Olivier Charbonneau

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1613 |death_date= |death_place=Montreal |birth_place=Aunis |nationality=French, Quebecois }}

Olivier Charbonneau (France, Aunis 1613 Île de Montréal 20 November 1687) was a frontiersman who lived in Old Montreal in New France.

Charbonneau started his working life as a sewer cleaner in Marans, Charente-Maritime. Widowed twice, by Ozanne Lussaud, then by Marguerite Roy in Marans (m. 13 April 1646), he then married Marie-Marguerite Garnier 1656. It is recorded that at that time his wife Marie-Marguerite was niece to Marguerite Bourgeoys.

He was one of the first settlers of the Île Jésus (today, Laval). He is the ancestor of 35,000 living North Americans, and ancestor of the entire population of families with the surname Labelle, through his daughter Anne.

There are only two surviving records for the family name of Charbonneau: one for Olivier and his wife, landing in 1659, and another for an unrelated man, Jean and his wife, around 1675. Nothing in the record suggests that the two were closely related. It has been estimated that 97% of the Charbonneau families in North America are descended from Olivier Charbonneau and his wife. Descendants of Jean are fewer in number and in New France have tended to cluster in the Vaudreuil and Soulanges area of Quebec near the Ottawa river. Provided by Wikipedia