This is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at the bottom of this post.
Schutte
The first Schuttes in the United States were Joseph and Mena (possibly Maria) Schutte, who arrived in Ohio from Hanover in the 1850s. The short-lived Kingdom of Hanover was conquered by the Prussians in 1866. Even before it was forcibly added to the Prussian empire, the Kingdom of Hanover had been a difficult place to live. Between 1800 and 1825, when Joseph Schutte was born, the region was controlled first by the British crown, then the French, then the Cossacks, then the British again. The economic and political insecurity prompted many Hanoverians to immigrate. In the 1850s, immigrants from throughout the German states were settling in the Midwest, where cheap land tempted immigrants to farmstead.
Unlike many of his fellow immigrants, however, Joseph Schutte was a skilled laborer, a shoe-maker. He set up a shop in Dayton, Ohio, where he and Mena had five children, only two of whom survived to adulthood. Mena, unfortunately, appears to have died at the age of 39 in 1867. Although Joseph remarried, he had no other surviving children.
Joseph and Mena's eldest daughter, Mary, was born October 9, 1860. As a teenager, she went to work in Mad River Falls township for a German farming family. Either there, or in church, she met Joseph Leyes, whom she married in 1883. Mary's only surviving sibling, Anna Woeste, is buried near her in Calvary Cemetery in Dayton, as are her younger Schutte siblings who did not survive to adulthood.
References:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~schenot/hecht_leyes/leyes.html
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shutte-11
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Overview of the Leyeses
This is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at the bottom of this post.
Leyes
The first Leyes in the United States was John (or Johann) Leyes, who was born September 1, 1824 and arrived in the United States by 1853.He settled in Mad River Township, outside of Dayton, Ohio. Family legend claims he came from the Alsace, a culturally and historically German region in France. However, the documentary evidence suggests he actually came from the Palatinate, an adjacent area to the Alsace but on the German side. "Leyes" is a Rhenish name and in every census John gave his birthplace -- and that of his parents -- as Bavaria or Rhine-Bavaria; his children's death certificates all list their father's country of birth as Germany. It is possible that he originally came from a border area, but I suspect the Alsace legend dates to the 20th century, when many German families tried to distance themselves from their origins during the time of jingoistic nationalism around World War I.
On December 8, 1853, John married Margaretta Saeger. Margaretta was born around 1835 in Hesse-Darmstadt, the region adjacent to the Palatinate. She came to the United States in 1839 with her parents and brother, but unfortunately her parents died young. By 1850, she was a young orphan and living with another German family. She was raised Lutheran but converted to Catholicism, either at the time of her wedding or sometime after her parents died. After their marriage, John and Margaretta farmed in Mad River Township and had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood.
John and Margaretta's eldest child, Joseph, was born August 8, 1858. He worked as a farm hand while a young man but eventually found a job as a teamster and moved to Dayton. On May 9, 1883, he married Mary Schutte in Emmanuel Church. Like Joseph, Mary was the daughter of German Catholic immigrants. Joseph and Mary Leyes raised six children and lived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their wedding.
Joseph and Mary Leyes's second son, Louis, was born September 8, 1889. Like his father, he became a driver, although later in life he was a salesman. Also like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Louis was a stalwart member of Dayton's German Catholic community. He married within that community when, on June 2, 1914, he was united with Irene Stoecklein. The couple lived in Dayton, raising two children, including their eldest, Mary Jane Leyes, who married Robert Francis Cunningham on July 9, 1938.
References:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~schenot/hecht_leyes/leyes.html
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Leyes-11
Leyes
The first Leyes in the United States was John (or Johann) Leyes, who was born September 1, 1824 and arrived in the United States by 1853.He settled in Mad River Township, outside of Dayton, Ohio. Family legend claims he came from the Alsace, a culturally and historically German region in France. However, the documentary evidence suggests he actually came from the Palatinate, an adjacent area to the Alsace but on the German side. "Leyes" is a Rhenish name and in every census John gave his birthplace -- and that of his parents -- as Bavaria or Rhine-Bavaria; his children's death certificates all list their father's country of birth as Germany. It is possible that he originally came from a border area, but I suspect the Alsace legend dates to the 20th century, when many German families tried to distance themselves from their origins during the time of jingoistic nationalism around World War I.
On December 8, 1853, John married Margaretta Saeger. Margaretta was born around 1835 in Hesse-Darmstadt, the region adjacent to the Palatinate. She came to the United States in 1839 with her parents and brother, but unfortunately her parents died young. By 1850, she was a young orphan and living with another German family. She was raised Lutheran but converted to Catholicism, either at the time of her wedding or sometime after her parents died. After their marriage, John and Margaretta farmed in Mad River Township and had eight children, five of whom survived to adulthood.
John and Margaretta's eldest child, Joseph, was born August 8, 1858. He worked as a farm hand while a young man but eventually found a job as a teamster and moved to Dayton. On May 9, 1883, he married Mary Schutte in Emmanuel Church. Like Joseph, Mary was the daughter of German Catholic immigrants. Joseph and Mary Leyes raised six children and lived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their wedding.
Joseph and Mary Leyes's second son, Louis, was born September 8, 1889. Like his father, he became a driver, although later in life he was a salesman. Also like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Louis was a stalwart member of Dayton's German Catholic community. He married within that community when, on June 2, 1914, he was united with Irene Stoecklein. The couple lived in Dayton, raising two children, including their eldest, Mary Jane Leyes, who married Robert Francis Cunningham on July 9, 1938.
References:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~schenot/hecht_leyes/leyes.html
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Leyes-11
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Overview of the Blouins
This is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at the bottom of this post.
Blouin
Like the LeFebvre dit Boulangers, the Blouin family has deep roots in Québec. The first Blouin in New France was Émery "Médéric" Blouin, born April 23, 1640 in St Pierre d'Etusson, Deux-Sèvres, Poitou-Charentes,France, which is in western France, near La Rochelle. He came to New France in 1665 and married Marie Carreau on November 30, 1669, in La-Visitation-de-Notre-Dame, Château-Richer, Canada. They farmed in Saint-Jean, Île-d'Orléans, and raised a family of 14 children. His descendants married into families whose roots were even deeper in New France, including descendants of Hélène Desportes, who, in 1620 was the first European child born in Québec. The LeFebvre line is descended from Hélène through her first marriage to Guillaume Hébert. The Blouins are descended from the children of her second marriage, to Noël Morin.
One notable Blouin ancestor was Jean Nicolet de Belleborne, who came to Canada in 1618. He was a coureur des bois, one of the young men sent by Samuel de Champlain to live among local communities, learn their languages and customs, and, most importantly, negotiate trade alliances that helped France and prevented the British and Dutch from getting a piece of the fur trade. Jean Nicolet first lived among the Algonquin-speaking people of Allumette Island. In 1620, he was asked to live among the Odawa and Algonquin people of Lake Nipissing. He lived there for nine years with his wife, Jeanne, a Nipissing woman. The Blouin line married the descendants of their daughter, Madeleine Euphrosine Nicolet, who traveled widely with her father before he took her to Québec so she could have a French education. Jean Nicolet is best known as the first European to cross Lake Michigan. He reached Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1634, believing he was on the way to China through the Northwest passage. He traveled all the way down the Wisconsin River, nearly reaching the upper Mississippi before he turned back.
The first Blouin to arrive in the United States was Ombeline Blouin. Born in Saint-Anselme, Quebec, in 1848, she married Louis LeFebvre dit Boulanger in 1870 and moved with him first to Maine and then to Minnesota. She lived the rest of her life on the upper Mississippi. Her grave is less than two miles from Nicollet Ave., a major thoroughfare in Minneapolis named for her distant ancestor.
