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2008 cousinfest in Becancour - September 21
This year, which marks the 400th anniversary of French presence in North America, the city of Bécancour, in collaboration with the Association, paid particular homage to our ancestor, Nicolas Perrot, by re-christening the Bécancour community hall as the NICOLAS-PERROT hall.
Among the numerous guests, everyone had eyes only for Nicolas and his beloved, Madeleine Raclos [played by Donald Racine and Suzanne Marier]. They were accompanied by Michel Godefroy [played by André Clément Perreault], seigneur of the fief Dutort, where the village of Bécancour is located, and his wife, Perrine Picoté [played by Chantal Perreault], godparents of Michel Perrot, son of Nicolas and Madeleine.
The day began with a mass celebrated by Father Serge Perreault in the church of the Nativité-de-la-Bieuheureuse-Vierge-Marie (Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) at 10:30am, followed by the rededication ceremony in the community hall facing the church, presided by the mayor of Becancour, Maurice Richard, and a banquet, held at the Auberge Godefroy, in the Louisbourg room at 1pm.
After the feast, Manon Vincent, accompanied by Sylvie Boudreau on the piano, amazed us with the song "Metaminens", based on the poem by Thérèse Perrault DeGuire [adapted and sung by Manon Vincent, music by Sylvie Boudreau].
Click here for more information on the CD and the poem.
The day ended with a short General Assembly. To see the official invitation for 2008, which had been distributed to members with the Messager newsletter, click here.
To see more photos from September 21, 2008, check out our image gallery.
For more information on Becancour, consult Becancour tourism
and the Becancour wiki page.
2007 cousinfest held in Montreal
The 2007 get-together was held in Montreal, with a commemorative mass being celebrated by Serge Perreault, in the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart chapel) of the Notre-Dame basilica at 10:30am.
This was followed by lunch afterwards at Le Vieux Saint-Gabriel, in old Montreal, to feast in an atmosphere recalling New France at the time of Nicolas. See more photos in our image gallery.
A General Assembly of members was held after lunch, of short duration, and we adjourned to the Pointe-à-Callière museum, site of the Great Peace deliberations in 1701. The museum is built atop an archaeological dig of Old Montreal streets, which were at lower levels in centuries past.
Click here to see the 2007 official invitation, which had been mailed with the newsletter Le Messager.
2006 cousinfest held in Saint-Sulpice
On September 17, 2006, the annual get-together of the descendants was held in Saint-Sulpice, in Lanaudière, to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the parish. More than 100 persons were present for this festive occasion.
The day started with a mass at the church of Saint-Sulpice at 11am, followed by a "vin d'honneur" reception and lunch (hot and cold buffet) at 12:30 and ended with a talk by Maurice Prud'homme, local alderman and historian, and descendant of Nicolas through Claude, based on his new book, "Les 300 ans de Saint-Sulpice... une fenêtre historique sur le Saint-Laurent 1706 - 2006" ("The 300 years of Saint-Sulpice... a historical window on the Saint-Lawrence").
Five (5) children of Nicolas settled and lived here. Clémence, Michel, Pierre, Claude and Jean were each granted land (censive, a form of copyhold) in the seigneury of Saint-Sulpice, owned by the Sulpician Fathers, who were also the proprietors of the seigneury of Montreal island.
Each year, we organize meetings, a general assembly of members of the Association, and a get-together or "cousinfest", primarily in Montreal and surrounding areas, but also in Trois-Rivières, and Becancour, where our ancestor lived and was buried. Dates for these events are published in the Association newsletter, Le Messager, and the web site will be updated regularly as planning advances.