Vanier Family in North America

NAVIGATION

Origin of the Vanier family name

Discussion Group on the Vanier family

WHAT'S NEW

2024-05-05
Another Quebec singer, Jean-Pierre Ferland, also recently deceased, is a descendant of the Vanier family. Check out his biography on our site to find out more. Thanks to Yves Vanier once again for his research.

2024-03-24
The Quebec singer Emmanuëlle, who recently deceased, is also a descendant of the Vanier family. Check out her biography on our site to find out more. Thanks to Yves Vanier for discovering this new celebrity in the family.

2023-03-27
Two great racing drivers, father and son, now find themselves in our pantheon of family celebrities: Gilles Villeneuve and his son Jacques Villeneuve. Thank you Yves Vanier for the discovery!.

2022-06-06
Two great ladies now find themselves in our pantheon of Family Celebrities: Pauline Vanier and Louise Harbour. Great suggestion (i.e. Pauline) and discovery (i.e. Louise) by Yves Vanier.

2022-04-17
Yves Vanier finds another great historical figure in the family: Guy Vanier. Guy is the son of Joseph Vanier & Séphora Dandurand, brother of Anatole Vanier and first cousin of Georges Philias Vanier. Guy was very active and known in Montreal as a lawyer, professor and involved in several organizations in the city. Check out the Family Celebrities section to access his biography. Great job again Yves!

2022-01-01
Yves Vanier continues his fine work as a detective and researcher and discovers that Katherine Levac, Franco-Ontarian comedian and actress, is a descendant of Isabelle Vanier. Check out the Family Celebrities section to access her biography. Thanks Yves!

2020-12-30
Contracts of engagement from the 18th century tell us that the profession of Voyageur (a "coureur des bois" who had a license to trade, see Voyageurs | The Canadian Encyclopedia) became a strong family tradition, even distinctive of the Vanier family in North-America, and this, for the first four male generations descending from Guillaume Le Vanier. His son Jean Le Vanier was the first to participate in an expedition that founded the city of Detroit in 1701. His sons Jean-Baptiste Le Vanier, Joseph Le Vanier and Charles Le Vanier followed in their father's footsteps and embarked on several trips west between 1732 and 1754 (see each individual's page for details). His grandson Claude Vanier in 1799, and even two great-grandsons of Jean Le Vanier, Isodore Vanier in 1830 and Luc Vanier who enlisted at least twice in 1795 and 1797. See the article Engagés pour l'ouest published in the magazine l'Ancêtre to learn more about the Voyageurs.

2020-12-22
From 1893 to 1895, an epidemic of scarlet fever occurred in the Montreal region. Jean-Claude Vanier's work with the decryption and transcription of death certificates makes us notice that three children of Jules Vanier & Onésime Locas died eight days apart in April 1893, namely Marie Anne Vanier, Pierre Napoléon Vanier and Hector Jules Vanier. These three children probably died of this fever.

2020-12-08
New photos of tombstones of the Vanier family in the Quebec cemetery of Saint Norbert were sent to us by Jean-Claude Vanier: The tombstone of the family of Jean-Baptiste Vanier and that of the family of Frédéric Vanier.

2020-12-07
Following the death of Max Gros-Louis on November 14, 2020, Yves Vanier found that this great man is a descendant of the Vanier family. Max Gros-Louis is part of the 12th generation and is a descendant of Marie Madeleine Le Vanier. Visit the Family Celebrities section to access his biography.

2020-08-06
For family members who have not had the chance to visit Honfleur, an important place for our Vanier ancestors, this video shows Ste-Catherine and the houses on the port very well: Ville de Honfleur. Happy viewing!

What's from 2007 to 2019

This site is devoted to the genealogy and history of the Vaniers of North America from the 17th century to today. It is primarily dedicated to the large number of descendants of Guillaume Vanier, a native of Honfleur in Normandie, who arrived in Québec around 1665.

Some descendants became very famous; others less so but nevertheless left their imprint. This site was created to gather the scarce information from various historical documents, official and private, regarding the history of the Vanier family, and to let future generations trace their ancestors. Ever since the arrival of Guillaume Vanier, his descendants have spread out all over North America, and this site is trying to enumerate them all.

If you have any information, genealogies, documents, photos, images or old documents about the Vanier family and wish to enrich the facts on this web site, please write to me.

This site is dedicated to the great family genealogist: Mr. Noël Vanier (of Laval). His tenacious work for decades on the Vanier Family inspired me to create this site and share our findings with the rest of the family.

Finally, I would like to recognize the great collaboration and contribution of two other incredible genealogists and historians in the family: Yves Vanier and Jean-Claude Vanier. It has been over 10 years now that we have been working together on the history of the Vaniers of North America. This site is rich with their discoveries which they have generously shared with us. Thank you to you both!

Jean-Yves Vanier
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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GENEALOGY RESOURCES

Your Ancestors - Genealogy Services in North America

La Société généalogique canadienne-française

Genealogy of Canada

BMS2000 Genealogical Database

FamilySearch Labs

PRDH: The Research Program in Historical Demography

Ancestry.ca

Indices to Canadian Censuses

L'institut généalogique Drouin