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The Anctil family in America ©
Since 1738
The essential information on our family history.
«Les familles Anctil en Amérique» is a book written in French dealing with genealogy.
Presented the first time in 1994, re-edited in 1995, 1996, 2000, with names
added in 2005.
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On May 17 1979, I found the birth certificate of Jean Anctil in the town
archives of Ducey, Normandie, France. Jean was born on January 25, 1708.
His parents were Louis Anctil and Jeanne Fontaine. Jean is the ancestor of all
the Anctils in America.
I was encouraged by this finding to pursue my research begun a few years
before on the history of the Anctil family in America. In the last thirty years, I
researched hundreds of legal documents, a large number of birth, marriage
and death certificates, different census and a large number of other official
documents. I also met with several persons with the name of Anctil accross
the continent.
Based on a close analysis of this data, I wrote the book «Les familles Anctil en
Amérique». It has 625 pages and is divided into two parts. The first tells the
origin and the early history of our family in America. The second contains 10
000 names and allows most persons carrying the name of Anctil to link their
name and immediate family with one of them. At the same time, it gives them
the possibility to find the names of their ancestors up to the first generation
with Jean Anctil.
In order to know more about the history of the Anctil family, its different
moves across the continent, or to learn about your family tree, or establish
your links with other members of the Anctil family found in America, you
may now buy the latest version in French of the book «Les familles Anctil en
Amérique». The cost is $85. Can. plus handling and shipping costs. You may
order at the internet address listed below.
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Did you know that ?
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2 
1- Bell tower of Saint-Pair de Ducey. Dated 1641.
2- Remains of the old church of Ducey: this stained glass window is now located in the north
chapel of the new church.
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The etymological origin of the name Anctil is Ans-ketell. In the Larousse
Dictionary of names and surnames of France, edited in 1951, one can read:
«Ans, name of a pagan divinity, and ketell, meaning cauldron». We can
imagine that these two german words together meant: «filled with
spirituality».
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A first attempt to establish the Anquetil family in New France occured in
1663. But two years later, on August 23, 1665, a colonial high court of Justice
ordered Nicolas Anquetil with seven other inhabitants to go back to France
because of their "inability to work".
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Nowadays in France the name Anctil is written Anquetil whereas in America,
it is mostly written Anctil. Through time, some members of the family took the
names Antell, Antil, Antill, Antille, Saint-Jean, or Saint-John.
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Jean Anctil came in New France, now Canada, to work in the fisheries. He
organised commercial fishing in the Gaspé. area, located at the head of the
St. Lawrence River. Jean was probably encouraged to settle in the New World
by a recruiting agent. They were many who traveled in the countryside
looking for young enterprising men ready to seek a new beginning.
Fishermen at Percé, QC.
Other men from the Diocese of Avranches came to do business in the Gaspé
area. One has to think of Pierre Lefebvre de Bellefeuille and his nephews, who
acquired the seigneurie of Pabos (1729- 1758).
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Jean married Marguerite Lévesque, daughter of François-Robert Lévesque
and Charlotte Aubert, on November 25, 1738, in Rivière-Ouelle, This small
town is located on the St. Lawrence River, below Québec City. The newly
wedded couple settled on a farm in nearby Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière. They
had eight children and only one son.
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The first Calvary in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière was erected by
Jeanne-Louise Anctil in 1774.
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Elisabeth Fournier, wife of Jean-Baptiste Anctil, ancestor of all the Anctils in
America, was, through her paternal great grandmother, Geneviève Hébert,
descendant of Louis Hébert and of Marie Rolet.
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Joseph-Édouard Anctil, from the seigneurie of Saint-Denis, part of the
Rivière-Ouelle parish, and his maid, Rose Thibeau, pregnant of a few months,
met Joseph Garon, a public notary, on December 23, 1839. In a legal
document, he recognized being the father of the child to be born, promised to
look after the future needs of the child to be born and to educate him or her in
the Roman Catholic faith. On January 16th, 1840, Rose Thibeau had a baby
girl and named her Flore Anctil.
Flore was conceived while the second wife of Joseph-Édouard was pregnant
since two months of their first child.
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Jean-Marie Anctil's and his wife Mathilde Hudon's descendants are related to
the poet Émile Nelligan. Mathilde and Nelligan's mother, Amanda Hudon,
have the same ancestors, Pierre Hudon and his wife Marie Gobeil.
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Like many other French Canadian families,
Onésime Anctil (1862-1925) and his wife Louise Leclerc (1856-1922)
left Québec in the early 1900's to live in the United States.
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In November 1997, a local genealogical publication called L'Ancêtre,
described Jean Anctil in the following terms: «Jean Anctil was a very popular
and active person in his community. He took part in all kinds of commercial
enterprises, such as cod and whale fishing».
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Jean Anctil helped the American Revolution
Following the failure of the American Invasion of Québec City in 1775, then
the capital of British North America, the English Governor, Guy Carleton,
named a Special Commission to enquire about the Canadians who had helped
the Americans to invade the Province of Québec. Traveling in
Saint-Anne-de-la-Pocatière in the summer of 1776, the commissioners were
also mandated to relieve of their official function all men who had paid
assistance to the Americans. On July 13, Jean Anctil was stripped of his
grade in the local militia.
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With the help of Ernest Anctil, Percival Reid constructed three other
airplanes prototypes.
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In 2003, the name Anctil ranks 682th out of the first thousand most common
family names in the Province of Québec.
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Commemoration
On September 6, 1985, with different members of the Anctil family from America, I unveiled a
commemorative plaque to the memory of our ancestor, Jean Anctil, in the church of Saint-Pair de
Ducey, Normandie, France. Jean was baptised in Ducey on January 25, 1708. A speech was given.
The plaque, which still can be seen, is placed on the wall near the baptismal font.
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Another bronze plaque identifies the site where Jean Anctil (1708-1787) and Marguerite Lévesque
(1713-1806) settled in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, in 1738. It was unveiled in November 1999 and
is located on the corner of 4th Ave. and 14th Street, La Pocatière.
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Cities and towns across Québec have honored the presence within their
population of members of the Anctil family by naming streets with their name.
Beauport, Saint-Denis de Brompton, Saint-Pamphile, Saint-Roch des Aulnaies
and Trois-Rivières all have an Anctil Street. Other towns such as
Ashuapmushuan, Baie James, La Pocatière, Rivière-des-Outardes,
Rochebaucourt and Saint-Joseph-de-Lepage named a lake, a creek, a bridge
or a road by the name of Anctil. Ste-Luce has even a Louis-Philippe Anctil
Public Hall. Nova Scotia too has, in Halifax, an heliport named Denis Anctil.
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The arrow points to the location where Jean Anctil and his wife Marguerite Lévesque settled in La
Pocatière, in 1738.
Part of the Anctil homestead was brought by marriage by Marguerite in 1738
and remained in the family until 1901. The other part bought by Jean in 1741
from Angélique Legardeur stayed in the family until 1876. There are still
some Anctil families living in and around La Pocatière.
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our ancestors
To have a free list of your Anctil ancestors, please send your request to my
Email address listed below.
For only $20. Can. you may obtain by postal delivery a parchment with a list
of your Anctil ancestors with the seal of The Anctil family in America.
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