Hebert Origins & DNA Varieties
Welcome to the first issue of Louisiana Ancestry Mysteries! Since the origin of my Acadian male line ancestor Etienne Hebert is shrouded in mystery, it seems like a good place to start. Read on for a description of Hebert paternal lines and the DNA that could someday help genealogists finally determine who their parents were and where they lived before making the journey to l'Acadie.
Hebert Type 1 (descendants of Etienne and Antoine)
If your surname is Hebert and you have an interest in family history, then you likely already know about the brothers with this surname who settled on Acadian land in the mid-1600s. To date, at least 35 male line descendants of theirs have tested their DNA, with the results (particularly the "Big Y" haplogroup R-BY31006) essentially confirming their relationship. However, there is no direct evidence to prove who their parents were or where they lived before coming to the New World.
I suspect that this mystery will eventually be solved primarily through further DNA testing and analysis. It could be a while, though, due in part to the ban on testing DNA for genealogical purposes in France. In the meantime, there are some pieces to the puzzle that we can put together. More on this in a bit...
Hebert Type 2 (descendants of Jean Hebert, born 1597(?) in Caen)
There were Heberts not descended from the parents of Etienne and Antoine who settled in French colonies. Paternal line testing for some of them shows that their haplogroup falls under R-Z209, which isn't in the paternal line of R-BY31006. This means that they are not closely related to the brothers. Type 2 is how I'm categorizing them here.
Hebert Type 3 (descendants of Francois Hebert, born about 1753 in Martigny, Burgundy)
Although it is possible that paternal line descendants of this Hebert have had their DNA tested, the results aren’t publicly available as far as I can tell. However, we can be confident that neither Francois - who went to Louisiana and married Marie Anne Marcantel on April 9, 1771, in Pointe Coupee - nor his parents were Acadians. Thus, a test yielding a haplogroup of R-BY31006 or one very close to it could shed light on the brothers' origin (or that of their father).
Hebert Type 4 (descendants of Francois Hebert, born about 1622 in Mont-Saint-Aignan)
This is another Hebert whose parents are unknown and whose Y-DNA information isn't publicly available. Although he did migrate to and perish in New France, he clearly wasn't a descendant of Etienne and Antoine. So again, knowing his haplogroup could be very helpful.
Hebert Type 5 (potential descendants of other Hebert "brick wall" men)
Finally, there are Hebert men born in the 17th and 18th centuries who are potentially close genetic relations to the brothers but who seem less likely to have living male line descendants. These are the ones which I'm aware of and think are of interest (dates/places may be best guess; see linked profiles):
First | Surname | Birth Date | Birth Place | Death Date | Death Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hébert | France, Île-de-France | 9/1/1670 | France, Île-de-France, Paris | ||
Hébert dit Laverdure | France, Île-de-France, Saint-Médéric, Paris | 4/1/1700 | Nouvelle-France, Canada | ||
Hébert | France, Normandie, Boisroger | 3/3/1802 | Bas-Canada, Cap-Saint-Ignace | ||
Hebert dit Minfret dit Lespérance | France, Normandie, Bourg de Creully | 3/29/1709 | Nouvelle-France, Canada, Hôtel-Dieu de Québec | ||
Hébert | France, Isle de Ré, Saint-Martin | 1753 | New France, Louisiana | ||
Hebert | France, Centre, Eure-et-Loir, Luçon | 1668 | France, Centre, Eure-et-Loir, Luçon | ||
Hebert | 1634 | France, Centre, Indre-et-Loire, Touraine | unknown | unknown |
Summary and map of Heberts born in France in the 17th and 18th centuries
We don't know enough to draw a DNA-based conclusion about the origin of the brothers Etienne and Antoine, or who their father was. The best strategy for this purpose would be to obtain tests of Hebert men who are of Types 3, 4, and 5 above, although it's possible that Y-DNA tests of other men will eventually reveal that their father (or someone else in their paternal line) had a different surname.
Many researchers think the brothers came from Poitou, but it seems that the vast majority of their descendants who were deported from Acadia did not settle anywhere near there. Is that relevant? Maybe not, but I find it interesting. Where did they go? Well, here's a map of Hebert birthplaces within France in the 17th and 18th centuries, sourced from WikiTree.
This post is based on data from FamilyTreeDNA and WikiTree. I'm grateful for my fellow Heberts who have taken Big Y tests and shared the results, as well as for those who have contributed countless hours of effort to put data into WikiTree.