Here is what you will find inside this section.
Here a summarized of the origin of our ancestor Jean-Baptiste Bellemare: Etienne Gelineau, married to Huguette Robert in Saintes, in France had a son named Jean Gelineau.
May 29, 1658, Etienne decided to come to be established in Low Canada with his son and they arrived at Trois-Rivières in August 1658. In certain documentations, it is mentioned that, when Etienne left France, it was widowed. However here what Bertrand Bellemare wrote to me in a letter: you can read this passage here. It was made clearer and farmer then. Jean, who was a licence holder of a ground in the Cap de la Madeleine, married Francoise de Charmenil.
From their descent, 3 brothers, Etienne, Jean-baptiste and Pierre came to be established in Yamachiche in 1702. They were the first clearers and, by the fact even, the first inhabitants of our beautiful corner of country.
Already, their name of Gelineau had changed for Gelinas. But, in order to be distinguished each of the others, since they were established all the 3 in the same corner, 2 of them transfer their surname to change with the wire of time. It was usual in these times to give nicknames to certain people, that is to say by their way of acting amongst other things, or by some their often repeated words, or for a multitude of other reasons.This habit also made it possible to easily identify a person, because at that time, much found themselves with the same first name and the same surname. And these nicknames which was joined to them, became for several their true surname.
Jean-baptiste became Bellemare: the legend says that Jean-baptiste bailed out of this name because it often spoke about beautiful water ponds on the edges of the Lake St Pierre, by where they had arrived. About the these water ponds, an anecdote interesting and amusing that my father knew, about the source of the name Bellemare, is told to us on one of the pages of history of Mr. Jacques Bellemare.I quote: Jean Baptiste Gelinas had an ox. The southern side of the ground extended until the accesses from the Lake St-Pierre and thus, a good part of the ground was marshy and it was a place dreamed for the reproduction of the mosquitos. During summer, these mosquitos stitchers constantly badgered the animal and this one had taken the practice to go to take refuge in a beautiful pond of water (or mud) to reduce its sufferings.It was necessary thus that Jean-baptiste often will seek his ox at this pond, and its neighbors took the practice to tease it by seeing it so often making the trip while saying to him: "beautiful pond!( belle mare)" Soon, everyone called it nickname "Bellemare", and this nickname became the surname (patronym) of its son.
Roger Bellemare, one of the historians of the family, brings us a new version of the choice of the name Bellemare, version which you can read here.
About Pierre, who became Lacourse, it would be by his attraction to become a trapper. Moreover, ten years before coming to be established on its lot with his brothers, he left to make the trap and hunting, and went in the west of the country, where one would have found traces of his passage in Manitoba.
Here is a very short summary of the source of our great family of Bellemare. Further, I will go more in-depth on their life and their ancestors to France. Already, a well-known historian of the Bellemare family, Mr. Roger Bellemare helped of Mr. Lucien Bellemare and Mr. Christian Siguret de France have written a work on "the Saintongeais ancestors", work who is unfortunately only available in french for the moment, but an english version is coming soon..
Let us specify at the beginning that no lot had still been surveyed at this time there in Yamachiche. But the 3 Gélineau brothers had already in hand the licences of occupation of the sior of Grandpré, Mr. Lambert Boucher, owner of the named grounds Fief Grosbois western. Therefore, it is with these licences in hand, that they get under way towards their respective concessions.
Let us see together what their voyage in boat until Yamachiche resembled. To start, it should be known that the winters were very hard at the beginning of the colony.
When a colonist wanted to be established on a batch, it was to start early during the year. Therefore, our 3 adventurers left certainly at the end of spring, after the cast iron of the ices with their boats and provisions. Of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, they took the direction of the west while skirting banks of the river and the Lake St Pierre. To see the way that they traversed in boat on the Lake, click here to see the map.
They circumvent the Yamachiche point, at the mouth of the Large River. Why didn't they take this way rather than to continue more to the west? Or, perhaps they ventured there and they would have turned back: no one cannot say it. Anyway, they arrive at the mouth of the Small River. Here is a map which shows to us the way traversed on the Small River.
The entry in the Small River seen from the Lake St Pierre.
It is of this direction that they arrived.
Here are other sights of the river, such as they could see it from their boat.
Why there rather than elsewhere? Did they want simply to rest a little before continuing? Or there was something which intricate, interested them, at the point to make them stop? No idea. But a fact which is certain, it is that they found this corner rather pleasant in their eyes and it's why they took the decision to be established there.
N.B.: Know the heraldic description of the blazon of Bellemare, on the page of the site of Bertrand Bellemare at this address: BERTPAGE - Field - Genealogy of Bellemare (in french for the moment).
