Mary Josephine Giroux DNA Study

Kelly Bartlett mtDNA is confirmed to grand mother Mary Josephine Giroux.

According to the St. Edmonds Church records, Maria Luciana Biron is the daughter of Ernest Biron and Josephine Sophie Berard.

Mary Josephine Giroux is the adopted daughter of John Muldoon and Elizabeth Beakey.

Attempting to prove Mary Josephine Giroux and Maria Luciana Biron are the same person.

about Mary Josephine

Mary was born about 1891. John Muldoon was 37 and Elizabeth (Beakey) Muldoon was 42 when they adopted Mary as an infant.

She joined their family of four, her sister Anna was born in 1877, and her brother John was born in 1879.

about Maria Luciana

Maria Luciana BIRON b: 02 MAY 1891 in St. Edmund, Coaticook, P.Q. Canada Her parents: Father: Ernest BIRON b: 23 JUN 1861 in St. Antoine de Tilly, Lotbiniere, Canada Mother: Josephine Sophie BERARD b: 10 OCT 1867 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

putting the pieces together

Although the records show Maria Luciana died on 21 Sep 1891, I believe instead she was adopted by my Great-grandparents, Elizabeth Beakey and John Muldoon. I think the story of the baby’s death was possibly conceived to cover up the illegitimate birth. The Biron’s were apparently very religious and at this time in history, having a child out of wedlock would have been unacceptable.

same birth date - May 2, 1891

Both Mary Josephine and Maria Luciana were born on May 2nd. Ernest and Josephine were married in Sherbrooke, August 1890. From there they moved to Norton Mills, VT and had several children and then moved back to Sherbrooke and had a few more children. Their second child, Josephat Ernest Eugene Biron was born December 8, 1892. Napoleon and Adele married in 1892 in Coaticook, their seven children were all born in Coaticook.^[1]

same birth location - Coaticook

Maria Luciana was born in Coaticook, baptized in St. Edmonds Church in Coaticook but there is no burial site for her at St. Edmonds Church in Coaticook. It would be unlikely for her to be buried anywhere else, if she died 4 months after she was born and baptized there. ^[2] Both Maria and Mary were born in Coaticook.

Biron / Muldoon connections

My Grandfather, John Muldoon owned a farm in Coaticook, a farming village outside of Sherbrooke, Quebec. Joseph Biron, Ernest Biron’s father also resided in Coaticook. He probably owned a farm as well and was likely friends/neighbors with the Muldoon's. Here is the connection of the families that were figuring out what to do with an illegitimate baby.

The Muldoon farm house in Coaticook, Quebec, Canada. Elizabeth (Beakey) Muldoon sitting, holding Mary Josephine, John Muldoon, standing center. (not sure who the others are)

Muldoons

Elizabeth and John Muldoon had children and were 40 and 37 years old. This would indicate they were not trying to find a child to adopt. More likely, they were a part of an arrangement to help a young couple or family in need.

family stories

The family stories tell of Mary’s connection to her birth family. My mother remembers walking north on Brooks to get to church (St. Patrick's in Quebec) and passing Ball. Her mother told her that was the home of her mother and she taught her sisters how to play the piano there. Mom was born in 1932 and would walk to church with her mom every Sunday as a child, so this would have been around 1940-1950ish. (Ernest and Josephine Sophie Biron lived in Sherbrooke in 1910.)

The address on the SE corner of Brooks and Ball (as best as I can tell) is 138 Rue Brooks.

Biron - LNAB

Priest in the family

My Aunt Margaret remembers that her mother, Mary, told her that her birth family name was Biron. She also said their was a priest in the family, possibly Mary's brother. Napoleon and Adele had a daughter, Marie Blanche Armande who married Adelard Ouellet. They had a child, Joseph Gilles Napoléon Ouellet who became a priest and then the Canadian Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rimouski.

DNA matches

Through ftDNA I found I am an exact match to Adele Allaire. She is the daughter of Louis Allaire and Eulalie Roy. She married Napoleon Biron April 25, 1892 in Coaticook, Stanstead, Quebec. Napoleon is the cousin of Ernest Biron, husband of Sophie Josephine. There is no record of a child born to Adele and Napoleon before their marriage in 1892. Could it be possible they had Mary Josephine 1 year before they got married on the same day (2 May 1891) that Ernest and Sophie had a child? This is getting weird.

Napoleon Biron and Adele Allaire

Napoleon and Ernest Biron were cousins. Etienne David Biron (1796 - 1859) the father of Louis Ferdinand Remi Biron and Joseph Biron. Napoleon was the son of Louis Ferdinand Remi and Ernest was the son of his brother Joseph. Both Napoleon and Ernest had a close connection, living in the same towns at the same time during their early lives. Napoleon married Adele Allaire in 1892 in Coaticook. Ernest and Sophie Josephine were also living in Coaticook at that time. I have an exact mtDNA match to Adele Allaire. A big old reach... could it be that the baby born on May 2 1891 was actually the daughter of Napoleon and Adele prior to their marriage a year later?? Could the records have been altered to attempt for a legitimate birth record for Maria Luciana/Mary Josephine? Highly unlikely that 2 daughters were born to both couples on the same day.

Sources

1. ↑ "Canada Census, 1901," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHRH-568 : accessed 8 April 2016), Florida Biron in household of Napoleon Biron, D, Stanstead, Quebec, Canada; citing p. 5, Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
2. ↑ | St. Edmonds Church Records

research/matches: Marguerite Bourbeau exact mtDNA match with Jacqueline Boulanger, eighth great grandaughter of Marguerite jbbpem@gmail.com