History and origin of the Arquette family

Eleven Generations of Arquette Family History A ssembled and Narrated by Donald Arquette   Generations 1 & 2 Our known history starts in 1619 with the birth of Peter Arcouet dit Lajeunesse of Marenne, France, son of John Arcouet dit Lajeunesse who was born about 1590. John and Peter lived in a region of western France called Pays de la Loire. It consists of five departments (counties): Loire-Atlantique , Maine-et-Loire , Mayenne , Sarthe and Vendée .  Pays de la Loire has a long coast on the Bay of Biscay (part of the English Channel) to the west and is bordered by Brittany to the north and west and Poitou-Charentes to the south.  Marenne is a coastal town. The region is cut from east to west by the Loire River. Due to its rich heritage, this region has been declared a World Heritage for Humanity Site by UNESCO, which described it as a "cultural landscape of exceptional beauty." Lajeunesse was an area (perhaps a town or villiage) in France. When giving their name to a priest for record keeping purposes (births, marriages, etc.) it was the custom to give the name and where the person was from.  "dit" literally translated means "says".  So, our early ancestors in Canada were merely saying where they, or their families, were from.  Some of our Canadian relatives later adopted the "Lajeunessee" as their surname.  There are many Lajeunesses in canada that are related to us. John married Elizabeth Martin about 1646. Their first child, John II Arcouet dit Lajeunesse, was born 31, Dec. 1646 and was christened in St. Pierre's Parish, Marenne, France.   Generation 3 John II Arcouet dit Lajeunesse came to “New France” (Canada) in an interesting way. At that time there was a regiment of seasoned soldiers in France known as the Carignan Regiment. It had been formed as a private army in 1644. This was an army for hire, made up of hand-picked volunteers. The standards were very high and these men had to be big and strong physically with a strong fighting spirit. In the hire of the King of France, this regiment had just returned from a successful engagement against the Turks. Rather than demobilize the regiment, the King decided to send it to Canada to help the colonists subdue the Iroquois Indians. It arrived over the summer/fall of 1665. Over the next two years they manned the garrisons and launched attacks on the Iroquois. After this task was completed most of the soldiers went back to France. Officers were encouraged to stay with large grants of land. The troops who stayed were given land within these grants where they could farm and start a new life in the new world. John was a part of this regiment and stayed in Canada. John married Elizabeth Pepin on 11/16/1671 in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada. Elizabeth was born in 1659 in Champlain, Quebec, Canada. John and Elizabeth had ten children with Peter II (number nine), born in 1692, being our direct ancestor. Elizabeth died 31 Dec., 1697. John remarried but was buried with Elizabeth on 8/9/1727 in Champlain, Quebec, Canada. The final Colonial War (1654-1763) was a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden. The French and Indian War (1689 - 1763), is the name given to the North American theater of conflict. England and France had been building toward a conflict in America for quite a while. The end of these hostilities was followed by the imposition of many oppressive taxes and restrictions on the colonies by the British. This period was the beginning of open hostilities between the colonies and Gr. Britain which led to the American Revolutionary War in 1775. Based on their birth dates and locations, it is unlikely that any of our ancestors participated in these conflicts.   Generation 4 Peter II Arcouet dit Lajeunesse was born 7/10/1692 in Champlain, Quebec, Canada. Peter married Suzanne Masson on 11/18/1715 and sired seven children. Peter married his 2nd wife, Angelica Chaille in 1734 and they had three children. Alexis, their first child, was born 9/17/1736 in Bastican, Quebec, Canada is our direct ancestor.   