Claude-Mathias* Fanef (Born Matthias Farnsworth)
Ancestor of the
PHANEUF FAMILY

* In French, " Matthias " is written with only one " T ".

The story of the Phaneuf family starts on October 2, 1713, at Rivière-des-Prairies with the wedding of Catherine Charpentier and Claude-Mathias Fanef, born Farnsworth 1 . All the Phaneuf living in Québec and all those around the world are issued from this union.

The parents of Catherine, Gilles dit Jean Charpentier and Françoise Hunault got married on April 22, 1691, at Rivière-des-Prairies 2 . Even if some records were lost by fire or otherwise, everything makes us believe that Catherine was the first child of the Charpentier and that she was born about 1692, probably at Rivière-des-Prairies. The grand-parents of Catherine, Jean Charpentier dit Lapaille and Barbe Renaud were married in Québec. Jean came from Veulettes-sur-Mer, Pays de Caux, Ar. Dieppe, Archev. Rouen in Normandie, where lived the great-grand-parents of Catherine, Cyprien Charpentier and CatherineThérelle. Barbe was the daughter of Vincent Renaud and Marie Martin from Notre-Dame-de-Cogne, LaRochelle in Aunis 3.

Claude-Mathias Fanef was born "Matthias Farnsworth", at Groton, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1690 (old style calendar in use then in New England) 4 . He was the sixth child of Matthias Farnsworth (Matthias II) and Sarah Nutting, who got married at Groton, Massachusetts on March 1st, 1681 15 .
The grandfather of Claude-Mathias had the same first name Matthias (Matthias I) and he was the first Farnsworth of the ascendant line to cross over to New England. He was born in England around July 20, 1615 in the Manchester area, Lancashire county 16 .

This is probably the place where he got married, but the name of his wife is unknown. The couple had three children: Elizabeth, Matthias Jr and John. Supposedly all born in England. In 1655, this first of our Farnsworth ancestor in America, was living in the surroundings of Lynn, Massachusetts, where he married a second time, to Mary Farr with whom he had eight children. Around 1660 he settled in Groton Massachusetts with his family. He was a pioneer of this town incorporated in 1655, and occupied important posts in that community 5 .

Matthias III, who became "Claude-Mathias Fanef" owing to the force of circumstances, has not known his grandfather who died the previous year to his birth. He was only three year old when his father Matthias II, died in 1693. His mother married again with John Stone, on December 7, 1698, at Concord, Massachusetts, and they stayed in Groton, where two halfbrothers of Matthias were born (John, 1699 and James, 1701) 6.

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In those days, New France and New England were continuously in war. The Indian tribes were divided between the two parties, according to their economical interests.

When the young Matthias III was captured by the Indians allied to the French, he and thirteen other men were reaping in a field at Groton. Nowhere else, in a written document of Groton, it is mentioned that someone else of the family was either captured, wounded or killed in a skirmish or an attack. Only two implied in the skirmish with about twenty Indians that day, somebody by the name of Butterfield who managed to escape somehow, sometime 5 , and another man were captured. It appears that Matthias was that other man brought in captivity in New France. Nobody else from Groton was captured during the summer 1704 7 .

The Indians who captured him on August 11 (Gregorian calendar) , brought him to Montréal, more precisely in their tribe of Sault-au-Récollet. Matthias stayed captive of the Indians at the Sault until the end of 1705 or early in 1706. He was then bought by the Sulpicians, in fact by sir François Vachon de Belmont and he was baptized on January 10, 1706 8. His godfather was Governor Claude de Ramezay (origin of Claude added to his first name) and his godmother, Elisabeth Souart, wife of Charles Lemoyne sieur de Longueuil.They tried to franchify his name according to the english phonetic of the time. This gave"Farneth" for his baptism, then "Fanef" at his wedding. After many variations (Farnets,Fairnout, Fanef, Phaneffe, Faneffe, Faneuf) according to the caprice of the scribes, it is only in 1755 that it was spelled "Phaneuf" for the first time in the registers ofPointe-aux-Trembles 2 . Claude-Mathias asked for his naturalization on October 30, 1706 17 . He will obtain it inMay 1710 9 . He worked for the Sulpicians until around 1711. In acknowledgment for his services, he obtained from Sir de Belmont a valuable estate at Rivière-des-Prairies, including land, house and farm buildings, on July 19, 1711 10.

