40 Days | Day 14 | A Day At The Archives

fullsizerender-126Home Sweet Home! Just before leaving for St. Louis I had found in a notary’s repertoire numerous contracts concerning the Arpajou family—I’m working on the ancestors of Sophie Arpajou married to Charles Tourville. While perusing said documentation, I stumbled upon the name Bangle.

You’re probably aware by now that the Bangle family is only another one of the many obsessions that keep me busy. You couldn’t even start to imagine the torture I had to endure knowing that I would have to wait until my return to check these records.

Well, the surprise lived up to any expectations I may have had!

The name: Catherine Bangle.
The place: Saint-Hyacinthe.
The year: 1844.
The number of documents: 4.
The notary: François-Léon Dessureau.
The quality of filming: bad, really bad.

There are two people who go by the name of Catherine Bangle: the first one was born in 1770, is the daughter of Adam Bangle and Marie Davis, and is married to Jacob Schmidt; the second one was born in 1815, is the daughter of William Bangle and Marie Tourville, and is married to John B. Minor (Ménard).

What truly amazed me a few weeks ago was that the second Catherine was already married in 1844 (her husband was still alive). How come she was able to be a grantee/grantor? Did her husband give his consent in doing so? Catherine was living in upstate Vermont, but one of her children was born in Québec. It was close to 1844. That was probably her, authorized by her husband, I concluded at the time.

Well, was I wrong!

Rather it was the first Catherine Bangle, widow of Jacob Schmidt! Still alive in 1844, at 74, and missing since 1815 when her son Jacob got married in Sorel, Quebec.

This outstanding breakthrough will be featured in a post for the Bangle Files, but I couldn’t keep that information to myself. As mentioned above, even if the film was in poor condition, there is positively no doubt about her identity.

Don’t you love a good find?

cath-bangle-smith


To learn more about my 40-Day Adventure…