Posts Tagged French Canadian Genealogy
#52Ancestors – No. 21 – Charlotte A Kelley
Posted by Caroll in French Canadian Genealogy, Genealogy on May 26, 2014
This post is number 21 in the series of the #52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy Johnson’s site at Amy’s website.
I have two White family lines in my tree. One on my father’s side and one on my mother’s. White is a common name and most likely they are not related. It’s a little complicated as both of the first immigrants to the New World share the same name, John White. Both are from Great Britain. I have John White with his wife Ann Garner on my mothers side, who are Scots-Irish settling in South Carolina in 1753. On my Dad’s side is John Chauncy White who comes to Ontario, Canada from England between 1815 to 1830’s.
My intentions were to write about James Montgomery White, my second great-grandfather. He is the son of John Chauncy White. He is the husband of Percis DesJardins. The DesJardins are well known in Huron County, Michigan. I was looking for more info to write about James so he doesn’t get lost in the DesJardins family tree.
One Woman, Two Brothers
But I found more interesting information about his brothers William and Edward White. The two brothers married the same woman, Charlotte Kelley. Charlotte Kelley marries Edward White on July 26, 1862. They have one daughter named Eva born in April 1864. My initial search indicates that Edward White enlists in the Civil War serving for Company A, 11th Infantry Regiment on 25 December 1863 at age 17. He injured and dies of his wounds on July 4, 1864, near Marietta, GA. I wonder if Edward had a chance to see his daughter Eva before he died.
Charlotte then marries William White on December 1, 1867. William is the oldest brother to James and Edward White. Eight children are born to Charlotte and William White. William may have also served in the Civil War. I need to verify information of a record.
Charlotte is the daughter of Michael A Kelley and Sarah Ann Kenyon. Born June 1845 in New York state. She grew up in Ticonderoga, NY. Her family moved to Delaware Township in Sanilac County, Michigan before the 1860 Census was taken.
Charlotte’s last child Walter is born in 1887. He is 11 year’s old when his mother dies at the age of 54 in 1898. William moves the family down to Detroit. As of the 1910 Census he is listed as a boarder in Bad Axe, Michigan. William passes away in 1913.
#52 Ancestors – No. 15 – Suzanne Botfaite
Posted by Caroll in French Canadian Genealogy, Genealogy on April 13, 2014
This post is number 15 in the series of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy’s website.
Is it Botfaite or Gotfaite, that is the question?
There are several printed transcribed records of the immigrants and settlers of New France (Quebec) as well as the handwritten records of of the church. The handwritten records are in French. Specifically I am looking at the Drouin Collection. The collection is the work of Joseph Drouin, founder of the Drouin Genealogical Institute. The collection contains French-Canadian and English historical records from 1621-1967. The institute microfilmed the Quebec parish records back in the 19060’s.
My 10th great grandmother is Suzanne Botfaite. She was born in England about 1630 and died in Quebec in 1694. She is the daughter of Gilbert Botfaite and Anne Bonne. I have not been able to find the family in England. They have French names and good have easily moved back and forth from England to France before making the move to find a new life in Quebec.
The printed records stated various spellings for the Botfaite name. They include Betfer, Bedfer, Bedford, Bottefer, and a few others. There is another microfilmed capture of a Suzanne Bottefair that I am unable to decipher the flourish handwriting.
I find the microfilmed Drouin record interesting. In reviewing the record that last name appears to be spelled with a “G” not the letter “B”. I have looked at words starting with a capital “B” or “G” in this particular register and see a distinct pattern. The lower case “b” and “g” look similar. It most cases the “B” has a flourish or stroke on the left stem of the letter. I can see why a transcriber would think the first letter is a “B”. The more I look at the handwriting, the more I think the last name started with a “G” and may be Gotfaite instead. Now I just need to confirm my hypothesis.
Below is the entry of Suzanne’s 1649 marriage record to Mathieu Hubou at the Notre Dame parish in Montreal, Quebec. I highlighted words with the letter “G” in red. The blue circles are the letter “B”. Suzanne’s father, Gilbert is in one of the red boxes. The “G” in his name is written is similar to the first letter in Gotfaite. So, what do you think? Is it a “G” or “B”?
