Presenting readable, genealogical information, data, and stories is a complex challenge. It seems to me that people’s lives ought to be expressed as more than family trees, dates, and lineages. I have been struggling with this problem for quite a while. Perhaps you have as well.
Over the years, I have noticed a few ‘special’ difficulties in making this type of information, useful, accessible, easy to find not to mention human. The major problem areas, for me, have centered around the following:
genealogical data & stories can run deep & wide (they may, and often do, involve a lot of data from many locations, sources, and media)
genealogical data/ information itself evolves and changes. It changes often (even more than often for those of us who make lots of mistakes or find new things frequently); AND! the changes are irregular or unpredictable.
my personal belief is that genealogy information is best when it is humanized with stories, histories, oral traditions (now written down), images, maps, etc.
Given these challenges and the fact that I use a website environment, one built using WordPress plus GRAMPS; I thought I’d attempt a melding of several techniques and technologies in order to make a more user friendly presentation format for my genealogy information. Three example pages, of my latest ‘integration’ efforts, may be viewed at:
am I succeeding, am I heading in the right direction???
does this presentation style (format) seem generally helpful, useful, easy to use?
I would greatly appreciate your input. If you are willing to share your thoughts with me, you may either use our Contact page or Comment below to voice them.
If there is demand for pointers on how this was all built, I am happy to provide that in another posting or set of postings, for now suffice it to say I have done some minor tweaks with WordPress and GRAMPS to build the example pages above; oh, these pages will largely maintain themselves automagically.
I have encountered yet another Quebec genealogy mystery. As you might expect, this “new” mystery also involves the Deyo line. Nothing new there, I guess!
Here’s where things stand currently. The family in question are the Francois Lafaye/ Marguerite Foret family- my gggg-grandparents down my grandmother’s maternal line (mid 1700s).
Marguerite Foret/Forest appears ‘likely’ to have been the daughter of Bonaventure Foret/Forest and Marie-Claire Rivet. She as well as her entire Forest/Foret family were deported by the British ultimately landing in Louisiana as part of le Grand Dérangement; deportation records (on Ancestry.com) support that assertion as does a database on the Acadian-Cajun website. Additionally I have found the following history on the Acadiansingray website (for the complete history and sources click this link):
All of the Acadian Rivets who found refuge in Louisiana came from Maryland in the late 1760s:
Claire Rivet of Pigiguit age 42, wife of Bonaventure Forest, age 44, reached Louisiana in July 1767 with the second contingent of Acadians from Maryland. With them were four daughters, ages 18 to 12. They settled with the rest of the 1767 arrivals at St.-Gabriel d’Iberville south of Baton Rouge. Claire remarried to Abraham dit Petit Abram, son of fellow Acadian Abraham Landry and widower of Élisabeth LeBlanc and Marguerite Flan, probably at nearby Ascension in the 1770s. Claire died at Ascension in March 1780; the priest who recorded her burial said that she was 62 years old when she died, but she was closer to 57.
However there are other opinions on this including the following very nicely articulated by Paul Drainville of Springfield, Ma.
English: A painting of the portation in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. Français : Scène de la déportation des Acadiens en 1755. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
[...] I was able to read of the hardships “Marie Lore” went through in her conversion (to the religion of her youth) and in the help that she provided to Madame Feller in her establishment of [her] mission.
It was interesting to read that Madame Feller referred to Francois Lafay as having been a French sailor who left his ship in the area of Boston…
I also was directed by M. Doray to the marriage record for Marie Anne Lafay who married Francois Lord, June 6, 1806 St. Marguerite de Blairfindie. In this record Francois Lafay is listed as an officer. I then found through a google book search a book that listed Francois Lafay as being an officer who served in the Canadian militia (at L’Acadie) for Britain in the war of 1812 (he would have been in his early 70′s). So two differnet sources refer to him being an officer…
This likely confirmed for me what Prof. Stephen White had written to me that Francois Lafay was most likely educated as Francois signed his name “Francois Lafay” as someone educated in English would have signed. If Francois was an officer he most likely would have then been educated.
[...] Quebec records indicate a Boston connection (area of Boston could mean the whole of New England). Prof. White suspects a Connecticut connection, as that was the location Marguerite and her family had been exiled in the deportation.[...]
The curious counter-point I would mention is to be found on the marriage record of my ggg-grandparents- Ignace Denis dit LaPorte and Julie Lafaye. On their marriage document dated 1801, it is noted that Francois Lafaye is a Laboreur. As in the example above his signature remains the same. So was he a military man or was he a common man? If you are fluent in French, I’d appreciate comments on the marriage text below.
Map of Louisiana highlighting Iberville Parish (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So what can I say? Marguerite’s husband, Francois, is a perplexing ‘mystery’. How and when Francois Lafaye arrived in the Southern colonies (today the US) is not certain. His position in life, uncertain. More frustratingly, Francois Lafaye is also extremely difficult to connect firmly to a set of parents- for now I have him linked with Francois Faille and Marie Anne Brosseau, because they had a son of the correct age and name (this is a commonly accepted, albeit, unreliable connection). The truth is, we don’t know who his parents were. The best I can do right now is guess.
To be genealogically more accurate and for me to be personally more comfortable, I really need some definitive information explaining how Francois came to the American colonies (Louisiana?). Finding that information, it then becomes more likely that we will be able to clearly identify his parents. But, to date I have not been able to find that information and those linkages. Perhaps some one out there has?! Ah well, such is the uncertainty of genealogy.
There seems to be a lot of confusion on the web regarding the ancestors and history of Marguerite Forest/Foret . But I, at least, am pretty happy saying she is the daughter of Bonaventure Foret and Claire Rivet. By that I mean I have found an adequate and cohesive amount of readily available circumstantial evidence. As was mentioned earlier, it seems probable that Marguerite and her family were deported to Maryland ending up in Louisiana in the south as part of the British deportation (ethnic cleansing) of Acadia; and, she resided in that area and perhaps the American Colonies during the 10 to 15 years after 1767 (this comment is based on the terminology used in her and Francois rehabilitation marriage record, above). As with most ‘removed’ Acadians, we tend to loose track of them once they departed Canada (such is largely the case with Marguerite). And as was explained above, there are other opinions, some seem very probable. But, each of the options seem to be missing hard evidence.
St. Gabriel (1761 – 1763) Church of the Iberville Coast [was] built by Acadian exiles in 1769. It was located in 1773 on Spanish Manchac on a grant given by that Government. [...] Believed to be the oldest Catholic church structure in Louisiana, St. Gabriel Church has been lovingly restored and maintained by the church congregation. It was built in 1769 and has been moved several times. [...]This area is in a part of Acadiana, which was founded by the Acadians, after their expulsion from Nova Scotia in the mid 1700s. St. Gabriel Roman Catholic Church is perhaps one of the oldest churches in the Louisiana Purchase Territory. [...]Tradition sets the date of the formation of the parish in 1761. According to the 1972 National Register nomination form, the Capuchin Vicar General, Father Dagobert, directed that a church be established in 1769, and tradition has it that the church building was completed in that same year. [...]The first baptism record available for the St. Gabriel Church is dated April 22, 1773, and the first marriage record is from January 1, 1773.
All of the above information certainly goes a long way towards explaining why the marriage of Francois Lafaye and Marguerite Foret required rehabilitation, it was never officially registered. or recognized by the Catholic Church. It may in fact have not even been conducted in a Church setting. hmmm.
Given the data I have discovered to-date, Francois Lafaye (Lafaille) & Marguerite Forest/Foret were most likely married in a non-Church setting (or minimally their wedding was unregistered) in Louisiana in 1767. This date is supported by PRDH & Drouin films, the location is up to the facts you choose to believe. I personally like the facts associated with the Rivet-Foret relocation through Maryland to St. Gabriel, Louisiana. The actual month and day, given on their rehabilitation record, seems to read 4 June 1767; other readers have translated the date differently. Most certainly, their marriage was rehabilitated 23 June 1792 in L’Acadie, St-Jean, Quebec. The rehabilitated marriage is signed by “Francois Lafay” not “Lafaille” or “Faille”.
We also, know that the couple had several children while living in the southern colonies who were re-baptized in that same church in L’Acadie, St-Jean, Quebec in the 1790′s (see image below). Julie Lafaye (my ggg-grandmother) was one of those children as her re-baptismal record attests. She (age 7) and her sister Brigitte (age 13) were re-baptized on the same day, 21 Sept. 1791; their brother Francois was also re-baptised that same year.
As Mr. Drainville’s note suggests, collateral searches are in order; without additional evidence this genealogy is at a brickwall. And so the search goes on!
To conclude our tale, Marguerite died 18 Feb 1819 in L’Acadie, Quebec. Francois Lafaye remarried Magdeleine Lepine 22 in Nov 1819 in L’Acadie, Quebec, Canada.
Francois Lafaye died June 1824 in L’Acadie, Quebec.
If you know of additional source information regarding this couple that you are willing to share, please let me know. Any/ all help are most welcome.
Finding “French Canadian” North American ‘relatives’ can be quite a challenge. My searches most often lead me to southernmost Quebec (Bas Canada, near La Prairie and Lacolle areas) as well as to Northern New York (specifically Clinton County, NY). It seems that is the general area where most of my French-speaking forebears lived (from 1780- 1925); on occasion they manage to spill into the Quebec or Montreal areas, but that is almost always in the years before 1780. As you might know, the area I search is rather small geographically, as well as from a population perspective. But my observation has been, even though folks did not move around very much, they hid very well.
Over the years, I have learned a few hard fought lessons in doing my Francophone Quebec/ New York genealogy. I hope my series of tips & pointers will save some of you a few steps and maybe even some time in your searches.
Tricks? I use to uncover my French Canadian family data includes…
Data discovery
I almost always start by performing a quick search for folks using Ancestry.com records, especially the Drouin records. You will need Ancestry’s mega world license in order to make this function work well for you. Remember Canada is not part of the US and Ancestry licenses the use of these records with great pride and price. They are included in the WORLD license!
If you are unable to afford the International license fees for Ancestry (and many people are not predisposed to that exorbitant license fee), then the next best thing is FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch has almost all of the Drouin records indexed and, on top of that, they are very easy to read (page by page). Just remember you will want to have a reliable and super fast Internet connection for this ‘reading effort’. Otherwise, the reading will be pure torture, because of its slowness. You will find the FamilySearch Drouin records information filed under: Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900 Obviously, as the title implies, this information has a rather strict time frame limit constraint associated with it. For more detailed searching and reading the following documents plus numerous additional tomes are now online…
“For best results”I recommend always performing steps 1 & 2.
As with any genealogy search, I also rely on Mocavo.com queries. I love to see what others may have found, about those people I search. You never know where good information will appear.
NosOrigines is one of the best online databases for French Canada. The data is almost always accurate and it is closely monitored for quality and accuracy, unlike the junk you find promoted on OneWorld or other Ancestry or FamilySearch supported family trees (all of which are extremely unreliable, in my experience…).
Research Rootsweb looking for clues & hints. I have found some very useful information on family members and their already published trees there! I generally find this to be the second most helpful source of family members right after NosOrigines.
