The school my grandmother attended in the late 1920s.
Wordless Wednesday: Detroit Conservatory of Music Wednesday, July 28, 2010
More searching on the Poissons Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Today I picked through the Drouin records with the goal of eliminating one or more Hectors, Zepherins and Charles from the mix. At this point, I must use original records as the source since there are too many ways to be confused by others' trees and interpretations. Here's what I found to date:
Francois Poisson
+ Charlotte Poisson
I. Isaac Poisson b. 8 Aug 1816
+ Olympe Toutant
a. Joseph Hector b. 28 Mar 1850
==> Not our "Victor" but probably the "Hector" listed in 1870 US Census
+ Marie Jeanne Dontigny m. 2 Mars 1872 (Gentilly)
b. Charles Boromee b. 17 Dec 1847
==> Is our "Charles" in Escanaba
+ Marie Agie Fontaine m 7 Jan 1880 (Champlain)
c. Zepherin b. 16 Feb 1846
==> a Zepherin marries Georgine Auger not sure if its this one
.... married in the US - no parents listed for either
Gabriel Poisson
+ Marie Trottier
a. Joseph Hector b. 11 Aug 1847
==> no French-Canadian marriage found to date
David Poisson
+ Eleanore Dorval
a. Joseph Hector b. 20 Aug 1848
==> no French-Canadian marriage found to date
Finally, a note on one more generation back:
Joseph Poisson
+ Marguerite DesHayes
a. Isaac b. 5 July 1815
==> Not the Isaac married to Olympe Toutant above
b. David b. 15 June 1817
==> May or may not be the David Poisson that married Eleanore Dorval
The research continues ....
Sentimental Sunday: A visit with a 2nd cousin Monday, July 26, 2010
This past weekend I had a wonderful visit with a Fish 2nd cousin once removed. Our common ancestor is the elusive Victor Fish, born Hector Poisson (or Joseph Hector Poisson).
We swapped notes on ancestors, and strategized on how to determine which of three Hector Poisson entries in the Drouin records might be "ours".
My cousin was able to identify some people correctly in one photo that I showed her - that of Edna Fish and Bill Schragle whom she had met in person.
She gave me a book entitled "The d'Amours Family in Canada" written by Marbey Colburn Hornstein in 1961. Its a lot of fun to bone up on the history of French Canada.
The best surprise was when I turned to page 227 and saw my 9th or 10th great grandfather, Nicolas I Gamache, Seigneur of l'Islet listed as another of my cousin's ancestors too!
Its so great to live in SoCal - where everyone is bound to have a lot of distant cousins in the neighborhood - this most recent visit was to East of San Diego.
Good to meet you "Cousine"!
Monday Madness: Ziegler - Steckmeyer - Koehler
Today the madness is mine! I thought I'd look for "Georg Ziegler" who was a mayor of a small town in the early 1800s in Wuerttemburg.... fun with google.de - why not! What I found wasthe name Georg Ziegler as a mayor is actually kind of common! Drat. Well, there were two towns Weil am Rhein near Basel and another further south with a great listing of their buergermeister for each year. In the end, this did not lead my any closer to an answer on which village the Wisconsin Ziegler came in the 1850s.
Get the scoop - read on!Monday Madness: Poisson Ancestors Monday, June 28, 2010
I spent a good deal of energy in 2009 researching my grandmother's paternal branch - Fish/Poisson. The challenge being that I can not find a document in US records that clearly indicates the parents of my 2nd great grandfather Victor Poisson. What makes this challenging is that my ancestor Victor was apparently born "Hector". I learned he was from the Trois Rivieres/Gentilly region - but when I search the Drouin records - I find two likely candidates and do not currently have any additional information to break the "tie" as to which "Hector" is my ancestor.
That being said, I learned that Jean Poisson (b. abt 1612) is the ancestor of all French Canadians with the name Poisson and I was lucky enough to find several living distant cousins along the way to share the experience. But I wasn't prepared for what happened next!
I started researching my grandmother's maternal branch - Courtois. I again encountered the name "Poisson" - this time, it is first as Anne-Marie Poisson, my 5th great-grandmother.
