Michel Gereyt (Forest) De Forest (abt. 1637 - abt. 1691)

Born about 18 Jun 1637 in Leyden, Holland, Nederland [uncertain]

Husband of Marie Hebert — married about 1666 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Canada

Husband of Jacqueline Benoit — married about 1686 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France

Descendants

Died about 1691 at about age 53 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle-France [uncertain]

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Michel Gereyt (Forest) De Forest is an Acadian. Join: Acadians Project Discuss: ACADIA

Biography

NOTICE: This profile is protected by the Acadian Project because of uncertainty about parents or attempts to add unsourced parents. He is an historically important person as Patriarch of the Acadian Forest family. Please contact the Acadian Project before making any substantive changes. Thanks for helping make WikiTree the best site for accurate information. See the Section below for more details. Add anything substantive that you find there.

The origins of Michel Forest are presently unknown, though he could have come from the Netherlands or France. His parents are unknown and disputed (see Discussion below). It's possible that his birth was in the Netherlands in 1637,^[1] though there is still debate about that. He was at least born by 1638-1639.^[2]

Presumably, he must have arrived in the colony by 1665, since his first child was born in 1666 or 1667.^[2] Over the years, he used the name De Forest and Forest.

Michel (28) married Marie Hebert (14) (born about 1651 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Nouvelle France; daughter of longtime Acadian colonists Étienne Hébert and Marie Gaudet) in 1666 in Port-Royal, Acadie, Canada.^[2][1] Their children were:

1. Michel Forest (abt. 1667–bef. 1731) .
2. Pierre Forest (abt. 1668–abt. 1730) .
3. René Forest (abt. 1670–1751) .
4. Gabrielle Forest (1673–1710) .
5. Marie Forest (1675–abt. 1737) .
6. Jean Baptiste Forest (abt. 1677–1752)

They lived in Port Royal in 1671,^[3] and 1678^[4] Marie must have died between 1675 and 1678 as she is absent from that accounting and he is named a widower.

Michel (48) married Jacqueline Benoit (12) (born about 1673 in Pisiguit, Acadie, Nouvelle-France; daughter of Martin Benoit and Marie Chaussegros) in 1686 in Port-Royal, Acadie. She was only 13 at the time, barely older than his three youngest children.^[1][5] Their daughter was Marguerite Forest (abt. 1687–bef. 1730).

In 1686, at Port Royal, Michel DEFOREST [sic], aged 47, was living with his second wife, Jacqueline BENOIST [sic], aged 13, and six children by his first wife, Marie HEBERT: Michel, aged 19, Pierre, aged 18, Rene, aged 16, Gabriel [recte Gabrielle], aged 13, Marie, aged 11, and Jean-Baptiste, aged 9. The family owned 1 gun and was living on 5 arpents of cultivable land with 8 sheep and 4 hogs.^[5]

He died between 1687, the birth of Marguerite, and 1691, the remarriage of Jacqueline.^[2] Probably on the sooner side of that range as many couples had a child every 2-3 years and no additional children were born in 1689 or 1690 as might have been expected.

In 1693, Michel did not appear on the census. His three eldest sons, Michel, Pierre, and René, were on the census. His second wife appeared as the spouse of Guillaume Trahan on this census. The other children were not named in any family.^[6]

Abbé Forest indicated that Michel was given land east of Port Royal on the Dauphine River (now the Annapolis River). However, there was no document clearly establishing Michel's ownership of any land. This lack of documentation was not uncommon for many Acadian parcels of land.^[2]

Michel Forest was the founder of an Acadian family that has many descendants now living in Canada and the United States.^[2] There are nearly 28,000 descendants already identified in Wikitree as of September, 2020^[7]

Discussion

• Parents Some have stated that Henri de Forest and Gertrude Bornstra are Michel's parents. According to John P Dulong, Henri de Forest (or Hendrick de Foreest in Dutch) was born on 7 March 1606, in Sedan, France, and married on 1 July 1636, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Gertrude Bornstra, of Friesland. He departed on 25 September 1636, for New Amsterdam, with Gertrude staying behind. Henri died on 26 July 1637, of a fever off the coast of Virginia. The couple had only been married for just over a year, but they had been separated for much of this time. According to the Jessé theory, during a three month period, they conceived a son named Michel, who eventually migrated to Acadia and settled there. There is no evidence in any document uncovered to date to support this theory. Gertrude eventually came to New Amsterdam with her second husband, Andries Hudde, in 1639. In the settlement of Henri's property, there is no mention made of any children, which would normally appear in such a case^[8] Specifically, Riker^[9] states that Henry died childless and his estate fell to his wife. DNA results also disprove a match with Jesse de Forest^[10]
• Melanson says father is Henri de Forest; probably not so either for Crispin (m 1 July 1636 to M. BORNSTRA)-- son of Gerard (Gereyt? Gerrit?) De Forest, who may have been the son of Isaack De Forest Bornstra, according to information from Jehn, Acadian Descendants, v.5, p.iii Geyreyt?
• White gives Crispin and Marguerite Bornstra as parents with a baptism record in Leyde June 18, 637; converti au chatholicisme sous le mon de Michel.^{[1] [11]}
• There is a family tradition among the Forest descendants living on the Gaspé peninsula of Québec that their immigrant ancestor was from French Flanders and that he had converted to Catholicism (L. Forest, 1977, 6, 49-52). However, no document found in Acadia contemporary to Michel supports this tradition. It is unclear when this tradition started, but it at least goes back as far as Charles Forest , who was married to Marie-Anne Poirier at Bonaventure on 3 November 1820. Apparently, this oral tradition was current around the mid-1830s when Charles told it to his sons. Oral traditions can be notoriously incorrect. They may contain some truth, but they must be verified by documents.^[2]