For older materials there are two essential sources of data one is:
Cyprien Tanguay’s Dictionnaire Genealogique des Familles Canadiennes which may be found in two locations:
Once you find useful Census reports. I recommend you take the time to read every page of the relevant Census document – even when they are dozens of pages long. I do this in both US and Canada Census documents in hopes of finding clues beyond those available for my original searched ‘person’. I have had great success using this method to identify/ validate other related families, friends, and family stories.
I recommend you conduct extensive research on siblings to find clues about parents. This is also a useful method for finding name variations, relatives, etc.
Much like with any Census data I find, when I find a grave I searched every online cemetery record in the surrounding area in hopes of finding additional information about family or family members and relationships.
When I find a useful Church record, if I have access to the entire church record, I scan the document for additional siblings, events, etc. If I have ordered and received the Church microfilm for my use in the local LDS Family History Center, I place any productive Church film on permanent hold. I like to keep my folks nearby for when I get another bright search idea.
When I’m on the hunt, I use as many spellings of surnames and given names as I can invent to conduct queries.. never say never! Not only will you discover that Census takers took liberties with names; parish priests, newspapers, gravestone makers, etc. did as well. Additionally, I have noted that there are regional preferences in terms of name use in documents. For example, NY Catholic Church records seem to prefer Latinate variants where Canadian’s seem to stick with native French, but often use short hand.
In both data discovery and refinement phases of your search, I recommend searching/posting messages to seek or share information. The Message Boards I most often use are on Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com.
When looking for burial information on this side of the border (US side), I make extensive use of the Northern New York Tombstone Project. I have found quite a treasure trove of useful information in their online database.
If you have additional ideas you would like me to share, please send them along and I’ll update this page. In another post I will be adding information regarding “where to find” and “how to get” non-online source materials.
This history will become the basis for my September 2011 tutorial at the Parker Genealogical Society. (Another example French Canada search for Francois Lafaye & Marguerite Foret/Forest is also underway at ManyRoads and may be used during the tutorial.)
Hyperlinks on this page will most often open source documents.
Comments, suggestions & questions are most welcomed.
For those of you who follow ManyRoads, you will recall that I have been looking for years for my great-grandmother’s family (Exina Menard- Deyo). I am sharing my work and data as it evolves (I hope much like a tutorial or case study.) for three reasons:
to help me keep things in one place (a running log?)
share the process of research with anyone interested in seeing my work as it stumbles, jerks and ultimately unfolds
to use in my September tutorial
Be aware, this page is being actively worked and its content will change!
This material grew in large part from a forum posting originally created by Bev Farrington (thank you Bev for the leads!). So far as I can tell, based upon Bev’s, as well as my own, research, our Alexandre Menard is NOT related to another Alexis Menard from Clinton County NY- he was the son of Francois Menard & Madeleine Matte.
Now on to what I believe we can say about Exina Deyo’s parents, Alexis/Alexandre Menard/Minar/Miner (also known as: Alexis Menard dit Bellerose) and Louise/Marie-Louise/LaLouisa Pageau/Pajeau/Painchaud/Page/Pigeon/Payette/Pajo/Pacheau.
In the 1851 Canadian Census, Alexis shows up as living with his parents (Alexis Menard- a farmer & Margueritte Barriere- housewife) as well as with his siblings (Pierre, Edouard, Abram- all three sons were classed as Laborers). Most peculiarly, the Alexis Menard family is listed on the exact same page of the 1851 Canada Census as the family of Joseph & Julie Dion/ Deyo/Deo (this is the family into which Exina later marries- George/ Georges Deo/ Deyo!).
Then if that weren’t odd enough, a very generous Menard Family Member (Jackie Menard Hillier) sent me additional information on Alexis; and there he was married to Aurelie Dion (10 Feb 1852). Be aware, this is the very same Dion family into which my g-grandmother Exina marries again (to a nephew of Aurelie) much later in time. To add further confusion to the mix, I have no children for this marriage, nor do I find a death for Aurelie (yet). My assumption, based upon the data I have, is that Aurelie and Alexis had no children. And, Aurelie disappears after this marriage; it is likely she dies.
Further research (perhaps I should say, fortuitous searching)also has lead me to the discovery of a Michel Page family in Huntingdon County Quebec. Is this the family of Louise Page? It looks like it might be. Certainly the name and location is correct. But most certainly we need more information.
Alexis’ & Louise’s marriage is likely to have taken place between 1852-1855 before 1856 (the assumed birth date of Marie-Louise Menard for whom I have yet to find a birth document) but after 1852, the marriage of Alexis to Aurelie this is based upon the fact that in 1851 Alexis was living with his parents in St. Bernard Lacolle, Quebec, Canada; and, the couple’s first known child was born in 1856. I expect that the actual marriage year is closest to 1855 (or 1856 minus 9 months).
Of an expected 13 children, we have, thus far, identified:
Son- Alexandre Thomas, born 26 May 1857, bapt 17 Oct 1857, St John the Baptist of Keeseville – the 1861 Canada Census notes his birth as being in L.C or Bas Canada (no birth record yet…)
Daughter- Marceline (Marie Marceline Menard), born about 1859, Lacolle Quebec, Canada. She appears to have died before 1863 when her sister Marie Celina was born. Based upon naming conventions, it is possible that they shared the same name.
The family is known to have resided in the following locations (this chronology is based largely upon children’s assumed or documented birth locations as well as Census data)….
The family has not been found in 1860 US Census which leads me to believe they may have resided in Canada during the time that enumeration was taken (the Census year of 1860) and perhaps for the duration of the US Civil War- the years 1861- 1865.
One fact supporting this contention is that in 1865, the year Aurelie was born in LaColle Canada, the family was noted as being members of the LaColle parish in Quebec. Additionally, I have found a record for one “Alex Manor of Mooers, NY” who was a private in the 118th Regiment, New York Infantry Company I (Adirondack Regiment) of the Union Armies during the years of 1862-1865. (For a timeline of the 118th access this link). Circumstantial evidence appears to point to this as our Alex Menard although thus far it is impossible to prove this ‘absolutely’. Interestingly, the 118th and Alex Manor were present at the cesation of hostilities following their participation in the Battle of Appomattox.
During the 1861 Canada Census, the family of Alexis Menard and Louise Pageau is living in Lacolle next to Alexis parents. Based upon this data, they appear, as of 1861 ‘not yet’ to have emigrated to the United States. This conflicts with the assumed residences listed in Bev’s original posting on the family. Birth records of the family’s pre- 1861 children will provide a more accurate indication of their home location during the first years of their marriage. Until I find something different, I will continue with my assumed chronology, above, using the mix of Census data and birth records I have at this time.
By the time of the 1870 US Census, we find the Alex MAINOR family living in Ellenburgh Center (Clinton County) NY. This would seem to indicate that they emigrated to the US sometime during the years between 1861 and 1869. In 1870 the family members include:
Alex, 42, Canada
Mary, 31, NY
Louisa, 14, NY
Alexander, 13, NY
Aurilla, 5, Canada
Jeremiah, 2, NY
Adelia, 2/12, NY
With the 1880 US Census, the “renamed” MINERs are located in Clinton (Clinton County) NY. By this time the family has grown to include:
Alexander, 48, Canada
Mary, 42, NY
Thomas, 23, NY
Aurilla, 15, Canada
Jeremiah, 12, NY
Delia, 10, NY
Agnes, 7, NY
Mary, 5, NY
Honora, 2, NY
Francis, 10/12, NY
Then sadly in August of 1883, we find that Louisa Page/ Miner has died. The words on Louisa Page/ Miner’s grave (located in St. Edmund’s Cemetery, Ellenburg Center, Clinton County, New York) read:
MINER
Louisa PAGE / Wife of / Alex MINER, / Died Aug. 21, 1883. / AE. 45 Yrs. /
May her soul rest in peace Amen /
She was mother of 13 children /
Francis / Their Son died / Sept. 1880. / Age 22. Mos. /
Catholic Church. St. Jean le Baptiste (Keeseville, New York)-Baptisms, marriages, burials 1853-1863 FHL US/CAN Film 1450720
St. Patrick’s Church of Chateaugay, N.Y., 1863-1915 FHL US/CAN Film 1450729
“Town of Mooers” book which was compiled in 2004 with the civil records of Mooers (1804 – 2004) from the Northern New York American-Canadian Genealogical Society
Tricks? I have used to uncover my data..
For more detailed pointers/tips see additional posts on searching for materials about Quebec ancestors:
I have read every page of each Census (US and Canada looking for clues beyond those found for an original searched ‘person’.
I have conducted extensive research on siblings to find clues about parents.
I have conducted numerous validation and exploratory searches on Canada Genealogy for information.
I have searched every online cemetery record/ database I could find for Clinton County NY; the northern NY transcription project being most heavily used.
I use as many spellings of surnames and given names as I can invent to conduct queries.. never say never!
Researched Rootsweb looking for clues & hints. I have found some very useful information on Alexis’ parents there!
I have read every page of the Church and Census records for the following Towns and years:
St. Bernard Parish in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada- 1854,1855,1856,1857 (on Ancestry.com)
St. Valentin Parish in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada- 1855-1867, 1847-1855, 1839-1847 volumes (for years 1852-1859 and 1839 on FamilySearch.org; 1856, 1839 (on Ancestry.com)
St. Constant 1852-1855 on FamilySearch.org
St. Bernard 1852-1855 on FamilySearch.org
Lapraire 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
Napierville 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
St Jean Chrysostome 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
St. Mathieu 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
St. Marc sur Richelieu 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
St. Antoine sur Richelieu 1852-1855 also 1835-1841 on FamilySearch.org
St. Philomena Parish in Churubusco, NY, USA- 1873-1915 (LDS Family History Center)
St. Joseph du Corbeau in Coopersville, NY, USA- 1855, 1856 (on Ancestry.com)
I have read the following Canada Census documents:
Huntingdon County, Quebec, 1861, 1851 (all)
I continue to seek additional clues for Alexis Menard dit Bellerose’s and Louise Pageau’s life, marriage, children, events and photos(?). Is there anyone out there who might have additional clues or pointers? If so, please contact me directly.
I guess I could have entitled this posting, out with the old, in with the new. But as with most genealogy not very much of this information is actually new; including the fact that I had yet another problem in my Deyo lineage.
Here’s the long and short of what has happened. Barb (one of my Deyo ‘cousins’) reviewed my latest Deyo line and noticed that my information and hers were not in synch. She is the proud owner of many things Deyo including photos, death certificates, folklore and the like. And as luck would have it, Barb’s copy of Mary (Bonah) Deyo’s death certificate indicated that Mary’s parents had names sounding like Paul Bonah and Nora Bolack.
My records showed a Calixte Bonin and Hedwige Delaire as Mary Bonah Deyo’s parents, opps! I had come up with Calixte and Hedwige as Mary’s parents based upon a match with Mary (Bonah) Deyo’s birth date, which was close but not perfect (I have to admit I also really liked their names!).
Anyway a new hunt was on! We needed to right this fairly obvious mistake -note: By the way all genealogists make mistakes, just not all are as enthusiastic about publishing them on the web as I seem to be.
