HEBERT Genealogy: The First Acadian HEBERT's

The First Acadian HEBERTs

Antoine & Etienne HEBERT

The land of Acadia was owned by France in the 1630's. For years, France wanted to settle the area with its own people. Although they had sent men to start a settlement as early as 1604, no women were sent for over 30 years. In the mid 1630's, France started sending men and women to colonize the land. Among those settlers were two brothers, Antoine and Etienne HEBERT.

When did they get here?
We don't know exactly when they arrived in Acadia. Some have placed the date as 1640. I would place the date closer to 1648, since Antoine's oldest son was born in 1649. There was a ship, La Verve, that arrived at that time. Depending on which census (1671/1686) you consult, Antoine was born in 1614 or 1621. He arrived with his wife, Genevieve LEFRANCE (b. 1613 or 1606). His brother, Etienne, was supposedly born about 1630 and married Marie GAUDET around 1650. We do not know exactly where these brothers came from or who their parents were. For a long time, it was thought that their parents were Jacques and Marie JUNEAU of Haye-Descartes of Touraine; but that has been shown to be incorrect.

Brothers - Yes ... Children of Jacques & Marie - No
The misconception began with Father Adrien Bergeron's article entitled "Deux grandes familles acadiennes" [Memoires de la Societe genealogique canadienne-francaise (Vol. VI, No. 8, Oct 1955, pp. 393-394)]. Father Bergeron tried to say that Antoine and Etienne were brothers of a Jacques HEBERT, son of Jacques and Marie JUNEAU. The following year, Father Archange Godbout showed the connection to be incorrect (Vol. VII, No. 2, April 1956, pp. 122-123). An examination of Jacques' (the son) marriage contract showed his name to be HABERT, not HEBERT. Thanks to Stephen White for sending me the dates for the these 2 articles. Godbaut's article also shows evidence (derived from marriage dispensations) that Antoine and Etienne were indeed brothers.
Stephen White sent me a letter in which he said the origin of Acadian HEBERTs can be summed up in one word: unknown.

Where were they from?
     It has been said that possibly the brothers were from south of Loudon (LaChaussee, Martaize, etc.), however, since Charles Menou d'Aulnay's family had land in that vicinity. If he recruited settlers from that area, there is a chance that they came from there, but there is no proof of where they (or most other) Acadians came from. The linguistic studies by Genevieve Massignon tried to say that they were from the Loudon area, but perhaps she was focusing too much. It is probably true that they came from western France. But the lack of documentation in the Loudon region means that perhaps we're looking in the wrong place. Michael Poirier has suggested they came from west of Loudon at the coast ... near Baie de Bourgneuf. He bases this on:
        - the location of the monastery of the Assumption (on the island Chauvet), which was regularly
    attended by Richelieu and was the property of his brother, Alphonse.
        - Port-Royal and the church of St Jean-Baptiste
        - salt-water marshes in the area were drained ... much like the dyke system utilized in Acadia
        - it was a zone surrounded by Protestants and enclosing Catholics.

Their descendants
The genealogy of Etienne HEBERT has has seen the most research. Janet Jehn and Purvis Hebert have both published material on his descendants. Antoine, however, has not had his genealogy published as a reference work. What appears on these pages is part of the material that I have put together over the past 10 years. Richard Hebert has recently shared his material with me, and I am in the process of revising these pages.

Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes by Stephen White
There are 19 HEBERT families in the first part of the Dictionnaire, released in August 1999. The second section (which extends to families whose parents married by the end of 1780) contains another 200 HEBERT families. Of those 200 families, 2 are not related to the Antoine/Etienne lineage and another 19 still do not have links to the main lineage. Thanks to Stephen White for providing me with this information.

Constructed Genealogy

• I've put several generations of my HEBERTs on-line. The first 19 families have been checked so that they correlate to Stephen White's Dictionnaire (Thanks to Richard and Michele for the notes).
• It's in outline format, with some notes.
• There is also a register form of the genealogy of the Acadian HÉBERTs on a single page.
• All of this material (plus my notes, references, etc.) are in the printed version of this website.

HEBERTs in Acadia: Raw Data
The following pages have information on HEBERTs in Acadia.

HEBERTs in Acadian Church Records

HEBERTs in the Acadian Census Reports

HEBERTs in Placide Gaudet's Notes

Return to: This page is a part of

Exceptions:
There is one discrepancy that I've left in on purpose. Myself, and every other source I've seen, had Jean Hebert (b. abt. 1704; m. Claire Dugas) as the son of Pierre (b. abt. 1679; m. Jeanne Landry). The latest information from White's notes says that this Jean was the son of Jean (b. abt. 1681), Pierre's brother. He puts another Jean (m. Isabelle Bourg) as Pierre's son. This switch is attributed to work by P. Gaudet and H. Hebert. Any information on the two Jeans would be appreciated. I've left Jean (b. abt. 1704; m. Claire Dugas) as Pierre's son. When I hear the rationale for the switch, I may correct it.

   There are other discrepancies that are in the online data for various reasons. They are:
• Claire HEBERT (b. abt. 1704; m. Antoine HENRY) d/o Jean & Marie Marguerite LANDRY.
     White’s data has her between Families 12 & 13. But what family does she belong to?
• Madeleine HEBERT (b. abt. 1727; m. Charles GUEDRY) d/o Jean & Marie Marguerite LANDRY
     She is not in White’s data here.
• Paul HEBERT (b. 3/3/1707) s/o Antoine & Jeanne CORPORON
     He’s not in White’s data here.
• Jacques HEBERT (b. abt. 1706) s/o Michel & Isabelle PETITPAS
     Never married, according to Gaudet. White doesn’t have him here.
• Anne Marie HEBERT (b. abt. 1710; m. Jean ARSENEAU) d/o Jacques & Jeanne GAUTROT
     She’s not in this family in White’s data.
• Jean HEBERT (b. about 1704; m. Claire DUGAS) s/o Pierre & Jeanne LANDRY
     White has him in another family, as son of Jacques & Jeanne GAUTROT
• Jean HEBERT (b. about 1710; m. Isabelle BOURG) s/o Jacques & Jeanne GAUTROT
     White has him in another family; as son of Pierre & Jeanne LANDRY
• Jean HEBERT s/o Joseph & Anne Marie BOUDROT
     I have 2 Jeans, married to different women. White’s data only has Jean m. Madeleine BERTRAND. Is it the same Jean (2 wives), or does Jean (m. Anne BOURG) belong elsewhere?
• Anne HEBERT (b. abt. 1719; m. Michel BOURG) d/o Rene & Marie BOUDROT
     She is not in this family in White’s data.
• Paul HEBERT (b. abt 1726; m. Margerite LAPIERRE) s/o Rene & Marie BOUDROT
     He’s not here in White’s data.

• Under Emmanuel Hebert & Andree Brun, I have a daughter Martine. It should be a son, Martin. He died as a child.