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October 2nd. 1713

 October 2, 1713, is a great day for Claude-Mathias, he got married to the girl of his neighbour, Catherine Charpentier 11 . They lived happily at Rivière-des-Prairies where they brought up ten of their twelve children (two boys died at a very young age). The ten children got married and gave them a total of 115 grandchildren (110 were born before the death of Claude-Mathias) 18 . The  "Fanef" name was assured by six boys. Joseph settled in Ste-Rose, while the others, Claude, François, Jean-Baptiste, Paul and Pierre, settled successively in St-Antoine-sur-Richelieu. The four girls settled in Ste-Rose. As it was the case for their ancestors, they were pioneers of these villages12. When their children were brought up, being lonely, near the end of their life, Catherine and Mathias joined their sons in St-Antoine. According to the 1765 census, they were probably living with Jean-Baptiste family 13. Mathias died on August 8, 1773 at the age of 83, and Catherine on June 29, 1777, probably at the age of 85. They were both buried in Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu 14. Today we find their descendants not only in Québec, but also in other provinces of Canada, as well as in the United States and Europe.

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  1. Brother ELIE, La famille Phaneuf-Farnsworth, 1915.
  2. Programme de recherche en démographie historique de l'Université de Montréal,1980.
  3. René JETTÉ, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec, 1983.
  4. VITAL RECORDS OF GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS, To the End of the Year 1849, The Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., 1926, vol. I, Birth, p. 78.
  5. Samuel A. GREEN, M.D., Groton during the Indian Wars, 1883, p. 10, 68-69.
  6. Caleb BUTLER, History of the Town of Groton, 1848, p. 438.
  7. Samuel A. GREEN, M.D., History of the Town of Groton, Massachusetts, 1890, vol. II, p. 364-365.
  8. Baptism of Claude-Mathias Farneth, Archives nationales du Québec, Registers of   Notre Dame Church of Montréal,10-01-1706.
  9. Naturalization of Claude-Mathias, Archives nationales du Québec, no 4M00-6366.
  10. Concession of a land to Claude-Mathias, Archives nationale du Québec (Montréal), Office of P. Raimbault,
    19-07-1711.
  11. Wedding contract of Claude-Mathias Fanef and Catherine Charpentier, Archives nationales du Québec (Montréal),Office of P. Raimbault, 25-09-1713.
  12. Le livre du 225 /su anniversaire de Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, 1975.
  13. Rapport de l' arrchiste de la province de Québec, p. 77, Archives nationales du Québec.
  14. Register of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Archives nationales du Québec.
  15. New England historical and Genealogical Register.
  16. Register of the Church of St. Mary, Eccles, Lancashire, England, Checked against transcript by the Lancashire Parish register Society, help by the Society of Genealogists in London under reference LA/R25 (Given by PatriceF.S. Farnsworth, One-Name Study, Society of Genealogists UK).
  17. Naturalization request, Archives de la Ville de Montréal, Fonds Philéas Gagnon, numéros IG 4378 et D 41065,cartable 26.
  18. Guy LETELLIER and Jean-Marc PHANEUF, Claude-Mathias Fanef, ancêtre de tous les Phaneuf, Montréal, 3 édition, 2000, p. 212-213.
    ON THIS SITE
     A FILE ON THE CELEBRATION
    Of the two hundred anniversary of the
    PHANEUF FAMILY
    HELD IN MONTREAL     ON THURSDAY 2, 1913
     
Your grandparents or great-grandparents may have attended this memorable day. It is possible that in your family some souvenirs of this October 2, 1913 may still subsist (photography of the drawing of the manor of Farnworth and the house of Claude-Mathias, medal of 2000: as well as personal photos). If such souvenirs still exist, it would be interesting to get in touch with us, so we can photograph them and enter them on this site. As for the file on the two hundredth anniversary, it will be reconstituded from the data apprearing in the book of Brother Élie and in the Minutes of the Committee written by Brother Élie who has been appointed secretary. We count on you for your photos or other objects associated to this great event. You can communicate with us at the following address:

phaneuf_ancetres@videotron.ca
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HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT OF PHANEUF ANCESTORS

The idea of raise a monument to the memory of our first ancestors, Catherine Charpentier and Claude-Mathias Fanef (both buried at Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu), was initiated in the fall of 1998. At a gathering of Phaneufs held in Saint-Damase, Province of QuŽbec. Some 250 persons, all descendants of Olivier Phaneuf and GeneviŹve Benoit of Saint-Damase. The idea proposed had for target that as many Phaneufs as possible, take part in this great familial project.

