On the Desjardins side of the family, in Lewiston, Maine, I had a cousin, Pierre Evano Desjardins. Everyone knew him as “Babe”. During my childhood, I always "bonded" with him subconsciously although he never knew that...at least I don't think he did. One day back around 1990 or so, he gave me a bit of a tongue lashing, the gist of which had to do with "this younger generation" (that would be me, then, but not anymore) not learning and continuing the use of the French language ... AND ... how it was such a shame to lose this tradition!

I agreed AND, I took that "lecture" to heart and although I certainly am NOT fluent, I can understand (with effort) most of what I read and a little of what I hear. I find that it is my verbal reply that is most difficult. I continue to learn, but not using the language daily or having someone to speak with on a regular basis, like almost anything else, inhibits abilities.

... So, for my "inability," I apologize to all of those that truly do care. I apologize especially to my cousin, Babe, to whom tradition and family truly DID HAVE meaning.

Gone But NEVER Forgotten

"Babe" Desjardins with my grandmother "Val Desjardins"

Introduction to The Lachance Family

aka "the lachances of my family and many others"

Lachance...the name I was born with, as was my father and his father before him. Where did we get this name, where did we come from, why are there so many ways to spell the name, where did I come from, how did I get to be who I am and how I am, and finally, where I am? Every time I find an answer, I have two more questions! Everything on this website is devoted to getting to the root of it all...even if some questions might never be answered.

FIRST, I need to set the record straight! My abilities...really a lack thereof...with the French language leave a bit to be desired! Having been born and then raised for 10 years in New Jersey couldn't possibly have anything to do with this right? My mom only spoke English and my dad, while French was his first language, pretty much ALWAYS spoke English. When my dad spoke with his mom (my grandmother) she would speak in French and his reply was always in English. I don't remember ever asking why this happened, it just did and that's the way it was!

At the end of the day...Je ne parle pas très bon français...

What little French I've learned I will credit to my cousin "Babe" (See "For The Record" on this page). I know darn good and well the French I have managed to learn is NOT the French they attempted to teach me in school! I know this because I remember thinking to myself, while in class, "this is NOT the way my grandmother speaks" and everyone else in the family that did speak French didn't sound like this either! It was only later that I figured out even the English I grew up speaking was not the same as the English in England. Vive la différence! It seems this holds true in multiple languages.

As I continue my research into our Lachance family, I am confronted with many things French including web pages, information, documents, and email among others. I won't hesitate to admit, it is sometimes difficult. But, thanks to cousin Babe's lecture, I AM able to understand much of it, and with a little help from "mon dictionnaire," put it all together in order to make sense of it all!

Our Ancestors

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
Would you be proud of them or not
Or don't you really know?
Some strange discoveries are made
In climbing family trees
And some of them you know, do not
Particularly please.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them perhaps
You wouldn't care to know.
But there's another question, which
Requires a different view.
IF you could meet your ancestors
Would they be proud of YOU?
Author Unknown

If you are a Lachance, or one of the other names that was derived from the Pépin dit Lachance name, and living in North America or elsewhere, you are "most likely" descended from our "grand" ancestor, Antoine Pépin dit Lachance. There are a large number of Lachance today who are descendants of Alexandre Sanche (of Spain) who married Marie-Catherine Talon on 14 Feb 1757 at Repentigny, Québec. And, it is possible, that your name came from another French immigrant to North America, Nicolas Caillot dit Lachance, who settled in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, in the United States.

This website is devoted the Lachance family whose origins are in Québec. I have incorporated the Sanche family as well because of the marriages to so many other French Canadians. I have very little information about the Caillot family.

You won't find the name "Lachance" in France, unless they moved there from North America. The name, commonly referred to as a “dit” name, has its origins squarely in Québec. It is the nickname given to Antoine Pépin, the first of the line of Lachance in Canada. The name served to distinguish him from other immigrants to New France whose names were Pépin. Antoine had a brother, François, who came to New France as well. Even he did not use the name Lachance. (See the "dit names" to learn more about them)

Notre-Dame de Le Havre

Starting with Antoine Pépin

Antoine was the eldest son of André Pépin, who was a merchant in the port of Le Havre, Normandy, France, and his wife, Jeanne Chevalier. He is christened on April 10, 1636 in the church of Notre-Dame de Le Havre. It is assumed he was born in the same year.

