Go with a Good Heart

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Genealogy is one of my hobbies . It is like solving a mystery, takes you to places that existed long ago, helps you understand historical events, and also allows you to meet some interesting people, both dead and alive.

Recently, I met one of my ancestors and heard the story of his life with more detail than I ever had before.

His name was Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur.

He was born in 1734 in a little village in the south of France called St. Jean de Maruejols. This is an ancient town and is located on the old Roman highway that used extensively during the days of the Roman Empire.

Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur was born in the small village of St Jean-de-Maruejols in the Languedoc region of France which is north west of Marseille on the Mediterrranean Sea. The Chabrier name translates to “Goat Herder” from the ancient Occidental language of southern France.

Originally the Chabrier family held to the Protestant Religion, but King Louis XIV in the Edict of 1685 abolished the Protestant Religion and declared that all subjects would become Catholics. And so the “New Catholics” were baptized and married in the Catholic Church, but were buried as Protestants because that was for life eternal.

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Map showing location of Saint Jean de Maruejois. Avignon is just to the south east.

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Map of France showing the Languedoc region near Marseille

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Around 1754, Jean joined the army and was assigned to the Languedoc regiment. He fought in the Seven Years War.

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SEVEN YEARS WAR

The Seven Years' War was a world war that took place between 1754 and 1763 with the main conflict being in the seven-year period 1756–1763. It involved most of the great powers of the time and affected Europe, , Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. In the historiography of some countries, the war is alternatively named after combatants in the respective theatres: the (North America, 1754–63); Pomeranian War (with Sweden and Prussia, 1757–62); Third Carnatic War (on the Indian subcontinent, 1757–63); and Third Silesian War (with Prussia and Austria, 1756–63).

In America war called the French and Indian War. It is estimated at peak strength British had 42,000 regulars and militia, while France had 10,000 regulars and militia. At time of war French numbered about 75,000 in North America while English colonies had population of about 1.5 million. Numerous Indian tribes were involved in the conflict. Supporting the British were the Iroquois Confederation, which also included the Delaware, Shawnee and Mingo and the Cherokee. Tribes supporting the French were the Catawba, Creek, Choctaw, Huron, Mohawk, Misissauga, Ojibwa, Winnebago, Mi'kmaq, , and Potawatomi.

Mohican Indian

The movie “Last of the Mohicans” is set during the Seven Years war and depicts the battle of William Henry.

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The Languedoc regiment arrived in on 19 June 1755. Soldiers of the regiment moved immediately to Fort Saint-Frédéric, commanded by Jean-Armand Dieskau.

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Fort Saint-Frederic

Fort Saint-Frédéric was a French built in the 1700’S, on the shores of .

The English attempted twice to take the fort but without success. Important English reinforcements arrived. Facing the imposing enemy force, the French soldiers retreated after having destroyed their fort summer 1759.

The British constructed a new fort, near the ruins of the old French fort. Today the ruins of these two forts are part of the National Historic Landmark of the United States since October 9, 1960.

The Battle of was fought on September 8, 1755, in the north of the Province of . The battle was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America in the French and Indian War. On one side were 1,500 French, Canadian, and Indian troops under the command of the Baron de Dieskau and on the other side 1,500 colonial troops under William Johnson and 200 Mohawks led by a noted war chief, Hendrick Theyanoguin.

Dieskau left Fort Frederic and arrived near Fort Edward on the evening of 7 September 1755 with 222 French regular grenadiers from the Régiment de la Reine and the Régiment de Languedoc, 600 Canadian militia and 700 Abenaki and Caughnawaga Mohawk allies. The battle was inconclusive, with English loss in killed, wounded, and missing at 262, and that of the French was 228.

After the , the Languedoc regiment was sent to Fort Carillon, (later called , which was under construction. The regiment was then sent to participate in the battle of .

The Battle of Fort William Henry occurred between August 3-6, 1757. The French - commanded by Montcalm, and their Amerindian allies laid siege to the British Fort William Henry. Fort William Henry, known also under the name of Fort George, in reference to the Lake George that it borders is located about 30 km Northwest of its first base, Fort Edward, built along the Hudson River. On August 9, 1757 the British surrendered to the French and the fort was then destroyed. In movie “Last of the Mohicans. Indians attacked the British troops after the surrender. There was an attack but not on the scale depicted in the movie.

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Fort William Henry

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On April 25, 1758 Jean was a patient at the l’Hotel Dieu de Quebec and one can assume he was there recovering from a wound or illness.

L’Hotel-Dieu in around 1760

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Fort Carillon

The battle of Fort Carillon was 8 July 1758 at Ticonderoga,. The battle took place at three quarters of miles of the fort itself. A French army and Canadian almost 4,000 men under the command of general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and the Chevalier de Lévis won a victory over an English military force four times greater of 16,000 men under the command of general James Abercrombie, who attacked French positions well entrenched without artillery support. The battle was the bloodiest of the war with more than 3,000 victims, including 2,000 English. Jean Chabrier and the Languedoc regiment participated in this battle.

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Fort Carillon/Fort Ticondroga

Jean was later reassigned to defend the city of Quebec and was present when the battle of the plains of Abraham, or first battle of Quebec, was fought on 13 September 1759.

The French army defended the city besieged the British attacking army and ended with the victory of the British and the death of the two Commanding generals, Montcalm and Wolfe.

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The taking of Quebec, oil on canvus by Hervey Smyth, 1797

Battle Map of Plains of Abraham showing where Languedoc Regiment fought

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After the battle, the Languedoc regiment was sent to the area between Quebec City and around Trois Riveries. They spent their winter camped there and it is here where Jean Chabrier met Marie Sicard, his future wife. In the spring of 1760, he signed a promise to marry her. Since she gave birth to their first child in October 1760, she was obviously pregnant at this time.

