Williams Dit Bristol

Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol. Who was he? Where did he come from?
Well according to legend, he was suppose to have been a young boy ,perhaps a cabin boy and he jumped ship when it docked at Cocagne New Brunswick. He was said to have hid in a hayloft and was found by one of the founders of Cocagne Joseph Gueguen, who asked him what his name was. This young boy could not speak any french but Joseph Gueguen was well educated and could speak english.
The young lad said his name was William and he came from Bristol. So Joseph Gueguen adopted the young lad and gave him the name Mathurin named after a missionary, and then Guillaume french for William and Bristol because he came from Bristol England. Hence the name Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol.
Now Mathurin married Angelique Gauthier around 1790 and had five children:
Agnes who married Hubert Lirette, Jean Baptiste married Madeleine Helene Bellefontaine, Elie married twice first to Adelaide Lirette then to Henriette Fournier, Thomas married Marie Surette,Joseph married Madeleine Boucher.
Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol died in Memramcook in 1829. Some of his descendants took the surname Bristol and others took the name of Williams.
What happened to all the descendants? I know there were some who went to the USA, there were some in Maine and Massachussetts,some were in Connecticut and I am sure other states, some probably went to other parts of Canada and some stayed in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I often wondered what I could do to try and bring this family together.And yesterday an idea came to me, why not start a group and call it Williams dit Bristol, and then let the news out for anyone who connects to Mathurin Guillaume Williams dit Bristol and Angelique Saindon, and when we are enough to share photos and stories with one another. So I have created a group on Facebook called Williams dit Bristol. If any of you readers have a connection to this couple, I do hope you will consider joining our group.At the moment we are 19 members ,not bad for one day.
On another note, tomorrow is Remembrance Day, I do hope you will take a moment to remember our fallen soldiers and all the ones who came back and say a little prayer for them. Lest we forget.
Thank you for the lovely visit, do stop by again and if you know of any descendants of Mathurin please let them know about the new group on facebook. You can access Facebook by going to www.facebook.com sign up , its free and find my group.
Have a great day
Aline