Késsinnimek - Roots - RacinesFinding Anne Marie: The Hidden History of Our Acadian Ancestors
Parts 4 - 6
by
Marie Rundquist
Parts 4 - 6
by
Marie Rundquist
Version française
Part Four: A Marriage in Deed
I reached into her "Gosselin file" and pulled out a photo-copy of a bona fide Louisiana marriage contract. I can imagine my Grandmother Asselia standing over a file drawer at a Parish courthouse, file in hand, pouring over the terms of her Great- Grandmother Harriet's marriage contract to Simon Gosselin, the blond hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Locate Anais' Gosselin Gaschet de Lisle's photograph on page 7-44 of Pioneering in America with the Beville family; notice a woman of advanced years, a hint of a smile playing on her rather plump, attractive face. Now, look closely at Anais' photograph; you'll spot a definite twinkle in her dark eyes. I can only imagine that growing up in the Gosselin household of the mid 1800's contributed substantially to that twinkle.
The marriage contract written between Anais' parents "Miss Harriet Denell" and Simon Gosselin, "on this tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and fifty three" provides a snapshot of the family's mad existence. It appears that the two were simply too busy having children to find time to get married; in fact, the marriage ceremony was performed on a more or less "ex post facto" basis, if only to legitimate, retro-actively, the births of the eight children they had together prior to the date they decided to tie the knot. "Article the Sixth," found on page 2 of a contract that labors over, in a pre-nuptial vein, the absolute lack of responsibility each has for the other party's possessions and debts prior to the marriage, tells the tale:
"The said intended husband and wife hereby acknowledge for their children, Samual Gosselin born September 8th 1838, Julius Gosselin born January 26th 1840, Mary Anais Gosselin born March 21st 1842. Martial Gosselin born March 25th 1844, Alfred Gosselin born February 26th 1846. Ann Eliska Gosselin born April 10 1848, Magdelene Ophelia Gosselin born April 5th, 1850. Octavia Gosselin born October 11th 1852, and desire and understand that said children be legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the aforenamed parties, and that they shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as if born during the marriage of the aforesaid parties."
Simon and Harriet Gosselin's "Grand Experiment," if indeed there was one, was rendered obsolete by society and the passage of time, and as their first daughter, my Grandmother's Grandmother Anais, teetered on the brink of pre-adolescence, her elder brothers approaching marriage-age, pragmatism and good sense ruled the day, any religious or other differences were put aside, and the marriage, now sealed by the State of Louisiana, was never put asunder.
On record as present at the Gosselin's long-overdue marriage celebration were Mr. John J. Mortee (the marriage recorder), "[illegible].E. Lavine," "P.C. Gosselin," and "P. Gosselin." All of the above names were recorded in the same hand. Based on the circumstances of the marriage, one of the witnesses in particular, the "[illegible]. E. Lavine," had to be incredibly relieved - as she was most probably Celeste E. Lavigne, Harriet's mother, who had waited thirty- seven years, through the birth of eight grandchildren, to see her daughter finally marry. Celeste would die five years later content in the knowledge that her grandchildren were truly legitimate in the eyes of God, Samuel B. Hall (the Presbyterian Minister of the Gospel called upon to perform the ceremony), and the State of Louisiana, and that each would therefore have the opportunity to marry well.
Part Five: Tangipahoa Tango
The article, "Lee's Landing (or Lea's Landing), Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Robert Vernon, Nov., 2000," relates the story of how Lee's Landing was originally named. For me, the subtext of this story proved more fascinating. You'll find out why when you read the article as I did (cited below):
"LEE'S LANDING
About seven miles east of Ponchatoula on Highway 22 are a sawmill and a store. Here, on the south side of the highway is a sign which marks the Lee's Landing Road. Down this road three miles from the store, there is a boat landing on the Tangipahoa River which was originally Lee's Landing. Today the Lee's Landing community is generally defined as the area within two miles in all directions east from the original landing. The first land owner in the area was Jean Batiste Denelle, who married Mary Elizabeth Ouvre. They owned two sections of land situated in St. Tammany Parish on the east bank of the Tangipahoa River. Shortly before Lavigne died, Mary Elizabeth Ouvre Denelle Lavigne sold in 1838 the bottom section of land to Alexander Lea, the logger who married Mary May. Since Lea's logs were ramped at his landing before being taken to the mouth of the Tangipahoa River, the place came to be called Lea's Landing. The belief that the landing was named for General Robert E. Lee is without foundation.
The original sign designating the community read "Lea Landing." The present sign reads "Lee's." Perhaps the next sign will read "Lea's Landing."
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Note: Mary Elizabeth Ouvre Denelle m. Antoine Lavigne 11 Sep 1819. Antoine died 13 Nov 1839."
On the marriage contract of Harriet Denelle, and her husband Simon Gosselin, Samuel Gosselin, their first baby boy, is listed as born September 8th, 1838. Throughout history, parents, especially mothers, always want to help their children get off to a good start - and Mrs. Lavigne's intentions were probably no different. The timing of the sale was significant, I believe, as the proceeds from the sale of her first husband's property in 1838 would have been a timely gift for Mrs. Lavigne to make to her daughter as she ventured into motherhood and may have provided a financial boost for Simon Gosselin's other property and business investments, which included a sawmill, documented in my Grandmother's hand-written notes as "close to the Tangipahoa River." The mention of the second husband, Antoine, whom Mary Elizabeth Ouvre Denelle (aka Celeste Oubre Denelle) married after the death of Jean Baptiste Denelle, explained the layout of tombstones in the Jean Baptiste Dinelle family graveyard. Mr. J.B. Denelle and the widowed Mrs. Lavigne's names are appropriately paired for eternity in the Collins cemetery, as documented in the reference, "Collins Cemetery, Tangipahoa Parish, LA Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Don Johnson, Jan. 2000 for Doris Hoover Johnston Typed by Dr. Belford Carver, January 8, 2000," (cited below):
"On one stone Jean Battiste Dinelle Benefactor of cemetery Born between 1770-1780 Died 10-1817 Land grand 1805 ne An Canada
Mary Elizabeth Ouvre Dinelle Lavigne 1-12-1788 11-13-1858 ne An St. James Parish"
Part Six: It's Ouvre!
