I is For Immigrant

Olive Tree Genealogy is continuing a new Alphabet Genealogy series of blog posts. I'm not following the usual way of going A-Z surnames. Instead I will create a one word "tag". Then I will share an ancestor (mine, my husband's, an inlaw's or one of my children's) who fits the tag

Today's letter is I for Immigrant. Who was your first immigrant to arrive in N. America or your country of residence? My first to arrive in Canada, where I live, was Jacques Hertel.

Jacques was one of Samuel de Champlain (The Father of Canda)'s interpretors, brought to New France (Quebec) in 1613

Jacques' daughter Ots-Toch, a half French half Mohawk woman, married the Dutchman Cornelis Van Slyke in New Netherland.

My most recent immigrant ancestors were my maternal grandparents who came from England to Canada in 1913. That is 300 years of dozens of my ancestors coming to North America from their home countries!

Here's a few of my ancestors who arrived in that 300 year time span. I'm sure most of us have similar multiple immigrant arrivals.

1. Cornelis Van Slyke from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1634
2. Albert Andriessen de Noorman (Bradt family) from Norway to New Netherland (New York) in 1637
3. Leendert de Grauw from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1637
4. Cornelis Van Schaik  to New Netherland (New York) in1640
5. Jan Snediker from Germany to New Netherland (New York) in 1641
6. Lambert Van Valkenburg from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1643
7. Adriaen Crijnen Post from Brazil  to New Netherland (New York) in 1650
8. Christian Van Horn from ?  to New Netherland (New York) in 1653
9. Jan Van Alystyne from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1655
10. Willem Pieterse Van Slyke from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1655
11. Herman Coerts from Holland  to New Netherland (New York) in 1659
12. Simon de Ruine  to New Netherland (New York) in 1659
13. David Usille from Calais to New Netherland in 1660
14. Soert Olferts (Shuart family) from Holland to New Netherland (New York) in 1663
15. Georg Wilhelm Kehl from Germany to New York 1709
16. Johann Frederich Marical from Germany to New York 1710
17. Harmanus Hommel from Germany to New York 1710 
18. Nicholas Bieri from Germany to Holland then New York 1727
19. Hartmann Hunsaker from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1731
20. Ulrich Gingerich from Alsace to Pennsylvania in 1747
21. Jacob Burkholder from Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1765 
22. Sophia de Roche from France to Pennsylvania in 1765
23. Thomas King from England to Canada 1831 
24. Betty Bell (nee Higginson) from England to Canada 1831
25. Joseph McGinnis & Fanny Downey from Ireland to Canada in 1846

 So there you have just a few of my many immigrant ancestors to North America in that 300 years between 1613 and 1913. Who were your immigrant ancestors? Who was your earliest?

Jonas Larroway Loyalist

Jonas Larroway 1792 Land Certificate

Jonas Larroway, United Empire Loyalist, born 1731 Schoharie Co. New York, was descended from the LeRoy dit Audy family who settled in New France (now Quebec) from France in 1668. The LeRoy surname underwent great changes, becoming LeRoy dit Audy or Ody in New France, and Laraway or LeRoy in the United States.

Simeon LeRoy dit Audy was born in Creances Normandy. Simeon settled first in the fief or seigneurie of St.-Joseph or L'espinay, Charlesbourg, near the Charles River which belonged to the Hebert- Couillard de L'espinay family in Quebec, Canada in 1668


Jonas Larroway was my 5th great-grandfather and he married in 1754 in Schoharie NY, Elizabeth (Betsy) Muller, daughter of Johannes Nicholas Muller and Maria Dorothea Wuest, a Palatine line.

Jonas fought in Butler's Rangers during the American Revolution and settled at Niagara, Ontario in 1783.

Continue reading at https://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/loy/surnames/larroway.shtml

How the 'Mother's Curse' Came to Canada

Do you have a Filles du Roi in your ancestry? I do, and my daughter-in-law does too. My Filles du Roi is my 8th great-grandmother Claude des Chalets (ca 1651 France - post 1706 New York). Claude "Blandina" was one of three orphaned sisters who were sent to Canada as a "Filles Du Roi"(King's daughters).

The Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King) were impoverished or orphaned women who were given a dowry by the King of France if they agreed to go to New France (present-day Quebec) to marry and help colonize the land. Over 800 of these women left France for New France. 

