Our Fourniers'Ancestors

             All reproduction is forbidden without the agreement of Association of Fourniers in America

  According to our research, 40 persons named Fournier crossed the Atlantic between 1650 and 1850.  Most of these Fourniers married after they arrived in New France.  Seventeen of  these Fourniers were soldiers of which 9 married and the others died as bachelors.  Of the ancestors who were married, three had no children; eight had descendants for two to four generations named Fournier; twelve left a line that can be traced up to the present day.

  1-Guillaume Fournier appears to be the first of our ancestors who came to New France.  He was the son of Gilles Fournier and Noëlle Gagnon from Coulmer in Normandy.  His arrival date is approximate since we have found no documents proving his arrival before his marriage to Françoise Hébert on November 20, 1651 in Quebec.  Guillaume Fournier and Françoise Hébert produced the most numerous line of descendants in America named Fournier.

  2-Jacques Fournier de la Ville was the second Fournier to arrive in this country.  A native of Saint-Jean-en-Grève parish in Paris, he was the son of  Michel Fournier, a king’s adviser, and of Michelle Croyer.  On  May 14, 1657 he married Marguerite Crevier in Trois-Rivières.  This marriage was annulled a few years later.  No child was born of this marriage.  On October 24, 1663 Jacques Fournier married Hélène du Figuier in Quebec and they had many children.  However, we have found no descendants named Fournier after the third generation.

  3-Nicolas Fournier arrived in New France on May 25, 1664 aboard the ship “Noir de Hollande”.  A native of Saint-Étienne des Marans, he was the son of Hugues Fournier and Jeanne Huguette.  Before he was married, he worked as a servant.  On September 30, 1670 he married Marie Hubert in Quebec. Nicolas Fournier and Marie Hubert left the second most important line of descendants throughout Canada and the United States.

  4-Pierre Fournier dit des Forges arrived in 1664 on the same ship, the “Noir de Hollande”.  A native of Poitou, Pierre was a miller working for Jean Bourdon.  He seems to have remained a bachelor.  We have found no trace of a marriage.

  5-Robert Fournier, a native of Saint-Ouen de Lampar parish in Normandy, signed a contract as a hired hand (“contrat d’engagement”) on June 15, 1661 in Dieppe.  In the 1681 census of Lachine, he is 62 years old.  He seems to have remained a bachelor.  Brother of the following Jean Fournier.

  6-Jean Fournier, also a native of Saint-Ouen de Lampar, was Robert’s brother.  He was married to Marie Crispin in 1667, place unknown.  Therefore, we do not know if he was married in France or after he arrived in Canada.  We have found no children for this couple.  In the 1681 census of Lachine, Jean was 54 years old and his wife was 42.  He owned 2 guns, 14 horned animals and 50 “arpents” of land.

  7-François Fournier dit “LaRoche” arrived in the country around 1663.  He was living in Quebec during the census of 1666.  Later on, he lived in Montreal.   He worked as a stonemason.

  8-Gabriel Fournier dit “Laverdure” was a soldier in the “Compagnie Carignan-Sallière”.  In 1667, he signed a contract for an obligation at the notary Bénigne Basset in Montreal.

  9-François Fournier dit “Le Poignon” was  problably born around 1685.  His place of origin is unkown.  He was nicknamed François dit “Le Poignon” because his left hand was fingerless.  He worked at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec.  In 1712, he drowned in Baie Saint-Paul along with Jean Bois.

  10-Claude Fournier is the fourth Fournier to have descendants in New France.  He was  the son of Étienne Fournier and Michelle Gendray of Pouilly-en-Auxois in Bourgogne.  He worked as a cooper.  He married  Jeanne Renault, daughter of Jacques Renault and Marie Charrier on  November 11, 1681 in Château-Richer.  His descendants span five generations. 

  11-Antoine Fournier dit Préfontaine  married  Marie Roncelay on February 11, 1688 and they lived in the Longueuil region. A native of Beaumont-les-Nonains, diocese of Beauvais, Ile-de-France, he was the son of Denis Fournier-Préfontaine and Catherine Desallières.  On July 16, 1696, he married Marie-Madeleine Ozannes in Notre-Dame church of Montreal. The descendants of Antoine Fournier and Marie Ronceley took the name Fournier and sometimes Préfontaine starting in 1800.  From 1925 most of their descendants,  with a few exceptions, are known as Préfontaine.

  12-Jean Fournier signed a marriage contract before  the notary, Gilles Rageot, on April 30, 1690 with Anne Massard, daughter of Nicolas Massard and Anne Bellesoeur. He was a native of Saint-Sauveur de La Rochelle in Aunis.  We have found no descendants for this couple.

