Finding my first French family line!

If you follow my genealogy Instagram account, you might know that last fall I finally broke down one of my more persistent brick walls and found my first French family line! To make a long story short, newly digitized Belgian records revealed a marriage record for my 4x great grandparents Jacques (Jacobus) Verfaille and Sophie Hutinet which included information about Sophie's parentage which led me to her father's death record which was also part of this treasure trove of Belgian records that has recently become available online.

Simon Hutinet's death record in the Tournai municipal record books, 10 April 1801.

Simon Hutinet's death record noted his birth place as being Dampierre "ci-devant diocese de Langres (above the Diocese of Langres)" and that he was the son of Claude Hutinet and Anne Testevuide. This was incredibly useful information which was able to lead my research trail into France! After joining a few French genealogy groups on Facebook and taking a crash course in what kind of records are available, I was pleasantly surprised by how detailed the French records are and how much is digitized online for free! It wasn't long before I had found the parish records for the little village of Dampierre, and using Simon's parents names and his age at death, was able to locate a baptismal record for him.

Simon Hutinet's baptism record, Parish of Dampierre record books, 29 September 1755.

Being new to researching in both French records and Catholic records, it took me hours to come up with a transcription of this baptismal record as follows:

Le vingt neuf Septembre mil sept cent cinquante cinq a été baptise Simon né dujour preceedent, fils en ligitime mariage de Claude Hutinet meunier en Previard et d'Anne Testevuide ses pere et mere et aux pour parrain Simon Dapremont pretre frere de Dampierre represente par Dominique Testevuide son oncle maternel et pour marraine Denise Testevuide aussi sa tante maternelle fille de Nicolas Testevuide fermier de notre dame duchênes qui a declare ne savoir signee. le parrain font soussigné avec nous le pere absent.

In a rough English translation this reads: "The 29 September 1755 was baptized Simon, born the day before, son of the legitimate marriage of Claude Hutinet, miller at Previard and of Anne Testevuide, his father and mother. And for godfather Simon Dapremont Priest of Dampierre represented by Dominique Testevuide his maternal uncle, and for godmother Denise Testevuide also his maternal aunt, daughter of Nicolas Testevuide, farmer at Notre Dame du Chenes, who said she does not know how to sign. The godfather are the undersigned with the father absent." The diocesan history for Langres indicates that Simon Dapremont, born in 1725, was the parish priest in Dampierre from 1753 to 1793. The Hutinet family must have had an affinity for their young priest to both name their son Simon (presumably in his honour) and to ask him to act as young Simon's godfather.

Église Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul, photo from the Langres Tourism website.

At left is an old postcard showing Dampierre's village centre and church, Église Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul, where Simon was baptized. My research has indicated that only the nave (centre portion of the building between the steeple and chancel) would date back to the 1700s, as there were extensive renovations in 1844 which restored the steeple and enlarged the chancel area.

For someone used to researching 18th century ancestors in Canada for whom almost no records remain or 18th century ancestors in the UK for whom parish records record the bare minimum, this level of detail was so exciting! Not only does the baptismal record make note of Simon's parents' full details including his mother's maiden name, father's profession, and family residence; the record also lists the relationship between the godparents and Simon which allowed me to piece together his maternal side, the Testevuide family. Evidently Anne had both a brother and sister and was also the daughter of Nicolas who was a farmer living at the Notre Dame du Chênes farm.

With this information, the helpful Facebook genealogy community pointed me in the direction of a series of maps that Napoleon had commissioned in 1807 to create a nation-wide geographical survey with the aim of using this information to establish taxation rates. Haute-Marne, the geographic department wherein Dampierre lies, has put their maps online, so I was quickly able to find a map of what Dampierre looked like in the early 1800s and find the locations of Pré Viard (in green box) and Notre Dame du Chênes (in blue box).

Map of Dampierre with village in the centre labelled F,  Pré Viard Farm to the south west labelled and enlarged in green,
and Du Chêne Farm to the north of the village labelled and enlarged in blue.

Old post-card showing a view of Dampierre. 

