Turgeon Family History
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Louis Turgeon – Fourth Lord of Beaumont
Sometimes marrying well can do a lot for one’s career. Such is the case for Louis Turgeon’s son, Louis (1762 – 1827). He was born in Beaumont and baptized in the Saint-Etienne parish, on April 10, 1762. From 1772 to 1782 Louis studied at a small school in Quebec. He trained to study as a notary clerk, and was admitted to this profession in 1792. He established a notary office in Saint-Charles-of-Bellechasse (Saint-Charles) and practiced this profession until 1826.
He was occupied with the management and development of the seigniory of Beaumont, of which had been given to him after the death of his mother-in-law in 1768. He became the principal lord of Beaumont in 1819. He was appointed an elected official of Hertford in 1804 and generally supported the Canadian party. He was re-elected in 1808 and 1816. The position was eliminated on March 10, 1818.
He was also a Justice of the Peace, an agent with the Company of Agriculture of the district of Quebec with Saint-Charles, and he was also a military officer. During the war of 1812 we was a major in charge of a militia, and also promoted to a lieutenant-colonel in 1821. Louis married his German cousin, Genevieve Turgeon, in Beaumont at the Saint-Etienne church on November 23, 1796.
Lord Louis Turgeon was a brother to our ancestor, Antoine Turgeon.
Military Record for Louis and Etienne Turgeon
Louis and Etienne Turgeon were brothers to our ancestor, Antoine Turgeon. Other members of this family may have also served in the military at this time. Generally, your military rank was directly related to your social ranking. In this case, Louis Turgeon was a battalion chief simply because he was also the lord of Beaumont.
Name:
Turgeon, Louis (père)
Location of Event: Lower Canada
Date: (1762-1827)
Rank: Major
Unit: 1st Battalion of Quebec
Source: Biographical Dictionary of Canada
Notes: Louis was made a major of the Saint-Vallier division on April 8, 1812. He
began training with the 1st Battalion of Quebec parish on July 10,
1802, Beaumont. He was a notary. He married his cousin, Genevieve Turgeon.
Louis was also a member of the legislative Parliament. He was a brother-in-law
of Abraham Turgeon and Augustin-Jerome Raby. His father-in-law was Louis Michel
Viger. DBC, VI.
Name:
Turgeon, Etienne
Location of Event: Lower Canada
Rank: Capitaine
Unit: Division of the Assumption
Source: Biographical Dictionary of Canada
Notes: He was made a Captain with the Division of the Assumption on February 3,
1789. Holy Spirit. He resigned in 1814.
Fifth Generation – Antoine Turgeon
Antoine Turgeon was born on February 24, 1736, in Beaumont, Bellechasse, Quebec. He married Marie-Dorothee Baucher-Morency on January 17, 1763. Dorothee was born on September 12, 1746, in Beaumont, Bellechasse, Quebec. Antoine was christened on February 24, 1736, in Beaumont and died on March 4, 1812, in St-Charles-de-Bellechasse.
Dorothee’s parents were Joseph Baucher and Genevieve Huot. (The Baucher family can trace their genealogy to the mid-fifteenth century France.)
This couple may have had more children, but these are the only siblings I could find.
Children:
1. Antoine born on March 9, 1764, in St-Charles-de-Bellechasse.
2. Josephte born in 1773 in St-Charles-de-Bellechasse
3. Francois Xavier born in 1773 in St-Charles-Bellechasse
Francois Xavier Turgeon is our direct ancestor. I did find one web site to suggest that Francois Xavier’s father was Francois and not Antoine. Francois was a brother to Antoine. One of Abraham Turgeon’s descendents went to Canada several years ago to look at old family records. According to the records he found, Francois Xavier’s father was Antoine.
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Abraham Turgeon – First Cousin of Francois Xavier
Francois Xavier’s first cousin was Abraham Turgeon (1783 – 1851), who was the son of Francois Turgeon and Genevieve Bauche (Beauche). He was also a notary as was many members of the Turgeon family. He served as a captain and adjutant in the Saint-Vallier division and fought in the War of 1812. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the 3 E battalion of the Bellechasse militia. Later he was appointed Justice of the Peace on June 17, 1814, police chief in the county of Hertford on April 1817. He was in charge of the Hertford county census held on June 24, 1825. He was also elected to the legislature as a representative from Bellechasse for the Canadian-French group in 1842.
He was a Brother-in-law of Louis Turgeon.
Name:
Turgeon, Abraham
Location of Event: Lower Canada
Date: (1783-1851)
Rank: Capitaine
Unit: Division de Saint-Vallier.
Source: Biographical Dictionary of Canada
Notes: He was a captain with the Saint-Vallier Division. Notary. Member of
Parliament 1842. He married Monique Goulet.
