Who’s My Daddy and Who’s My Mommy?
By Guest Poster Allen J. Voisine
This is what I know of Jean Philippe Lang or sometimes Long my 5th great grandfather who served in the Revolutionary War.
No, he didn’t fight for the American Independence, he served in the King’s American Regiment from 1781 – 1783.
After his service, his regiment moved to St. John, New Brunswick then he moved onto Long Creek, New Brunswick, in 1787 where he had been granted lot # 49 in Canterbury York County, New Brunswick. Jean Philippe then moved a few years later to Lower Canada, which is part of the current province of Quebec.
Jean Philippe’s friend Sir James Craig was governor who then appointed him as mail carrier for the Royal mail from 1790 – 1820 between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Quebec (city), Quebec, approximately 366 miles.
The mail carrier at the time was Sir Emmanuel Couillard’s daughter, Marie Julie, who was nearly 20 years younger than Jean Philippe and who eventually becomes his bride on 06 Dec 1792. They were married at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Quebec (city). They eventually had 7 sons, 5 daughters, and a still born child of indeterminate gender.
The governor eventually had Jean Philippe transferred to a post near Lac Temiscouta, which the British considered as a halfway point between Quebec (city) and Halifax, Nova Scotia. There they resided until March 31, 1818 when he sold his property to Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor-General for Lower Canada, and the Seigneur Alexander Fraser, who resided in Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec.
They then moved to the area in what is now Clair, New Brunswick across the river from Fort Kent. He eventually died there on December 25, 1832 and is buried in the cemetery at the then mission of St-Basile located at St. Luce in Frenchville, Maine. The bitter irony of all this is he was a Loyalist fighting the Revolution, a Royal Mail courier for 30 years and ended being buried on American soil.
We know lots of things about Jean Philippe and as my late friend and mentor in genealogy, Leon Guimond, used to say, we know when got begotten or wed, we know what he and his wife begat or had for children, when he was dispatched or died, we know lots of his life, but the most important detail, is when he was begat and who did the deed or when he was born and who his parents were.
Some say he may been from Pennsylvania of Scottish decent, but as Dennis once said, Philip was not a very popular Scottish first name but if he was indeed from Pennsylvania he may have had Germanic Roots.
And now the rest of the story…
From the following website: www.philiplong.blogspot.com,:
Donald Long has pursued the search on Philip Long’s parentage and where he originated from. He has enlisted help from a historian and genealogist in Germany and together they have some very persuasive arguments on Jean Philippe’s parentage and so, after 40 years my search is most likely over.
I will now have to do the opposite of the Ancestry.com commercial, I will have to return my kilt and exchange it for lederhosen.