The Haute-Marne area is in a rural part of France "with 40% of the [region being] either river or forest" and a low population density ranking in the bottom 10% for the whole country. The village of Dampierre was primarily centred around an agrarian economy with many small family farms. A description of a typical home in the area at the time includes a simple dwelling structure with a door, two windows and a tiled roof, a stable and barn, and an outdoor bread oven. According to "La diocèse de Langres: histoire et statistique", in 1750 Dampierre had about 420 inhabitants and was still rebuilding after suffering damage during military conflicts, an earthquake, and a plague outbreak all of which occurred in the 1600s.


Next, I wanted to find out more about what it meant for Claude Hutinet to be a miller at Previard. A Google search brought up a local dictionary/directory book published in 1858, "La Haute-Marne ancienne et moderne: dictionnaire géographique, statistique, historique et biographique de ce département". In describing the village of Dampierre, they list one of the main features being "plusieurs moulins dont l'un est appelé Pré-Viard (many mills including one called Pré-Viard)." An English-language tourism brochure for the area gives a little more information about what this mill would have been like, stating: "At the south west of the village, at the foot of the road leading to Charmoilles, at the place name 'Pré Viard', existed a water-mill until the last XIX century." These two sources indicate that the Pré Viard mill was something of a landmark in Dampierre (perhaps the most substantial mill in the village?), a waterwheel not a windmill, and that the structure is no longer standing. Simon's baptismal record gives another hint about the Pré Viard mill... his father Claude was not present at his baptism in September, a fact that is somewhat unusual but perhaps makes more sense if the assumption is made that the mill was used for cereal/grain crops in which case September was probably when Claude was at his busiest grinding the village's fall harvest.

Engraving of a waterwheel published in "L'encyclopedie, ou Dictionnarie Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers" (Diderot, Paris, 1751).

Cross-section of waterwheel published in "L'encyclopedie, ou Dictionnarie
Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers" (Diderot, Paris, 1751).

An online French travel magazine, when describing a similar watermill that is still in existence in another village in Haute Marne just thirty kilometres from Dampierre, states: "People have been working the water here since the Romans and this was once one of the pivotal businesses of the community. During the revolution, the mill was considered so important that the miller was charged an extra pig by way of taxation. . . . The mill has a rhythm and a musicality to it. It must have been hot, dusty and noisy back in the day. It must have been a wonder in technology but still back breaking work. And today, you can enjoy . . . a little glimpse of what made the heart of this community tick!" Further research into the effects of the French Revolution on millers indicates that many mills were seized and turned into cooperatives during this time, perhaps a hint towards why Simon did not follow in his father's footsteps to become the local miller and instead ended up in living in Belgium after the revolution (I am still hoping to uncover exactly when and why he made the move).

Both of these watermill engravings come from "L'encyclopedie, ou Dictionnarie Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers" edited by the famous enlightenment writer Denis Diderot and published in 1751. What makes this particularly interesting for me from a genealogical standpoint is that Diderot was born and raised in Langres, the main metropolitan centre just fifteen kilometres from Dampierre, situating these illustrations in both the right time and place to be relevant for understanding the Pré Viard mill and what it may have looked like.

Turning my attention to the Testevuide family, I started looking into the significance of the farm name "Notre Dame du Chênes (Our Lady of the Oaks)".  Research showed that "such customs as that of fixing plaques or statues of our Lady on oak-trees, or of giving these shrines titles of 'Our Lady of the Oak', were both widespread and ancient." (H.M. Gillett, "Our Lady of the Oak Tree", Life of the Spirit, 1948)

Shrine to Notre Dame du Chêne, photo from Langres Tourism website.

