Carroll has helped us find the links between our John Mayville and the immigrant ancestor Pierre Miville. John, or Jean, 's father was Jean, son of Charles, son of Charles, son of Jacques, son of Pierre.
Pierre and Jacques have very interesting stories, just search for them on google and there are myriad sites, especially about Pierre. Pierre was solid Swiss, but the name Miville apparently has Roman origins. I would imagine so does the family itself.
I have been looking into some of these things alongside what Carroll has sent me. As I mentioned before, Pierre was Captain of Richelieu's Guards. He did in fact have to flee, it appears, when Richelieu and King Louis XIII (both benefactors of Pierre) died within half a year of each other.
Also as I mentioned, Jacques, son of Pierre, married a Filles du Roi. Catherine de Baillion was from a family of minor nobles and as the link I provided before said, Catherine is a descendent of Charlemagne, and therefore so am I. This has been a possibility for me for several years, as I followed one line back through the Leonards of England towards Charlemagne, but that proved to be rather faulty and I gave up on finding direct evidence. With Catherine, however, it appears that many prominent French genealogists have proven with primary documents that she is a descendant of Charlemagne.
One of my Charles Miville ancestors was apparently involved at least to a slight degree in some fur trading, which I find interesting. There are a lot of other various bits of information that I have been exploring, so I am excited to find out more.
I am overall very excited just for the fact that we finally have made the connection to our ancestors. I'm supposing, still, that whatever caused John Mayville to leave Canada must have been something wretched because I still feel like he was trying to cover up something. I still don't even want to rule out the Native American card, either. Especially since there does not seem to be much online at all about Jean/John Mayville's parents, Jean Minville and Marie-Veronique Richard.
So, of course that leaves a lot more to be investigated. I need to contact Odette Ladd to see what she says and dig out a couple of my Huycke correspondents also to let them know the big news. and Ned Braatz. I can't forget him. He will be very happy as well. Hopefully I will have time to do that at work tomorrow.
I also now, need to work on figuring out the Michigan Mayvilles. They must be closely related because that name variant is not so very common, or so it seems. Maybe Carroll can tell me a bit more. I'll have to see if I can contact one of them and get them to do the DNA testing or something just so we can see how close the match might be.
Its a shame school is interfering with the amount of time I want to be able to dedicate to this stuff rather than to pointless things like Chemistry... Yuck.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mayville/Miville
So, the other day my uncle Rob Mayville finally received the results of his Paternal DNA test. They apparently don't have an exact haplogroup for him, but I believe it is r1b. This is based on the fact that, since we went through Ancestry.com, they matched my uncle's DNA against other submissions and found people with similar sequences. All of these people are in the r1b haplogroup, which generally comes from around Western Europe.
I have to look into some other things, but I took a look at whose sequences my uncle's DNA matched with and we were lucky to have a very close match with a man named Carroll Deschaine. All but one of the 46 markers tested were the same between Carroll and my uncle, and according to the site this meant that the relationship between the two could be as close as 6 generations back. The other matches were 10, 12 and more generations back. I couldn't believe this match was so close.
I emailed Carroll today to ask if he had done any work on his genealogy and might know how we are related. His answer was pretty awesome. He is a Miville descendent. Our common ancestor is most likely Pierre Miville but the common ancestor might even be even closer than that (either way Pierre is my ancestor).
Carroll indicated that he has done extensive work on this family and that my line may belong to Pierre's son Francois because apparently his line was associated with a lot of name mutations. He is going to help me connect my line to Pierre, as there is a sizable gap in known information. What is known, however, is that the line does connect, because we have hard DNA evidence for once.
I am really excited about this. I have been looking into the family now, especially Pierre. Pierre was apparently a guard for Cardinal Richlieu. http://www.delmars.com/family/perrault/2985.htm
This could be where the garbled nonsensical story that I have heard from the Mayvilles came from. That story purports that John Mayville (or, "the guy who came from France") was on Napoleon's court and had to flee so he went to Canada. As you will see at the link above, Pierre was a guard for Richelieu and was the immigrant ancestor. So, could be the story was at least right in tying our family to SOME important French guy.
Additionally, the two sons of Pierre both married Filles du Roi, or Daughters of the King. These were women sent to help populate the new territory in Canada. They were mostly nobility at first and then became more hardworking women from lower down in the strata.
Francois had one wife which he had 12 children with and then married a second woman who was a Filles du Roi. Jacques's only wife was a Fille du Roi, Catherine du Baillon (http://www.acadian-home.org/catherine-de-baillon.html)
This is really interesting, and I am excited to see what Carroll can help me turn up. His line is, I think still in Canada, and he speaks French and is very familiar with Quebec records. He is also very willing to help. We got very lucky with this find and I'm really excited to see what will come of it!
I still want to know what John Mayville seems to have been trying to hide, though.. Seriously.
I have to look into some other things, but I took a look at whose sequences my uncle's DNA matched with and we were lucky to have a very close match with a man named Carroll Deschaine. All but one of the 46 markers tested were the same between Carroll and my uncle, and according to the site this meant that the relationship between the two could be as close as 6 generations back. The other matches were 10, 12 and more generations back. I couldn't believe this match was so close.
I emailed Carroll today to ask if he had done any work on his genealogy and might know how we are related. His answer was pretty awesome. He is a Miville descendent. Our common ancestor is most likely Pierre Miville but the common ancestor might even be even closer than that (either way Pierre is my ancestor).
Carroll indicated that he has done extensive work on this family and that my line may belong to Pierre's son Francois because apparently his line was associated with a lot of name mutations. He is going to help me connect my line to Pierre, as there is a sizable gap in known information. What is known, however, is that the line does connect, because we have hard DNA evidence for once.
I am really excited about this. I have been looking into the family now, especially Pierre. Pierre was apparently a guard for Cardinal Richlieu. http://www.delmars.com/family/perrault/2985.htm
This could be where the garbled nonsensical story that I have heard from the Mayvilles came from. That story purports that John Mayville (or, "the guy who came from France") was on Napoleon's court and had to flee so he went to Canada. As you will see at the link above, Pierre was a guard for Richelieu and was the immigrant ancestor. So, could be the story was at least right in tying our family to SOME important French guy.
Additionally, the two sons of Pierre both married Filles du Roi, or Daughters of the King. These were women sent to help populate the new territory in Canada. They were mostly nobility at first and then became more hardworking women from lower down in the strata.
Francois had one wife which he had 12 children with and then married a second woman who was a Filles du Roi. Jacques's only wife was a Fille du Roi, Catherine du Baillon (http://www.acadian-home.org/catherine-de-baillon.html)
This is really interesting, and I am excited to see what Carroll can help me turn up. His line is, I think still in Canada, and he speaks French and is very familiar with Quebec records. He is also very willing to help. We got very lucky with this find and I'm really excited to see what will come of it!
I still want to know what John Mayville seems to have been trying to hide, though.. Seriously.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
New Reynolds Info!
I had written to the Caribou Historical Society in Maine in the hope that they would have information about my Reynolds family or at least about the Green Ridge Grange. They wrote back that they had several newspaper articles about the Grange and that the plow that Everett Reynolds brought to the Grange was now taken care of by the Historical Society.
The man agreed to photograph the plow and send me the other things he had found but he said there wasn't really anything about my family, which puzzled me, since the Reynolds family was pretty involved with the town of Caribou from the get-go, if my other information was correct.
I received the information earlier this week, and should have written here sooner but I have been following up on things because I received a great deal of information.
The first thing in the stack of papers was a picture of the plow and then a closeup of a plaque that is on it, which describes Everett E. Reynolds' journey and, interestingly enough, mentions that he had a diary in which he kept note of things.
[Picture of the plow & plaque]
I couldn't believe that, and I noted that it was very interesting that he took this journey to Caribou in 1887, about the time he disappeared from Jefferson County, Wisconsin!!
The next few pages were about the Green Ridge Grange. It was essentially a meeting place for the local farmers and a place where dances and other public gatherings were held.
[Picture of the original Grange]
The picture above has the name Fred I. Reynolds written alongside it. He is the second cousin of my ancestor Elisha T. Reynolds.
