The sobriquet "La Fantaisie" is a fascinating one. It was carried by the MAURICE clan up until about seven generations ago. This site gives a plausible, if still tentative, story to its origine.
There is today a farm called La Fantaisie in the "Bourbonnais" area in the Allier department of France. There are many castles and old monuments there, set in rolling country with spectacular vistas and a magnificent forest, Forêt de Tronçais, nearby.
This farm, pictured above, has survived the centuries very much as it was in the late 1600's and was almost certainly originally used for horse breeding and training.
Claude MAURICE, born near Rouen, (1668 - 1699) Betteville (Saint-Ouen), France was the first to adopt the name of Lafantaisie. It was his nom-de-guerre when he came to Canada in 1686 as a soldier. He served under the marquis Charles-Henri Aloigny dit La Groix. Below is an artist's rendering of the place he would defend and, later, make his home.
Ville-Marie in 1685. Artist's conception by Francis Back for the book. Pour le Christ et le Roy, la vie au temps des premiers Montréalais, 1992.
It is possible that Claude's father, Jean, came from the area of La Fantaisie after migrating there from Lorraine which is the main place of origin for the name MAURICE.
In late 17th century France, sobriquets were often used to distinguish a new family or person in an area where an existing family had the same name.
The name of MAURICE does appear in Rouen during the years in question, first name Louis. He is listed in Heraldic sites.
The La Fantaisie farm is about 300 kms directly south of Paris. Jean would then have gone to Rouen where he acquired, as sobriquet, the name of the place he came from, passing it on to his son as nom-de-guerre.
Given that the point of origin of the name MAURICE is Lorraine, it is reasonable to suppose that the branch that adopted the sobriquet Lafantaisie comes from that region originally. They may have been the founders, or perhaps caretakers, of the farm named La Fantaisie, or possibly another like it.
The next page tells a story of Claude's son, Jean-Francois the first of the line we are following to be born in Canada.
© 2009 Paul Arthur Freynet
