In the shadowed volcanic crags of Auvergne, France, in 1641, André Migner dit Lagacé drew his first breath amid the earthy scent of tilled fields and distant thunder. A soldier's life beckoned, hurling him across the Atlantic in 1665 with the Carignan-Salières Regiment, where the salty spray of the sea mingled with the raw fear of Iroquois ambushes in New France's untamed wilds. Trading his musket for a birchbark canoe, André became a voyageur, his calloused hands gripping paddles that sliced through the St. Lawrence's icy currents. The river's roar echoed his heartbeat as he bartered beaver pelts with Huron traders, the musky fur smell clinging to his woolen capote like a second skin. In Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, he wed Jacquette Michel, a Fille du Roi with fire in her eyes, who had braved the ocean's fury to forge a family. Their hearth crackled with pine logs, birthing six children, including young André, whose lullabies were the voyageurs' rhythmic chansons—songs of endless waters and wandering souls.
By the late 1600s, the Lagacé legacy pulsed like the river itself. André the son, born in 1669 under Charlesbourg's crisp autumn skies, plunged into the trade's grueling rhythm. Married to Marie Françoise Ouellet in Kamouraska's misty dawn, he led brigades of hardy men—four to six souls per canoe, their vessels groaning under heaps of pelts and provisions. Days blurred into a symphony of splashes: paddles dipping in unison, voices belting folk tunes to ward off exhaustion, the sting of blackflies on sweat-soaked necks. Overwintering in remote forts, they huddled by fires crackling with birch bark, gnawing pemmican laced with berries, while wolves howled under aurora-lit skies. Their sons—André, Joseph, the twins Jean Bernard and Bernard, and Charles—grew amid these tales, their small hands mimicking paddle strokes on the riverbanks.
The 1700s brought peril and persistence. Joseph, born in 1706 on Rivière-Ouelle's fog-shrouded shores, voyaged deeper, his canoe bucking against Mississippi rapids, evading British spies in the conquest's shadow. Felicite Côté, his steadfast wife, waited in Cap-Saint-Ignace, her apron dusted with flour from hearth-baked bread, raising sons like Jean-Baptiste amid the clang of blacksmith hammers and the lowing of cattle. Jean-Baptiste, arriving in 1749 under Kamouraska's summer sun, inherited the call: contracts for western expeditions, where the air thickened with pine resin and gunpowder, and alliances with Ojibwe guides meant survival in blizzard-whipped wilds.
But empires shifted, and by 1763, British rule choked the old ways. Jean-Baptiste married Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere beneath Quebec's towering cliffs, their vows whispered against the river's eternal murmur. Their son, another Jean-Baptiste born in 1777, felt the pinch—over-farmed lands, rebellion's rumble in 1837. A voyageur still, he navigated Montreal's bustling ports, but the trade waned. Wedding Marie Angelique Baret dit Courville in Chambly's blooming orchards, he fathered François, Marie Angelique, and Marie Emélie in 1808, amid Châteauguay's fertile valleys scented with apple blossoms and hay.
Economic storms brewed: Quebec's seigneuries cramped, industrialization lagged, and whispers of American mills promised wages. In the 1820s, Marie Emélie and Gabriel Pinsonneau dit Lafleur—his La Prairie roots steeped in voyageur lore—crossed the St. Lawrence's churning waters into Vermont's green hills, then Jefferson County's dense forests in New York. The journey was arduous: wagons jolting over rutted trails, children bundled against lake-effect snows, the metallic tang of fear in the air. In Natural Bridge, Gabriel felled trees with axe swings echoing like thunder, while Marie Emélie stirred pots over open flames, her French hymns soothing infants. Eleven children arrived, but heartbreak shadowed joy—tiny graves for Gabriel Jr., Francois Lafleur, and Joseph Amable, lost to fevers that burned like wildfire. Twins Lucy and Laura, born in 1836 amid blooming wildflowers, played in sun-dappled clearings, their laughter mingling with the rustle of leaves.
