Massillon History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Massillon was first found in Guyenne, where this illustrious family was established in ancient times.

The members of this eminent family also settled in other regions of France. The family can be traced back to Gabriel de Massiac, who was born in 1657 in Narbonne, and who died in 1727 in Toulouse. He was a historian and the author of various writings on the wars between 1688 and 1721. Jean-Baptist Massillon (1663-1742), a famous preacher, entered, in 1681, into the oratorical congregation.

In 1710, he pronounced the eulogy on the Dauphin, and in 1715, he pronounced the eulogy on Louis XIV. In 1717, he was named the bishop of Clermont. His sermon, "Petit Carême," which he delivered in 1719 before Louis XV, aged 9, was regarded as a stylistic model by Voltaire. Abbot Guillaume Massieu (1665-1722), a man of letters, was a member of the Académie française and a Greek professor at the College of France. Jean-Baptiste Massieu (1742-1818), a member of the National Convention and a priest in Sergy, in the department of Oise, at the time of the French Revolution, was elected a deputy of the clergy at the Constituent Assembly of 1789, then constitutional bishop for the department of Oise in 1791.

Jacques Massicotte, born in 1658, son of Jacques and Jeanne (née Landry), travelled from Saint-Pierre, France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Catherine Baril, daughter of Jean and Marie (née Guillet), at Batiscan on 28th June 1696. They settled along the Batiscan River, where Jacques worked as a farmer, and they had two sons together. They remained there together until he his death on 3rd June 1738. Catherine passed away on 12th October 1752. 1