On the 16th of January 1799, in Ligny-le-Ribault (Loire Valley, near Chambord), in the wake of the French revolution, my ancestor Marguerite Pinson gave birth to her first born son, François Pinson. No father was declared. #AncestryHour#mystery
At that time, Marguerite's older sister Marie Françoise Pinson was married to Firmin Moreau. However, after giving birth to two boys, Marie Françoise died in 1803. Firmin stayed at the Pinson farm and started living with Marguerite. #AncestryHour
In the 10 years that followed, Firmin and Marguerite had 6 children, all recognized by their father, even though they were not married (something I've never seen anywhere else at that time in my family). Yet François remained without a recognized father. #AncestryHour
In the beginning of April 1813, death stroke in the Pinson home. On the 4th, Marguerite's father Jacques died. On the 5th, Marguerite gave birth to a boy, Pierre, and Firmin died. Marguerite then passed the next day. #AncestryHour
François Pinson, then 13 years old, survived (along with some siblings and uncles), having lost his mother, step-father, grand-father and newborn brother in a matter of 3 days. No document I found was able to explain these deaths. #AncestryHour
I couldn't find either who François' father was. I believe Firmin is a good candidate though, and since Firmin was married to Marguerite's sister at the time of François' birth, he would not have been able to recognize the child. A Y-DNA test might clear this up… #AncestryHour
One day, maybe, I'll find a Y-DNA match with surname Moreau, and that might confirm the hypothesis… #AncestryHour
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1. I was contacted by a lady who inherited a big pile of letters from ~1889, sent to her ancestor by a teenager friend from Paris. This friend often mentions her neighbor friends in her letters: my ggfather A. Dreyfus and his family.
2. My mom found ~50 letters from 1870-1871, sent from Paris to my ancestor Adolphe Grünberg as he was away with his family during the siege of the city by the Prussians. I only saw 3 letters so far, but it's very promising content!
There are in particular some letters about the children organizing theater plays and operas, with some fun scenes.
🧵 What are some genealogy mysteries you're hoping to solve this year? 🧵
1. I'm hoping to find out what really happened with the Fort Daspoortrand plans in Pretoria during the Boer War in 1900.
When Felix Zottier was found with plans of this fort in his home, he claimed to be the original designer and accused Leon Grunberg of copying his work...
This was never proved, and Zottier fled South Africa shortly after, apparently to Madagascar. I'm hoping I can find out what really happened...
I missed #ancestryhour yesterday as I was busy breaking a wall I've had for months. Thanks to a generous researcher who went through 700+ pages of census to help me find a family, I have now been able to put names on the people in these family pictures.
Better yet, I now know that Léonie Baranger was my great-grand-mother's (who appears on the first picture) cousin (1C1R actually), hence the reason I have this pic.
Next step: find descendants to send them the pictures!