So to begin my search, I looked for a Paul Bonah and Nora Bolack. It probably comes as no big surprise, neither name produced anything approaching a reasonable result. Given that these folks were ‘most likely’ French Canadian (remember my Prussian- Quebecois ethnicity) I needed their names revised into something more French and less Italian, German sounding. Again to the rescue came my cousin. She suggested that Bolack might be Beaulac and Burnah/Bonin might ‘originally’ have been Bonin. She further suggested that Paul might appear in French records as Napoleon and that Nora could appear as Honoree/ Honoret. So the search now was for a father-mother combination of Paul Bonin and Honoret (Nora) Beaulac to fit with our Mary Burnah/ Bonah/ Bonin.
By way of a hint, with these new criteria for search values I was able to find all manner of interesting things. More on that and the next phase of this adventure in a follow-on posting.
The use of Dit names in French Canada (Bas Canada) is both very common and confusing. Currently, I am working with another Deyo cousin to attempt to unravel yet another Deyo mystery. This part of my family line is now being reworked for the fourth time! I think I might be getting good at it. Briefly here’s the mystery…
It appears, now, that I might be descended from a woman we believe was named Honoree Beaulac. Her family name (surname) has the following common dit names (there may be others as well):
As you might well imagine, this combination of names gives us a little bit to search and rummage around in. More importantly if you are researching family members in Bas Canada, you too will certainly encounter this form of adventure. Enjoy the mystery and challenge!
Here is a list of some sites providing explanations of “Dit” names:
University of Montréal – A link to find other associated names when one is known and the other is not, plus other information about names in French Québec, especially before 1800.
Which genetic genealogy DNA service is best? This is the question with which I am currently wrestling. Perhaps one or more of our knowledgeable readers has some insights to share. I certainly would appreciate experienced observations and insights into our dilemma.
Here are the basic objectives of our DNA search:
We’d like information and insight on any Native American information on the male Rabideau and female Deyo line (I do not currently have access to male Deyo DNA); we also seek information on the background of both lines in Europe and before.
We seek information on the Senger- Recht matrilineal lines; there is no DNA material available for either line on the male side, of which I am aware (the world wars took care of that…). This will be a search for European and pre-European migrations etc.
My assumption is that we ultimately are best served by having my father’s DNA run for both matrilineal and patrileneal lines (additionally examining both sides for Native American markers). We also ought to have my mother’s DNA run for our Prussian ancestry markers to check her matrilineal lines for European migrations etc.
If you have already conducted similar research…
With which services have you had good success/ positive experiences?
Are there obvious flaws in my plan?
What would you do differently from my plan or recommend I include in our search?
We have a list of links to the providers we have found on our Links page (see Genetic Genealogy). Perhaps we have missed some important players? Perhaps you can tell us which are best, based upon your experience(s)…
A lot has gone during the past month or so. Not only have we added a lot of new material to ManyRoads but we have achieved some important milestones, as well. Per normal, rather than bore you with a lot of details, I will outline most of the key happenings. But before I do that, a couple of important ManyRoads items have transpired. Firstly, we have signed up our first customers. We are excited and progress is beginning to be made. Also I have been invited to write periodic articles for http://geneabloggers.com. Also our readership numbers have almost doubled in the past month. Please invite your friends, we hope they are able to find useful information on our site. And last but certainly not least, I have been invited to speak at the Parker LDS Family History Center on 16 September 2010; stop by if you are in town!
Now on to the other major postings I placed on ManyRoads over the past month or so (just click on a title to read the article…):
Gerald Deyo was one of the first US paratroopers trained in Panama, during World War 2. After his training, he became a member of the the 503 Parachute Battalion. Ultimately he attained the position of Jumpmaster.
During the war, Gerald was based in Australia and fought mostly in New Guinea. On one of his jumps into New Guinea he was wounded by the enemy with a bayonet stab to his back, as he landed.
this account was related by Fred Rabideau to Mark Rabideau and Linda Ziegler
While in Northern France his platoon unwittingly captured a German payroll truck. After the capture, his squad got drunk and burned all the money to keep warm.
Clarence’s most traumatic incident in the Second World War involved the killing of a German sniper, who had pinned down his platoon and was shot out of a tree. Upon examining the dead sniper, he discovered a pretty young French girl. That incident troubled and haunted him for the rest of his life.
this account was related by Fred Rabideau to Mark Rabideau and Linda Ziegler
Lacolle is the area from which the Joseph Dion family emigrated to the United States. Historically both Rabideau and Dion/ Deyo family members lived and traversed this region.
source [minor edits and corrections made by ManyRoads]
First written mention of Lacolle can be traced back to July 4, 1609 when Samuel de Champlain and his entourage stopped briefly at the mouth of a small stream for a meal before continuing southward up the Richelieu River into the lake which now bears his name. In his journal Champlain referred to the location of the delta as “Lacole”. When translated literally the term means the neck of a bottle or that which is above the shoulders. [...]This river seems to take its source from a nearby, solitary hill. From many places in France the term “La Cole” or “La Colle” stems from the Latin “colla”, which means “hill”.
“La Rivière à La Colle” appeared for the first time in the 1740 “Map of Lake Champlain from the Fort of Chambly to the ‘pointe à la Chevelure’” drawn by Chaussergros de Lery. His map is seen here. You can barely make out “Beaujeu” in the block to the right of the crease in the paper, below the river
Lacolle Quebec- 1740
What today is the farming village of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle has its roots in the Seigneurie of Beaujeu. The seigneurs of Beauharnois and Hocquart hatched a project to concede some seigneuries in the area of the Lake Champlain Valley. In 1733, they conceded land to Louis Denis de la Ronde (seigneurie of Lacolle) and to Louis Lienard de Beaujeu (seigneurie of Chazy). Unfortunately, as of 1741, both seigneurs had left the land as they received it.
On the 10th of May, 1741, the lands were returned to Couronne because the consessioners had not established colonies. On March 22nd, 1743, Beauharnois and Hocquart conceded the seigneurie of Lacolle to sir Daniel Lienard de Beaujeu, son of Louis. By 1751, two new families had settled by the “rivière à la Colle”. On Mar 6, 1752, under the Marquis de la Jonquire and Francois Bigot, Daniel received the lands of his now-deceased father. It would be told “…how he made, before and after the war (1746-1748), considerable dispenses for the establishment of said concession on which he had settlers who have bulls, cows, plows, and other work tools.”
The seigneurie changed hands several times, passing from one generation to the next. During this time, several mills, churches, schools, and homes were built. Some had stone houses while the poorer settlers built log cabins. [...]
Along the Richelieu River, the closest church to Lacolle was in Chambly, quite a distance to travel for marriages and baptisms. In 1810, the curé Berthelot took his chalice and portable alter to visit the settlers in Lacolle. He baptized several children and said mass. Later, other protestant missionaries made their way to the area and founded the United Church of Lacolle called St-Saviour.
In 1841, Lord Sydenham proposed the erection of municipal districts. Everyone thinks these municipalities will revive and that they will come to be well-known like a parish. On November 18, 1841, some residents of the seigneurie of Lacolle addressed Monsignor Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal, to obtain the erection of a parish. They presented the usual reasons: distance from the nearest church, the dreadful state of the roads [in order to get there], the difficulty in training their children in the catholic religion. The real reason appeared at the end of the document: “after the ecclesiastical recognition, they would be addressing the government to obtain “some documents that grant to their said new parish a civil existence which will soon be recognized.”
In January 1842, M. Charles Laroque, curé of Blairfindie was sent by Bourget to make an inquest. On the first of February, Monsignor Ignace Bourget set up the “mission of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle”, as the population is still too dispersed to create a parish. He also accepted the gift of three arpents [unit of land] of land from Michel Normandin on which to build a church.
11 July 1842 – four representatives (James O’CONNOR, Michel NORMANDIN, Louis REMILLARD, Etienne DUQUETTE) signed a contract with Charles NOËL to build a stone church for $250 ($150 silver,$100 hay and grain).
13 October 1843 – three representatives (Patrick BARKER, Constant BOUSQUET, Noël DESAUTELS) purchased 80 benches from the chapel of Saint-Jacques-Mineur for 16 livres 14 shillings.
11 November 1843 – Charles François Calixte MORRISON is named the parish priest.
16 November 1843 – At the courthouse of Montreal, the church was equipped with the necessary registers for the parish.
19 November 1843 – The first baptism is recorded.
In 1851, the census of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle reports: 3483 persons (1760 anglophone and 1723 francophone), 1787 men and 1696 woman, 1886 catholic and 1597 protestant.
The law of December 18, 1854 ended the seigneurial system in Canada, and the municipality of St-Bernard-de-Lacolle has flourished since its first mayor [was elected] in 1833.
Charles Berthelot, curé of Saint-Luc, [wrote] on 9 October 1909 that the young people of the area are working cutting trees down south, near Lake Champlain.” In the 40-50 years since [then], many young families [spent] years in the factories in the [United States] to earn better wages. Many returned, but not all, with their savings. The [Canadian] census records still indicate one or two children from these families [were] born in the United States. [...] In 1850, the California gold rush saw many men leaving behind a wife and children [...]never [to] return with [...] promised riches. Soon after [1850], many farmers left with their families to settle in the fertile prairies of Illinois [and Michigan], where they could easily establish their sons. In October 1867, the [Lacolle] city council began to worry, for an empty house meant that the road opposite this property was no longer maintained. [Dirt roads needed to be maintained by the settlers.]
[At] the turn of the [21st] century, the parish of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel and the municipality of Lacolle [were] established, and St-Bernard-de-Lacolle has become seemingly very small. The area has seen many ups and downs, but the overall feel for the land is the same. The families who till the land and milk the cows are as hardy today as they were in the first days of the seigneurie. If you ever visit this village, take note of the rolling hills and the wide open fields with their long, plowed rows, [...] you’ll be swept away to another time when your ancestors [settled] a whole new world.
Both the Rabideau & Deyo families have roots in the area
surrounding Lacolle Quebec. In the early to mid-1800s Lacolle was an area that saw numerous battles and skirmishes, both in the war of 1812 and the Patriotes Rebellion of 1837-1838 including:
Battle Of Lacolle Mills (1812)
Second Battle of Lacolle (1814)
Battle at Odelltown and the Battle of Lacolle (November 7 & 9, 1838)
The Battle of Lacolle Mills was fought on November 20, 1812, during the War of 1812. In this relatively short and fast battle, a very small garrison of British troops and Canadian volunteers, with the assistance of Kahnawake Mohawk warriors, defended the Lacolle Mills Blockhouse near the village of Lacolle, Quebec.
The American invasion force, prepared and led by Major General Henry Dearborn, captured the blockhouse in the early morning, possibly following a brief confrontation with the outnumbered defending forces. In the dark, a second group of American militia attacked the troops at the blockhouse, resulting in a short battle between two groups of American forces. In the aftermath of this confusion, the British forces under the command of Charles de Salaberry launched a counter attack against the shaken American forces, forcing a retreat to Champlain before the American forces withdrew from Lower Canada completely. After this defeat, the demoralized American forces would not attempt this assault again until 1814 in the Second Battle of Lacolle Mills.
