Category Archives: From the Archives

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition #3 Malvina Tourville (née Hogue) (1859-1880)

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Last November, while in Salt Lake City, I found an article in the Daily Arkansas Gazette dated May 9, 1880 which referred to an article published in Montreal on April 30. A woman died from fright when she saw passing on the street two workers severely burned and injured at work. These men were brothers named Couvrette. The name of the woman is “Mrs. Tourville”, no other information provided.

The only person in my database who died in 1880 and was living in Montreal at the time was Malvina Hogue, wife of Moïse Tourville but I was pretty sure she wasn’t the one since she died on April 19. I then decided to go on the BANQ Website to check a French-Canadian newspaper, La Minerve. The one dated April 30 didn’t mention anything. May 1st edition maybe? Yes! It’s Malvina Hogue allright. The French newspaper gives much more details. Her husband’s name is mentioned. It says that she died the previous Thursday, that she was married for more than a year and that she had a heart condition. Oh! and the April 19 date was a transcription mistake that I did, I checked the original burial church record. It was April 29! The correction has been made on the Website.

Here are the two articles:

Daily Arkansas Gazette

Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 9, 1880, page 1

La Minerve 01051880 malvina hogue tourville

Source: Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, La Minerve, May 1, 1880, page 1

Update: here is the translation of the French article

Death from Fright. – Thursday afternoon, at McDougall’s foundry, two moulders named Couvrette were seriously burned. One of them was working by a boiler full of molten iron and fell into it. He was severely burned on his hands and face. His brother working nearby rushed to help but was also badly burned when taking his brother out of the boiler. The two men were put in a carriage and were immediately taken at their home in St-Henri. Mrs. Moïse Tourville was standing at her door holding a child in her arms and saw them pass. The young woman was so shaken by this terrible scene that she said to a neighbor “Take my child, I am dying.” She was immediately taken inside her house where she died a few minutes later. Mrs. Tourville who was 20 years old was married for more than a year and was also known to have a heart condition. As for the two men who had unintentionally caused this sad accident, they are doing fine given the circumstances.

Malvina Hogue was born June 16, 1859 in Montreal (Hochelaga). She was the daughter of Pierre Hogue and Josephte Boyer. Malvina married Moïse Tourville on October 22, 1878 in St-Henri. She had a daughter named Évélina on August 31,1879 in St-Henri. She’s the child mentioned in the article.

That article is really a coincidence as I am searching family members of Moïse Tourville and his second wife, Azilda Labelle, whom he married in Chicago in 1884. This man had an exciting life. He will be featured in an article very soon.

52ancestors-2015

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition – #1 Jeanne Garnier (1683 – ?)

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Don’t we find wonderful things in the Archives? Take for instance Jeanne Garnier, who was a captive along with several family members after an Iroquois attack in November 1689 in Lachenaie. How can you even hope to know what happened to her? But before getting to this, let’s step back and tell about how it began.

In his master paper, Le Premier demi-siècle de Lachenaie (1670-1724) — The First 50 years of Lachenaie, Mario Nadon explains why we cannot find some death acts of the Hubous’ in the Catholic records.

Mathieu Hubou and Suzanne Betfer have had 9 children. In November 1689, Suzanne is the widow of Mathieu for already 11 years and at least five of her children are still living. Her two single sons are still living with her: Mathieu, 36 years old and Charles, 24 years old. Her two daughters are married: Geneviève to Julien Garnier and Anne to René Sauvageau. Jean Hubou is married for a year now to Marguerite Goulet. All are residents of Lachenaie.

For some years, the war between the French and the Indians has been going on. In August 1689, Lachenaie is attacked by the Iroquois. The residents are scared and find refuge in the fort of the seignory. In the fall, things seemed to calm down and they return home. However, during the night of November 13, 1689, they are attacked by some 150 Iroquois. Almost the third of the population had vanished, 33 people were killed or went missing.

The Hubous’ were not spared. Suzanne Betfer and Charles Hubou are supposedly dead. An inventory after death of Notary Basset dated December 12, 1689 confirms that Geneviève Hubou and Julien Garnier were killed or vanished during the night of November 13. Another document from Notary Basset dated June 1, 1691 mentions that René Sauvageau was killed by the Iroquois. Possibly five of his six children were also killed. That document also describes the transaction entered between Joseph Barbeau and Jean-Baptiste Hubou who is administrating the succession of Mathieu Hubou and Suzanne Betfer, of Julien Garnier and of René Sauvageau. This transaction is made to maintain the peace between the two parties as Joseph Barbeau was responsible for the death of Julien and René by the Iroquois.

