Avril Lavigne

Lavigne in 2011, s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Avril Ramona Lavigne

Place of Birth: Belleville, Ontario, Canada

Date of Birth: September 27, 1984

Ethnicity:
*father – French-Canadian, French, Polish, small amounts of Breton and English, remote Irish
*mother – English, Irish, Scottish

Avil Lavigne is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her songs “Complicated,” “Sk8er Boi,” “I’m with You,” “Don’t Tell Me,” “My Happy Ending,” “Nobody’s Home,” “Keep Holding On,” “Girlfriend,” “When You’re Gone,” and “What the Hell.” She has appeared in the films Fast Food Nation and The Flock. She is known as the “Pop-Punk Queen.”

Avril is the daughter of Judith-Rosanne “Judy” (Loshaw) and Jean-Claude Lavigne. She was born to a devout Christian family. Avril means April and Lavigne means “the vineyard” in French. Her father was born at RCAF Station Grostenquin in Grostenquin, Moselle, France, where his own French-Canadian father was stationed. Through her father, Avril is a direct descendant of Zacharie Cloutier (c. 1590-1677), a prominent early Québec settler. She was raised mostly in Napanee/Greater Napanee, Ontario.

Avril does not speak French, though she has a French passport. Her sister is married to Japanese musician Ryota Kohama.

Avril’s patrilineal line can be traced back to her tenth great-grandfather, Arthur Tessier.

Avril’s paternal grandfather was Joseph-Charles-Maurice Yves Lavigne (the son of Osias Joseph Lavigne and Anita Finger). Yves was born in Saint-Jérôme, La Rivière-du-Nord, Québec, and was a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Osias was the son of Joseph Lavigne and Marie-Victoire “Victoria” Tremblay. Anita was the daughter of Charles Finger, who was a French emigrant, from Dijon, Côte-d’Or, and of Malvina Beauvais, from Québec. Victoria’s maternal sixth great-grandmother, Marie Miteouamigoukoue, was a Weskarini Algonquin First Nation.

Avril’s paternal grandmother was named Lucie Dzierzbicki/Dzierbicki. Lucie was French, from Morhange, Forbach-Boulay-Moselle, and was of Polish descent.

Avril’s maternal grandfather was John William Loshaw (the son of Samuel Loshaw and Martha Donaldson). John was born in Ontario, Canada. Samuel was the son of George Washington Loshaw, who had ancestors from Connecticut, and of Lydia Jane Brewster, whose father was from New York. Martha was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of Robert Donaldson and Margarett/Margaret Cowan.

Avril’s maternal grandmother was Ramona Luella Bartman (the daughter of Samuel Hugh Bartman and Violet Lucinda Smith). Ramona was born in Ontario. Samuel was born in Limerick, Ireland, the son of Joseph Bartman and Diana Scales. Violet was the daughter of Asa Smith and Luella Lucinda Winters/Winter.

Sources: Genealogies of Avril Lavigne – http://www.nosorigines.qc.ca
http://famouskin.com
https://www.geni.com

Genealogies of Avril Lavigne (focusing on her father’s side) – http://bowergenealogy.ca
https://www.journaldequebec.com

Genealogy of Avril’s paternal grandfather, Joseph-Charles-Maurice Yves Lavigne – https://www.wikitree.com

Avril’s maternal grandmother, Ramona Luella Bartman, on the 1931 Canada Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Obituary of Avril’s maternal grandmother, Ramona Luella (Bartman) Loshaw – https://steelefuneralhome.ca