For no specific reason this week, I decided to do some more research of my paternal French lines. I decided to start with my gateway French ancestor, Claude-Françoise QUINET, or as she is mostly known, Frances (Quinet) THOMPSON. She is my 4th-great-grandmother and probably the most distant ancestor that I have a photo.
I started at the FamilySearch wiki, which is always a good place to start when researching a new location. It has great articles on the best resources and where to find them. Much to my surprise, France has digitized and made available all of the civil and church records, at least from the Department I needed, Haute-Saône. The website was very easy to use once I was able to determine the locations I needed, even if it was in French.
I had a lot of the information for Frances and many generations back, but just the information, no sources or proof. This was probably entered back when I just found info and entered it like a rabid accountant. Fortunately, finding the actual records was made a bit easier as I had dates to work from. Most of them lined up perfectly and I was able to confirm and source dozens of baptisms, marriages, and deaths. I was even able to add one new generation back. I started my search in the early 1800s, but I was able to find records back to the late 1600s available on the site. Those were more hit-and-miss as I wasn’t able to find any of my ancestors in them.
Early on in my research, the records were in French, so just memorizing important genealogical words (i.e., baptism, marriage) and numbers was very helpful. At some point in the 1700s, everything switch over to Latin, which is a bit different to read (see the record above.)
I’m not completely finished digging through for the missing records and I have yet to see if any of my other possible French ancestors can be found in these digitized records. If you have French ancestors, make sure to look at the FamilySearch wiki.
The ninth ancestor in my 52 week challenge is my 4th-great-grandfather, William Henry THOMPSON. With a name like William Thompson, how hard can it be to pinpoint him?
This has been my trouble with William. I have records of him starting in 1850 once his family settled in Wisconsin, but before that is a mystery. If I do a search based on his information, I get thousands of results.
According to the sources I do have, William was born sometime between 1810 and 1816 in either England, Ireland, or Scotland. His headstone says he was 77 years of age when he died in 1890, so I usually use 1813 as his birth year. There is a Wisconsin death record over at FamilySearch that I’m pretty sure is this William Thompson that lists his parents as William THOMPSON and Fasmie RUINNET. Though, a lot of other user’s information lists his parents as Edward & Isabella THOMPSON, but no solid sources so far.
According to my records, in 1839, he married Claude-Françoise “Francis” QUINET in Syracuse, New York. I have yet to find solid evidence of this marriage, but the Quinet family was recorded to have been in that area during that time. They must have left not long after the marriage, as their first child was born in Wisconsin in 1841. They settled in in Granville, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin, which is now no longer around, but part of multiple towns in the area. Sometime between 1854 and 1857, they relocated north to the Morrison and Wrightstown area in Brown County, Wisconsin.
On 4 February 1890, William passed away and is buried next to his wife at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Wrightstown. I wrote a post about our trip to that area and the finding of William’s resting place.
I had the luck of finding a photo of my 4th-great-grandmother while doing some research on her descendant lines on Ancestry.com. I happened to see a photo of her daughter, Mary, with some other people. I clicked on it and saw that it said the name of the older woman was “Frances Thompson.” I did a double-take to make sure that was the name I thought it was.
This photo includes Frances, her daughter Mary, Mary’s son Charles, and Charles’ son Edwin. I don’t know the exact year, but Frances died in 1899 and Edwin was born about 1889. If I had to guess I’d say it’s from about 1894-95 or so since Edwin looks to be about 5 or 6.
I thought I’d take an Irish theme on the latest entry into my “Single View” post series since today is St. Patrick’s Day. Though, there is some confusion to where this ancestor originally came from.
William Henry THOMPSON was born sometime between 1810 and 1816 in either Ireland, England, or Scotland, depending on which record you look at. In the 1870 Census of Morrison, Brown Co., Wisconsin, he is listed as being born in 1810 in England. On his headstone, the listing of his daughter in the 1905 Wisconsin State Census, and the Wisconsin Deaths and Burials, 1835-1968 entry, he was born in 1813 in Ireland. In the 1880 and 1860 Morrison, Brown Co., Wisconsin census records, he was born in 1816 in Ireland. Finally, in the 1850 Census of Granville, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin and listed as his birthplace in entries for his daughter, Pauline (THOMPSON) FIRMENICH, he was born in 1816 in Scotland. Adding to the fact that the name William THOMPSON covered about 15 billion people back then, he has been a tough one to find.
