DEDICATION OF PLAQUE FOR SÉBASTIEN CHOLET AND ANNE HEARD

 IN AUBIGNÉ, FRANCE, August 26, 2001

                                                                                                                                                                       

            At the 8th annual village festival held Aug 24-27, 2001, Prof. Albert Cholette, of Laval University, Montreal, Qc., serving as President of Honor for the festival, dedicated a memorial plaque honoring the North American pioneer and ancestor, Sébastien Cholet-dit-Laviolette. The plaque was displayed at the festival site prior to its installation on the Les Cholets buildings that exist in this rural setting in northwestern France, almost directly south of Angers, which is about 150 miles from Paris. Nearby is the town of Cholet, an industrial center known for its famous handkerchief: Le mouchoir rouge de Cholet.

 

            Although there are few people with the name Cholet, or its present, more common form of Cholette, still living in the region, it was in this small town of Aubigné-Briand, whose name was changed to Aubigné-sur-Layon in 1994, that Sébastien Cholet was born. In English, the plaque says:

 

SÉBASTIEN CHOLET

Born on March 7, 1677 in Aubigné-Briand

Son of  Sébastien Cholet and Perrinne Hylaire

Arrived in Canada in 1702

On October 19, 1705, in Montreal, he married

ANN HEARD

Daughter of Benjamin Heard and Elisabeth Roberts

She had been captured in 1692 in Dover, New Hampshire

By an expedition of Indians and Canadians

Then she was taken to Montreal as a captive

They are the ancestors of thousands of

CHOLETTE

In Canada and the United States.

This plaque is given and installed by M. Albert

Cholette on August 26, 2001

 

 

            Prof. Cholette, not only worked with Aubigné Mayor Philippe Lamy to arrange for the dedication of this memorial plaque, but it was he, who went to France in 1982 and found the baptismal records for Sebastien Cholet. Like virtually all Canadians and Americans with the name Cholette, Prof. Albert is descended from Sebastien and Anne.

 

            Pictures of the plaque and some of those involved in it’s presentation are shown on this web site under “Family Photos”. See the one designated as Dedication of Plaque for Sebastien Cholet.