The Bangle Files: #31 | Life for Marie Tourville’s Children After William Bangle’s Passing

Once the main subject of our research has died—William Bangle (1765-1821) in our case—we typically tend to forget about the widow and divert our attention to the children, usually only after their marriage. I will indeed focus on Marie Tourville in my next post, but what I am most interested in here is how this family unit worked. Continue reading

The Bangle Files: #30 | The Two Lost Brothers

Of the twelve children born to William Bangle (1765-1821) and Marie Tourville (1778-1853), two are nowhere to be found: Joseph-Hippolyte, born in 1806, and his brother Félix, born in 1812.

Let’s start with the youngest. Félix was born on June 13, 1812, and was baptized on the following day, in the parish of Saint-Henri, in Mascouche. This is the only recorded event I got for this child: no clue about a marriage or a burial, no nothing. Until a man called Philip D. Bangle caught my attention. On Find A Grave Website, his birth year is 1813. He was married to Polly Ann Loing. Hum… Philip, Félix… I decided he was worth a careful investigation! Continue reading

The Bangle Files: #29 | Louis Bangle (~1798-1838)

In this post and in the one to follow, I would like to bring up some Bangles whose ancestry hasn’t been confirmed yet. At first, I thought we could get in touch with Ol’ Blue Eyes whom I “met” at the National Archives in England last summer.

Let’s start from the beginning.

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The Bangle Files: #28 | A Twenty-Year Gap

Remember John Bangle and Louise Couvillon? The last we heard from them, they were both serving a sentence in a Montréal prison during the course of the month of October 1820. If you are like me, you are no doubt brainstorming about what happened to them.

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The Bangle Files: #27 | Marie Tourville at Notary Joseph Turgeon

A few weeks ago, we left William Bangle traveling across the Northwest as he had agreed to work for more than two years as a voyageur. He was absent from home during the period of May 1803 to October 1805 approximately.

On November 21, 1804, Marie Hubou dite Tourville, resident of Terrebonne, met with Notary Public Joseph Turgeon. She mentioned that her husband William Bangle has left for Upper Canada about 18 months earlier, where he seemed to be residing now (it seems like she was not aware that William had signed up for two years).

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ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | Z for Zace

François-Xavier Zace joined the Bangle clan by marrying Elizabeth, daughter of William Bangle and Marie Tourville, on August 12, 1828, in Berthierville, Québec. Born in said town on January 18, 1809, he lost his father, Jean-André Szass, when he was just 2. His mother was Théotiste Hénault dit Canada. François-Xavier and Elizabeth had 11 children and their places of birth indicate how the family moved around—Berthierville, Bedford, Saint-Césaire, Stanbridge, and Terrebonne (Québec); Williston and Burlington (Vermont); and Bourbonnais and Kankakee (Illinois) where they settled about 1856. François-Xavier died in Bourbonnais on September 7, 1857.

The Bangle Files


The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | Y for Y-DNA

Genetic genealogy is part of genealogy nowadays, but it certainly does not replace the paper trails—essential so that the relationship between two people may be proven. Nevertheless, I look forward to the day when we will have more Y-DNA tests done by male Bangle descendants to validate (or invalidate) relationships between different Bangle lines, i.e. those of Joseph, married to Theodate Yeaton; Philip, married to Polly Loing (both presumed sons of William and Marie Tourville); and Louis, married to Angélique Duhaut dit Jasmin (presumed son of John Bangle). While I’m waiting, I’m still digging in the archives.

The Bangle Files


The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | X for Signature (or not)

It’s noteworthy that some of the Bangles of the first and second generations were able to sign their name. Did they know how to read and write though? This matter is somewhat challenging to elucidate. Here is a summary:

First Generation
Adam Bangle—Signed twice. Was too ill to sign his will a few months before his death.

Marie Davis—The mark “X” for her

Second Generation
John Bangle—Depending on what foot he got up in the morning, sometimes he signed, sometimes he didn’t.

William Bangle—Always the mark “X” for him

Catherine Bangle—She signed on various documents.

The Bangle Files


The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | W for William

William Bangle was the first child of Adam and Marie to be born in America, on September 6, 1765, in Palatine, NY. He joined the King’s Royal Regiment of New York during the Revolutionary War. In 1786, at age 19, he arrived in Montreal and, at age 28, he married Marie Tourville, most probably in Terrebonne, Québec. The couple had twelve children. William’s occupations were diverse: miller, laborer, voyageur and farmer. William also owned a few lands in or near Terrebonne. His family later moved to the Berthierville and Joliette areas. William died on February 2, 1821, at age 55.

The Bangle Files


The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres