For the 7th week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (Love) and chose Marguerite Bouvret (1784-1829).
The ancestor that I love to research is the one for whom I can find records. I especially love it when I find a baptism or burial record that solves a ‘brick wall’. And that’s what happened last week – I solved a brick wall when I found Marguerite’s burial record.
I knew when and where my maternal 4x great-grandmother Marguerite Bouvret was baptised and married, but I couldn’t locate her burial record. I had an estimated date of death for her, though, between 1824 and 1829, but not the exact date or place.
Marguerite was the younger daughter of Etienne Bouvret (Beauvais) by his first wife Marie Elisabeth Gibouleau (Gipoulou). She was born on 12 July 1784 and baptised as “Marie Marguerite” the next day in St-Henri church in Mascouche, which is a little to the north of Montreal. [1]
When she was 23 years old, Marguerite married Joseph Pinault dit Deschatelets on 11 January 1808 in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines. [2] The couple had eight children over the next fifteen years: Marie Marguerite, Angèle (Angélique), Joseph (my ancestor), Victoire, François, Louise, Pierre, and unnamed child of unrecorded gender who died at birth.
I knew Marguerite died between 25 April 1824 (when her unnamed child was buried in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines) and 19 October 1829 (when her eldest child Marie Marguerite married in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines), so I concentrated my efforts on those years and that location. [3]
I searched various databases, including “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967” at Ancestry.ca and “Inventaires après décès de la région de Montréal, 1791-1840” at Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), but didn’t find Marguerite. I also looked at the images of burial records for Ste-Anne-des-Plaines at Ancestry.ca, but still didn’t find her.
It wasn’t until last week that I realized I hadn’t looked for Marguerite’s “Individu” file at Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH). I don’t know why I didn't look there for her, especially since I’ve used that site for years, but I quickly remedied that situation. It's a good thing that I did, because Marguerite’s file included her death and burial details. At last! I now knew that my ancestor died on 9 April 1829 in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines and that she was buried there on 11 April 1829. [4]
Because PRDH is just a database, I then turned to Ancestry.ca to view the image of Marguerite’s burial record. [5] I was surprised to see that her surname wasn’t Bouvret or one its variations like Beauvais; instead, it was Comptois. For some reason, Ste-Anne’s parish priest made a mistake when he wrote Marguerite’s surname, which would explain how I ignored this entry when I originally skimmed the images of Ste-Anne’s sacramental registers for 1824 to 1829.
.jpg "Marguerite Bouvret burial record of 1829, part 1") |
| Marguerite Bouvret burial record (p. 11 recto), Ancestry.ca |
.jpg "Marguerite Bouvret burial record of 1829, part 2") |
| Marguerite Bouvret burial record (p. 11 verso), Ancestry.ca |
I’m satisfied that this burial record is the right one for my ancestor Marguerite for the following reasons:
- Her stated age of 45 gives her an approximate year of birth of 1784.
- Her surviving husband’s name is Joseph Pineau, a variation of Pinault.
- Her date and place of burial (11 April 1829 Ste-Anne-des-Plaines) are consistent with when she is last known to be living (25 April 1824 Ste-Anne-des-Plaines) and when she is deceased (19 October 1829 Ste-Anne-des-Plaines).
- No Pineau – Comptois (or variation) marriage appears to exist between 1774 and 1829 in the province of Quebec. [6]
Note to self: next time I’m facing a brick wall, make sure to search all the usual databases and not just some of them.
Sources:
1. St-Henri (Mascouche, Quebec), parish register, 1780-1786, no page no., no entry no. (1784), Marie Marguerite Boves [sic] baptism, 13 July 1784; St-Henri parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 13 February 2015).
2. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec), parish register, 1808, p. 1 verso, no entry no., Joseph Pinau – Marguerite Bouvret [sic] marriage, 11 January 1808; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 22 November 2014).
3. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec), parish register, 1824, p. 12 recto, entry no. S.23, Anonyme Déchatelet (written as Anonyme Déchatelet, indexed as Anonyme Dectratetet) burial, 25 April 1824; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 22 November 2014). Also, Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec), parish register, 1829, p. 28 recto, entry no. M.18, Jacques Legaut – Marie Marguerite Pinault dit Déchatelet (written as Jacques Legaut – Marie Marguerite Pinault dit Déchatelet, indexed as Jacques Lagaut – Margte Pinault) marriage, 19 October 1829; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 22 November 2014).
4. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 11 February 2015), Marguerite Bouvret, Individu no. 598141.
5. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec), parish register, 1829, p. 11 recto, entry no. S36, Marguerite Comptois [sic] burial, 11 April 1829; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 February 2015).
6. “Le LAFRANCE”, database, Généalogie Québec (www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 13 February 2015). A search for a marriage for “Pinau” (and Deschatelets) and “Comptois” between 1774 and 1829 proved negative.
Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.
