Re: ORIGINS OF THE PONTBRIAND FAMILY
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In reply to:
ORIGINS OF THE PONTBRIAND FAMILY
Glenn Dupont 12/15/05
http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=Briand&submit=Valider&client=cdiphttp://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=Briand&submit=Valider&client=cdip - distribution of the name Briand in France 1891-1915.
It would be interesting to study the church records around the time of Jean-Baptiste PONTBRIAND, son of Jean-Baptiste BRIAND dit SANSREGRET.I have a family probably originally from Bretagne; their name in Quebec started off as Robert dit Breton, then at one stage started to flip so they were recorded as Breton dit Robert, then Robert was lost entirely and they became Breton/LeBreton.
But this did not happen smoothly between generations; even in the same generations different children were baptised under different names.I'm not sure why they chose to switch to Le Breton - perhaps there were too many Roberts around, perhaps they were proud of descending from Bretons.
Perhaps your Pontbriands wanted to make a connection between themselves and a noble family, or perhaps there was a family story about the name originally being Pontbriand and Jean-Baptiste decided to change it back.There don't seem to be many people with just the surname Pontbriand - none on geopatronyme, www.geneanet.com comes up mostly with du Breil de Pontbriand and variations.
At least checking church records would show where the Pontbriand name first showed up - when Jean-Baptiste Pontbriand was christened, (meaning his father decided to change it), or when he was married, or not until after he was married and his children were baptised under that name?
http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/public/RechEtatCivilIndividu.asphttp://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/public/RechEtatCivilIndividu.asp
Another of your messages suggests Jean-Baptiste Pontbriand m. Therese Perron in 1794 - PRDH has this under couples as Jean-Baptiste Brilliant Sansregret m. Therese Perron Suire,Contrecoeur.You might find it worthwhile to subscribe to PRDH and dig up all those church records to get a feel for how the name changed over the years.