Jean (Ethier) Hickey (bef. 1839)

Born before 25 May 1839 in Sault-au-Récollet, Île de Montréal, Bas-Canada

Ancestors

Husband of Josephine Leopoldine Hermitte — married 1861 in Mahé, Seychelles

Descendants

Biography

John was the son of Felix (Ethier) Hickey and Suzanne (Trudel) Hickey and was born in 1839. He married Josephine Hermitte in 1861.

Birth

Date: 1839

Place: Ontario, Canada

Marriage

Date: 1861^[1]

Place: : Epoux

Origine: New York, America

Agé de: 23

Profession: Carpenter

Nom du pere: HICKEY Felix

Epouse

Origine: Mahe

Agée de: 21

Nom du pere: HERMITTE Louis captain merchant navy

Nom de la mere: MICHAUD Marie

The Story So Far

The story of John Hickey is told in reverse order because that is the sequence in which it was traced.

John married Joséphine Léopoldine Hermitte in 1861 on Mahé in the Seychelles. The marriage record gives his origin as New York and his father's name as Felix. Family oral tradition says that he jumped ship in the Seychelles. One version has him coming from Canada and that his mother was French Canadian.

The most likely reason for an American ship to be in the area of the Seychelles was whaling. A search of the New Bedford Whaling Museum database^[2] shows a John Hickey as crew on the bark Milwood for her 1857 voyage to the Indian Ocean. His age is given as 21 and his residence as Oswego, NY. Obviously, the age is an issue; but why let facts stand in the way of a good story!

A search of the 1855 NY census^[3] gives Felix and Susanah Hickey, living in Oswego with, among others, a son John age 16. In all of the subsequent NY and US censuses, this family gives a place of birth as Ontario. One census indicates that they came to the US in 1852-3.

In the Canadian census of 1851^[4] Félix Ethier and Susan Trudel with the same set of children are living in Montréal County, Québec. John is really Jean Ethier. He was baptised on 25 May 1839 and his god parents were his maternal grandparents, Benjamin and Marie (see image).

The autosomal DNA test for one of John's descendants gives several matches where the only feasible connection is French Canadian. The strength of the matches makes it unlikely that the connection goes all the way back to France (French Canadian and French Seychellois). The family tree of one match goes back to Barbe Barbier, whose parents, Gilbert and Catherine, are fifth great-grandparents of Jean Ethier. Another match, a son of Damien Charron, is descended from both Jacques-Hugues Picard and Joseph Charbonneau, each of whom is a fourth great-grandfather of Jean. A third match leads to Louis Filiatrault, who is another fourth great-grandfather. The best match is with Bill Roberts where the common ancestor is Joseph Trudel, the great grandfather of Jean.

Sources

1. ↑ Acte de Mariage. Archives des Seychelles, M1861/7
   : cgmrgenealogie.org Accessed 1-3 July 2015
2. ↑ http://www.whalingmuseum.org/online_exhibits/crewlist/search.php?reverse=DESC&order_by=&search_by=name&term=hickey&page=2
3. ↑ "New York State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6Q8-G1K : 19 November 2014), Felix Hickey, Ward 3, Oswego City, Oswego, New York, United States; count clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 857,436.
4. ↑ Library and Archives Canada Note that the transcriptions are unreliable.