The records of baptism, burial, and marriage in the Ste Luce register include the home parish or place of residence of the parents of the person baptized, buried and married; in marriage records it also gives the place of residence of the persons who are being married if they are not living with their parents. Below is a description of the areas included in these locations.
Ste.Luce. In the vast majority of events included in the database (1843-1860), Father Dionne wrote that the persons were "de cette paroisse," or "from this parish." In that case, I have put "Ste Luce" as the home parish.
Some people were described as from other places. Below are the other parishes, missions and places that are mentioned with information on where they were located. I have classified them based on whether they were in the upper St.John River Valley. For those outside the Valley, I have broken them down into places located in Lower Canada (today's Quebec); New Brunswick; or other places.
Parishes and missions in the Upper St.John River Valley:
Fort Kent. This referred not to a parish, but to the US army outpost at the blockhouse, called Fort Kent; this was used as a place name only for a few records in the mid 1840s. Places that are in today's Fort Kent were listed as either in the parish of Ste Luce or the mission of St. François.
Grand Sault, or Grand Falls, New Brunswick.
Madawaska. Some marriage records include Madawaska or Plantation de Madawaska as the place of residence. These were most likely within the parish of St. Basile (see below).
Rivière Noire. This is the Black River, and does not seem to have actually been a parish, but rather a settlement in part of what became Township 17, Range 10, Aroostook Co. (In the 1850 US census it was included in the enumeration of Twp.17, R.9). Father Dionne's use of this parish name was limited to three families: Mullins, McBrierty and Morin.
St. François (or sometimes the full name, St. François Xavier). This was a mission of Ste Luce that at various times covered more or less territory. In 1859 it was established as an independent parish, St François Xavier de Madawaska. Between 1843 and 1859 however, many of the people baptized at Ste Luce were described as from St François. Based on the location of these families in the 1850 and 1851 censuses, St. François included areas that shifted over time. I'll update this as I research the locations.
St. Basile. St Basile was the mother parish of Ste Luce, and long predated it (in fact Ste Luce was established as a mission in about 1826, almost twenty years before it became an independent parish). For some reason a few people from St. Basile were baptized at Ste Luce. St Basile parish included
St.Bruno. This parish was established in 1838, and served the area around today's Van Buren and St.Leonard.
St. Joseph (or sometimes more fully St. Joseph de Portage). St. Joseph was a mission of Ste Luce, and covered the southwestern edge of the parish, in what became Eagle Lake, Portage Lake, Wallagrass, etc. It was apparently established in January 1859; it was first mentioned in January of that year. In 1890 St.Joseph's would finally become an independent parish, in Wallagrass.
Tobique. Tobique was a mission of St Basile, and then from 1838 of St Bruno (Van Buren). Tobique was the home of a large Malisseet community, located south of Grand Falls in New Brunswick, quite a distance from Ste Luce. A number of people from Tobique, many of them apparently Maliseet, were baptized at Ste Luce. My guess is that they were visiting family in the Maliseet village in Madawaska (on the site of today's Edmundston).
Parishes outside of the Upper St.John River Valley:
Bas Canada: Lower Canada (today the Province of Québec)
Many of the people of Ste.Luce parish came from what is today called Québec, but what was then called Lower Canada, or in French, Bas Canada.
For a clickable map of some of the larger parishes in Québec (then called Lower Canada), go to the Univ of Montreal interactive site. Choose the location from the pulldown menu and click; the resulting map will show you where in Quebec the town is located. Please note that not all the below-listed parishes are included on that map.
Berthier, just west of Montmagny on the south shore of the St.Lawrence.
Bonaventure, Baie des Chaleurs, on the Gaspé peninsula
Cacouna. Now in Rivière du Loup County.
Cap St.Ignace. Now in Montagny County.
Deglee, Canada. I believe is actually Dégelis, located at the southern tip of Lake Temiscouata in Québec.
Isle Verte (Canada). A parish along the St. Lawrence, the place of origin of many of the settlers of the upper St.John valley.
L'Islet. L'Islet County.
Kamouraska, see also St.Louis, St.Pascal, St.André, all of which were located in or near Kamouraska.
Lac Temiscouata, for a few families that lived along that lake (described as living "au Détour du Lac Temiscouata", which is now Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Québec.
Malbaie, on the north bank of the St.Lawrence.
Pointe aux Trembles, on the Island of Montréal.
La Pointe Levi, located across the St.Lawrence from the city of Québec.
Rivière du Loup, see also St.Patrice
Rivière Ouelle, Kamouraska County
St.Alexandre, Kamouraska County (established 1850).
St.André, Kamouraska County (established 1791).
Ste.Anne de la Pocatière, Kamouraska County (established 1715).
Ste.Cecile. There are several parishes by this name in Quebec, I'm not sure which one this refers to.
St.Denis, or St-Denis-de-la-Bouteillerie, in Kamouraska County (established 1841).
St.Eloi, probably near Isle Verte, in today's Les Basques County, parish established in 1852.
Ste.Flavie, Rimouski County (established 1850).
St.Germain de Rimouski, Rimouski County (established
St.Hélène, probably the Ste Helene in Kamouraska County (established as a parish in 1853)
Ste.Hélène du Métis. I'm not sure where this parish is located. There is a Métis-sur-Mer about 60 km east of Rimouski, but I have not found a record of a parish called Ste.Hélène there. If you have info on this location please contact me.
St.Jean Port Joli, now in L'Islet County.
St.Louis de Kamouraska
St.Michel. Probably the St.Michel in Bellechasse County, on the south bank of the St.Lawrence just east of Quebec City.
St.Paschal, Kamouraska County
St.Patrice de la Rivière du Loup
St.Pierre. Probably St.Pierre-Montmagny, though possibly St.Pierre on the Isle d'Orléans.
St.Roch. See also St.Roch des Aulnaies.
St.Roche des Aulnaies. L'Islet County.
St.Roche de Québec. Parish in the city of Québec.
St.Thomas. There are several parishes/towns of this name in Quebec, I'm not sure which one this refers to.
Trois Pistoles, in today's Le Basque County.
Baie des Chaleurs, though this location includes both New Brunswick and Quebec sides of the Bay.
Miramichi, in eastern New Brunswick.
Richemond, près de Woodstock, NB. Richmond, near Woodstock, New Brunswick, on the lower St.John River.
Bourbonnais. I'm unsure where this place is. There is, as far as I know, no place in Quebec by this name. I have found that there is a village in Illinois by this name, it was established by French fur traders from Quebec in 1832. (History of Bourbonnais village.) This seems the most likely location for this place.
Caen ville, France. The city of Caen, in Normandy, France.
Irlande. French for Ireland
Kilkenny, County of Kilkenny, in the southeast of Ireland
Stillwater, Maine. Located near Bangor.
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Last revised 18 Mar 2006
©2006 C.Gagnon