While doing my genealogical research, I couldn’t help notice that among the characters who have fascinated me over the years, were several Étienne. The first that comes to mind is Étienne Tourville, also known as Peter Stephen, who lived in Vergennes, VT, and Chateaugay, NY (pictured above). Then my 4X great-grandfather who died at 95 years old! How could I forget Étienne Arpajou, a.k.a. Peter Parish, that I have sought after for so long? And Étienne Brunet, of Saint-Sorlin, my friend Guillaume‘s great-grand-uncle, who left France for America. He’s kind of my uncle too now!
Statistics
Letter E: 7% for the Hubou-Tourvilles’ first names.
I was surprised to see so many names starting with the letter E. All classics are there: Élizabeth, Élise, Éléonore, Ellen, Ella, Elmire, Emma, Eugénie, Eva, Évélina and Exilda. For the men, besides Étienne, we have Earl, Edmond, Édouard, Ernest and Eugène.
Kind of Funny
The funniest? The less attractive maybe? Exupère.
The 2016 ChallengeAZ is proposed by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres
I have much admiration for Doralice Tourville. My great-grand-aunt, born in 1855, left Lachenaie with her family to settle in Montréal in 1862. Shortly thereafter, her father passed away. For years, the family moved from one tenement to another. Doralice was a tobacco cutter at MacDonald Tobacco as was her sister Elmire. At a time when fewer than 20% of the Montrealers owned their house, with her salary and her sister’s, she managed to help her mother buy a house. This house was owned by the Tourvilles for about a century.
When my aunt gave me that picture, more than twenty years ago, I couldn’t believe that he was my great-great-grandfather Charles Tourville, born in Lachenaie, in 1840, as I knew he was a carpenter. I then thought he looked so much like a notary on that picture. A closer observation reveals he actually had the same physical features as his sister Elmire. When my uncle died about ten years ago, I inherited a lot of funeral cards, including Charles Tourville’s. Well, it was him indeed. Dear aunt, please accept my apologies for having doubted you!
I must confess Blanche is one of my favourite given names. And I adore this picture of Blanche Tourville Brown—Peter Ovide Tourville and Anna Schenot’s elder daughter—born in Nebraska in 1899, herein appearing with her two daughters, Nadine and Betty Jean, born in 1919 and 1922 respectively. The first time I saw it, I couldn’t help thinking of 
Oops, breaking my own rules! Adolida was my maternal grandmother, not a Tourville. Her first name was chosen by her illiterate mother, likely after an actress. I was told she hated it. Catholic sisters didn’t like it either as it was not a saint’s first name. “What kind of parents do you have? A name like Table or Chair wouldn’t have made any difference!” Well, she was not the only one named like this. I found four others in the 1921 Canadian Census (two of them were born the same year as my grandmother). Do you know any Adolidas?
As you know, we have identified three children from 
The scene takes place in the Notary Public Joseph Turgeon’s office on March 10, 1789. Marie-Dorothée, 
