Thairé, Charente-Maritime

The couple Dirac/Bavelier had at least 6 children, all born in Gray, Haute-Saône, France: Jacques Dirac * 1675, Claude-Françoise Dirac * 1676, Christophe Dirac * 1679, Marie Barbe Dirac * 1683, Didier Dirac * 1688, Claudine Charlotte Dirac * 1701.

Their son Didier Dirac was a sergeant in the French Army in different areas of France in the beginning of the 18th century.

On 28 January 1715 Didier married Catherine Guilbaut  * 1683 in Sedan, Ardennes. In 1721 their son Philippe Dirac was born in Noyer-sur-Jabron, Basses-Alpes. He had an older sister, Marie Dirac, who married Jean Claude Besançon in Besançon. We suppose that Didier and Catherine had more children but could not find proof of that so far.

After Didier's early death in 1723, his wife Catherine married Jean Hacardiau. We don't know if they had any children.

A document of 1745 proves that Philippe lived in Besançon with his mother Catherine for a while. He moved on to Thonon (Haute-Savoie) where his son Pierre-Louis Dirac was born in 1748. Later he lived in La Grave (Hautes Alpes) and finally the family settled down in St. Maurice, Valais before 1797. Most of Philippe Dirac's descendants still live in St. Maurice up to this day. Family members are found, however, all over Switzerland (Geneva, Basel, Zurich, Berne area), in England, the United States and in Denmark. The most famous member of that family branch is the physicist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac who was born in England and died in Florida.

The question if the family name has anything to do with the village of Dirac near Angoulême, Charente, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France cannot be answered definitively, but it is very probable. We would have to go back 800 or 900 years when people started to have family names. Very often they called themselves after their town of origin. Nowadays, there are only a few people with the name of Dirac in France. We mostly find the name in Switzerland (descendants of Pierre-Louis Dirac).

With such a rare family name, genealogy is great fun. Almost all people with the name of Dirac we found during our research are related to us and fit perfectly well into our family tree. There are however a few exceptions:

1. Hugh Dirac, author of the novel "The Profit of Doom" (published in 1970). As we don't know anything about this person, every detail about him is greatly appreciated, please write us at:
   
    
2. We found entries about a Dirac Family on the French Island "La Réunion", Indian Ocean. First we thought these Diracs came after the French Revolution when the island was conquered by the French. We supposed they were retired soldiers or civil administrators. But then we discovered they were former slaves. The year of their enfranchise was 1848.
   We have no idea who gave them the family name of Dirac. If you know anything about this Dirac Family, please contact us. Click here to read what we found out about them so far.
   
    
3. Thomas Dirac, born 1852, who was found as a baby on the doorstep of people in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France. He was called Dirac by chance by the authorities of the town. His name changed to Dyrac later. Thomas had five children: Gabrielle, Esther, Léopold, Edouard and Prosper. The only male descendant of these five children is Jean Dyrac, former Consul of France. He has one son, Serge Dyrac, and two grandsons (twins) Thomas and Romain Dyrac. - No relationship! But it was fun to correspond and exchange information with Thomas Dirac's descendants.
    

Les armoiries de Dirac

Dirac Coat of Arms

Dirac Familienwappen

1st
generation

at least
6 children

2st
generation

at least
2 children

3nd
generation

at least
1 child

4rd
generation

at least
3 children

5th
generation

10 children

6th
generation

11 children

7th
generation

4 children

8th
generation

3 children

9th
generation

2 children

10th
generation

oo 2013 Liestal BL

b) Angelie Gervise
* 1986 Argao, Philippines

2 children

Henri and Julie Dirac (née Dennler)

Their children: Henriette, Marie-Antoinette,
Louise and François (middle) - around 1917