The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922; / Clarence M. Burton, editor-in-chief, William Stocking, associate editor, Gordon K. Miller, associated editor. [Vol. 2]

CITY OF DETROIT

1335

Vien, Ignace. Came as voyageur, June 12, 1706. Died 1751, aged eighty
years.
Villain, Pierre, soldier in company of De Le Mothe.
Volant, Jean Francois, sieur de Fosseneuve. Agreed to go to Detroit to
serve as a hunter, July 10, 1703. He was born in 1670, and married Marguerite Godfroy June 6, 1701.
Xaintonge,. When I first encountered this name it stood alone without
any connecting names. I concluded it was an Indian name and so stated. Further investigation has led me to conclude that I was greatly mistaken, and
that the individual was named Pierre Gareau, dit St. Onge, and that the name
St. Onge has been gradually changed to Saintonge and from that to Xaintonge.
Zerbain, Pierre, dit St. Pierre, a soldier.
ORIGIN OF OLD FRENCH NAMES
The following letter from Fr. Christian Denissen, relative to the origin of
the old French names, is self explanatory:
"The early colonists of Lower Canada obtained from the French Government grants of extensive tracts of land. These grants were executed in the
mediaeval phraseology used under the feudal system of holding estate. The
settlers assuming a resemblance between their holdings and the domains of
the French barons and 'seigneurs,' called their large, wild farms by certain
titles, and affixed the same to their own family names, in imitation of the
European nobility. In some cases these titles were confirmed by the Government. The owners of these vast estates considered themselves seigneurs of
this new country, and were very proud of the affixes to their names. In business transactions these additions to their signatures were used with all their
flourishes. At baptisms the title had to be entered in the parish registers; at
marriages the affix to the old family name sounded high both for bride and
groom in the verbose marriage contract; respectability was increased by the
presence of many witnesses with titled names. In this manner the owners of
large estates in Lower Canada, at a certain period of the seventeenth century,
looked upon themselves and upon each other as a quasi-nobility. Their children
naturally assumed those titles and often thought more of the affixes than of
their own family names. Feudalism was about dead, and fast dying in Europe
in those days, and therefore could not gain foothold in America. In the
eighteenth century we do not find new titles originating; still the old ones
remained. The grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these titled pioneers
often discarded the old family name and were known only by the new title.
Hence the new names that the genealogist has to contend with. As an illustration, take the Trotier family. The Trotiers of America all descend from
Julius Trotier, born in 1590, in the parish of St. Martin, in the Town of Ige, in
the Province of Perche, France. He, seemingly a common citizen, came with his
family to Canada about the year 1645. His children married in Canada, and,
in the course of time, had large families. They obtained extensive estates and
were very lavish in originating titles for the same. In a few years we find
Trotier Sieur des Ruisseaux, Trotier Seigneur de l'Isle Perrot, Trotier Sieur de
Beaubien, Trotier Seigneur de la Riviere du Loup, Trotier Seigneur de 1'Isle
aux Herons, Trotier Sieur des Aulniers, Trotier de la Bissonniere, Trotier dit
Desrivieres, Trotier de Bellecour, Trotier de Valcour, etc. Many of these Trotiers gradually dropped the family name and signed only the assumed title.
Hence we have the families of Beaubien, Desruisseaux, Desaulniers, Bellecour,
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