Friday, February 1, 2019

Edward La Porte (b. 1840 d. 1915) - The Apple May Have Not Fallen Far From the Tree

Ah, those awkward few moments when you find out some nasty stuff about some of your ancestors when doing genealogy.

I came upon this recently when I was closing up some loose ends on my third Great Uncle, Edward La Porte - my 2nd Great Grandfather Moses La Porte's brother - both sons of Jules, who (I'm fairly convinced, but largely speculating) probably raped his neice and then fathered a few children with her after his wife died. But I digress.

I was trying to distinguish between two Edward La Portes, who were born roughly the same time period and both in Clinton County.  One, was the son of Nancy Beagle and Joseph La Porte.  That Edward is my 2nd Cousin 4x removed. The relationship isn't even through the La Porte line, but instead through the Masse lines.  But again, I digress.

The Edward who is my third Great Uncle shows in the 1880 census as a "prisoner," but doesn't say much else about him or about that. The prison in the census appears to be the Stearns County Jail near St. Cloud, Minnesota.  Thanks to Genealogybank.com, I found some explanation as to why he was there and frankly, sorta wish that I hadn't.


Perhaps even more bizarre and disturbing than this is something that appears later in the same newsaper:


WTF?  Some consolation - Edward is NOT a direct ancestor.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Cousins - L Ron Hubbard - Founder of Scientology

In the initial pages of "Going Clear," the book about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and about Scientology, I noted that his mother was a Waterbury.  I have Waterbury's in my blood, so I did some poking.  Sure enough, Cousin Ron and I descend from the same Waterbury back in 17th Century Connecticut (see below, chain).

Notice any resemblance?




Layfayette Ronald Hubbard (1911 - 1986)
is your 7th cousin 3x removed
 
mother of Layfayette Ronald Hubbard
father of Ledora May Waterbury
father of Lafayette O. Waterbury
father of Abraham D Waterbury
father of William Waterbury
father of William Waterbury
father of Thomas Waterbury
John Waterbury (1650 - 1688)
father of Thomas Waterbury
son of John Waterbury
son of David Waterbury
son of Captain David Waterbury
son of Daniel Waterbury
daughter of Jonathan Waterbury
son of Amy Waterbury
son of Elias Blaney
daughter of George M Blaney
son of Bessie Leona Blaney
son of Lloyd Vincent La Porte
You are the son of Ronald Lloyd La Porte
 
(links probably will not work unless you are invited to my ancestry.com tree)

Monday, November 11, 2013

Gilbert Jesse and Joseph Rock - Civil War Veterans

Two other 3rd Great Grandfather's, Gilbert Jesse and Joseph Rock, also served in the Civil War. Gilbert Jesse mustered in at Plattsburgh on the 14th of September, 1864.  His widow, Catherine "Kate" Jesse later filed for a widow's pension after he passed (after serving):



About a week earlier, on September 5, 1864, Joseph Rock mustered in as a Private, Company L, New York Volunteers:


Details of how a musket from his service managed to get separated from the military and end up in the hands of other ancestors is detailed here.


WWI Veteran, Orlando La Porte

My great grandfather Henry did not serve as far as I know.  His younger brother Orlando did, however. Here he is pictured below in a photo that I got from my "cousin" Kathy La Porte Marchacos:


During World War II, Orlando was also subject to what was commonly known as the "old man's draft" but was not called.  Note in his registration card below, he was 47 when he registered  The civil service law in effect at the time required registration of all men up to 64 years old!



I did Not Know My Uncle Ward . . .

Every story that I hear from my dad about my Great Uncle Ward is underlaid with the theme that, for any faults Ward had, he was nearly impossible not to like.

Also a veteran, I'm honoring Ward Gerald La Porte:


Uncle Ward was advanced to Quartermaster 3 in the U.S. Navy before he was honorably discharged. 


He and my grandpa Lloyd used to play in swing bands together. According to my dad, Ron La Porte, the news item above got one thing wrong -- apparently Ward's nickname was Pinky and his father Henry was "Skip."

For anyone interested or researching him, I have a handful of military records -- muster schedules, newspaper clippings, etc.


Lloyd La Porte - WWII

Continuing on with Veterans day, I'm recognizing La Portes and other ancestors who fought for the United States.