Lucy, with her mother's resilient spark, married John Galloway Brown in 1857, his Scottish brogue blending with her French lilt in Jefferson's lumber camps. Son of Samuel R. Brown and Maria Weeks, John bore the scars of farming, his hands rough from plowing. They raised seven, including Abraham Lincoln Brown in 1864, as cannon fire thundered afar. But eastern soils wearied; the 1880s Homestead Act lured them west. Rails clattered under their train, dust choking throats, until Montana's Flathead Valley unfolded: towering pines, glacier-fed rivers glittering like sapphires, the scent of fresh-turned earth. In Creston, they claimed 160 acres of stump ranch—land stubborn with roots, cleared stump by stump in back-breaking toil. Winters howled with blizzards piling drifts to rooftops, wolves circling barns; summers buzzed with grasshoppers devouring crops. Lucy, skirts muddied, canned wild huckleberries' tart burst, milked cows at dawn's pink glow, and spun yarns of St. Lawrence ghosts by lantern light. John wrestled draft horses through thigh-deep snow, the crack of his axe a daily drumbeat.
Abraham, tall and steady under endless skies, wed Geneva "Neva" Plympton in 1888, her Ohio practicality a balm. Daughter of Charles Henry Plympton and Nancy Ellis, Neva kneaded dough with flour-dusted hands, her laughter echoing as children like Stella May, Lydia Corinna (born 1891 in Sioux City's fleeting stop), and Alonzo Earl "Lon" chased calves through meadows. The ranch bloomed: apple orchards heavy with crimson fruit, cattle lowing in mist-shrouded pastures, the clang of milk pails at twilight. They braved 1910's infernos scorching the valley, flames roaring like dragons, and the 1918 flu's ghostly grip. Abraham, justice of the peace, mediated disputes over fences, his pipe smoke curling like voyageur campfires of old.
Lydia Corinna, with frontier fire in her veins, married Franklin Jackson Bailey amid blooming lupines. They ranched in Montana and Idaho, herding steers through goldenrod fields, until the Depression's dust storms drove them to California's sun-baked promise in the 1930s. In Granada Hills and Chatsworth, Lydia's quilts warmed new homes, her stories of stump-ranch grit inspiring Velma Veda (born 1914) and siblings. Velma, enduring to 2004, passed the flame to son Jerry, born 1942—a living bridge from André's paddle strokes to modern horizons.
From the St. Lawrence's frothy rapids to Montana's rugged stumps and California's golden valleys, this saga pulses with sweat-stung eyes, heartfelt songs, and unyielding bonds. Hardships forged them—fevers, blizzards, lost dreams—but so did joys: a child's first laugh, a harvest's bounty, the river's eternal call. In you, Lagacé descendants, their vivid echoes endure.
A vivid saga of our Lagacé Legacy courtesy of Drifting Cowboy and Grok xAI.
SUPPORTING RESEARCH
GENERATION 1: André Migner (Mignier, Meunier, Migner, Meignier) dit Lagacé (Lagasse)
Born 11 April 1641 in St Martin, Puy-de-Dôme, Auvergne, France; died 20 November 1727 in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Quebec, Canada. He was a soldier in the Carignan-Salières Regiment, arriving in New France in 1665 to defend against Iroquois threats, and later became a settler and early voyageur involved in regional trade networks. Son of Michel Migne (Migner) (1602–1678) and Catherine Masson (1612–1669).
Spouse 1: Jacquette Michel (Filles du Roi), born 1630 in Ste Catherine, Laflotte, France; died 29 November 1710 in Riviere Ouelle, Quebec, Canada. Daughter of Jacques Michel (1610–1688) and Jeanne DuPont (1616–1686). They married in 1668, blending her role as one of the "King's Daughters" sent to populate New France with his military background.
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Andre Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) | 1669–1729 | Continued the voyageur tradition in eastern Quebec routes. |
Marie Migner (Meignier) | 1671– | Settled in Quebec. |
Francoise Mignier dit Lagace | 1674–1750 | Married into local families. |
Marie Anne Migner (Meignier) | 1677–1750 | |
Marie Madeleine Mignier (Migné) dit Lagace | 1679–1733 | |
Michel Mignier (Lagacé) | 1682–1738 | Involved in trade expeditions. |
Spouse 2: Marie-Charlotte Pelletier (no children listed in your genealogy).
GENERATION 2: Andre Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace)
Born 16 September 1669 in Charlesbourg, Quebec, Canada; died 4 February 1729 in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Quebec, Canada. Son of André Migner dit Lagacé. He was a voyageur, signing contracts for fur trade routes along the St. Lawrence and into the interior.
