Category Archives: French Challenge A to Z

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | E for Engagement

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Engagement contracts involving the Bangles intervened between a fur company and a voyageur and were signed before a notary public. We know that William—as well as his nephew John Davis (Bangle) Jr.—made it to Upper Canada. There were two types of voyageurs: those who made the trip up to Grand Portage and came back to Montréal in the fall; and the others, the hivernants, who spent the winter and made the return trip almost 18 months later. These journeys were no piece of cake. The money earned was probably worth it and, hopefully, relieved some of the hardship.

♠ The Bangle Files ♠

The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | D for Davis

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Marie Davis was born about 1731, in Germany. We know that she was married to Adam Bangle when she arrived with him in America in November 1764 as she gave birth to William in September 1765 and that their son John, born in Germany, was most likely their eldest. Marie died on October 28, 1805, in Sorel. We can thank the Québec notaries and the Catholic Church because without them we would have never ascertained Marie’s maiden name.

Davis is also the other surname that John Bangle went by—his mother’s maiden name—like “dit names” used by French Canadians.

♠ The Bangle Files ♠

The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | C for Catherine

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Catherine Bangle is the only daughter (as far as we know) of Adam Bangle, the patriarch, and Marie Davis. Born on October 23, 1770, near Palatine, in today’s Montgomery County, NY, she was baptized nearby at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the village of Stone Arabia. As the daughter of a Loyalist family, she left with her parents who first went to Ontario and later settled in Terrebonne, Québec. At age 16, she married Jacob Schmidt on June 22, 1787, at Christ Church Cathedral, in Montréal—they had 8 children. Catherine died after 1844, probably in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec.

♠ The Bangle Files ♠

The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | B for Bangle

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Bangle is the spelling I have come to adopt for the standardization of our featured family’s surname. The signature of Adam Bangle makes me wonder if he was literate, because his name seems to be Bingel or Bengil, depending on the document. In the United States, Bangle was largely used. In Québec, the priest would first write Pingle or other variations as the B is pronounced as a P in German. Afterwards, Bengle and Bingle were mostly used. Adam’s grandsons Andrew and Charles used Bangle, but—interesting fact—they were both married to women of English heritage.

♠ The Bangle Files ♠

The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017—A Bangle Dictionary | A for Adam

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Meet Adam, the patriarch of the Bangle family. He came from Germany in 1764 aboard the Jennefer, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Less than a year later, he settled in New York State, along the Mohawk River, in the current county of Montgomery. A loyalist during the War of Independence, he will reappear around 1786 in Terrebonne, Québec, along with his wife, Marie Davis, his sons John, William, and Peter, and his daughter Catherine as well. The fate of his son Henry is unfortunately unknown. Adam died on May 9, 1800, and will be buried the next day in Montréal.

♠ The Bangle Files ♠

The 2017 Challenge A to Z is proposed to the French community of bloggers by Sophie Boudarel of La Gazette des ancêtres

ChallengeAZ 2017: Who will be following me on this journey?

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For the third year in a row, starting June 1, I will be participating with my French and Quebec fellow geneabloggers in the ChallengeAZ at the invitation of Sophie Boudarel from La Gazette des ancêtres.

For those of you who have been following the Bangle Family saga on my blog, don’t you feel that something is missing?

Continue reading →

ChallengeAZ 2016: Z for Zelda

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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

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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

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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

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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