That handsome young man at the right is my father, Francis John Newton, during WWII, the grandson of David Villeneuve who took the name of Newton (the English translation of Villeneuve) upon settling in Marinette, Wisconsin in about 1879 or 1880, the great-great-grandson of Antoine and Adele. He is my touchstone to those relatives in Ontario and Quebec who originated in France. He had beautiful light blue eyes, and blond curly hair until it turned darker in his later years. Later still, he started resembling photographs of David and Adele's son, my grandfather Frank Newton, who broke my heart when he died in 1964. We were very close. I wonder about those relatives I never knew. Did my dad look like them? Do I look like any of them with my hazel eyes and olive-toned skin and auburn hair?
This is a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work and takes tons of time. I can see where this kind of "hobby" is not for everyone. You have to be determined, stubborn, dogged and never give up. That sort of sounds like me, LOL! You have to go over and over those baptism, death, birth and census records, other people's family trees that they have made available to members, and your notes, because you may have missed something - something important. In my case, if I had just paid a bit more attention and really looked at that 1881 Canadian census listing "Antime Villeneuve" - argggh. Well, I finally did - just last night while I was writing another email to Rose "blah blah I can't believe I can't find their marriage entry, we can't trace back without the names of their parents [which are included in the old church records I was combing through] blah blah -- and right in the middle of my email rant I happen to glance down at that 1881 Canadian census and a light bulb goes off in my head. After weeks. Duh! And I discovered what I needed to know to confirm the identities of "my" Antoine Villeneuve and Marie Louise Adele Seguin [Laderoute].
I started with two names on my great-grandfather's death certificate that I found out thanks to Rose: Anton Newton and Adele Latterault - and I ended up in Ontario and Quebec and French Canadian and Acadian families who are so inter-related it makes the ancient Egyptians' royal relationshps look easy! I am confident at this point that I will be able to trace back the Newton/Villeneuve line at least another two generations...
The records I am working in right now are written in French, with fountain pens. The writing is blurred, cramped, smudged. There are no standardized spellings of names. Some records are so faded they are impossible to read from a microfiche image. My French is NOT up to par but over the past few weeks I have gotten better at puzzling out dates. What dates there are cannot necessarily be trusted; birthdays had a way of moving around in those old records. I won't kid you, it's a long, slow slog.
Tonight I am getting some further work in. Now that I know I have the correct Antoine and Marie Louise Adele, I can start work on confirming the names of their parents and birth dates.
In the meantime, while digging around those old records, I discovered another mystery. I came across the 1901 Canadian census record for my great-grand father David's brother, Joseph Villeneuve. They had a fine family of children listed in 1901, when Joseph was 46 and his wife, Olala, was 37: Joseph (12), Maryann (or Miryam) (10), Fred (8) born August 6, 1892, George (7), Dane (14), Aurine (8).
In typical census fashion, the head of the household is listed first, followed by his wife, and then their children, from oldest to youngest; after that, other members of the household are listed. So Dane at age 14 and Aurine at age 8 - the same age as Fred but not born on the same day, and so not his twin - who were they? They evidently were not the natural children of Joseph and Olala. But - they were not listed with different last names than Villeneuve. Were they children of other Villeneuve relatives?
I did a search for Aurine Villeneuve and up pops a marriage record from 1915:
Irene Monfils (Villeneuve) age 22, Widow
(the Affidavit went to pains to point out that Irene Monfils was the widow of the late George Ross of Hull in the Province of Quebec)
Father: Adam Monfils
Mother: Stella Beaulieu
Residence: Vankleek Hill, Prescott, Ontario
Date of Affidavit under Marriage Act: July 7, 1915
Date of Marriage: June 23, 1915
Spouse: Amidee Clairmont
Parents: Pierre Clermont, Melina Dupruis (or Dupris)
Wow! Irene was 22 and a widow?!? What was the connection between her parents and Joseph and Olala Villeneuve?
I dug further. I fould a 1910 record of a marriage - when Irene was only 16. Sixteen? Here was the marriage to the deceased George Ross!
1910 Marriages, Town of Vankleek Hill, County of Prescott
Groom: Ross, George
Age: 24 (or 27 - the writing was smudged)
Religion: Roman Catholic
Residence: Ottawa
Father: Alexander Ross
Mother: Annie Cooper
Bride: Monfils, Irene
Age: 16
Residence: Vankleek Hill
Father: Adam Monfils
Mother: Arabella Beaulieu [note difference in mother's first name from the 1915 Marriage Affidavit. This kind of thing is very typical when reading through these records, and very frustrating.]
Date of Marriage: September 14, 1910
Witnesses: Joseph Villeneuve, Delima Richard
Today George might very well be charged with the crime of statutory rape. Geez!
I wasn't able to continue the search last night; perhaps I will take it up for a bit in Las Vegas. I don't know who Dane is - is he actually a son but just listed out of the usual order?
I will be packing later for my quick get-away to Las Vegas.
No comments:
Post a Comment