The Second Battle of Lacolle Mills was fought on 30 March 1814 during the War of 1812. The small garrison of a British outpost position, aided by reinforcements, fought off a strong but badly-executed American attack.
After the St. Lawrence campaign had ended late the previous year with the British victory at the Battle of Crysler’s Farm, the defeated American Army under Major General James Wilkinson went into winter quarters at French Mills, New York, only just inside the United States. The British commanders feared that the Americans could threaten the British line of communication along the St. Lawrence River from this position, but Wilkinson made no attempt to do so. His army arrived at French Mills with few supplies, and because of poor roads, lack of transport and draught animals and inefficiency of the Quartermaster General’s Department, it was almost impossible to supply the army in this advanced position. Sickness rapidly increased until there were no less than 450 sick in squalid conditions in a hospital in Malone, New York and many more in French Mills.
Finally, in late January, Secretary of War John Armstrong ordered Wilkinson to detach a division numbering 2,000 men under Brigadier General Jacob Brown to Sackett’s Harbor, New York, and fall back with the main body (about 4,000 fit men) to Plattsburgh, New York on Lake Champlain, while the sick and wounded were removed to Burlington, Vermont. British troops followed up almost to Plattsburgh, recovering large quantities of supplies from settlements in New York state such as Malone and Four Corners and paroling many sick American soldiers who fell into their hands, before withdrawing.
Wilkinson was aware that he would almost certainly be removed from command following the defeat of the St. Lawrence campaign, and planned several offensives to restore his reputation. Most of these were too ambitious with the means available, but one objective seemed feasible. A few miles north of the border between Canada and the United States, the main road running north crossed the small Lacolle River. Here, the British maintained an outpost of 80 men of the 13th Regiment of Foot in a blockhouse and the stout stone-built mill building. The defenders also included a Congreve rocket detachment of the Royal Marine Artillery, and there were other outpost positions and blockhouses nearby.
Battle
Wilkinson marched northwards from Plattsburgh to attack this outpost on 27 March 1814. His force consisted of 4,000 men organised into three brigades, with 11 pieces of artillery. The march was delayed by deep snow and mud, and he was not able to occupy Odelltown until 30 March, and begin the attack on Lacolle Mills until the early afternoon.
The Americans opened fire with two 12-pounder cannon and a 5-and-a-half inch mortar. They could not bring an 18-pounder gun into action because of soft ground around the area. The British garrison fired back with their Congreve rockets. Although the rockets were inaccurate, they caused several American casualties. The American troops had not encountered these weapons before in battle and were unnerved.
The flank (i.e. the Light and Grenadier) companies of the 13th had been stationed nearby, and launched a bayonet charge against the American artillery emplacements, but they were far outnumbered and were repulsed. Hearing the firing from some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away, a company of the Canadian Voltigeurs and the Grenadier company of the Canadian Fencibles also marched to reinforce the defenders. They waded through icy water to slip through the American lines and opened fire on American artillery, wounding the American artillery commander, his replacement and many of the gun crews. The Americans were also under fire from British gunboats under Commander Daniel Pring of the Royal Navy, who had brought his vessels up the Richelieu River from Ile aux Noix to the mouth of the Lacolle River.
By evening, the Americans had made little impression on the British defences. Rather than launch an all-out assault, Wilkinson ordered a retreat. The Americans returned to Plattsburgh, considerably disheartened.
Wilkinson had apparently recklessly exposed himself to British fire throughout the action, though to little purpose.
Aftermath
On 11 April, Wilkinson received orders from Armstrong relieving him of command. This was probably not a direct result of the debacle at Lacolle Mills, but followed a request made by Wilkinson himself on 24 March for a Court of Enquiry to rule on his conduct of the St. Lawrence campaign the previous year.[5] This eventually resulted in a court martial, but Wilkinson was acquitted of various charges of negligence and misconduct.
The failure nevertheless allowed Armstrong to promote a crop of comparatively junior officers to command divisions and brigades. Major General George Izard, who had been on leave when the Battle of Lacolle Mills was fought, eventually took command at Plattsburgh.
The November 7 & 9, 1838 Battle at Odelltown and the Battle of Lacolle
The years of 1837 and 1838 were bad for the citizens of Quebec. Many French settlers were led into rebellion by Louis Papineau.
Lacolle was the scene of two significant battles during the Papineau Rebellion, both occuring in the late fall of 1838. About 220 militia and volunteers from Havlock, Covey Hill, Hemmingford and Sherrington marched through Roxham to reinforce those facing the rebels in the November 7, 1838 stand at the Bullis Farm. The Battle of Lacolle was fought on November 7, 1838 between Loyal Lower Canada volunteer forces under Major John Scriver and Lower Canada rebels under Colonel Ferdinand-Alphonse Oklowski. On November 6, on their way to Lacolle, the Patriote rebels had won a first skirmish, but they lost in the final confrontation the next day. The battle lasted half an hour.
Again, on the 9th of November Odelltown (a part of Lacolle today) became a battlefield when nearly 1200 rebels unexpectedly engaged about 200 loyal defenders in and around the Odelltown Church. On both occaisions the rebels were forced to retreat.
Based upon Census data, we know the following information regarding the Rabideau & Deyo branches of our family (note all photos are from Google).
According to the 1920 US Census
In 1920
the George Deyo Family lived at 214 Main Street in Altona, NY; father George (age 52) was a farm worker. Exina his wife (37) was keeping house. They had 6 children living with them at that time including:
Edward (17)
Leona (13)- my grandmother
Lawrence (10)
Clarence (6)
Gilbert (2)- interestingly listed as a daughter on the 1920 Census
Gerald (an infant)
The
Alexander Rabideau family, at that same time, lived at 21 Mt. Tom Avenue. Father, Alexander (46), was an unemployed wood chopper; Flora, his wife, was keeping house. They had three children and a boarder living with them:
Alexander Jr. (18)- working in a plastic mill
Victor (16)- working in a cotten mill
Fredrick (15)- my grandfather- was working in a plastic mill
Mildred (6)
Nelson Diteau (16)- boarder (his parents were unknown)- working in a cotten mill
According to the 1930 US Census
By 1930
the George Deyo Family had moved from Altona and was now living at 5 Maple Street in Easthampton. Father, George (age 61), was a dryer working in a cotton mill; Exina, his wife (48), was keeping house. They had 4 children living with them in 1930 including:
Lawrence (21)- working as a machinery oiler in a cotton mill
Clarence (16)- working as a clerk in a chain store
Gilbert – is missing from the 1930 enumeration and perhaps died during the years between 1920 and 1930.
Gerald (10)
Dora (8)
George’s daughter, Leona nee Deyo, and her husband, Frederick Rabideau/Rabidue (my grandparents), were living next door at 7 Maple Street. Frederick was employed as a truck driver for Yen Trucking. They had three young children living with them in 1930.
Verda (4)
Mildred (2)
Francis Frederick (1)- my father
Also in 1930, Alexander Senior (55), Flora (44) appear to have owned a home on 37 Cottage Street (today, 2010, this location is a gas station…in 1930, it was around the corner from 5 & 7 Maple Street, about 100 feet distant) where they lived with their daughter Mildred (16) and son Victor (plus his young family). Alexander Sr. was employed as a wood chopper at a lumber company.
Victor Rabidue (26), in 1930, was married to Simonne (21) and living in his parent’s home with their son Victor Jr. (3) on 37 Cottage Street. Victor Sr. was, also, employed as a wood chopper for a lumber company.
In 1930, I find no US Census records for Alexander Rabideau (Rabidew/ Rabidue) Jr. It is possible that he either moved away or died in the years between 1920 and 1930.
Find your friends. If you run a family history/ genealogy website, building associations and affiliations can be a useful and valuable adjunct to your genealogical efforts.
Some of the most interesting and potentially useful affiliations (links) are with are sites and organizations belonging to other family members or family associations. These family members/ associations need not be particularly close, from a genealogical relationship perspective, but rather simply represent individuals or groups searching for, or providing, information on branches, limbs of your family tree. It is additionally helpful if their family name obviously links or relates to those most frequently mentioned on your site. Obvious name linkages make it easier for casual readers and researchers alike to see the importance and enthusiasm for information involving your family, perhaps enticing a more reluctant reader into active participation.
Not only can related sites possible additional readership for, and comments on, your site, but more importantly, they provide you with the potential of finding good and useful sources of genealogical information. Presumably, the readers of closely affiliated and obviously related sites are also interested in assisting in your research success and may, also, be willing to provide you with analysis and reviews on your own research efforts. (N.B. I have found this form of review invaluable in scrubbing errors and addressing omissions in my research.)
In the case of ManyRoads, we have recently come across several such sites. These include:
This post contains the content of the ManyRoads Newsletter:
Welcome to the first ManyRoads Newsletter!
First let me thank everyone for signing up to our little ‘news’ service. I promise not to over crowd your email with tons of messages. My intention is to write one or two of these per month. Each will attempt to provide a brief synopsis of the recent happenings at ManyRoads.
Since this is the first of these messages I would also encourage you to tell me what changes, additions, deletions, or modifications you might like to see in either the newsletter or on ManyRoads. Without your thoughts and input things tend to get a bit one-sided! Anyway, here’s the news…
This past week we celebrated my parents 60th wedding anniversary. Genealogy in the making! See the post at:
I have been trying to figure out if anyone uses the Zotero tools for genealogy work. It seems like a good idea but thus far I have come up empty. More at:
I have begun a series of posts on digging through the past when the information is scare or bad. I don’t know how many of these articles may evolve but right now there are two:
Vertreibung photos and stories… they have reduced to a small trickle. Any pointers are most appreciated.
Kreis Elbing Fotos (the same story)
I was denied permission to publish Peter Gagne’s materials on my family members from his texts. I apologize that this needs to remain under wrap.
ManyRoads most active areas of research:
Rabideau line (my paternal grandfather’s family)
Deyo line (my paternal grandmother’s line)
Senger-Recht (my maternal line)- I have to place orders for more Elbing ev. Kirchregisters (probably from Sankt Ahnen and Heilige Leichnamm- pre-1750 births)
What do you do when there are no names or dates to work with?
Well quite simply, there has to be something or else you are in deep trouble! Having said that there are many times when the names are and dates are unclear, indefinite or conflicting. I have found a few options that work with regularity, at least for me they do! In no particular sequence, they include:
Census records. Look to see if you can find a cluster of family members that resemble those you seek. In one of my best examples, I found a Peter & Julie Deyo family. I was seeking a Joseph and Julia Deo family, at the time. When I compared the family member names with two other Census records, one from 1851 in Canada and one from 1870 in the US there was an uncanny similarity. So I went with it! You can find this example hidden away on our Deyo Genealogy page.
Follow the kids. If you have some children from one generation but are missing a desired sibling, follow those children that you do have. Often I find that these relations lead me to the person I seek.
Read the documents! I can not tell you how many times I seem to be the first person to struggle my way through a source document. Source documents can provide a wealth of new insight and information. I have found countless new generations of the family simply by reading a birth or wedding record to find the parents name(s).