There were several articles [click here] about the Grange, including one about it burning down not long ago and another a memoir by Maude Brown, a Reynolds descendant. The article includes interesting info about the Reynolds family first arriving in the area and how the area was first known as Reynolds, Maine. I found that to be pretty interesting!!
The next four pages were the history of Green Ridge Grange as compiled August 2, 1948. It mentions the story of the plow arriving there and again states that Everett E. Reynolds had a diary in which he wrote about his trip. It says that the diary was now in the possession of relatives. I still can't believe he had a diary, but I am hoping that it still exists! It could provide so much information on a man who disappeared from here without any true reason.
I wrote to a Dr. Reynolds of Fort Fairfield on the recommendation of Jim Ashby, and hopefully he will know something about this diary, and if it still exists.
[History of the Grange: page 1 ; page 2 ; page 3 ; page 4]
I was then at the end of my packet but I noticed that I had received a smaller letter sized envelope also from the Caribou HS. I wasn't sure what it was and I opened it to find a note explaining that it had been found after the first packet was sent out.
It was a photocopy of a letter, written to a Miss Ashby. I recognized the name first because she shares a surname with one of my contacts in Maine and also because the name was interwoven with the history of the Grange and other things I had come across in researching the Caribou area.
I was puzzled as to why it was included because it started out fairly regularly, a friendly update between friends, so I checked the end to find a signature: Everett E. Reynolds.
Well you know I almost dropped over dead at seeing this, most especially because the letter was dated Sept. 8, 1926 and was written from Canton, ME.
I will provide the transcription below and then further discussion. The letter contains so many grammatical errors that it would be pointless to include the standard "sic" notation after each one. Everett also didn't use periods so I will insert some where appropriate.
[Letter: page 1 ; page 2]
I am so excited about this letter. First, it gives a good idea of where he is living and confirms my ideas about that. He was on the 1910 census in Hartford, ME but in 1920 he was in Canton, ME.
Also, the age he gives corresponds to the man who is my ancestor.
Additionally, the paper he mentions, with the article about him and the plow, almost has to be the same article I have, or at least something very similar. In that case the article might have been written earlier that year, 1926, for the 25th anniversary of the plow being in the possession of the Grange. Now I can try to track down Bangor papers from 1926, because the article has "July 1" at the top. I am hoping that this will work out because the article I have is in bad condition and hard to read half of it, so I believe that if I get a copy of the full article it will help provide even more information about Everett E. Reynolds.
I am also hoping that this information will also help me narrow down when Everett died. Previously I knew only "sometime after 1920." But now I know that he was living in 1926 and seemed to be in good health. I need to try to get a hold of the 1930 census, and I found a woman in Maine who is going to try to help locate his death record. I can't imagine why it would not exist anywhere as late as 1930.
The man agreed to photograph the plow and send me the other things he had found but he said there wasn't really anything about my family, which puzzled me, since the Reynolds family was pretty involved with the town of Caribou from the get-go, if my other information was correct.
I received the information earlier this week, and should have written here sooner but I have been following up on things because I received a great deal of information.
The first thing in the stack of papers was a picture of the plow and then a closeup of a plaque that is on it, which describes Everett E. Reynolds' journey and, interestingly enough, mentions that he had a diary in which he kept note of things.
[Picture of the plow & plaque]
I couldn't believe that, and I noted that it was very interesting that he took this journey to Caribou in 1887, about the time he disappeared from Jefferson County, Wisconsin!!
The next few pages were about the Green Ridge Grange. It was essentially a meeting place for the local farmers and a place where dances and other public gatherings were held.
[Picture of the original Grange]
The picture above has the name Fred I. Reynolds written alongside it. He is the second cousin of my ancestor Elisha T. Reynolds.
There were several articles [click here] about the Grange, including one about it burning down not long ago and another a memoir by Maude Brown, a Reynolds descendant. The article includes interesting info about the Reynolds family first arriving in the area and how the area was first known as Reynolds, Maine. I found that to be pretty interesting!!
The next four pages were the history of Green Ridge Grange as compiled August 2, 1948. It mentions the story of the plow arriving there and again states that Everett E. Reynolds had a diary in which he wrote about his trip. It says that the diary was now in the possession of relatives. I still can't believe he had a diary, but I am hoping that it still exists! It could provide so much information on a man who disappeared from here without any true reason.
