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Michelle,
I'd be happy to help you in any way that I can -- but in order to identify your line, and figure out any relationship of yours to my own, I need details. You've already stated the names of your ancestors, leading upto Charles Henry -- and you say he is the son of a Henry Dupont. Do you have proof of this? Do you have any dates? Birth? Marriage? Death?
Census records also are key in identifying relations, names of wives, parents, etc. Baptismal records can help identify parents as well as close relatives or friends (godparents). If you can provide some dates of these deceased individuals along with places of residence, parishes they may have belonged to, places they worked, etc.... that might help considerably.
I'm curious as to what drew you to my great-grandfather's brother, Henry Dupont. Does his name or his wife's name match your own family records? Does his birth/death dates approximate or match your own records? Do you know for a fact that Charles Henry's father was named Henry?
As far as the DuPont's are concerned on the whole -- I know quite a bit. The name DuPont is quite common in France and among many of French-Canadian descent -- and most have absolutely no direct lineal connection to the DuPont-de-Nemours branch that became so wealthy in Delaware. Most DuPont who have come to the United States by way of Canada are descendants of Gilles DuPont, a man of Breton origin... born in 1636. He married a filles-du-roi ... a "daughter of the king", as they were called. This title was not literal, but rather referred to a program sponsored by the French King to bring single women to the French colonies in the New World, in order for French soldiers and other male colonists to stay, settle, and start families. In order for the French to maintain their hold on New France, they needed to populate the land rapidly. So, the more children a family had, the greater the royal pension given them. This is why, among other reasons, French-Canadian families were so large.
Now I say that most Franco-Americans by way of Canada named "Dupont/DuPont", are descendants of Gilles. There were other DuPont families -- notably, Samuel Champlain's close friend, partner and fellow pioneer named Robert DuPont-Grave, a mariner from the Breton port of St. Malo. Also known as just "Pont-Grave", he was a key figure in the Champlain voyages, and there is an excellent book by David Hackett Fischer called "Champlain's Dream" that goes into detail about him.
In my research I've found DuPont's from all over France -- but contrary to others who theorize that there are as many DuPont's as there are bridges throughout France ... my experience has lead me to ascertain that the majority have origins in the North and Northwest. The greatest concentration is in Brittany, while others have made their way to the east... Normandy and Picardy. Francoise Michel, Gilles DuPont's wife, the aforementioned "filles-du-roi", was from Sennevoy-le-Haut, near Avallon, in Burgundy... far from the coastal area where most Canadians trace their ancestry.
Gilles and Francoise were married at Cap-de-Madeleine, where they first settled opposite the site of what became Trois-Rivieres. Their descendants then settled within Trois-Rivieres itself and the outskirts... many traveling up the St-Lawrence from Pointe-du-Lac to Yamachiche, Riviere-du-Loup (today called Louiseville)... following the northern shore of Lac St-Pierre. Within my family, including from my great-aunt who lived to be 103, came stories of the family coming from Riviere-du-Loup, and Trois-Rivieres. These stories were later confirmed by research and death records such as that of Joseph, my great-grandfather. He was born in Pointe-du-Lac, and later immigrated with some of his siblings to the United States, looking for work. New England seems to be where the majority came to work in the textile mills... some going to New Hampshire, others to Massachusetts, and in my case the Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island, where the American textile industry was born.
If there is a connection between your Charles-Henry, and my great-grandfather's brother, Henry... then most likely your family would have roots in either Massachusetts, New York or New Hampshire... as all were places that he seems to have lived. It appears he was married in New Hampshire, found work in New York, and then spent the last years of his life in New Bedford, Mass ... likely living with relatives. All my life I was told of my father and grandfather having cousins in New Bedford -- but I doubt if my father ever met any. Like you, it seems that many in my family did not care to remember old family ties, for whatever reason. This can be frustrating -- but there are many people out there, as well as records (if you know where to look) that can bring plenty of revelation. I wish you the best of luck in your search, and as I said -- if you can provide me with more detailed info (perhaps in a private e-mail), i'll do my best to help you find a link between your family and mine.
bonne chance
--Glenn
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