The important dates for this week in our family history. As always, you can find this info on the Dates & Anniversaries page.
Thomas & Emma Corrigan Family
July 25th
1915 – Died – Thomas J CORRIGAN – Thomas is my great-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born on 3 Mar 1855 in Mara Township, Brechin, Ontario, Canada. He married Emma Jane FIRMENICH, his second marriage, in 1892 and together they had 9 children. Thomas passed away on the same day his youngest daughter, Sadie, was born. He is buried at St. Agnes Cemetery in Ashland, Ashland Co., Wisconsin.
1919 – Married – Arthur THIELKE & Madora LAST – Arthur and Madora are my great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married at Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and together had 4 children. Arthur passed away in 1964. Madora later re-married and passed away in 1979. They are buried together at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin.
July 27th
1921 – Married – Leon DEBROUX & Mildred VAN PRICE – Leon and Mildred are my great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married at Mattoon, Shawano Co., Wisconsin and together had 6 children. They later moved to Port Washington, Wisconsin where they lived the rest of their lives. Leon passed away in 1982 and Mildren later in 1994. They are buried together at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Port Washington.
July 28th
1900 – Died – Georg Heinrich STIERNS – Georg is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born in 19 April 1935 in Württemberg, Germany. He married Katherine Margaretha SCHUMACHER in about 1862. After they had 4 children in Germany, they emigrated to Wisconsin in about 1881. The name was also listed as STEARNS.
July 29th
1684 – Died – Eleanor (ALDERSEY) CUTTS – Eleanor is my wife’s 10th-great-grandmother on her mother’s side. She was born about 1682 in Portsmouth, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire. In 1649, she married Richard CUTTS. She passed away in Portsmouth 9 years after her husband.
July 31st
1886 – Died – Jean-Baptiste LAURENT – Jean-Baptiste is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born on 18 Jan 1825 in Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Walloon Brabant, Belgium to Constant and Marie (BERO) LAURENT. He later emigrated to America and married Olivine ST. LOUIS in 1857 at Little Chute, Outagamie Co., Wisconsin. He is buried at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Norwood, Langlade Co., Wisconsin.
I missed the Way Back Wednesday this week, oops. Anyway, here is the weekly history for this week. As always, you can find this on the Dates & Anniversaries page.
June 28th
2005 – Died – Edwin Bernard CORRIGAN – Edwin is my great-granduncle on my father’s side. He was the last surviving child of Thomas & Emma Jane CORRIGAN. I met him many times at a few of the family reunions. He was a very nice man and was very interested in genealogy, which was good for that side of the family. I transcribed a few of his letters in the past and put them on my site. He was born 4 Oct 1909 in Ashland, Ashland Co., Wisconsin. He married Esther Mae EIDE and has one child. He passed away in L’Anse, Baraga Co., Michigan at the age of 95.
1664 – Born – Ernest Ludwig FABER – Ernest is my wife’s 8th-great-grandfather on her father’s side. He was born at Neipperg, Baden, Germany. In 1691, he married Maria Catherina STOLTZENHABER and had 4 children. He passed away on 10 Mar 1739 at Neipperg, Baden, Germany.
1941 – Married – Keith R MORAN and Barbara COLLINS – Keith and Barbara are my wife’s grandparents. They were married at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. Together they had two boys. Keith passed away in 1985.
July 3rd
1863 – Born – Augusta Johanna LUEDTKE – Augusta is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born in Storkow, Pommerania which is now just east of Szczecin, Poland. She immigrated to the US at an early age and married Carl F H LAST in 1883. Together they had a whopping 16 children. Carl passed away in 1926 and Augusta lived to be 100, passing away 2 weeks after her 100th birthday on 14 Jul 1963.
1774 – Died – Josephte CHEVREFILS-BELISLE – Josephte is my 7th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 11 Nov 1719 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She married Antoine LAFOND in 1750. She passed away in Baie-du-Febvre, Yamaska, Quebec, Canada.
1897 – Died – Robert MORAN – Robert is my wife’s 3rd-great-grandfather on her father’s side. He was born about 1820 somewhere in Ireland. In 1845. he married Dorothea COOK in either Canada or Ireland and together they had 9 children and then finally settling in Wisconsin. He passed away in Tarver, Wisconsin, located in the southwestern section.
