Lost Uncles

Did you ever lose an uncle? In genealogy research I have encountered at least four "lost" uncles. One of them, Richard Corbett, was the subject of a previous post. (See Lost in the California Gold Rush entry)  But there are others: Andrew Bresnahan, Michael Farrell and brother John Farrell and William Corbett.  I found Richard Corbett through a website that carries an  index of the "Missing Friends" ads that were placed in the Boston Pilot by immigrants seeking their lost relatives. Patrick Corbett brother to Richard, placed two ads looking for him after he had gone to California. (This resource full text is available on Ancestry.com and the index on Missing Friends Ads Index Boston Pilot )

Andrew Bresnahan is a "double uncle". He occurs only in his marriage record in 1854 to my great grand aunt Mary Leary (sister to my great grandfather James Leary)  Perhaps my great grandfather met his future spouse, Andrew's sister Julia, at that wedding. They were married in 1863. Andrew and Mary had only one son Cornelius Andrew born about 1856. After that Andrew disappears - he is not in any US census including the 1860 one. His immigration record has not been found. He doesn't appear in a city directory for either Manchester, NH - where they were married or Fishkill where his son was born or Concord NH where his wife's family lived. Where did he go? The mystery deepens when a search (for entire US) of the 1860 census for a child named Cornelius Andrew Bresnahan with mother Mary and father Andrew does not come up with the family. If Andrew died before 1860 where are his wife and child? Both wife and child are alive in 1860 since they are in subsequent census records. The family only surfaces in the 1870 census when Cornelius is living with his aunt Julia and uncle James Leary in Concord, NH. His mother is working nearby as a maid and is a widow. There is no death record in NH that fits Andrew.

Michael and John Farrell are brothers to my great great grandmother Mary Agnes Farrell Shea. She and her sister Bridget Farrell Flanigan, placed a "Missing Friends" ad in the Boston Pilot in Sept 1855 looking for Michael  It says that their brother left Limerick in July on the ship Clare in 1850 which docked in  New York City. That ship's passenger list has a Michael 22 but also a John 13 accompanied by a Mary, age 40 who might be their oldest sister Margaret (Mary seems to be part of all the girls' names)  It is odd if this is true that the sisters did not name them also in their ad. It says that Michael is from Mungret about 2 miles from Limerick city. They indicate his mother Mary Catherine had received a letter 9 months ago from him from Ohio. (This would indicate she might have also immigrated and a Mary Farrell of right age died in 1854 in Burlington VT. )They thought he was in "Creamwell, Paulding Co Ohio" There is no town of that name but there is a Carryall in Paulding Co. There, however, the trail gets cold - four men named Michael appear in the Ohio marriage records between 1854 and 1864 and some of them can be tracked in the census but which one, if any,  is our Michael? There may be some Farrell cousins in Ohio but where is a question?

William Corbett is youngest child of several listed in the 1860 census living with Anastasia Corbett mother of Patrick, Richard and Dominic Corbett (my great grandfather) I can verify the identity of the girls Johannah and Ellen from baptism records in their hometown in Kilkenny but there is no William baptized in that town born around 1842. It is possible he is not the son of Anastasia. I do not know when the family immigrated but in the Massachusetts state census in 1855 only the two sons Patrick and Dominick are listed with their mother. Johanah, Ellen and William disappear from records after 1865 when these three appear with their mother under an incorrect last name of Champlin rather than Corbett. A number of William Corbett's live in Massachusetts but marriage records show none with a father and mother than match this family. What happened? Did William die in the Civil War? of disease? His sisters are harder to find since they probably married and none in Massachusetts records have parents that match this family. 

Immigrant women: Marguerite Ardion

As a family historian I am jealous of the TV shows that profile ancestors of celebrities and put their research resources to work to find out interesting facts. Recently I came across the YouTube video of "Do you Know Who You Are?" program profiling Tom Bergeron, TV host of Dancing with the Stars, and other shows.  As he and I are both French Canadian it was no surprise that we might have some ancestors in common. The show focused on one of his ancestors Marguerite Ardion who came from La Rochelle France to Quebec in 1663 as one of the first imported brides  known as "Filles du Roi". She arrived a widow with an infant son Laurent Baudet.  She was my 8th great grandmother. Her son Laurent was the grandfather of my 6th great grandmother Marie Baudet who appears in my Raymond family line.

Leaving La Rochelle -  above left looking back at town - exit from harbor through ancient towers last look for many of the Filles du Roi who left from here through this harbor

 The show available on YouTube Who Do You Think You Are? gave me some insight into her family background in the town of La Rochelle which I visited some years ago. The town was home to many of France's Protestant community in the late 16th and early 17th century. Her parents Pierre Ardion, a stone mason and his wife Suzanne Soret were fervent members of the Reformed church.  Perhaps 80% of the inhabitants of the town were Protestants. They married in the local Reformed church in 1623. They were survivors of a devastating military siege of La Rochelle by the Catholic King in 1627-1628. Cut off on all sides the city was starving to death when it surrendered in 1628. Of the 20,000 inhabitants before the siege only 5,000 survived. Marguerite was born in 1636 and baptized August of that year in the only remaining Protestant church in La Rochelle.

Her father Pierre died in 1641 when she was 5 and her mother Suzanne in 1650 when she was 14.  Without any family her choice to marry a Catholic may have been love or survival. She converted to Catholicism on Jan 1 1659 and on the 12th married her first husband Laurent Baudet in St. Nicholas Catholic church. They had one surviving son Laurent born in 1662. Marguerite was left a widow that same year.

In 1663  Louis XIII began recruiting women to immigrate to New France to offset the unequal ratio of men to women (5-10 times more men than women) in what came to be known as the Filles du Roi. From 1663-1673 about 400 women were recruited to come to New France, marry and begin families to populate the colony. About 40 are in my family tree. Who Do You Think You Are?Marguerite and her infant son arrived that year and she made a marriage contract with Jean Rabouin, another immigrant from her home town of La Rochelle. Jean agreed to raise her son and care for him until he was fifteen.

Jean and Marguerite were among the earliest settlers of the Ile d'Orleans across the river from Quebec City. She had 7 more children before her death in 1679 and it is from this line that Tom Bergeron's family descends. I am descended from her son Laurent Baudet from her first husband.