Hi Joyce et al:
My efforts at discovering my Carey family roots over the last
several years have landed me at a dead end in New Richmond,
Quebec in 1760, and I'm hoping that some scholarly Carey
researcher may be able to help.
The earliest reference I have been able to find is a Simon Carey
of New Richmond, PQ. Simon is referred to in "Les Familles de
Caraquet" by Fidele Theriault: 1985; dictionnaire geneaologique,
and also in The Descendents of Louis Brideau and Marie-Therese
Thomas dit Bagaouette, Origin irlandaise.
The references referred to the wedding of Jean-Baptiste Carey,
son of Simon Tiret dit Carey and Marguerite Gautreau of New
Richmond, Quebec to Charlotte Marie Brideau daughter of Louis
Brideau and Marie-Therese Thomas dit Bagouette in Caraquet, N.B.
on 30th June, 1789.
According to "History of New Richmond" by Jean-Marie Jobin, the
original European settlers of New Richmond were 38 Acadians,
refugees, presumably including women and children, who fled the
expulsion of the Acadians in Nova Scotia in 1755, by stealing
boats, sailing across the Bay of Fundy from their homes in
Annapolis Valey, and making their way northward to Gaspésie in
Quebec where they would be safe.
Jobin's history then relates how "a few" disbanding soldiers
from Wolfe's army established themselves in New Richmond in
1760. Family records show that Simon was one of these. He
"married" Marguerite in 1762, and son Jean-Baptiste was born to
them in 1766.
For those who might be unaware, James Wolfe was the English
general whose forces defeated Montcalm at the Battle of the
Plains of Abraham during the Siege of Quebec on September 13th,
1759, ending the French-Indian Wars.
Now! The ONLY soldiers of Wolfe's army who disbanded in North
America after this conflict were soldiers of the 2nd Battalion,
78th Regiment of Foot [Fraser's Highlanders]. BUT, unit history
states that they did not disband until 1763, which brings
Jobin's timeline into question.
Carey is an Irish name. The 78th is a Scottish highland
regiment, formed in 1757 in Inverness and Glasgow especially for
combat in the French-Indian War. It was originally intended for
the Louisburg siege, but was not in time to take part. Instead,
it sailed from Glasgow in 1758, via Ireland [Cork], thence to
Halifax, to Connecticut, and after some fighting there, finally
sailing to Quebec with Wolfe, where they were placed under the
command of Brigadier James Murray.
If anybody has done any parallel research, do you know if there
were in fact, any Irish serving in the 78th? Is there a
plausable explanation for "Simon Tiret dit Carey"? All
subsequent descendents are known simply as Carey or one of the
many variations of Carey. I translate the above name as Simon
Tiret, known as Carey. Might I be wrong?
Where does the "Tiret" come from? Tirer means "to shoot". The
78th was a highland light infantry battalion. Could Tiret be
some kind of association with this, as in rifleman, or some such
thing. If Tiret was a proper surname, how and why has it morphed
into Carey?
Any help, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Yours, aye
Mike Campbell
At 02:51 PM 6/15/2004 -0300, Mike wrote:
...
The earliest reference I have been able to find is a Simon Carey
of New Richmond, PQ...
The references referred to the wedding of Jean-Baptiste Carey,
son of Simon Tiret dit Carey...
There's a LONG discussion of "dit names" at
<
http://www.francogene.com/quebec/ditnames.php>. It's all in English. This
may help some in understanding why you see these names among your
ancestors' information. I got hundreds of hits from a Google search for
"dit names"; you'll get lots more sites en français if you search for
"noms
dits".
Bonne chance,
Chuck Carey