After these events, Anne Hubou left Lachenaie with her daughter Anne Sauvageau for Montreal where she married Moïse Hilarest in 1691. She died in 1728, at 69 years old. However, her brothers stayed in the area. Mathieu Hubou was married to Catherine Goulet in 1694 and died in 1723 in St-François-de l’île Jésus. Jean Hubou died between 1696 and 1699. He was probably killed during a military campaign. He was the first guard of the marquis de Denonville. His widow was married to Michel Feuillon in 1699.

So Geneviève, aged 7 at the time of the events, would have been the sole survivor of the Garnier family. Her paternal uncle, Mathieu Hubou Deslongchamps is her tutor, attested by a tutorship act dated January 1698. She would have been the only heir.

On June 12, 1702, at age 20, Geneviève married Jean Rochon (or Rocheron) in St-François-de-Sales de l’île Jésus. Present at the ceremony are Jean Beauchamp, Pierre Beauchamp, Mathieu Hubou, her uncle and tutor, Catherine Goulet, her aunt, wife of Mathieu.

But a document dated June 27, 1706 and available on the Website of BANQ mentions that Julien Garnier was dead but her daughter Jeanne was a captive of the Iroquois and would be still alive, has married an Indian and was living with the Oneida nation.

We can almost imagine the panic of Jean Rocheron who asks the intendant Raudot to be able to have access to the inheritance of his wife. He says that the land of Julien Garnier was abandoned and in a very bad shape. He had to work a lot on that land and had put a lot of money for it. He mentions that it was always assumed that Jeanne was dead and he doesn’t think she will come back to Lachenaie as she lives the life of the Indians. Intendant Raudot made his decision: Jean Rocheron may take the possessions of Julien Garnier but if ever Jeanne comes back, half of the inheritance should be given to her. All the possessions of Julien Garnier are in Lachenaie.

Another document passed before Notary Senet July 15, 1711 states that Jeanne Garnier was living with the Iroquois. This document relates to a transaction passed between Jean Rocheron and Mathieu Hubou.

Geneviève and Jean had 13 children. Geneviève died in 1758 at age 76. Without ever seeing her sister.

Here are the Hubou family members who went missing after the night of November 13, 1689:

  • Suzanne Betfer, abt 55
  • Charles Hubou, 24
  • Julien Garnier, 40
  • Geneviève Hubou, 33
  • Pierre Garnier, 10
  • Jeanne Garnier, 6
  • Charles Garnier, 5
  • Michel Garnier, 4
  • Marguerite Garnier, 1
  • René Sauvageau, abt 67
  • Marguerite Sauvageau, 8
  • Marie-Thérèse Sauvageau, 7
  • Flavie Sauvageau, 5
  • Bernard Sauvageau,  2
  • Marie Sauvageau, 1

Reference:

Mario Nadon, Le Premier demi-siècle de Lachenaie (1670-1724)

Claude Martel, Lachenaie : du fort à la ville

52 Ancestors / 52 Weeks is an idea proposed by Amy Johnson Crow. Link on the image for more details about it.

52 Ancestors / 52 Weeks is an idea proposed by Amy Johnson Crow. Link on the image for more details about it.

From the Archives: Inventory after death of Sophie Arpajou (October 20, 1851)

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After reading the inventory of estate performed on October 20, 1851 in St-Hughes, Québec, after the death of Sophie Arpajou, I can’t help imagine what led to it.

Maybe Sophie’s husband, Charles Tourville, who was then living in Chateaugay, New York, called for a family council, wondering what to do with the land that he still owned in St-Hughes. With his two older children of age, Charles Jr and Sophia, both married and living for three years then in Vermont, they were probably not interested to start all over again in Québec or maybe the land was so poor, it was no use even trying to. So on September 25, he went to Ferrisburgh, in Vermont, to get from his son Charles the procuration he needed to sell the land. Two days later he stopped at his daughter’s house in Vergennes, to get the procuration from her as well.

St-Hughes Cemetery

St-Hughes Cemetery

So in the fall of 1851, Charles Tourville made the trip to St-Hughes, maybe for the last time. He probably stayed with his brother-in-law, Joseph Langevin and his wife Madeleine Arpajou, sister of Sophie, in nearby St-Barnabé, where Joseph and Madeleine had a farm.

