Reviewing My French Canadian Research After Visit To France

I visited Paris for the first time in early June of this year. I was primarily there as a tourist sightseeing. I decided to take a look a couple of the churches in Paris with ties to our family. My ancestors Jacques Lussier and Catherine Clerice were from Paris. They migrated to Quebec in the 17th Century. Catherine Clerice was a fille du roi. Filles du roi were single French women imported into Quebec in order to marry. There was a shortage of  marriageable women in New France. Orphans and women with limited opportunities for marriage in France were offered free passage to Quebec.

 

Now that I'm back from France I'm taking another look at the documentary proof I have for my relationship to my Parisian ancestors. Here I begin with Jacques Lussier and Catherine Clerice.

Going over my documentation to prove my relationship with Jacques Lussier and  his wife Catherine Clerice I begin with Aurelie Lambert born 1813 in St-Leon, Quebec.

 I already have firm documentation up until Aurelie. I had difficulty finding her birth record, and just found it recently. I found Aurelie Lambert and Pierre Masson's marriage record many years ago. Pierre Masson and Aurelie Lambert married 7 Jan 1833 in St. Leon, Quebec. According to that record Aurelie's parents were Joseph Lambert and Marie Ferron. This is the beginning of the line leading to Jacques Lussier and Catherine Clerice.

Aurelie's birth record also confirms her parent names, which are the same as her marriage record.

So far so good. We go back another generation by looking for a marriage for Aurelie's parents. There is a surviving marriage record. Even though Quebec has many great surviving Catholic church records sometimes pages are seriously damaged, or are missing. In this case the page is still legible, and hasn't been removed. This record names the parents of Aurelie's mother Marie Ferron. Jospeh Lambert and Marie Ferron married 15 August 1808 in Yamachiche. It's Marie Ferron's mother Therese Noel's line that links to Jacques Lussier and Catherine Clerice.

The next step is to check Marie Ferron's parents marriage record to find the names of her maternal grandparents, which will lead to Jacques and Clerice's line. There is a marriage record for Claude Ferron and Therese Noel still surviving. Claude Ferron and Therese Noel married 30 September 1782 in Yamachiche. Yamachiche, where Aurelie Lambert's parents, and grandparents, married bordered St. Leon. Apparently Aurelie and husband Pierre Masson lived on the border with Yamachiche, in St Leon as there is a street named Rue Du Masson near Yamachiche, and a nearby street in Yamachiche with another family name Lamy.

From here I follow Aurelie Lambert's maternal line grandmother, and Marie Ferron's mother, Therese Noel's line. Here we hit a snag because there are no marriage records for the couple named as Therese's parents? According to the above marriage record her parents were Francois Noel and Agathe Texier. The family couldn't be extended any farther back if not for notarial records. These records fill in the gaps that can occur when the Catholic church records fall short.

  

There is a marriage record for a Francois Midelet and Agathe Tessier, however. This couple married 5 Mar 1764 in Berthier-en-Haut, Quebec, Canada. This parish is 24 miles from Yamachiche. This is the closest match, but a link must be established. Since the French use dit names, which are additions to the family name, Midelet may be a dit name? They were often used to separate family lines. These names could be descriptive of the place of origin in France the person was from, or a personality trait. The dit names can be passed down. A person or family can change their dit name, it isn't fixed. The dit name may also become the family name, then becoming a fixed name. Dit names create confusion when trying to follow someone in documents.

 

 

Midelet may have been a dit name? It appears Francois Noel and Francois Midelet are indeed the same person. A notarial record links Francois Noel, of Yamachiche, and Geneveive Forcier, the mother of Agathe Tessier listed in the marriage record. Later records list Francois Noel dit Breton, so he may have picked up another dit name associated with the place in France he came from. There is only one record in the thousands of pages of records for Quebec with the name Midelet, and that is the marriage record I've referred to. It would appear that was a mistake, a dit name was changed, or there was an intentional effort to mislead? I can't find the Parish he was supposedly from in France either?

