Legaux History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France

Etymology of Legaux

What does the name Legaux mean?

The name Legaux has a long French heritage that first began in the northern region of Normandy. The name is derived from when the family lived in Normandy.

Early Origins of the Legaux family

The surname Legaux was first found in Normandy (French: Normandie), the former Duchy of Normandy, where the family held a family seat from early times.

Anne Gaultier de la Ferrière reaffirmed her family's title of nobility in 1726 at Saint-Cyr. The branch of la Ferrière received the title of hereditary knight by letters in 1810, and the title was confirmed in 1865. Simon Gaultier, squire, lord of les Tournières, lived in 1420. Jean, lord of Lespinguerie, had from Clémence Champion, Pierre, cited in the bann of 1543, also including Jacques, Michel, lord of la Chesnaie, Pierre who married in 1621 Madelaine de Malherbe, Charles, lord of le Ferrière. Michel, grandson of Charles, was lord de Carville who had with Jeanne Lechartier Pierre-Jean-Michel, lord and patron of Carville, from whom came Jean-Jacques-François, lieutenant of marshals of France in Vire, who had Jacques-Alexandre, shot in Caen during the Revolution; Léonard-Louis-Gabriel, who served under Frotté and was killed near Tinchebray; Ange-Maurice who married in 1811 Louise-Charlotte of Verdun. 1

René Gaultier, born in 1634, son of Pierre, travelled from Varennes, France to the New World in the 17th century. He married Marie Boucher, daughter of Pierre and Jeanne (née Crevier), at Trois-Rivières, Quebec on 26th September 1667. 2

Early History of the Legaux family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Legaux research. Another 74 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1066, 1481, 1573, 1606, 1625, 1629, 1631, 1634, 1636, 1668, 1672, 1686, 1858 and 1942 are included under the topic Early Legaux History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Legaux Spelling Variations

Changes of spelling have occurred in most surnames. The earliest explanation is that during the early development of the French language, names were not yet fixed in spelling. Usually a person gave his version of his name, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. This depended on accent, and local accents frequently changed the spelling of a name. Some variables were adopted by different branches of the family name. Hence, there are some spelling variations of the name Legaux, including Gaultier, Gault, Legault, Legaultier and others.

Early Notables of the Legaux family

Philippe Gaultier de Comporté, soldier, seigneur, commissary of the King's warehouses, provost of the Marshalsea, naval commissary. He was the son of Philippe Gaultier, Sieur de Rinault, and of Gillette de Veron, who married Marie Bazire in 1672. René Gaultier de Varennes, officer in the Carignan-Salières regiment, seigneur, was the Governor of Trois-Rivières in 1668. Huges Guéru, also known as Gaultier-Garguille, (1573-1634) was a French comedian. He formed with...
Another 69 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Legaux Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Legaux migration to the United States +

French settlers came early to North American, following in the wake of the explorers, and creating New France. Quebec City, founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain is said to have been the first American site founded as a permanent settlement, rather than as just a commercial outpost. But emigration was slow, in 1643, 109 years after the first landings by Cartier, there were only about 300 French people in Quebec, and by 1663, when the region was officially made The Royal Colony of New France, by Louis XIV, there still only around 500 settlers. Over 2,000 would arrive 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 immigrants, both noble and commoner from France. By 1675, there were around 7000 French in the colony, and by that 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. Despite the loss of the Colony to England, the French people flourished in Lower Canada. Among settlers to North America of the Legaux surname were

Legaux Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Jacques LeGaux, aged 25, who arrived in New Orleans, La in 1785 3

Sources +

Hozier, Charles D, and Antoine Bachelin-Delforenne. État présent De La Noblesse française (1883-1887): Contenant Le Distionnaire De La Noblesse Contemporaine Et Larmorial général De France, Dapres Les Manuscrits De Ch. D Hozier. Librairie Des Bibliophiles, 1884. Print.
Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
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)