With them they brought mutations in their DNA - some common, some more rare. Thus descendants of these Filles du Roi stand a better than average chance of inheriting a rare genetic disorder. According to the article 

"One of these is Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy, which causes vision loss, usually in young men. Recently, geneticists using French Canadian genealogy have reexamined the effects of Leber’s and found a striking pattern of inheritance: It seems to show a long-theorized but never-seen-in-humans pattern called the “mother’s curse.”"

Continue reading this fascinating article How One Woman Brought the 'Mother's Curse' to Canada

Canada: Who Do We Think We Are?

Canada: Who Do We Think We Are? is a new exhibition by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) marking the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation.

Each month in 2017 a guest curator will add a new exhibit to the online virtual exhibition.
 
Isabelle Charron was the guest curator for March with a map of New France made by the Father of Canada, Samuel de Champlain. Ms. Charron has written an article about herself and the map. She also includes several other images at https://thediscoverblog.com/2017/03/09/guest-curator-isabelle-charron/

Carte geographique de la Nouvelle Franse faictte par le sieur de Champlain [map of New France made by Samuel de Champlain], from the book Les voyages du sieur de Champlain…, 1613, engraved by David Pelletier in 1612

Official Announcement follows:

Canada: Who Do We Think We Are? is a new exhibition by Library and Archives Canada (LAC) marking the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. This exhibition is accompanied by a year-long blog series.

Join us every month in 2017! Experts from LAC, from across Canada and from other countries provide additional information about the exhibition. Each “guest curator” discusses one item, then adds another to the exhibition—virtually.

Be sure to visit Canada: Who Do We Think We Are? at 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, from June 5, 2017, to March 1, 2018. Admission is free.

Find Ancestors on Ships to Canada 1400 to 1800

For anyone interested in the names of passengers sailing to Canada 1400 to 1800 I have corrected bad links to several ships lists.

The new links are for the following ship sailings:

Le Christoph April 14, 1535 voyage to Newfoundland from La Rochelle, France 

List of the Crew of Jacques Cartier Second Voyage, Spring 1535 

Index to Lists of Ships Sailing from France to New France (Quebec) 1600s & 1700s - gives dates of arrival, port of arrival and names of Captains  

Ships to New France 1633 - 1647 

Ships of the Carignan Regiment Info and pictures of the seven ships that transported the regiment in 1665

Duke of York arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia from Liverpool, England on May 1, 1772  

Albion from Hull, Yorkshire, England, 1774 to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with 184 passenger 

Providence from Newcastle, England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1774 

Thomas and William from Yorkshire to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1774 

Image Copyright:  Expired
Credit:  Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1937-499-1  

Immigrant Ancestors Meme: Filles du Roi Claude des Chalets

There is a lot of discussion about immigration in America right now. Tempers have flared, and different groups hold various strong opinions. There is also Brexit, where immigration was a large focus of the recent vote which resulted in the U.K. leaving the E.U.

I've been following this for several months and it occurs to me that those of us in Canada, America, and Australia have immigrant ancestors. Have you researched yours? Do you know who they were, why they came to your country and when? Do you know how they fared once settled in their new land? Were they welcomed? Were they shunned? Was their discrimination based on their religion or ethnic origin? These are all questions that are important, and interesting to discover. With that in mind, I'm the dedicating Saturdays (as many as needed) as the day to join me in discussing your immigrant ancestors.

You will be able to read any you are interested in by using the keyword Immigrant Ancestors. I'm going to share each week what I know of my immigrant ancestors to North America (whether that is USA or Canada)

Claude Deschalets (ca 1651 France - post 1706 New York)  was a Filles du Roi and my 8th great-grandmother.

Claude "Blandina" was one of three orphaned sisters who were sent to Canada as a "Filles Du Roi"(King's daughters). The Filles Du Rois were impoverished or oprhan women sent to Canada at royal expense to find husbands and populate the country. She is thought to have been recently arrived in New France (now Quebec) at the time of her marriage because the bishop dispensed with two of the usual three required banns for her marriage to Simeon LeRoy dit Audy (Ody).    Learn about dit names at Oh Those Dit Names! on Legacy Family Tree.