There are other tricks as well. As I further gather and formulate my thoughts, I’ll post them here.
I think that old quote pretty much sums up what happens when searching for the right genealogical toolset.
Too often, people believe that their hardware or operating platform defines their selection choices. In truth, it rarely does. Almost any tool can be run on any platform. Certainly a bit of technical prowess may be required in order to achieve interoperability but it is very doable.
No, the reasons for picking a genealogical toolset should be based on your genealogy management needs not operating or hardware systems. What follows, in no particular order, are most of the factors that I personally see as being important (and I used for my choice of GRAMPS):
ease with which a web display version can be created
the ability to share Events, Places, Media (in technical terms– genealogy objects)
robust database facilities (in other words it supports large databases)
adherence to GEDCOM standards
easy Export and Import facilities
excellent backup, archive and restore capabilities
open software architecture (does not rely on numerous proprietary packages, tools, software or databases)
effective and helpful documentation
an active online support/ user community
robust bug reporting system (so that problems may be communicated to the developers and addressed in future releases)
easy integration with my WordPress BLOG and themes
simple image and document library functions
To me, these factors are much more important in determining whether or not any software package is going to do the job you want. Do not confine yourself to the narrow realms of your operating system or hardware platform. Pick the tool you think best satisfies your actual needs and find out how to make it work on the hardware or OS you have.
With the latest release of GRAMPS (version 3.2.2) I have been able to more tightly integrate the WebSite output of GRAMPS with the ManyRoads site. With this most recent release I have the flexibility of generating html pages- YAY! I am now able to provide the following functions quite easily:
I can add an image -or multiples if I wish- to a GRAMPS generated webpage
Now I am able to effectively link from my GRAMPS (subsystem?) back to my main site; link to pages like my Conatct page or a family branch page.
Similarly I am able to links from my GRAMPS subsystem to the world-wide web.
All in all this additional functionality makes the total site function more smoorthly and in a more integrated fashion. There remain several ‘intergration’ features/ items that would be helpful to GRAMPS -IMHO. These include:
the ability to preserve custom pages as I upgrade to new releases of GRAMPS (right now I need to do that manually)
an easier way to modify and preserve the GRAMPS subsystem css (to preserve my local look & feel)
and a prettier display of html pages within GRAMPS
Excepting the ugly display of html, each of the remaining tasks can be performed manually; it just would be nicer if they we a more standard function within GRAMPS.
The bottom line is that I am VERY happy with GRAMPS. It is easier to use than most commecially available genealogy tool sets, and the support from the GRAMPS team is exceptional! Kudos to GRAMPS.
To fix the problems, Craig and I devised a fairly simple plan.
Craig sent me the genealogical documents he had in his possession.
He agreed to travel to Plattsburgh, New York in search of additional source evidence.
I agreed to re-read (this time more carefully) all the documentation I had in my possession; this evidence was mostly sourced from Pati Gravel and Barb Deyo (a lot of photos, emails, as well as numerous Wilfred Deyo’s documents- Deyo histories).
I was to re-plow through available evidence on Ancestry.com and see what I could find. This was especially crucial in that I had to confirm notes from Craig for which we were missing source documentation. Not to mention, I needed to this for the information from Barb, Pati and Wilfred as well.
In total things worked out as we had hoped; we found a more complete and accurate (we believe) ancestry for our Deyo Branch of the family. There remains a lot of work to do but we believe our evidence and source materials are aligned and as accurate as they can be given the data at our disposal. In this effort, we added some 500 pages of additional source data.
We did the work all in the span of 7 days. As my daughter would say: “Hooray for us!”.
Joseph Yon was born around the year 1805. His parents, Ignace Yon (Guyon) and Marie Suzanne Gervais were of the Parish of St. Marc sur Richelieu. It is believed Joseph lived in the area of St. Marc until his marriage at about the age of twenty three. He was a furniture maker of legal age when he married Julienne Denys, daughter of Ignace Denys and Julie Fall. The marriage took place on June 22, 1828 in the parish of St. Cyprien of Napierville, Quebec, Canada.
With all the information available it would appear that Joseph and Julienne (Denys) Yon/Deyo had a total of eleven children, six boys and five girls-the last being Marie Dion (Mary Deyo), born February 2, 1852 in the parish of St. Bernard of Lacolle, Quebec, Canada.
It is believed that Joseph Yon/Deyo migrated to the United States from the area of Lacolle, Quebec, Canada around the mid 1850’s and settled in the area of Altona/Sciota in Clinton County, New York where he lived until his death sometimes after the year 1880. It is not known at this time whether Joseph or Julia died first.
There were instances where Julia’s maiden name was given as “FAYE”. The writer thinks this was in reference to her mother’s maiden name which appears as “FALL” in some documents such as a Chart received from Albert Smith that lists all their children as he found them in the records at that time. The name “FALL” may well be an error of what would have been the most probable French surname of “FALLE” or “FAILLE”-both of which may translate as “FAYE” in English. Why Julie (or others) used her mother’s maiden name is not known other than perhaps this was another case of the language difficulty that existed between the French-Canadians and the English speaking officials at that time.
The writer wishes to note here that in research he has reached the conclusion that after Joseph Yon migrated to the United States, he and his family became known by the name DEO and/or DEYO and as such were recorded in the “public records” of the various “Public Offices” where they lived at the time. The exception of course being Catholic Churches (at least until 1900) that continued to use the name DION as the family surname for the records in their Parish books.
The writer in correlating all the information available to him through research has compiled the following Genealogical account of the children he believes to be the complete and entire family of Joseph Yon/Deo/Deyo/Dion. Dion of course being the family surname sometimes recorded in the Church records in Canada and the United States. In the United States after the year 1900 the name Deo and Deyo began appearing in the church records, particularly in upper New York State.
The reader is taken through the following phases of the writer’s research in order that it will be better understood how the writer came to the conclusion that the children shown under Genealogy were the total and final members of the Joseph Yon and Julienne (Denys) Yon family, later known as Deo and/or Deyo.
On January 28, 1983, Albert Smith, the writer’s record searcher in St. Jean, Quebec, Canada sent him the following names and baptism dates of Joseph Yon’s children. All information available on the children will be shown under the heading of Genealogy.
1. Louis Yon
2. Dorothee Yon
3. Aurelie Dion
4. Adelaide Dion
5. Julie Yon
6. Joseph Dion
7. Raphael Dion
8. Hilaire Guinon (The writer’s grandfather)
On December 8, 1983, Albert Smith provided the writer with the following information in his letter of the above date. The writer will quote directly from that letter.
“What I did come across in doing some research for other families in this area has to do with the Census records done in 1842 and 1851. In the 1842 Census on microfilm, reel C-731, folio 2493 for Henryville lists a Joseph Deo with a total of 7 in household, this being a family head only Census. Lists 2 males under 5 yrs. 1 female aged 5-14 yrs., 1 female 14-45 yrs. Husband over 60 and wife over 45 yrs.
The writer correlated this information with the one sent on January 28, 1983 and came up with what he believes to be a correct assumption of the family of Joseph Deo in 1842. The parents ages appear to be in error so a question mark takes the place of their ages.
1842 Census Report-Henryville, Quebec, Canada
Deo, Joseph—————Age–??
Wife—————– “ –??
Aurelie————– “ –10
Francois————- “ –07
Baptiste————– “ –06
Julie—————— “ –5/12
Note:-The children’s ages are calculated on previous information and later data received by the writer.
Also note that Louis and Dorothee were already deceased when this Census Report was taken. And Julie had just been born prior to the Census. The above accounts for the 7 mentioned in Albert Smith’s letter.
1851 Census Report for St. Bernard of Lacolle, reel C-1121, page 25 lists a Joseph Dion and family:
Joseh Dion——————–Born St. Marc———Age 46
Julienne Dion—————–Born Lacadie———-Age 45
Aurelie————————- “ Lacadie———- “ 19
Adelaide———————– “ “ ———- “ 17
Francois———————— “ “ ———- “ 15
Baptiste———————— “ “ ———- “ 12
Julie—————————- “ “ ———– “ 9
Joseph————————– “ “ ———– “ 7
Raphael———————— “ “ ———– “ 5
Hilaire————————– “ “ ———- “ 3
Note:-As in the 1842 Census for Henryville-Louis and Dorothee are deceased. Julia who will be shown later was born shortly after the 1852 Census was taken. Also the writer believes that the name Dion is used in this Census Report because the Church Parish of Lacolle may have been involved in gathering the data.
The next period in Joseph Yon/Deyo’s life that the writer learns about is that shortly after migrating from Canada to Upper New York State he became a United States citizen. The following information was received in a letter from Addie Shields, Historian, Clinton County, New York.
Aliens admitted, Clinton County, Plattsburgh, New York.
Book 3, pg. 2502.
-Deyo, Joseph at 60 yrs., living in Altona, born in Canada
makes a declaration and is received 24 Oct., 1861.
The next time anything is seen about Joseph Deyo is when he appears in the United States Census. Much of the information that follows was received from Addie Shields, Historian.
United States Census Reports.
1870-Town of Altona, Clinton County, New York.
-Deyo, Joseph———-60——–Farmer——-b. Canada
Julia————-60——-Wife———-b. Canada
(Note: Joseph’s and Julia’s ages are apparently in error).
1880-Town of Altona, Clinton County, New York
-Deyo, Joseph———-80——–Farmer——-b. Canada
Julia————-81——-Wife———-b. Canada
The reader is reminded that there is no positive proof that the Joseph Deyo, purchaser of the property below is same one as above. This person could logically be his son or other kin since there were so many males named Joseph in those early days of the Deyo lineage.
The writer has recorded the following information in the interest of avoiding any oversight in the life of Joseph Yon/Deyo (ac1805-1880-plus) in his write-up. Research will continue in hopes of clarifying this area.
Property purchased.
1871-Deyo, Joseph of Plattsburgh purchased for $350, half of Lot
No. 8 on West side of Wm. St.
1873-Deyo, Joseph of Plattsburgh purchased half of Lot No. 8.
(Note: Writer believes this refers to the other half of Lot No.
8 purchased in 1871).
There are still many areas relating to PART I which are being researched by the writer. When sufficient information becomes available it will be made an addendum to this write-up.
GENEALOGY
Joseph Yon/Deyo.
Born:-ac1805. Place believed to be St. Marc.
Bapt:-Date and place unknown.
Married:-July 22, 1828 to Marie Anne Gervais of St. Marc., in the Parish
of Saint-Cyprien of Napierville, Diocese of St-Jean., Quebec,
Canada.
Died:-Sometime after 1880. Date and place unknown.
CHILDREN
1. Louis——–Born:-August 17, 1829 in the Parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville, Quebec,
Canada.
Bapt.-August 18, 1829.
Died:-September 9, 1829. Place unknown.
2. Dorothee—Born:-ac June 6, 1830 in the Parish of St. Cyprien.
Bapt.-February 6, 1831 in the Parish of St. Valentin.
Died:-February 6, 1831 in the Parish of St. Valentin.
3. Aurelie—–Born:-June 26, 1832
Bapt.-July 26, 1832 in the Parish of St. Valentin.
