Foi History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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• France

Early Origins of the Foi family

Early History of the Foi family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Foi research. The years 1632, 1649, 1655, 1730, 1775, 1779, 1793, 1805, 1815, 1817, 1822 and 1860 are included under the topic Early Foi History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Foi 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, Foi some of which are Defoy, De Foy, Foy, Foyatier, Foye, Foyot, Foyer, Le Foyer, Lefoyer and many more.

Early Notables of the Foi family

Notable amongst the family was Jean Foy, born in Beauvais in 1632, who became a lawyer in 1649 and then a medical doctor in 1655. Louis-Etienne De Foy was ordained priest in 1730; Charles Foyer studied at the ecclesiastic college and in 1793 was elected captain of the parish of Notre-Dame of Beaupréau, for the Mauges Army; Sebastien-Maximilien Foy was a count, general, and very important politician in 1775; Louis-Isidore Foye was a politician in 1779 and was prefect of Etampes; Denis Foyatier was a sculptor in 1793 in Bussieres; Francois Foy...
Another 91 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Foi Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Foi family

In 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 people in Quebec. Migration was slow. The fur trade attracted migrants, both noble and commoner. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the French Acadian presence in the Maritimes had reached 500. The French founded Lower Canada, thus becoming one of the two great founding nations of Canada. The family name Foi has made many distinguished contributions in France and New France to the world of science, culture, religion, and education. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Foi were Louis Defoy, who was married in 1696 in Quebec; Charles Defoy was married in 1718 in St-Augustin; Antoine Defoy was married in 1783 in St-Augustin; Etienne Defoy was married in 1787 in the same town..