The filles du roi, or King's Daughters, were some 770 women who arrived in the colony of New France (Canada)  between 1663 and 1673, under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV of France. Most were single French women  and many were orphans. Their transportation to Canada and settlement in the colony were paid for by the King. Some were given a royal gift of a dowry of 50 livres for their marriage to one of the many unmarried male colonists in Canada.   These gifts are reflected in some of the marriage contracts entered into by the filles du roi at the time of their first  marriages.

The filles du roi were part of King Louis XIV's program to promote the settlement of his colony in Canada. Some 737 of   these women married and the resultant population explosion gave rise to the success of the colony. Between their arrival in Quebec and their marriages, les Filles du roi were placed under the protection of nuns, widows or families. There they received board and lodging.

 [http://www.vmnf.civilization.ca/somm-en.htm Museum of New France, Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation]

52 Ancestors: William Solomon and His Ojibwa Wife

Voyageurs: Lewis Solomon on left

I'm writing about my daughter-in-law's 6th great grandfather William Solomon as part of Amy Crow's Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks .

William Solomon was the fourth child of Ezekiel Solomon, a German Jewish merchant who had come to New France from Berlin during the Seven Years' War and acted as a supplier to the British army. Following the conquest, Ezekiel Solomon, one of the first non-French fur traders to penetrate as far as the upper Great Lakes, spent part of each year in the interior and the remainder at Montreal, where William apparently received some education. 

By the mid 1790's William was working in the interior as an employee of the North West Company, and he evidently lived for some time with his parents on Mackinac Island (Michigan). There he and an Ojibwa woman, Agibicocoua, had an illegitimate daughter, who was baptized on July 28, 1796. In 1797, 1799, and 1800 he fathered three other illegitimate children. Shortly thereafter he appears to have married Marguerite Johnston, who had been born on Mackinac Isand. The were to have ten children.

William is the 7th great grandfather of four of my grandchildren and his life story is fascinating. His son Lewis Solomon wrote the following narrative:

My name is Lewis Solomon-spelled L-e-w-i-s-though they call me Louie. I was born on Drummond Island in 1821, moved to St. Joseph Island in 1825, back to Drummond Island again, and then to Penetanguishene in 1829. 

My father's name was William Solomon, Government interpreter. His father, Ezekiel Solomon, was born in the city of Berlin, Germany, came to Montreal and went up to the "Sault." [Sault Ste Marie] My father was appointed Indian interpreter by the British Government and was at Mackinaw during the War of 1812, then moved to Drummond Island with the British forces, and afterwards to Penetanguishene. 

My mother's maiden name was Johnston, born in Mackinaw, where she and my father were married. She died in Penetanguishene. My father received his discharge under Sir John Colborne, retiring on a pension of seventy-five cents a day after a continued service of fifty-six years with the Government, and he died at Penetanguishene also.

When the military forces removed from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, the Government authorities chartered the brig Wellington to carry the soldiers, military and naval supplies, and government stores; but the vessel was too small, and they were obliged to charter another vessel, and my father was instructed by the Government to charter the schooner Hackett (Alice) commanded by the owner, Capt. Hackett.

My father came to Penetanguishene in another vessel with the officers and soldiers. The rest of the family left Drummond Island the next spring (1829). We started on the 25th of June and arrived at Penetanguishene on the 13th of July, coming in a bateau around by the north shore, and camping every night on the way.

My mother, brother Henry and his wife and eight children, myself, Joseph Gurneau and his wife, and two men hired to assist (Francis Gerair, a French-Canadian, and Gow-bow, an Indian), all came in one bateau. We camped one night at the Hudson's Bay Company's fort at Killarney. We landed at the Barrack's Point, near the site of the garrison, and where the officers' quarters were erected, now occupied as a residence by Mr. Band, the Bursar of the Reformatory. We camped there in huts made of poles covered with cedar bark. 

There were only three houses there: a block-house, the quarters of Capt. Woodin, the post-commander; a log-house covered with cedar bark for the sailors near the shore; and a log-house on the hill, called the "Masonic Arms," a place of entertamment kept by Mrs. Johnson.

William brought the Drummond Island settlers to Penetanguishene. They left Michilmackinac on November 16, 1828. A severe snowstorm slowed their progress and the Brig Wellington with its 91 passengers arrived in Penetanguishene November 28, 1828. He died at Penetanguishene on Jan. 26, 1867 and is buried at the old St. Anne's cemetery beside his wife Marguerite.

There is quite a bit of biographical information on William Solomon, such as the following: 

Solomon supported his growing family by working at Michilmackinac, on Mackinac Island, as a clerk for the merchant Joseph Guy and occasionally by doing some interpreting, since he had learned several Indian languages. In 1809 his father died, leaving him land on Mackinac Island and on the mainland at Saint Ignace (Michigan). Though Mackinac had been turned over by the British to the United States in 1796, in accordance with Jay's Treaty, Solomon felt no strong loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. After war broke out between the United States and Great Britain in 1812, a force assembled by Captain Charles Roberts swiftly descended upon Mackinac Island and captured the fort and town for the British on July 17, the first military action of the war and a source of some satisfaction to Solomon. By February 1814 he had secured a position with the Indian Department as an interpreter at 4s 6d per day.

Since the number of British soldiers at Mackinac Island was small, their Indian allies were vital for their survival. When the Americans attempted to recapture the island in 1814, it was the Indians who swung the battle in favour of the British. The Americans never took Mackinac, but under the Treaty of Ghent it was returned to the United States. In July 1815 the British under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall, withdrew their forces. The following month they settled on nearby Drummond Island and Solomon and his family accompanied them. Solomon was provided with a government lot on which he built a home for his family and established a small farm. His duties were to make out requisitions for provisions and to order the repair of the Indians's guns.

Along with Jean-Baptiste Assiginack and a few others, Solomon was one of the interpreters kept on at Drummond Island as part of the peace-time garrison, which included the Indian Department establishment under the superintendence of William McKay. Though characterized somewhat harshly by John Askin, of official of the department in 1816 as a "sober man" who could not interpret at Indian councils but who "may answer about a post to see an equal distribution of Provisions," Solomon did in fact interpret at various councils. As well, when the Indians of the Upper Lakes flocked to Drummond Island to receive the presents which the British doled out to ensure their loyalty, Solomon probably participated in distributing the goods. In 1816, when the Indian Department was reduced, he lost his job. He was reinstated, however, on May 29, 1821.

The British were not to remain long on Drummond Island, for when the border between Upper Canada and the Unites States was surveyed, it was found to be American territory. Once again the garrison, including Solomon, David Mitchell, and other Indian Department officials, was forced to move, this time to Penetanguishene on Georgian Bay, where a British naval establishment had already been located. In late 1828 a brig was chartered to move the forces, but when it proved too small Solomon was instructed to charter a schooner as well. He did not accompany it, however, since he had been ordered to spend the winter at St. Joseph Island, where he had lived briefly in 1825, in order to inform the Indians about the British move. In all, the families of between 75 and 100 soldiers, voyageurs, and small traders came from Drummond Island to Penetanguishene, which Lewis Solomon, a son described as "then mostly a cedar swamp, with a few Indian wigwams and fishing shanties."

In 1829 William Solomon and his family finally moved to Penetanguishene, although his livestock and implements were lost in a shipwreck on July 12 of that year. He built a home nearby, on lot 105, and continued to work as an interpreter. In 1837 he attended, along with Thomas Gummersall Anderson, Samuel Peters, JARVIS, Jean-Baptiste Assiginack and others, a major Indian conference on Manitoulin Island, which was graphically described by Anna Brownell Jameson ( MURPHY) in her account of travels in Upper Canada. On a longer trip, made in the early 1840's for the distribution of presents, he served as interpreter for a party that included Lord Morpeth, Lord Lennox Jarvis, and 56 voyageurs from Penetanguishene; they visited Manitoulin, Sault Ste. Marie, and Detroit.

Solomon received his discharge on June 30, 1845 and retired on a pension of 75 cents a day, according to his son Lewis. William afterwards moved into town, where he died and was buried in the cemetery of Ste. Anne's Church. Surviving him were a large family and his second wife Josephine Legris, whom he had married late in life.

[Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume viii page 830-31 c. University of Toronto Press]

Life (and Genealogy) Can Throw Some Surprising Curves Sometimes

A Latin Record found in my research

Recently I've been working on a genealogy research project for a client. It's been a lot of fun with some very interesting and intriguing ancestors found. One ancestor helped guard Napoleon during his exile.

