In 1851, François Tourville was living in St-Jude, Québec, with his wife Louise Corriveau, and their children: Marie, Alexandre, Léonard, Marie-Louise, Luc and Célestin (Louis).
In 1860, his wife Louise was living in Sutton, Worcester County, in Massachusetts. We can assume from the Census that she is a widow. Lucky enough, I found two contracts signed before notary Timothée Brodeur in St-Hughes to give us a hint about when François Tourville died and confirm the fact that Louise Corriveau was indeed a widow when she moved to Massachusetts.
The first one is dated February 14, 1854. The document states that François Hubou dit Tourville and his wife Louise Corriveau, both residents of St-Jude, acknowledge receipt for the fourth payment that was due last January “of this year” for the sale of a land that was made by François to Bazile Richard, on March 30, 1850 before the same notary. The buyer is the owner of the neighbouring land.
Act No. 3004 dated February 14, 1854 before notary Timothée Brodeur.
The second contract was dated January 26, 1855 where Louise Corriveau, widow of the late François Tourville, resident of St-Jude, acknowledges receipt for the last payment regarding the sale of a land made by the late François Tourville, to Bazile Richard.
Act No. 3153 dated January 26, 1855 before notary Timothée Brodeur.
I have checked the St-Jude and St-Hughes church records for 1854 and early 1855 and I haven’t find anything. Was François planning to move to Massachusetts and he died on his way to the States or in Massachusetts? When his son Alexandre married in 1856, he states that he is from the United States. Did the family leave right after receiving that last payment? Généalogie Québec has baptisms, marriages and death entries indexed until 1850. When the years 1854-1855 will be indexed, maybe we will find his death record in another parish.
Both documents have been uploaded on the Website on the pages of François Tourville and Louise Corriveau.
At least, we now have a timeframe to continue the search.
Diane, thanks for taking the time to do this. It is very much appreciated. A couple comments: I double checked Alexandre’s marriage record. The one I noticed is a wedding date in 1856, not 1850 to Julie Roy does mention that Francois is dead. Is there a marriage record for hm in 1850? His brother Francois married in 1850 but the father is still living at that time in St. Hugues. I read Alexandre’s document as stating Francois is dead and that Louise Corriveau is living in the US. I did I not infer that Francois died in the US. But you have certainly made me wonder if perhaps Francois might have moved to the US ahead of the family and dies there. Something to think about
I am SO sorry about this, I mixed up the dates of the 2 brothers! I should not do this late at night… The correction will be made.
Aside from that, yes, the fact that he sold the land he was living on makes me wonder if he was not indeed preparing to leave for the United States. In January 1855, his wife collected the last payment… I can’t wait to see the records indexed for that period because the Ancestry site indexing is really bad.
Or maybe his name was so mispelled, we can’t find him in the Massachusetts records? Thank God, there is only one year between the 2 contracts 😉