Jean then participated in the battle of Sainte-Foy which was between the French and the British near Quebec City on April 28, 1760.

The battle of Sainte-Foy was a victory for the French under the Chevalier de Lévis over the British army under General Murray. The battle was notably bloodier than the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of the previous September, with 833 French casualties to 1,124 British casualties. It was the last French victory of the French and Indian War. After the victory the French laid siege to the city of Quebec but gave up after the British sent additional reinforcements.

The battle of Sainte-Foy is the last heartbeat of colonial France in . In September, 1760, the French in Quebec surrendered to the British, with the understanding that the residents in the colony could continue to practice their Roman Catholic religion, own property and remain in their homes. For the next three years the colony would be under military rule administered by General Murray, until the end of the seven years war in Europe.

The Treaty of Paris of 1763 (along with the companion Treaty of Hubertusburg) ended the Seven Years’ War, the American counterpart of which was the French and Indian War. In a nutshell, Britain emerged as the world’s leading colonial empire. Her possessions stretched from India to Africa to the West Indies to North America. The British shocked knowledgeable people of the day by choosing to take the barren wasteland of Canada from France, rather than the prosperous

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West Indian sugar islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. From historic accounts, it was France who decided to abandon Canada and retain the islands in the West Indies. France believed they would gain more wealth from the sugar plantations in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and pressure from wealthy merchants pushed France away from keeping Canada.

Many believe that France was still a super power with a population three times greater than England and could have negotiated to keep Canada, but chose not to. The French people of Quebec felt great betrayal at the French concession.

Jean was discharged from the Army on September 8, 1760 in Montreal. This is the same day that the French Army in Montreal surrendered to the British.

Capitulation of Montreal on September 8, 1760

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Jean then went back to Maskinonge where he married seven days later, on September 15th, to Marie Sicard. One guesses that the connection between Jean Chabrier and Marie Sicard would be a military connection since Marie Sicard’s father was the Captain of the local militia.

Jean Chabrier took the nickname Vadeboncoeur when he became a soldier. The Vadeoncoeur name is not found in France as a family name but rather was a nickname adopted by soldiers in the French Army in the period from 1670 to 1770. It was a requirement in the Army that each man have a distinct name so there would be no confusion when they had roll call. It is said that is where the “dit” name was born. It was a way to identify each person. So Jean Chabrier became Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur. The nickname Vadeboncoeur means “Go with a good heart” and was a popular nickname used by men in the Army. Roger and Nancy Verboncoeur in their research have discovered over 60 soldiers who used the nick name “Vadeboncoeur” in the Army. Of course, some retained this nickname after their service in the Army was complete, which is how this name became part of our heritage.

The following information is listed in the book “Combattre pour la France en Amerique” prepared by Le Project Moncalm, under the direction of Marcel Fournier (published in 2009). It describes Jean as being around 5 feet 2 inches, with brown hair and brown eyes, nice looking nose, mediocre mouth (my guess is that he had missing teeth), long face, fair complexion.

Marie Sicard married Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur on 09/15/1760 in Maskinonge, Quebec Marie Sicard and Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur had the following children:

1. Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b.10/22/1760 d.06/05/1818 2. Antoine Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b.09/17/1762 d.07/26/1830 (my line). 3. Francoise Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b. 03/03/1765 d.03/26/1765. 4. Marie Josephe Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b.05/12/1766 d. 02/05/1851. 5. Joseph Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b.1767a d.07/19/1842 6. Charles Amable Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b.05/03/1769 d.05/06/1841 7. Pierre Louis Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur b. 10/31/1775 d.02/15/1839

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Adelphis Verboncoeur and Julia Labissioniere on their wedding day in 1864

Julie Verboncoeur and Alfred Labine on their wedding day in of 11/27/1884 in Argyle, Minnesota

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1. Mark Allen Labine b. 1952 m. Judy Sarich in 1952 1990. Children: Lucas b.1991; Allyson b.1993 & Emily b. 1996.

2. Oliver J. Labine 1921 b. 1921 m. Doris Dascomb and lived in Argyle, Minnesota. Labine Family Homestead in year 1990. Built in 1881. 3. Phillip Labine b. 1889 m. Elizabeth Proulx in Argyle, Minnesota.

5.Adelphis Dave Verboncoeur 4. Julia Verboncoeur b. He worked in Michigan 1866 m. Alfred Labine during the Civil War. in Argyle, MN. 1866 He was born in Louiseville, Quebec and later immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota. 5. Adelphis Dave This ancestral line is based on

Verboncoeur b. 1842 family birth records, church m. Julia Labissioniere in baptism and marriage records St. Paul, MN. from St. Antoine de Padoue parish in Louiseville, George Dascomb, Sr. Quebec and information was a Minister for the from the book “L’histoire de la Seigneurie de Carufel” by Congregational Church 6. Olivier Verboncoeur Clement Plante (1980) and in Hillsborough, N.H. b. 1803 m. Madeleine 4. Julia Verboncoeur’s numerous websites with ancient medieval info. Lupien in Maskinonge, father, Joseph 1803 Quebec. Labissioniere was one of the early church members of the St. Paul Cathedral diocese and 7. Antoine Chabrier dit helped build the first Picture of 4.Julia Verboncoeur. b.1762 m. Cathedral in St. Paul. Verboncoeur at Marie Martineau in her wedding on Maskinonge, Quebec. 11/27/1884. She Died in 1921 in Los Angeles, CA.

8. Jean Chabrier dit Vadeboncoeur m. 1760 Marie Angelique Sicard

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