The Langres Tourism website gives an excellent description of the history and significance of the site: "On the territory of the old ruined Du Chêne Farm, there remains the chapel and the source of the farm's name. Tradition says that a statue of the Virgin was found in [the trunk of] an oak tree [by a bull grazing in the field]. Following this miracle, hermits settled in this place and the first chapel was built in the 12th century. Hermits lived there until the 17th century, when the chapel was bequeathed to the Discalced Carmelites. Later neglected, the chapel ended up in very bad condition and was demolished by 1788. The statue of Our Lady of the Oak was however saved. It is said that after being brought into the village and placed in the Church of Dampierre, she returned to the chapel by herself on several occasions. In 1844, the chapel was replaced by a small oratory. In its gable wall, a stone from the old chapel was encrusted. It carries this dedication: 'Here the love of Our Lady of the Oak is in your big heart, passer-by don't forget it'. The rebuilt chapel is the site of a pilgrimage every year in September."

While the image at right shows the 19th century oratory, rather than the chapel that would have been located on the farm when the Testevuide family lived there and worked the land, it gives an idea of the sort of sacred space that would have been part of their daily life. I like to imagine Simon's mother Anne growing up on this farm and perhaps taking a few minutes when her chores were finished to go pray in this little woodland chapel.



There is so much more information out there on this little village and the Hutinet and Testevuide families! The parish record books have been digitized back into the 1600s at least, and I have found a website that has a wealth of legal documents digitized from the 1700s including property sales, petty complaints about stray cattle, and minor children guardianships which will provide greater insight into my Hutinet and Testevuide ancestors' stories. I am looking forward to diving into more French records over the years ahead, but first I need to brush up on 18thC French script and Church Latin to be able to decipher them!

Ancestor Profile: Rasmine "Minnie" Dorothy Margaret Rasmussen (1853-1930)

When I first started delving into my family history, my paternal Danish roots were probably the branch of my tree that I knew the least about (to be honest, this is probably still the case despite the discoveries I have made).  Once I started gathering information online, I was also surprised that I seemed to be the first "serious" researcher for this line.  I couldn't find any online public trees or message board posts about this particular family.  While this annoyed me at first, as it meant that progress was much slower, I have come to really appreciate having the opportunity to uncover this line's stories on my own.  So for my first ancestor profile, I would like to introduce you to Rasmine "Minnie" Dorothy Margaret Rasmussen, my paternal 2x great grandmother.

Gloslunde church (source)

Minnie was born on January 26, 1853 in Gloslunde, Maribo, Denmark, to Rasmus Rasmussen and his wife Mette Kirstine, just 4.5 months after their marriage in September 1852.  With the arrival of spring, came her christening on May 1, 1853 at the local church.

The entry for Minnie's birth in the Maribo church record book.

In 1855, there was a Danish census held and little Minnie was living with her parents, a new baby brother, her paternal grandmother, and her father's apprentice.  Her father is working as a carpenter in the area.

The family in the 1855 Danish census.

In 1860, there was another Danish census and the Rasmussen family had grown by two more children.  Minnie, now 8, has been joined by siblings Lars, Ane, and Rasmus.  Minnie's youngest brother, Rasmus, has not yet been christened, so is recorded on the census as "Udøbt drengebarn" (unbaptized boy) rather than by name.

Castle Garden was likely Minnie's first glimpse of her new homeland. (source)

Most of Minnie's later American census records concur that she immigrated from Denmark to the United States in 1873.  I have not yet been able to conclusively identify her on a passenger list; however, there is one listing in the Danish police emigration contract records that looks promising.  It is a listing for a Rasmine Rasmussen, 20 years old and single, heading for New York City on March 27, 1873.  The last place of residence is recorded as Langeland, Svendborg which is where Minnie's mother was originally from, so it is possible that she was staying with maternal family members prior to leaving for America.  Whether this is the correct record for my Minnie or not, it is likely that she would have travelled via an indirect route from Scandinavia to America and likely arrived into the Port of New York through the Castle Garden Immigration Center.

Newgard-Rasmussen marriage record from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Within a few years of arriving in America romance was in the air, and Minnie was married to another Danish-American immigrant, Peter Marten Peterson Newgard.  The wedding took place in Hudson, Wisconsin on June 26, 1875.  This marriage would ultimately prove to be ill-fated; however, for the next five years the couple moved around throughout a number of locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The 1880 census has Minnie (26) living in Odin, Watonwan, Minnesota with Peter (28) who is working as a farmer and their three children: Karen (4), Rosa (3), and Peter (1).