 

"In 1765, Geneviève Forcier widow of Ignace Tessier, ratified an agreement with François Noël (who dropped the name of Midelet), a farmer from Yamachiche, husband of Agathe Tessier (National Archives of Quebec in Montreal, notary's office Barthélemy Faribault, April 1765). " French version: "En 1765, Geneviève Forcier veuve d’Ignace Tessier ratifie une convention avec François Noël (qui laisse tomber le nom de Midelet), farinier de Yamachiche, époux d’Agathe Tessier (Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, greffe du notaire Barthélemy Faribault, 22 avril 1765)." This information regarding a notarial record appears on a website forum called site L'Autochtone de référence en généalogie Amérindienne au Québec.

I can now document the line further. I now need to switch to the paternal line of Agathe Tessier. Her father Ignace Tessier's line links to the Parisian line. I need the marriage record for Ignace Tessier and Genevieve Forcier, parents of Agathe Tessier. There is a marriage record indexed under these names, but the actual record says Pierre Tessier and Genevieve Forcier? Not Ignace. They married married 7 Jan 1732 in Saint Michel, Yamaska, Quebec. The first couple of children born in Yamaska after the marriage have baptismal records with parents named as Pierre Tessier and Genevieve Forcier. The records of  their later children name their parents as Ignace Tessier and Genevieve Forcier. Could be his name was Pierre Ignace Tessier? In many cases I see either of two, or even more names, used interchangeably in the records by many of these early settlers. They can switch between first and middle names in records.

His name is recorded as Ignace Texier in his death record. He died 18 Jan 1764 in Berthier-En-Haut, Quebec, Canada 16 miles from where he married and several children were born. Berthier-En-Haut is the same place where his daughter Agathe Tessier married Francois Midelet Noel.

 

I'm confident that the Pierre Tessier and Genevieve Forcier, as listed in the marriage record, are my ancestors. So now I need to verify Ignace Tessier Sr. and Marguerite Lussier's parents. Lucky there is a marriage record for this couple. They were married 23 May 1703 in Repentigny, Quebec, Canada. Repentigny is closer to Montreal than the other locations mentioned above. Jacque Luissier and Catherine Clarisse are named as parents of Marguerite in a birth record also still surviving. I've now documented the line down to this couple. The names are a better match. No doubts regarding this connection.

 

 

The baptismal certificate for Marguerite seems to state her parents are Jacques Lhussier and Catherine Clerice. Not easy to read.

 

The final record connecting Jacques Lussier and Catherine Clerice to their Paris parishes is their marriage record. It states Jacques' parish was St. Eustache, Paris, and Catherine's family parish was St. Sulpice.

 

I don't have a copy of the notarial record for Francois Noel and Genevieve Forcier. This record is essential to establishing this line. I will enquire into getting a copy of this document if that is possible? If anyone has a copy they would be willing to share I would appreciate it.

Here are the pictures I took of St. Sulpice a parish which several of my ancestors originated from including Catherine Clerice. The current church was being built while Catherine was living in Paris. The only part complete during her time there was a chapel within the church. Catherine left France in 1671 from the port of Dieppe.



This is the oldest part of the church. It was remodeled in the 18th century.

 

St-Eustache Church, the parish of Jacques Lussier, is much older than Ste-Sulpice. Built between 1532 and 1632. Below are some of the pictures I took of the interior.

 

Ste-Eustache photo from creative commons

 

 

 

 

 

Evaluating AncestryDNA Matches

AncestryDNA now has 4 million testers, making their database of testers the largest in the field. The new numbers caused me to think about what this large comparison database has done for my genealogy?

I've written many times about how I work with my DNA results. I've been using segment data to build a chromosome map with "Genome Mate Pro". That got me thinking. Without the segment data what has AncestryDNA provided me with? I have been able to verify my paper trail based on some strong matches at Ancestry. By strong matches I mean they share a substantial amount of DNA.

These days I generally only look at the matches predicted to be 4th cousins or closer. Actually I generally only feel most interested in 3rd or closer. Just out of curiosity. I always hope they might be persuaded to upload elsewhere. It's also interesting to see how we are related. I have no brickwalls in those generations however. Without the segment data they provide nothing of genealogical relevance. So far they've provided me with no additional family information either. Some have had basically no information at all and are adopted, or are estranged from their birth families. Maybe some day someone will come forward with some pictures or additional info?


I received a message from a match that I sent a request to compare with at GEDmatch. I got her reply yesterday. She basically said she was afraid GEDmatch wasn't secure enough. She also said she didn't see any use for segment data. She made connections at AncestryDNA without it. I explained that if your match doesn't have a large family tree you won't know if you are related to that person on more than one family line.


