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!
Monday Madness: Poisson Ancestors Monday, June 28, 2010
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