THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA

THE QUEBEC CONNECTION

For many many years prior to the research of Sr. Catherine Seeman little was known of the origin of the Clutchey - Cluchey families. The origin of the name 'Clutchey' was somewhat of a mystery.There were many misconceptions as word of mouth stories seemed to link the name more to recent immigrants from France than immigrants from Quebec. It was recognized that Mary Jane Geroux the wife of Joseph Clutchey spoke French, but had difficulty in communicating with French speaking people in Quebec. This led credence to the belief that she and her husband Joseph were not originally from Quebec, but rather from France. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

The original name 'Cloutier' was established with the search of baptismal records in St. Joseph's church in Beaverton, Ontario where the name is spelled as it is in Quebec. This gave us the clue that John Clutchey was in fact Jean Francois Cloutier. Subsequently the marriage certificate of Jean Francois Cloutier and a Charlotte Salois was found in St. Michele Parish church in Yamaska, Quebec.

Church records show the first child Rosalie was born and baptized Nov. 17, 1827 in Yamaska but no records were found for the remaining children until the summer of 1996 when this writer found two of the Cloutier children's ( Joseph and Elizabeth) baptismal information in the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the public library of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In the summer of 1997 a trip to Quebec resulted in our finding the actual baptismal records in the parish church in Henryville, not Iberville. These records showed that both Elizabeth and Joseph (this writer's grandfather) to have been born in the small community of Dunham approximately ten miles away from Henryville. The records clearly showed the parents to be Jean Francois Cloutier and Charlotte Salois. A further establishing factor was that the record showed the 'godmother' of Joseph to be his older sister Rosalie (See Summary for a complete list of the family)

The link was now firmly established showing the origin of Jean Francois Cloutier and Charlotte Salois to be in Quebec and it was simply a matter of tracing the family backwards as shown in the Summary to determine the links to Zachary Cloutier.

COMING TO ONTARIO

Little is known of the reason for the emigration of Jean Francois Cloutier and his family from Iberville, Quebec to the little community of Borelia, now a subdivision of Port Perry, Ontario located on the shores of Lake Scugog approximately 45 miles north east of Toronto, Ontario. Accompanying him on his move was his wife Charlotte Salois, and seven of their eight children, Josette, Mary (the Elder), John, Joseph, Elizabeth, Mary (the Younger) and Israel.

The children grew up in the area and soon became assimilated into the community marrying local spouses and working at local jobs. It was while the family was in this English speaking area that the name Cloutier became anglicized to Clutchey.

BRECHIN

Joseph Cloutier (Clutchey) married Mary Jane Gerow and moved to a farmsite near Brechin, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Simcoe. Here they raised 10 of 14 children born to them ( four died as infants or young children). The children were as follows. Joseph II, Francis, Peter, Sara Jane, Frederick, Gertrude, James Rosella, David and Louis, all of whom lived to adulthood.

THE MOVE WEST Brothers,Joseph, Frederick, James and Louis all moved to western Canada to homestead when life on the farm in Brechin proved too difficult and unproductive. Francis stayed on the farm, Peter moved to Toronto along with his sisters and Dave became an electrician and moved from Haileybury to Timmins, Ontario. Segments of the family, now were raising their families in vastly separated parts of Canada and spreading the roots of their own families.

THE ALLIED FAMILIES

The daughters of Jean Francois also married locally and started families of their own. Their married names were as follows Josette (Frank Lachapelle). Mary The Elder, (Thomas Tucker), Elizabeth, (MIchael Perkins), Mary the Younger (Mathias Koster, Louis Major). Meanwhile Israel, Jean Francois and Charlotte's youngest child for reasons unknown, opted to spell his name 'Cluchey'.

 

FAMILIES IN TRANSITION

 

Sister Catherine Seemann of the religious order Sisters of Sion began researching and documenting the Cloutier- Clutchey family tree in about the year 1980. Her meticulous research resulted in the discovery of the link between the Clutchey and Cloutier family. The research culminated in the book "Families in Transition", published in 1995 which traces as far as possible the ancestors and descendants of Jean Francois Cloutier (John Clutchey). New discoveries and information resulted in a Second Edition which was published in 1996. Both books were written by David Clutchey Jr. A second book entitled the Ancestors and Descendants of Jean Francois Cloutier was published in April 1997.
 

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