Third episode
Fréchette ancestors

he first Fréchette ancestor found in the archives is Pierre Frichet (or Lefrichet dit Bruslot). He signed up to go to New France in La Rochelle as follows: Pierre, son of Jean and Jacquette Goyon, of Mazières-sur-Béronne, Poitiers, Poitou, April 30, 1658. At that time, he was 18 years old. He married Charlotte Godin at Beaupré on November 9, 1671 and that union produced Pierre, Marie-Anne, Marthe and Angélique. There are no descendants using the Fréchette name since only Marie-Anne and Marthe had children and this was under other family names. Pierre died on December 27, 1677 at the age of 37. His widow remarried two years later.

The second branch of the family was founded by François Freschet, from whom most Fréchettes descend today. He arrived at Québec in the summer of 1677. He came from Saint-Martin de l’Ile-de-Ré, Aunis (known as Charente-Maritime today). He was the son of Étienne Freschet and Marie Bellin. Shortly after arriving, he married Anne Lereau at Sainte-Famille, Île d’Orléans, on January 18, 1680. He was a ship’s carpenter and a great explorer, leaving traces in several locations: Québec, Sainte-Famille (l’Île d’Orléans), Hudson Bay, Percé and Île Bonaventure, Matane, Plaisance in Newfoundland and, finally, Saint-Nicolas in Québec.

The third ancestor is Jacques Frichet, dit Desmoulins, son of Jacques and Louise Gaye. He was a Dumesny soldier when he arrived in 1697 and also served as a soldier in the Compagnie des Canonniers du Roi. He later became a flour merchant at the mill of the Mères de l’Hôtel-Dieu (Loretteville). He came from Saint-Hilaire du Vix in Poitou (Vendée). He married Marie-Françoise Sarrazin on January 11, 1706 in Charlesbourg. His two sons, Jacques and Étienne, have descendants in the regions of Québec and Chambly.

The Fréchettes of North America also include all those who came from France under other family names and are now members of the large Fréchette family.

First, there was Jean-Baptiste-Augustin Côté, who died on June 11, 1776, a descendant (5th generation) of Jean Côté, who arrived in Québec, in 1635. Marie-Madeleine Bergeron, his widow, daughter of Pierre and Marie-Madeleine Paulet, married again, in Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, on January 27, 1777, with François-Xavier Fréchette, a 46-year-old bachelor, son of Jean-Baptiste and Ursule Rousseau. Marie-Madeleine Bergeron died on December 14, 1788. Marie-Madeleine’s children were raised by François-Xavier Fréchette until he died on February 11, 1815. The Côté descendants took the name?Côté dit Fréchette? and eventually only used?Fréchette?.

Next, there was Jean-Baptiste Sécheret (or Séchet), son of Jacques and Louise Poirier. He came from Gueures in Normandy, apparently as a trafficker. He married Charlotte Charon-Ducharme daughter of François and Marguerite Piet in Saint-François-du-Lac on June 27, 1734. He married a second time in 1748, with Marie LaHaise, daughter of Jean-Baptiste De La Haye and Jeanne Guilbault-LaFramboise. Apparently, as of the second generation, the name Sécheret-Frichet was replaced by Fréchette. For the most part, his descendants are found in the vicinity of Sainte-Geneviève, Berthierville, Saint-Félix-de-Valois, etc.

Finally, there was Yves Phlem also called Yvon le Breton, who originally from Morlaix in Brittany. He was the son of Guillaume and Marguerite Peroine. He practiced as a surgeon but does not appear to have had any actual training. First, he settled in Saint-Nicolas, and then moved to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade. His descendants were known as Hivon, although some of them took the name Hivon dit Fréchette, then later Fréchette, and are found in the Portneuf region and in Ontario.

The branches are identified as those descending from Pierre, François, Jacques, the Côté dit Fréchette, the Sécheret and the Phlem. Since Pierre’s branch did not produce any male descendents, there are only five ancestors whose descendants bear the name of Fréchette or one of the variations: François and Jacques, the two cousins, Jean Côté, Jean-Baptiste Sécheret and Yves Phlem also known as Yvon le Breton.

Source: Dictionnaire généalogique des Fréchette d’Amérique, Les Descendants des Fréchette, Prix Percy-W.-Foy, Société généalogique canadienne-française, Sillery, 1997, 751 p.

To be continued on May 20, 2003, with the Association des familles Lambert.