The surname Casals comes from the region of Gascogne in southwest France. It was a name for someone who lived in Gascoigne.
The surname Casals was first found in Gascony (French: Gascogne), an area of southwest France bordering Spain, that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution, where the family held a family seat in ancient times.
Antoine Casse, born in 1639, son of Noel and Michelle of St.Pierre, travelled from France to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Piloy De Pitie, born in 1639, daughter of François and Claudine, at Château-Richer on 14th October 1665. They remained together in Quebec until Antoine's death on 1st June 1709. Piloy passed away on 28th February 1713. [1]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Casals research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1741, 1810, 1765, 1793, 1820, 1646, 1715, 1672, 1673, 1800, 1719, 1792, 1576, 1630 and 1576 are included under the topic Early Casals History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
History has changed the spelling of most surnames. During the early development of the French language in the Middle Ages, a person gave his version of his name, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Some variables were adopted by different branches of the family name. Hence, there spelling variations of the name Casals, some of which include Casse, Cassé, Cassée, Casset, Casser, Cassez, Casson, Cassonne, Casault, Casot, Caseau, Caseaux, Casseau, Casseaux, Cassaud, Cazeau, Cazeaux, Cazot, Cazotte, Cazault, Cazaud, Caze, Cazes, Lecasse, Lacasse, Lecassé, Lacassé, Lacassée, Lecasset, Lacasset, Lacaze, Lecasson, Lacasonne, Lecasault, Lacazeau, Ducasse, Ducassé, Ducasset, Ducasson, Ducasault, de Casson, de Cassonne, de Caze, de Cazes, Descaseaux, Deschaseaux and many more.
Notable amongst the family at this time was Jean Baptiste du Casse (1646-1715), a French buccaneer and admiral; Dollier de Casson, a prominent Quebec missionary, explorer, architect, engineer and writer, among whose works was "Histoire de Montréal" (1672-1673), the first local history of the Montreal area, and a very true picture...
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Casals Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
France was active as a cultural leader in the early 16th century. One particular area in which they lead was the exploration of the New World. The explorers, like Jacques Cartier in 1534, led the way to North America. Champlain, in 1608, made the first of twenty voyages to France to attract settlers and brought the first migrant in 1617. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec, and 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 Casals 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 Casals were