References:
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Besloin-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Nicolet
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blouin-149
Blouin
Like the LeFebvre dit Boulangers, the Blouin family has deep roots in Québec. The first Blouin in New France was Émery "Médéric" Blouin, born April 23, 1640 in St Pierre d'Etusson, Deux-Sèvres, Poitou-Charentes,France, which is in western France, near La Rochelle. He came to New France in 1665 and married Marie Carreau on November 30, 1669, in La-Visitation-de-Notre-Dame, Château-Richer, Canada. They farmed in Saint-Jean, Île-d'Orléans, and raised a family of 14 children. His descendants married into families whose roots were even deeper in New France, including descendants of Hélène Desportes, who, in 1620 was the first European child born in Québec. The LeFebvre line is descended from Hélène through her first marriage to Guillaume Hébert. The Blouins are descended from the children of her second marriage, to Noël Morin.
One notable Blouin ancestor was Jean Nicolet de Belleborne, who came to Canada in 1618. He was a coureur des bois, one of the young men sent by Samuel de Champlain to live among local communities, learn their languages and customs, and, most importantly, negotiate trade alliances that helped France and prevented the British and Dutch from getting a piece of the fur trade. Jean Nicolet first lived among the Algonquin-speaking people of Allumette Island. In 1620, he was asked to live among the Odawa and Algonquin people of Lake Nipissing. He lived there for nine years with his wife, Jeanne, a Nipissing woman. The Blouin line married the descendants of their daughter, Madeleine Euphrosine Nicolet, who traveled widely with her father before he took her to Québec so she could have a French education. Jean Nicolet is best known as the first European to cross Lake Michigan. He reached Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1634, believing he was on the way to China through the Northwest passage. He traveled all the way down the Wisconsin River, nearly reaching the upper Mississippi before he turned back.
The first Blouin to arrive in the United States was Ombeline Blouin. Born in Saint-Anselme, Quebec, in 1848, she married Louis LeFebvre dit Boulanger in 1870 and moved with him first to Maine and then to Minnesota. She lived the rest of her life on the upper Mississippi. Her grave is less than two miles from Nicollet Ave., a major thoroughfare in Minneapolis named for her distant ancestor.
References:
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Besloin-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Nicolet
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blouin-149
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Were the Leyeses Alsatian? [Updated]
My 3xgreat-grandfather was Johann (or John) Leyes. He was born in the 1820s and immigrated to Ohio by 1853. Growing up, I heard the family story that the Leyeses were from the Alsace. Multiple branches of the family believe this to be true, so it should be taken seriously (1). That shared story, however, contradicts the primary documents we have about the family origins.
First, a bit of history. The Alsace is a region of France that borders Germany and Switzerland and has a unique Germanic cultural and linguistic identity. It's political history is complex. Prior to the 17th century, it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which is a fancy way of saying it was part of a complex and shifting web of alliances that is too complicated to summarize in one blog post. By the end of the 17th century, however, the Alsace was was solidly part of France (with a few border changes and regional quirks). From 1871-1918, it was part of Germany, but after World War I it was returned to France. Except for its brief occupation by Nazi Germany, the Alsace has remained part of France since.
The Alsace is on the western bank of the upper Rhine, and Leyes is a Rhenish name (that is, a name characteristic of German communities along the Rhine) (2). But, of course, the Alsace isn't the only region along the upper Rhine and family legend isn't the only information we have about the origins of the Leyeses. Several times during his life, John Leyes or his children were asked about his place of birth and he always gave a location in Germany.
1860 U.S. Census, John "Lias" gave his birthplace as Bavaria, Germany (3)
1870 U.S. Census, John Leyes gave his birthplace as Bavaria (4)
1880 U.S. Census, John Leyes gave his birthplace as Rhine Bavaria. He gave the same answer when asked for the birthplaces of his parents. His children were also asked to give the location of their father's birth. Each one said Rhine Bavaria, including his grown son, Joseph, who was living in another household. (5)
Although this is less direct evidence, three of his children had John's place of birth listed on their death certificates. In each case, it was "Germany".
