The Savignac, Flynn, Finn, Meyers, Vandal and Other Families

This page is centered on the genealogical line of JEAN-BAPTISTE MICHEL SAVIGNAC, who emigrated to New France around 1710, and it contains not only his direct descendents, but many other families associated by marriage or adoption. Jean-Baptiste had been born in the area of Bordeaux, France, around 1683. Upon arrival in Québec, he first settled in the area of Ile-Dupas, on the left bank of the St.Lawrence River, opposite the then very small town of Sorel. Within a few years he was living at the concession of Petite-Riviere on the Bayonne River near Berthier, where he farmed for the rest of his life. In 1719 he married a local girl, Marie-Anne Henault, and contemporary parish records indicate that they had eight children. Jean-Baptiste Savignac died in the summer of 1748 while on a trip to Montréal, and was buried there in the cemetery of Notre Dame. According to Fr. Ernest Savignac, family historian of the Pierre Savignac (1805-1882) branch of our family and author of "Pierre Savignac et ses descendants" (Oka, Québec, PQ, 1949), Jean-Baptiste Savignac was the first and only Savignac to emigrate from France to Canada (le primier et l'unique Savignac a émigrer de France au Canada) is the ancestor of all Canadian Savignacs (le pere commun de tous les Savignac du Canada). From him are descended almost every person in North America who bears the Savignac surname. (Yes, there are some who are not, but they are very few and far between.)
For detailed, sourced information on the Savignac, Vandal, Flynn, Meyers, Finn etc. lines, please see http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dsavignac&id=I08982, which is a RootsWeb site. Do not hesitate to contact me at dsavignac.com for queries or to make corrections. Perfection escapes human hands, so please treat all information "cum grano salis" until you have verified it to your own satisfaction.

Related Files

• Two Savignac Brothers in the War of 1812 (5 KB)
  New names, new country, same old enemy.
• Marie-Anne Savignac (1822-1910), The Indian Woman (5 KB)
  ... in the fur-trading days of Michigan and the Saginaw Valley
• The Diary of Noel Arthur Savignac (1861-1925) (87 KB)
  His diary for the years 1885-1891. As a sergeant in the Royal Canadian Army he fought the Indians; as a physician he ministered to the Quebecois in New England.
• Lt. Sam Savignac (1918-1991), War Hero (22 KB)
  Lt. Savignac flies his B-25 in a harrowing low-level attack on a Japanese target and is then interned in the Soviet Union.
• French-Canadian Textile Workers in New England (75 KB)
  Though it mentions no Savignacs, this Depression-era Federal Writers' Project living history document is an excellent description of the lives and aspirations of our immigrant ancestors in New England in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Related Links

• The Savignac Family and Others