Spouse: Marie Francoise Ouellet, born 10 July 1682 in Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada; died 7 January 1728 in La Pocatière, Quebec, Canada. Daughter of René Ouellet (Houallet, Ouellett, Ouellette) (1633–1722) and Thérèse Mignot dit Chatillon (1651–1728).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Andre Mignier dit Lagace | 1702–1773 | |
Joseph Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) | 1706–1778 | Key voyageur, overwintering in western posts. |
Jean Bernard Mignier (Meunier) Lagace | 1714–1768 | |
Bernard Mignier (Meunier) dit Lagacé | 1714–1764 | Twin to Jean Bernard. |
Charles Mignier dit Lagacé | 1725–1793 | Voyageur brother, active in Great Lakes trade. |
GENERATION 3: Joseph Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace)
Born 28 December 1706 in Rivière-Ouelle, Quebec, Canada; died 24 December 1778 in Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec, Canada. Son of Andre Mignier Lagasse. He engaged in fur trade voyages, including Mississippi River overwintering contracts.
Spouse: Felicite Côté (Caouette, Cahouet), born 24 March 1709 in Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec, Canada; died 11 December 1783 in Cap-Saint-Ignace, Quebec, Canada. Daughter of Pierre Côté (Caouette) (Cahouet) (1669–1735) and Marie Anne Gaudreau (Gotereau) (1672–1749).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Joseph-Marie Migner (Mignier) Lagacé (Lagasse) | 1732–1794 | |
Louis Mignier dit Lagace | 1734–1761 | |
Andre Mignier dit Lagace | 1739–1740 | Died young. |
Charles Mignier dit Lagace | 1744–1819 | Voyageur. |
Andre Mignier (Meunier) * unproven dit Lagace | 1746–1803 | |
Jean-Baptiste Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace) | 1749–1822 | DNA match; voyageur. |
GENERATION 4: Jean-Baptiste Mignier (Meunier) Lagasse (Lagace)
Born 8 April 1749 in Kamouraska (Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatiere), Quebec, Canada; died 29 June 1822 in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada. Son of Joseph Mignier Lagasse. A voyageur, he signed contracts for Mississippi and western expeditions in the 1770s.
Spouse: Marie Judith Gravel Brindeliere, born January 1757 in Cap St Ignace, Lislet, Quebec, Canada; died November 1779 in Québec, Quebec, Canada. Daughter of Joseph Placide Gravel (1721–1769) and Marie Elisabeth Rondeau (1708–1768).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) dit Lagacé (Lagasse) | 1777–1832 | DNA match; voyageur. |
GENERATION 5: Jean-Baptiste Meunier (Mignier) dit Lagacé (Lagasse)
Born 24 September 1777 in Cap St Ignace, Quebec, Canada; died 10 July 1832 in Chateauguay, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada. Son of Jean-Baptiste Mignier Lagasse. He continued the family voyageur legacy, with contracts in the early 1800s for Montreal firms.
Spouse: Marie Angelique Baret (Barette) dit Courville, born 21 April 1779 in Chambly, Quebec, Canada; died 23 November 1851 in Châteauguay, Quebec, Canada. Daughter of Pierre Barette dit Courville (1748–1794) and Marie Anne Dupuis (Dupuy) (1753–1807).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Francois Meunier (Mignier) (Miller) dit Lagasse | 1800–1860 | |
Marie Angelique Meunier (Mignier) dit Lagasse | 1806–1873 | |
Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé (Lagassé) | 1808–1883 | Immigrated to Vermont & New York. |
GENERATION 6: Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé (Lagassé)
Born 28 March 1808 in Chateauguay, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada; died 28 June 1883 in Huntingdon, Monteregie Region, Quebec, Canada (some records note U.S. burial, but aligns with your Quebec focus). Daughter of Jean-Baptiste Meunier dit Lagacé and Marie Angelique Baret dit Courville. She bridged the voyageur era to 19th-century migrations, moving with her family to the U.S. around the 1820s amid economic shifts in Lower Canada.
Spouse: Gabriel (Gilbert) Passino (Passinault) (Pinsonneau) (Parsneau) dit Lafleur, born 3 March 1803 in La Prairie (Notre-Dame-de-LaPrairie-de-la-Madeleine), Quebec; died 16 December 1877 in Natural Bridge, Jefferson, New York, USA. Son of Gabriel Pinsonneau (Pinsono) (1770–1807) and Marie Louise Vielle (1780–1813). From a La Prairie fur trade family.