June 19th
1807 – Died – Pieter JUNIS – Pieter is my 6th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born about 1753 and married Jacoba KNUDDE. They had 5 children including my ancestor, Anna Threzia JUNIS. He passed away at Hoofdplaat, Zeeland, Netherlands.
Here are the weekly events in my family history for this week. As always, you can browse them yourself on the “Dates & Anniversaries” page.
March 7th
1888 – Born – William H LAST – William is my great-granduncle on my mother’s side. He was born in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin, the third child (of 16) of Charles and Augusta (LUEDTKE) LAST. He married Johann SCHMITZ in about 1913 and had two children. He passed away 10 Aug 1965 in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried there at St. Mary’s Cemetery.
March 8th
1787 -Died – Anna Catherina CROX – Anna is my 6th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 11 Jun 1857 in Genk, Limburg, Belgium. She married Wilhelmus van CRAYBECK in 1778 and had 4 children. She passed away at 30 years of age at Genk.
1671 – Married – Nicolaes van CRAYBECK & Helena WAGEMANS – Nicolaes and Helena are my 9th-great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married at Kuringen, Belgium.
August 10th
1732 – Died – Louise DEGUITRE – Louis is my 8th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 5 Aug 1667 in Cogne, Aunis, France. She married Jacques Robidas dit MANSEAU in 1692. She passed away at Baie-du-Febvre, Yamaska, Quebec, Canada.
August 11th
1692 – Married – Alexis RICHARD & Claudine LANGLOIS – Alexis and Claudine are my 9th-great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married at Neuville, Port Neuf, Quebec, Canada.
1736 – Died – Vincent DUCHARU – Vincent is my 8th-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born about 1660 at Menoux, Haute-Saône, France. He married Claudine HANRYOT in about 1670. They had 6 children, including my ancestor, Anne Françoise DUCHARU. He passed away at Menoux, Haute-Saône, France.
August 12th
1697 – Died – Guillaume PEPIN – Guillaume is my 10th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born about 1607 at St. Laurent, Saintonge, Xaintes, France. He married Jeanne Mechin dit DE FRONTIGNY in about 1645. He passed away at Trois-Rivieres, St. Maurice, Quebec, Canada.
August 13th
1715 – Died – Marie Madeleine ROUSSEL – Marie is my 8th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 23 Nov 1676 at Trois-Rivieres, St. Maurice, Quebec, Canada. She married Gabriel BENOIT on her birthday in 1693. She passed away at Baie-du-Febvre, Yamaska, Quebec, Canada.
1715 – Married – Pierre LAFOND & Marie Jeanne LEFEBVRE – Pierre and Marie are my 8th-great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married at Batiscan, Champlain, Quebec, Canada.
1977 – Died – Sister Mary Clarentine TROKA – Sister Mary was born Frances TROKA on 31 Mar 1910 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Joseph and Clara (SZULTA) TROKA. She is my 3rd-great-aunt on my father’s side. She took her first vows on 2 Aug 1935. She passed away in Wisconsin in 1977.
1872 – Died – Johann W G LAST – Johann is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born about 1820 in Prussia. Between 29 Mar 1865 and 14 Jun 1866 he was stationed with Company K, 50th Infantry Regiment Wisconsin during the civil war. He passed away in Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried with a soldier’s headstone at Union Cemetery in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin.
August 15th
1853 – Born – Nepomuncema SYLDAKT – Nepomuncema, also known as Annie, is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my father’s side. She was born in Poland (Austria) according to census records and also wins the strangest name award in my family tree. She married Ignatius SZULTA in about 1870. Her name always confused me until I ran across this entry at Wikipedia on John of Nepomuk, whom I assume the name comes from. She passed away on 22 Dec 1925 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is buried there at Holy Cross Cemetery.
1981 – Died – Joseph Frank ZALEWSKI – Joseph is my great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born October 1892 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the first boy of his parent’s 5 previous children. In 1917 he registered for World War I and was stationed with the 86th Division, Company B, 331st Machine Gun Battalion as I found out in my previois research. When he returned he married Emily TROKA and became a Milwauke City Police Officer until he retired in 1951. He passsed away at Cedarburg, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.