To get a clearer picture regarding what I've gotten and what AncestryDNA, sans segment data, can provide I decided to take a look at how many matches actually have a tree with an ancestral couple related to me. I searched using the hints filter.

Instead of using my results I used my mother's. My father had a great deal of immigrant ancestry, with some French Canadian. I'm related to most French Canadian matches on several lines, making identifying the common DNA ancestors impossible.

First Cousins

None

1rst Cousins once removed

2

2nd Cousins once removed

1

3rd Cousins and once removed

24

4th Cousins and once removed

41

5^th cousins and once removed

20

6^th cousins and once removed

43

 

7^th cousin

1

According to AncestryDNA my mother has four 3rd cousins. Her age probably threw the calculations off. Instead she has 24. Most are once removed, but a few are 3rd cousins.


Taking this a step further how many family lines are represented? Out of the 135 matches that have an ancestral couple matching, 79 are from one family. The Roller/Zirkle family.More than half.





Fifty-six other matches, with matching ancestors, are scattered throughout other families, with Browning the second most represented.


Eve Zirkle was my mother's 3rd great-grandmother, and over half of the Roller/ Zirkle matches appear to descend from her. According to the book "Genetic Genealogy in Practice", by Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne, a third great-grandparent could share as much as 3.125%, on average, with you. Looking at my chromosome map it does look like Eve Zirkle shares that amount, or more, with my mother.  Did she get more than the usual amount of DNA from Eve Zirkle, which would account the overwhelming number of matches coming from this family?  Her matches are with both Zirkle, Eve's father, and Roush, Eve's mother's family.


I've marked the Zirkle/Roush matches segments on this map:



To answer the question whether 3rd great-grandmother Eve Zirkle contributed more than the average of 3.125 percent of DNA I needed to see what that amount of sharing would look like in a chromosome browser.. Here is roughly what an around 3.125% share would look like.

If the chromosome lengths are about accurate it does look like my mother may have inherited a little bit more than the average DNA share from her 3rd great-grandmother. The Zirkle and Roush family tended to marry cousins, which could account for more than average amounts of DNA passed down.
What has this demonstrated to me? Zirkle/Roush descendants predominate my match list, and using the shared match feature the Roller/Zirkle, and Zirkle/ Roush, numbers overwhelm all other matches. This is true at the other companies also

 I do believe if AncestryDNA provided a segment data sharing option I could fill in the chromosome map for other family lines, which are less well represented. Without the segment information over 1000 matches aren't connected with any family because they lack large enough trees, or have no trees at all. You can jump to conclusions using the shared match feature, but you never know whether you're related to someone more than once?  Or it's a coincidence you share the same match? A segment map is the only way to confirm which line someone is related on.

Out of the 135 matches, with matching tree ancestors, only about 15 have uploaded to a place where we can compare segments.

During this exercise I did find a couple more matches who have uploaded elsewhere. One of these matches shares two different family lines with me. One being the Zirkle/Roush line. Adding her information to "Genome Mate Pro" I was able to determine she matches through Zirkle/Roush, and not my Browning line.

At this point I continue to check for close matches at AncestryDNA out of curiosity, and in hopes someone may come forward with more information. I also check for my brickwall Campbell line, which so far hasn't produced any results. I keep checking GEDmatch for more AncestryDNA matches. Sadly few AncestryDNA matches upload there, and the ones who do can't be easily found on the AncestryDNA match list. They also often don't have good trees, or any trees posted.


The last point I would like to make is I used the Google chrome extension to come up with the many of the facts I presented. I was able to quickly search my notes, and search for user names.This tool provides better search capabilities than AncestryDNA offers..

MyHeritage DNA: Comparing Longest Segments

I heard some negative reviews regarding MyHeritage DNA. I decided to compare their results with other companies who provide cM  segment numbers. I'm mainly looking at the longest segment here. I should say I haven't purchased a kit. I uploaded my raw data using the free upload offer.

 

•  Here we see a match who shares 16cM's on the longest segment according to Family Tree DNA, and 18.4 according to MyHeritage. According to Family Tree DNA the total cM's shared are 41. According to MyHeritage the total is 39.3 cMs. These are very typical differences between companies and GEDmatch too. 

