52 Ancestors 2015: #32 – Pierre Janvry dit Belair, Father of 25 Children

I’m participating in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition” by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story too Small.

For the 32nd week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (32) to write about one of my 32 3rd great-grandparents, Pierre Janvry dit Belair (1772-1848).

Pierre, my paternal great-great-grandfather and #32 in my ancestor list, had twenty-five children:

• fourteen (10 sons and 4 daughters) with first wife Marguerite Campeau (1773-1817) 
• eleven (7 sons and 4 daughters) with second wife Scholastique St-Michel (1797-1864).

The sixth and youngest child of François Janvry dit Belair and his wife Marie Elisabeth Martel, Pierre was born on 2 March 1772 in Ste-Geneviève (now Pierrefonds, Quebec). [1] Interestingly, he had an older brother named Pierre (1766-1860) who also married twice. [2] (I plan on writing a blog post about the elder Pierre one day.)

My ancestor, the younger Pierre, married Marguerite Campeau on 12 August 1793 in Ste-Geneviève. [3] The couple had fourteen children between April 1794 and September 1814. Five survived to adulthood, but only three married, while two died as young adults. A sixth child (Jean-Baptiste born in 1804) presumably died as an infant.

After Marguerite’s death in September 1817, Pierre married Scholastique on 27 September 1818 in Ste-Geneviève. [4] Their eleven children were born between May 1819 and July 1840. There was a 46 year gap between the birth of eldest sibling Pierre in 1794 and the birth of the youngest sibling Denis in 1840.

I’ve prepared a couple of charts to show Pierre’s children by each wife. Blank cells indicate that I haven’t found the information in question, while shaded cells indicate information that does not apply. Locations in italics indicate place of baptism or burial when place of birth or death is unknown or unspecified. Unless stated otherwise, all locations are in the province Quebec.

Sources:

1. Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1756-1775, no page no., no entry no. (1772), Pierre Janvri [sic] baptism, 2 March 1772; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 March 2008).

2. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 17 January 2009), Francois Janvry Belair – Marie Elisabeth Martel Lamontagne, Famille no. 37356.

3. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 14 February 2015), Pierre Janvry Belair, Individu no. 234999. Also, Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1787-1795, p. 8 verso, no entry no. (1798), Pierre Dejanvry – Marguerite Campau [sic] marriage, 12 August 1793; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 August 2015).

4. Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1812-1825, p. 127 verso, no entry no. (1818), Pierre Janvry – Scholastique St-Michel (written as Pierre Janvry – Scholastique St-Michel, indexed as Pierre Jarry – Scholastique Michel) marriage, 27 September 1818; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 August 2015).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.