My grandfather, Lloyd La Porte served in World War II in Japan.  Pictured below in Tokyo, during the U.S. Occupation of Japan:


Looking a bit less relaxed and more official:


Prior to the War, he served as well:




Happy Veterans' Day

My 3GRGR, who doesn't appear to ever have been naturalized as a U.S. Citizen, fought in the U.S. Civil war -- enlisting separately, twice.

He mustered in as a private on May 16, 1861 in Company K of the 16th New York Volunteer Infantry. He was wounded July 19, 1861, at the Battle of Bull Run (Manassas, Virginia). He avoided enemy fire, but caught his own bayonet in the ass while his Company was retreating over a hedge wall.  He was honorably discharged on October 16, 1861.

A little over two years later, he mustered in as a private just after Christmas 1863 (December 28th). In this second tour, he was also a private but joined Company D of the 15th Cavalry Regiment, also of the New York Volunteers.

Four months after Lee surrendered to Grant, and three months after President Jackson declared an end to the insurrection, Julius mustered out on August 9, 1865.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Translation of Land Conveyance / Indenture

Earlier, I posted the document conveying land from Franics Hart and his wife Polly to my 3GRGR, Julius.  I've since transcribed the document, which is as follows:


You can click on that for a larger view, or see the text below:

TRANSCRIPTION OF LAND INDENTURE

This Indenture made the fifth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty four Between Francis Hart & Mary his wife of the Town of Mooers, County of Clinton and State of New York of the first part And Julius Laport of the same place of the second part Witneseth That the said party of the first part, for and in consideration of the sum of twenty four Dollars to them in hand paid, by the said party of the second part, at or before the ensealing [?] and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, remised, released, aliened, enfeoffed and confirmed, and by these present do grant, bartain, sell, remise, release, alien, enfeoff and confirm unto the said party of the second part and to his heirs and asigns [sic] forever. All certain piece or parcel of land situate lying and being in the Town of Mooers County and State aforesaid and is part of Large Lot No. Sixty Seven (67) of 420 [ed: continuing onto next page]

acres which was granted by the State of New York to certain Canadian and Nova Scotia Refugees and is bounded as follows viz. commencing in the highway leading from Sheddens Villag to Plattsburgh, thence westwardly in Francis Hart[‘]s North line to Mr. Gelton[‘]s East line, thence Southwardly in said line so far that a parallel line with the North shall make two acres of land, thence East-wardly parallel with the North line to the said highway, thence Northwardly in said highway to the place beginning and is the two North acres out of the four and a half acres purchased by said Francis Hart of John Shedden + contains two acres and no more Together with all and singular the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining, and the reversion and reversions, remainder remainders, rents, issues and profits thereof. And also all the estate, right, title, interest, use, trust, property claim and demand, whatsoever, of the said party of the first part either in law or equity, of, in and to the above bargained premises with the said hereditaments + appurtenances. To have + to hold the said above bargained premises, with them and every of their rights, members + appurtenances, to the said party of the second part, his heirs and asigns [sic], and to the sole + only proper use, benefit thereof of the said aprty of the second part his heirs and assigns, forever. And the said party of the first part, their heirs, executors and administrators do covenant, bargain, promise and agree, to and with the said party of the scond part his heirs and asigns [sic]. To Warrant forever to defend the above bargained premises + every part and parcel thereof against the said partys [sic] of the first part their heirs, executors, administrators + assigns and against all + every other person or persons claiming or to claim the said premises, or any part thereof.

                  In Witness Wherof, the said party of the first part have hereunto set their hand and seal the day and year first above written.

Signed, sealed + delivered
In th epresense of

James Fitch

Clinton County ss.
            his
Francis  X Hart  L.S.
           Mark
        her
Polly X Hart  L.S.
       mark
On the 5th day of May 1844 Francis Hart, Polly his wife whom I know to be the individuals described in and who executed the within Deed personally came before me and acknowledged that they executed the same and having examined Polly Hart separate and apart from her husband she acknowledged that she executed the same freely without fear threat or compulsion from her husband.
James Fitch – Justice Peace [sic]
Recorded June 26. 1844. 2 ½ P.M.

