"When he was young he was a very talented student but, like quite a few persons at the time, his parents did not have the means to pay for fees at the College de Levis. A friend of the family helped them with this problem. His name was le Curé (I'm at home so I'm guessing with the accents) de Gaspé and he was either the son or grandson of Philippe-Aubert de Gaspé who wrote "Les Anciens Canadiens". This also explains why Thomas-Aubert was also named "Aubert" though, as far as I know, he never used it in his lifetime. going strictly by the name Thomas." By Denis Van Wassenhoven