The “King” theme proposed by Amy Johnson Crow for the 52 Ancestors/52 Weeks challenge made me think of Marie Louise King. Funny thing, I received a picture of her from one family member the same week.

Marie Louise Tourville (née King)  (1852-1934)

Marie Louise was born on March 10, 1852 in North Ferrisburgh, Addison County, Vermont. She was the daughter of Oliver King (Olivier Roi) and Eleonore Dufresne. She was baptized at St. Mary’s Church in Burlington Vermont, on June 5 of that same year.

Marie Louise was probably the oldest child. While we didn’t find any marriage record for her parents, her father was living with a Joseph King, perhaps his brother, in Ferrisburgh, Vermont in 1850, so Oliver and Eleonore probably got married in late 1850 or in 1851.

Until her marriage to Henry Tourville on June 25, 1870 in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Burlington, Vermont, Marie Louise lived in Ferrisburgh according to the 1860 and 1870 US Census. The couple quickly moved to Sparta, Wisconsin since their oldest son, Charles Henry Tourville, was born there on October 22, 1872. They had at least 5 other children. Henry Tourville and Marie Louise are both buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in Sparta. Henry died on October 20, 1924 and Marie Louise, on May 4, 1934.

That was about the information I had at the time I received the photo of Marie Louise. I found out afterwards that her father Oliver was buried in East Charlotte, Vermont and that Find A Grave bio notes mentioned he was born on December 19, 1829. The death record for Ferrisburgh states his age as 68 years and 1 month in January 1899. So his birth month would be December but the year would be 1831, not 1829. There is another Olivier Roi born in December 1831. How can we be sure our Oliver is the one born in 1829?

I decided to try to find out what happened to his brother Joseph who was living with him in Ferrisburgh in 1850. I found a marriage record for a Joseph King in Vergennes, Vermont in 1856 to Charlotte Balduke (Bolduc). The couple had a male child born on May 15, 1857 in Vergennes. No trace of them afterwards. But I did find a Joseph King born 1831 in Canada who lived in Sparta, Wisconsin in 1860, the same town where his niece Marie Louise emigrated in the early 1870s, with wife Charlotte born 1838 in Vermont and son Augustus born 1857 in Vermont. They match the couple of Vermont.

The Joseph King of Wisconsin died there in 1904. Only his mother’s first name is given on his death record — Mary. But the given birthdate is January 1, 1832. Close enough, the birth date of Joseph Roi, brother of the Olivier Roi born in 1829 in Maskinongé, is the same but in 1831. In addition, according to Joseph’s 1876 marriage record, his parents are listed as Oliver and Louise King (the parents of Olivier born in 1829 and of Joseph born in 1831 were Olivier Roi and Louise Leblanc). Great, there you go! I ordered Joseph’s obit but haven’t received it yet — the summary mentions he had 3 wives. With the help of the census and the Wisconsin vital records, I did figure out that Joseph King was, as we know, first married to Charlotte Balduke and that they had at least one other child, a daughter named Charlotte, born in 1862 in Wisconsin (according to her marriage record). By 1870, Joseph was married to Addie who died in 1875. In 1876, Joseph got married to Mary A. Brown.

I will conduct further research on Joseph King. But now that we can establish that Oliver and Joseph are brothers, let’s see their family history.

Their parents, Olivier Roi and Louise Leblanc, were married in 1825 in Maskinongé, in Québec. They had 4 children: Marie-Louise (1827), Olivier (1829), Joseph (1831) and Clarisse (1833) who was born after her father passed away. Clarisse never left Canada.

Various records show that Oliver and Joseph probably emigrated to the United States around 1848. Both were blacksmiths.

On reception of the obits I ordered for Joseph King and Marie Louise King Tourville, I will update this post.

Moreover, many documents seem to be available regarding Joseph’s life while he was in Wisconsin. I will follow up on that as well.