Le Havre is a port city and living there may be a reason why, at the age of around 16 , Antoine Pépin decides to set off, on a journey to Québec. Of course this is speculation as the real reason he may have done this is lost to history. Before leaving Le Havre, Antoine signed a contract by which he committed to going to New France and to remain there for three years as a servant to Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge aka "sieur de Coulonge" who was the French governor of New France from 1648 to 1651 and acting governor from 1657 to 1658. He was also director general of the trade in pelts in New France. Antoine will follow his contract to the letter.

Genealogists Michel Langlois and Jacques Saintonge agree on his age estimating Antoine to be 15 years old when he left France. The precise date Antoine crossed the Atlantic has never been determined with any certainty. There is one thing however that is certain: if he was 16 years old upon his arrival, then he arrived in Quebec in 1652 although some have suggested his arrival about 1655. This makes sense as this is the same time Louis d'Ailleboust enters private life and lives on his lands at Coulounge, Québec, probably located at the site of Bois-de-Coulonge today.

l'Île d'Orléans - The Cradle of the Lachance Family

On June 24, 1659, the notary Guillaume Audouart writes: On the 24^th of June, 1659, Denis Guyon sold for 300 pounds, his land of 360 acres to the partners of Jacques Asseline and Antoine Pepin. This land was on l'Île d'Orléans, Quebec.
A l'Île d'Orléans History Page was added to this site on January 9th, 2000, written in part by our cousins, Rita Lachance and her husband Côme.

Antoine Involved - One of the First Lawsuits

We also know that Antoine became involved in one of the first lawsuits in Canada. For more on that story, see The Story Of Jacques Billaudeau. This page was originally posted on Fred Warren's Genealogy Site. I opted to include it here, just in case it ever got lost.

The last known website for Fred Warren was, in 2013, maintained by Larry Warren.
As of March 2018, the website is no longer accessible.

THE WAY IT WORKED OUT

My father was the first born American "Lachance" from his father, Antoine. Antoine, also known as "Tony", was the 6th great-grandson of our ancestor Antoine Pépin dit Lachance. So in the form of generational numbering, this is me...

LACHANCE, Lawrence,¹¹(Wilfred,¹⁰Antoine,⁹Joseph,⁸Joseph,⁷Alexis,⁶Gervais,⁵Gervais,⁴Gervais,³Jean,²Antoine,¹)

Joseph Lachance (8e generation) married Malvina D'Aoust on November 4th, 1889 at Escanaba, Michigan. These would be my paternal great-grandparents. Joseph left St-Evariste-de-Forsyth travelling to Michigan to work on "the railroad". The story (I have no proof of this) is that Malvina had moved to Escanaba to teach native American children on a nearby reservation. Whatever happened, they met and married. Throughout their moving around to a handful of places Joseph and Malvina managed to have 10 children.

One of those ten was my grandfather, Antoine Lachance. Antoine was born, according to his certificate of birth, and the parish record, June 14, 1905, at St-Adolphe-de-Dudswell, Comté de Wolfe, Québec . (See Photo)

St-Adolphe-de-Dudswell is a small municipality about an hours drive from St-Evariste - (using an automobile that travels faster than 35 miles per hour). I know is that my grandfathers birth was assisted by a midwife but who she was, I don't know. Joseph and Malvina left Escanaba to travel north (perhaps continuing to work on the railroad) and stopped for a couple of years at Dudswell before moving on to St-Evariste-de-Forsyth and eventually to Lewiston, Maine.

My grandfather, along with his family, emigrated to the US by train, through Island Pond, Vermont and then on to Lewiston. The Grand Trunk railroad came out of Canada, through Island Pond and before arriving at Portland, ME, it would stop at Danville Junction (in Auburn), a spur line that took riders to the terminus at Lewiston.

