Perra History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Italy
Spain

Champagne, France is where the ancestors of the Perra family lived. Perra was derived from the given name Peter, which comes from the Greek name Petros, meaning rock.

Early Origins of the Perra family

The surname Perra was first found in Champagne where they held a family seat at St-Martin, and were eventually elevated after the Revolution to Comtes of the Empire.

They branched to Brittany at Fontaine-Menard, and intermarried with the distinguished family of Bierset. This distinguished family also branched to Artois, Lorraine, and Picardy in north-east France, and Tournaisis.

They also established estates at Bierghes in Hainault. The family continued to contribute to the social, political, and cultural development of the French nation until the Revolution when many of the aristocratic families lost their estates.

Early History of the Perra family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Perra research. The years 1680, 1693, 1708 and 1785 are included under the topic Early Perra History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Perra Spelling Variations

Throughout the course of history most surnames have undergone changes for many reasons. During the early development of the French language, a son and father may not have chosen to spell their name the same way. Many are simple spelling changes by a person who gave his name, phonetically, to a scribe, priest, or recorder. Many names held prefixes or suffixes which became optional as they passed through the centuries, or were adopted by different branches to signify either a political or religious adherence. Hence, we have many spelling variations of this name, Perra some of which are Perron, Perrone, Peron, Perouin, Perrouin, Du Perron and many more.

Early Notables of the Perra family

Notable amongst the family during this period was Vincent Perronet (1693-1785), Vicar of Shoreham and Methodist, youngest son of David and Philothea Perronet, born in London. His father, a...
Another 28 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Perra Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Perra migration to the United States +

In 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec, in 1663 there were only 500, 2,000 migrants arrived during the next decade. Early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. Youths of 18 took fourteen-year-old girls for their wives. The fur trade was developed and attracted migrants, both noble and commoner from France. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Migration from France to New France or Quebec as it was now more popularly called, continued from France until it fell in 1759. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported to Louisiana. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many distinguished contributions have been made by members of this family name Perra. It has been prominent in the arts, religion, politics and culture in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Perra were

Perra Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Juan De Perra, aged 32, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1829 1
A D Perra, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 1

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)