Nikifor Kazakoff or Nick Kazakoff – Who’s Who?

While researching my husband’s paternal relatives recently, I found information that said his great-great-uncle Mikit Denis Tomelin (ca 1878-1944) married Anna Perepolkin after his first wife Anastasia (Nastia) Chiveldaeff (aka Mabel Cheveldave) passed away. The info added that Anna was the widow of Nikifor Kazakoff, by whom she had two children, John and Mary.

I didn’t know that Mikit married twice, so I went in search of Anna's first husband Nikifor. I found conflicting information about him in Ancestry.ca trees. I also found a Find A Grave memorial that merged him with a Nick Kazakoff. The confusion is understandable. Both men were born in Russia, both had fathers named Mike, and both were married to an Anna/Annie.

Differences between the men helped to untangle them. For example, Nikifor was known mostly as Nikifor, while Nick was known as Nikolai, Nicholas or Nick. Nikifor was a laborer and later a farmer, while Nick was a farmer and later a mechanic, who enlisted in World War I. Nikifor had one wife and two children, while Nick had two wives and six children. Nikifor’s wife was Doukhobor, while Nick’s second wife was Roman Catholic. Nikifor’s mother was living, but Nick’s mother was deceased.

After I made tables and charts to distinguish the men and their families, I determined that Mikit’s second wife Anna was the widow of Nikifor (“Nikifor Kazakoff, Farmer” in this document) and not the widow of Nick (“Nick Kazakoff, WWI Veteran” in this document). Here is a summary of my findings.

Nikifor Kazakoff, Farmer

Nikifor was born in 1890 or 1891 in Russia. Alternatively, he was born on 9 February 1888. [1] Nikifor left Russia with his younger brother Dmitry, their parents Mikhail and Maria, his uncles Petro, Ivan and Grigory, his grandparents Ivan and Ekaterina, and his great-grandmother Maria. They and nearly 2,000 other persecuted Doukhobors boarded the S/S Lake Superior for Canada in January 1899. [2]

The Kazakoff family lived communally in Saskatchewan with other Doukhobors for a few years. About 1911, Mikhail and Maria moved to British Columbia. [3] I suspect that Nikifor also went to B.C., because I did not locate him in Saskatchewan on the 1916 census. Mikhail and Maria returned to Saskatchewan in 1919 and settled near Veregin. Nikifor was definitely back in that province by 1921, because he appears on that year’s census.

About 1914, Nikifor married Annie (Anna) Perepolkin, daughter of Alex and Dora (Daykoff) Perepolkin. The couple had two children, John and Mary. [4]

Nikifor is presumably the same person as the “Nikifor M. Kazakoff” who died on 28 March 1923 and is buried in Blahodarovka Cemetery, near Veregin, Saskatchewan. [5] After his death, Annie moved to British Columbia and married Mikit Tomelin. She died on 28 February 1954 in Pass Creek, BC. [6] Annie’s daughter Mary married Mikit’s son Alex in 1932. [7]

Footnotes:

1. “Blahodarovka Cemetery – Veregin District, Saskatchewan”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Cemetery-Blahodarovka.html : 22 June 2017), entry for Nikifor M. Kazakoff (1888-1923).

2. Steve Lapshinoff and Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, Crescent Valley, BC: self-published, 2001), 5.

3. St. Philips / Pelly History Book Committee, History Coming Alive: R.M. of St. Philips, Pelly and District, 2 vols. (Pelly, Saskatchewan: 1958, I: 511); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 19 June 2017).

4. History Coming Alive, I: 511. 5. “Blahodarovka Cemetery”, database entry for Nikifor M. Kazakoff (1888-1923). History Coming Alive, I: 511 states that “Mikifor” died in 1924.

6. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Anna Tamelin, 28 February 1954, death registration no. 1954-09-004500.

7. History Coming Alive, I: 511 and “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 26 June 2017), entry for Alex Tamelin – Mary Kazakoff, 29 December 1932, marriage registration no. 1932-09-900680.

