François Guéret (1774–1857) was born Oct. 21, 1774 in Bellechasse, Québec, and baptized there the next day in the Church of St-Vallier. He married his first wife Marie Anne Landry (c.1773–1805) on Jan. 8, 1798 in Kamouraska, Quebec in the Church of St-André. Marie, who had been born about 1773, died on June 18, 1805 in Kamouraska, and was buried the next day in the graveyard of the Church of St-Louis. François then married his second wife Marie Ursule Mignault on Jan 8, 1810 in the same church. He died in June of 1857 in Kamouraska and was buried on June 30 in the graveyard of the Church of St-Alexandre.
François Guerette (b. 1805) was born on May 23, 1805 in Quebec, and baptized the following day in the Church of St-André in the town of Kamouraska.
Bénoni Guerette (1799-1871), the son of François Guéret and Marie Julie Choret, was born on May 22, 1799 in Kamouraska, Québec, and baptized the next day in the Church of St-André. He married his first wife Marie Julie Chorette (1808–1833) on Nov. 23, 1830 in Kamouraska, probably in the same church. Marie, who had been born April 23, 1808 in Kamouraska, died when she was just 25 years old on Sept. 21, 1833 in Kamouraska, and was buried in the St-André churchyard. Bénoni then married his second wife Angélique Miville Deschenes (b. 1810) on Aug. 5, 1834, afain the Church of St-André. He at some point moved to Le Bic in Rimouski, Québec, where he died on Oct. 23, 1871, and was buried two days later in the Le Bic church graveyard.
children - GUERETTE
Marie Henriette Guéret (b. 1837) was born in Quebec, and baptized on April 1, 1837 in the Church of St-André in the town of Kamouraska. She married Antoine Roy on July 1, 1861 at the Le Bic church in Rimouski, Québec. They had three children - Anna (b. c.1863), Delvina (1869-1953) and Antoine (1877-1962), of whom Delvina married Barney Franklin in 1869 in Visalia and apparently lived there near her uncle Napoleon. Delvina's brother Antoine Roy also lived in Visalia, where he went by the name of Atwan King (1877-1962).
Firmin Guéret (1845-1914) was born Dec. 25, 1845 in Quebec. He moved to the United States in 1869, changing his name to Freeman Gerrett, and settling in Maine, where on March 4, 1884 he became a U.S. Citizen in Houlton at the Aroostook County Court. He died on March 2, 1914 in Fort Farifield Maine.
Napoléon Guéret (1846-1922), who who follows as Napoleon Jarrett:
several other children
Napoleon Jarrett (1846-1922), the son of Bénoni Guerette and Angélique Miville Deschenes, was baptized Napoléon Guéret on Aug. 16, 1846 in Rimouski, Quebec, probably on the same day that he was born, even though a birth date of Aug. 16, 1837 is inscribed on his tombstone. However, the tombstone dates from 1940 when Napoleon's daughter Mary died, and it may have replaced earlier markers that are now gone. Napoleon's U.S. naturalization record gives 1845 as the year he was born, and 1860 as his entry into the United States, but these dates may or may not be reliable.
Napoleon married Eleonore Moreau (1841-1927) on Jan. 7, 1869 in Madawaska, New Brunswick, and they subsequently made their home in Van Buren, Maine, which is not far from Madawaska. Here they had at least seven children baptized from 1870 to 1884. The Van Buren baptism records, which are written in French, show the mother's name as both Eleonore and Eleonard Moreau, but she also appears as Laura Morrow in later records that are written in English. Van Buren is made up largely of french-speaking Canadians, and sits right on the border between Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, and very close to Quebec. Consequently, when various records show Laura's birth place as Maine and others show it as french Canada, they may in fact be referring to bascially the same place.
Napoleon became a U.S. Citizen on March 4, 1884 in Houlton, Maine at the Aroostook County Court, on the same day and place as his brother Freeman (Firmin). A few weeks later, the last of Napoleon and Laura's children was born in Maine. They next appear during the 1900 U.S. Census in Visalia, California, where Napoleon owned a lumber yard. Visalia was still their residence ten years later during the next census. Napoleon and Laura's great grandaughter Betty Lopez remembers Laura in Visalia as a small woman who spoke only french and insisted that others speak to her only in french as well, despite having lived in the United States for most of her life. Napoleon died on July 13, 1922 in Visalia, and Laura died on Nov. 19, 1927 in Monterey County. Both are buried in the Visalia Public Cemetery and share the same tombstone with their daughter Mary.
children - GUERETT (JARRETT)
Mary Guerett (1870-1940) was born on Oct. 20, 1870 in Maine, probably in the town of Van Buren. She was mentally retarded and lived with her parents most of her life. She died on Jan. 30, 1940 in Sonoma County, California, but she is buried with her parents in the Visalia Public Cemetery in Tulare County.