 

 

•  Here is a comparison of longest segments between MyHeritage and the others:

 

I find the differences in the length of longest segments to be comparable when comparing between any two companies or GEDmatch. I wouldn't hesitate testing with them if they offer a chromosome browser. The only downside to testing with them at this point is a small database to compare with. I have only two pages or match while my mother has five. Hopefully they can attract many more people to test with them?

 

 

 



My First Impressions of AncestryDNA's Genetic Communities

I first heard about AncestryDNA's  genetic communities from the Roots Tech live stream in February. The communities were said to use Ancestry's large genetic data collection to group people according to locations, based on genetic data. These groups are called communities. Some communities are both regional and ethnically based.

I have to say I was disappointed when I finally saw my own results yesterday. I was disappointed because we were told of the possibility of finding unknown information, or additional confirmation of our lineages. I learned nothing new personally.

The biggest problem I see so far is much of what is illustrated on the maps presented basically just shows migrations of your cousins. Not information about your own ancestors.

Here is an example of the information provided for my mother:

 



She has two communities Early Settlers of the Lower Mideast & Virginia, and Settlers of the Alleghenies & Northeast Indiana. The dots reflect mostly migrations of my mother's cousins. Her father's, Charles Forgey's, distant ancestors generally arrived in America through Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary War. All of his ancestors ended up in Indiana by 1820. My mother's genetic map covers all of those places. Dots also cover Missouri and Arkansas. Places my mother's ancestors never lived. Her distant cousins settled in those states. This could be confusing for people who don't know their ancestry.

I would like to see subgroupings for my mother. The lack of subgroups means the information as it stands is useless. The area covered is too broad. Odd my mom doesn't have an Indiana subgroup because her ancestors were all in Indiana by the 1820's, and some before that even? Her father was born in Indiana too. The family had been living in the Jackson County area of Indiana for 80, and more, years before my grandfather was born.

My mother's communities reflects half of her ancestry. Her mother being Nicaraguan. Oddly my mother isn't in the Nicaraguan community?

The fact my mother's father had early American roots seemed to help with the quality of her genetic community results. My results only cover a very small slice of my Ancestry. This presents a problems for adoptees and others who know very little about their heritage. They might assume the map shows all places of origin of  their ancestors, or at least a significant portion. My communities reflect about 20% of my heritage. So 80% of my ancestral heritage isn't shown.

Here is what I got:

 

Unlike my mother I have no American communities. I also have two regions or communities. One is for Connacht, Ireland and the other Quebec, Canada, i.e.  French Settlers Along the St. Lawrence. My great grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason was born in Galway, Ireland. This result reflects one of 8 great-grandparents. My great-great grandfather Peter (Pierre) Mason (Masson) was French Canadian. The Quebec result reflects one of 16 great-great grandparents. So like I said about 80% of my ancestry isn't represent.

The genetic community results are correct for my mother and I. However all of our ancestry isn't represented. In my case only a very small fraction. The cautions when looking at these results are they reflect migrations of cousins, and may represent as little as 1/8 of your heritage. After seeing these maps myself I felt more of a connection with the two regions than I really have lol.

It's hoped with more testers the results will get better? I think this will always be a better tool for some than others. There will always be groups underrepresented since everyone in the world won't test with AncestryDNA. It may get much better for those with a great deal of early American ancestry, because that group tends to test more.

Irish Ancestral Sources

My Irish Great-Grandmother with her son and granddaughter



For many years I had no idea where my Irish Great-Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason came from. I only knew she was born in Ireland. My father thought she was born in Cork, Ireland. That was a common misunderstanding as most Irish immigrants travelled from a port in Cork to the US. I only found out that was erroneous when I received a copy of her sister's eulogy which stated she was born in Co. Galway, Ireland. Her parents names were said to be Patrick Mullen and Mary Huvane, also according to the eulogy. I was thinking Huvane didn't sound like an Irish surname. I was told it was Spanish. I have since found out it isn't Spanish but a variant of a surname common to the area, Hoban.

Here are all of the sources I've used to discover more about my Irish ancestry:

1. The first source I had access to was Helen's sister's Eulogy, naming their parents and place of origin. The eulogy stated "Mary Kathleen Mullen was born in County Galway, Ireland on February 1, 1888, just two months after Mary Frances Clarke died. The BVMs motherhouse was still St. Joseph's on the Prairie and Mt. Carmel was only a dream." Bridget Mullen, Sister Mary Kathleen, was a younger sister of my great-grandmother.