  13-Jules Le Fournier Du Vivier, son of  Jacques Le Fournier and Marguerite Carpentier,  was lieutenant of an infantry company.  On August 16, 1692, he married Madeleine Thérèse Gadbois  in Montreal.   His descendants, mostly named DuVivier, span two or three generations.

  14- Pierre Fournier De Belval was the son Jacques Fournier de Belval and Ursule Gaucher, of Sainte-Catherine d’Orléans, in Orléanais.   On July 30, 1693  Pierre Fournier married  Marie Ancellin in Quebec. Their descendants lived in the regions of Richelieu and Sorel.  Pierre Fournier’s and Marie Ancellin’s descendants can still be found today but, with a few exceptions, they adopted the name Belval around 1850.

  15-Guillaume Fournier dit “Dufresne” was a native of Saint-Jean, diocese of Limoges in France.  He was a soldier in the “Compagnie de Saint-Martin”.  He died on July 20, 1706 at the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec.

  16-René Fournier, born around 1685, was a native of Mans.  The names of this parents are unknown.  He probably arrived at Quebec around 1700 at the age of 15.  He was a gardener at Quebec, a verger  in Ancienne-Lorette and a servant for Antoine Langlois.  He died at l’Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec on April 16 1748.

  17-A few years later, another Fournier came to New France.  Lyvrain Fournier dit Liévain married Marie-Suzanne Fauteux in Pointe-aux-Trembles of Neuville on April 6, 1728.  He was the  son of Antoine Fournier and Anne Gourdon of Maurage, near Mons en Hainault in Belgium. His descendants lived around Sorel and Portneuf.  At the beginning, they adopted the family name Fournier, then Liévain-Fournier, then Clément and finally Guévin or Guérin.  This family line still has descendants living today.

  18-Antoine Fournier, a salt-smuggler, was sent to Canada by a king’s order on February 24, 1733.  His place of origin is unknown.

  19-Pierre Fournier, another salt-smuggler, left the prison in Châlans and,  on March 12, 1742, he was sent to Canada for the rest of his life.

  20-Between 1740 and 1750, another Fournier established himself in Canada.  Pierre Fournier was the son of Guillaume Fournier and Madeleine Poirier from Fontaine-Raoul, in Loir and Cher in France. On February 5, 1743  in Beaumont, he married Françoise Couture, daughter of Guillaume Couture and Marie-Anne Adam.  Pierre was a miller.  He lived a few years in Quebec before moving to Saint-Thomas-de-Montmagny in 1747.  Pierre Fournier and Françoise Couture produced many descendants to this day.

  21-During that decade, another soldier, Corporal de Lanaudière, Pierre Fournier dit Brisefer, son of Pierre Fournier and Marguerite Métayer arrived in Canada. He was a native of Notre-Dame-de-Niort parish, diocese of Poitier in Poitou.  In Quebec, on September 29, 1749  Pierre married Marie-Louise Liénard/Durbois, daughter of Sébatien Liénard and Catherine Bonhomme.  Their descesdants span two generations.

  22-Jean Fournier dit “Léveillé” was a native of Tours and a soldier in the “Compagnie de Lusignan”.  He died on April 14, 1751 at the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec.  He was 23 years old.

  23-Pierre Fournier dit “Polard” was a young soldier in the Camp de Chasaille. He died in 1756  in Montreal at the age of 27.

  24-François Fournier dit “Latulipe” was a native of Nasseau.  He was a soldier in the Béarn battalion.  On October 26, 1756 he died at Notre-Dame of Montreal.

  25-Pierre Fournier, a cobbler, was a native of Cahors in Quercy.  On March 6, 1775 at the age of 25, he was hired for a period of 3 years to work in Quebec.  He arrived on the ship “Deux-Frères”. (List of migrants leaving from Bordeaux)

  26-Louis-Antoine Fournier dit “Champagne”, a native on Bordeaux, was probably born around 1676.  His arrival date in Quebec is unknown.  On July 17, 1760 he was buried at l’Hôpital Général of Montreal.

  27-The next one to arrive in Quebec was Éméry Amiens.  He then adopted his mother’s maiden name, Fournier.  The fourth generation took the name Fournier dit Larose. On February 14, 1757 Éméry married Marguerite Guénet.  Since the 1800's, their descendants adopted the name Fournier as much as the name Larose

  28-Pierre Fournier dit Lapierre arrived from Brittany.  A soldier, he was the son of Julien Fournier and Périne Aubin from Saint-Pierre de Rétiers, diocese of Rennes in Brittany.  His first marriage, in Lachine on May 18, 1757  was to Catherine Audon-Rochefort, daughter of Bernard Audon-Rochefort and Marie-Josephte Desforges.  His second marriage was in Montreal on April 25, 1763 to Suzanne Campagnac, daughter of Louis Campagnac and Marie-Catherine Bernier.  We have found only two daughters from this two marriages.

