Pierre E. Surprenant Sr. was born Sept 10, 1836 in St. Alberta, Canada
according to death record and Obit. The 1850 census says birth
was in
1838 and a record found in Canada states Nov. 17, 1838. St. Alberta
could not be found, but would be somewhere near Napierreville or
LaPrairie, Quebec, Canada based on other family locations. His
parents
were Joseph Surprenant and Flavie Monet (or Boismenu as she was referred
to). He came to Oconto at the age of 19 in about 1855 to work
for the
lumber companies. He built a log house and barn in Oconto
township in
the NE 1/4 of NE 1/4 of section 7. As years passed, the farm
expanded
to a total of 5 adjoining forties.
Pierre married Marie Belongia (daughter of Moyse Belongia and Josephte
Piette dit Trempe) around 1862 assumed in Oconto. Her line can
be seen
on the Belongia Family Page. They had 8 children: Peter Jr. (Theresa
Marek) - this is my line, Holly Sprise Kobza (thkobza@jvlnet.com),
Marie
(Adelore Belongia), Clara (Isaac Junco), Elizabeth (August Saucier),
Nellie (Ratchford), Florinda (Adolph Gager/Giguere), Medore (went west
and was not heard of again), and William (Maria Roberts). Maria
Belongia Surprenant died giving birth to William in 1928 (death and
birth cert). William was adopted by her sister, Mathilda, and
used her
married name Houde. William's line now resides in British Columbia,
Canada. Mike Houde (mhoude@drlogick.com) is a descendant and researcher.
I do have further details on many of these Oconto families.
The name Surprenant was changed when the children went to school in
the
latter 1800's. The name was Americanized to Suprise or Surprise.
Pierre/Peter chose a second wife by the name of Marie Louise Leneau
(daughter of Marc Leneau and Helene Trodette). They were married
in
October of 1880 in Oconto (marr cert.). They had 6 children:
Mitchell
(Mayme Brunk), Helen (George LeBreck), Elizabeth (J. Theodore Splude),
Matilda, Xavier (Florence Murphy), and Jean Baptiste. This family
used
Surprise, while Peter Sr's first family used Surprise.
Although the last names were different, there was still confusion with
the mail. It was often was delivered to the wrong family.
In 1912,
Wilbert, son of Peter Jr. had his and his brother Howard's name changed
to Sprise to avoid the confusion. (register of deeds)
Peter Sr. died April 16, 1928 in Oconto of old age.
BACK TO THE OCONTO COUNTY HOME PAGE