what evidence do we have for the parents of this man?

Question

Joseph Macé Gravel is currently listed with parents.  His marriage record names no parents nor origin for him, the only record which gives an origin is his confirmation in 1660, ''from the diocese of Sées''.  No marriage contract has been named or found for him either.

Supposedly PREFEN named his parents, putting his birth in Bretagne.  That program is no longer online to consult.

Anybody know any credible source for this?

Answer 1

I have gone through everything I could find on this question, am at the point of disconnecting the named parents as they are basically unsourced.  No supporting document has been found.

Would like some feedback from interested parties before I do so.

Comments

I would recommend to go ahead if no credible source was found, and create a Research note about the unproven claim about his parents. Qu'en penses-tu?

Answer 2

I found "something" from a book titled "Recherches généalogiques sur les familles Gravel Cloutier, Bruneau, Defresne, Proulx, Douville, Charest, Buisson, Tessier, De Lessard, Caron, Morin, Lamothe, Lemaitre,..." by Desaulniers, François Lesieur, 1850-1913. But it's only hearsay. A canon from Dinan met Mgr. Elphège Gravel who was then staying in Rome, and told him there were Gravels in Dinan including Joseph Gravel who had come from Illiers and married Marguerite Macé... and then Mgr Gravel told that story to someone, etc.

I believe Dinan (Côtes-d'Armor) has a few registers which go back as far of the early 16th century so it could be worth a check.

Comments

Côtes-d'Armor seems to be offline right now, site can't be reached.  Will try again later.

Answer 3

ok, just received some new research, which shows there are NO Gravel / Gravelle found in Dinan parishes in Bretagne, but there are 2 known men named Macé Gravel in Perche.

His presence is proven in La Ventrouze (Perche) in 1633 and his dit name of La Brindellière, which is the name of a place near La Ventrouze, also points that way.  

The other Macé Gravelle she found was resident of Saint-Jouin-de-Blavou, and he is accounted for until his known death, so that wasn't our man.

Just out, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, hiver 2023 Vol 74 #4, cahier 318.  (am member and have it on my computer)

Am therefore detaching the spurious parents.  They appear to be a concatenation of wishful thinking and hearsay, with some odd affirmations about the name Macé, supposedly added by him to his name in honour of his mother.  Not a French practice that I have seen, and if he had added her name to his, would most likely have been as a dit name.

Comments

Spurious, what a great word for genealogy! Lol.