French Roots Project February update

Question

This is the first monthly update of the French Roots project. Hopefully, we'll have one every month from now on!

The project officially became top-level last November. Here is a summary of what we're up to:

- Cleaning up and sourcing orphaned profiles (or profiles needing care and left untouched for a long time): These can be found in our sandbox.

- Improving French Notables profiles: this month there is a suggested focus on French personalities with black ancestry, in honor of Black History month.

- Presidents of France: we are now adding presidents' wives (and their families) in order to improve their chances of connecting.

- Collaboration with other projects: we set up collaborative spaces with the Quebecois, Louisiana and Acadians projects to help resolve difficulties with profiles of pioneers or their immediate ancestors. If you love research, check those spaces! You can resolve a lot of these questions by finding original records in the French archives.

- Still working on cleaning up Catherine de Baillon's ancestors.

- We're looking for sponsors for French departments.

Use this thread to update all of us on what you have been doing this this month, what you plan on doing in February, or post new ideas of activities you might want to do with the French Roots project. Whether or not your work on French profiles is connected to one of our mini-projects, please post your progess, success, difficulties!

Et si vous avez un peu de difficulté en anglais, n'hésitez pas: postez en français!

Thanks to all of you!

French Roots Project

Comments

My husband descends from a Louis Auguste (jean) Petel de Vaugarny, b. 25 February 1777, Saint Servan 35 Iles et Villaines, Bretagne, France. I am very new to Wikitree and am not yet comfortable taking on a project. Also, I don't speak French.

When I finish his profile, do I notify your project so he can be listed? Or can only the Project members have privileges?

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Nancy, you can tell us about your ancestors and how your research is going on (you may find help here - some project members do a lot of research with original records) whether or not you're a project member. I'm not sure what you mean by notifying the project when you've finished the profile. Would you like us to take a look? Other than that, profiles which are officially "in the project" (project managed) will be notables or deep ancestors, usually with some controversy around their parentage or the spelling of their name.

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Nancy being a member of a project means you belong to a group who has a similar interest it does not mean you are required to run a project rather to belong to one.  Isabelle is our Leader.  Emma is our Coordinator and some of us have agreed to take on duties for specific areas of France.  

Being a member of a project gives you access to people who often live in the country and can help you with research there.  You do not need to read or write French to part of the project.

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Louis Auguste Petel de Vaugarny married in France and then with his wife went to the Dutch East Indies as he was a privateer. All their children were born in Batavia [currently Jakarta]. Many of those children married other French that were in The Dutch West Indies,

In the 1800's [don't have the date in front of me], Louis and his wife, Sara van Polanen applied to the court in the Batavia to be allowed to join their surnames. They were given permission and thereafter were known as van Polanen Petel.

Some of the children remained in Indonesia, some opened trading firms in the Philippines and intermarried with Filipina women. Some returned to the Netherlands.

In 2004, descendants of this couple traveled from around the world to have a reunion in Dinard, France. We even visited and toured the house that LouisvPP was born in.

That's about it. I have not entered his data yet as the sources were obtained from around the world by 6 or 7 people, I did the research on the Philippine branch of this family with a cousin of my husband. So I do not have Folio numbers for some of the facts.

Thanks for explaining the project to me.

Nancy

Answer 1

Great work Isabelle.

Comments

Thanks - we love to be cheered on!

Answer 2

Très bon! Merci pour tout votre boulot !!

Answer 3

I'm working on cleaning up an unsourced french GEDCOM import from Chappelier-2 and on the Alexandre Dumas profile and lineage for Black History Month. I'll get back to the Catherine Baillon ancestry once I get pre-1500 approval which I'll apply for after I clean up my watchlist. It's been a fun project to be a part of thus far with lots to do!

Comments

Thank you for this great work, Kyla, it is much appreciated. I hope you find some leads with Alexandre Dumas. I'm glad someone is taking on his family.

Answer 4

Currently working on my 2nd great grandfather https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Girard-40, 3rd great grandfather  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Girard-454 from France who immigrated to America from France through the port of Louisiana.

I do not speak French so any help with these profiles and their immediate relatives are greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Comments

Wow, they have a really exciting story! If you are sure he was born in Lyon then, maybe we can find him. If it was "near" Lyon it may be more complicated as Girard is a fairly common name. Thanks for participating!

