Alexis Knaggs (1802 - 1855)

Born 5 Aug 1802 in Raisin, Lenawee, Michigan, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Archange (Morin) Cousineau — married 14 Jun 1825 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan

Descendants

Died 1855 at about age 52 in Erie, Monroe, Michigan, United States

Biography

Alexis Knaggs, who was the youngest child of George Knaggs and Elizabeth Chene Lyons , and grandson of George Knaggs Sr.., was born at River Raisin (Monroe), August 5, 1802 and baptized the following day at St. Antoine, River Raisin.^[1]

His first avocation was that of an Indian trader, and he worked as a clerk for one of his uncles.

In Detroit he became acquainted with Archange Morin. Daughter of Isadore Morin and Archange Meloche, who lived on what is now known as the Church farm.

Morin was a tanner and his residence and tannery was on land which fronted on the Detroit River, a short distance above Beller's Hotel on Jefferson Avenue, where the shops of the Detroit Yacht and Power Co.'s works are now situated.

Alexis married Archange Morin in Ste. Anne' s Church on 14 Jun 1825^[2] and their first children were twins Archange and Elizabeth, who were born on September 6, 1825 at the Morin dwelling, 79 Ferry Ave. on the river in Detroit.^[3]

When very young, the twins were left in the care of their aunt Elizabeth Lyons, daughter of George Lyons, an Englishman and a merchant in Detroit and Elizabeth Chene. The latter, after the death of George Lyons, married George Knaggs.

Elizabeth Lyons was a maiden lady of a serious turn of mind, who took great interest in church work and education. She taught in the Ste. Anne Church school, on the River Road, near the foot of Eighteenth Street, Detroit and was there at the time of the surrender of Detroit in 1812. She subscribed more than she could afford for the erection of Ste. Anne's Church, at the corner of Bates and Larned streets, and even scaled fish at the river fisheries to earn more money for that purpose. Being a half-sister of [Knaggs-44 | Alexis Knaggs]], she adopted his twin children, Elizabeth and Archange Knaggs, and they lived with her until they were grown up.

Elizabeth Lyons, with Miss Elizabeth Williams, sister of John R. Williams, and Miss Monique Labadie, who afterward married Antoine Beaubien, conducted a school which stood on the east side of Randolph Street between Larned and Congress streets where Chope's carriage factory and laundry are now situated. She lived with her twin nieces in the same building. She afterward removed to a house on the south side of Jefferson Avenue, where the Biddle house now stands, the second house east of Randolph Street, and here her niece, Archange was married to Henry Berthelet in 1844.

Miss Lyons afterward went to live with Mrs. Antoine Beaubien, whose house stood on Jefferson Avenue, where the Sacred Heart Convent now stands, and there her niece, Elizabeth Knaggs was married in 1850 to Charles J. Trombley, the nephew of Antoine Beaubien and the business manager of his estate.

Alexis Knaggs settled on a farm in Erie Township, Monroe County and also owned a 130-acre farm in Redford Township, Wayne County. Little is remembered of his personality.

Peter Trabbic, of Erie Township, an octogenarian, who is his son-in-law, says that during the flush times that preceded the Panic of 1837, Alexis purchased an island, which is still called Knaggs Island, in Erie township on the shore of Lake Erie and afterward sold it for a profit of some $5,000. The island contains about 70 acres of good land.

Alexis Knaggs died in 1855 on his farm in Erie Township. He and Archange Morin had 11 children.

Sources

1. ↑ Rev Christian Denissen, Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region (GFFDRR), 1987, Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, page 608 #7.
2. ↑ transcribed by Sharon A. Kelley, Marriage Records Ste. Anne Church Detroit 1701-1850, DSGR, FCHSM and Detroit300 Tricentennial Grant Program, p 98, #1153.
3. ↑ Rev Christian Denissen, Genealogy of the French Families of the Detroit River Region (GFFDRR), 1987, Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, page 608 #7.i.and #7.II.

• Ancestral File: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/MW4B-7DZ

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Krissi Hall, for profile Knaggs-44 created Apr 2, 2012. and to Rachel Neal who created Knaggs-144 on Aug 4, 2014 The above bio is based on a bio originally written about 1900 by unknown and modified and adapted for wikitree by Richard Van Wasshnova Dec. 2015.