I wrote to a Dr. Reynolds of Fort Fairfield on the recommendation of Jim Ashby, and hopefully he will know something about this diary, and if it still exists.
[History of the Grange: page 1 ; page 2 ; page 3 ; page 4]
I was then at the end of my packet but I noticed that I had received a smaller letter sized envelope also from the Caribou HS. I wasn't sure what it was and I opened it to find a note explaining that it had been found after the first packet was sent out.
It was a photocopy of a letter, written to a Miss Ashby. I recognized the name first because she shares a surname with one of my contacts in Maine and also because the name was interwoven with the history of the Grange and other things I had come across in researching the Caribou area.
I was puzzled as to why it was included because it started out fairly regularly, a friendly update between friends, so I checked the end to find a signature: Everett E. Reynolds.
Well you know I almost dropped over dead at seeing this, most especially because the letter was dated Sept. 8, 1926 and was written from Canton, ME.
I will provide the transcription below and then further discussion. The letter contains so many grammatical errors that it would be pointless to include the standard "sic" notation after each one. Everett also didn't use periods so I will insert some where appropriate.
Canton Me Sept 8 1926
Dear Miss Ashby,
I rec. your letter last night[.] I was much plesed to here from you and well I rember you when you was a small Girl was well aquainted with your Father am glad your Mother is in good helth[.] I can say I am ingoying [enjoying] the best of helth for a man in his 80 year but I cant do as much work as I could in my young days[.] I have about all the work I can do all the time make a good living have ben in Canton 14 years but am thinking some of goin a way for the winter but cant till before next month[.] I am sending you a [piece??] from a Bangor (paper) that O.B. Griffin wrote about me and the old Plow I gave the Plow to the Green Ridge Grange 25 years ago and they think they have a [prise?] and I geuss [sic] they have[.] I live all a lone do my cooking and have just what I want have cooked minney [???] the winter in the woods & in sporting camps so you see I no how to cook[.] I should be plesed to here from you at enny [???] time and I will try and ans. [answer] in my humble way[.] it gives me cheer to here from frends [__ry]
Truly yours
Everett E. Reynolds
[Letter: page 1 ; page 2]
I am so excited about this letter. First, it gives a good idea of where he is living and confirms my ideas about that. He was on the 1910 census in Hartford, ME but in 1920 he was in Canton, ME.
Also, the age he gives corresponds to the man who is my ancestor.
Additionally, the paper he mentions, with the article about him and the plow, almost has to be the same article I have, or at least something very similar. In that case the article might have been written earlier that year, 1926, for the 25th anniversary of the plow being in the possession of the Grange. Now I can try to track down Bangor papers from 1926, because the article has "July 1" at the top. I am hoping that this will work out because the article I have is in bad condition and hard to read half of it, so I believe that if I get a copy of the full article it will help provide even more information about Everett E. Reynolds.
I am also hoping that this information will also help me narrow down when Everett died. Previously I knew only "sometime after 1920." But now I know that he was living in 1926 and seemed to be in good health. I need to try to get a hold of the 1930 census, and I found a woman in Maine who is going to try to help locate his death record. I can't imagine why it would not exist anywhere as late as 1930.
Friday, January 2, 2009
New Year update
Hey sorry for the long absence here, I was very busy with my semester and hardly had any time to update.
I have been contacted by a number of interesting individuals over the past few months. One of them was a Brandmueller. Not sure if there is a direct connection from his line to mine, but I would not be surprised, as they were from the same area and it is not a common name. I am hoping we can find out more information about these lines but the Brandmuellers have to this point remained quite elusive.
My uncle Bob Mayville has submitted a DNA sample to the ancestry.com labs. This could help put rest to one of the many mysteries surrounding the Mayville line, and we'll see if my theories are upheld. We will be able to determine whether there is any Native American blood and hopefully see if there are any roots in France.
I'm excited to hear back but at the same time I am leery of things like this. Submit a swab to some big company somewhere? I would prefer it if it was possible to make sure there weren't any screw-ups- mixing up DNA from other people or something, for instance. Who knows. I mean, I'm sure its legit or Ancestry.com would be ostracized forever... at the same time, you never know when the next scam is going to come along.
