Are You Connected to the Souliere Line?
If your family research overlaps with the Tranchemontagne: The Souliere Line documentary biography series, this page is for you.
Tranchemontagne — “cuts through the mountain” — was a dit name that became a family name, carried by generations of Soulieres across Quebec. The series traces eight generations across 300+ years: from Nicolas Suliere of Quimper, Brittany, through the parishes of Île d’Orléans, L’Assomption, and St-André-d’Argenteuil, to Marie Louise Souliere’s Chicago and beyond. 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.)
Eight Generations of Tranchemontagne
The Quebec Generations
Nicolas Suliere Tranchemontagne (c.1665–1740), of Quimper, Brittany, m. 1697 Marie Angelique Paquet (Île d’Orléans) → Jean Suliere dit Tranchemontagne m. Marie Louise Lesage → Jean Bernardin (1706–1787) → Jean Bernardin fils (1744–1820) m. Marie Therese Migneron → Jacques (b. 1768) m. Marie Elisabeth Poulin → Janvier Souliere Sr. (1806–1889), three wives, nineteen children.
Île d’Orléans · L’Assomption · St-André-d’Argenteuil, 1697–1889The Chicago Generations
Marie Louise Souliere (1854–1945), born in Quebec before Canada was a nation, m. (1) Evangeliste Guilbault (2) Pierre Thebault — twice widowed, mother of six, lived to ninety-one → Elisabeth Emma Guilbault (1883–1970), Chicago to Miami to New Jersey, m. (1) John Gilbert (2) Alvin Hepp (3) Thomas Henry Hamall.
Quebec → Chicago → Miami → New Jersey, 1854–1970For the full documented story — the seven episodes, the seventeen Founding Mothers, and the Founding Fathers — see the series landing page: Tranchemontagne: The Souliere Line.
The Souliere Line Surname Signature
Core Family Line
Souliere, Suliere, Soulier (dit Tranchemontagne) · descendants of Marie Louise Souliere & Evangeliste Guilbault
Direct Spouse & Maternal Lines
Paquet · Lesage · Payment (Lariviere) · Robitaille · Migneron · Poulin · Lacasse · Gravel · Rousson · Thebault
Founding Mothers’ Lines
Lorgueil · Chapelier · Guillaume · Teste (Testu) · Barbier · Marie (Marier) · Provost · Chevalier · Targer · Mercier · Bitouset · Baiselat Bizelan · Roy · Ledet · Riton
Founding Fathers’ & Allied Lines
Sylvestre dit Champagne · Lesage dit Lepiedmontois · Marsan dit Lapierre · Pepin dit LaChance · Pinel · Leblanc dit Jolicoeur · Neveu
Geographic path: Quimper, Brittany → Île d’Orléans from 1697 → the L’Assomption and Saint-Sulpice parishes along the Rivière L’Assomption → St-André-d’Argenteuil → Chicago from the late nineteenth century, with later branches reaching Miami and New Jersey. If your family record places ancestors along any stretch of this path between the 1690s and the 1900s, 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, Brittany, or the Chicago French-Canadian community
- 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 Breton parish records that are difficult to retrieve from a distance
- Family oral history — the stories your elders carried, even when they conflict with documented records
- Photographs, letters, and family papers — family Bibles, immigration documents, Chicago-era photographs, and similar materials from the relevant timeframe
Open Research Questions
The Quimper Origins
In November 1740, a priest at Saint-Sulpice recorded Nicolas Suliere’s death and his origin: “la paroisse de Quimper, eveche en Bretagne.” What were the family’s roots in Brittany before New France? Researchers with documented Suliere or Soulier ancestry in the Quimper region, or with access to Breton parish registers, would meaningfully advance this question.
The Nineteen Children of Janvier Souliere
Janvier Souliere Sr. outlived two wives and raised nineteen children by three — Esther Lacasse, Elisabeth Gravel, and Sophie Rousson. When he died at eighty-eight, his family was scattered across two countries. The series follows Marie Louise’s line in depth, but descendants of her eighteen siblings and half-siblings carry branches this research would welcome. If Janvier is in your tree, your line helps complete the family picture.
The Seventeen Founding Mothers
The series documents the Filles du roi and Filles à marier whose lines converge on the Souliere family — from Marie Lorgueil (arrived 1650) to Françoise Baiselat Bizelan, Elisabeth Roy, Anne Ledet, and Marie Riton, with more profiles in progress. Millions of French-Canadian descendants share these founding couples; researchers with documented descent from any of them share ancestry with the Souliere line, and comparing documented descents is exactly the 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
A boy once fished beside his great-great-grandmother in Miami without knowing her story. Three centuries of Tranchemontagne lives were waiting in the records — and somewhere, the pieces that complete them 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.