Married:-February 2, 1852 to Alexis Menard in the Parish of St. Bernard
of Lacolle, Quebec, Canada.
Died:-Date and Place unknown.
4. Adelaide—Born:-May 19, 1835 in St. Jean, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-July 7, 1835 in St. Jean.
Married:-No information.
Died:-Place and Date unknown.
5. Francois—-Born:-sc 1836 in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-Date and place unknown.
Married:-Date and place unknown. Based on other documents-to
Margaret Dennis of Canada.
Died:-March 22, 1913 in Alburg, Vermont. Buried there with his wife
in the Catholic Cemetery. The names on the tombstone are Deo
and Deyo. Margaret died in Alburg, Vermont on August 9, 1882
at the age of 35.
6. Baptiste—-Born:-ac 1839 in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-Date and place unknown.
Married:-Around 1867. Place believed to be Altona, New York and under
the name John Baptiste Dion to Marrie Anna Bonah.
7. Julie———Born:-August 5, 1842 in St. Valentin, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-August 7, 1842 in St. Valentin.
Married:-No information
Died:-No information.
8. Joseph——Born:-February 7, 1845 in the Parish of St. Bernard.
Bapt.-February 24, 1845 in the Parish of St. Bernard.
Married:-No information.
Died:-No information.
9. Raphael—–Born:-May 26, 1847 at Henryville, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-May 29, 1847 at Henryville.
Married:-Date and place unknown. To Adeline Lambert of Canada.
10. Hilaire—–Born:-March 26, 1849 in Lacolle, Quebec, Canada.
Bapt.-April 12, 1849 in the Parish of St. Bernard of Lacolle.
Married:-1st:-October 10, 1870 in St. Joseph’s Church in Coopersville,
New York under the name Hilaire YOUNG to Marcellaine
Babien.
2nd:-January 6, 1873 in Alburg, Vermont under the name ELI
DEYOto Miranda Baba.
3rd:-February 25, 1895 in Champlain, New York under the name
Hilam DION to Philomnie Lafountan.
Died:-January 24, 1924 in Hampden, Massachusetts. He and his third
wife are buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hampden, Mass. His
third wife, Philomena (LaFountain) Deyo died May 21, 1950 in
Springfield, Massachusetts at the age of 90. The writer has no
information on the date, place and burial location of Hilaire’s first
and second wives. The logical places would be in New York
and/or Vermont.
11. Marie——Born:-February 6, 1852 in the Parish of St. Bernard of Lacolle, Quebec,
Canada.
Bapt.-February 8, 1852 in the Parish of St. Bernard.
Married:-May 11, 1868 to Louis Trombley. Place unknown.
Died:-December 15, 1926. Louis died on January 15, 1907. Place of
death and burial site is Sciota, New York with burial in the St.
Louis of France Church Cemetery in Sciota.
The reader must now begin to understand and appreciate the complexity of this research work as so many first names and surnames appear and vary for the same person over the early years of the writer’s ancestors. The language difficulty experienced by these people must have been enormous.
The lives of the persons, such as their marriages, children and other information of interest will be covered in greater detail when the Genealogy of each is written and added to Part I by the writer.
POSTSCRIPT by Craig LaPine: I obtained this work by Wilfred Deyo in the Clinton County Historian’s office in Plattsburgh, New York on 29 April 2010. It was located in the “Deyo” file among clippings and many other letters written by Wilfred between 1982 and 1985 to former historian Addie Shields. This appeared to be the last draft as I did not find any additions to this version of Wilfred’s genealogy in the file. This work has been retyped by myself but I added nothing nor did I take anything out of Wilfred’s work. It is typed verbatim.
-29 Apr 2010
As I have written numerous times before the Deyo portion of my family is a bit of a challenge.
Well recently, my analysis and documentation of the Joseph Dion line was once again brought into question (by my new friend Craig LaPine!).
On Saturday the 24th of April, I received the following email note from Craig:
Hello Mr. Rabideau. I enjoy your [ManyRoads] site regarding the Deyo family. I am a descendant of Emma Deyo (a daughter of John and Mary Ann Bonah, whom I don’t see listed on your site [meaning I missed Emma]). I have specifics on her but she first married Charles Lagoy and the Fred Belair. I am from the Lagoy/Deyo line. Anyhow, I see that you listed John’s parents as Joseph and Julie Denis and his parents as Benoit Guyon and Marie Alain. Today I was looking up Joseph and Julienne’s marriage in the Drouin files and found that they were married in Napierville on 22 Jul 1828. Her parents were listed as Ignace and Julie Fall). Joseph’s parents were listed as Ignace (from St-Marc) and Marie Anne Gervais. Have you come across these names before?
Needless to say this brought to question my Joseph Dion to Benoit Dion/ Marie Allain family line. Not only had I missed his ‘Emma’ but I had introduced serious structural errors into the line. I reinvestigated. As I rummaged around, I stumble across a note from Wilfred Deyo that had been given me by Barb Deyo. Wilfred’s note [analysis] reads:
John Deyo & Mary Anna (Bonnin) Deyo
Short Genealogical History
According to his death certificate John Deyo was born in Rouses Point, New York on February 23, 1839. The year 1839 agrees with the data in various Census Reports on the family. He was born the son of Joseph Yon/Dyon and Julienne Denys. Julienne’s surname like Joseph’s took on many variations over the years- for example Denis and Dennis. She was also known as Julia, the English version for Julienne. There were many variations of the French Canadian names in the early years because of their inability to read and write in both their native tongue and English. Therefore they were unable to understand the names as they were spelled and entered in the records. And then there were priests in Canada in those early years that made personal decisions as to how the names of the family would be spelled. Most of the spelling of the names was based on the phonetic sound- the sound of the name as given by the person involved in providing the information for the records, such as births, marriages, deaths and of course Census Reports.
John Deyo was married under the name of John Dyon to Maria Bonin in St. Ann’s Church at Mooers Forks, New York on July 2, 1866 according to a copy of his “marriage certificate’ the writer has. The name Dyon appears to be a simple mis-interpretation of the name Dion. Maria was recorded under a number of names, both given and surnames as time went on. For example, she was known by the first names of Maria, Mary, and Anna. Mary, of course, being the English version of Maria. Surnames were also Bonin and Bonah. These names are all English versions of the French name Bonney. The name Bonney appears on a postcard that she received from a brother in Tacoma, Washington in the year 1915. The writer has that postcard.
John and Mary Deyo had 10 children. One name Jean Baptiste Yon (after his father) died in infancy.
John (Jean Baptiste) and another brother Frank (Francois) were both born in the United States while their sisters and brothers were born in Canada. Frank being born in 1837 and John in 1839 which were then known as the “Troubled Years” in Canada- that is when the French Canadians made an attempt to gain their independence and seize Quebec and failed. It appears that Joseph and other heads of French families living close to the American border (LaColle) decided to cross over and did return after the trouble was over. Joseph did migrate to the United States in the early 1850′s and become a U.S. citizen in October of 1861.
John Deyo died in Altona, New York on April 15, 1924.
Anna (Bonin/ Bonah) died in Altona, New York on February 17, 1937.
are both buried in the Holy Angels Cemetary in Altona, New York.
Note: Rough draft.
Date: September 3, 1986
writer: signed
Wilfred F. Deyo
No doubt, I had missed something important. The problem needed to be fixed. Craig and I discussed and analyzed the problem (via email); we were on our way to repairing my mistake. Craig and I compared notes… discussed options.
Our plan was a simple one. I would do the Ancestry re-work. Craig would trek to Plattsburgh to see what he could find. It was great having a partner doing our family genealogy. The fix was on!
Merging branches (also known as cutting and pruning) is something you will most certainly need to do; unless you never make mistakes! I just encountered a situation like that with my Deyo Branch (I seem to enjoy making mistakes in this line…).
By way of providing background, a newly discovered relative was kind enough to point out that I might have made an error in selecting Joseph Dion’s parentage. The good news and bad news is, he was correct. I had Joseph linked to an incorrect branch of the Guyon family tree. It was a very nice branch, just not the right one… Well after much panic and research, I built a new branch of the Deyo Family Tree. It joined up with the old male line about three generations out; had a completely different matrilineal line.
With paper I’m guessing you’d just need a big eraser and a newly sharpened pencil… ‘unfortunately’ software is much more robust and requires a lot more planning. I could not leave my genealogy database as it was, so here’s what I did (oh and you can do this too with your genealogy software). Before going too much further I think you should know that I recommend doing everything ‘the hard way’ by that I mean without pushing a button to delete and then merge branches and the following process description reflects this approach.
First you need to do some research (searching?) to identify the new line. Load it all into a GEDCOM capable system. I built my new line on Ancestry.com because it is easy, fast, and I pay for a subscription to use their databases (which have lots of good data).
When you are satisfied with the new branch (or in my case branches) download it (them) to your PC.
Open your genealogy software tool.
Save your database (make a copy).
Select the person(s) where you want to cut the old branch; remove them as the child from the family where you believe they no longer are associated.
Run some tools to clean up your internal database links, record IDs, etc. Basically scrub things shiney clean.
Import your GEDCOM file (the one from step 2; hopefully your software does this nicely and smoothly).
Attach your new family(families) to the person mentioned in step 5.
Save your database. (Yes, again… label it so you can find it; do this so you can reconstruct things if they go ‘pear shaped’)
Run some tools to clean up your internal database links, record IDs, etc. Basically scrub things shiney clean. (Just another repeat by Mr. Paranoia)
Identify and clean-up duplicate People, Events, etc. — I use a mix of manual and automated methods for this. I find the automated tools are somewhat ‘less than thorough’.
Run some tools to clean up your internal database links, record IDs, etc. Basically scrub things shiney clean.
Save your database (make a copy).
You should now be done and hopefully things will work like you had hoped. You can see my efforts on the Deyo Branch of our family tree. This method will leave the old branches in your main tree, should you wish to reconnect to them. In my case the branch started with 447 people; I added 201 new people from new family sections and after clean-up have 591 individuals.
The Deyo Family genealogy (of Upstate NY and Southern Quebec) is offically online.
Currently, there are more than 3000 pages of materials in this area; there are also a few bugs and unfortunately the data remainsincomplete. I have several hundred (thousand?) documents yet to link in this area. I, also, have significant sections of the tree that remain ‘under-staffed’ most notably those in Julie LaFay’s and Exina Minor’s descendancy lines.
Please contact me with any problems, additions, edits, etc.
Integrating GRAMPS and WordPress is a very straightforward activity. Not a lot of special skills or tools are required in order to make this integration work smoothly. I have to say it is one of the things I like best about GRAMPS.
A couple of points worth remembering (knowing?) first:
Don’t expect to update your GRAMPS data through WordPress. My experience says GRAMPS works best from a data collection and manipulation perspective as a stand alone PC application.
Neither database is ever truly linked in this integration. I think that is good for a number of reasons:
Your GRAMPS database can be secured (remain private)
Breaking one system doesn’t break everything; a good feature for those of us prone to checking our systems recovery processes regularly.
