René le Clère
I became sensitive to the genealogy science 50 years ago when I used to reside in France, where I was born in 1940.
I started my research on my mother's side, the Battelliers who originated from the Beauvais's region (Oise). So, I found 11 generations, thanks to the great help of the President of the Academic Society of Oise. Researches were quite easy because my family was residing in the same village since 1683, my home town (North-West of Paris, one-hour-trip by car). In this particular family, I found a lot of persons in the service of the House of "des Courtils", Earls of Merlemont (castle of Merlemont); of the House of the Marquis de Gaudechart (château of Bailleul); and the Family de Lagrenée (château of Frocourt). I found also numerous "notables" who served in the public domain: mayors, village councilors, etc., with alliances with two or three (or four!) members of the French Parliament, and one Minister of the French Republic. And also, maybe, with Jacques Isoré who was a very active member of the French Revolution in 1789, and voted the death of the King Louis XVI (I'm sorry!). I found also, in 1835, a miraculously cured person, from Notre-Dame-de-Liesse (Aisne). In the XVIIIth century, two Battelliers married two members of the Lardenois who became, in 1852, an important industrialist dynasty in Hermes (Oise). A Battellier lady is one of the two persons in the painting The Church of Marissel, by J.B. Corot (Louvre, the national art gallery of France, in Paris.
Then, I researched about my father's side, les Leclères who originated from Bresles, in the Clermont's region (Oise). My work was a little more difficult and I found 8 generations. I stopped my researches in 1963 when I decided to immigrate in Canada, but, nevertheless, I sporadically continued in Montréal, with the help of the Mormons. Before, my family name used to be written in two words "le Clère", so did my ancestors Louis le Clère, in the XVIIth century, and his son Denis le Clère, from whom I descend directly by the males. Nothing particular can be mentioned in my honest family of Catholics or maybe yes: my great-father, Paul Leclère, born in 1873, died in 1914, during the First World War; his younger brother, my great-uncle Félix Leclère died also during the same war; and his other younger brother, my other great-uncle Aimé Leclère disappeared during the same war. The French Government does know what happened to him...
In both families we find members of "L'orde de La Légion d'honneur" and of "L'ordre national du mérite", and also a lot of persons bearing official medals.
Here is, in a too short article, some genealogical and historical facts about my two families Leclère-Battellier.
