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The Rainville or Ranville name is recorded, in bits and pieces back to ancient times...

There remains a well known town of Rainville, in the Department of Vosges in Normandy where hundreds of Canadian soldiers, killed during the Normandy invasion in WWII, are buried in an international war cemetery. Building foundations in Rainville, Normandy date back to Roman times.

Our Ancestors:

I. Jean De Rainville b.1585 and Jeanne Brechet b.1597, lived in Touques, Normandy, France

II. Paul De Rainville b.1619-1686, and Polline (Rolline) Poette b.1620-1666 moved from Touques,             Normandy to Beauport, New France in 1655
in 1666, Paul de Rainville married Marie Michel b.1620-1687

III. Jean De Rainville b.1638-Dec.23,1723, he married twice; lived in Beauport, New France
(1) July 16, to Susan Badeau b.1645-1670 (3 children)
(2) Oct. 26,1671 to Elizabeth De Lagueripierre b.1638 (8 children)

IV. Charles De Rainville (a juneau twin) b. May 8,1678 - 1742 - born in Beauport, Quebec, a fur trader,
he moved to Montreal in 1704
He married twice;
(1) married May 11, 1705 to Suzanne Cabassier b.a1670 - June 1745 (2 children)
(2) married in 1724 to Margueritte Godin dit Chatillon

V. Peter Joseph Rainville b.1713 - ) , born in Montreal, he was a fur trader at Michilimacinac;
He married three times
(1) married Oct. 13, 1738 in Longue Point (Montreal) to Louise Deneau b.Aug 25,1722 -    1744
(1 daughter, Marie-Louise, survived infancy)
(2) married Mar 1, 1745, in Montreal to Francoise Roy b.a1706 - 1748 (no children)
(3) married Feb. 17, 1749 in La Prairie, Quebec to Angelicque Betourne b.July 29,1726 -    June 18, 1769 (7 children)

VI Joseph Rainville b. July 30, 1753 - 1805. Born in Montreal, Quebec, son of Peter Joseph Rainville and Angelique Betourne. He lived at Kaposia, (near Ft. Snelling or St. Paul, MN.)
He married in 1775 to Miniyuhe, daughter of Mdwakanton Dakota Chief Big Thunder of the Kaposia Band
They had 2 sons, Victor and Joseph.

VII Joseph Renville b. 1779 - 1846. born at Kaposia, just below Mount Trempeauleau, (just south of St. Paul, MN.). Son of Joseph Rainville b. 1753 and Miniyuhe.
He was a Voyageur and a Fur Trader, built Fort Renville at Lac Qui Parle in 1823.
He married in 1825, at Prairie du Chien, Illinois to Tokanne, daughter of Petit Carboneau (Little Crow III) born at Kaposia in 1789
Tokanne accepted Christianity (one of the first Dakota to do so) and accepted the name Mary Renville in 1836. she died at Lac Qui Parle in 1840.
Joseph Renville died at home in Lac Qui Parle on March 3, 1846.
They had 9 children.

VIII Francois-Joseph Rainville b. a1807 (may have been a twin with Joseph Renville) baptised at Pembina, Dakota Territory in 1815. Assumption RC Church
His birth is registered by Lac Superior Catholic Mission in 1807. He was a famed buffalo hunter and voyageur in 1850 (1850 census of Pembina, p28, dwelling 99, family 99)
He married a1836 to Margueritte Bellegarde dit Lamarre and lived at Pembina, Dakota Territory.
He worked 1858 til he died in 1866, as a courier (mailman) for Kittson Express of Pembina.
He was killed in 1866 by Sioux Indians while delivering mail somewhere between Pembina and Lac Qui Parle.

CREDITS: Family Dictionary - "Early families of New France and Quebec" - U of Manitoba Reference Library, and St. Boniface Historical Society.