Pilons of Essex County, 
Ontario CANADA

The Ancestry of Antoine Pilon (1789-1850)

Antoine Pilon was a voyageur, likely in the employ one of the partners of the Northwest Company when he travelled through the Détroit River area and settled there, marrying Archange Cuillerier dit Beaubien on October 30, 1809 in the church of l'Assomption du Détroit, Windsor, Ontario, CANADA. In the church registry, his father is given as Pierre Pilon and his mother, Françoise Larose (m. 1779). He is said to have been from the parish of Ste-Anne, Ile de Montréal. A slight problem occurs in that there never was a Pierre Pilon married to a Françoise Larose. However, there was a Pierre Pilon who married Françoise Robidoux, whose mother was a Bellerose. When the priest was writing this particular marriage record, he began writing Ste-Eustache as the home parish of Antoine, but crossed it out after the -st in Eustache. Obviously, there were some communication problems, likely attributable to the young 20 year old getting married, but also perhaps on the part of the priest, especially when it came to family names which could be multiple. Pierre Pilon, Antoine's father, was the son of Antoine Pilon and Marie-Josepte Roy (m. 1729). Antoine was the son of Antoine Pilon and Marie-Anne Brunet (m. 1689). This last Antoine (son of Thomas Pilon and Madeleine Hugues dit Ruault) arrived in New France likely earlier in the 1680's, being from Bayeux, Normandy, while Marie-Anne Brunet was born in New France.