Bourgeois Family

Courtesy of Barbara Ann Fisette
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME BOURGEOIS

With the arrival of the first Bourgeois ancestor, Jacques, in Acadia, Canada in 1642, the name Bourgeois became a common surname.  In time it would become a well-known surname throughout Canada and even in some parts of the United States.

For centuries the name Bourgeois had been used as a surname in France.  Its origin can be dated to approximately 1000 A.D.  With the revival of trade in the later Middle Ages, towns sprang up everywhere in Europe.  A fortified town in France was called a bourg, and so originally, le bourgeois meant a person from the town, or townsmen.  Because many people living in towns were engaged in trade, le bourgeois eventually came to mean a tradesman or merchant.  As time went on, these people became influential and developed into a class of their own.  Since this class, which was called the bourgeoisie in France, neither belonged to the upper class of the feudal lords nor to the lower class of the serfs, it came to be known as the middle class.  As a result of these changes the meaning of the name BOURGEOIS evolved from townsmen or tradesmen, to middle class men - each with a slight variation in meaning.

The bourgeoisie became a powerful class.  They employed people to work for them:  artisans, farmers, sailors, soldiers and so on.  They bought the privilege of self-government within their town.  Money became the main medium of exchange.  The bourgeoisie became proud, rich, energetic, and contemptuous of the feudal world about them. 

Judging from the position held by our first ancestor in Canada, Jacques, it would seem that he was not only a Bourgeois in name, but in class as well.

Jeanine Bourgeois-Tenove 

THE BOURGEOIS FAMILY TREE
 GENERATION CHART


1.  Jacques Bourgeois      m.Unknown
                       France
                                         (These parents may not have come to Canada)


2.  Jacques Bourgeois IIm.1643  Jeanne Trahan
              Port Royal, Acadie, Canada


3.  Germain Bourgeois  m.1682   Madeleine Dugas
             Port Royal, Acadie, Canada


4.  Joseph Bourgeois     m. 1/10/1719  Anne LeBlanc
             Port Royal, Acadie, Canada


5.  Joseph-Gregoire Bourgeois     m. 2/10/1749 Catherine Comeau
             Port Royal, Acadie, Canada


6.  Jean-Baptiste Bourgeois  m.12/8/1779         Marie-Josephe Lamoureaux
        St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Vercheres, PQ, Canada


7.  Louis Bourgeois m. 8/1818        Julie Loiseau
    St.-Denis, Vercheres, PQ, Canada


8.  Jean-Baptiste Bourgeois  m. 1/1860         Rose Rouillard
      St. Anne's Church, Hamel, Minnesota


9.  Joseph Alphonse Bourgeois     m. 6/26/1894    Adele (Ida) Hamel
        St. Anne's Church, Hamel, Minnesota



                                               Courtesy of Barbara Ann Fisette