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Fourth Generation – Francois Xavier Turgeon
Francois Xavier Turgeon was born in 1773 in Beaumont, Quebec Province, Canada. He was married to Cecile Bouchard on August 20, 1804, in St. Vallier, Quebec Province, Canada. They had the following 14 children:
Marie Adelaide Turgeon born 1811 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Louise Francois Turgeon born 1812 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Cezaire Turgeon born on November 10, 1815, Quebec Province
Edouard Turgeon, born in 1816 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Cecile Turgeon born 1818 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Marie Josephine Turgeon in 1819 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Francois Xavier Turgeon born 1820 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Zephirin Turgeon, born 1821 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Marie Lisa Turgeon born 1822 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Pierre Narcisse Turgeon born 1824 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Marie Mathilde Turgeon born 1826 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Marie Elisabeth Turgeon born 1827 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Maxime Turgeon born 1828 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Ferdinand Turgeon born 1828 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Cezaire or Cesaire is our direct ancestor. Cesaire is a form of the word ‘Caesar’.
Cezaire had a brother named ‘Ferdinand’. This is the first reference I could find in the Turgeon family for ‘Ferdinand’. There was a ‘Ferdinand Turgeon’ who volunteered with the 1st Dakota Battalion Cavalry during the Civil War. I do not know if this is the same person; however, you will find information for this Civil War regiment mentioned later in this document.
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Third Generation – Cesaire (Cezaire) Turgeon
Cesaire, or Cezaire, Turgeon married Jeanne Marie Trachy (sometimes written as ‘Tracy’) on October 9, 1843, in Perce, Quebec Province, Canada. Jeanne’s parents were Abraham Trachy (born about 1794 in St. Pierre, Jersey Island), and Louise Bourget (born March 3, 1796, in Beaumont, Quebec Province). Cesaire Turgeon was born on November 10, 1815, in Beaumont, Quebec Province, Canada. Jeanne Marie was born on November 8, 1822. Eleven children were born to this union:
Louise Alvina Turgeon born March 16, 1845, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Abraham Turgeon born on October 25, 1847, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Francois Turgeon born July 5, 1849, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Jean Baptiste Turgeon born 1851 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Louis Turgeon born June 30, 1853 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Onesime Turgeon born July 20, 1855, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Aurerie Turgeon born October 10, 1857, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Phileas Turgeon born May 4, 1860, in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Ludger Turgeon born June 26, 1862 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Leda Turgeon born October 4, 1864 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Benjamin Turgeon born December 4, 1866 in Beaumont, Quebec Province
Phileas Turgeon was our direct ancestor. Abraham Turgeon was born Cesaire Abraham Turgeon.
Six Turgeon family members immigrated to America from French Canada. All six lived and died in this new land. It appears that all the Turgeon boys had moved to Charles Mix County, South Dakota, in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
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Why Did They Move to Dakota Territory
French speaking explorers had been traveling and living in the Dakotas since the eighteenth century. French explorers and traders were common sights along the Missouri River. The Turgeon brothers settled in Charles Mix County. The first white resident in South Dakota was Pierre Dorion, who in 1755, settled around the Yankton Sioux. In 1794, a school teacher named Jean Baptiste Trudeau came up the Missouri River and built the Pawnee House, the first house erected in the state, in Charles Mix County. The French presence still remains and is found in the place names we know.
Brulé is French for burned, a translation of Sichàngxu, burnt thighs, a tribe of the Teton Sioux.
The French shortened the Indian word Nadowessioux to Sioux.
The Badlands were known as le mauvais terres (the Bad Lands).
Belle Fourche in French is ‘La Belle Forche’ and means the ‘Beautiful Fork’.
The Turgeons were not moving to unknown territory. It is possible that family and friends had been moving in and out of the Dakota area for years. It is also possible that other family members were also living in Dakota Territory by the late eighteen seventies.
The Great Dakota Land Boom
Land! By an act of Congress land was made available to anyone who would settle it. In Dakota Territory the Great Land Boom began in the late eighteen seventies and lasted through most of the eighteen eighties. The Turgeon boys immigrated to America in 1878 and 1879.
