Saint-Cloud PIOCHE - 1848 - Guadeloupe/Porto-Rico

Question

Hi,

I am looking for Saint-Cloud PIOCHE born circa 1826 on the small Island of La Désirade (Guadeloupe). He was a slave until the abolition of slavery in the French colonies in 1848. His parents Gombeau PIOCHE and Françoise RAVINE got married in  July 1848 and the marriage record mentions Saint-Cloud as living in Puerto-Rico. Same thing on March 1849 when the family legally received a family name from the authorities. Gombeau PIOCHE was born in Africa around 1767 and passed away in 1850 in La Désirade. His wife Françoise RAVINE, born circa 1781, was a native of the island (I mean La Désirade). She died in 1865 in Pointe-à-Pitre. In a record of 1848, Gombeau PIOCHE is called Jean Noël Gombeau.

I am not sure that Saint-Cloud went by the family name of PIOCHE in Puerto Rico. I don't know where he lived. Another native of La Désirade stayed several years in Vièques. So maybe he was in the same area.

I do know that there is very little chance to find him but who knows ! His given name is pretty rare after all.

Thank you for reading this

Answer 1

Ok, I did a search on some of these surnames in Puerto Rico (Civil Registrations) and could not find Pioche. I found a record index as Ravine, but it was actually Rivera and indexed incorrectly.

I did find many variations of the surname Gombeau - Gambau, Gambo, and Gamboa,

You may need help from someone who has books from the late 1700s to help you out. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Comments

Thank you a lot for searching him and answering me.

I think that he left La Désirade as a free man after May 1848. He was probably a sailor like many men on the island.

There is no sign of him after March 21st, 1849. He did not come back.

It's plausible that he used the given name of his father as his last name. For example, my ancestor Richard JEAN-ROMAIN (1825-1890), born free, was the son of Jean-Romain (circa 1768-1843), a freedman.

Gombeau sounds both European and African. In the French West Indies, people eat a vegetable called gombo. It came from Africa but I don't know if the name is also African. I think it's named okra in Louisiana.