John B ????  Clerk


Thursday, January 31, 2013

This is NOT Louis Brouillard

Another image on ancestry.com purporting to be a Brouillard, this one supposedly of Louis Brouillard (b. c. 1644):



Its not.  Its actually Henry McKenzie, painted by Sir Henry Raeburn. The original hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

This is ALSO not Jean Baptiste Brouillard

Another image kicking around ancestry.com purporting to be Jean Baptiste Brouillard:


This one is also tiny on ancestry.com.  But its also an easier one to debunk.  Its not Jean Baptiste Brouillard, its David Lyon.  The full image is here:



This is NOT Jean Baptiste Brouillard

What is it with the Brouillard's on ancestry.com.  I'm reviewing photo hints as my month of membership is coming up to expiring.  Here's one suggested for Jean Baptiste Brouillard (b. 1721 d. 1808):

This image is a tiny one, but the Google recognizes it and offers this larger version:

The Dilettanti Society - Joshua Reynolds

This appears on a web site called Wikipaintings and attributes it to an artist named Joshua Reynolds.  The date of the painting would fit Jean Baptiste Brouillard -- begun 1777 and completed 1778, but it is titled "The Dilettanti Society" (the Wikipedia entry for which I've linked there).  According to wikipedia, it was a "society of nobelmen and scholars which sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style."  It was a London-based group, founded in 1732.  

The wikipedia entry notes some "notable" members, none of whom were identified as Jean Baptiste Brouillard and none of whom even appear to be French or French Canadian. An entry at the National Portrait Gallery seems to suggest a list of people who are the subject of the painting, none of whom are Jean Baptiste Brouillard.

Numerous other entries for the Google image search of this image have similar results.

Time to purge those ancestry.com databases and stop suggesting that this image is of or related in any way to Jean Baptiste Brouillard.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

This is NOT Helene Desportes

Today's "this is not" photo installment finally drifts outside of the Brouillard family to this image, supposedly of Helene Desportes:


According to many folks on Ancestry.com (over 200 users, by my estimation) this is Helene Deportes (b. 1620 d. 1675).  According to the Google and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is "Portrait of a Woman" by an Italian (Florentine) painter dating to the mid-16th Century.

Helene Deportes wasn't alive in the "mid-16th Century," as she was not born until the early/middle 17th Century.  It also seems unlikely that, if the dating were wrong, that this Florentine painter would choose as his subject, a woman born in Quebec / "New France."

Folks on ancestry.com ought to delete / de-link this image.  It is NOT Helene Desportes, and its not a portrait by "V.  Lavaoies" as noted in the title/description on ancestry.com.



Tuesday, January 29, 2013

This is NOT Magdeleine St Laurent (Brouillard)

Further update to this post, the false photo for Magdeleine St Laurent:



appears to be a photo of "Mrs. Falls" according to the Diomedia web site of "stock photos."  At least in this Google Cache, this is what the description is.  I've clipped a screen shot as the cache is sure to get cleared out and the photo link returns a 404 error:


I <ctrl + > my browser page to increase the size of the image, so you are likely to get diferent oriention of photos of you visit that link.

Take her out of your trees.  This IS NOT Magdeleine or Madeleine St Laurent married to Jean Baptiste Brouillard.

This is NOT Charles Brouillard

It must run in the family -- the false photos, that is.  We looked here, at the various issues with the "photo" of Jean Baptiste Brouillard and his wife, Magdeleine St Laurent.  Well, THIS IS NOT Charles Brouillard (b. 1668, d. 1692), as more than 60 ancestry.com members (who feature it on their public trees) seem to think:



The Google for the image shows a "stock image" web site, called "Diomedia."  Its not easy to find, but loading the "cached" page rather than the search result makes it easier to find that its "Gilbert  Wakefield," not Charles Brouillard.  Wakefield was English not French and appears to have lived about a hundred years after Brouillard.

Sadly, the Google image search for "Charles Brouillard" returns this image above as its second result -- a thumbnail from ancestry.com.

Take this photo out of your trees, folks.  Its NOT Charles Brouillard.


Debunking Photo Myths / Mistakes on Ancestry.com

As a variation on a prior post, I'm going to include each of these type of corrections when I come across them.  By way of background, I'm on one of my one-month Ancestry.com membership spurts. So, I'm filling in gaps and gathering a lot of info that I'll sort out later.  I know its not an ideal scenario and not very scholarly, but its what I've got right now.