Then, I found an article in the Southern California Genealogical Society newsletter with transcribed names of those who went to Canada from a village in France. Turns out that Jean Poisson is on that list, as well as his spouse, Jacqueline Chambois. See some photos here of Tourouvre, France.
While I can not yet complete the connection to Jean Poisson on my "Poisson" branch, I'm now able to trace back to him via my "Courtois" branch! Super!
Surname Saturday (2): Courtois (France > Canada > Wisconsin > Michigan)
The surname Courtois first appears on the maternal branch of my family tree with Marie-Flore Courtois, my 2nd great-grandmother. Flore, was born in Trois Rivieres, Nicolet, Quebec, French Canada on 9 Aug 1851 according to the Drouin church record for the St. Edouard parish.
I recently wrote about Flore in my blog post "A Material Mystery". I had requested her marriage certificate and found it was not an accurate record - or at least did not list her parents.
The breakthrough occurred when a Delta County (MI) Genealogical Society researcher sent me a copy of Flore's obituary. From that I learned the names of her three brothers, i.e., Louis, Victor and Arthur. I was then able to look up the brothers' marriage certificates on the no fee familysearch.org pilot site and learned the names of the parents, i.e., Gregoire Courtois and Marie Chene. From there I was amazed at what I learned in only a couple of hours .....
I learned the list of male Courtois ancestors back to the 1600s!
They are from Gregoire's father Charles, on back to Etienne, Francois, Gabriel, Charles**, and Antoine.
**Charles was born in 1647 in St Martin, Rouen, Normandie, France but emigrated to Quebec between 1670 and 1672.
I located the Gregoire Courtois/Marie Chene family in the 1861 Canada Census to verify the family unit -- the entry listed Marie Chene, Gregoire, Lea, Lucie, Louis, Marie-Flore, Victor, Arthur and Jean.
I look forward to researching this family line as Gregoire is listed as a "navigateur" while his father is listed as a "cultivateur".
Sentimental Sunday: The Wood Worker Sunday, June 20, 2010
My dad is an amazing craftsman and wood worker. One of his projects in recent years is a series of handcrafted boxes.
Each box is unique and has a story about the use of different rare woods that he collected.
Here is "Box Number Five" my dad created in 1996.
"This Arts and Crafts style box is of 
sassafras and walnut. The top, handles, catch and chamfered edges present a strong geometrics form. The intarsia design on the inside cover is an original, entitled Fading Dogwood. ... The woods in the intarsia design are dogwood, pink ivory, osage orange, cocobolo, and dyed (green) holly."
Surname Saturday (1): Goetsch (Prussia > Michigan) Saturday, June 19, 2010
Note: 5/26/2016 See more recent post for some updates.
The formal spelling of this Germanic surname is "Go(umlaut)tsch". It is a name that is tough to trace since it is often misspelled or mis-transcribed.
The surname Goetsch first appears on the paternal branch of my family tree with Wilhelm R Goetsch, my 2nd great-grandfather. Wilhelm, a carpenter by trade, was born in "Prussia" in July 1842.
He married Albertine Radde in the old country circa 1868. Together, they sailed on the Columbus, presumably from Bremen, to New York arriving on 1 Sept 1868. From New York, they made their way to Detroit, Michigan.
They joined the Detroit Trinity Lutheran Church and all 13 of their children's births from 1869 - 1895 are found in the church book (on LDS film). Many open questions remain ....
Such as "From what village/region did they come?"
"In what year did Wilhelm die?"
"Where are other Goetsch descendants in the US?"
"How do other researchers work with the state of Michigan to obtain vital records, such as death certificates from the early 1900s?"
Snapshot of Goetsch ancestors
1. Karl Goetsch (b. Prussia 1810s?, d. ?)
i. Wilhelm R. Goetsch (b. Prussia 1842, d. Detroit, MI by 1930)(may have 6 siblings)
+ Albertine Radde (b. Prussia 1849, d. Detroit, MI by 1930)(may have 6 siblings)
a. Ernst Carl Rudolph
b. Rudolph Carl Hermann
c. Wilhelm Carl Christian
d. Eduard Gustav Carl
e. Franz Ferdinand Robert
f. Albertine Wilhelmine Auguste
g. Paul Ferdinand Julius
h. Robert Carl Albert
i. Carl Friedrich Wilhelm
j. Otto
k. Arthur
l. Laura
m. John
ASPCA says: Animals Suffer from Allergies Saturday, April 10, 2010
This week the ASPCA published an article to raise awareness of the fact that animals suffer from allergies just like people do. I found it timely, partly because its Spring, and partly because we are having a Santa Ana condition here in SoCal this week. Each time the Wind blows, one of my cats' eyes gets watery. When I first adopted her, I was worried that she had an eye infection or other issue. Now I know that her condition correlates with the bad air quality. I try to keep the doors and windows shut until there is a change in weather. To read the ASPCA article ....click here.
