Arsenault & Virata Genealogy Pages

The Arsenault name comes from Saintonge, Charente Maritime which was a Province in the southwest region of France centered around Saintes, Cognac, La Rochelle in the Charente Maritime in the 1500’s.

The name was originally spelled Arsonneau, over 300 records of the family can be found in in Migre, the closest church to the actual Hamlet where the family is from: La Flamancherie.

Family researchers reported that on a visit to Migre (circa 1997) the Mayor stated that there are no Arsonneau’s who live in the area today, however many Arsonneau’s still live in Charente Maritime who trace their ancestors to La Flamencherie, They can be found in La Rochelle, Ile de Re, Vienne and other parts of Southwestern France.

Migre is about 70 km from La Rochelle, it would make sense that previous research and oral histories of his descendents would have passed down that he was from La Rochelle, Province of Saintonges. See the Research Report here

The North American branch of the family traces back to 2 brothers arriving on the ship L'Orange in 1657 and settling in Port Royal, Beaubassin (present day Nova Scotia). Originally recorded as variations of Arceneau in the Canadian censuses, the name eventually was spelt with the formal French "ault" ending around 1880. There are 6 major spellings of the last name found in North America, but all of them trace their lineage back to the original 2 brothers who landed in Port Royal and the families of La Flamancherie.

A graphic depicting our branch of the Arsenault Family chronicles the initial landing in Canada and to our eventual move hundreds of years later to the USA:

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