But when I do these things, I'm "relying" on a lot of crap and unsubstantiated work. Its less of a risk for my Quebecois relatives because between Drouin and Tanguay, there is massive coverage and most of the now-province of Quebec is catalogued for the 15th through 18th centuries. Nevertheless, I see the same types of errors repeated over and over:  massive numbers of duplicate children; children assigned to the wrong parents (usually attributed to a first wife after she died); and so on.  One of the more easy to spot is the inclusion of a photograph or painting that purports to be a very old person.  In fact, I've not only copied a ton of these to my tree (see this prior post, which is a fraud, more or less, which I'm guilty of perpetrating / perpetuating), but I'm being more careful to spot them and I'm going to do my best to religiously post the errors on this blog.

First up, that error/fraud that I helped perpetuate.  The people in question (in my tree) are Jean Baptiste Brodeur (b 1690, d. 1768).  Here is the photo that is flying around ancestry.com that purports to be him:


Suffice it to say that this isn't Jean Baptiste Brodeur. Its John Bligh, the 4th Earl of Darnley.  How do I know?  The Google.  Their image search is awesome for this task.  Drag and drop the photo from Ancestry.com and voila.


 Among the links that are produced this this one.  So, out of the tree he goes.  And, apologies for the earlier post that claimed it was him, thereby reinforcing the false internet information and contributing to a Google search result that returns this blog as a result for this falsity.  Apologies.

Incidentally, the person who submitted this photo on Ancestry. has three identical Jean Baptiste Brodeur's in their tree, no doubt due to intermarriage. But they've not bothered to merge them as is quite easy to do.  Also a "hint" photo that is supposed to be his family is this photo:



The person on ancestry.com captions it: 
  • Daughters of Jean Baptiste & Marie Brouillard

  • about mid 1700's , St. Francis Du Lac, Richelieu, Quebec

Guess what?  Not even close.  The Google includes results that say it is "Fred and George Niedoba" and also "Emma, Nancy, Annie House."  You decide, eh?  A web site called GG Art (here) has a page called "enjoy old photos" and captions this one "Eva Jane Pifer . .  etc."

Finally, Jean Baptiste Broduer's wife Marie Madelein Brouillard (b. 1700, d. 1736) was supposed to be this woman:


Also not true.  I perpetuated this falisty here.  There are a bunch more that I'll be pointing out over the course of "filling in" my tree.  Some I've added and will remove.  Others, I'll point out when I encounter them.

Friday, January 18, 2013

3GRGR Owned Land

Recently, I've discovered the property records for Clinton County, New York on the LDS site.  I had started to spot check certain volumes looking for records of Julius in the rough time frame that I understand he arrived in the United States / New York.  Nothing turned up immediately.

Recently, I used my brain (I hadn't before) and scrolled ALL THE WAY through the offerings for those records and noticed the "Grantor - Grantee" indices.  For non-real estate lawyers/professionals, what these are are indices of actually-recorded deeds that list who sold (grantor) and who bought (grantee) certain land.  A LOT easier to search than the deed books themselves.  These indices are the pre-computer method of creating a relational database of many records and information.  In "modern" times, these computerize databases will be searchable and sortable by grantor, grantee, property identification, etc.  But I digress.

The first record that I came upon was an 1844 transfer from Francis Hart to Julius La Porte. While Julius wasn't the first "La Porte" noted in the land transfer book (Francis Nelson or John / Jean Baptiste have earlier entries), Julius did appear before Julian. In fact, the first entry that I saw for Julian indicates that he bought from Julius, his younger brother. This transaction, I think, is further circumstantial evidence (although of very low relevance) that Julius and Julian were brothers.  It would otherwise seem oddly coincidental that the among all of the other land owners in Mooers, New York, two men named La Porte would be transacting in land with one another.  Possible, but it seems more than a coincidence.

I digress again.  Below is the image of the recorded deed from Hart to La Porte. The penmanship is pretty good and its in English (though it undoubtedly had to be translated for Julius to understand), so I'm not going to transcribe it for now (later, I'll both transcribe and "translate" it from legalese to "real person English.")

In sum, Julius bought two acres land from Francis Hart which were originally part of a much, much, larger "refugee tract" (Lot 67 of 420) -- a giant tract of land that was legislatively given to certain refugees of Canada (from Quebec and Nova Scotia). I'm trying to track down exactly where it was in Mooers. It mentions a road from "Sheddeus Village to Plattsburgh" as one boundary line, but I cannot figure out where that is.

Here is the page of the deed recording - I think that Google will upload the entire image (which you can download to see in larger form) but if not, ping me and I'll send anyone interested a larger copy.



