Paul Bertrand | His Descendants and the Association | Database | Other Links Who is Paul Bertrand? Paul
Bertrand, the ancestor of most of the Saint-Arnaud in America, signed
his name with a flourish, implying that he had an above average education.
Son of Jean Bertrand and of Marie Née, he was baptized in the parish
of Sainte-Madeleine de Verneuil-sur-Avre,
in Normandy (Eure), France on November 27, 1661, with the name of Jean-Paul
Bertrand. Paul also had a brother Jean who stayed in France. Jean had
a daughter who may have continued the Bertrand family in France.
We do not know the exact date of his arrival in New France but we know that his name first shows up in the registers of Batiscan on January 6, 1695; on this date, he is the godfather of Marie-Anne, daughter of Jacques Tifault and of Marie-Anne Lescuyer. On the following March 9, again in Batiscan, he is the godfather of Paul, twin brother of Antoine Lescuyer and of Anne Rabady. Most likely, the soldier Bertrand was staying with one of these two families during the winter of 1695-1696. On 3 June 1697, he marries Gabrielle Baribeau, daughter of François and Perrine Moreau, in St-François-Xavier-de-Batiscan, QC. Gabrielle is the widow of Guillaume Le Bellec with two young childern, François and Louis. Together, they have eight children including two sons, Paul-François and Jean-Baptiste. He settles on a piece of land in Ste-Geneviève-de-Batiscan (see #34 on map) which he purchases on July 15, 1698. This ancestral farm is still in the hands of the St-Arnaud descendants after 300 years. More information on Paul and Gabrielle can be found in an article titled Paul Bertrand dit St-Arnaud from the collection Nos Ancêtres. The definitive document on our ancestor is the book by Père René Bacon, (O.F.M), titled La Famille St.Arnaud à la Riviere Batiscan 1695-1770. It can be purchased from the St-Arnaud Association for $10. The late Richard St-Arnauld and I have translated a few sections of this book such as: If you plan to visit Verneuil-sur-Avre, you may be interested in downloading the following tri-fold available in English and in French. Paul Bertrand dit St-Arnaud is my seventh great grandfather via my great grandmother, Bridgitte St-Arnault married to Telesphore L'Heureux. See my connection. His descendants? What if you are one?Paul's descendants by now must number in the 120,000 (311 by my estimate). Of these, about 2,000 (211 - assuming 2 sons per family) are descendants with the last name of Saint-Arnaud, Bertrand and variations. Variations on the name of Saint-Arnaud are numerous. Some of the most frequent are: Saint-Arnou; Saint-Arnould, Saint-Arnaux, Saint-Arnault, St-Arnauld and Saint-Arneault. Canadian records of marriages and deaths continued to list the family in two forms, Bertrand dit St-Arnaud and St-Arnaud dit Bertrand. If you are already working on the ST-ARNAUD surname, I would appreciate your help in adding your data to our database. If you are aware of additional articles on our ancestor, please let me know so that we can share it with all our cousins.
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