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Our Ancestor Jean Baril
Who is Jean? | His descendants | Our Database | Genographic Project | Other Links

Who is Jean Baril?

Jean Baril, was born between 1646 and 1649 most likely in Saintonge, France. He died on 9 Feb 1724 in Batiscan, QC and was buried on 10 Feb 1724 in Batiscan, QC. He married three times:
  • First to Marie Guillet, daughter of Pierre Guillet dit Lajeunese and of Jeanne de St-Père, about 1674 in Batiscan, Québec. They had three children including my ancestor Louis born around 1678.
  • Then to Elisabeth Gagnon on 1 Mar 1703 in Batiscan, QC with whom he had eight children [Marriage certificate]
  • And again to Catherine Dessureaux on 2 Aug 1748 in St. Pierre les Becquets, QC and had seven more children. 
Of his 15 sons, 10 married and had children giving a good start to the Baril name in the new world.

Little is know of the origins of Jean. His indentured labour contract and his first marriage contract were tragically lost when fire destroyed the early colonial archives in Québec city. With them went the only hope in North America of accurately identifying his parents and parish of origin in France.

We suspect that he came from Saintonge, France since this was the middle name of his son François from a second marriage. We believe that he sailed to Québec around 1665. But we know for a fact that he was in the new world on 20 Nov 1667 since he was a witness in a contract signed at Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The next time that his name appears is in a contract dated 20 Feb 1670 to obtain a piece of land along the St-Anne river in the seignory of the same name.

Later on, he obtains a piece of land in Ste-Geneviève-de-Batiscan (see #36 on map).

For more details on his origins and life in the new world read this article on Jean Baril (French only) from the collection Nos Ancêtres.

Jean Baril  is my eight great-grandfather via his son Louis with his first wife, Marie Guillet. My mother was Simone Baril born in 1913 in Grondines, QC. View my direct connection to Jean Baril.

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His descendants? What if you are one?

Jean's descendants by now must number in the 500,000 (312 by my estimate). Of these, about 4,000 (212) are descendants with the last name of Baril (and variations). If you are aware of any master web site, articles or books written about our ancestor, please let me know so that we can share it with all our cousins. 

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Database of Descendants

  • HTML Database
    • The BARIL database is maintained by Ronald Baril Sr. from Lansing, MI. It contains over 325,000 names, over 100,000 of them are descendants of Jean Baril (with spouses).
    • Several Baril descendants contributed to Ron's database including
      • Jacques Baril from Edmonton, AB and his daughter 
      • Suzanne Baril from Saanichton, BC
      • Pierre Baril from Iqaluit, Nunavut (Baffin Island)
      • Jacques L'Heureux (yours truly).
    • The relationship between Ron, Jacques, Suzanne, Pierre and myself can be seen our cousin/collaborator tree. All five of us are descendants of Louis Baril b.1704, son of Louis b.1678, son of Jean and Marie Guillet
  • Descendants of Jean Baril
  • Mailing List
    • Are you working on the BARIL surname? Join the BARIL Mailing List to stay in touch and share information.
  • Bibliography
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Genographic Project

One of our Baril cousins participated in 2011 in the Genographic Project of the National Geographic to learn about the migrations routes of his ancestor. Since he is a direct descendant of our ancestor Jean Baril, the DNA testing of his Y-Chromosome also applies to all male descendants of Simon Lereau.

To learn more about this project and to see the migration routes that may also apply to you, click here.

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Other Genealogy Links

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Send your comments and suggestions to Jacques L'Heureux.
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Last modified: June 9, 2011