Fagnant, Fayant, Faillant | Metis, Cree, Chippewa, Mixed-heritage: Cree | Surname Anchor Post
Each of these posts is dedicated to one surname that is carried by someone connected to indigenous, Metis or mixed-heritage people in Canada.
SURNAME NOTES | FAGNANT, FAYANT, FAILLANT
- Purpose:
- The goal of these Surname Anchor Posts is to answer these questions: Based on settler documents, has my surname ever been associated with indigenous people in what is now called Canada? If so, where and when did it occur? And finally, with which specific peoples was my surname associated? Note: These posts are just a Finding Aide to help you continue with your own in-depth research. This project is constantly updated but will never be complete.
- Regions:
- These are the regions where the Fagnant, Fayant, Faillant surnames appear in census and/or marriage documents: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Western Canada.
- Note: Please see the Census District section down below for links to posts with more location-based information.
- Ethnicity:
- These are the ethnicities recorded for the Fagnants, Fayants and Faillants in census records as well as Metis scrip and marriage documents. Ethnicities: Metis, Cree, Chippewa. Note: Please see the Census District section below for links to census posts that list ethnicity by location.
- Associated surnames:
- These are the surnames of Fagnant, Fayant and Faillant spouses. Note: Please see the Marriages section down below to reach posts containing my marriage transcriptions.
- Beaudry, Bellegarde (Upd. 2023), Boucher, Bonneau, Bourassa, Breland (Upd. 2023)
- Cayole / Dumont, Chartrand, Couteau (Upd. 2023),
- de Montigny, Desjarlais, Desmarais (Upd. 2023), Desnomme, Duceppe, Ducharme, Dumont (Upd. 2023)
- Gagnon (Upd. 2023),Gariepy, Gervais (Upd. 2023), Gladu, Gonneville
- Houle (Upd. 2023), Klyne,
- L’Allemand, Lafontaine (Upd. 2023), Lapierre, Laplante, Ledoux, Leduc, Lejour, Lemire, Letendre,
- McGillis, Monette
- Parisien, Paul, Pelletier, Plante, Poitras (Upd. 2023),
- Ross (Upd. 2023), St. Denis, Swan
- Trottier, Vivier (Upd. 2023).
- Misc.:
- This is where I place scattered bits of information from my Archives.
- 1. The Fagnant surname in Western Canada stretches back to before the Metis couple Antoine Fagnant and Josephte Pelletier, and continues through their children: Antoine Fagnant (m. Brigitte Desjarlais, and then Marie Ledoux) and Sophie Fagnant (m. Joseph Houle). 2. Variations of the Fagnant surname include Fayant & Faillant.
- 2. There were many Metis Fagnants (or their spouses) involved in the 1885 North-West Resistance (formerly known as The North-West Rebellion). They include: Charles Fagnant, Cutbert / Corbette Fagnant (m. Isabelle McGillis), Cuthbert Fagnant Jr. (m. Marie Letendre), Guillaume Fagnant, John Fagnant (m. Helene Letendre), Josephte Fagnant (m. Andre Desjarlais), Madeleine Fagnant (m. William Letendre), Patrice Fagnant / Faillants (m. Anne Sakaban / Lejour), Rose Fagnant (m. Romuel Gariepy), and finally Athanse Falcon (m. Nancy Parisien), Captain of the Turtleford (Horse Butte) Metis. The 1885 North-West Resistance included Metis and other indigenous peoples (Cree, Kainai, Piikani, Saulteaux and Siksika) and was in response to broken treaties, starvation and encroachment on their lands by new settlers in what are now Saskatchewan and Alberta. The resistance fighters were defeated and Canada’s federal government asserted its control over the area. [Source: Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance, Lawrence Barkwell, Louis Riel Institute]. See External Links below for more information.
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CENSUS DISTRICTS | FAGNANT, FAYANT, FAILLANT
ALBERTA
Edmonton West | Indian Reserve (1921)
The Territories | White Whale Lake (1901)
MANITOBA
Dauphin | Fagnans in Townships 32 (1911)
Unorganized Territories | Marquette S-6 (1901)
SASKATCHEWAN
SK | Maple Creek [220-57] (1921) 2023
Territories | Assiniboia E. | Fort Qu’Appelle (1901)
Territories | Assiniboia W. | Fayants in Dundern (1901)
Territories | Assiniboia W. | Willowbunch (1901)
Territories | Duck Lake (1901)
Territories | File Hills (1901)
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MARRIAGES | FAGNANT, FAYANT, FAILLANT
A … [CDN Marriage Extracts] 2023
BLAN [CDN Marriage Extracts] [SK]
BRAS [CDN Marriage Extracts] 2023
CARI [CDN Marriage Extracts] [SK-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
DELM [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
DOKIS [CDN Marriage Extracts] [SK-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
F … [CDN Marriage Extracts] [AB-SK-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
G … [CDN Marriage Extracts] [MB-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
GIRO [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
L … [CDN Marriage Extracts] 2023
LAHO [CDN Marriage Extracts] [MB-SK-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
LAUG [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
MCCU [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
P … [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
PETE [CDN Marriage Extracts] [AB-Western Canada Metis Scrip]
PIGE [CDN Marriage Extracts] [SK]
SNOW [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
THOR [CDN Marriage Extracts] [Western Canada Metis Scrip]
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EXTERNAL LINKS
Fagnant, Alexandre [Gabriel Dumont Institute]
North-West Resistance [The Canadian Encyclopedia]
Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance [Louis Riel Institute]
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A Canadian Family 
Actually the last name Fagnant stretches as far back to the 1600s and has origins in France, at least my line, and they’re are not a lot of us. Mainly from Quebec though after migrating probably sometime in the 1650s. The origin of my line can be traced back to Villefagnan in France, a tiny village of probably less then 1000 people at the time. So it could have more people who adopted it as a surname. I believe one of my ancestors was a soldier in his region of France and at the time they offered land and money to those who would move to ‘New France’, as he was born in Villefagnan, but died in Quebec, at least from what I could find.
I just went down a rabbit hole
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Yes, you’re absolutely right – there’s lots of fascinating history for this family 🙂
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