Ultimately, however, the young family settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, and this is where they are found in the 1885 Minnesota state census along with two more children Lee and John Louis.  It is also likely around 1885 that Peter Newgard became a naturalized American citizen, and the legal framework at the time meant that his wife, Minnie, was automatically naturalized as well.

Two more children were born to the couple, Frederick Albert in 1888 and Burtin Leslie in 1890.  However, on October 3, 1891, Peter Newgard deserted the family and left behind Minnie and their seven children ranging in age from 16 to 2.

Newspaper clipping from the St. Paul Daily Globe.

After waiting the legally-mandated three years, on November 9, 1894 a notice was published in the St. Paul Daily Globe that Minnie has applied for a divorce order.  The court records show that there are some delays in the proceedings due to an inability to locate Peter Newgard in order to serve him with the summons.  It seems Minnie believes he may be living with another woman in Chicago, Illinois; however, she does not have an address where he could be reached. In a compromise, the summons were published for six successive weeks in the St. Paul Dispatch and an additional copy of the papers were deposited under Peter Newgard's name at a post office in Chicago.

Ultimately, after listening to testimony from Minnie and a few others, the Judge rules in her favour.  In his decision, Judge Egan states that during the marriage Minnie "performed fully, freely, and honourably all of her duties as wife of the defendant" and that since Peter's "desertion has supported and provided for the seven children . . . with such assistance as they could give her, has cared for them wholly herself by her own labour."  As a result, on February 15, 1895, he granted her a divorce as well as full custody over all the children.

Given the strict views in the time period surrounding divorce and women in the workforce, it could not have been easy for Minnie to survive as a single mother to seven children.  In fact, the 1895 Minnesota state census demonstrates the difficult financial situation of the family clearly.  Minnie is working as a housekeeper and has taken in a number of boarders including a seamstress, a driver, and the large Johnson family.  The three oldest Newgard children still living at home are all also working to support the family: Rosa as a clerk, Peter as a driver, and Lee as an errand boy.

The 1895 Minnesota state census showing the Newgard family.

1896 City Directory

The social stigma towards being a divorced woman is also evidenced in the St. Paul city directories for this time period where Minnie consistently chooses to instead label herself as a widow.

In 1898, things finally take a turn for the better for Minnie, and she is married again to Christian Johnson, the Norwegian widower who has been her boarder for a number of years.  At least as far as the paper trail can show, this is a much happier marriage for Minnie.

A typical city street in St. Paul circa 1908 (source).

The newly blended family in the 1900 US federal census.

Census returns show Minnie and Christian raising their step-children together in St. Paul in 1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, and 1920.  Christian is initially working as a stone mason, and eventually works his way up to being a contractor.  Evidently this provides a comfortable wage, as Minnie is able to stop working as a housekeeper and/or boarding house proprietor and the youngest Newgard children are able to attend school.

1930 US federal census

The 1930 US census finds Minnie living with Christian, now retired, at the home they own at 600 Ivy Street.  Valued at $1000, it seems theirs is a modest home when compared to the value of the neighbouring lots; however they were within the 10% of the American population to own a radio set.  It is easy to imagine Minnie preparing dinner or perhaps relaxing in the evening with a crackly radio program on in the background.

Minnie Rasmussen's death certificate. 

Sadly, the 1930 census would be Minnie's last, as she died of a pulmonary embolism on November 29, 1930 at Ancker Hospital.  Aged 77 years, 10 months, and 3 days, she had been living in the United States for more than 55 years.  Her internment took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery on December 1, 1930.  She would eventually be joined there by Christian Johnson in 1941.

Minnie's gravestone courtesy of Find-A-Grave user Tom.

If there are any cousins reading this that have a picture of Minnie, I would be truly overjoyed to receive a copy (contact box is located on the side-bar to the right)!  I am also always on the hunt to find out more about Peter Newgard... where he came from in Denmark and what happened to him after he left the family in 1891 (for Chicago?) continues to be a brick wall for me.