Plessis History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
England

Normandy is the region of ancient France from which the name Plessis was derived. It comes from when the family lived in the region of Plessis.

Early Origins of the Plessis family

The surname Plessis was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where this distinguished family held a family seat at Plessis.

However, we must look to ancient England to find the first record of the family. For is there that we found John de Plessis or Plessetis (died 1263), Earl of Warwick. He was of Norman origin, and was probably a son of the Hugh de Plessis who occurs as one of the royal knights from 1222 to 1227. He was possibly a grandson of the John de Plesseto who witnessed a charter of John in 1204. 1

Early History of the Plessis family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Plessis research. Another 125 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1203, 1585, 1621, 1634 and 1642 are included under the topic Early Plessis History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Plessis Spelling Variations

The many different spellings of French surnames can be partially explained by the use of local dialects and by the influence of other languages during the early development of the French language. As a result of these linguistic and cultural influences, the name Plessis is distinguished by a number of regional variations. The many spelling variations of the name include Plessis, Plessieies, Plessier, Plessix, Plessy, Plessys, Le Plessis, Le Plessieies, Le Plessier, Le Plessix, Le Plessy, Le Plessys, Du Plessier, Du Plessix, Du Plessy, Du Plessys, Du Plessix, Duplaix, Deplaix and many more.

Early Notables of the Plessis family

Notable amongst the family in this period was

Armand-Jean du Plessis (1585-1642), who became Cardinal Richelieu, an advisor to French King Louis XIII...

Plessis Ranking

In France, the name Plessis is the 1,167^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,727 people with that name. 2

Plessis migration to the United States +

By 1643 there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Since immigration was slow, early marriage was desperately encouraged amongst the immigrants. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. 15,000 explorers left Montreal in the late 17th and 18th centuries. 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. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The distinguished family name Plessis has made significant contributions to the culture, arts, sciences and religion of France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Plessis were

Plessis Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Peter Du Plessis, who arrived in South Carolina in 1736 3
Nicholas Plessis, who landed in America in 1760-1763 3

Plessis migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Plessis Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

John Louis Plessis who arrived in Quebec in 1713 from Lorraine

Contemporary Notables of the name Plessis (post 1700) +

Josepy Octave Plessis (1762-1825), French Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop of Quebec, son of a blacksmith, born near Montreal; he supported the government's fight during the War of 1812 and was rewarded a pension of one thousand louis and a seat in the legislative council

Citations +

Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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)