2. With the parents names was I able to find a marriage record for my Great Great-grandparents Patrick Mullen and Mary Huvane. The fact Huvane is so uncommon allowed me to find the correct marriage record quickly by cross referencing Mullen and Huvane. I wrote to Ireland to get this marriage document which is now online and free (I give the Irish Civil registration website link below).

3. With the ecclesiastical parish name I was able to order a church record microfilm from my local family history center. I found some baptismal information for my family and further confirmation of the information from the marriage record, which stated the family lived in the Townland of Pollaturick. My great-grandmother's date of birth seems to be off by a day however?
These church books are now searchable at the National Library of Ireland website. You just need to know the name of the parish. Click on the microfilm you want to search, and a digital copy will come up.

Milltown Baptisms

4. Armed with this information I posted on Irish Genealogy message boards. I found some posters with the unusual Huvane surname. I heard back from someone with quite a bit of information about the Huvane family. This family was from bordering Co. Mayo. The spouse of the cousin who answered my inquiry has provided me with a great deal of information. She and her husband have visited Pollaturick, and the Huvane (Huane) townland of Fallakeerin. She was able to get in contact with a cousin who wrote to her regarding the whereabouts of my living cousins. We now know that Tom Huvane and I are 4th cousins. We also match as 4th cousins at AncestryDNA.

5. I found both my Mullen and Huvane family on Griffith's Valuation of Ireland. The valuation gives information about their property, and the name of the landlord. The name of the Landlord can lead to more information about families.

You can search Griffith's Valuation at this website click link

 

The maps associated with Griffith's Valuation give the exact location of property. You can find the exact location of your ancestors property by using the numbers and letters.

 

6. I had also found the family on the 1901 Census using Family History Center Microfilm. The 1901 and 1911 Censuses are now online here. They weren't when I started researching. I now have the family in both censuses. Helen, my Great-Grandmother left Ireland in 1898 and is not enumerated with the family.

 



7. Findmypast Ireland has court records online. I was able to find family in these records. Some relations were housed for a time in Castlebar Prison.

 

8. Relatives also appear in landed estate records at Findmypast Ireland.

9. Findmypast Ireland also has dog license records which will tell you what kind of dogs your ancestors owned. I found out my ancestors had mostly black and red border collies. These dogs were working dogs for herding their sheep.

 

10. When the parish microfilms came online at the National Library of Ireland website I was able to get additional marriage information for my Great Great-grandparents Pat and Mary Mullen. This record was missing from the LDS microfilm I looked at. I found out Mary Huane or Huvane-Mullen was living in Ballindine, Mayo, Ireland when she got married. Something I didn't know.

Church marriage record book

 

11. I never thought I would be able to go a generation further back from my Great-Great grandparents because the parish registers for their parishes are in poor condition, and only go back to the mid to late 1800's. Happily I was wrong. Recently the 1851 Census of Ireland has come online which has allowed me to go another generation back in time. The 1851 Census is actually a reconstruction. In my case its source is pension records. It contains the maiden names of Pat and Mary's mothers.
You can search the 1851 Census at The National Archives of Ireland website

1851 Census Ireland reconstructed.

 

 

 

12. I was wondering when my Great great-grandparents died in Ireland, for years? I had absolutely no idea when they died or where?  I found deaths of Patrick Mullens on the civil registration index at FamilySearch for Galway. I had no idea which one he might be? There were a number and I couldn't order copies from Ireland for all of them. I could not find anyone that appeared to be Mary Huvane-Mullen, however?  Thankfully these civil registration records are now online! I was able to find the death record for Patrick Mullen he died August 13, 1930, in his home in Pollaturick. His wife was alive at the time. I still haven't found her death information?
 You can find digital copies of the original Irish Civil registration records at the IrishGenealogy.ie website.

 

13. When you have the townland names for your ancestors you can use Google maps to take a street view tour of the townland. It's been very rewarding being able to see the area my ancestors came from using Google street view.


Cemetery in Google Street view where my ancestors might be buried

They still keep Border Collies

Success in Ireland comes down to knowing the name of the Townlands your ancestors are from. Once I had the townland I was off and running.