This was wild frontier land. Indians freely wandered through this part of Dakota Territory. Within a matter of a few short years this untamed land was fenced in and settled by early settlers looking to start a new life. Like their forebear before them, the Turgeon boys moved from Quebec to a new land. The following land patents in Charles Mix County were issued to the Turgeons:
Land Patents – Charles Mix County
NAME MERIDIAN TWP RANGE SECTION ACREAGE TYPE CASETYPE DOCID
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 069 W 018 80 251105 PA 928 08/12/1891
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 069 W 018 43 251105 PA 928 08/12/1891
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 069 W 018 42.73 251105 PA 928 08/12/1891
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 070 W 022 39.3 272002 PA 1843 06/30/1884
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 070 W 022 52 272002 PA 1843 06/30/1884
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 070 W 022 25.8 272002 PA 1843 06/30/1884
TURGEON ABRAHAM 05 099 N 070 W 023 38.25 272002 PA 1843 06/30/1884
TURGEON DOLAR L 05 100 N 071 W 017 160 251101 PA 862749 05/17/1922
TURGEON FRANCOIS 05 099 N 070 W 002 80 251101 PA 4522 09/30/1891
TURGEON FRANCOIS 05 099 N 070 W 003 80 251101 PA 4522 09/30/1891
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 069 W 007 80 251105 PA 927 08/12/1891
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 069 W 007 43.59 251105 PA 927 08/12/1891
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 069 W 007 43.29 251105 PA 927 08/12/1891
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 070 W 015 80 272002 PA 1844 06/30/1884
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 070 W 022 80 272002 PA 1844 06/30/1884
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 070 W 026 55.5 251101 PA 5651 07/25/1890
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 070 W 026 30 251101 PA 5651 07/25/1890
TURGEON LOUIS 05 099 N 070 W 026 55.35 251101 PA 5651 07/25/1890
TURGEON LUDGER 05 099 N 070 W 002 160 251105 PA 3177 06/25/1900
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 40 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 35 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 5 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 35 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 5 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 2.02 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 010 37.98 251101 PA 4505 09/30/1891
TURGEON ONESIME 05 099 N 070 W 012 160 251105 PA 1353 07/11/1892
TURGEON PHILEOS 05 099 N 070 W 009 40 251101 PA 6108 02/08/1892
TURGEON PHILEOS 05 099 N 070 W 009 34.25 251101 PA 6108 02/08/1892
TURGEON PHILEOS 05 099 N 070 W 010 80 251101 PA 6108 02/08/1892
TURGEON PHILIOS 05 099 N 070 W 004 80 251105 PA 1274 06/21/1892
TURGEON PHILIOS 05 099 N 070 W 004 40.7 251105 PA 1274 06/21/1892
TURGEON PHILIOS 05 099 N 070 W 004 40.5 251105 PA 1274 06/21/1892
TURGEON REBECCA 05 100 N 071 W 020 160 251101 PA 363950 11/06/1913
TURGEON SERAPHAIM 05 099 N 070 W 003 80 251105 PA 2898 10/18/1898
TURGEON SERAPHAIM 05 099 N 070 W 003 41.02 251105 PA 2898 10/18/1898
TURGEON SERAPHAIM 05 099 N 070 W 003 40.89 251105 PA 2898 10/18/1898
The following historical information about the Turgeons was taken from the ‘Standard Atlas of Charles Mix County (1906)’ published by George A. Ogle & Co., page 55:
‘The Turgeons came into the county in 1878 and 1879. Abraham, since deceased, and Francis arriving first, soon followed by Onesime, Louis and Phil. As soon as they were well located they engaged in ranching and have acquired extensive tracts of land. Phil Turgeon, who was so well and favorable known among the pioneers, was drowned some years ago in the Missouri, but Louis and Onesime still reside on their farms. Onesime Turgeon was one of the pioneers in sinking a large artesian well, which he is still using to drive his saw mill, threshing machine and other farm machinery.’
There is a Turgeon Wells Recreation Area managed by the State of South Dakota. It is located in the same general vicinity in Charles Mix County as described above. This recreation area is 28 miles from Platte and located at 2N, 6W, 3S Academy Township.
The following file contains an index to the early homesteader and Indian allotment records for Charles Mix County.
Last Name First Name Section Twp. No. Range No. Twp Name Comments
Turgeon Abraham 18 99N 69W Castalia
Turgeon Abraham 22 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Abraham 23 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Dolar 17 100N 71W LaRoche
Turgeon Frances 2 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Frances 3 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Louis 7 99N 69W Castalia
Turgeon Louis 15 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Louis 22 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Ludger 2 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Onesime 10 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Onesime 12 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Phileas 4 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Phileas 9 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Phileas 10 99N 70W LaRoche
Turgeon Rebecca 20 100N 71W LaRoche
Turgeon Serapham 3 99N 70W LaRoche
As of 1969 there was only one Turgeon farm family remaining in Charles Mix County, South Dakota:
Last Name First Name Post Office/Route Twp/Section
Turgeon Cesaire Academy La Roche 18 Own
The following information was found in the Naturalization Index for Brule County, which is kept with the Brule County Register of Deeds in Chamberlain, South Dakota. It shows twoTurgeon brothers who had registered their Naturalization records with the County. A long time ago this was a normal function handled by most counties. Now the immigration service handles these duties.
Last Name First Name M. Date of Entry Book Page
TURGEON Francis 02-24-1886 4 20
TURGEON Onesime 02-24-1886 4 20