Anyway, since winter break began I have been sending off letters again. One I believe was inquiring about the McConnells again, and a couple to various places in Maine to check on more things with the Reynoldses. Honest to god they are hard to track down. I wrote to the town clerk of Jay, ME where the records for Canton, ME are supposed to be. They didn't have any death record for Everett Reynolds and gave me a new number to call. Not sure that will yield anything.
I wrote also to the Caribou, ME Historical Society. A town so small does indeed have its own Historical Society and I was able to obtain their address with the help of a couple more contacts I have made from around that town. I was lucky to find these people because otherwise I would be in the dark. Its unfortunate that everywhere I check seems to have no further information for me, as I heard back from the Caribou HS.
The man who wrote back said that there wasn't anything about the Reynoldses there, which is interesting because they were purported by several other people to have been integral to the beginnings of that town. They do, however, have pictures of the Green Ridge Grange which was mentioned in the newspaper article I have, and they also have the plow that Everett Reynolds brought to Maine from Massachusetts. He is sending me photos of that, too. I'm pretty excited just to see that. I wish we could somehow find out more, though. Its very unfortunate.
I have another thing on my bucket list and that is to finally call Mr. Hitchcock of Caribou. I have been waiting until I have time to come up with specific questions to ask him, as he is the town historian and from what I have been told, knew some members of the Reynolds family.
I'm also buckling down to get some work done on my family photo project. I'm trying to remember, really, where I left off as it was a few months ago. I have most pictures uploaded so I believe I will be getting them onto the website soon. Hopefully.
There should be some new updates at some point. Happy New Year!
I have been contacted by a number of interesting individuals over the past few months. One of them was a Brandmueller. Not sure if there is a direct connection from his line to mine, but I would not be surprised, as they were from the same area and it is not a common name. I am hoping we can find out more information about these lines but the Brandmuellers have to this point remained quite elusive.
My uncle Bob Mayville has submitted a DNA sample to the ancestry.com labs. This could help put rest to one of the many mysteries surrounding the Mayville line, and we'll see if my theories are upheld. We will be able to determine whether there is any Native American blood and hopefully see if there are any roots in France.
I'm excited to hear back but at the same time I am leery of things like this. Submit a swab to some big company somewhere? I would prefer it if it was possible to make sure there weren't any screw-ups- mixing up DNA from other people or something, for instance. Who knows. I mean, I'm sure its legit or Ancestry.com would be ostracized forever... at the same time, you never know when the next scam is going to come along.
Anyway, since winter break began I have been sending off letters again. One I believe was inquiring about the McConnells again, and a couple to various places in Maine to check on more things with the Reynoldses. Honest to god they are hard to track down. I wrote to the town clerk of Jay, ME where the records for Canton, ME are supposed to be. They didn't have any death record for Everett Reynolds and gave me a new number to call. Not sure that will yield anything.
I wrote also to the Caribou, ME Historical Society. A town so small does indeed have its own Historical Society and I was able to obtain their address with the help of a couple more contacts I have made from around that town. I was lucky to find these people because otherwise I would be in the dark. Its unfortunate that everywhere I check seems to have no further information for me, as I heard back from the Caribou HS.
The man who wrote back said that there wasn't anything about the Reynoldses there, which is interesting because they were purported by several other people to have been integral to the beginnings of that town. They do, however, have pictures of the Green Ridge Grange which was mentioned in the newspaper article I have, and they also have the plow that Everett Reynolds brought to Maine from Massachusetts. He is sending me photos of that, too. I'm pretty excited just to see that. I wish we could somehow find out more, though. Its very unfortunate.
I have another thing on my bucket list and that is to finally call Mr. Hitchcock of Caribou. I have been waiting until I have time to come up with specific questions to ask him, as he is the town historian and from what I have been told, knew some members of the Reynolds family.
I'm also buckling down to get some work done on my family photo project. I'm trying to remember, really, where I left off as it was a few months ago. I have most pictures uploaded so I believe I will be getting them onto the website soon. Hopefully.
There should be some new updates at some point. Happy New Year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)