Antoine Lachance marries Valdora Desjardins

On November 12, 1923, at Sts Peter and Paul Church in Lewiston, ME, Antoine married Marie Oneida Desjardins, daughter of Wilfred R. Desjardins and Marie-Clara Simard.

Marie Oneida (it was misspelled Onida on her birth certificate) was born December 14, 1904 in a house owned by Dr. Martel in Lewiston, ME. I am not sure how or why but she changed her name to Valdora but she did and she kept that name all of her life. I am fairly certain she made this choice of her own volition.

The marriage was short-lived and both Tony and Val remarried.

Together, Tony and Val had one son, Wilfred Joseph Bernard Lachance (father of Paul and Larry Lachance - my brother and me). Antoine (Tony) died on July 27, 1970.

OBITUARY - Antoine Lachance

BRUNSWICK - Antoine Lachance, 65, of 23 Jordan Ave., died Monday at a local hospital after a few months illness. He was born at St. Adolphe, Que., June 14, 1905, the son of Joseph and Malvina D'aoust Lachance. As a young man he moved to Lewiston, coming here to make his home in the early 1930's. Mr. Lachance had been employed as a bookkeeper at the Vaillancourt Body Shop and had also worked as a bookkeeper for the Caron Body Shop. Earlier work was in the textile industry, and during World War II he worked at the Bath Iron Works. He was a former member of the Brunswick Lodge of Elks. He wife, Clarisse Bernier Lachance, died in 1965. Surviving are a son, Wilfred B. of Hohokus, N.J.; two sisters, Mrs. Marie Paquette of Brunswick and Miss Clara Lachance, Lewiston; a brother, Herve, Brunswick; two grandsons and two great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday from St. John's Church, Interment will be in St. John's Cemetery. Friends may call at Demers Funeral Home Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Photo Taken Circa 1912

Click for a FULL SIZE image

JOSEPH LACHANCE and MALVINA D'AOUST

Joseph Lachance and Malvina D'Aoust, are my great-grandparents and they are the foundation, the point where I began my search for all individuals on this website, for without them, I would not be here to do this.

The Lachance family in the photo are my Great-Grandparents, Joseph and Malvina (nee D'Aoust) Lachance (seated in the middle) along with nine of their ten children. Adolphe is missing from the picture above as he died as a child, allegedly falling from the porch.

Identity of Individuals In This Photo

Back Row:
Anne-Marie, Exilia, Henri, Eva, Joseph-Hervey, Marie-Clara
Front Row:
Antoine my Grandfather, Maria, Joseph, Malvina, Josaphat

Josaphat, as I have always heard the story from the rest of the family, was a hobo (or vagrant), riding the rails wherever they may have gone back in the 1920's and 30's, in pursuit of his chosen occupation as “woodsman”. Anita Theberge, Josephat’s niece told me (May 11, 1998) the story of him stopping by her mother (Maria's) house when Anita was about 12 years old (about 1932). Maria fed Josephat and she thinks, gave him some money. This was the last time Anita would see Josaphat because after Maria gave him money, she told him “Don’t come back!" He never came back! At the time of my great-grandfathers death, Josaphat was believed to be living in Canada. Canadian Immigration records show Josaphat arriving at Richmond Corner, New Brunswick on 17 August 1926, purportedly heading for Woodstock, New Brunswick. His occupation was listed as "woodsman". This arrival is almost 1 year to the day BEFORE his father died and ads were placed in the newspaper seeking his whereabouts.

From the "Last Will and Testament" of Joseph Lachance (father of Josephat and husband of Malvina D'Aoust), dated August 13, 1927, Josephat was purportedly living in Ontario, Canada.

On February 28, 2021, while searching for the family of Julie Lachance (former spouse of John Paul Lachance in upstate New York), I stumbled across Josephat's obituary. This puts to rest my search that had continued for more than 20 years.