Websites are better for sharing information than they are for updating it. This is especially true if you have constrained network bandwidth, lots of different media and files of varying sizes including many that are BIG! I would guess that these conditions encompass most people doing genealogy.
So on to the integration… there are basically 5 major steps:
Modify one of the pre-existing GRAMPS css templates used by GRAMPS NAVWEB to generate websites to blend with your site look & feel (I use Geany as my css editor)
rename and save the new CSS template in /usr/share/gramps/data/ (Linux path to the templates– maybe one of our readers can tell us what the Windows path might be)
you also need to add the new css option to constants.py in /usr/share/gramps/ReportBase (Linux path to the templates)
if you are running on Linux- like me- you will need root privs to perform the above 2 steps
Go to Reports-Web Pages–Narrated Web Site and generate a web site via this GRAMPS function.
Copy the GRAMPS NAVWEB website that is generated on to your WordPress site somewhere where you will find it.
Generate a Page in WordPress for your GRAMPS Website to be located. Add the following if you are using Iframe Embedder :
If you want to see this in action you may view it at:
I have customized the output of GRAMPS standard web generation tools (NAVWEB) to create a look & feel that is consistent with the ManyRoads website. Please be aware that there remain bugs in the tooling (such as the web links from GRAMPS outward do not display or work correctly). Also, and more importantly, the data continues to be a work in progress. As with most family genealogies you will notice that ours is not balanaced in terms of distance in time or breadth of known ancestry. I guess that’s all part of the fun!
We hope you find the information useful, informative and easy to follow.
Should you have information that you’d like to share with us please use our Contact page.
The first of our on-line family trees is now available- The Deyo Family Line.
It is readily accessible from our Menus simply by selecting Genealogy and then Deyo Family (Branch). Using the GRAMPS integration approach, there are no user/ password requirements for gaining access to and open family line.
This portion of our tree is by no means finished or complete. I have numerous documents (meaning hundreds) that remain to be added and linked to the appropriate family member records. However, should you wish to receive a copy of the GEDCOM for this section of our genealogy, simply contact me to request a copy; I’ll send my most recent file your way. Eventually, I will post a file for user download; when things get closer to the finish line!
Based upon my decision to use GRAMPS as our primary genealogical database management environment, I have begun the transfer of family branches (both public and private) into our new format. If you look closely, you should notice the appearance of new page links from our various menus…
As I undertake this transition, I will be going through quite a bit of re-entry and re-building of our data. Today I placed a private file online. In the next week or so I hope to transfer the Deyo Family materials from TNG into the new GRAMPS format. Each of these efforts will be incremental, meaning as soon as I have useful data, it will go on-line.
I received the following email this morning from Barb Deyo; it read:
Hi Mark,
I wanted to send this to you yesterday, but I have been having trouble with my e-mail.
I read about you finding a picture of your ggg grandparents on line.
That night we went for a short walk in the cemetery like we do very often, with my cat. She loves to run and lead us around the field. When it was time to go she led us to the front of the hedge to go home, (we usually go by the side) As I looked at the stone, guess what I saw?
It was just strange how this stone seemed to pop out at me. We weren’t looking for anything. The names just stuck with me. I just had to go back and take a picture for you. I don’t usually take pictures of stones, so I don’t mind if you just delete it.
We are very pleased to announce that our genealogical data is finally coming online!
Due to family concerns, not everything will be made available. However, the information which can be, will be, provided to our readership. Initially, the information will be through public access username/password combinations which we will provide. Ultimately, we hope to set things up such that the access will be even easier and more direct. We intend to provide GEDCOM files for all of our publicly available data as well. However, that may also take a while as we really don’t want to provide partially completed work. If you want early releases of any of our files, please contact me directly.
Our information will be made accessible on our Genealogy page, as it becomes available. Our first dataset is the Deyo Family Branch!
I don’t know how many of you, like me, use Ancestry.com as their data collection and ‘easy analysis’ site. I suspect quite a few.
As you may be aware I have been pouring through a significant section of my father’s family- the Deyos. This research effort has generated a set of over 500 people. Also because the research is about 90% in Quebec, that means there is a lot of overlap in that portion of my family tree. People are cross-related numerous times over; in my case there are about 5 junctions. This brings me to my point… Ancestry.com does not deal with overlapping, repeating family lines very well at all; or if it does, I don’t know or understand how.
For my purposes, this means I need to perform the following tasks before I even can consider publication or archiving my data:
Merging repeating family lines
Merging and simplifying ‘Places’
Merging and simplifying Sources
Merging duplicate People, yes Ancestry allows people to be duplicated, triplicated, quadruplicated…
Downloading Ancestry “Media”- images, documents, etc.
Each of these ‘essential’ tasks appear to be either unsupported or not offered by the standard Ancestry.com online system; perhaps these features are offered by their commercial Windows based PC application, I don’t know.
The bottom line is that users of Ancestry.com are in for a significant manual and off-line effort when attempting to clean-up their files.
In my next post, I’ll cover the tools I used to address these issues. If you have ways of dealing with these problems and wish to share them, please post a comment or use or Contact form to let me know, and I’ll publish your ideas.
I will be speaking at two separate meetings of the Parker (Colorado) Genealogical Society.
Meeting Location:
Stroh Ranch Fire Station (New Location)
19310 Stroh Ranch Road
Parker, Colorado
2nd Saturday of each month (except December will be the 1st Saturday)
Business Meeting: 1:30pm – 2pm
Speaker: 2pm – 3:30pm
My sessions will take place on 12 June 2010 and 9 October 2010. As might guess from the above, if you can make it, plan on being there at 1330 or 1:30pm. The subjects I will speak on are:
What’s in a Name? (tracking your genealogy through a long history of mis-spelled names). I will use a case study discussed on ManyRoads, my Deyo family research.
Quebecois Genealogy – tools to use when conducting genealogical research in French Canada.
As hard as it was for me to believe, our Deyo family name is not from the Netherlands and/or Huguenot communities as I had earlier thought but rather it comes down a more circuitous, and I might say “interesting” route. Let me explain what I have thus far unearthed:
Leona Deyo, my grandmother (father’s mother) was born to George Deyo and Exina Minor in upstate New York in 1906.
Her father, George Deyo, was born in 1868 of Mary Ann Burnah (Marie-Anne Bonin) and John Deyo (alternately known as: John Deo, John Dion and Jean Baptiste Dion).
Jean Baptiste Dion was born in 1838 in Rouses Point, New York of Joseph Dion (also known as: Joseph Deyo, Joseph Deo, and Peter Deyo) and Julienne Denis (aka: Julia Faye and W. Julienne LaFaille).
Joseph Dion was born in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec in 1810 of Benoit Guyon (aka. Benoit Dion) and Marie Alain.
Benoit Guyon was the son of Joseph Benjamin Guyon and Brigitte Dion born in 1772.
Joseph Benjamin Guyon born 1748 was the son of Claude Guyon and Marie Geneviève Martineau.
Claude Guyon was born in 1720 to Claude Guyon (the elder) and Francoise Gagnon.
Claude Guyon (the elder) was born in 1693 to Jean Guyon and Marie Pepin.
Jean Guyon, born in 1656, was the son of Claude Guyon (the eldest??) and Catherine Collin.
Jean Guyon dit Dion was born in 1592 in Perche, France to Jacques Guyon and Mathurine Robin
Jacques Guyon was born in 1562 to Mathurin Guyon and Madeline Aymard.
So as you can see, the Deyos are by virtue of time, transliteration and Anglicisation really part of the Guyon family.
If you want a copy of the GEDCOM file for the Deyos, once I am done with my major efforts, please let me know. I am happy to share the tree. As of this writing the tree contains nearly 500 people.
Cyprien Tanguay "Genealogique..." for Claude Guyon
It pleases me to say that I have identified the entire male Deyo line from John Deyo through to Claude Guyon (born 1629). The Deyos as we all knew were from France. Now we know their names and a bit about their journey. As I find additional information, I will continue to update and post notices on ManyRoads.
CLAUDE GUYON DION Status(es) : Immigrant
Birth : 1629-04-22 st-jean, v. mortagne, ev. sees, perche (ar. mortagne, orne)
First marriage : 1655 Québec
with
CATHERINE COLIN
Second marriage : 1688 Ste-Famille I.O.
with
MARGUERITE BINAUDIERE
Beware the hints! I know, I have said that before but the entire prospect of using poorly proofed Ancestry materials conerns me.
As many of you may have noticed. I just broke through a block in my family genealogy (the block of Joseph and Julia Deyo’s parentage and life before entering the US). Once my breakthrough occurred, a wealth of new resources became available for me to use and research. Naturally, I was pleased to begin my foray into new areas. As names became available to my family tree, Ancestry began providing me with the hints. You almost have to squint your eyes because some of the hints are that bad. Here are some of the items I have noted.
<warning>People seem to rarely examine the information “behind” a record name or label. I find very little evidence of people having struggled to read the actual record content. Often they don’t even bother to get the dates from the records!
This lack of analysis presents a huge problem. As you probably know, many genealogical records list parents, but I frequently find that suggested family trees (hints) have parents that vary from those referred to in a birth, death or marriage record. As I noted earlier, frequently the recorded dates themselves are not even used. Dates provide wonderful clues and they’re not even documented in many of the hints I see!?!
When I have completed my examination of the actual source content suggested by the hints through squinting and deciphering, often I find I have identified all manner of additional disconnects.
How can anyone be so casual and lax? Sadly they must be. Otherwise why would I see countless mismatches between the source record and tree content?</warning>
Ah well. I really should not complain, I guess. I should just look at these suggestions, assume they are wrong and see what hides behind them, in the content. That’s what I do; and frequently, I find gems. However, my trees rarely agree with those of the majority. But then these are my family members I’m trying to find. I’d like to be as close as I can be to finding my real relatives.
It is with special gratitude, appreciation, and ‘apologies’ to the following individuals:
Barb Deyo,
Wilfred Deyo (deceased),
Linda Hayne,
Craig LaPine
Patti Gravel,
Gloria Pratt,
Carole Relation
that I can now tell the tale of our Dion Family (today most commonly known as the Deyo Family) and their migration from Quebec to the Clinton County area of upstate New York.
This story has long been muddled and unclear. But in concert with the efforts and information from the folks listed above, I am certain that we now have a much clearer and accurate picture of who we are and where we came from.
This story has its beginnings with two people who, we now know, were born as Joseph Dion and Julienne Denis; both came from humble roots.
Based upon circumstantial evidence, it appears that Joseph Dion was born Jean Baptiste Guyon on 24 Jun 1799, the second such named son of Ignace Guyon and his second wife Marie Suzanne Gervais. His birth is recorded in the Church registry of Saint Marc sur Richelieu parish in Quebec. The same church registry records Joseph’s first marriage as taking place on 24 November 1818 to Marie Normandin the adopted daughter of Francois Normandin and Judith Chatel. The registry records no children pf this union, nor does it record the presumed death of Marie Normandin before the 1828 marriage of Joseph Dion and Julie Denys.
Julienne (Julia) was baptised on 28 January of 1808 at Ste-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie, L’Acadie, Quebec, Canada. Her father was Ignace Denis a laborer; her mother was Julie LaFaye.