The complexities of my maternal pedigree are equaled only by the pedigree of the Mary Elizabeth (Celeste) Ouvre's surname as it relates to the history of the Cajun people in Louisiana. The name "Ouvre" cannot stand alone as a legitimate surname; in fact, it is not; it is a derived name, made up by its owner, which must be paired with the owner's original surname, Huber, to have a bona fide, traceable context in the world of Cajun geneology.
Mary Elizabeth (Celeste) Ouvre, who would, in 1806 marry plantation-owner Jean Baptiste Denelle, originally of Quebec, was born into the German-Belgian-French-Acadian (let's just call it "Cajun," shall we?) world of Louisiana in the late eighteenth century. One such German immigrant family, the Hubers, found much in common with the Hebert and David families, who had arrived in Louisiana aboard ship in the late 1760's, following a forced exile from their Acadian homes by the British and a twelve-year, interim habitation in Snow Hill, Maryland. In fact, there was so much affinity among the Hubers, Davids, and Heberts of the late eighteenth-century Louisiana that several marriages were recorded among the three during that time frame, including the 1787 marriage of Henrique Houwer (Huber), son of Andre Ouvre (Huber) to Angelique David, the Maryland-born daughter of exiled Acadians Etienne-Michael David and Genevieve Hebert, who would give birth one year later to Mary Elizabeth (Celeste) Ouvre (Huber) in 1788.
Jacob, the Huber family patriarch, and his wife Anne-Barbe Schauffine, arrived in Louisiana, from Germany, in about 1732, according to cited references found on Stephen A. Cormier's website, "Acadians in Gray" (www.acadiansingray.com c. 2000-2006). By the 1770s, with the sons and grandsons of the Jacob Hubers, including Henrique's father Andre, now fully integrated into Louisiana French- Acadian society, the recorded Huber family surname evolved into the more "French-sounding" derivation, Ouvre, with the initial "H" being silent (`oover). In subsequent generations, other Huber family surnames would proliferate among the Huber family descendants, including Houwer, Oubre, and the almost authentic American surname, "Hoover." The gradual Americanization of the original Huber surname that occurred over several generations of Hubers in Louisiana adds to the general mystique (and difficulties in tracing descendants) of one of Louisiana's pre-eminent founding German immigrant families, and keeps Oubre - Ouvre -Hoover family historians, and Stephen A. Cormier, solidly employed.
Marie Asselia Rundquist's Maternal Ancestral Line
Notes: Detailed Record of Marriages Chronicled in Finding Anne- Marie
First Generation: Marie Asselia Rundquist, daughter, Nancy Beville Pierce married Edward Nowicki, January 19, 1997, in Rockville, Maryland.
Second Generation: Nancy Bevill Poore, daughter Asselia Strobhar Lichliter, married Frank H. Pierce III, December 21, 1952, in Washington, D.C.
Third Generation: Asselia Strobhar, daughter of Marie Asselia Gashet d'Lisle, married Emery Bruce Poore, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan.
Fourth Generation: Marie Asselia Gaschet d'Lisle, daughter of Marie Anais Gosselin, married Cecil Strobhar, 1906, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Fifth Generation: Marie Anais Gosselin, daughter of Harriet Denelle, married Charles Gaschet d'Lisle, about 1867, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Sixth Generation: Harriet Denelle, daughter of Celeste Mary Elizabeth Ouvre (aka Oubre, Hoover) married Simon Gosselin on 10 January, 1853, according to St. Tammany marriage records, File 2.
Seventh Generation: (Celeste) Mary Elizabeth Ouvre (aka Oubre, Hoover), daughter of Angelique David, married Jean Baptiste Ginel-Denelle, July 22, 1806 in St James Church, St James Parish, Louisiana.
(Celeste) Mary Elizabeth Ouvre Denelle married Antoine Lavigne, 11 Sep 1819.Eighth Generation: Angelique David, daughter of Genevieve Hebert, married Henri Francois Houwer (Ouvre), September 24, 1787, in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
Ninth Generation: Genevieve Hebert, daughter Marguerite Gautrot, married Michel David, 1/20/1744, Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. Source: Parish Registers for Grand-Pre.
Tenth Generation: Marguerite Gautrot, daughter of Francoise Rimbaux, married Michel Hebert, 8 May 1726, in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. Source: Dictionnaire genealogique des familles acadiennes by Stephen A. White, published 1999, page 696 #5i
Eleventh Generation: Francoise Rimbault (Rimbeaux, Rimbaut, Raimbault), daughter of Anne Marie, married Charles Gautreaux (Gautrot) in 1685, in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia.
Twelfth Generation: Anne-Marie, daughter of (UNKNOWN INDIAN) married Rene Rimbault, 1653, in Port Royal, Nova Scotia.
And at last - there she was, my ancestor Anne-Marie, an "unknown Indian" and the ultimate reason that I was so surprised at the results of my MtDNA testing.
Joint Copyright © held by either Frank H. Pierce, III or Marie Rundquist - 2006
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Created 1 Feb 2003