Are You Connected to the Guilbault Line?
If your family research overlaps with The Guilbault Line documentary biography series, this page is for you.
The series traces seven generations, 1647–1883 — from Pierre Guilbault’s arrival from La Rochelle and his marriage to Louise Senécal, a Fille du Roi, through the Charlesbourg generations, to the voyageur Gabriel Guilbault père and his Ojibwe wife Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe, and finally to Evangeliste, the last generation documented here. Research like this is better as shared work: documented trees, DNA matches, family papers, and family stories from cousin researchers can all move it forward, and contributions are acknowledged in published research according to each contributor’s preference.
Research collaboration is informal, peer-to-peer, and reciprocal. There is no fee, no client engagement, no formal arrangement — just shared work on shared ancestry. (Prospective genealogy clients are welcome to use the main contact page instead.)
Seven Generations, Two Worlds
The Quebec Generations — Charlesbourg
Pierre Guilbault (c.1647–1697), of La Rochelle, m. Louise Senécal, Fille du Roi → Joseph Olivier (1672–1738) → Charles François (1702–1760) → Charles Gabriel (1731–1784), the Quebec patriarch.
Charlesbourg and the Quebec parishes, 1657–1784The Métis Generations — The Pays d’en Haut
Gabriel Guilbault père (1762–1833), voyageur, m. Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe (Ojibwe, c.1765–1814) at Oka, 1801 → Gabriel fils (c.1790–1880), the wilderness-born → Evangeliste (1845–1883), the last generation.
Oka, L’Assomption, and the fur trade routes, 1790–1883For the full documented story — the seven episodes, the Founding Mothers and Founding Fathers, and the companion research — see the series landing page: The Guilbault Line: From La Rochelle to the Pays d’en Haut.
The Guilbault Line Surname Signature
Core Family Line
Guilbault, Guilbeau, Guilbeault (also recorded as Gilbo, Gilbeau) · descendants of Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe
Founding Mothers’ Lines
Senécal · Lemesle · Gaillard · Petit · Juin · Duteau dite Perrin · Banne · Gaulin
Founding Fathers’ & Allied Lines
Perrier dit Lafleur · Séguin dit Ladéroute · Morin dit Champagne · Marsan dit Lapierre · Couillaud dit Roquebrune / LaRocque · Sabourin
Geographic path: La Rochelle and Aunis, France → Charlesbourg and the Quebec City region from 1657 → the parishes of L’Assomption, St-Paul-de-Joliette, Oka (L’Annonciation), and St-Benoit → the canoe routes of the pays d’en haut, from Baawitigong (Sault Ste. Marie) to Lac La Pluie and the Athabasca country. If your family record places ancestors along any stretch of this path between the 1650s and the 1880s, your research may overlap with this series.
What You Might Bring to This Research
Forms of contribution that move research like this forward:
- Documented family trees — pedigrees with source citations for the Quebec parishes, the fur trade communities, or any of the founding family lines
- DNA test results — from Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage, or FamilyTreeDNA, especially kits uploaded to GEDmatch where chromosome comparison is possible
- Record access — Quebec parish registers, notarial records, PRDH citations, or fur trade records that are difficult to retrieve from a distance
- Family oral history — the stories your elders carried, including traditions of Indigenous or Métis ancestry, even when they conflict with documented records
- Photographs, letters, and family papers — engagement contracts, land documents, family Bibles, and similar materials from the relevant timeframe
Open Research Questions
The Children of Gabriel and Marie Josephte
The documented spine follows Gabriel fils — but Gabriel and Marie Josephte’s other surviving children carry lines of their own. Descendants of Joseph Claude Guilbault (baptized 1798) or Louis Guilbault (b. 1806), or researchers who have encountered these names in fur trade or Quebec records, would meaningfully advance the family picture — and the documentation of Marie Josephte’s descendants.
The Brothers Guilbault
Gabriel père did not paddle alone — his brother Paul Guilbault worked the same routes, appearing alongside Gabriel in the North West Company records. Paul’s line, “the invisible voyageur,” is documented in the companion research; descendants of Paul Guilbault, or researchers with Paul’s name in their trees, would help fill in a branch the records only partially preserve.
The Founding Mothers & Founding Fathers
Beyond the Guilbault spine, the series documents the Filles du Roi, Filles à marier, and Carignan-Salières soldiers whose lines converge on this family — Senécal, Lemesle, Gaulin, Séguin dit Ladéroute, Couillaud dit Roquebrune, and others, with more profiles in progress. Researchers with documented descent from any of these founding couples share ancestry with the Guilbault line, and comparing documented descents is exactly the kind of exchange this page exists for.
How to Reach Out
The form below is the most effective way to begin. The fields are designed to give us both the right starting context — what you have, what you’re looking for, and how our research might intersect.
I read every inquiry personally and respond as I am able — typically within a week, sometimes longer for inquiries that require research before a substantive reply.
Privacy and Use of Submitted Information
Information shared through this form is used only for research collaboration purposes. Names, DNA kit identifiers, family details, and other personal information are not shared with third parties, are not added to public-facing pages without explicit permission, and are anonymized (initials only) in any subsequent publication unless you indicate a preference for full attribution.
Living individuals are not named in published research. Deceased ancestors documented in primary sources are named in full as part of standard genealogical practice. If you have specific privacy preferences for your contribution, please indicate them in your inquiry and they will be respected.
If you’d prefer to reach out directly rather than through the form, email mary@storylinegenealogy.com.
Genealogy Is Better as Shared Work
Marie Josephte Abitakijikokwe was invisible for two hundred years until systematic research recovered her name. Somewhere, the records and stories that recover the next name may be sitting in a cousin’s drawer. Your family records, your DNA matches, and your family stories may be the next piece that moves this research forward. Thank you for considering the work.