At his most specific, John Leyes gave his birthplace as Rhine Bavaria. Such a place does not, alas, exist, per se. It most likely refers to the Palatinate, also known as Rhineland-Palatinate or Rhineland-Pfalz. Rhineland-Palatinate is the German province immediately north of the Alsace. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire until the end of the 18th century, at which time it was briefly controlled by France. However, from 1814 until 1871, the time during which John was born and lived in Europe, most of what is today the Palatinate was under Bavarian rule. In other words, it was Rhenish (or Rhine) Bavaria, a term that occurs on many of maps from the time (6).
If it weren't for the family story about the Alsace, I would assume the Leyeses were simply from Rhineland-Palatinate, but since the two areas are so close together, it is possible that the shifting and complex political situation left a family with Alsatian ethnic identity inside the borders of Germany. Regardless of their identity as Alsatian (or not), it's pretty clear their original location was in Germany, not France.
If the Leyeses weren't from the Alsace, then why did that story pass down through the family? I think there are two plausible (and not mutually exclusive) hypotheses: 1) The Leyeses were ethnically Alsatian, although they did not live in the area that was considered the Alsace, at least within the generation before they emigrated to the United States; and/or 2) during the period of jingoistic nationalism around World War I, many German-Americans sought to distance themselves from their heritage. Anti-German sentiment was strong and dangerous; German-Americans were killed by mobs, they were banned from joining the Red Cross or holding prestigious public positions, German town and street names were changed, doctors began treating "liberty measles" for heaven's sake (7). Many German-Americans denied their heritage completely. For example, Friedrich Trump, best known to us as Donald Trump's grandfather, was born in Rhineland-Palatinate, but in the early 20th century his family claimed to be from Sweden (7). It would not be surprising if the Leyes had shifted their homeland a bit to the southwest in response to those same pressures.
[UPDATE - June 14, 2016]
The more I look into the name "Leyes", the more convinced I am that the Leyeses were ethnically Alsatian, although they did not live in the French province of the Alsace. I'm basing this entirely on the modern/recent historical distribution of the name. Here are two maps showing the distribution of the name in Germany and in France. The German map is based on modern phone book records, while the French map is based on historical census data.
Note that the name is rare and only really found in one area: the Alsace (in France) and the provinces adjoining the Alsace in Germany. My guess is, then, that it is an "Alsatian" name. Honesty compels me to add, though, that the data behind these maps is weak. The webpages don't give details because they want you to buy access to their database, so I can't vouch for their reliability.
References:
1) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~schenot/hecht_leyes/leyes.html
2) http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=leyes
3) Year: 1860; Census Place: Mad River, Montgomery, Ohio; Roll: M653_1014; Page: 216; Image: 9; Family History Library Film: 805014
4) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6LZ-CZR : accessed 16 May 2016), John Leyes, Ohio, United States; citing p. 46, family 326, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,747.
5) "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8SQ-G5S : accessed 15 May 2016), John Leyes, Mad River, Montgomery, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district ED 170, sheet 640C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1052; FHL microfilm 1,255,052.
6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatinate_(region)#Bavarian_rule
7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-German_sentiment#United_States
8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump
 |
| Location of Alsace |
The Alsace is on the western bank of the upper Rhine, and Leyes is a Rhenish name (that is, a name characteristic of German communities along the Rhine) (2). But, of course, the Alsace isn't the only region along the upper Rhine and family legend isn't the only information we have about the origins of the Leyeses. Several times during his life, John Leyes or his children were asked about his place of birth and he always gave a location in Germany.
