A family history in Martinique

Date: 1635 to 1902
Location: Saint-Pierre, Macouba, Basse-Pointe, Grande Anse, Martinique, France
Surnames/tags: Poncy Fauvé-Sablon Martinique_du_Nord

Navigation:	Startpage	Poncy-Thompson	McLean-McCoy

Contents 1 Extended Family on Martinique 1.1 Family Surnames 1.2 Early Ancestors in Martinique (17th Century) 1.3 Other Family Notables 1.4 Geographic Locations 1.5 Victims of the eruption of 8 May 1902 2 Links for further research 3 Sources

Extended Family on Martinique

This history page is about the extended family and Ancestors of Joseph Paul Poncy (1878-1951) in Martinique. Joseph Paul immigrated to the United States in 1899, a little over two years prior to the eruption of Montaigne Pelée.

Family Surnames

Arraché, Assier de Pompignan, Boscheron, Bougaud, Caminade, Cocquet La Source, Collin, de Rivé Desmarets, Dupouy, Dyot, Fatin, Fauvé-Sablon, Gaffé, Garet, Gauthier, Grainau, Grosse, Halay, Hossart, Lamy, La Ramee, Le Geay, Le Meilleur, Léonard, Le Roux, Le Roy, Martin, Odin, Ollivier, Outil, Petit, Plissonneau Duquène, Poncy, Richomme, Rousseau, Sermagne, Théneral Ducoudray, Veyrier Dupotiche

Early Ancestors in Martinique (17th Century)

The following direct ancestors of Joseph Paul Poncy were among the earliest settler families of Martinique in the 17th Century:

Pierre Gaffé (ca1594-1665) arrived in Martinique in 1639, only a few years after the colony was established. He was a comptroller for The Company of the Americas. Because he didn't bring a contingent of carpenters with him, as promised by the king, a rebellion was provoked on Martinique. The rebels, who had been infiltrated, were eventually ambushed and slaughtered or imprisoned. Pierre Gaffé was a slave holder, as noted in the 1664 census.^[1]

Among the 17th century settlers in the Capesterre (Atlantic coast) were Adrien Léonard, from Ghent, Flanders. He married Isabelle Le Geay, and they settled in Basse-Pointe. Her parents, Michel Le Geay, a sergeant in the militia in 1664, and his wife Isabelle Deschamps, settled a little further south in Marigot.

Manuel Sermagne and his spouse, Madeleine Garet were also among the early settlers of Basse-Pointe. Their daughter, Magdeleine Sermagne married Jean Veyrier, one of the very first settlers in that ville.

Yves Ollivier married Louise Gaffé, daughter of Pierre. They settled in Macouba, where they were the neighbors of Julien Rousseau de la Houssay and Catherine Fatin, whose son, Julien Rousseau, married Catherine Martin, daughter of Pierre Martin and Jeanne Yvonne Gauthier of Prêcheur and Macouba.

Vincent Richomme of Case-Pilote married Marguerite Le Roux of Guadeloupe, and they settled in Grande-Anse. Among other 17th century settlers in Grande-Anse were Jean Baptist Fauvé, born in Saint-Kitts and Nevis, and his spouse Marie Arraché, originally from Le-Carbet. Her parents were Pierre Arrache and Marie Boscheron' of Case-Pilote, who settled in Le-Carbet. Ètienne Bourdin and Marie Gallois were also early settlers in Grande-Anse.

François Cocquet and his spouse Charlotte La Ramee were among the first settlers in Le-Prêcheur on the Caribbean coast of Martinique. Also among the early settlers of that ville were David Le Meilleur and Marguerite Dyot.

Other Family Notables

Bruno Assier du Montrose was a minor aristocrat and Chevalier de Saint-Louis.

Bruno Assier de Pompignan was a Chevalier de Saint-Louis, like his father. He married Loïsa Poncy, daughter of Saint-Pierre businessman, Jean Joseph Poncy.

Jean Joseph Poncy was a prominent Saint-Pierre businessman and served as business agent and accountant for many prominent Martinique planters. He served as an alternate member of the General Council of Martinique from 1826 to 1830. The Poncy house in Saint-Pierre was burned down in the slave rebellion of 1831, along with several others. Jean Joseph was a minor slave holder,.

Tiburce Plissonneau Duquène married Aline Assier de Pompignan, first cousin of Joseph Paul. They were the parents of Georges, Jean Joseph, Emile, Pierre, and Tiburce Plissonneau Duquène, the founders of the Plissonneau international shipping company.

Jules Dupouy a prominent financial figure and stock trader in Saint-Pierre married Elmire Poncy, youngest daughter of Jean Joseph.

Geographic Locations

This extended family is located almost exclusively in the north of Martinique, in the communities around Montaigne Pelée: Ajoupa-Bouillon, Basse-Pointe, Grande-Anse, Le-Carbet, Lorrain, Macouba, Marigot, Morne-Rouge, Prêcheur, and Saint-Pierre.

Victims of the eruption of 8 May 1902

Many of Joseph Paul Poncy's extended family in Saint-Pierre died on May 8, 1902, their lives taken by Pelée. Those include his brothers Joseph Poncy and Emmanuel Poncy, his two children, René André Paul Poncy and Yvonne Poncy, and their mother Stèphanie Grainau. Stephanie's other two children, Alice Germaine Grainau and Georges Adrien Grainau, also died. The entire Dupouy family and their spouses and children perished in that disaster, with the exception of Thérèse Dupouy and her husband Gustav Caminade and their children, who were elsewhere on Martinique at the time of the disaster.

Links for further research

• Poncy-McLean Start Page – Our Wikitree start page.
• Archives Nationale d'Outre Mer – French National Archives for Martinique online. In French.
• 1902.org – Database of the dead of Saint-Pierre. In French.
• Patrimoines-Martinique – Digital bank of Martinican patrimonies. In French.
• Genealogy and History of the Caribbean – Caribbean Genealogy Assn. Lots of articles on Martinique genealogy. In French.
• Also see Wikitree category links at the bottom of this page.

Sources

1. ↑ Personnes et familles à la Martinique au XVIIe siècle, by Jacques PETIT-JEAN ROGET and Eugène BRUNEAU LATOUCHE, 2010. Geneanet.com