The Bangle Files

An Introduction

BANQI wanted to start this series for a long time. After all the research having been carried out, with all the documentation accumulated, the transcription and the translation, it is sometimes difficult to know where I’m at. The story of the Bangles is fascinating and full of mysteries, no doubt about that; then, why not publish it? This indeed might help me keeping track of it all. And I guess there is a good crowd out there waiting for this.

Each article will be based on a source document. I will take baby steps so everybody will be able to follow. If I do have assumptions about something, it will be clearly indicated. It is not my wish to write a novel here.

So now, why the Bangle Files? What this has to do with the Tourvilles?

The Union of William Bangle and Marie Tourville

First, there is this couple, William Bangle and Marie Tourville who were probably married in Terrebonne, around 1794 (the Saint-Louis-de-France Parish registers were lost for the years 1793-1794). Unfortunately, no marriage contract exists but the baptisms of their twelve children proved the existence of this union.

A Day at the Archives

More than a decade ago, I was at the Archives nationales du Québec on Viger Street in Montréal having in mind that day to bravely go through the notary indexes for Terrebonne. Luckily for me, I was able to look at books containing transcriptions from the originals made by volunteers (you will agree with me, this is much more pleasant to do than perusing at microfilms for hours!). There I was, patiently reviewing the chronological index for Notary Public Pierre Laforce, searching for Hubou-Tourvilles when I hit upon the entry of December 1, 1799: Testament d’Adam Bangle (Will of Adam Bangle).

Bangle?! Could he be related to William Bangle, married to Marie Tourville? I asked for the will (yes, I actually had the real thing in my hands) and I was flabbergasted by all the information it contained. At that very second started my passion for this family.

This is basically how I virtually met Judy from California. She’s the one who gave me the Bangle bug. Then I also virtually met Bill, from Virginia, Richard, Dorothy and so many others along the way, and also, much later, Jim, from Wisconsin. Further to the publication of the information about the will on a Forum more than ten years ago, I received so many emails from Bangles who thanked me for it. And it felt great. You know why? Because sometimes I wonder, why do I do all this for? Some of you might think: “She’s not even a Bangle descendant.”

But let’s go back to our story. Who was Adam Bangle? Well, you will find out in my first publication of The Bangle File Series.

This is a huge task which might take years to achieve but you have to start somewhere, don’t you? I plan to publish a post on Wednesdays biweekly. I am not in a hurry, hope you are not! Comments are welcome, please do not hesitate to share my posts.


Note: The name Bangle was chosen because I had to choose one. Since it is a German name, it was also written as PinglE or Pingel. Later on, we saw Bengle, Bingle, Bing and so many others. People in the States are more often named Bangle and in Quebec, I saw Bengle and Bingle. The name used in the original document will always be mentioned in my posts.


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