Table 1 Notes:

1. Four Kazakoff households reported only heads of families on the 1906 census. These were Nick’s grandfather (Mikhail), his uncles (Petro, Ivan, and Grigory), and his father (Mikhail).

2. I didn’t find Nick‘s household in Saskatchewan on the 1916 census. He was possibly living in British Columbia at this time, because his son John was born there in Winlaw on Feb. 18, 1915 (according to his social security application) and his daughter Mary was born there in the province on Oct. 18, 1917 (according to her Find A Grave memorial).

3. The Nikifor M. Kazakoff buried in Blahodarovka Doukhobor Cemetery is possibly the same person as the above Nikifor. I searched but did not find a 1923 probate file for him. (“Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931", digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 June 2017), Yorkton District, 1923, probate files). I also searched 1924, but did not file a probate file for him.

Nick Kazakoff, WWI Veteran

Nikolai (Nicholas, Nick) was born between 1885 and 1891 in Russia. His parents were Mikhail (Mike) Kazakoff and an unknown mother, possibly Dora Tarasoff. [1]

I didn’t find Nick on passenger lists for the S/S Lake Huron that departed in December 1898 for Canada or for the S/S Lake Superior that left in January 1899. [2]

The first time Nick appears in a family unit is on the 1905 Doukhobor village census. The household consists of father Michaylo, son Michaylo (with his wife and daughter), sons Nicholai and Ivan, and daughter Fedosia (Fanny). [3]

Nick appears to have married twice: first to possibly Nastanka (her name is difficult to decipher on the 1911 census image), by whom he had a daughter, and second to Anna, by whom he had two sons (Mike and Nick).

Although Nick was Doukhobor, Anna was Roman Catholic. [4] Daughter of Mike Bazelowski (var. Basalowski, Basiloski) and Evdokia Chopek, Anna was born on 15 August 1895. [5] Her birthplace was either Austria, according to the 1916 and 1921 censuses, or more likely Poland, according to her son Walter’s death registration.

On 28 December 1915, Nick enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF) during World War I. [6] He was the only Doukhobor surnamed Kazakoff (or variation) to do so. [7]

Nick and Anna’s last child, Dora, was born about 1924. Nick died presumably in the 1920s, possibly in 1929. [8] Anna remained a widow and died on 13 December 1982 in Trail, British Columbia. [9]

Footnotes:

1. Gwen Gamberutti, “Re: Tarasoff Line”, Doukhobor – Family History & Genealogy Message Board, 5 July 2002 (https://www.ancestry.com/boards/topics.religious.doukhobor/mb.ashx : accessed 21 June 2017).

2. Steve Lapshinoff and Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, Crescent Valley, BC: self-published, 2001). A search of the Lake Huron and Lake Superior’s manifests for Nikolai, his father, or his siblings proved negative.

3. Steve Lapshinoff, List of Doukhobors Living In Saskatchewan In 1905, Crescent Valley, B.C.: self-published, 1996, 146.

4. “1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 10, sub-district 10, p. 14, dwelling 145, family 152, entry for Annie Kazikoff [sic], line 45, p. 14, Kamsack, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan; citing Canada, "Census returns for 1916 Census of Prairie Provinces"; Statistics of Canada Fonds, Record Group 31-C-1, LAC microfilm T-21925 to T-21956 [T-21938]; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa. Also, “1921 Census of Canada”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), population schedule, district 219, enumeration sub-district 61, dwelling 403, family 409, entry for Annie Kazakoff (written as Annie Kazakoff, indexed as Annie Razalaff), line 22, p. 38, Kamsack, Mackenzie, Saskatchewan; citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31, Statistics Canada Fonds.

5. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Annie Kazakoff, 28 February 1954, death registration no. 1982-09-020807.

6. “Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2017), Nick Kazakoff, regimental number 888039; citing "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)"; Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 – 35; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

7. “Doukhobors in the WWI Canadian Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/WWI-Soldiers.pdf : accessed 21 June 2017), entry for Nick Kazakoff, regiment no. 888039. An Arhip Kazakoff (var. Kozokow), son of Petro Kazakoff, enlisted in the CEF in Montreal, Quebec in August 1915, but he was Russian Orthodox. (“Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx : accessed 27 June 2017), Arhip Kazakoff, regimental no. 50370, digitized service file).

