Genealogy - Familienforschung - Généalogie

 

Dirac

Thairé, Charente-Maritime

The first Dirac we know about is Jean-Laurent Dirac * ca. 1649 + 25 Sep 1707 in Gray, Haute-Saône, Bourgogne-France-Comté, France. He was a royal executory officer and served as a "dragon" in the royal regiment of Starhemberg. On 25 October 1671 Jean-Laurent Dirac married Guillemette Bavelier  * 27 July 1650 in Gray, Haute-Saône. Guillemette was the daughter of Nicolas Bavelier, royal notary, and Rose Chaumont.

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

Family Tree - 11 generations up to Jean-Patrick Dirac

1st
generation

Jean-Laurent Dirac
* before 1649 
+ 25 Sep 1707 Gray, Haute-Saône, France
royal executory officer
oo
25 Oct 1671 Gray
Guillemette Bavelier
* 27 Jul 1650 Gray,
Haute-Saône, France

at least
6 children

Jacques 1675, Claude-Françoise 1676, Christophe 1679, Marie Barbe 1683, Didier 1688, Claudine Charlotte 1701

2st
generation

Didier Dirac
* 3 Jul 1688 Gray
+ ca. 1723 Besançon
sergeant in the
regiment of Poitou and Besançon, France
oo
28 Jan 1715
Sedan, Ardennes
Catherine Guilbaut
* 1683 Sedan, Ardennes
+ 21 Nov 1778
Besançon, Doubs, France

at least
2 children

Marie * ca. 1720-1778
Philippe * 1721

3nd
generation

Philippe Dirac
* 8 Aug 1721 Noyers
Noyers-sur-Jabron, Basses-Alpes
+ Thonon, Haute-Savoie
oo
Thonon, Haute-Savoie, France
Guérine Prumaz

at least
1 child

Pierre Louis 1782-1847

4rd
generation

Pierre-Louis Dirac
* 25 Jan 1748 Thonon
+ 17 Mar 1800
St. Maurice, Switzerland
oo
18 Apr 1780
St. Maurice
Andréanne Favre
* ca. 1755 Abondance, Haute-Savoie
+ 27 May 1821 St. Maurice

at least
3 children

François Louis 1782-1847, Claude Louis 1785-1864,
Patience 1795-1828,

5th
generation

François Louis Dirac
* 27 Jan 1782 St. Maurice VS
+ 1847 St. Maurice
oo
17 Nov 1807
St. Maurice
Marie Catherine Pignat
* 26 Sep 1784 Vouvry, Valais, Switzerland
+ 1851 St. Maurice VS

10 children

Louise Catherine Josette 1808, Louis François Xavier 1810-1882, Marie Patience 1812-1812, Patience Rosalie 1813, Marie Catherine Marie Marguerite 1815, François Henri 1817-1899, Anne-Marie Catherine 1819, Marie Patience 1821-1821, Marie Joséphine 1824-1865, Louis Auguste 1828-1900 - all born in St. Maurice

6th
generation

François Henri Dirac
* 28 Feb 1817 St. Maurice VS
+ 20 May 1899 St. Maurice VS, Switzerland
oo
11 Feb 1839
St. M.
oo
24 Apr 1859
St. M.
a) Marie-Catherine Heintz
* 1817 - 25 May 1856

b) Marie Lorétan
*
2 Jul 1832 Leukerbad VS
+ 31 Oct 1921 St. Maurice

11 children

a) Catherine Henriette 1839-1839, Catherine Antoinette Augustine 1840-1929, Marie Joséphine 1842, Louise Joséphine Mathilde 1843-1845, Pierre Maurice 1845-1847, Louise Rosalie 1846-1846, Julie Louise 1848-1849, Marie Catherine Françoise 1850-1850, Joseph Henri 1853-1853 - St. Maurice
b) Marie Louise 1859-1949 and Henri François 1864-1950 - all born in St. Maurice

7th
generation

Henri François Dirac
* 7 Apr 1864 St. Maurice
+ 8 Apr 1950 St. Maurice
oo
23 Mar 1904
Sierre
Julie Dennler
* 14 Jan 1878 Sierre
+ 24 Sep 1951 St. Maurice

4 children

Marie-Antoinette 1904-1997, Henriette Stéphanie 1909-1977, Louise Julie Sophie 1912-1978, François Frédéric Henri 1915-1982 - all born in St. Maurice

8th
generation

François Frédéric Henri Dirac
* 9 Jun 1915 St. Maurice
+ 22 Apr 1982 St. Maurice
oo
1 Oct 1948
St. M.
Simone Martin
* 2 Feb 1919 St. Maurice
+ 25 Dec 2010 St. Maurice VS

3 children

Christian Jacques Henri 1949, Henri Xavier 1950, Françoise Marie Madeleine 1954-2005 - all born in St. Maurice

9th
generation

Christian Jacques Henri Dirac
* 1949 St. Maurice VS
oo
9 Feb 1974 Geneva
Gisela Wahrenburg
* 1951
Warburg, Germany

2 children

Nicolas Frédéric 1975 and Christophe Henri 1979

10th
generation

Nicolas Frédéric Dirac
* 1975 Geneva
oo
2000 Wollerau SZ

oo 2013 Liestal BL

a) Lulu Otanes
* 1978 Dagupan City, Philippines

b) Angelie Gervise
* 1986 Argao, Philippines

2 children

a) Jean-Patrick  * 2001 Horgen ZH
b) Sandra 2017 Basel BS

 

Henri and Julie Dirac (née Dennler)

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

 

Dirac Genealogy (entry page)
Famile Tree of Pierre-Louis Dirac (1748-1799) and his wife Andréanne Favre
Family Tree of François Dirac (1782-1847) and his wife Catherine Pignat (1785-1851)
Family Tree of Louis-François Dirac ( 1810-1882) including Paul Dirac
Family Tree of François Dirac ( 1817-1899) including the American branch of the family

Paul Dirac, prix Nobel de Physique en 1933
Descendants of Paul Dirac's grandfather Louis-François Dirac ( 1810-1882)
Paul Dirac's ancestors up to his great-great-great-grandparents

Paul Dirac's parents, siblings and children


Le Village Dirac près d'Angoulême (Charente) et de Bordeaux
Philippe Dirac
- document de 1745
Les armoiries de Dirac (coat of arms)

 

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Copyright © by Gisela Dirac