1860 U.S. Census, John "Lias" gave his birthplace as Bavaria, Germany (3)
1870 U.S. Census, John Leyes gave his birthplace as Bavaria (4)
1880 U.S. Census, John Leyes gave his birthplace as Rhine Bavaria. He gave the same answer when asked for the birthplaces of his parents. His children were also asked to give the location of their father's birth. Each one said Rhine Bavaria, including his grown son, Joseph, who was living in another household. (5)
Although this is less direct evidence, three of his children had John's place of birth listed on their death certificates. In each case, it was "Germany".
 |
| Location of the Palatinate |
If it weren't for the family story about the Alsace, I would assume the Leyeses were simply from Rhineland-Palatinate, but since the two areas are so close together, it is possible that the shifting and complex political situation left a family with Alsatian ethnic identity inside the borders of Germany. Regardless of their identity as Alsatian (or not), it's pretty clear their original location was in Germany, not France.
If the Leyeses weren't from the Alsace, then why did that story pass down through the family? I think there are two plausible (and not mutually exclusive) hypotheses: 1) The Leyeses were ethnically Alsatian, although they did not live in the area that was considered the Alsace, at least within the generation before they emigrated to the United States; and/or 2) during the period of jingoistic nationalism around World War I, many German-Americans sought to distance themselves from their heritage. Anti-German sentiment was strong and dangerous; German-Americans were killed by mobs, they were banned from joining the Red Cross or holding prestigious public positions, German town and street names were changed, doctors began treating "liberty measles" for heaven's sake (7). Many German-Americans denied their heritage completely. For example, Friedrich Trump, best known to us as Donald Trump's grandfather, was born in Rhineland-Palatinate, but in the early 20th century his family claimed to be from Sweden (7). It would not be surprising if the Leyes had shifted their homeland a bit to the southwest in response to those same pressures.
[UPDATE - June 14, 2016]
The more I look into the name "Leyes", the more convinced I am that the Leyeses were ethnically Alsatian, although they did not live in the French province of the Alsace. I'm basing this entirely on the modern/recent historical distribution of the name. Here are two maps showing the distribution of the name in Germany and in France. The German map is based on modern phone book records, while the French map is based on historical census data.
 |
| The distribution of the surname "Leyes" in modern German telephone books, from http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/leyes.html The region with the highest concentration of Leyeses is Saarpfalz-Kreis |
 |
| The distribution of the surname "Leyes" in France, based on census records, from http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=Leyes&submit=Valider&client=cdip. The region with the highest concentration is Bas Rhin. |
Note that the name is rare and only really found in one area: the Alsace (in France) and the provinces adjoining the Alsace in Germany. My guess is, then, that it is an "Alsatian" name. Honesty compels me to add, though, that the data behind these maps is weak. The webpages don't give details because they want you to buy access to their database, so I can't vouch for their reliability.
References:
1) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~schenot/hecht_leyes/leyes.html
2) http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=leyes
3) Year: 1860; Census Place: Mad River, Montgomery, Ohio; Roll: M653_1014; Page: 216; Image: 9; Family History Library Film: 805014
4) "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6LZ-CZR : accessed 16 May 2016), John Leyes, Ohio, United States; citing p. 46, family 326, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,747.
5) "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8SQ-G5S : accessed 15 May 2016), John Leyes, Mad River, Montgomery, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district ED 170, sheet 640C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1052; FHL microfilm 1,255,052.
6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatinate_(region)#Bavarian_rule
7) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-German_sentiment#United_States
8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Overview of the LeFebvres
This
is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my
mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at
the bottom of this post.
LeFebvre dit Boulanger
The LeFebvre dit Boulangers trace their origins back to the beginning of New France and the settlement of Québec. The first of our line in New France was Claude LeFebvre dit Boulanger, born in 1648 near Paris. Claude was confirmed November 11, 1665, in Québec city. It is not clear if his parents accompanied him to the colony. Claude worked for a man named Jacques Bilodeau on the l'Île d'Orléans. On October 28, 1669, Claude married Marie Arcular, who was born in Paris in 1651. She came to Québec as a "fille du roi", literally "daughter of the king". Filles du roi were young women, most of whom were poor or orphans, who were given dowries and free transportation to New France by the crown, in the expectation that they would marry one of the many single men in the colony.
