ChallengeAZ 2016: Z for Zelda

ZeldaYou may remember the article I wrote some time ago about Oneida Alexander. As I didn’t have anyone among the Hubou-Tourville for the letter Z, I thought of her daughter Zelda—whose real first name was Lillie. Sadly, she made the headlines at the end of the 19th century for a suicide attempt following an argument with her mother regarding her boyfriend. Have you ever found an illustration of one of your ancestors? I was amazed when I came across this one in an article of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (edition of Saturday, April 3, 1897). Once again, gotta love those newspapers!


Statistics

Letter Z: 0% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: Y for Yvon

ogunquit200While on vacation in Ogunquit, Maine, I remembered an old inside joke which provided its share of fun.

Here we are in Ogunquit for a long late-spring weekend. While my brother-in-law Yvon, my sister Danielle and I are browsing in a used book’s shop, Danielle turns around and shows me this book from a well-known French youth collection La Bibliothèque verte, looking somewhat incongruous among the tons of English literary works for adults. We are giggling uncontrollably. The subject would keep popping up during the following year resulting in the usual hilarity. Why didn’t I buy it, asked my sister? The following spring, back at the library, Danielle and I are running through the store—as the first one who’ll grab it will own it. We are flabbergasted, it’s not there anymore! Seriously, who bought it?!

The upcoming Christmas, I can’t help making jokes: “Can’t wait to receive the clown book.” Three weeks later, as the family gathered for my birthday—I thought I had opened all my presents—Yvon, suddenly all smiles, handed me a small gift saying, “Here is the last one.” Before even opening it, I shouted: Ma vie de clown! My sister then looked at me, kind of perplexed. And there it was—Danielle couldn’t believe it! And Yvon went on telling how he ran before us to buy the book, hide it in the car while we were trying to get over our disappointment and that he kept that secret for eight months. Funny guy, our Yvon!


Statistics

Letter Y: Less than 1% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

Only one Yvette and two Yvonne!


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: X for Unknown

I must say I am surprised. I thought the number would have been much higher than the result of 15 children being buried without having been baptized. These 15 children were thus added to the number of 1,037 people who were computed for this ChallengeAZ’s statistics. I thought the number would have been higher but the fact is that a lot of babies who were baptized actually died before the age of 1 year old. I would have preferred having someone called Xavier to write about for the letter X, it would have been less sad.


Statistics

Letter X: 0% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: W for William

My paternal grandfather was an only child but he had half-sisters and half-brothers, including William Tourville, sometimes called by the French equivalent Guillaume (unfortunately, I do not have pictures of him), born from the first marriage of my great-grandfather Joseph Tourville and Georgiana Dufault. My mother told me he was a cigar-maker. She said that they used to call him Ti-Roi (Little King) since he was born on January 6, 1872, in Montréal. He passed away in 1949. My mother never got to meet his first wife Delodia Rivest who died in 1928, but rather his second, Marguerite Leclair.


Statistics

Letter W: 2% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

Lots of William! Then, Walter, Warren, Wesley and Wilfred.


Kind of Funny

Weirfred!


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: V for Valérie

valerie rose tourvilleI am kind of lucky to have one picture for someone whose first name starts with the letter V (there are only six—even if I am cheating again). Valérie Rose was born in 1850 and she and Alphonse Tourville were only 17 years old when they married in 1867. Around 1879, they left Montréal to settle in Chicago. Rose gave birth to twelve children: five were born in Montréal, four in Chicago and three in Nebraska. She is the grandmother of Blanche and the mother of Frederick, featured in this series. Valérie died in 1931 in Nebraska.


Statistics

Letter V: Less than 1% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

Valérie, Victor, Vivian and Virgil, that’s it!


Kind of Funny

Your choice?


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: U for Ulric

Ulrich 2016There, you have it, the only member of the Hubou-Tourville family whose first name starts with the letter U: Ulric Tourville, born and baptized on April 23, 1867, at Notre-Dame Church in Montréal. Son of Louis Tourville and Suzanne Bélec, he emigrated to Chicago around 1880. In the United States, he will be known as Fred Ulrich. In 1893, he married Amanda Adams in Chicago’s Notre-Dame parish. He was a carpenter, just like his father, but later on was a millwright. Around 1925, he left Chicago to settle in Syracuse, NY, where he died in 1947.


Statistics

Letter U: Less than 1% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: T for Toussaint

toussaint 2016You probably knew I couldn’t resist writing about the Missouri line… again! Recently, I was wondering if Toussaint was baptized under this name because he was born on November 1st (All Saints’ Day = Toussaint in French). Well, this was not the case since he was born in July. He was named after his godfather, Toussaint Vaudry. Toussaint named his second son the same. Sadly enough, both will die from the cholera disease on the same day. The son of Toussaint Jr, born a posthumous child, was baptized Joseph Toussaint and was later known under the name of Joseph T.


Statistics

Letter T: 1% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

A short list: Thelma, Theodore, Théophile, Theresa, Thérèse, Thomas and, of course,Toussaint.


Kind of Funny

Tallas (in the States–from Telesphore).


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: S for Sophie

Sophie 2016When one adds a new name to its family tree, it can be a solemn time just like in this case when I entered the data concerning Sophie, my grandniece (information corroborated by my genealogy software), on her birth date, only two weeks ago. Her ID number is 9934. She will be one of those people born just a few weeks after the 2016 Canadian Census and in a few centuries from now, somebody will say this about it : “Gee, I wonder how come I cannot find her in it, she was supposedly 10 in 2026!”


Statistics

Letter S: About 1% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

Lots of Sophie and Sophia! Otherwise, Stephen, Sarah, Stanislas and Séraphin.


Kind of Funny

Silas!


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: R for René

papa avion 3 - Version 2René did not go to school beyond the third grade, but nonetheless, he managed to become an aircraft mechanic for an aviation company. I still remember when we visited the airport hangar at Dorval and nothing reminds me more of my childhood than the smell of tires! Not so long ago, my brother Mario told me that I was the one who inherited the most from our father, like his intellectual curiosity, his interest in history and travel as well as his passion for reading. But, please, tell me, Dad, how come am I so afraid to fly?!


Statistics

Letter R: Less than 5% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.

For the men, Raymond, Robert, Richard and Roger are very popular. For the women, it’s Rose and all its variants that come in first place. Rose, Rosanna, Rosalie, Rose-Délima.


Kind of Funny

No, can’t find one!


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2016: Q for Québec

I am sure you have guessed it by now, no first names starting with the letter Q for the Hubou-Tourvilles in my database. Besides Quentin, are you thinking of another one?

Well in that case, why not do like all future parents do in Québec and take a look at the most popular first names registered in the Province of Québec for 2015? To view the list, click here!


Statistics

Letter Q: 0% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.


challengeaz2016

The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres