Descendant chart for Francois Violette, three generations

When Francois and Marie-Luce Violet moved their family around 1789 from lands they had lived on and farmed along the Hammond River in lower New Brunswick, there were twelve children ranging in age from infancy to 19 years old. Three more children would be born to this family after arriving in the Upper St John River Valley bringing the total to 15. But Marie-Luce died about 1800, at 50 years of age – not uncommon in those days when life was not easy. The community around the Hammond River could count on established commercial enterprises to provide supplies of all kinds – the things they could not raise on their farm. Pioneering in the Upper St John meant there was none of those “conveniences” available and they probably had to do without or make their own substitutes for many things.

Such was the age range of this large family that their first grandchild was born before their fifteenth child was born in 1792! Son Augustin married Elizabeth Cyr 11 years after moving to his new land (he was one of those who was granted land under the Soucy Concession) and their first child was born in 1799. Continue reading →