Given the LeFebvre's deep history in Canada, there are too many ancestors to name, including a number of filles du roi, colony leaders, and important land-owners. The descendants of Claude and Marie married into families with even earlier ties to the colony, including the descendants of Louis Hébert. Louis and his wife, Marie Rollet, were the first European farmers in Québec. Louis was an apothocary and noted horticulturalist in Paris when he was recruited by his friend, Samuel de Champlain, to bring his skills to the new colony in 1617. He had previously accompanied Champlain to Port-Royal, Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in 1606. Louis's son, Guillaume, married Hélène Desportes, who is believed to be the first European child born in the new colony, in 1620. Their daughter's descendants eventually married into the LeFebvre line.
The LeFebvres first moved to the United States in the late 1800s, as part of a large migration of French-Canadians out of Québec, where rising populations were making land and jobs scarce. Leon LeFebvre, and his new bride, Ombeline Blouin, moved to Lewiston, Maine, shortly after they were married in 1870. Lewiston was known for its "Little Canada" neighborhood, where immigrants could find a French-speaking Catholic church and school for their children. Lewiston was undergoing an economic boom and Leon was able to find a job as a millwright. They had six children in Maine, and in 1886 moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, another major mill town, so Leon could find work. Leon and Ombeline lived the rest of their lives in Minneapolis.
Leon and Ombeline's youngest daughter, Marie-Anne Medora LeFebvre, married Frank Cunningham before 1910. They, too, made their home in Minneapolis, where they raised their two children.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_H%C3%A9bert
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lefebvre-879
http://niche-canada.org/2014/11/26/lewiston-maines-little-canada-revealing-the-cultural-intentions-of-french-canadian-migrants/
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57401112
LeFebvre dit Boulanger
The LeFebvre dit Boulangers trace their origins back to the beginning of New France and the settlement of Québec. The first of our line in New France was Claude LeFebvre dit Boulanger, born in 1648 near Paris. Claude was confirmed November 11, 1665, in Québec city. It is not clear if his parents accompanied him to the colony. Claude worked for a man named Jacques Bilodeau on the l'Île d'Orléans. On October 28, 1669, Claude married Marie Arcular, who was born in Paris in 1651. She came to Québec as a "fille du roi", literally "daughter of the king". Filles du roi were young women, most of whom were poor or orphans, who were given dowries and free transportation to New France by the crown, in the expectation that they would marry one of the many single men in the colony.
Given the LeFebvre's deep history in Canada, there are too many ancestors to name, including a number of filles du roi, colony leaders, and important land-owners. The descendants of Claude and Marie married into families with even earlier ties to the colony, including the descendants of Louis Hébert. Louis and his wife, Marie Rollet, were the first European farmers in Québec. Louis was an apothocary and noted horticulturalist in Paris when he was recruited by his friend, Samuel de Champlain, to bring his skills to the new colony in 1617. He had previously accompanied Champlain to Port-Royal, Acadia (now Nova Scotia) in 1606. Louis's son, Guillaume, married Hélène Desportes, who is believed to be the first European child born in the new colony, in 1620. Their daughter's descendants eventually married into the LeFebvre line.
The LeFebvres first moved to the United States in the late 1800s, as part of a large migration of French-Canadians out of Québec, where rising populations were making land and jobs scarce. Leon LeFebvre, and his new bride, Ombeline Blouin, moved to Lewiston, Maine, shortly after they were married in 1870. Lewiston was known for its "Little Canada" neighborhood, where immigrants could find a French-speaking Catholic church and school for their children. Lewiston was undergoing an economic boom and Leon was able to find a job as a millwright. They had six children in Maine, and in 1886 moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, another major mill town, so Leon could find work. Leon and Ombeline lived the rest of their lives in Minneapolis.
