History Facts
- Category: The Association
WELCOME! SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF JEHAN TERRIOT
History
The Acadian origin of our root family is well known in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and in Québec. The portage route between Edmundston and Rivière-du-Loup had allowed our ancestors to reach Québec and to settle there after the 1755 Deportation. The south shore of the St. Lawrence River, from Montmagny to Rimouski, hosted the first waves of Acadian Thériaults, and this is why our association was created there.
Founding
Georges A. Thériault from St. Épiphane, QC had the idea in 1972 to group together the Thériaults from Québec and from New-Brunswick into a single family association. The aim was to strengthen links forged over more than two centuries by families in both provinces.
The project built up over time:
- December 1972: the corporate name is granted and the first Board of Directors is elected: Georges T. becomes chairman, Gustave vice-chairman, Florent vice-chairman, Charles treasurer and Irma secretary.
- 1974: participation in Kamouraska’s tercentenary celebrations.
- 1978: launching of the newsletter "Le Terriot.”
- October 1978: first general meeting at St. Pascal, QC; Georges is re-elected chairman, Lucie is elected secretary and Émile treasurer.
- September 1980: convention of 125 members in Rivière-du-Loup, QC and passage of new Letters patent and bylaws. Émile is elected chairman.
- September 1992: celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Association at the Kamouraska museum.
Coat of arms and new Letters patent
After the election of François-Régis Thériault to the chairmanship in 1995, new Association Letters Patent and bylaws were promulgated and a new coat of arms was adopted which is more in keeping with the family’s origin and Acadian history. Regional chapters of the Association were set up and used as a model for future developments. In 1997, health problems compelled François-Régis to transfer the chairmanship to Philippe Thériault who had been a founding member of the Association. Philippe continued with the reforms started by François-Régis.
Today the Association numbers some 200 members from Québec, the Maritimes and some other provinces of Canada, as well as several states in the USA.
Activities
Various activities encourage exchanges between Association members from the various regions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Québec, states from the eastern USA, Louisiana and others. The newsletter “Le Terriot” creates links between members, regions and the head office in Québec City. This bulletin publishes news from members, promotes regional projects, provides genealogical information and proposes readings of interest to Acadians, etc.
- July 1993: The Association’s Board of Directors and a number of members represented the Association at the family reunion which assembled some 1300 Thériaults from Canada and the USA at Madawaska, Maine. On this occasion, chairman Émile was presented with a plaque recognizing his long years of dedication to the cause of the Thériault family.
- 2004: The Association was present in good numbers at the 2004 World Acadian Congress in Nova Scotia, where some 750 sons and daughters of Jehan Terriot gathered on the sites of aboiteaux erected by their ancestors in Port-Royal, Grand-Pré, Minas Basin and Pisiquid and attended the Thériault family reunion in Saulnierville, NS.
- 2009: Some 20 Québec members of the Association joined some 500 other Thériaults at Bertrand, New Brunswick for the 2009 World Acadian Congress.
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2010: Some 170 people gathered in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, QC to commemorate the arrival in 1763 in this parish of Joseph Thériault and Agnès Cormier to settle on a land grant. A monument was erected on the ancestral land.
