All,

There are several sites such as this one:

http://www.islandregister.com/biograph.html

...that make reference to work done by "The Honorable Bona Arsenault and Fr. Patrice Gallant, have studied this origin and have come to the same conclusion. This conclusion was given out as pure hypothese, as the documents examined could not give absolute proof. Many circumstantial facts found in the archives of the Court of Justice in Quebec and in the life of Nicholas Denys, tell us that Michel Larché, known in history by the name Michel Haché surnamed Gallant was thought to have been born about 1662 at St. Pierre, Acadia (near the present St. Peters, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia). It is thought that he was the son of Pierre Larché, born about 1640, originally from the parish of Saint Pierre in the town of Montidier, bishop's residence of Beauvais, in France."

It would be very enlightening for us all to be looking at the same documents these two gentlemen were reading. There is a mention that these "documents" are housed at the "archives of the Court of Justice in Quebec". Not much to go on. I'm sure it is a big place with a lot of records. So much for sourcing.

In addition, one can go straight to Montdidier to see what records exist there. I started that today and found this site:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=...

Sorry for the long URL but it is how I found this site. I did a search and then used google translate.

If you click on the "place" field and scroll down to the letter "M" you will find Montdidier. Select this and the first record you see will be:

Fontaine-Sous-Montdidier (Notre-Dame) : baptêmes, mariages, sépultures, 1597-1764 (5MI_D544)

Saint Pierre is not listed as an option. No other Montdidier records cover the 1600-1640 timeframe. But the handwriting is so poor and stylized that I found it very hard to decipher the surnames. I have sent a request into the Somme Departmental Archives for more information on what records might exist for Montdidier and possible assistance in reading these records (This kind of help is rarely provided, but it is worth asking).

As to proof that Pierre L'Arche is a Metis, it sure seems unlikely if he was born in France. It's time to look at source records in my humble opinion. My next step will be to see what records might exist in the Quebec archives mentioned above.

Jeff Bernard
Concord, MA