One wrote poetry and had a book published in 1857. I was lucky enough to find a few of his poetry online and have added that to the client's book which I am creating on Shutterfly. 

Along the research path I've encountered new areas of research that were unfamiliar to me. I've heard of them of course but had no previous experience researching in the specific location or time period. One was Acadians and I have found the history of the settlement fascinating! The Filles du Roi and Carignan Soldiers also popped up as part of his ancestry. I too have a Filles du Roi so I'm familiar with that history but it was still interesting to learn even more. 

I've had to decipher early records written in French and in Latin.  Luckily here in Canada we are taught French in school so I can read the important bits. And thank you Mr. Finley for your Latin classes in High School! You were a tough teacher but now I'm grateful. 

Jacques Hertel's death recorded in French

But here's the thing that blew me away. As I was carrying on with the research I found that my client and I share a common ancestor! Our shared ancestor is Jacques Hertel born 1604 in France and died in 1651 in New France (present day Quebec). 

Jacques is a very important part of my book The Van Slyke Family in America: A Genealogy of Cornelise Antonissen Van Slyke, 1604-1676 and his Mohawk Wife Ots-Toch, including the story of Jacques Hertel, 1603-1651, Father of Ots-Toch and Interpreter to Samuel de Champlain 

My line of descent is from Jacques' daughter by a Mohawk Indian woman, while my client is from one of Jacques'  children by his wife. 

My client's ancestry on his dad's side is solidly Quebec and Acadia. Mine is not. Mine on my dad's side is early Dutch settlers in New Netherland  (now New York) in the mid 1600s then on to Ontario after the American Revolution. How odd that the client and I should share an ancestor given that our ancestry does not take the same path.

And that's one of the many things I love about genealogy. It will always jump up and surprise you.  

Oh Those Dit Names!

1670 Baptism. Translation of underlined portion
“Jean, fils de Simeon le Roy dit Ody”
Jean, son of Simeon LeRoy dit Ody”
Image Source: Ancestry.com.
Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968

A reader on my Olive Genealogy Facebook Fan Page reminded me of the problems genealogists can encounter searching French ancestors who may have used dit names.

A dit name is an alias given to a family. A dit name doesn't just apply to one person, but to many members and generations of a family.

A dit name might be derived from any of the following:

* A nickname
* A location of origin
* Land owned
* Name used in Army
* Various other reasons

I have an ancestor who settled in New France (present day Quebec) in the 1660s. His name was Simeon LeRoi. His dit name was Audy. So in the records we might find him as

* Simeon LeRoi dit Audy
* Simeon LeRoi
* Simeon Audy
* Simeon Audy dit LeRoi

The LeRoi/LeRoy surname underwent great changes, becoming LeRoy dit Audy or Ody, Audy and Ody in New France (Quebec), and Laraway (with variant spellings) or LeRoy in the United States and Canada.

Some of Simeon's sons assumed the Audy dit name as a surname and there are Audy descendants today who are from Simeon LeRoi.

At least one of his sons (my ancestor) assumed the Larroway surname when English speaking clerks in New York began recording the French Le Roi as LeRoy and eventually Larroway

Some descendants use the LeRoy surname.

It's a challenge to trace backwards but researchers need to stick to it and keep those name variations in mind (dit names, accidental name changes, deliberate name changes, spelling variations, phonetic misinterpretations, etc.

So keep searching and don't give up if you are faced with a challenging ancestor. Check to see if he may have been from New France at one time. Perhaps a dit name enters into your challenge.

Fort Ville-Marie, French settlement in Montreal in 1642 found!

If you have ancestors who settled in New France in the early 1600s this story may be of interest to you

Dig uncovers 1642 Montreal site

Bneath the worn cement floors of and old warehouse lies what archeologists believe are the first permanent buildings of the settlement that became Montreal.

Archealogists have found the remains of Fort Ville-Marie, the lost, original French settlement in Montreal.

The fort was built in 1642 and housed as many as 50 early colonists, including Montreal's founder, Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, and nurse Jeanne Mance. It would have been a key meeting place for aboriginal allies as well as the colony's administrative heart.

But the exact location of the fort, which was eventually abandoned, has baffled historians since the 19th century. The most recent record of the fort dates from 1683.

Read the full story at TheStar.com - News - Dig uncovers 1642 Montreal site