Get the scoop - read on!ASPCA Challenges Shelters to Save More Animals
This week, the ASPCA, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, launched a challenge to all shelters to save 300 more animals than last year during the period from August 1 to October 31, 2010. The award is ...$125,000 and a chance to exchange valuable information among shelters on how to increase effectiveness! If you are working with a shelter, please make sure to get signed up! More info can be found at ASPCA Challenge.
Jamboree Conference Volunteer Thursday, April 8, 2010
Here's your chance to learn about genealogy research and give back at the same time.
![[VolunteerMatch - Where Volunteering Begins.]](http://www.volunteermatch.org/images/2.0/new_logo.gif){kind=logo}
Volunteer at the SCGS Jamboree June 10-13 in Burbank, California
A Maternal Mystery Sunday, March 21, 2010
Due to March being Women's History Month and my participation in the Burbank-based French-Canadian Heritage Society of California's (FCHSC) meeting today at the Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS) Library ... one particular 2nd great grandmother is on my mind. She is proving to be elusive.
Her first name is Flore or Flora as confirmed by both family lore and US Census entries (i.e., 1900, 1910, 1920). She was born in August of 1854 or 1855 somewhere in French Canada but came to the US circa 1870. She then married Antoine Gamache in 1871 in Oconto, Oconto, Wisconsin. The couple later moved to Escanaba, Delta County, Michigan and that is where Flore died in 1923.
Some time ago, I requested a copy of her marriage certificate from the Wisconsin Historical Society with the hopes of learning the names of her parents. Unfortunately, when the copy of the marriage record arrived - her father's name (Jean Courtois) was listed, but her mother's name was not. In addition, the name of the bride on the copy looked more like "Clare Wartoiz".
It was with these facts that I approached the expert French-Canadian researchers for assistance.
I learned about the comprehensive French-Canadian collection on-hand at the SCGS Library - from the Loiselle Marriage Index microfiche to dictionaries of dit names to historical sketches of Quebec's famous families in the mid-1600s. I also learned that the FCHSC maintains a database of about 35,000 French-Canadian related ancestral names, relationships, vitals, and King's daughters and Carignan Soldiers annotations.
With many sources to pursue, I look forward to my next visit to the SCGS library. With the aid of the French-Canadian Research Team, I am confident that the mystery of Flore will one day be solved.
A trip to Yosemite in Winter Sunday, January 3, 2010
This 2009 holiday season, we traveled to Yosemite National Park for a couple of days. We stayed with friends in Coarsegold, CA (just south of the Park's South Entrance).
There was snow in the Park, but the roads were clear. The waterfalls were spectacular as was Half Dome, decorated with snow. We got our puppy fix as we got to play with Mr. Dog, aka JD's dog, aka Max, a three month old.
An important history lesson!
I received this via email and thought it was important to post!
2009 was the 80th Anniversary of the Persons Case in Canada.“Knowledge is Freedom: hide it, and it withers; share it, and it blooms” (P. Hill)
The result was that women were finally declared to be persons in Canada!
This is the story of women who were ground-breakers. These brave women from the early 1900s made all the difference in the lives we live today.
Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote
The women were innocent and defenseless, but when, in North America, women picketed in front of the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote, they were jailed.
By the end of the first night in jail, those women were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. (graphic 3: Dora Lewis)
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach the suffragists a lesson imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. (graphic 4: Alice Paul)
All women who have every voted, have ever owned property, have ever enjoyed equal rights need to remember that women’s rights had to be fought for in Canada as well.
Do our daughters and our sisters know the price that was paid to earn rights for women here, in North America?
Get the scoop - read on!
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