Answer 5

I had started adding sources for Jeanne Calment's ancestors back in January but haven't yet finished the task.  I'll continue working on that this month.  I also plan to do further work on Catherine de Baillon's ancestry as well.

Comments

Thanks! Having a nice sourced tree for Mme Calment will be something to be proud of.

Answer 6

Continuing research and profile development for Barbeau, Boisdore, Baribeau, Menard and family lines by marriage in Nouvelle France, La Louisiane, Nouvelle-France, Luisiana, Nueva España, Louisiana, Illinois and Canada ..

Comments

Thanks Jerry. And enjoy Mardi Gras !

Answer 7

Lately I finally connected Charlotte Corday - the connection goes through her ancestor the great playwright Pierre Corneille, his brother Thomas, and Thomas's descendants who connect through the Tour du Pin and Sesmaisons families - once again, the connection goes through Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing's ancestors.

Speaking of Anne-Aymone, she is shaping up to be France's answer to Kevin Bacon. She has PGM ancestors through her American great-grandmother Grace Dalton.

Answer 8

Hello, I would like to help sponsor Bas-Rhin. Most of my French ancestors lived there before 1834. I have been tracing ancestors in Bas-Rhin about 25 years and can read some of the Old Gothic German script. I am trying to match original source documents with the proper profiles and know how to find them online.

 

Sharon Troy Centanne

Comments

Thank you! Is there already someone listed for Bas-Rhin? In any case, two people on one departement won't be too much - Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin are very busy. Lots of profiles.

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I did not see anyone listed for Bas-Rhin, but that is where the bulk of my research is lately. Muttersholtz and Baldenheim especially are the homes of my ancestors and I have been researching those towns for about 30 years.

Sharon

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Great! Just put you name in for Bas-Rhin, or we'll add it for you. Thank you!

Answer 9

In addition to helping refine the categorization for the project, I have been working on the various suggestions from the France list here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/DBE_ErrorList_FRA

which includes adding maintenance categories to profiles.  I have also been working on various maintenance tasks for the workings of the project.

I have yet to translate any biographies in need, but am available to do so when requested.

Answer 10

I've gotten the majority of names listed in the Gustavia, Saint-Barthélemy archives online, just double checking to make sure and will begin with the Lorient section.

I have to say that it has been wonderful working on this project and I've improved my French reading abilities, at least for these records, I took a peek at some other records and was lost.

Comments

Wow!  Wonderful work Lynette.  Merci!

Answer 11

Great work! I had not heard about the project's work on cleaning up Catherine de Baillon's ancestry. That's awesome! She's my link back to Charlemagne (and of course that link for many French Canadians!) and I've long meant to work on her ancestors in that line, but lack any of the necessary research skills to actually do the genealogy.

Also pleased to see the collaboration with the other French projects. I tend to work back to my French immigrant ancestors in the 17th century and then say "done!" :D It would be so cool if one day those lines went further back.

Comments

Thank you, Lianne, for the encouragement.

I must say there are not many 17th century emigrants with a lot of known ancestors in France. Mum and Dad, sometimes grandparents,... that is great already. Few of them have an ancestry like Catherine :-)

Answer 12

Isabelle and Emma GREAT WORK!  

I uploaded a copy of the Glass and Crystal Maker Chronicle written by my 4x Great Grandfather in the 1700s to

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Walter-3018

It has names of Glass and Crystal makers from the 1500s into the 1700s from the Moselle area of France.  Because they immigrated to that area often other areas are also mentioned.  So if anyone thinks they may have glass or crystal makers from the Moselle area of Lorraine, check it out.  

I have begun putting this link on profiles I created as a more direct source.  

I am also slowly adding branches to my direct line of cousins, aunts, uncles.  

I plan to this month scan some more primary source materials and put them up on a Free Space Page so others might access them.  

I will name the Free Space Page Moselle since I am going to help with that area.

Answer 13

Very good initiative, Isabelle! I'm hoping the Sweden Project will soon be in a state to have a similar thread.

As for French Roots: I'm still working on the Swedish family where one of the daughters (Gustava Björklund) purportedly had one (or two) daughters by Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, which you got us into by drawing our attention to him. I simply got interested in the family, and there was enough left to discover about them to make a hunt rewarding. I have never looked into these circles of hangarounds and servants to royalty before. It has a very different "feel" to it from what I'm used to.