Process: Angerbauer

The 1911 Census for Ontario reveals six matches for Angerbauer in Kincardine, in the Bruce North District. The head of the household is listed as Mary Angerbauer (b. 1871) with her five daughters: Francis (b. 1891), Ruth (b. 1897), Muriel (b.1903), Cathernene (b. 1904) and Kenennena (b. 1910).

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Most German surnames are derived from occupations, colors or locations while others describe the characteristics of a person. Angerbauer is a composite surname: "Bauer" is a German status name for a peasant or a nickname for a neighbor or fellow citizen, while "Anger" is a French variation of the English (of Norman origin) and French patronymnic name "Ainger", itself originating from the Germanic given name "Ansger". Composed of the elements ans (god) and ger/gar (spear), Ansger has English variations (Angier, Anger, Angear and Aunger) as well as French versions (Anger, Anquier and Ansquer).

In the glossary of Les noms de lieux en France (Commission de toponomie, 2006), "Anger" is described as a grazing ground or pasture with the name itself originating in Alsace, a region in eastern France which has passed between French and German control many times during its history. In this same vein, the Old Saxon word "angar" means "grasslands", while the Swedish "äng" means "meadow". The Angerbauer surname is also present in Sweden because of a German influx that is centuries old.

The name "Ångermanland" — a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden — is said to come from the Old Norse "anger", which means "deep fjord" and refers to the deep mouth of the river Ångermanälven. However, the Old Norse "angr" has also been described as "sorrow or grief" [1220-1250] in A history of foreign words in English by Mary S. Serjeantson (1961, Barnes & Noble, NY).

Process: Noël Legault dit Deslauriers

The first Legault on Quebec soil was Noël Legault dit Deslauriers, born in 1674. A soldier originally from Irvillac, in Brittany, he immigrated to New-France and debarked in Montreal. He married the widow Marie Besnard on the 18th of November 1698. On the 22nd of June 1701, Legault left the army and bought 120 acres of land bordering the Saint-Pierre river. The family soon settled on land in the parish of Lachine with their nine sons and five daughters. Legault died in Pointe-Claire on the 10th of April, 1747.

It is speculated that Noël Legault received the name "des lauriers" (to be crowned with laurel) during his army service for his courage or bravery. The word "gault" meant woods or forest in old French; "Legault" probably described a dweller by the woods. Placenames that derive from the surname "Legault" still remain in France: Le Gault-la-Forêt (Marne), Le Gault-du-Perche (Loir-et-Cher) and Le Gault-Saint-Denis (Eure-et-Loire).

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Process: Pierre Janson dit la Palme

The first Lapalme ancestor on Quebec soil was Pierre Janson dit la Palme. Janson was born in 1661 in St-Sulpice de Paris, Île-de-France, and died in Montreal on the 13th of February 1743. Master stone carver, mason and surveyor, Janson was known as "la Palme" for his habit of using the palm of his hand to measure the stone he needed to chisel.

Janson immigrated to New-France around 1687. On September 20 1688, he married François Couillard's widow Marie-Anne (Esther) Dannezé who had four children under her charge and a fifth married daughter living in Varennes. Having come to New-France in 1668 as a fille du roi, Marie-Anne died soon after giving birth to her first child with Janson. On the 29th of October 1698, he married the widow Madeleine Ursule Rancin and had another eight children. It is believed that she also died from the complications of childbirth. On the 26th of January 1704, he married Marie-Geneviève Pelletier who bore him fifteen children. Five of the sons who reached adulthood chose stone masonry as their livelihood: Christophe, Louis, Dominique, Charles and Philippe.