I was born Norman LaPolice in 1950 in Chicopee, MA.
I have been performing genealogical research on the LaPolice-DesLauriers Genealogical Tree from Nouvelle-France (Québec), Acadie, The Kingdom of France (Royaume de France) & Normandy for at least 20 years.
I have had at least 5 DNA tests from various testing services, both Y & MT -DNA, with the estimation that I am of 100% French ethnicity.
My father, Xavier Léon LaPolice (1924-2014) started doing research the old-fashioned way- traveling by car and later bus from Chicopee, MA to inspect church vital records in Québec.
I've used dozens of French-Canadian (Nouvelle-France, Québec) search sites over the years (this one is most helpful- https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca ) as well genealogical sites tracing my Acadie ancestors.
Also, I was a paid member of https://www.genealogiequebec.com for years, and, of course, https://www.ancestry.com.
I have gotten as far with Ancestry.com as I wanted to, knowing full-well that one mistake can fell an entire branch.
I am a semi-retired web developer with 20 years of SQL Server experience. In a three-step process, I was able to re-format the GED file from Ancestry and import it all to SQL Server, which I use for this genealogical site.
My direct (unbroken line- no female ancestor "petered-out") oldest known maternal ancestor:
Marie Marguerite Masson,
B:1570 Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, Royaume de France
D:1600 Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, Royaume de France
My direct (unbroken line- no male ancestor "daughtered-out") oldest known paternal ancestor:
Pierre Enguehard,
B:1525 Annebecq, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, Royaume de France
D:1575 Pont Farcy, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, Royaume de France
Both lineages come from areas that were only 247 km apart: Dieppe to Annebecq/Pont Farcy is 2 hr 40 min (246.6 km) in Normandy.
My parents, Xavier Léon LaPolice and Thérèse Béatrice DesLauriers were born in the U.S. (Chicopee, MA).
My paternal grandparents, Léon Xavier LaPolice and Céciliènne Anäis Boisvert were also born in the U.S. (Chicopee, MA).
All other direct ancestors were born in Québec, back to Nouvelle-France and ultimately Normandy, Royaume de France.
My patrilineal ancestors' surnames from Normandy are Enguehard but have many alternate spellings that were added as "dit" names, including Hangard, Hengard, Angard, Engard and more.
The letter "h" is not pronounced in French. My first patrilineal ancestor to sail from Normandy to Québec was Gilles-Louis Enguehard dit Hengard II, B:1727 Pont Farcy, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France.
In French, Enguehard is pronounced en-geh-r (rolled) ah.
The notaries in Québec who recorded actes were not all French speakers, and the French settlers coming to Québec were not all literate - some could only pronounce thier names - therefore Enguehard, Hangard, Hengard, & Angard etc. would have all sounded alike to a notary.
These alternate spellings of Enguehard are the result of many of these homophones as dit names.
My first ancetor to whom "LaPolice" became a dit name was Jean-Baptiste Hangard dit LaPolice I, B: 07/12/1756 Forges-du-St-Maurice, Trois-Rivières, Québec. D: 06/22/1817 Yamachiche, Maskinongé, Québec.
There are no records I have found explaining why this name was added.
