Croteau Family Genealogy

Croteau Genealogical History

I have been systematically searching through the various documents and reports to discover previously unknown family relatives. There are thousands of CROTEAU /CROTTEAU families out there...  Documentation before 1850 in Canada is very scarce if there is anything at all.  I have depended on information obtained from other people or records in a number of instances especially the Genealogy Society of Quebec, Canada.  Some information contained within the genealogy web site came from the memory of my relatives, which can be fuzzy at times with age.  I need to emphasize a special thank you to those living relatives and friends who have provided information and untold hours of research.  If you find a problem, please send me a nice message to advise me - keep in mind there are many people with the same name, born the same year, married a spouse with the same name.  Just look at the number of Joseph & Marie Croteau's there are...!

This map from Map Quest centres around the Richmond Quebec area.  My father Roger L Croteau and his siblings were born in the village of Kingsbury south of Richmond QC, Canada.

The majority of all Croteau / Crotteau descendants in Canada and the USA have come from a Vincent Croteau (b:1647) who was born in  St. Martin de Veules, Archdiocese of Rouen, Normandie, France. He immigrated to New France, (Upper Canada) now Quebec, Canada in 1665 or 1666.  He resided in the village of Cap-Rouge, St. Foy, Sillery, Quebec and St. Antoine de Tilly, Quebec.  Vincent's occupation: Shoemaker, Farmer and Real Estate agent.  No doubt over time there have been other Croteau's coming from France who have moved to the Americas which I have been unable to document at this point.

In the year 2000 USA Census records available disclose 0.004% of last names in the US are Croteau; there are approximately 10,000 Croteau surnames; it is the 3,198 most common last name used by heads of households.  Source www.namestatistics.com

The CROTEAU Coat of Arms by an heraldic artist from information officially recorded in ancient heraldic archives. Documentation for the CROTEAU Coat of Arms design can be found in Rietstap's "Armorial General". Heraldic artists of old developed their own unique language to describe an individual Coat of Arms. In their language, the Arms (shield) is as follows:

"De gu. a deux serpents d'or, en pals, adosses et entrelaces en double saut., divises en chef, traverses en leur col par couteau d'arg., enin. d'or, pose in bare, et accostes des deux cigognes d'arg. qui supportent avec leur bec."

Individual surnames originated for the purpose of more specific identification. The four primary sources for second names were: occupation, location, father's name and personal characteristics. The surname CROTEAU appears to be locational in origin, and is believed to be associated with the French, meaning, "one who came from, or lived near a slope or a small hill."  Other interpretations have been derived from those have "tended to the graveyards" in France.  The majority of the family are farmers or worked in the lumber industry in some capacity.  Many ancestors are poor and did not have a full education until the early 1800-1900's.

French / Indian Inter-marriages and the Creation of the Métis Society:

There is a joke in Canada that asks "How long after the first Frenchman arrived in Canada was the first Métis person born?" The answer "Nine months."

Within every joke there is a bit of truth, and it is no different with this one. Very soon after French men arrived in New France (Quebec), they began to intermarry with local native women. In the process, a new society was created that blended elements of both French and Indian cultures.

It would be wrong to think of Métis culture as monolithic. There were in fact many Métis societies throughout North America, some of which took their European antecedents from the Roman Catholic French such as that in the Great Lakes region, and others, particularly in the Hudson's Bay area, that descended from Presbyterian Scots.

Most Métis societies revolved around the fur trade, for it was in this economic system that Europeans and Indians had the closest contacts. Few white women went west with the European men who traded for furs, so these men took Indian women as their wives. Over the course of time, the progeny of these unions carved out a unique society that took elements from both cultures but stood quite apart from them as well.

This essay focuses upon the Métis society that emerged in the Great Lakes region (Ontario-Michigan). It also focuses upon intermarriage between the two societies and the customs and motivations that underlay this institution.

- To Read the remainder of this excellent report by Dr. Patrick J. Jung, Marquette University click here!

Eleven Generations of Croteau

The genealogy web site has been put together using Legacy software