Cullen Family History and Genealogy

Cullen Family History
and Genealogy

Near the Cullen homestead – the East Templeton railway station c1900 Qahn

An Enduring Melding of Cultures

Our colourful ancestry is a melding of three cultures: the industrious Irish Cullens and McClements of the 1800s near Bytown; the enterprising Scottish Turners in 1780s Fredericton; and our resourceful and creative French Canadian Lapointe and Joanis ancestors of the 1600s and 1700s who contributed to the growth of New France and Quebec.

The principal surnames are Cullen, McClements, Turner and Joanis (Joanisse) with secondary surnames Carroll, Power, Powers, Cassidy, Audet, Lapointe, Depoca, Quévillon, Maisonneuve and Maheu. Other ancestral surnames by marriage are: Morse, Mårs, Johnson, Doré, Doray and Berry.

Mark Cullen has published three books on his family history: The Cullens of Templeton: A Two Hundred Year Journey (2011); and A Melding of Cultures – Ancestors of George Turner and Bernadette Joanis Volume 1 subtitled Our Turners: Canadian Transportation Pioneers (2013) and Volume 2 subtitled Our Lapointe and Joanis Families: Four Hundred Years of French Canadian Heritage (2018)

Family tree data can be accessed via the Search boxes on each page. Selected ancestor biographical sketches from Mark Cullen's books can be viewed via links under the Feature Articles column on this page. Other biographical book excerpts can be viewed by clicking on Histories in the left column.

Genealogists are granted permission to use any data and information in book excerpts, provided specific attribution is made to Mark Cullen, this website, and, if appropriate, the relevant book.

Feature Articles

John Cullen – Our First Cullen ancestor in Canada
The emigration of John Cullen and Elizabeth Carolan from County Cavan to Canada in 1826 and their settlement and life in Templeton Township, Lower Canada. By the mid-1800s, John and his family had become important farmers and squared timber operators in the Township and were leaders in church and community affairs.

Holden Turner – Early Days in New Brunswick
Holden was our first Turner ancestor to settle in Canada. Initially, a private in the British Army fighting in the American War of Independence, he emigrated to Nova Scotia with the Loyalists in 1783, settling near Fredericton the following year. This chapter covers his early years and settlement and life in New Brunswick.

Nicolas Audet dit Lapointe – Founding Settler of Île d'Orléans
Our Audet dit Lapointe ancestors were founding settlers of Île d'Orléans in the 1660s. Nicolas married Magdeleine Després in 1670 and they settled in what would become St. Jean parish. The couple had 11 children and are the progenitors of thousands of descendants throughout North America.

Jean-Baptiste Depoca dit Joanis – Our first Joanis Settler
Jean-Baptiste Depoca dit Joanis (1707-1792), a cordonnier, emigrated to New France in about 1735 from Cambo-les-Bains, a village in French Basque country near Bayonne. He married Marie-Louise Paquet in 1737 and they settled in Quebec, later moving to Yamaska and Île Jésus.

Pierre Alexandre Lapointe - Farmer, Blacksmith, Entrepreneur
Pierre Alexandre Lapointe (1825-1896) was our most successful entrepreneurial French Canadian ancestor. He was a carpenter, blacksmith, farmer, builder and repairer of sawmills and grist mills, dealer in farm implements, and, importantly, prominent as a founding settler, land owner and mill owner of Sainte-Rose-du-Dégelé in Temiscouata.

Pierre Jules Depocas dit Joanis – Sawmiller and Leader
Pierre Jules Joanis (1843-1927) worked for more than 50 years in the sawmilling industry on the Ottawa River and in Eastern Ontario. He was a millwright, farmer, Justice of the Peace and leading citizen of Rockland and Clarence Creek.

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