Do you know anything about the Betancourt name?

Question:Does anyone know who, where and when the name "Betancourt" settled in America?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Does anyone know who, where and when the name "Betancourt" settled in America?

It's actually a pretty interesting family to research. The actual spelling was variously Bettancourt, Bethancourt and Betancourt. The Spanish and Portuguese lines are part of the French family. It was a noble family and full of explorers. The two lines of the family were the d'Espence de Bettancourt and Duriez de Bettancourt. Both lines go back to the Ile de France and were part of the House of Bourbon. The Bourbons also ruled Spain and Portugal at various points in time which is why the Bettancourt name is found in all three countries.

Spend some time tracing your American line back to their emigration and find out when they came over. I'm betting you'll find it after the French Revolution and before the Civil War. The post-Revolution period and the Napoleonic era were difficult for the Bourbon lines. There were many who found refuge in the US because the Bourbons had heavily financed the American Revolution and had many "friends" in the US who would protect them from assasination.

BTW, if you really want to have fun tracing the family, a line of the Bettancourt family also ended up in Mexico during the period when France was in control of Mexico. They settled in the far south near Belize and still live there today.

The family didn't leave France all at once. They were very notable explorers and had influence in several parts of Europe. The family left Europe in bits and spurts and while they're all related if you go back to the 15th century, you have a heavy group of Catholic reproducers there...lots of branches to that tree.

the only betancourt i know is portuguese, from the azore islands mostly. i don't know when but i know a lot of portuguese from the azores settled in the new england area of the US and in the central valley in california. my dad is from the azores, not a betancourt though so i know a little but not as much as i should. hope that helps.

From Ancestry.com

betancourt
Spanish (Canary Islands) and Portuguese: from Béthencourt (see Bettencourt), the name (with many variants) of the first conqueror of the Canary Islands (1417), a knight of Norman-French origin. This name is also common and widespread in Latin America.

Immigration records show about 5 to 15 people of such name immigrating each year to US from 1852-1891 (no easy to acquire data past or before that point).

The ones I could find from France are [fields are Name, Arrival Date, Estimated Birth Year, Gender, Port of Departure, Ethnicity/Nationality and Ship Name]:

Antonio Betancourt 28 Jun 1876 abt 1856 Male Guantanamo, Cuba French Evening Star

Hande Betancourt 1 Mar 1856 abt 1820 Male Cowes, England and Le Havre, France French Arago

Mr. J Betancourt 9 Mar 1881 abt 1857 Female Le Havre, France French Labrador

Jose Betancourt 11 May 1881 abt 1837 Male Vera Cruz Havana and Mexican Ports French Knickerbocker

Pedro Iglesias Y Betancourt 6 Mar 1935 abt 1906 Male Le Havre, France French;Cuban (French) Paris