8. Find A Grave, database (http://findagrave.com : accessed 21 June 2017), record for Nick Kazakoff (?-1929), Find A Grave Memorial no. 74373983, Riverview Cemetery, Kamsack, Saskatchewan, Canada, no photograph; citing burial on 25 Aug 1929; Sec: Old RV; Block:4; Plot:1; Lot: NE.

9. “Genealogy – General Search”, BC Archives, entry for Annie Kazakoff, 28 February 1954.

Table 2 Notes:

1. Early Doukhobor ship passenger lists are incomplete and/or the originals are missing. For example, only 899 names of 1,997 passengers were recorded on the manifest of the S/S Lake Superior that departed for Canada in January 1899.

2. Portions of the 1901 census are incomplete, because 2,811 Doukhobors in 23 villages (located in the present-day province of Saskatchewan) refused to be enumerated.

3. The 1905 Doukhobor village census has only one Nicholas in which a Nick is the son of a father Mike who does not have a wife, which is how Nick described his family situation in his World War I service file.

4. Nick is possibly the same person as “Nick Kazakoff” who is buried in Riverview Cemetery, but I do not know if he is the same one who served in WWI. I searched but did not find a 1929 probate file for him. (“Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931", digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 June 2017), Yorkton District, 1929, probate files) I also didn’t find a WWI veterans’ death card for him. (“Veterans Death Cards: First World War (Archived)”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx : accessed 20 June 2017).)

Copyright © 2017, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Maritime Monday: S/S Lake Superior and the May 1899 Doukhobors

S/S Lake Superior

It was 117 years ago today – 9 May 1899 – that the Lake Superior arrived at Quebec City. The steamship left Larnaca, a port in Cyprus, on 18 April 1899. On board were 1,036 Doukhobors. They were originally from the province of Tiflis in the Russian Empire, but left there in 1898 for Cyprus. [1]

These men, women and children were the third group of exiled Doukhobors to arrive in Canada. They were accompanied by a ‘voyage organizer’, medical personnel (a doctor and two nurses), and five ‘Doukhobor sympathizers’. [2]

Seventy-three different Doukhobor surnames appear on the manifest. [3] I don’t believe that any of my husband’s ancestors were part of this May contingent.

Sources:

Image credit: Photo of S/S Lake Superior (built 1884), digital image, Norway – Heritage (http://www.norwayheritage.com : accessed 8 January 2014).

1. Steve Lapshinoff & Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928 (Crescent Valley: self-published, 2001), 24; citing National Archives of Canada, microfilm reel #C-4542.

2. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 24.

3. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 24-48.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Maritime Monday: 227 Doukhobors Arrive in Canada in 1912

SS Californian on the morning after Titanic sank

In the spring of 1912, four separate ships brought more exiled Russian Doukhobors to a new life in Canada.

These journeys might have been unremarkable except for the following events:

• The Ultonia lost one life when a male infant child (Ivan Rybalkin) died at sea. [5]

• The Canada had to quarantine two Doukhobor families (Esaulov and Kolesnikov) on its arrival. [6]

• The Californian “observed distress signals sent up by the nearby sinking Titanic but ignored them”. [7]

Sources:

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, Californian.jpg

1. Steve Lapshinoff & Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928 (Crescent Valley: self-published, 2001), 138; citing National Archives of Canada, Microfilm Reel # T-4692. Note: There is some controversy whether or not there were passengers aboard the Californian during this April voyage. For anecdotal evidence that a six-member family travelled on that ship, see “Polly (Harelkin) Verigin: Recalling the Titanic”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Harelkin.html : accessed 10 April 2016).

2. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 139; citing National Archives of Canada, Microfilm Reel # C-4784.

3. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 140-143; citing National Archives of Canada, Microfilm Reel # T-4744.

4. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 144-146; citing National Archives of Canada, Microfilm Reel # T-4787.

5. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 143.

6. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 144-145.

7. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 138.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #40 Marthe Quitel, a Calvinist fille du roi

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 40th week of this challenge, I chose Marthe Quitel (ca 1637-1722).

Marthe is my maternal 7x great-grandmother and is number 1831 in my ancestor list.

Daughter of Denis Quitel and his wife Louise Bénard, Marthe was born about 1637, 1638 or 1651, depending on her age on New France censuses. [1] She was from the parish of St-Maclou in Rouen, Normandy, France. [2]

As one of the 59 or so filles du roi (King’s daughters) destined for Quebec City, Marthe arrived in New France in the summer of 1665. [3] It is not known what prompted her to leave her home, but it was perhaps because one or both of her parents had passed away, as was sometimes the case with filles du roi. Also unknown is what kind of dowry and gifts she might have received. Author Silvio Dumas explains that filles du roi usually received at least “un modest trousseau” and that in some of their marriage contracts, there is mention of these items. [4] Marthe’s marriage contract, however, is silent on this point.

Marthe was not only a fille du roi, she was also a Calvinist. Almost immediately after her arrival at Quebec (other filles du roi went to Montreal and Trois-Rivières), Marthe renounced her Calvinist faith and converted to Roman Catholicism on 17 July 1665 at Notre-Dame church in Quebec. [5]

One month later, Marthe and a fellow immigrant, Barthélemi Verreau dit Le Bourguignon, entered into a marriage contract on 31 August 1665. [6] They both knew how to write, because they signed their names on the contrat in the presence of notary Pierre Duquet. [7] The couple married three weeks later on 22 September 1665 in Château-Richer. [8] Located east of present-day Quebec City, Château-Richer was at that time part of the seigneurie of Beaupré, but is now in Montmorency County, Quebec.

View at Chateau Richer (1804)*

* Image: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-270. Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana.

Barthélemi was about six years older than Marthe. Originally from Dijon, Burgundy, France, he arrived in Montreal in 1662. [9] Barthélemi worked as a blacksmith and later as an edge-tool maker. [10] Just before he married, he purchased some land in Château-Richer in June 1665, where he relocated. [11] I wonder if his being a skilled worker and having some land is what prompted Marthe to consider Barthélemi as a suitable spouse.

Over the next seventeen years, Marthe gave birth to nine children: five sons and four daughters, including my ancestress Marguerite (Verreau) Boutillet (1674-1749). [12] Barthélemi and Marthe were able to provide well for their children, because their eldest surviving son Barthélemi, a blacksmith like his father, became a clerk of the Beaupré seigneurial court and a notary. [13]

In December 1700, Barthélemi père died. He was buried in Château-Richer, where he and Marthe had lived all their married life. [14] A few years later, Marthe’s surviving children gave up their rights to the paternal home. [15] In a contract known as “donation entre vifs” drawn up on 5 November 1706 by Quebec notary Etienne Jacob, Marthe gave up her house and its land to her youngest son François in exchange for his lodging and caring for her until her death. [16]

Marthe survived her husband by twenty-two years. She died suddenly, according to her burial record, which added that she had “donnée durant sa vie des marques de Catholicité” (demonstrated her Catholicism during her life). [17] This detail tells me that Marthe took seriously her conversion to Catholicism. She was buried on 26 December 1722 in Château-Richer. [18]

Although I haven’t seen it, a book about the Verreau family has been recently published: Barthélemy Verreau, premier Verreau en Nouvelle-France, by Jean-Marie Verreault (Québec, Québec: Jean-Marie Verreault, 2013). I came across it yesterday in a June 2014 post at the Library and Archives Canada blog.

Sources:

1. Marthe was 28 years old on the 1666 census, 30 on the 1667 census, and 30 on the 1681 census. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 1121. All the sources I used for this article name Marthe’s father Denis. However, he is named Daniel Quitel (Guittel) in Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), I: 585.

2. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121.

3. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, 2 vols. (Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Quintin Publications, 2001), 2: 476. Also, Silvio Dumas, Les filles du Roi en Nouvelle-France: étude historique avec répertoire biographique (Québec, Québec: Société historique de Québec, 1972, 43); digital images; Our Roots / Nos Racines (http://www.ourroots.ca : accessed 2 October 2014).

4. Dumas, Les filles du Roi, 319.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121, Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476, and Roland-J. Auger, “Registre des abjurations (1662-1757)”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française [Vol. V – No. 4] (juin 1953): 243-246, particularly p. 246; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

6. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

7. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

8. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

9. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476. Another source gives a different place of origin for Barthélemi: the parish of St-Agnan in Ahuy, Bourgogne, France. (Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 2 October 2014), entry for Barthélemy Verreau / Bourguignon, no. 380065.) Ahuy is located 6 km north of Dijon. (Wikipedia contributors, "Ahuy", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ahuy&oldid=620507581 : accessed October 3, 2014).)

10. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

11. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

12. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121.

13. Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada (http://www.biographi.ca/en/index.php : accessed 2 October 2014), “Barthélemi Verreau”.

14. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

15. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

16. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

17. “Le LAFRANCE”, digital images, GénéalogieQuébec (www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 2 October 2014); entry for Marthe Quintel [sic] burial, 26 December 1722. Unfortunately, Marthe’s burial record does not state the date or place of her death, nor her age.

18. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Maritime Monday: S/S Lake Southwark and the Dimovsky Family

S/S Southwark [1]

Earlier this year, I wrote a couple of articles about Dimovsky families who immigrated to Canada in the late 1890s. They were Doukhobor pacifists who left Russia, seeking a life free from religious intolerance. For a brief explanation about how Doukhobors came to be in Canada, see Family History Through the Alphabet – S is for …

Today’s post is the third and concluding article in this 3-part series. Part 1 (those who arrived in January 1899) is available at Maritime Monday: S/S Lake Superior and the Dimovsky Family. Part 2 (those who arrived in June 1899) is available at Maritime Monday: S/S Lake Huron and the Dimovsky Families.

September 9 (tomorrow) marks the 109th anniversary of the S/S Southwark’s arrival at Quebec City. The ship’s manifest, which is complete, shows one group of people, surnamed Dimovsky. These individuals consist of Danila Dimovsky, with presumably his wife Anna and their young daughter Agafia. [2]

The Southwark departed Liverpool, England on 31 August 1905. On board were 649 passengers, 182 of whom were “Doukhobors exiles from Yakutsk, Siberia”. [3] This “second wave of Doukhobor immigration” lasted from 1902 to 1906. [4]

Upon the ship’s arrival in Canada on September 9, a small group of Doukhobors (but not Danila, his wife or their child) were quarantined, some until October and others until mid-November 1905. [5]

Like the other Dimovsky families about whom I’ve written in this series, I don’t know if or how Danila, Anna and Agafia are related to my husband. (Dimovsky is a spelling variation of Demofsky, later Demosky, later still Demoskoff.)

Sources:

1. Photo of S/S Southwark (built 1893), digital image, Norway – Heritage (http://www.norwayheritage.com : accessed 18 January 2014).

2. Steve Lapshinoff & Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928 (Crescent Valley: self-published, 2001), 110.

3. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 110.

4. “Index to Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Shiplists.htm : accessed 18 January 2014), “Arrivals in 1902-1906”.

5. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 110.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #26 Anne Couvent, not Convent

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”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 26th week of this challenge, I chose Anne Couvent (ca 1601-1675).

Anne Couvent is my 10x great-grandmother and is number 5069 and 7569 in my ancestor list. This double number means that I have two lines of descent from her through my father and my mother.

