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| Notes for Nicolas Choquet Dit Champagne | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Biographical Notes (extracts from the hand written notes of Gaston CHOQUETTE, written in the 60's and of Louise CHOQUETTE, of Huntsville, Ontario. Some data needs to be more precisely authenticated). There were two CHOQUET who came to La Nouvelle-France, but there is only one Ancestor to all of the CHOQUET-CHOQUETTE Families. Antoine CHOQUET, son of Antoine and Claude CAILLET, of St-Eustache, City and Archdiocese of Paris, married Anne TROTTAIN on January 29th, 1691 in Batiscan. They had three children, Joseph-Etienne, Marie and Antoine, but both sons died in infancy, and therefore the line stopped there. [S5] As to the only CHOQUET-CHOQUETTE Ancestor, his name was NICOLAS. He was the son of Nicolas CHOQUET and Claudine GREUET (see notes about he GREUET name in french). He was baptised on February 14th, 1644 [S10] in St-Firmin-de-la-Porte, in Amiens, Picardie, France. This town is now part of the Somme Department. The Amiens Departmental Archives revealed that Nicolas had four brothers, Jean, Firmin, Jacques et George, et une soeur, Elisabeth. Unfortunately, the Marriage Record of his parents, Nicolas and Claudine GREUET, remains undiscoverable (it is believed that the documents were lost in a fire), but we have new developments regarding this. Recently we received a letter from Father George CHRISTIAN of Louisville, Kentucky. It seems that he and his brother Richard have been gathering data about Maxime CHOQUETTE for the last 20 years and have turned it into a book. Father George tells us that our ancestor's grand-parents would be Nicolas CHOQUET and Jeanne CHASTEL, and that they got married in Amiens, France around 1614. We are still trying to verify that information which appears in the International Genealogical Index of the LDS Church. Nicolas came to Canada in 1665 as a soldier of the famous French Regiment de Carignan-Salieres (his nickname of CHAMPAGNE comes from the tradional induction into the regiment). Nicolas arrived, first in Quebec, and then moved to Ville-Marie (as Montreal was then called). Nicolas was part of a platoon of this Regiment and its leader's name was Sidrac Du Gue de Boisbriand. After the return to peace time, he and his leader, had the choice of either returning to France with his Regiment or staying here. Those who chose to stay were granted land near that of their leader. Sidrac Du Gue obtained a land grant on Ile Sainte-Therese, where Nicolas established himself as a farmer. The Island of Sainte-Therese is situated in the middle of the St-Lawrence River, about 10 miles downstream from Montreal, directly in front of Varennes which is situated approximately 10 miles East of Montreal, on Highway 132. Nicolas was married in Notre-Dame-de-Montreal Church, on November 12th 1668 [S10], to Anne JULIEN, daughter of Pierre Julien and Marie De Prez, from Saint-Germain-L'Auxerrois in Paris, France. Their marriage certificate is still housed in the Notre-Dame Church vault. A Large Family After his marriage, Nicolas spent some time in Quebec City, where his first child, Julien, was born on September 14th 1669 [S8]. In September 1671, he finally settled on the Island of Ste-Therese. Nicolas and Anne had ten children (all born on the Island with the exception of Julien, born in Quebec): 1.Julien CHOQUET, born 14 September 1669 2.Pierre CHOQUET, born 12 November 1671 * 3.Catherine CHOQUET, born 13 December 1672 4.Jeanne CHOQUET, born 16 August 1675 5.Marie Therese CHOQUET, born 31 August 1678 6.Nicolas CHOQUET, born 13 November 1681 7.Marguerite CHOQUET, born 4 December 1685 * 8.Marie Madeleine CHOQUET, born 22 July 1686 9.Pierre CHOQUET, born 10 April 1689 * 10.Catherine CHOQUET, born 31 July 1694 (* signifies died at an ealy age) Nicolas lived until the age of 64. He died in Varennes, on February 25th, 1722 [S10] and was buried the same day in the Cemetery of Ste-Anne-de-Varennes Parish. It is to be noted that on the Burial Record, he is simply identified as "bonhomme Choquet". Nicola's descendants were established first in Varennes, near Montreal, and then, eventually, populated the areas of Vercheres, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Beloeil, St-Mathias, Richelieu, the Iberville region, Laprairie, etc., and for 300 years now, are to be found everywhere, in the United States, in New England as well as in the West, and in many regions of Canada.(See Geographical Distribution of Choquettes) The first settlers wrote their name CHOQUET but , after a while, it was written CHOQUETTE or CHOQUET, much like the names Paquet-Paquette, etc. (See spelling variations) In the Village of Varennes, a monument was erected honoring the pioneer NICOLAS CHOQUET during the festivities marking the 300th anniversary of his arrival in the area and in the region. This monument can be seen by all who pass by the corner of Nicolas Choquet Street and René-Gaultier Boulevard. Confirmation On the 24th of August 1664, Nicolas Chouquet, 20 years of age, was confirmed in Notre-Dame de Quebec. It is possible that this is a distortion of Choquet, since this corresponds to the age that Nicolas I would have had at that time. However, further research is needed since it is generally recognized that Nicolas arrived in Quebec a year later, in 1665. Source: P.R.D.H., Vol. 6, p. 269 Top of page Census of 1681: Nicolas lived in the parish of Ste-Anne de Varennes. He was 38 years old, and was listed as habitant or farmer. His wife Anne Jullien was 30 years old. They had 4 children: Julien, 13 years old Catherine, 11 years old Jeanne, 8 years old Marie Thérèse, 3 years old. Top of page Origin of the name CHOQUET Extracted from the handwitten notes of Gaston Choquette: From Choques, commune of the Pas de Calais, arrondissement de Bethune, Choquet is a tin cup. In English, Coket means a vase used to measure and the latin coketa gives a similar meaning. Moisy, to the word choquet says "Petit vase en terre cuite servant a boire" a small vase of baked earth or terra-cotta used for drinking. Choquet and choque (a larger vase or tankard) owe their origin to the Norman habit while at a gathering, of never emptying their glass without clinking them against one another, otherwise said, without clinking or chinking. "Choquet" is still used to mean hickup. (From Origines des familles Canadiennes-francaises by N.E. Dionne, at the Montreal Municipal Library). Top of page Homepage | Site Map | Search Engine | Family Tree Adding Names | Forum | Ancestor | Biographies 300th Anniversary | Photo Albums | Geography | Contributors Choquette & WWW | Genealogical Links | E-Mail | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified 4 Jan 2001 | Created 13 Jun 2004 by Reunion for Macintosh |