With Gervais (pronounced Djeur-vèzz on the banks of the Thames), you never know where the joke ends and the truth begins. What is true, however, is that he is the son of a Franco-Ontarian soldier.
Canadian soldiers waited four long years in England for the green light for D-Day in Normandy. Several married English women who brought them home after the war.
This is not the case with Laurent Raymond Jerry Gervais (1919-2002), originally from Pain Court, Ontario. During a blackout caused by a German bombing raid in Reading, he fell in love with young Eva Sophia House.
Baptism of Laurent Raymond Gervais, father of Ricky Gervais, on April 14, 1919 in Pain Court, Ontario. Photo courtesy of Jacques Noël
In this small Berkshire town about forty miles west of London, Ricky was born on June 25, 1961, the last of four siblings.
The one whom many now consider the greatest English humorist never took an interest in his ancestors. “I was always afraid of finding something terrible. If we had someone like Einstein who was really interesting, we would have been told. You find out that your great-great-grandfather dated prostitutes and was probably a serial killer. So I’m not watching.
He never visited his family in Ontario. Of the Gervais, he only remembers visiting his uncles and aunts, who arrived from Canada with their checked jackets.
His lukewarm attitude towards the Gervais did not prevent him from showing great admiration for his father: “My father was a day labourer. He got up at 5:30 every morning. He worked 50 years of his life, in all weathers and for very little money by show business standards. I remind myself of this every time I feel a little spoiled or abused by life.”
THE TALBOT ancestor
The first Gervais in America was a Talbot, also a soldier. Jean-Jacques Talbot (1665?-1730) originally came from St-Gervais de Rouen and ended up in Fort Lachine. And like the Franco-Ontarian soldier in England, he married a local girl and settled there until the end of his life.
Subsequent generations thrived on the Côte-du-Sud around Montmagny until Stanislas (1823-1872) moved to Pain Court in the mid-19th century.
Stanislaus had 19 children, including Adélard (1894-1972), in this small French-speaking village in southern Ontario, near the River Thames west of Chatham.
Having worked the countryside all his life, Adelard (aka Delore) served as County Reeve and was very active in Chatham politics.
paternal line BY RICKY GERVAIS
I
GERVAIS, Laurent Jerry (1919-2002)
HAUS, Eva Sophia (1925-2000)
Married 1944 in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
II
GERVAIS, Adelard (1894-1972)
DESLOGE, Florence Irene (1894-1934)
Married 2 January 1919 in Toledo, Ohio
III
GERVAIS, Stanislaus (1849-1934)
PELLETIER, Maria (1856-1940)
Married 11 February 1873, Pain Court, Ontario (the couple had 19 children)
Stanislaus Gervais and Mary Pelletier, great-grandparents of Ricky Gervais. The couple had 19 children. Photo courtesy of Jacques Noël
IV
GERVAIS, Stanislaus (1823-1872)
ALLAIRE, Maria (1822-1881)
Married 8 February 1848 at St-Pierre, Tilbury East, Kent County, Ontario (the couple had 11 children)
V
TALBOT called Gervais, Joseph (1794-1873)
TALON called Hope, Marie-Dorothée (1796-1873)
Married 5 October 1818 to St-François de la Rivière du Sud
vii
TALBOT named Gervais, Jean-Baptiste (1767-1817)
CAZEAU, Marie-Rose Angele (1772-1800)
Married 10 November 1789 in Montmagny (the couple had at least 9 children)
vii
TALBOT named Gervais, Jean-Baptiste (1743-1813)
PELLETIER, Marie-Anne (1743-1823)
Married 16 July 1764 in St-Roch-des-Aulnaies (the couple had 21 children)
viii
TALBOT called Gervais, Simon (1702-1783)
ALLAIRE, Marie-Therese (1713-1785)
Married 27 July 1734 in St-Vallier-de-Bellechasse (the couple had 18 children)
viii
TALBOT named Gervais, Jean-Jacques (1665?-1730)
SOMMEREUX, Marie-Charlotte (1678-1708)
Married 1 Aug 1698 at Pointe-aux-Trembles, Montreal