Wilmont Kreis

Does Elizabeth Price have many descendants?

Oh my, yes. Like many French Canadian couples, she and Jean were fertile, but only one of their six children who married was male, so Founeau is not enormously common. Their five girls were fruitful and their descendants are common in Canada. Their daughter, Marguerite, married Pierre Casse dit St. Aubin (the dit again) from Detroit. They had five children who reproduced actively but again only one was a male. So the genes were spread to many different surnames but Detroit and the U.S. are full of Lizzie’s tribe. GENEALOGY OF THE FRENCH FAMILIES OF THE DETROIT RIVER REGION 1701-1936 VOL. II by Christian Denisson can help you search for yours. Read More 

Why was Jean Fourneau also called Brindamour?
French names in the New World were subject to numerous variations. One is the “dit” name which basically means “called”. Like Jean Fourneau dit Brindamour. This was very common in the military. Other variations are spelling variations, Anglicizations, and Adulterations. For instance, Champagne in French became Champine in Detroit. As the English census takers encountered French Citizens in America Accents caused Allard to become Allor and Fréton to become Forton. The book FRENCH-CANADIAN SURNAMES ALIASES, ADULTERATIONS AND ANGLIZATIONS by Quinton Publications is helpful. However it does contain approximately 51,300 examples. YIKES! Read More 

The return of Reverend John Williams:
Following the English release of the Privateer, Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste, Williams was ransomed along with four of his five surviving children, and he, along with Esther age 15, Samuel age 17, Steven age 11 and Warham age 6 were returned to New England. Jerusa age 1 month at the time of the raid was killed along with John Jr. age 1 year. Their mother, Eunice was also killed during the march along with two Negro servants. Reverend Williams worked tirelessly along with Ensign John Sheldon and others to secure the release of other Deerfield citizens over the ensuing years. His son, Steven kept a diary and later wrote a book about the raid.
Eventually Williams remarried and returned to his pulpit in Deerfield. He died in 1729 just before the Great Awakening. His daughter, Eunice (same name as her mother), was taken to the Mohawk at Kahnawake. Lizzie met her there when she went to the camp with Pierre Roi looking for her niece. Like most of the captive children at Kahnawake, Eunice Williams refused to leave in spite of great efforts by her father and other parents from Deerfield. She married a Mohawk brave and had three children. She did return to visit Deerfield with her Indian family in 1741 and visited two more times, but never moved from Kahnawake. Read More 

Reverend John Williams during the march to Montreal:
Williams only traveled with his fellow captives for the first week. After this he was taken with a few others on a separate route. Probably because he was too feeble to continue the march and he was needed alive as a trading pawn for the pirate, Baptiste. For the most part he never saw the others until he and some of them returned to New England two and a half years later. He kept a diary and later wrote a narrative of the ordeal, THE REDEEMED CAPTIVE, in 1707. It is the most famous such work of its time and it is from it we have such a good description of the ordeal. Although most of it is during the time after his separation it still provides a good vision of the setting and the situation. It was said to serve as an inspiration for THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS by James Fenimore Cooper in the 19th century.
After Fort Chambly he was taken to Quebec where he served his captivity and met with various French officials until the prisoner exchange and his release in 1706. Read More