Their marriage took place 22 July 1848 in Napierville, Quebec (St Cyprien Parish). The marriage is noted as being between Joseph Yon & JulieDenys.
In 1851 we find the family living in St. Bernard, Lacolle, Quebec. They are living, according to the 1851 Census in Canada, in a log home with a second family (Augustin & Polini Marier). Joseph is earning a living as a joiner (carpenter).
Based on the Baptisms of the Dion children appearing on the 1851 Census, we know the following:
in 1832 the young family lived near St. Valetin parish in St. Jean Quebec (Aurelie’s baptism)
1835 they were near St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu (St-Jean-L`Évangéliste), Québec (based upon the baptism of Adelaide)
in 1838 they were living near Rouses Point, New York (this based upon the death record of John Deyo) who in 1851 was enumerated using his middle name: Baptiste
It is my belief that the remaining children may have been been baptized at St. Joseph’s Corbeau, Coopersville, Clinton Co. N.Y Roman Catholic Church (if anyone has records of these baptisms, wherever they may have occurred, I would greatly appreciate a link or copy).
By 1860, we find most of the Joseph Dion/ Julienne Denis, now registered in the US Census of 1860 as Peter & Julie Deyo of Westport, Essex County New York. Joseph is working as a laborer; Frank (formerly Francois) is also a day laborer. The two older daughters, from the Canadian 1851 enumeration, appear to have remained behind in Quebec (they are not enumerated in the US in 1860). It is worth noting that there are numerous problems with the 1860 Census data including the fact that all of ‘these’ Deyos were born in the US. However, even given those problems, I still believe this indicates that most of the Dion/Deyo family was in Northern New York by 1860.
By 1870, both Joseph and Julia were in Altona.
Eli, Ralph and Adeline were all in Alburg Vt. by 1870 (according to the US Census)- although the birth date for Adeline could indicate she is not our Adelaide Dion. Further, as Wilfred Deyo’s report further indicates:
Immigration
1850’s: The records would indicate that Joseph and Julia(Faye) Deyo immigrated to the United States of America in the 1850’s following the birth of their last child- Eli Deyo. It appears that they entered. the United States at Rouses Point, New York and moved on to Champlain, New York; Chazy, New York; and then Altona, New York where they apparently settled permanently and, became farmers. Records of deeds shows Joseph Deyo owning a farm in the Altona, New York area around 1865. Later some members of the family migrated to Alburg, Vermont where some remained permanently while others returned to New York State and settled in Clinton County.
Citizenship-United States
186l: Joseph DEYO Age 60 years-Living in Altona, New York, makes a declaration and is accepted as a citizen, on October 24, 1861.
1868: Joseph DEYO Age 24 years-living in Altona, New York for the past 6 years makes a declaration and is accepted as a citizen- October 24, 1868.
1868: Ralph DEYO Age 22 years-living in Altona, New York makes a y declaration and is accepted as a citizen on October 24, 1868.
Note: It is not known at this time where the other members of the family were admitted as citizens, if in fact they were.
Property purchased
1871:-DEYO, Joseph of Plattsburgh purchased for $350 half of lot no.8 on West side of William St.
1875:-DEYO, Joseph of Plattsburgh purchased half of lot no. 8 (other half of lot in no. 1)
Note: It is presumed that the Joseph buying the lot in Plattsburgh was the son of Joseph who at that time already was owner of a farm in Altona, New York.
Today through the generosity of the Altona Town Clerk, Carole Relation, I received a copy of my g-g-grandfather’s death certificate. He died on 12 April 1924 and was buried 18 April 1924 in Altona, New York. More
If you look at the attached record you will find the following Joseph Dion/Deo/Deyo family residing in Quebec during the 1851 Census. This both firmly places the family in St. LaColle, near Montreal. We also now know through related birth documents of these ‘newly found’ children (for me ‘new’ at least…), the parents birth names were:
Joseph Dion born in St. Mare Quebec (according to the 1851 Census)… it is worth noting that there is no St. Mare in Quebec so that fact must be incorrect.
Julienne Denis born in L’Acadie Quebec (according to the 1851 Census)… this additional fact confirms the birth record we have found for Julienne Denis
Thank you to Barb Deyo for the following documentation.
Plattsburgh Daily Press – February 18, 1938
MRS. MARY DEYO OF ALTONA DIES
Mrs. Mary Deyo of Altona died at her home yesterday morning at ten O’clock. She was 81 years old.
Mrs. Deyo had lived in Altona for the past forty years. Her husband, John Deyo, died 15 years ago. She leaves nine children: George Deyo of Altona, Jerome Deyo of “Plattsburgh; Henry Deyo of Barre, VT.; Mrs. Celina Ladue of Altona; Napoleon Deyo of Sciota; Mrs. Fred Blair of Altona; Fred Deyo of Alona; Mrs. Frank Dragoon of Sciota and Frank Deyo of Altona. Twenty-five grand children and forty-five great grand children also survive.
Funeral services will be held in Holy Angels church at Altona Saturday morning at ten o’clock. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
The mystery of George Deyo’s death is solved. Here is the text of his obituary:
The obit was dated Oct. 19, 1942 and the date of death was Oct. 17, 1942.
GEORGE DEYO TO BE BURIED AT ALTONA
Funeral services for George Deyo, 78, who died at the home of his sister, Mrs. Fred Belair of Altona, at 7 o’clock, Saturday morning, will be held at the Holy Angel’s church at Altona at 9:30 o’clock, this morning. Burial will take place in the church cemetery.
Survivors include nis wife, three daughters, Mrs. E. Perry of Plattsburgh; Mrs. L. Rabideau of East Hampton, Mass.; and Miss Dora Deyo of Altona; four sons, Edward Deyo, of Shirley, N.H.; Lawrence Deyo of Altona; Clarence Deyo of Altona and Gerald Deyo of VS. Army; three sisters, Mrs. Fred La-Due and Mrs. Fred Belair of Altona; Mrs. Lillian Dragoon of Sciota; and five brothers, Jerome Deyo of Plattsburgh, Henry Deyo of Randolph, Vt., Napoleon Deyo of Sciota, Fred Deyo and Frank Deyo of Altona.
Eli Deyo was born in Lacolle, Province of Quebec, Canada around the year 1850 according to a copy of the marriage certificate issued to him by the Town of Alburg, Vermont when he married Miranda BABBA in Alburg, Vermont on January 6, 1875. He gave his age then as 23. Also according to this marriage certificate this was the second marriage for Eli DEYO and the first for Miranda Babba. The writer has had no success in trying to learn more about Eli’s first marriage-whether it took place in Canada or the United States. Research will continue in an attempt to learn more about this event.
The United States “Special Census of 1896″ for the Town of Altona, Clinton County, New York indicates that Eli Deyo was married to a 2nd wife by the name of Flora Babbia. It is not known at this time if this is an error or whether when Miranda Babba/Babbin died Eli married her sister or other relative names Flora Babbin.
Should the “Special Census of 1896 records be correct in showing Eli Deyo being married to two different women at those times by the name of BABBIN then it means that at that point in time Eli Deyo had been married three times. The name Babbin as recorded in New York State has to be in error as the name was correctly known and spelled as BABBA in Alburg, Vermont. Miranda Babba was born in Alburg, Vermont around the year 1853, the daughter of George And Liza Babba. It is not known(if in fact the record is correct) where Eli Deyo married Flora Babbin, Perhaps New York State.
Later records indicate that Eli Deyo must have become a widower again following the special census of 1896 in Altona, New York and subsequently married a widow by the name of Philomina (LaFountain) Derry. She had four daughters by her previous husband. It is also believed that, she was born in Malone, New York on April 18, 1859.
Eli Deyo died in Springfield, Massachusetts on January 16,1924 at the age of 72 years, 9 months and 1 day. He is buried in the St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hampden, Massachusetts.
(document converted from the original text scan with minor edits and spelling corrections by Mark F. Rabideau on 20 February 2010)
The Deyos- 1800-1982 [written by Wilfred Frank Deyo circa 1982]
The writer, Wilfred Frank Deyo will incorporate -the following information available as of October 8, 1982 into the “Deyo Family History”- 1800-1982-From Canada to the United States of America which he hopes to put together in the not too distant future. More
Plattsburgh Sentinel -1918
Mr & Mrs. Napoleon Deao received a telegram a few days ago stating that John Deao had been severly wounded in action in France July 15th. John was cited for bravery in action on April 21.
Maybe your family is like mine. We come from a long line of hard working, salt of the earth people. Yes, that means many of them could not read or write.
Some names can be confusing! I think the title of this post bears that out.
Recently I received the following note from Gloria Cusson Pratt of the Northern New York- American Canadian Genealogical Society. Her note informed me of the following:
John married as Jean Baptiste Dion to Marie Bonin on 2 July 1866 at St. Ann’s [Roman Catholic Church in] Mooers Forks, NY. Deo/Deyo/Dion are all dit names [synonyms] for Deo. Most of their children are listed in the St. Ann Book, Moeers Forks, NY. His parent’s are Joseph Dion and Julia Lafaille/Faye.
Gloria
With this information in hand, I am now able to add numerous avenues of research in finding the roots of the Deyos of Northern New York.
Over the past few weeks, I have been working on discovering (perhaps rediscovering) a family line. My Deyo family tree was incorrect, in a major way! More
Based on data and input I have received from various people, I believe I have traced and documented a “plausible” genealogy for the Joseph Deo family leading back to France in the late 1600s.
If anyone is interested in reviewing the tree and commenting on what I have pieced together, please contact me.
Numerous photo galleries on our site have recently been either created or updated. These galleries will continue to be reworked and reorganized; however, they represent a reasonable start to my organizing ‘things’. More
I’d like to take a brief opportunity to thank the many people who have sent me information, pictures, and data to place on ManyRoads.
It is my hope to keep this list up to date. So if you have sent me materials and through an error of omission (not commission) I somehow have neglected to add your name to the list, please remind me via our Contact page. More
It seems that is the general area where most of my French-speaking forebears lived (from 1780- 1925); on occasion they manage to spill into the Quebec or Montreal areas, but that is almost always in the years before 1780. As you might know, the area I search is rather small geographically, as well as from a population perspective. But my observation has been, even though folks did not move around very much, 
But before I do that, a couple of important ManyRoads items have transpired. Firstly, we have signed up our first customers. We are excited and progress is beginning to be made. Also I have been invited to write periodic articles for http://geneabloggers.com. Also our readership numbers have almost doubled in the past month. Please invite your friends, we hope they are able to find useful information on our site. And last but certainly not least, I have been invited to speak at the Parker LDS Family History Center on 16 September 2010; stop by if you are in town!
After his training, he became a member of the the 
As you may be aware I have been pouring through a significant section of my father’s family- the Deyos. This research effort has generated a set of over 500 people. Also because the research is about 90% in Quebec, that means there is a lot of overlap in that portion of my family tree. People are cross-related numerous times over; in my case there are about 5 junctions. This brings me to my point… Ancestry.com does not deal with overlapping, repeating family lines very well at all; or if it does, I don’t know or understand how.
