 march 1869, St-Leon-le-Grand

Edouardina / born 03 may 1870, St-Leon-le-Grand
Marriage : 18 septembre 1888, St-Leon-le-Grand
Alexis Caron / born 01 september 1867, St-Leon-le-Grand / son of Remi & Louise Lupien

N.B. : I dont know when Marie born. She could be Elvina or Clarisse.

Good luck,

Claire Lambert-Lemyre

Thank you for your reply to my query regarding my great-great-grandfather, Louis Esdras Paquin. I have not, unfortunatly, found a birth record - only the reference to the year of birth from the United States Census records.

However, I believe that Louis Paquin of St. Leon is probably not the same individual - there is a posting that lists the descendants of the St. Leon Louis Paquin, and the dates of birth of many of his children overlap with the birthdates of the children of (my great-great-grandfather) Louis Esdras Paquin. So, it is unlikely in the 1850's that Louis would be the father of so many children in two different areas of the world.

Thank you, though, for your response to my inquiry.

John Farnen

Claire,

Thank you so much for you many replies to this query. I appreciate you help very much.

Your most recent response helps me to be quite certain that these are two different individuals.

My great-great-grandfather Louis Esdras Paquin fathered children in Illinois in 1859, 1861, 1864, and 1874. This would overlap with some of the birthdates of the children of Louis Paquin of St. Leon, which would make it very unlikely that they are the same individual.

And Louis Esdras Paquin is definitely buried in Illinois, not in Quebec. So, they must be two different individuals.

Back to the drawing board, I guess!

I have not purchased the Drouin collection, but I will probably need to do so if I am to solve this missing piece of the puzzle.

Many thanks for your help!!

Hello,

Something else find on Drouin Microfilm :

Louis Esdras Paquin / son of Pierre & Marguerite Proulx / born & baptism 01 june 1827, La Baie-du-Febvre, Parish St-Antoine-de-Padoue, Yamaska County. That far from the Maskinonge County.

Claire

Also from the Drouin Collection :

Pierre Paquin / son of Paul & Marguerite Perron
Marriage : 22 september 1817, Baie-du-Febvre, Parish St-Antoine-de-Padoue, Yamaska County
Marguerite Proulx / daughter of Louis & Angelique Cote

Paul Paquin / son of Nicolas & Josephte Arcand
Marriage : 26 january 1778, Deschambault
Marguerite Perron / daughter of Antoine & Marie Marcotte


Claire