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Died in a Carriage Accident

Joseph Rock died in a carriage accident.  He was another of my 3GRGRs -- my paternal grandmother (Jennie Rock La Porte)'s Great Grandfather (if you trace through her father, Henry "Clayton" Rock, but  2nd Great Grandfather if you trace through her mother, Isabel Rock -- as they were first cousins once removed).

In any case, I had been monitoring the ancestry.com "Clinton County" boards and noticed some activity regarding my 4th GRGR, Paul Larocque and Marie Duseault. There is some confusion as to who their children were.  One post mentioned Joseph being killed in a carriage accident, which I'd never heard about, so I got to investigating.  Best source for this is the Northern New York Library newspaper archives.  I quickly found the "errata" that was published a week after the initial article:



so, I needed to dig further.  In the papers a week earlier was this:



Not that there are "good" ways to go in an absolute sense, but there must be "better" ways relatively speaking and this one seems like a "not good" way to go.  I cannot help but get an image of this all happening as part of the opening sequence of an episode of Six Feet Under.


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Beyonce is my Cousin!

I didn't start doing genealogy because I wanted to find "famous" relatives, but that's what I found last night, several years into this project.

I'd been filling in some very early lines on my father's side -- places where I'd still not traced ancestors all the way back to France.  [As background, the homogeneity of the people in Quebec combined with the meticulous record keeping by the Catholic priests there make tracing Quebec roots deep into the 17th century very doable].  One ancestor -- an 11th Great Grandfather -- Zacherie Cloutier, is a common ancestor to a lot of people, many of them famous.

This is a picture of "Grandpa Zach" that I pulled from the web:




Going back that far, you will frequently find historical references to the person. After all, these were folks who took a pioneering voyage across the Atlantic to settle the "New World" and tame it of its "savage" influences.  Life wasn't exactly easy in Quebec in the 1660s.

There are several genealogical / historical organizations in Quebec that have worked with the meticulously-recorded baptisms, marriages, and burials of the various citizens. The original, handwritten, records have been transcribed and indexed in numerous fashions by many historians. In more recent times, these sources have made their way online and the online versions often contain searchable databases.

While more historically-minded organizations like the Drouin Institute and the PRDH at the University of Montreal and the Drouin Institute are focused purely on genealogy and history, more "mainstream" sources like ancestry.com have at least as much of a financial motive, which leads them to issue press releases with sensational headlines like:

Madonna, Camilla and Celine Dion are Cousins!


While sensational, its also true. And, what they don't mention there, is that those folks are my cousins too! (we are talking 9th and 10th cousins, often a generation or two "removed" but cousins nonetheless).

Which brings me to the wrap up - Beyonce's pedigree, which you can see here, among many other places, indicates that she is the 9th Great Granddaughter of Zacharie Cloutier, making us 10th Cousins 2x removed.

The family resemblance is uncanny, no?





The full Beyonce - Me cousin connection:

Beyonce Giselle Knowles (1982 - )
is your 10th cousin 2x removed
Mother of Beyonce Giselle
Father of Celeste Anne
Father of Lumis Albert
Mother of Alexandre
Mother of Solange
Mother of Solange
Father of Solange
Father of Aubin
Mother of Pierre
Father of Elisabeth Ursule
Zacherie Cloutier (1589 - 1677)
Father of Charles
Son of Sainte
Daughter of Zacharie Pierre
Son of Genevieve
Son of Joseph
Daughter of Joseph
Son of Marie Madeleine
Daughter of Nicolas
Son of Magdelene
Daughter of Toussaint
Son of Mary
Son of Henri Andrew
Son of Lloyd Vincent



(FN) - An aside for the math challenged -- this isn't really all that remarkable.  For every "great" you count in terms of grandparents, you can figure out how many of them there by taking that number, adding 2, and figuring out 2 to that power.  In math terms:

Number of Xth Great Grandparents = 2^(X+2).

Zacherie Cloutier is my 11th Great Grandfather.

2^(11+2) = 2^13 = 8192.

So, each of us have 8192 11th great grandparents.  Cloutier lived about four hundred years ago.  Since then, he personally, probably has descendants numbering in at least 7 and possibly 8 figures.  Doing VERY rough math and making some implausible assumptions -- like NO intermarriage, similarly prolific descendants for all 4000 couples, etc. -- yields at 5 million or more descendants of just MY 11th Great Grandparents.  With any sort of similar geographic similarities, it may be more probable than not that there is some blood relationship.