The Bonhomme Family 1632 to 2015

In the first edition of the genealogy of the Bonhomme family in Canada, we learned a number of important things. The text that Bishop Bonhomme wrote in French was largely based on a text and other information he received from Aline Bonhomme, who was the daughter of Joseph Philorum Bonhomme of the eighth generation married to Rachel Daoust. Philorum was an important and famous French Canadian from Montreal, son of Jean-Baptiste Bonhomme of the seventh generation. He was responsible for starting an insurance company for French Canadians that was very successful. He was also involved in saving the French-language newspaper of the Ottawa-Gatineau area, Le Droit. He was also involved in supporting Montreal's French language newspaper Le Devoir. Bishop Bonhomme added to the Montreal information with information on the families of Guillaume II and Ignace II obtained from two cousins who were living in New Brunswick at the time, Miss Violette Comeau and her sister, Reverend Sister Lacasse of Campbelltown. This updated edition of Bishop Bonhomme's book is not only a translation. Additional information was added as a result of research done by the author. It was the Bishop's niece, Stella Paquette, Daughter of Élodia Bonhomme, his elder sister who asked that the book be translated. It was also updated with the information provided by the Bishop using two main sources: Abbé Tanguay who did a monumental work of tracing French-Canadian families through the baptism and interment records of the churches. This work makes it very easy to do genealogical research on French-Canadian families who inter-married and stayed in the same area in the past. This edition was also appended with information from a number of important members of the family. We started with the descendants of Elodia Bonhomme Gosselin. I connected with the family of DuLacs now residing n Lebanon, New Hampshire and who are descended from the Of Guillaume II through his son Nicolas who married Louise Cloutier. We connected with Suzanne Bonhomme who worked at St Paul University and was a descendant of Égésippe Bonomme VIIth generation, son of Égésippe Bonhomme VIth generation. We also connected with Jeanne Lalonde who was of the ninth generation as was Bishop Bonhomme and 99 years of age when we spoke. She was the daughter of Joseph Théotim Bonhomme of the eighth generation, the son of Jean-Baptiste Bonhomme of the seventh generation, son of Égesippe of the sixth generation and Ignace of the fifth generation. Théotim was a famous industrialist in the region of Papineauville, close to Ottawa. Jeanne Lalonde helped bring the information on the family up to date. The Bonhomme family still operates Bonhomme Lumber and Bytown Lumber in the area with many offices I the Ottawa-Gatineau area. This edition does not attempt to go beyond the scope of Bishop Bonhomme's book to look at the other branches of the family in other areas of the country, children of the first Nicholas Bonhomme, nor have I attempted to trace the women in the family.