Anne was born about 1601 (based on her age on the 1666 census of New France) or about 1607 (based on her age on the 1667 census of New France). [1]

She married Philippe Amiot, of an ancient and honorable French family, in about 1625. [2]

Ten years later in about 1635, Anne, her husband and their children, sons Jean and Mathieu, immigrated to Canada, known at this time as the colony of Nouvelle-France. [3]

A third child, son Charles, was born in August 1636. [4]

Philippe died between Charles’ birth and September 1639, when his widow Anne married Jacques Maheu in Quebec. By her second husband, also a French immigrant, Anne had two children. [5]

After Jacques’ death in July 1663, Anne married a third time in September 1666 in Quebec. Her new husband, Etienne Blanchon dit Larose, was a soldier and tailor, originally from Auvergne, France. She and Etienne did not have children. [6]

Anne was in her early 70s when she died on Christmas Day in 1675 in Quebec. [7] She had lived in the colony of New France for forty years.

Quebec (city)

After I prepared this background story, I checked past issues of Mémoires, the quarterly publication of the Société généalogique canadienne-française, of Montreal, to see what else I could find about Anne. I’m glad I did, because I found articles that updated or corrected certain facts about Anne that were once thought accurate. Here are some examples from one of those articles, published in 2007:

• Anne’s place of birth

Anne was born in Estrées in the diocese of Soissons in Picardie, France, according to some genealogical dictionaries like Tanguay. [8] Anne was indeed from that diocese, but from Espié (now Epieds), as seen in her 1639 marriage contract with her second husband. [9]

• Anne’s surname

Anne’s surname is Convent in Tanguay’s dictionary, but in more recent works like the PRDH (Programme de recherche en démographie historique), it is Convent or Couvent. [10] According to authors Gagné and Kokanosky, her surname is Couvent, which is how she is mentioned in her nephew Toussaint Ledran’s marriage contract in 1669. [11]

• Anne’s parents

Anne’s parents’ are named Guillaume Convent and Antoinette de Longval in older sources, but the spelling should be Couvent and de Longueval, respectively. [12]

If you are a descendant of Anne, I encourage you to seek out this well-researched article, filled with many interesting details about Anne, her husbands, her children, and her parentage. There’s even a 15-generation chart showing her line of descent from Louis VIII, King of France, through his son Robert, comte de France and his wife Mathilde de Brabant.

Sources:

Image credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. no. R9266-1938.

1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 12 and 114.

2. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 12. Also, Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français, 1608-1760, 3 vols. (Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1958), III: 1359.

3. Roland-Yves Gagné and Laurent Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot (Hameau), de son épouse Anne Couvent et de leur neveu Toussaint Ledran”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, 58 (printemps 2007): 17; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

4. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 12.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 752.

6. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 114.

7. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 114.

8. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols. (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), I: 6.

9. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot", 18-19.

10. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 20.

11. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 20.

12. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 19.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #25 Etienne Bray

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”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 25th week of this challenge, I chose Etienne Bray (1694-1774).

Etienne Bray (Bret) is my 5x paternal great-grandfather and is number 140 in my ancestor list.

He was born on 2 April 1694 and baptised nine days later on 11 April in St-Etienne church of Montagne, in the old province of Dauphiné, located in southeastern France. [1]

Map of France showing province of Dauphiné in pink [2]

Etienne was one of at least three children born to Etienne Bray and his wife Hélène Ergon (Argoud). His father died in May 1696 in Montagne, when Etienne was only two years old. [3] Note that Tanguay’s Dictionnaire is incorrect when it says that Etienne was the son of Léger Bray dit Labonté by his first wife Marguerite Colin. [4]

Previous research estimated Etienne’s arrival in Canada in 1721 as an immigrant. [5] Recent research, however, places his arrival as early as 1717, when he is described as a recrue in the patient register of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Quebec City. [6] Etienne was an infantry recruit with the troupes de la Marine. [7] Also known as Compagnies franches de la Marine, these troops were part of “land forces under the control of the navy”, founded in 1622, “notably for operations in French Canada”. [8] I’ve searched various sources, but I haven’t found Etienne’s regiment or company.

