Finding Your Roots

-

Voiceover

Now we knew that Patricia's third great-grandfather, Peter Arcouette, was in fact a Canadian who bought land in Detroit in 1839. Next, we wanted to learn more about the Arquette family back in Canada. Buried in an Ontario archive, we found a document that revealed Peter's origins. -

Voiceover

So would you please turn the page. This is amazing. 8th of October, one thousand, seven hundred, ninety, a baptism was performed for Pierre, only son of Alexis Arcouette. -

Voiceover

Mhmm. Spelled differently. -

Voiceover

Mhmm. And Marguerite LaForest. That is the baptismal record for your third great-grandfather Peter. He was born in the town of Sandwich, in Ontario, Canada, right across the Detroit River. Wow, that's wild. You know, America, early Canada, what was that like to be here? Man, it was funky, that's what it was like (laughs). Like the hippie commune. (both laugh) -

Voiceover

This baptismal record identified Patricia's fourth great-grandfather Alexis. Born in Quebec in 1736. His name resonated with Patricia. You know, my sister's transgender, Alexis. Oh really? And she changed her name to Alexis, and we never knew. My God. -

Patricia

We had an Alexis. And you have an Alexis. I have to tell her, yeah. Also I never knew they changed our spelling of our name from Arcouette to Arquette. This is mind-boggling. I gotta tell you, this would've been lost forever for our whole family. I'm so grateful for this, it's incredible. -

Voiceover

Now that we have the names of Patricia's Canadian-born fourth great grandparents, we were able to trace her Arquette line back nearly 400 years to her sixth great-grandfather, Jean Arcouet dit Lajeunesse. The first Arquette to immigrate to Canada. Can you see where he was born? In France. Your Arcouet ancestors were all French Canadian colonists. They left France and went to Canada as colonists. Wow, that's wild. French settlers began arriving in Canada in the early 17th Century. Soon after, Patricia's sixth great-grandfather Jean settled in Quebec, when it was little more than a fur-trading outpost. Meaning Patricia's ancestor had arrived at a true frontier. Your ancestors were really extreme pioneers. Mhmm. And they were among the first Europeans in all of Canada. I feel like I can feel my French Canadian ancestry now.