Pure Laine - Threads of Seguin Family History

From Thurso, Quebec, a small town on the Ottawa River, Theodore Seguin migrated to Essex County, Ontario, where, in 1926, he married Alphonsine Seguin, whose 3rd-great-grandfather had made a similar migration almost two centuries earlier. With these deep, French-Canadian roots, many of the forebears and several of the offspring of Theodore and Alphonsine often thought of themselves, as "pure laine" - from genetically pure, Roman Catholic, French stock - as pure as the finest wool.

Meticulous genealogical research conducted by their grandson, Marc Philip Seguin, now reveals that, over the course of the past 400 years, individuals from England, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and several Indigenous North American nations as well as from France - among them, Roman Catholics, Puritans, Calvinists and pagans, have all contributed to the bloodlines of these two Seguin families that came together in Canada in the 20th Century.

These "Threads of Seguin Family History" have been excerpted from the author's previous book, Pure Laine: The Lineage of Two Seguin Families, an extensive genealogy which traced the paternal and maternal ancestry of the author's grandparents by presenting hundreds of lineage charts which included thousands of Seguin ancestors stretching back as far as the 16th Century.

The reality behind the French-Canadian myth of pure laine has been uncovered so that, now, this Seguin family tree can be seen as an amazing multi-coloured tapestry, inter-woven with many different ethnic, cultural and religious threads.

Marc Philip Seguin, is an independent researcher and historian who grew up in the Detroit River region and now lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.