Julia Guerett (1872-1883) was born Oct. 20, 1872 and in Maine and baptized on Dec. 1, 1872 in the town of Van Buren. She never married and died when she was young from some sort of disease and was buried on Oct. 28, 1883 in the church cemetery of Van Buren, just five days after the burial of her sister Laura, who succombed from the same disease.
Elionard (Laura) Guerett (1875-1883) was born on April 27, 1875 in Maine and baptized there on July 21, 1877, the same day as her brother Napoleon, in the town of Van Buren. She did not marry and died when she was young from the same disease that took the life of her sister Julia. She must have died first as she was buried on Oct. 23, 1883 five days before her sister.
Alfred (Fred) Guerett (1879-1947) was born on April 12, 1879 in Maine and baptized there on August 10, 1879 in the town of Van Buren. He came to California with his parents and appears with them in the 1900 U.S. Census. He died Oct. 25, 1947 in Santa Cruz County, California
Marie Lina (Lena) Guerett (1882-1959) was born on May 13, 1882 in Maine and baptized there on May 27, 1884 in the town of Van Buren. She came to California with her parents and appears with them in the 1900 U.S. Census. She died under the name Lena Burke on Dec. 18, 1959 in San Francisco County.
Marie Agnes Guerett (1884-1930) was born on April 19, 1884 in Maine and baptized there on May 27, 1884 in the town of Van Buren. She came to California with her parents and appears with them in the 1900 U.S. Census. She married Julius Herman Renz (1875-1949) and lived in Petaluma, where they had three children - Lawrence (1902-1964), Harold (1907-1949), and Laura (b. 1918). Agnes died Feb. 12, 1930 in Sonoma County, afterwhich Julius married his second wife Rosa Margaretha Lenhard (1885-1961).
Joseph Jarrett (1879-1934), the son of Napoleon Jarrett and Laura Morrow_, was probably born on May 7, 1877 in Maine, as he was baptized there on the same day as his sister Elionard on July 21, 1877 in the town of Van Buren, even though May 7, 1879 is the birth date inscribed on his tombstone. He maried Alvina "Vina" Catherine Doke (1882-1967), probably about 1901 in Visalia, California. Vina, who had been born on Jan. 10, 1882 in Van Buren, Arkansas, was the daughter of Nathaniel Doke (1839-1892) and Ellen Louisa Campbell (1847-1931), and she was living in 1900 in Visalia with her mother and three siblings. Joseph and Vina during the 1910 U.S. Census were living in Bakersfield, and later they moved to Vallejo, California. Joseph died on Feb. 9, 1934 in Solano County, most likely in Vallejo, and Vina died on March 10, 1967 in Vallejo. Both are buried in the Visalia Public Cemetery where Joseph's parents are buried also.
children - JARRETT
Shirley Josephine Jarrett (1902-1988), who follows:
Gerald Jarrett (1905-1915) was born Jan. 20, 1905 and died on Nov. 17, 1915 in an accident when he fell down an elevator shaft and was crushed beneath the elevator. He is buried near his parents in the Visalia Public Cemetery.
Shirley Josephine Jarrett (1902-1988), the daughter of Joseph Jarrett and Alvina Doke, was born on June 12, 1902 in California. She married her first husband Willard Stewart Bourne (1893-1988) on Dec. 27, 1920 in Vallejo, California, but they divorced about 1924, when he moved to Hawaii and remarried. She was then married from 1929 to 1932 to her second husband Ralph Radford Amaden (1905-1956), an attourney from Sacramento, but they separated after a few months, and later divorced. She then married her third husband Gordon Wesley Loney (1907-1993) on March 13, 1935 in Carson City, Nevada, and he adopted Shirley's daughter Betty from her first marriage. Shirley and Gordon lived all of their married life at the ranch that he inherited from his father at Gordon Valley in Napa County, California. She died on Sept. 13, 1988 and is buried in Rockville Cemetery in adjacent Solano County, California, next to Gordon who died on Jan. 25, 1993 in Suisun City.
children - BOURNE
Betty Bourne was born on Aug. 20, 1921 in Siskiyu County to Shirley Jarrett and Willard Stewart Bourne, and adopted by her stepfather Gordon Loney, who became her mother's second husband. Betty's marriages and children are described in the Bourne Family History.
Gay, Penny, 2013, Penny was kind enough to share her research on the Guerette (Jarrett) family of Quebec. Without her contributions there would be many missing pieces in this history.
Lopez, Betty, 2013, Interview with Betty Lopez by Mike & Janet Clark on Jan. 26, 2013 at the Loney Ranch.
U.S. Census Records, 1790-1930 (available online at Ancestry.com).
U.S. Social Security Records (available online at Ancestry.com).
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Maine, California and Quebec (available online at Ancestry.com, and Familysearch.org).
by Janet & Michael Clark
This history is an evolving document.
Despite our best intentions it probably contains mistakes.
Please let us know if you spot any by sending an email to Mike Clark
Genealogy of the Jarrett Family 