Generation 5 Alexis Arcouet dit Lajeunesse married Margaret La Forest on 11/12/1770 in Bastican, Quebec, Canada. Margaret, born 8/25/1753 in Detroit, Michigan, was the daughter of William and Mary Margaret (Tremblay) La Forest. Alexis and Margaret had ten children with the second, Alexis II becoming our next direct ancestor. Their eighth child, Peter, spawned the lineage that eventually produced the famous Hollywood families starting with Clifford (Charlie Weaver), then Lewis the film actor and then his children David, Patricia and Rosana. At some time Alexis Arcouet dit Lajeunesse dropped the last two words of his name and became Alexis Arcouet. He died 10/30/1801 in Sandwich, Ontario, Canada and was buried in Assumption Parish Cemetery, Windsor, Canada. Generation 6 A]exis II Arcouet was born 11/26/1773 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Alexis II apparently moved to Sandwich, Ontario, Canada where he married Ceci]ia Valcour on 2/10/1800. They had 5 children -- Catherine, Alexis III, Geneva, Angilica and Margaret. Alexis II married his 2nd wife, Mary Lagarde on 1/?/1814. They had 2 children -- Mary and Geneva. The next major armed conflict was the was of 1812 (1811 – 1815). In 1813 during the Battle of Frenchtown. British and Indian allies repel Kentucky troops in bloody fighting. The American survivors are killed in the Raisin River Massacre. Although there were many Arcouet families living in the River Raisin/Monroe area, I have no information as to whether anyone with that surname was involved. Generation 7 Alexis III Arcouet was born 28 Nov., 1802 in Sandwich, Ontario, Canada but moved to River Raisin, Monroe, Michiga nnd married Agnes (Jeanette) Robideu (Robideau) on 11/4/1823. They had 7 children -- Peter, Anthony, Jenueve, Zoe, Rose, Samuel and Alexander. Generation 8 Peter Arcouet was born 5/5/1825 in River Raisin, Monroe C0., Michigan. Peter married Victoria Drouillard on 9/12/1858. Victoria was born 7/7/1840 in Otter Creek, Michigan. Peter died 5/5/1888. Victoria died 4/3/1932. Both are buried in Calvary Cemetary, Toledo, Ohio. During this period of time the Arcouet spelling was changed to Arcouette and then to Arquette. Peter and Victoria had six children -- Peter, Ellen. Dennis, William, Alice and Mary. I have good memories of Dennis (my grandfather) as well as lesser ones of Ellen who married Peter DeCant. The French surnamed families, overwhelmingly Catholic, tended to live in closed communities. In one case three Arquette brothers (Dennis among them) married three DeCant sisters! Generation 9 Dennis Richard Arquette was born 2 Oct., 1864 in Curtice, Ohio. Dennis married Victoria DeCant on 12 Sept., 1888 in Toledo, Ohio. She was the daughter of Peter DeCant and Victoria Beauregard. Victoria was born 20 Nov., 1868 and died 23 July, 1956 in Toledo. Dennis died 17 Oct., 1942. They had eight children, Enos, Adelia, Allice, Leroy, Emory, Florence, Celia and Herman. They lived much of their married life in Lucas County, Ohio (as farmers I believe) and then moved into Toledo where Dennis (Pippi) worked in an Auto-lite sparkplug factory. After Pippi died my grandmother (Mimmi), who was totally blind, lived with her children (on our farm with Emory in the summertime and in Toledo with Alice in the winter) until she died. Mimmi's eye disease was treated by surgically removing the entire eyeball. At first she wore a glass eye but after the second surgery she gave that up and always wore dark sunglasses. Herman, Pippi, Mimmi, Emory & Alice Being blind heightened some of her other senses and we always marveled when she would predict that some relative would arrive from Toledo for a Sunday visit. In those days, people just showed up and my mother would calmly kill another chicken and bake another pie and add six more plates on the dining room table Mimmi was a die-hard Detroit Tigers baseball fan and even though she had never watched a real live game she had a great grasp of the game. Being blind heightened some of her other senses and we always marveled when she would predict that some relative would arrive from Toledo for a Sunday visit. In those days, people just showed up and my mother would calmly kill another chicken and bake another pie and add six more plates on the dining room table Generation 10 Emory Richard Arquette was born 14 June, 1901 in Curtice, Ohio. For some unknown (to me) reason his schoolroom education ended in the third grade. He married Gladys May Carncross on 27 July, 1929. Yes, she was an authentic “flapper”. She was born 20 Aug., 1910 in Jasper Michigan, the daughter of Elmer Carncross and Mattie Palms. Gladys' formal education ended in the ninth grade due to illness. She taught herself to play the piano and was the main attraction at the house dances that was their life during the Great Depression as well as family