52 Ancestors: #48 Jean-Baptiste Lepage, died in 1779, not 1764

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 48th week of this challenge, I chose Jean-Baptiste Pagési (Lepage) dit St-Amand (1692-1779).

Jean-Baptiste is my paternal 6x great-grandfather and is number 266 in my ancestor list. 

An only son among the five children of Jean Pagési (Lepage) dit St-Amand (a French immigrant) and his wife Marie-Catherine Gladu, Jean-Baptiste was born and baptized on 26 October 1692 in the village of Lachine (now part of the city of Montreal). [1] When he was about two years old, the Pagési family moved to Boucherville, where his father died suddenly in April 1695. [2]

On the St. Larwrence [sic] near the village of Lachine, Lower Canada.*

* Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1995-28-35.

On 3 July 1717, Jean-Baptiste and twenty-year old Marie-Anne Ondoyer entered into a marriage contract, followed by their marriage ceremony two months later on 6 September in Quebec. [3] Their son Jean-Baptiste was born a year later in October 1718. He was the first of twelve children that were born over the next twenty-four years. [4]

Many years ago, I found my ancestor Jean-Baptiste in Tanguay’s Dictionnaire. [5] According to this source, he died accidentally in the seigneurie of Beauharnois on 28 November 1764. [6] I entered this information in my notes, and moved on.

Earlier this week, I did some background research for my blog post. I also took the time to search for Jean-Baptiste’s burial record at Généalogie Québec.com. I found the record, and then compared the details. [7] They seemed to match those in Tanguay – name, date and place of death, and date and place of burial. I figured I was good, and again, moved on.

The next day, I searched the Internet for the circumstances of Jean-Baptiste’s death, because neither his burial record nor Tanguay indicated what type of accident he had. I came across a database that said Jean-Baptiste died in Montreal on 14 April 1779. [8] I assumed this date and location were incorrect, since it differed from Tanguay. Just in case, though, I looked for the 1779 burial record at Généalogie Québec.com. I found it. [9] Name, check; date and place of death, check; date and place of burial, check. These details matched those of the Internet search.

What was going on? Which source was correct and which source wasn't?

I was confused for a moment, but then realized what happened. I had trusted one source all these years and hadn’t verified it. When I originally found my ancestor Jean-Baptiste in Tanguay over twenty years ago, I was still a beginner researcher, I didn’t know about genealogical standards, and I hadn’t heard of reasonably exhaustive research. [10]

Thank goodness for having a blog. Writing about my ancestors in a public forum is a good way to ensure that I review the work I’ve previously done, and that I don't forget to move beyond using just one or two types of resources.

So, which Jean-Baptiste died when?

I put the various burial details into a table. That’s when I realized that I had overlooked one important piece of information: their ages. One Jean-Baptiste was 48 years old at his death/burial and the other was 94 years old.

One piece of information was still missing, though. Neither of the men’s burial records indicated the names of their respective wives. I went to the online Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) to see if its databases could help. I located each of their “Individu” file. It turned out that the Jean-Baptiste who died in 1764 was the son of Jean-Baptiste and Marie-Anne (Ondoyer) Pagési/Lepage. [11] The Jean-Baptiste who died in 1779 was the son of Jean and Marie-Catherine (Gladu) Pagési dit St-Amand. [12]

I now knew that Jean-Baptiste père (my ancestor) died on 14 April 1779 and that Jean-Baptiste fils (my ancestor’s son) died on 28 November 1764.

Thank goodness I chose ancestor no. 266 for this article. The prep work I did for it became a teachable moment for me: don’t trust only one source and do a reasonably exhaustive research.

Sources:

1. Sts-Anges-Gardiens (Lachine, Quebec), parish register, 1676-1756, p. 43 recto, no entry no. (1692), Jean Baptiste Pagesy [sic] baptism, 26 October 1692; Sts-Anges-Gardiens parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 25 November 2014).

2. Très-Ste-Famille (Boucherville, Quebec), parish register, 1669-1695, no page no., no entry no. (1695), Jean Baptiste Pagesi dit St Amant [sic] burial, 28 April 1695; Très-Ste-Famille parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 25 November 2014).

3. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 864.

4. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 30 June 2014), Jean Baptiste Lepage StAmand Pagesi Page – Marie Anne Ondoye Martin [sic], Famille no. 12592.

5. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), VI: 194.

6. Tanguay, Dictionnaire, VI: 194, right column, note (1).

7. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec), parish register, 1758-1768, p. 170, no entry no. (1764), Jean Lepage dit St Amant [sic] burial, 30 November 1764; Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue parish; digital image, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 25 November 2014).

8. Genealogy of Canada (http://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/genealogie.aspx?lng=en : 26 November 2014), entry for Jean-Baptiste Lepage, ID No. 29759, spouse of Marie-Anne Leber.

9. Notre-Dame (Montreal, Quebec), parish register, 177[7]-1779, no page no., no entry no. (1779), Jean Baptiste Lepage burial, 15 April 1779; Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 26 November 2014).

10. The Board for Certification of Genealogists defines this term as “reasonably exhaustive research – emphasizing original records providing participants’ information – for all evidence that might answer a genealogist’s question about an identity, relationship, event, or situation”. Board for Certification of Genealogists, Genealogy Standards, 50th anniversary edition (Nashville, Tennessee: Ancestry.com, 2014), 1.

11. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 26 November 2014), Jean Baptiste Lepage StAmand Page [sic] (1718-1764), Individu no. 121531.

12. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 26 November 2014), Jean Baptiste Lepage StAmand Page [sic] (1692-1779), Individu no. 59741.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.