Following his first appearance in Canadian records, Etienne next appears in September 1721 when he serves as godfather to the infant daughter of Pierre Thibault dit Léveillé, and then in August 1722 as godfather to the day-old son of Jean Baptiste Glinel. In June 1723, Etienne is one of twelve witnesses at the marriage of Pierre Lahaise and Elisabeth Poitras. [9]

Troupes de la Marine recruits enlisted for a period of six years, after which time they had the option to return to France or to remain in the colony. [10] Etienne’s enlistment presumably ended in late 1723, because he chose to live in Canada when he married here soon after his term of service ended.

In early 1724, Etienne entered into a marriage contract with 21-year-old Barbe Dazé on 20 February of that year. The following day, the couple married in St-François-de-Sales on Ile Jésus, just north of Montreal, where Barbe was born and where her family still lived. [11]

The couple’s first children were twins, whose gender was not recorded, and who died in January 1726. The younger children born between 1727 and 1744 – Dominique, Marie Charlotte, Etienne, Marie Josèphe, Marie Angélique, Marie Barbe, François (my ancestor) and André – all survived and married in due course. [12]

Etienne died on 29 January 1774 and was buried on 31 January 1774 in Les Cèdres, Soulanges County, Quebec. [13] He was predeceased by his wife Barbe, who died in November 1770. [14]

Sources:

1. Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 16 June 2014), entry for Etienne Bray/Bret, no. 240585.

2. Wikipedia contributors, “Dauphiné”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dauphin%C3%A9&oldid=612874259 : accessed 16 June 2014).

3. Fichier Origine, Etienne Bray/Bret.

4. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols. (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), II: 455.

5. Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 12 September 2009), entry for Etienne Bray, no. 240585.

6. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bray, individu no. 7572. The note in Etienne’s entry states: Cité le 25-09-1717 dans le registre des malades de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec: “recrue”. Ancestry.ca has records for Quebec’s Hôtel-Dieu, but it is a registre mortuaire, a register of deaths. This register is part of the “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”) database of the Drouin Collection.

7. Fichier Origine, Etienne Bray/Bret.

8. Wikipedia contributors, “Troupes de marine”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Troupes_de_marine&oldid=603885072 : accessed 16 June 2014).

9. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Marie Francoise Thibault, baptême no. 10018. Also, “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Glinel, baptême no. 45763. Also, “Répertoire des actes d’état civil 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Pierre Lahayze [sic] – Elisabeth Poitras, mariage no. 12882.

10. Luc Lépine, “L’impact des noms de guerre des militaires française sur la patronymie québécoise”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, 52 (printemps 2001): 56; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

11. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 166. Also, “Répertoire des actes d’état civil 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bré [sic] – Barbe Dazé, mariage no. 22400.

12. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bray – Marie Barbe Dazé, famille no. 14665.

13. St-Joseph-de-Soulanges (Les Cèdres, Quebec), parish register, 1759-1791, no page no., no entry no. (1774), Etienne Bray burial, 31 January 1774; St-Joseph-de-Soulanges parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection, 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 June 2014). Also, “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, Etienne Bray, individu no. 7572.

14. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Marie Barbe Dazé, individu no. 23649.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #24 Olivier Charbonneau

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”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 24th week of this challenge, I chose Olivier Charbonneau (ca 1607-1687).

Olivier is my 7x great-grandfather, and is number 1212 in my ancestor list. Interestingly, I have a total of 7 lines of descent from Olivier, which makes him my 7x, 8x, 9x and 10x great-grandfather. Through his daughter Anne (born 1657), I descend four times from him, through his son Joseph (born 1660), I descend two times, and from his daughter Elisabeth (born 1664), I descend one time.

Here are some highlights of Olivier’s life.

About 1611:
Olivier is born in Marans, Aunis, France. [1] Other possible dates are about 1607, about 1615, and about 1631. [2]

Unknown date (pre-1654):
Oliver married first Marguerite Roy in France, by whom he was predeceased. [3]

1654:
Olivier married second Marie Garnier in La Rochelle, Aunis, France [4] or about 1656 in Marans, Aunis, France. [5]

5 June 1569:
Olivier and other heads of families from Marans appear in a notary’s office in the port city of La Rochelle to sign up as colonists for New France. [6]

2 July 1659:
Olivier, his wife Marie and their young daughter Anne, along with a group of about 200 others (including individuals, families, and nursing sisters), set sail for the colony of New France on board the 300-ton Saint-André. [7]

29 September 1659:
Olivier and his family arrive in Montreal (known as Ville-Marie), after having landed in Quebec city three weeks earlier. [8]

L'île de Montreal et ses environs.