entertainment while we were growing up. They had six children, Donald, Richard, Francis and Melvyn (twins), Judy (died at birth) and Keith. They lived their entire married life as farmers in the Morenci, Michigan area. Emory died ______________. Gladys died 20 July, 1981. Both are buried in Oak Grove Cemetary in Morenci. The economy was harsh during the thirties and part of the forties. Emory always worked as a hired farmer meaning that he was paid a monthly salary in addition to a rent-free house and whatever food he could grow in a garden. In 1937 he took the bold step of moving to a different farm with a sharing arrangement. That meant that he received one-third of the income but was liable for one-third of the direct expenses. Everything went well until mid summer, after all the crops were planted, when heavy rains upstream flooded the St. Joseph River and ruined more than half of his crops causing extra high expenses to buy feed for the cows and horses and no crop sales income. We didn't eat well that winter! After only one year he returned to being a hired farmer but this experience took its toll both financially and emotionally for years to follow. Their next arrangement was much better and they stayed on the Porter farm(s), starting with 160 acres in 1938 and enlarging his acreage to 400 as we boys got older and mechanization improved after WWII. The Porter brothers were very good at fairly compensating the family with all the extra workers and also provided the boys paid work in their business enterprises in town (lumber yard, John Deere dealership, etc). This work was critical in helping Donald pay for his college (see below). My mother was a very strong woman. She was very encouraging on educa-. tion and spent many hours helping with homework at the kitchen table under a kerosine lamp (no electricity until 1948). Cooking for six males and housework was almost a full-time job. One time, in response to a challenge from us boys, she baked and served 21 large pies during a one-week period! Washing clothes was done by hand using big washtubs and then hung on outside clotheslines to dry (yes, even in the winter). But she still found time to grow a half-acre garden and can a few thousand quarts of fruits, vegetables and meat for off-season eating. My dad, of course, worked hard as well. Operating a dairy farm meant long hours – 4:30 am til at least 8pm, 52/7, of very physical work. But he loved it. He was emotionally attached to his work-horses, which were kept until 1947, when post-war mechanized farming came into being, and he cried when they were sent to slaughter (dog food). Both of our parents died a nasty death of emphysema brought on by life-long heavy smoking of cigarettes. Generation 11 Donald Wayne Arquette was born 29 Nov., 1930 in Morenci, Michigan. Donald was the first Arquette (in this descendancy) to have ever graduated from college (Michigan State University, 1953, BS in Electrical Engineering). After two years as an Army draftee, he continued in graduate school at Oklahoma State University ending with an MS in Industrial Engineering. He was then recruited by Sandia National Laboratory and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in June, 1956 and worked there for over 36 years. He married Lois Steinmetz Cardozo (born 28 Apr., 1934 in Philadelphia, PA), daughter of Joseph Janney Steinmetz and Lois Foley, on July 15, 1965 in Albuquerque and adopted her three children, Robin (8 Dec., 1954), Kerry (6 Dec., 1956) and Brett (27 May, 1960). Don and Lois then had two additional children, Donald Jr. (31 Oct., 1967) and Kaitlyn (18 Sept., 1970). In addition to being mother to five, Lois was a prolific writer (mostly fiction) and eventually became very well known with more than 50 books and over 300 magazine articles to her credit. Lois completed her BA degree at the University of New Mexico where she also taught in the Journalism Department. Tragedy struck our lives on July 16, 1989 when our youngest daughter, Kait, was murdered. The case has yet to be solved. Part of the story was chronicled in Lois' book “Who Killed My Daughter?” (1992) which was followed by “One To The Wolves – On The Trail of A Killer” (2015). Lois received many awards for her writing with the ultimate coming on her birthday in 2015 when the Mystery Writers of America awarded her their Grand Master Award for a lifetime of achievement.

Submitted by Donald A.

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