In anticipation of last night’s first game of the hockey season between longtime rivals the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, the planets were so strangely aligned that hockey and genealogy merged. To add to the mix, there was also a family history story connecting three Canadian political leaders.
Canadien’s new captain descended from Acadians
Montreal’s Journal de Montréal newspaper was out of the gate first with a story about the family history of the Canadien’s new captain Max Pacioretty. On his paternal grandmother’s side, he can trace his roots to Acadians François Savoie and Catherine Lejeune who married in Port-Royal in about 1651 and deported by the British between 1755 and 1763. His great-grandfather Joseph Pacioretty was born in Bergma, Italy and emigrated to California in 1902.
Although the article is written in French, the family tree at the end is easy to follow even if you don’t understand the language.
Coach and hockey legend descended from same family in New France
Ancestry.ca issued a short story about Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock’s family tie to Toronto’s last Stanley Cup winning team. According to Ancestry, the coach is a distant cousin to hockey legend and 1967 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Dave Keon.
Both Babock and Keon are descended from Louis Houde, who was born about 1617 in Manou, Perche, France, and his wife Madeleine Boucher.
And the story gets even better, my husband — a diehard Detroit Red Wings fan — is also descended from Louis Houde. I wonder if this will be enough to interest him in his family history…
Political party leaders related
To continue connecting all the distant cousins, Ancestry.ca yesterday issued a news release about three of the country’s political party leaders who are preparing for the Canadian federal election on October 19: It’s All in the Family: Thomas Mulcair Related to Justin Trudeau and Gilles Duceppe.
My GGrandmother was Emma Lejeune… Patch is a VERY distant cousin… I never would have guessed THAT one!!!