Monday Madness: Poisson Ancestors Monday, June 28, 2010

I spent a good deal of energy in 2009 researching my grandmother's paternal branch - Fish/Poisson. The challenge being that I can not find a document in US records that clearly indicates the parents of my 2nd great grandfather Victor Poisson. What makes this challenging is that my ancestor Victor was apparently born "Hector". I learned he was from the Trois Rivieres/Gentilly region - but when I search the Drouin records - I find two likely candidates and do not currently have any additional information to break the "tie" as to which "Hector" is my ancestor.

That being said, I learned that Jean Poisson (b. abt 1612) is the ancestor of all French Canadians with the name Poisson and I was lucky enough to find several living distant cousins along the way to share the experience. But I wasn't prepared for what happened next!

I started researching my grandmother's maternal branch - Courtois. I again encountered the name "Poisson" - this time, it is first as Anne-Marie Poisson, my 5th great-grandmother.

Then, I found an article in the Southern California Genealogical Society newsletter with transcribed names of those who went to Canada from a village in France. Turns out that Jean Poisson is on that list, as well as his spouse, Jacqueline Chambois. See some photos here of Tourouvre, France.

While I can not yet complete the connection to Jean Poisson on my "Poisson" branch, I'm now able to trace back to him via my "Courtois" branch! Super!