In front of the great interest shown at that moment, a Committee was set up at the beginning of 1999, with the mandate to set the project going. Mr. Gilles Phaneuf was appointed treasurer, Mrs. RenŽe Brunelle, vice-president and Mr. Jean-Marc Phaneuf, president. With the use of directories as well as internet, about 1200 Phaneufs living in the Province of QuŽbec, elsewhere in Canada and the New England States were put on file. We were fully aware that the list was incomplete and we were relying on those contacted te received other addresses of Phaneufs. To-day, we can say that some 1300 Phaneufs families had been contacted by mail. The postal dispatch explained the project and invited all Phaneufs to contribute in financing, according to their means.

A few weeks later we began to receive donations. At the end of June 1999, taking into account the delay of delivery, we had to order the monument. The Committee was successful in having a price unexpected until then, with a new submission of "Monuments Richer" of Saint-Dominique. This submission, besides being the lowest, gave us the right to the version of a bigger monument, for the price of an average one. Even if we indicated in our envoice that the donations had to reach us as soon as possible in order to decide the size of the monument, after the month of June we still received donations.
The Committee had then a surplus!
This excess of money was enough to consider a "snack" for the donors susceptible to attend the unveiling of the monument. The answers went beyond our hopeÉand also our budget!

The Committee then decided to find some "sponsors" to cover part of the costs for the evening.

We found four of these:

  1. The Municipality of Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu who rented the meeting hall at 1/3reduction.
  2. Mrs Suzanne Gemme-Lussier who supplied a $14 meal for $8.
  3. La Maison des Futailles who supplied 1/3 of the wine free (20 litres of Auberge quality).
  4. La Boutique Denise who supplied the costumes of Catherine and Mathias at half-price.

Without them and mainly all those who gave their time for the organization of this menorable day, the event would not has been the same.

 
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The book on:
<<Claude-Mathias Fanef, ancêtre de tous les Phaneuf >>
par Guy Letellier et Jean-Marc Phaneuf
Montréal, 1999.

This book of more than two hundred pages on our Ancestors. It contains inpublished data and documents on their origins. It is the outcome of an intensive research that led the authors throught hundred of deeds executed by a notary and religions or civil certificates of birth (or baptisms), marriage and death. More than sixty historical and genealogical works were consulted, including old manuscripts of the beginning of the eighteenth century.

This book is written in French. It was not translated in English.

However, here what it contains: Luxury and rigid cover, 222 pages, 37 drawings or old and new photographs, 28 family tables, 20 old or new maps, list and description of the 18 implying handwritten documents of Claude-Mathias (All official papers of Claude-Matthias). All details on the family of Matthias III (Claude-Mathias) in Groton, the capture of Matthias III, his baptism, his letter of naturalization from king of France, his marriage, his life at Rivière-des-Prairies, his children and grandchildren, etc... with all the references

You can consult it at:

  • GROTON PUBLIC LIBRARY (Groton, MA)
  • GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Groton, MA) l POCUMTUCK VALLEY
    MEMORIAL     ASSOCIATION (Deerfield, MA.)
  • BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE DU QUEBEC (Montréal, QC),
  • BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE DU CANADA (à Ottawa),
  • SOCIETE GENEALOGIQUE CANADIENNE FRAN‚AISE (Montréal, QC),
  • SOCIETE HISTORIQUE DE RIVIERE-DES-PRAIRIES (Montréal, QC)
  • SOCIETE HISTORIQUE DE ST-ANTOINE-SUR-RICHELIEU (QC)
  • SCOUTTS LIBRARY SERVICES LIMITED (Niagara Falls, ONT)