Biographie

L'origine de Michel Forest de même que le noms de ses parents nous est inconnue. Après avoir vécu à Port-Royal le long de la rivière Dauphin, il épousa Marie Hébert vers 1666 à Port-Royal où il est décédé avant 1691 vers l'âge de cinquante trois ans.

Selon Denis Beauregard, FOREST(de), Michel, n 1638 [R1671] ou 1639 [R1686], laboureur en 1671, voir spéculation sur ses parents et son ascendance, son origine la plus probable serait du Poitou comme la plupart des autres Acadiens et où on trouve aussi des de Forest, l'hypothèse d'un Gereyt de Forest qui n'a laissé aucune autre trace que sa naissance me semble de plus en plus farfelue et sans fondement [Denis Beauregard]

Research Notes

• https://www.geni.com/people/Michel-Gereyt-De-Forest/6000000041056007955

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Stephen A. White, Patrice Gallant, and Hector-J Hébert. "Dictionnaire Généalogique Des Familles Acadiennes, Moncton, N.-B.: Centre D'études Acadiennes, Université De Moncton, 1999, Print, p. 630.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} John P. Dulong, "The Origins of the Acadian Michel Forest", http://habitant.org/forest/, Eighth Draft, April 19, 2017, Accessed 9/28/2020
3. ↑ Tim Hebert; Transcription of the 1671 Acadian Census, at Port-Royal, Acadie. 1671 Census Transcribed. The original census can be found at Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752” Images 3-14.

   Michel De FOREST 33, wife, Marie HEBERT 20: Children: Michel 4, Pierre 2, Rene 1; cattle 12, sheep 2.

4. ↑ Tim Hebert; 1678 Port Royal Acadian Census noting that the correlations for this census were done by Rev. Clarence J. d'Entremont, Fairhaven, Massachusetts.1678 Census

   Port Royal, Michel Forest, a widower, no age given, is recorded as owning four acres, three cows, two calves, and one gun (Entremont 1971, 230; 1979, 56). He has six children: Michel age 12, Pierre age 10, René age 8, an unnamed male (probably Jean-Baptiste) age 3, Gabrielle age 6, and Marie age 4.

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Tim Hebert; Transcription of the 1686 Acadian Census, at Port-Royal, Acadie 1686 Census Transcribed. The original census can be found at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752,” Images 15-60;

   at Port Royal: Michel DEFOREST 47, Jacqueline BENOIST 13; children by his first wife (Marie HEBERT): Michel 19, Pierre 18, Rene 16, Gabriel 13, Marie 11, Jean-Baptiste 9; 1 gun, 5 arpents, 8 sheep, 4 hogs. In the original 1686 Census at Port Royal, Forest was listed as Deforest, Benoit was listed as Benoist, Jean Baptiste was transcribed hyphenated as Jean-Baptiste, and Gabrielle was listed as Gabriel.

6. ↑ Tim Hebert; Transcription of the 1693 Acadian Census at Port-Royal, Acadie 1693 Census Transcribed. The original census can be found at Acadian Census microfilm C-2572 of the National Archives of Canada “Acadie Recensements 1671 – 1752,” Images 62-108.
7. ↑ WikiTree Family list of descendants
8. ↑ E. De Forest 1914, 1: 99-101; 2:355-356).
9. ↑ Riker, 1904, 128-129), the historian of Harlem, New York,
10. ↑ John P. Dulong, http://habitant.org/forest/ "Vindication"

    I would like to direct your attention to the Association des Forest d’Amérique’s analysis of Forest Y DNA samples at https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/de-forest/about/results. Several descendants of Michel de Forest have been tested for their Y DNA, as well as a few descendants of Jesse de Forest. They simply do not match. It is now clearly established that there is no genetic relationship between these two men.

11. ↑ Stephen A. White, English Supplement to the Dictionnaire Généalogique Des Familles Acadiennes ,Part I 1636 to 1714; Moncton, N.-B.: Centre D'études Acadiennes, Université De Moncton, 2000, Print. P. 133 for more explanation of the move to America and name change

See also:

• https://dna-explained.com/2023/09/24/michel-de-forest-c1638-c1690-acadian-family-founder-52-ancestors-411/