So what to do? Sell the land? To do that, Charles had to go before a judge and get a tutorship act. He first made a request to the judge on September 25, with the help of notary Timothée Brodeur. So, on October 10, before Circuit Court Judge Jean Casimir Bruneau in Montreal, the elected tutors for the six minor children were Charles Tourville as tutor and Joseph Langevin, maternal uncle to the children as surrogate tutor.

The most precious, valuable information coming from this inventory is the list of the minor children of Charles and Sophie Arpajou and their age as of October 20, 1851. Please note that this list appears in three different documents, all produced in the fall of 1851 and all the information is consistent from one document to another.

  • Étienne (Peter Stephen), age 16 (born in August, 1835, information accurate)
  • Marie-Édesse, age 14 (born in January 1839, would be 12 not 14; due to the reliable information concerning the other children in this inventory, I have concluded that this child is not the “Marie-Édesse” born in 1839 but rather “Dométhilde” born in 1837. She is referred as Edith, Nettie or Adesta in various records in the USA. The real Marie-Édesse was still living in 1840 but she may have died very young. “Dométhilde” birth year according to various US Census is closer to 1837 than 1839. At the time, it was not rare for a child to bear a first name that was used for a previous child who died in infancy.)
  • Philomène, age 10 (baptized in May 1841 in Vermont – information would be accurate)
  • Julie, age 8 (born in October 1843 as of 1900 Census – information would be accurate)
  • Louis, age 6 (born in September 1844, just turned 7, information inaccurate)
  • Joseph, age 5 (born in April 1846, information accurate)

Followed the inventory estate performed by Me Timothée Brodeur and Me Joseph Amiot, public notaries and Jacques Gendron and Lucien Houle as appraisers, both from St-Hughes. The inventory estate can be found here (in French) as well as the transcription here (in French).

Besides the land, Charles’ possessions didn’t amount to much. A mare, a two-handed saw, a board saw and 8 pounds and 12 sols in cash. On one hand, nobody owed him money but on the other hand he owed about 459 pounds to J. A. Arpajou for seignorial arrears and 36 pounds to the notary for the inventory itself. As for the papers of the family, two documents are mentioned: the marriage contract of Charles and Sophie Arpajou that was passed on August 31, 1827 (day of the religious marriage) before Me Charles Bazin, act number 373 as well as the tutorship act dated October 10, 1851.

The land he possessed was on the “fief” Beachemin, north of Yamaska River, in the county of Richelieu, of 2 arpents large by 30 arpents long before the Yamaska River, besides the properties of Bazile Richard on one side and of François Lussier on the other side. It was boarded by the “rang” Barrow at the other far end.

If this inventory doesn’t offer any other information, other documents do. The story does not end here. To be continued 😉

An inventory of estate was usually done after the death of the spouse when there were surviving minor children. It was usually done before the widow/widower remarried to protect the inheritance of the children. Of course, people with no property nor money had no interest of doing so.

 

 

From the Archives: Map of a portion of the Seignory of Barrow, St-Hughes, Lower Canada

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With this post, I am launching a new series called “From the Archives” in which I will share my discovery of documents from various repositories.

As I am working with transcribing notary contracts for the family of Charles Tourville and Sophie Arpajou, I found this by pure chance yesterday on the Website of the Archives nationales du Québec. It is impossible to save the image, so what I have here (a screen shot) is not very good. On my next visit to the Archives, I will ask for a copy. By clicking on the image though, you will be redirected to the document on the Archives’ Website and be able to enlarge the image.

Plan of the "fief" Bourchemin-East, in the Seignory of Barrow (St-Hughes), divided in lots during the summer of 1822.

Plan of the “fief” Bourchemin-East, in the Seignory of Barrow (St-Hughes), divided in lots during the summer of 1822.

What is exciting about this document is that we now have a better idea where exactly was the land of Charles Tourville, Antoine Hébert-Lecomte and Catherine Tourville (Charles’ sister) as well as others. We also know that François Tourville was a neighbor to his brother Charles for a while. I will try to find out what was the number of his lot.

If you look at the lef-hand-side, you can read the name of Antoine Hébert-Lecompte, lot 43. Lot 44 is the property of Louis Girard but we know that Charles Tourville bought this land from Girard in 1827. Lots 38-39 are the property of the Plourdes’, the step-family of the sister of Sophie Arpajou.

If you click on this link, you will see where the chemin Bourchemin East is today on Google Maps.

Isn’t this exciting? 😉