Source Information:
#52 Ancestors – No. 14 – Doris M Anderson
Posted by Caroll in Genealogy, Uncategorized on April 5, 2014
This post is number 14 in the series of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy’s website.
Newly Discovered Sister of my Grandmother
I received my grandmother’s photo album a couple of years from my Dad. I do not recall viewing the photo album at my grandmother’s house while she was alive, such a shame. My grandmother Edith Budny passed away at 56 years of age. I was a young teenager then and fascinated about her family.
In the album was a picture of three young girls, circa 1924. On the back, someone had written, Edith, Doris, and me. Well, I knew Edith was my grandmother. I didn’t have a clue about the other two. My grandmother told me about her siblings and passed down a genealogy data sheet of the DesJardins family tree. Edith’s grandmother was Persis Desjardins. So I had a list of all her siblings and knew about the two younger sisters given up for adoption back in 1930’s. A sibling named Doris was never mentioned.
Edith, Doris, and Me
I should have known better and made a connection. Edith named one of her daughters, Doris. My other Aunt and Dad didn’t have a clue about Doris in the old photo.
Earlier this week searching FamilySearch.org, I came upon a death record for a Doris M. Anderson. The parents match, as does the birth place. There is no online image and no cause of death listed. My grandmother’s younger sister, Doris was born on 06 February 1922 and died at the age of 5 on 30 May 1927.
The other young girl on the photo could be their older sister Lucylle (Lucy) Persis Anderson. Lucy is 18 months older than Edith. I don’t believe it is Helen Garnetta Anderson as she is three years older than Edith. Now I just need to document the photo for future generations. Yeah right, I have a huge tote of unlabeled photos.
Sources: “Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KF4R-119 : accessed 06 Apr 2014), Doris M Anderson, 30 May 1927; citing Bay City, Bay, Michigan, United States; 02007; FHL microfilm 001973179.
#52Ancestors – The King’s Daughters Marguerite Cardillion #1
I am taking up the challenge leveled by Amy Johnson at No Story Too Small. The challenge is to write one blog post each week on one of your ancestors for 2014. The challenge is a tool to write consistently, which is what I don’t do. I write one long blog a week and should write a few times a week.
I chose my 8th great grandmother, Marguerite Cardillion. Marguerite was born in St-Gervais, Paris, Ile de France, France in 1651 (some records show 1641). In 1665 she left France for the Canada sponsored by the French Government as a Les Filles de Roi (King’s Daughters). France was desperately trying to increase population of New France in the 1660’s to preserve their threshold in the New World.
The were many men in Quebec and very few women. Women were wanted to marry and bring forth many children to the new colony. The Crown offered a King’s dowry to women who willing went to the new world. Girls or young women who were either orphaned or without means to offer a dowry for a suitable marriage were eschewed in 1600’s France. Either condemned to women’s pauper prisons, convents, or worse yet the streets, some felt their only escape was a chance in an unknown new world. About 800 women took up the endeavor and traveled across the Atlantic to Quebec to become wives of soldiers and settlers.
King’s Daughters
The crossing took two months in the hold of a stinking ship. To survive that voyage, a person needed to be of hardy stock. Though the men wanted good looking women, they needed stocky women who could work a new farm and bear many, many children. Marguerite most likely married within six months of arriving. The women/girls did have time to get to know the men that were courting them before entering a contract of marriage. There was very little hanky-panky back then. Everything was kept prim and proper by the Church, nuns and society itself.
I chose Marguerite for this post because she took a chance leaving France where she faced hardship as an orphan with no way of supporting herself. Going to a strange land where she might not even survive the crossing, willing to contract a marriage to a man she barely knew and knowing there was no return to France if she changed her mind.
She fulfilled the Crown’s goal of populating the French Colony. That 15 year old girl is the 8th great grandmother to hundreds of descendents in Canada and the United States. n the U.S.
Photo credit: http://www.migrations.fr/700fillesroy.htm
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