Coming from Australia, she found her ancestors in this small village in Normandy

“Welcome home Kathy. » It is not every day that the language of Shakespeare is spoken within the walls of the town hall of Saint-Philbert-sur-Orne, near Argentan (Orne).

An ancestor born in this small village in Normandy

Thursday May 16, 2024 will remain a date engraved in the memory of the mayor and a few residents who came to welcome a woman who arrived specially from Australia.

Kathy LaFontaineresident of Portarlington, near Melbournewanted to see with his own eyes the birthplace of Marin Supernanther ancestor of the seventh degreeborn the August 14, 1672referring to her family tree, carefully preserved in a pouch that she brought here.

Stir up the history of the village

“It all started with a letter received in my mailbox,” explains Thierry Raux, mayor of the village of 120 inhabitants, moved to stir up the history of the village.

It’s moving to think that someone left here under Louis XIV and, centuries later, find descendants.

This famous Marin Supernant did not represent anything special for the town until then. A baptism certificate was found to his name. His story then continued in Canada. “He left as a soldier before marrying in 1699 and remaining in the country,” recalls Katheryn La Fontaine.

Of Quebec…

But as in any genealogical research, the task is not easy, especially when the family is passed through three continents. Upon arrival across the Atlantic, the original name Supernant was transformed (perhaps by mistake) into “Surprising”. “In Quebec, he receives the nickname La Fontaine,” adds the mayor. La Fontaine will become the family surname.

The Australian who worked as a border guard for 40 years became interested in her ancestors during a trip to Canada on the occasion of the Winter Olympic Games. “The research in Canada proved very difficult because everything was written in French,” she jokes. However, it is in Montreal that she finds a link with Saint-Philbert, in Orne.

…To Australia

In 1853, his great-great-grandfather, Nicholas La Fontaine leaves New York, destination Mitta Mitta, in the state of Victoria, in the south-east of Australia. “He was one of the first blacksmiths. He was gone work in the gold mines», Relates the 61-year-old traveler.

She maintains a close connection with Mitta Mitta where her cousins ​​go every year to go camping. “The landscapes of Orne remind me of my youth there. It makes you want to settle here,” she comments, observing the meanders of the Orne.

Already been to Saint-Philbert

This trip to Orne is not not his first . “In February 2016, friends told me to go to Argentan station to come to Saint-Philbert,” she remembers. “However, I could not make myself understood by the taxi driver. So I drove through the village before heading straight back. »

This slightly better organized visit is a nice revenge for her.

I was really looking forward to meeting the people here. I would have liked to know which house I could have lived in.

During her visit, she discovered the charms of the village before entering the church which hosted the baptism of Marin Supernant. “ The church is one of the monuments of which we are sure that he too was able to see», says the mayor as he enters the church dating from before the 12th century. The holy water font has also remained the same, emotional discoveryfor Katheryn La Fontaine.

Cousin of the Canadian Prime Minister

The family trees are in agreement according to Marie-Joseph Raux, a resident who looked into the genealogy of the village. “In 2006, I came across a postcard from Canada that spoke of Marin Surprenant,” says the local history enthusiast.

Although his return letter did not find a recipient due to moving, it managed to trace the family tree of the native of Saint-Philbert.

His brother, Joseph Surprenant, is a direct ancestor of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Which makes Kathy a cousin of the latter.

The next step for Katheryn is the most complicated: “Finding the origins of Marin’s parents, Jean Supernant and Marguerite de la Rue”. But it will befor another trip to Orne.

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