  29-Jean Fournier dit “Labonté” was a  native of Bressenègre in Rouargue, sodier in the Béarn regiment, “Compagne Mazerac”.  He died at l’Hôpital Général of Quebec on september 30, 1759.

  30-Several Fourniers, soldiers and civilians, established themselves in New France after the Seven Year War.  Maurice Fournier, gunner-bomber, was the son of Joseph-Benoît Fournier and Marie Molar of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Roche in Franche-Comté. He married Marie-Josephte Forget/LeNormand, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Forget/LeNormand and Marie-Thérèse Minville on February 18 1760 in Varennes.  He then lived in Lévis. We found his descendants for two generations.

  31-Joseph Fournier, a native of Lieffrans in Franche-Comté, married Françoise Carlos, daughter of Claude Carlos and Françoise Dauphin on January 26, 1761 in Cap-Saint-Ignace and lived in that parish.  Joseph Fournier and Françoise Carlos did not leave many descendants but their line still exists today.

  32-Augustin Fournier dit La Grenade, soldier in the Queen’s Regiment, was the son of Nicolas Fournier and Claudette Urbain of Rouvre-la-Châtine in Lorraine.  After the war, he married Thérèse Demers, daughter of Henri Demers and Thérèse Poirier on November 24, 1760 in Chambly.  Even though their line is small, it still exists.

  33-Pierre Fournier dit Saint-Pierre, former soldier, died in 1770 at Notre-Dame-de Montreal at the age of 46.

  34-Claude Fournier dit L’Esprit was the last soldier of this war.  A native of Languedoc, he was the son of Claude Fournier and Marie Vitrine of Pont Saint-Esprit.  He married Marie-Anne Besset on June 30, 1772 in Chambly.  Claude Fournier and Marie-Anne Besset left a large line of descendants in the Outaouais region and elsewhere.

  35-Étienne Fournier and his wife, Denise Debron are natives of Lyon in France where Étienne was a merchant.  They arrived in Quebec around 1785 with at least two young children : Jean-Baptiste and Michel.  We have found baptism certificates dated 1786 in Notre-Dame of Montreal and 1789 in L’Assomption where he established himself as a merchant.  The line of Étienne Fournier and Denise Debron, continued by three sons, is small but still alive.

  36-Pierre Fournier was the son of Louis Fournier and Marie-Anne Monin of Saint-Benoît du Retour d’Orléans parish in Orléanais.  He married Angélique Carpentier on June 24, 1816 in Christ Church of Sorel.  We have found no descendants.

  37-Vincent-Charles Fournier, born around 1771, came from Orléans’ parish in France.  He came to Quebec as a missionary priest.  For many years, he was the parish priest of Saint-Antoine de Baie du Fèbvre where he died in 1839.

  38-Charles Fournier dit “Lajeunesse” was already in Montreal in 1830 with his wife, Émérence Baillargeon.  His place of origin is yet unknown.  Two children were born in Montreal and we  then lose trace of this couple.

  39-Jean-Baptiste Fournier dit “Lajeunesse”, Charles’ brother, also lived in Montreal in 1830 with his wife, Marguerite Delorme and at least two children.  We have also lost trace of this couple after 1835.

  40-Laurent/Louis Fournier was born in France in 1818.  His place of origin and his parents’ name are still unknown.  He lived in Montreal then in Pembroke.  Around 1845, he married Mathilda Hutton, a Scotswoman.  They had four children to continue their line.  Later on, the couple established themselves permanently in Manitoba.

  N.B.- Two other Fourniers are mentioned in the “Registre de Catholicité des Canadiens de 1589 à 1713" as natives of Tourouvre in Perche

1-Jeanne Fournier, daughter of Jean Fournier and Hélène Aubry.  She was baptized on November 8, 1641.  It’s possible that she was a “fille du roi”.

2-Nicolas Fournier, son of Sébastien Fournier and Jehanne Piau.  He was born on July 9, 1610.

However, we have found no trace of these persons in New France.  

THE FOURNIERS IN UNITED STATES

ABOUT FIFTY FOURNIERS WAS ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES IN UNITED STATES BETWEEN 1700 AND 1850. MOST OF THEM ARRIVED IN LOUISIANE. HOWEVER, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO RETRACE THEIR DESCENDANTS. THE MAJORITY OF THESE ANCESTORS HAD LET DESCENDANTS ON TWO TO FOUR GENERATIONS.

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This page designed by Armelle Fournier #3 from Quebec

Translated by Catherine Fournier # 330  from Toronto