The Bangle Files: #4 | The Children of Catherine Bangle and Jacob Schmidt

BANQThis week, let’s turn our attention to the daughter of Adam Bangle and Marie Davis, Catherine (she’s also the sister of William whom I wrote about in this series’ previous article). We know from her father’s will that she was married to Jacob Smith (or Schmidt). Once again, the church records of Saint-Louis-de-France Parish of Terrebonne will allow us to know who were the couple’s children.

Interestingly, we did find a church marriage record for Catherine and Jacob, not at Terrebonne Catholic Church though but rather at Protestant’s Christ Church in Montréal. You may remember that we don’t have any marriage act for her brother William and wife Marie Tourville.

“Jacob Smith & Catherine Pingle were Married by publication the 22 June [1787].”

Yes, that’s it folks! As a French Canadian, I can see how frustrating it must be for non-Catholics to hit upon an act with such a laconic summary while doing their genealogy.

Again, with the help of Généalogie Québec Website, we were able to come up with the baptismal acts of the children (all the children were baptized in Terrebonne, except for the youngest who was baptized in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Catholic Church of Jesus Island (50 years ago, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul as well as the other thirteen municipalities located on Jesus Island were merged to become Ville de Laval, a Montréal northern suburb, as we know it today).

I don’t want to reveal everything yet but I cannot resist telling you a secret: I know when and where Jacob Schmidt died. So, while in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library a few weeks ago, I thought I could take a look at the tutorship index for the Montréal region and I actually got something! For once, the document dated March 27, 1809 is in English, so no translation here.

“The Petition of Catherine Bangle, widow of the late Jacob Smith, whilst living a Miller by trade, deceased at Wm Henry (note: now Sorel) […] That by the demise of her said husband she is left with Eight Minor children Issue of her Mariage with the said deceased, to wit:

  • Catherine, aged about 20 years,
  • Jacob, 18
  • Mary, 16
  • Elizabeth, 15
  • Ann, 13
  • Christy, 11
  • Magdalen, 9
  • George, 7

Smith tutelleI will get more into that tutorship act in a future post but I just wanted to point out that thanks to said act, we were able to identify their daughter Elizabeth, a child who was not baptized. No, I mean, whose baptismal act was not located. If you look at the table below, you will notice that Elizabeth was probably born and baptized between 1792-1794. Do you remember for what years the Terrebonne’s Saint-Louis-de-France church records were missing? Yes, 1793-1794!

The baptismal acts of Catherine’s and Jacob’s children are as follows [original acts are in French]:

ChildrenBaptismal ActParish
CatherineOn June 29, 1788 by we undersigned priest has been Baptized catherine daugther of jacob shmit And of catherine pignelle her father and mother The godfather joseph hubert Leclerc (?), The godmother Delle archange rabi who have signed with us (note in margin: "German")Terrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
JacobOn April 14,1790 by we, undersigned priest has been baptized jacques augustin born on the twelfth of the marriage jacob smit and of Catherine pingel the godfather has been augustin claudius (???) and the godmother marie marguerite (???)Terrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
MaryOn December 21, 1791 by we priest has been baptized marie marguerite born yesterday of the marriage of jacob smith and of Catherine guignel the godfather has been noel roussil and the godmother marie marguerite rochon who do(es) not (?) signedTerrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
ElizabethMissing ActTerrebonne?
AnnOn March 23, 1795 by we priest has been Baptized marie anne born on the fourteenth of the marriage of jacob smith and of Catherine pinguel, the godfather has [been] pierre clermont the godmother marie charlotte clermont who have signed (note: charlotte clermont has signed charlotte clermont seguin) Terrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
ChristyOn November 25, 1796 by we priest has been baptized christine born on the eleventh of the marriage of jacob smith miller and of catherine pinguel, the godfather has been pierre fortin bourgeois and the godmother dame Jane Kelly Wilson (?) who have signed (signed: Sally Kelly Wilson (?))Terrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
Magdalen (baptized Marguerite)On September 16, 1798 by we undersigned priest has been baptized marguerite born on the eleventh of last month of the marriage of jacob shmit farmer of this parish and of catherine Beigeill the godfather has been Remy geoffroy the godmother marie Josephte andegrave dite champagne who have declared not being able to sign the father has Signed with us.Terrebonne (Saint-Louis-de-France)
GeorgeOn May 10, 1801 by we undersigned priest has been baptized as agreed by the father George born on the fourteenth of last month of the marriage of Jacob Shmith farmer of this parish and of Catherine Péniel, the godfather has been françois Bélanger the godmother marie Josephte Hadendagen who have declared not being able to sign the father has signed with usÎle Jésus (Saint-Vincent-de-Paul)

Once more as was the case for William and Marie’s children, no Bangles attended the baptisms. Two details are noteworthy though: the priest has mentioned that the elder was German; and Noël Roussil was the godfather of one of the children (this is the third time that his name appears in an act associated with a family member, we will have to look into that more closely).

Even if we have baptismal acts for a family, we should always look for any other documents which may provide us some additional information on the family. Have you noticed that the Schmidt’s children whom we found were all living at the date of the tutorship petition made by Catherine, on March 27, 1809?

In light of that new information, we now get the following tree:

Smith childrenIn two weeks, we will meet Jean (or John) Bangle’s children. The elusive, mysterious John Bangle!


Tutorship acts for the Montréal region (“tutelle”) are indexed on BANQ Website from 1791-1807. You can search for them here.

BANQYou may search by entering only the first letters of a surname. For example, with “Hubou”, the results are “Hubou” and “Huboux”. For years ahead, an index is available on microfiches at the BANQ and at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Let’s hope it will soon be available online!


For related posts about The Bangle Files, please refer to the Introduction Page