Gilles Delaunay (1590 - abt. 1654)

I received this information from a friend in France who is a genealogist about 10 years ago:

Regarding Gilles Delaunay, he is coming from west-north-west of France, precisely from the village of Fresnay-sur-Sarthe in the department of Sarthe (this is the current official name, ZIP code 72130, not Fresnoy-le-Boesme as given sometimes on some websites; in fact Fresnoy was the old French name of Fresnay). Fresnay-sur-Sarthe was part of the old province of Normandy. And, if I search if there are still some Delaunay in this village (from the phone book), I can find some of them (French cousins?).

Gilles Delaunay was born in 1586 and dead in 1645 in Canada (unknown place). Denise Dubois, his wife, was born in the same village in 1594. They had three children: Pierre, Madeleine and Jacques.

At the generation n°2, Pierre Delaunay, came to "New France" (alias Québec province) in 1635, as employee of the "Compagnie des Cent-Associés" (that is to say Company of hundred associates) which was specialized in the fur trading. Pierre was in charge of the store at Tadoussac. His wife Françoise Pinguet was born in France (St-Aubin-des-Grois, Orne, France) and died at Québec, Canada.

According to the wiki page http://www.memoireduquebec.com/wiki/index.php?title=Delaunay_(Pierre) the name of the Lac Delaunay (near Rivière-au-Tonnerre, North coast, Québec, Canada) is in the honor of his memoir. And there are still some Delaunay in Rivière-au-Tonnerre. Perhaps some other cousins.... And Tadoussac, where Pierre was in charge of a fur store, is also in the same area (North coast).

From the web site (in French, sorry!): http://naviresnouvellefrance.com/html/vaisseaux2/marchands/marchandsDE.html#delaunaypierre we have some other information on Pierre Delaunay: among others, we learn that he couldn't write (probably he signed with a cross on some trading papers, because he couldn't write his name or give a signature). This web site gives valuable information about boats coming from France and the name of their passengers.

Generation n°3: Charles Delaunay was born in 1648 in Québec city, dead 24 Feb. 1737 (quite old! near 90 years old). Marie-Anne Legras was daughter of Jean Legras (born in 1657 at Faches-Thumesnil, Nord, France, dead in 1715 at Montréal, Canada) and Marie Geneviève Mallet (born in 1660 at Montréal, dead in 1703 at Montréal).

Generation n°4: Angélique Deniort was born in 1718 and was daughter of Jacques Deniort (birth and wife unknown). With Joseph Delaunay, they had another child, Marie Joseph, born 9 Jul 1743 and died soon after, the 4 Mar 1744.

I had a quick look at the French archives of the department of Sarthe. Currently I have found few things: a Jaquine Delaunay, lady of La Pépinière maried in 1505 (la Pépinière is a castle not very far from Fresnay-sur-Sarthe), a François Delaunay living in 1535, etc.. Perhaps nothing to do with Gilles Delaunay, but why not: if you have some lord or lady of a castle in your ancestors, it will be easier to go far in the past. Most of them kept many papers to prove their nobility. Otherwise, it will be much harder to go far and find other Delaunay.

For Fresnay-sur-Sarthe, the birth (in fact christening) and death registers exist since 1541. I have to had a look to them and see if we can get some more information about Gilles Delaunay and Denise Dubois. But they are not easy to read (see the attached image as an example). Perhaps I can find some information on the father and mother of Gilles Delaunay and Denise Dubois. Mariage registers exist since 1647 (probably too late for your direct ancestors, but they can be helpful if you want to find the tree of some French cousins).

This week-end I will have a deeper look to all those papers of the French archives: they are available on line, but only in image mode (not yet transcribed and digitalized).

Best regards. -- Frederic BIRET

The parents attached to this profile lived in La Rochelle and not in Maine. They were parents of Louis Delaunay of La Rochelle, himself the father of Jeanne Delaunay and grandfather of Marie Suzanne Benet, who emigrated to New France.

This definitely looks like a family conflation and the parents should be disconnected unless a source can confirm them. Thank you - Isabelle, French Roots Project.