AFCA

 

ASSOCIATION DES  FAMILLES CHOLETTE D’AMÉRIQUE

 

The Association of Cholette Families of America

 

 

WHAT is it?

            This is a group of people and their families with a common interest in the name Cholette and the associated names of Sholette, Cholet, Sholett, Shoulette and Laviolette.

It was formed by Serge Cholette in Quebec in 2004 and had its first general meeting in St. Polycarpe, Qc Sept 14, 2004 with an attendance of about 150 Cholette “cousins”. Since that time, the association has been formalized and has held many social gatherings and is now beginning to put together genealogical information on the family.

 

WHO can belong?

            Anyone who has an interest in the Cholette family can join the association. However, most members are related in some way to someone with the name Cholette or one of its variations. If you are interested in joining, please contact:

            Jack Cholette email: cholette@rochester.rr.com  if you live in the US; or

            Serge Cholette email: sergecolette@hotmail.com  if you live in Canada

The membership dues are only $15 per year, which entitles you to a biannual bulletin, invitations to group social functions and business meetings as well as access to genealogical information.

 

WHEN is the next meeting?

            The next annual meeting will be Sept 15, 16, 2007 in St. Polycarpe. This will be a special meeting to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Pierre Cholette, “the recovered Kidnapped Child” made famous by the autobiographical story of his life edited by Jean-Baptiste Proulx. If you are not aware of this story, you can read more about it on my web site at:

 http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/h/o/John-L-Cholette/?Welcome=1062434913 

 

WHAT is the history of the Cholette name in America?

            Virtually all individuals with the name Cholette, Sholette, Cholet, Shoulette and Sholet living in the US and Canada can trace their roots to one of two men who arrived in Quebec in the late 1600’s. Most of us are descendants of Sebastien Cholet dit Laviolette, born in France on March 7, 1677, and his wife Anne Heard who was born in what is now New Hampshire in 1681. They were married  on October 19, 1705 in Montreal. Anne had arrived in Canada a few years earlier after being captured as a child by Indians and ransomed to a Canadian family.

            The other Cholette ancestor was René Cholet dit St.Paul  who was born in France Feb 22, 1669 and married Jeanne Gazaille St. Germaine in 1700 in St. Ours, Qc.

The St.Paul line of Cholette’s is less extensive than the Laviolette line and covers an estimated 10-20 percent of the family. Some genealogists have said that the two men were brothers but that is now widely discounted.

            There are also families with the name Chollet and Cholett, spelled with two LL’s who now live in the US, but most of these people  trace their ancestry back to Switzerland and not to Quebec and France.

 

WHY the different spellings of the name?

            Our name is spelled mainly as Cholette in Canada, but often as Sholette, Sholett, or Shoulette in the United States, as well as Cholette. There are a few families with the spelling as Cholet, which was the original spelling in Quebec up until the mid-19th Century. Today, those of our relatives with the spelling Cholet, mainly in the US, are in the vast minority, whereas many with that spelling are descended from the Swiss family, more commonly spelled as Chollet with two LL’s. A very full description of the spelling of the name and how it changed geographically is given in the file called “The Spelling of the Name Cholette” which is shown at the web site containing this file that you are now reading.

 

HOW can I find where my family fits into the Cholette genealogy?

            There are several ways to do this, but the easiest one is to contact me, Jack Cholette at cholette@rochester.rr.com  All that you need supply me is your name, and the names of your known oldest Cholette ancestors. Maiden names for women are always preferred. I have an extensive listing of Cholette, Sholette, Shoulette and Sholett names in my database and very likely already have yours. If not, I will gladly work with you to help you connect with the rest of the family. If you wish to do some of this research yourself, based on my database, you can go to this site:

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jolach

At this site, you can run a computerized search on any name in my database. I currently have 1139 Cholette’s listed; 305 Cholet’s; 129 Sholette’s; 120 Laviolette’s; 24 Shoulette’s and 19 Sholett’s. However, for confidentiality reasons, those individuals born after 1906 do not have their first names listed, but instead are denoted as “Living”. Therefore, if your oldest Cholette ancestor was born after 1906, you need to contact me in order for me to locate that person.

 

WHAT does all this cost?

            There is no cost associated with any of the genealogy work that I do. I provide all my information free. I only ask your help in giving me names and dates of your family so that I can add to my database, and even that is not mandatory. This is a hobby for me, not a part-time job. The only charge at all is if you choose to become a member of AFCA. That is just $15 per year. However,  you do not need to join to ask for my help with your genealogy. That is separate from the AFCA and is freely given.

 

 

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