Leon and Ombeline's youngest daughter, Marie-Anne Medora LeFebvre, married Frank Cunningham before 1910. They, too, made their home in Minneapolis, where they raised their two children.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_H%C3%A9bert
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lefebvre-879
http://niche-canada.org/2014/11/26/lewiston-maines-little-canada-revealing-the-cultural-intentions-of-french-canadian-migrants/
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57401112
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Overview of the Rooneys
This is part of a series from the family history book I wrote for my mother's birthday. To see all the posts, click on the "Mom Book" tag at the bottom of this post.
John and Elizabeth were a young couple, only 25 and 21 when they arrived in the United States. Their eldest (surviving) child, Patrick, was born at sea. On average, pre-Famine Irish married young (16 for girls, 18 for boys), so John and Elizabeth may have lost children in Ireland before emigrating. They lived in New York when they first arrived in the United States, but around 1855 they moved to Columbus, Wisconsin, where they owned a small farm. This is where their paths crossed with the Cunninghams, who moved to Columbus shortly after. John and Elizabeth had ten children. Their third child, Elizabeth Theresa Rooney, married Robert Steven Cunningham on November 24, 1880.
While the Cunninghams farmed a full section of land, the Rooneys had only a quarter section. With their large family, it must have been difficult to make ends meet, and they would have had no land to pass on to their children. Around 1890, most of the family moved to Minnesota, including the Rooney's grown children and their families. Although most of the Rooney siblings -- including Elizabeth Rooney Cunningham -- settled in Minneapolis, John and Elizabeth homesteaded in western Minnesota with their youngest son, Ambrose. They lived with his family until they died in 1906. They are buried in Osakis, Minnesota.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
http://thedeanbeaverblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/rooneys-of-columbus.html
Rooney
The first of our Rooney line to come to the United States were John Joseph and Elizabeth (Kelly) Rooney who arrived in New York on May 18, 1848, in the steerage compartment of the ship The Constitution, out of Belfast, Ireland. The Constitution was a famine ship, over-crowded with the sick and the dying, those who were fleeing in any way possible an Gorta Mór (the Great Hunger), or what we call the Potato Famine. The peasants of Ireland were dependent on the potato, the only food that could produce enough calories per acre to feed the rapidly growing population. When the potato blight hit in 1845, it caused wide-spread hunger and disease. Although Ireland continued to export food throughout the Famine period, that food belonged to the (largely British, largely Protestant) landowners, and was not distributed to their workers. Millions died or were forced to emigrate. The population of Ireland dropped from a pre-1845 high of ten million to only four million by 1900.John and Elizabeth were a young couple, only 25 and 21 when they arrived in the United States. Their eldest (surviving) child, Patrick, was born at sea. On average, pre-Famine Irish married young (16 for girls, 18 for boys), so John and Elizabeth may have lost children in Ireland before emigrating. They lived in New York when they first arrived in the United States, but around 1855 they moved to Columbus, Wisconsin, where they owned a small farm. This is where their paths crossed with the Cunninghams, who moved to Columbus shortly after. John and Elizabeth had ten children. Their third child, Elizabeth Theresa Rooney, married Robert Steven Cunningham on November 24, 1880.
While the Cunninghams farmed a full section of land, the Rooneys had only a quarter section. With their large family, it must have been difficult to make ends meet, and they would have had no land to pass on to their children. Around 1890, most of the family moved to Minnesota, including the Rooney's grown children and their families. Although most of the Rooney siblings -- including Elizabeth Rooney Cunningham -- settled in Minneapolis, John and Elizabeth homesteaded in western Minnesota with their youngest son, Ambrose. They lived with his family until they died in 1906. They are buried in Osakis, Minnesota.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)
http://thedeanbeaverblog.blogspot.com/2015/08/rooneys-of-columbus.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)