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Narcisse (Nelson) Francis Passenault (Passino) (Pinsonneau) dit Lafleur | 1821–1897 | |
Moses David Pinsonneau (Passino, Parsneau) | 1827–1895 | |
Justine Passino (Pinsonneau) | 1829–1860 | |
Gabriel Passino (Passinault) (Pinsonneau) (Parsneau) | 1832–1834 | Died young. |
Francois Lafleur Passino (Passinault) (Pinsonneau) (Parsneau) | 1834–1834 | Died young. |
Joseph Amable Passino (Passinault) (Pinsonneau) (Parsneau) | 1834–1835 | Died young. |
Flavie Passino (Pinsonneau) | 1834–1908 | |
Lucy Passino (Pinsonneau) | 1836–1917 | Pioneer in Wisconsin & Montana. |
Laura Passino (Pinsonneau) | 1836–1915 | |
Mary Jane Pinsonneau Passino | 1841–1917 | |
George Gilbert Pierce (Passino) (Pinsonneau) | 1853–1913 |
GENERATION 7: Lucy Passino (Pinsonneau)
Born 17 June 1836 in Jefferson County, New York, USA; died 3 February 1917 in Creston, Flathead County, Montana, USA. Daughter of Gabriel Passino dit Lafleur and Marie Emélie Meunier dit Lagacé. She migrated west in the 1880s, embodying the pioneer spirit from her Quebec roots.
Spouse: John Galloway Brown, born 8 August 1833 in Philadelphia, Jefferson, New York, United States; died 28 March 1915 in Creston, Flathead, Montana, United States. Son of Samuel R Brown (1798–1877) and Maria (Mariah) Weeks (1810–1890).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
(Charles?) Newton Brown | 1862–1864 | Died young. |
Abraham Lincoln Brown | 1864–1948 | |
Harvey Gilbert Brown | 1866–1872 | Died young. |
Emma E Brown | 1868–1897 | |
George Arthur Brown | 1870–1951 | |
Henry John Brown | 1875–1950 | |
Lucy Maria Brown | 1879–1963 |
GENERATION 8: Abraham Lincoln Brown
Born 25 November 1864 in Philadelphia, Jefferson, New York, United States; died 8 August 1948 in Creston, Flathead, Montana, USA. Son of John Galloway Brown and Lucy Passino. He homesteaded in Montana's Flathead Valley, building on family migration patterns.
Spouse: Geneva (Neva) Plympton, born 2 June 1870 in Zanesville, Muskingum, Ohio; died 8 April 1939 in Creston, Flathead County, Montana, USA. Daughter of Charles Henry Plympton (1845–1925) and Nancy Ellis (1842–1881).
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Stella May Brown | 1888–1971 | |
Lydia Corinna Brown | 1891–1971 | |
Olive Geneva Brown | 1893–1983 | |
Emma Louise Brown | 1896–1987 | |
Alonzo Earl 'Lon' Brown | 1898–1980 | |
Raymond Brown | 1901–1901 | Died young. |
GENERATION 9: Lydia Corinna Brown
Born 13 September 1891 in Sioux City, Clay Co., IA; died 25 December 1971 in Granada Hills, LA Co., CA. Daughter of Abraham Lincoln Brown and Geneva Plympton. She was a Montana and Idaho rancher before moving to California.
Spouse: Franklin Jackson Private, born 29 April 1886 in Liberty Township, Valley Co., NE; died 15 March 1968 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Child | Birth/Death | Notes |
Opal Beulah Bailey | 1913–1917 | Died young. |
Velma Veda Bailey | 1914–2004 | |
Vernon Frank Bailey | 1917–1999 | |
Hazel May Bailey | 1919–1999 | |
Muriel Neva Bailey | 1924–2012 |
GENERATION 10: Velma Veda
Born 21 October 1914 in Kalispell, Flathead Co., MT; died 4 October 2004 in Chatsworth, Los Angeles Co., CA. Daughter of Lydia Corinna Brown and Franklin Jackson Private. She arrived in California during the Depression era.
GENERATION 11: Drifting Cowboy
Born 1942; son of Velma Veda Private.
This lineage traces a resilient path from French military settlers and voyageurs in New France to pioneers in the American West, with strong ties to the fur trade through families like the Migniers and Pinsonneaus.
Courtesy of Drifting Cowboy & Grok xAI.
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