[The island of Montreal, including “Isle de Jésus” just to the north of it.]

25 August 1662:
Olivier acquires some land. [9]

11 May 1664:
Olivier receives the Sacrament of Confirmation in Montreal. [10]

1666 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated in Montreal. [11]

1667 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated again in Montreal. [12]

10 November 1669:
Olivier received a quittance for the sum of 175 livres transacted in the office of notary Basset in Montreal. It took him 10 years to be discharged from his debt of the cost of his transportation to New France. [13]

23 November 1671:
Olivier’s daughter Anne marries Guillaume Labelle; she is the first of his children to marry. [14]

20 November 1674:
Olivier’s first grandchild Antoine Labelle (son of daughter Anne) is baptized in Montreal. [15]

1681 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated in l’Ile Jésus, north of Montreal. [16]

20 November 1687:
Olivier died in Pointe-aux-Trembles, near Montreal. [17]

Sources:

Image credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-4045.

1. Archange Godbout, Les passagers du Saint-André. La recrue de 1659 (Montréal: Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française, publication no 5, 1964), 72.

2. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 225. Olivier was born about 1607 (he was 80 years old at his burial), about 1611 (he was 70 on the 1681 census), about 1615 (he was 52 on the 1667 census) or about 1631 (he was 35 on the 1666 census).

3. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

4. Godbout, Passagers, 72.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

6. Godbout, Passagers, 20.

7. Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français, 1608-1760, 3 vols. (Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1958), III: 1359. Also, Marcel Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants 1632-1662 (Montréal: Editions Hurtubise HMH, Limitée, 1983), 419.

8. Godbout, Passagers, 4, and Dictionnaire National, III: 1474.

9. Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants, 419.

10. Godbout, Passagers, 21.

11. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

12. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

13. Godbout, Passagers, 20.

14. Godbout, Passagers, 21.

15. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 619.

16. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

17. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Surname Saturday: Tomelin

Luchenia (Tomelin) Demosky, centre, holding her son George, with her parents 

Nick and Maria (Terichow) Tomelin, sitting, about 1912.

My husband’s paternal grandmother was Luchenia Tomelin (1885-1960).

Luchenia, sometimes known as Lukeria or Lucy, was born in 1885 in the Russian Empire. As a young teenager, she, her parents, siblings and close relatives immigrated to Canada from Russia in 1899, travelling on the S.S. Lake Huron. [1] I recently wrote about this experience here.

The standard spelling for Tomelin is Tomilin. English spelling variations include Tamelin, Tameelin, Tamilin, Tomelin, and Tomlin. [2]

Tomilin is a patronymic surname, derived from Tomila, a man’s name. [3]

According to the Doukhobor Genealogy Website, Doukhobors surnamed Tomilin “originated from the province of Tambov, Russia in the 18th century”. [4]

By 1905 in Canada, Tomilin families lived in Doukhobor villages in the South Colony in Kamsack District, the Good Spirit Lake Annex in Buchanan District, and the Blaine Lake District in Saskatchewan District, all in the province of Saskatchewan. [5]

Sources:

1. “Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City, 1865-1900”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-quebec-port-1865-1900/Pages/introduction.aspx : accessed 28 March 2014), manifest, S.S. Lake Huron, 21 June 1899, p. 24 (penned), entry no. 1445, Lukeria Tomilin [sic], age 13.

2. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Surnames.htm : accessed 2 June 2014), entry for Tomilin.

3. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website, entry for Tomilin.

4. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website, entry for Tomilin.

5. “Village-Surname Index for the 1905 Doukhobor Census”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/SK-Villages-Families.htm : accessed 2 June 2014).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.