Our Ancestors

Introduction

As expressed in our coat the Gautreau Families have three branches: the Acadian family of François, the Canadian family of brothers Gilles and Jean, native of Ile de Ré, and the family of Louis Chavaudreuille dit Godreau from Chambly.

Origin

1) Francois
We have no indication of place of origin of the ancestor of the Acadian Gautreau. We only know that he has a surname of old Poitou in France.
 
2) The brothers Gilles and Jean
Gilles and Jean are the son of Jehan the young Gautreau and Marie Rouer La Flotte-en-Ré. Both were baptized at the church of St. Catherine of La Flotte, Gilles in 1644 and his brother John in 1649. They spent their youth on the l’Île Blanche, near La Rochelle where they will leave for the New World.

3) Louis
Several Gautreau of Estrie and Montérégie, Québec, New England to the United States are the descendants of Louis.
The origin of Louis Chavaudreuille said Godreau remains an enigma, despite serious research to trace his roots. The marriage record of May 8, 1775 in Saint-Joseph de Chambly appointed Louis Chavaudreuille said Godreau as husband of Josette Brouillet, and only mentions the name of his sister Josette Godrau; the names of his parents do not appear in this document. The most plausible hypothesis in the current state of research, imply that Louis is an adopted son of Joseph Gaudreau and Marie-Louise Constantineau established at the foot of the Mountain in Montréal since 1758.