Bainet Street

Although Bonnaud's  L'Apostolat en Haïti, journal d'un missionnaire is not really what we are looking for in books on Haiti, it contains a number of great photographs. A pleasant surprise was seeing one of a section of Bainet, of the Chapel and Quartier du Calvaire. I believe this area is to the northwest of the church. The photo isn't dated but I assume this is sometime in the 1930s or perhaps earlier in the 20th century. 

Joseph Gory (Gaury)

After reviewing the evidence, we find it likely that Anne Marie Joseph Gaury's parents were actually cousins. In fact, that means Anne Marie Joseph Gaury was a descendant of both Jean-Baptiste Gory and François Gory. A second read of the 1771 marriage license for Joseph Gaury (a son of Jean-Baptiste and Marie Bichot (Pichot?)) and Marie Françoise Paponet (the daughter of a mulatto, Françoise Drouillac, from Léogâne) revealed an interesting fact: Joseph Gory married the mother of Joseph Delande.

A close read of Joseph Delande's marriage record to Agathe Gory (also a child of Jean-Baptiste, but born in 1759) clarified the matter. Joseph Delande was explicitly stated to be under the guardianship of Joseph Gory, who was married to his mother, Paponet. So, Delande, already related to the Gory via his mother's marriage, proceeded to marry Agathe Gaury, the younger sister of his stepfather. Talk about incestuous? Or maybe borderline? At least they were not actually related.

Agathe and Joseph Delande had a son, Joseph Guillaume, baptized in 1776. This Joseph was likely the father of Anne Marie Joseph. Perhaps his name did not appear the entry for her baptism in 1793 because of his age and the fact that the mother was his cousin? The mother, Victoire, was likely Victoire Suzanne Monteise, born in 1764. She was therefore quite a bit older than Joseph Delande. Maybe his name did not appear because of an inappropriate relationship between cousins with a sizable age gap.

Our theory also makes it more easier to explain why Anne Marie Joseph's 1859 death certificate referred to her parents as if they were still alive. If Victoire was still alive in 1859, she would have been in her 90s, which is plausible but rare. Joseph Guillaume would have been in his 80s, which also seems rare but not completely unheard of. As for why Joseph Guillaume was named Gaury in her 1859 death record, perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his father's mother was married to a Joseph Gaury and his own mother was also one.

In light of the close link between Joseph Guillaume's father's family to the Gory, and his own maternal ancestry, one can understand why he used that name. It would appear that his father was an illegitimate child whose own father is not easily traceable. Therefore, the Gory name might have made more sense for him to adopt. We still do not know the exact reasons why Victoire, who was probably a Monteise through her father, used the Gory name. But this theory makes sense out of a messy situation of kissing cousins and missing records. Moreover, it illustrates how Beresfort's mother was linked to a variety of places besides Bainet, including Leogane, Grand Anse, and Jacmel. Now we just have to make sense of the possible Bichot connection and figure out where Paponet and Deslande came from. 

Saugrain and Sougrain

The Saugrain were counted in the 1703 Census, here transcribed by De Ville. Their three children may have been Francois, Alexis (died in 1744), and Charles.

One family name that consistently appears in the archive is Saugrain. Apparently derived from the word for a grain of salt, the white Saugrain of Bainet and Jacmel were from Normandy, like that well-known family of booksellers and printers. Unlike the perhaps distantly related family that converted to Protestantism and moved to Paris, the Saugrain of Saint-Domingue were planters. According to the 1703 census, they managed a small indigo plantation with only about 8 slaves. Perhaps the heads of the household in 1703 were a François Saugrain and his wife, Magdelaine Trésorier, both from Normandy (the latter from Rouen). 

In 1717, a François Saugrain married Marguerite Francq. According to this document, Saugrain's parents were François Saugrain and Magdelaine Trésorier of Normandie.

Early on in the records of Bainet and Jacmel, mixed-race Saugrain appear. One was Marie Françoise or Françoise, the daughter of an Alexis Saugrain, baptized in 1718 with Charles Saugrain as her godfather. Marie Françoise's mother was not named, but her grandfather (François Saugrain) freed her. Another one, baptized in 1723, was Louise, the daughter of Susanne (a black slave) and Louis Saugrain. To make matters even more confusing, Susanne, the enslaved women of the Saugrain, gave birth a daughter named Marie Françoise in 1721 and twins in 1725. These mixed-race Saugrain went on to marry or produce children with other free people of color in Bainet and Jacmel throughout the 18th century. 

In 1719, François Saugrain died in Bainet. We assume this was the François Saugrain from Normandie.

One confusing factor is the appearance of two Saugrain women using the name Françoise or Marie Françoise. The one married to a Gory seemed to have been closer to Alexis Saugrain (who was a godfather to one of her children), so we assumed she was the one baptized in Bainet in 1718. However, the woman who married François Gory could have been a child of Suzanne, which might explain Victoire Suzanne's full name. Or did Suzanne have 2 daughters named Marie Francoise?

Our connection to the Saugrain is through the Gory. Beresfort François's mother, Anne Marie Joseph Gaury (or Gory), was born in 1793. Her mother was only named as a Victoire Gory, but an examination of the other Gory in 18th century Bainet suggests she was a descendant of Marie Françoise Saugrain. Where things get confusing is the appearance of a second Marie Françoise Saugrain in 1721, daughter of Susanne. Which one was the ancestor of Anne Marie Joseph? The Bainet one born in the 1710s appears more likely because of her documentary trail consisting entirely of Bainet parish records and close connections to other Bainet-based Gory with the same Saugrain origins (to Alexis?).

Alexis Saugrain, the father of Marie Françoise, died in 1744. His age range makes it likely he was one of the children counted in the census from 1703.

Marie Françoise Saugrain married François Gory (presumably the brother of Jean-Baptiste Gory, son of Louis Gory) and had multiple children, including Françoise, François, Marie Victoire, Marie Louise and Marie Françoise. Their daughter, Marie Françoise, married a François Monteise from Clermont-Ferrand in 1759 and later went on to have Victoire Susanne. This Victoire Susanne was probably the mother of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury, although more documents would be nice to confirm it.

Marie Françoise Saugrain passed away in 1781, about 20 years after François Gory. Note that Jean-Baptiste Marillac served as a witness. He was also a godfather of Anne Marie Joseph in 1793. 

If we are correct about the Saugrain ancestry of Beresfort François, it would also be interesting if our theory about Leopold François's wife was correct. If so, then she too had Saugrain ancestry from the marriage of Jean Pierre Cangé to a Marie Louise Saugrain in 1783, the daughter of a Louis Saugrain and a Marillac. Their union went on to produce Jean Charles Celin Cangé in 1788, the man we theorized could have been the father of Jean Michel Cangé. 

A Cangé-Saugrain marriage was something to be expected in the 1700s. It seems that, over the course of the 18th century, free people of color were less likely to marry whites (due to increasing discrimination?) and of course few of them formed formal unions with enslaved people. 

If our theory about the origins of Leopold François's wife is correct, then she was actually a cousin of Leopold. It would not surprise me in the least, and in fact might explain how their families knew of each other. After all, Jean-Baptiste Marillac knew Anne Marie Joseph and was presumably related to the mother of the Louise who married Jean-Pierre Cangé. Alternatively, Leopold could have met his wife through the small world that was 19th century Bainet. But the idea of both Leopold and Marie-Thérèse sharing Saugrain ancestry is not too surprising. It is a perfect illustration of the pattern of marriages between distant cousins in small towns or rural areas.

Gaury or Gory Searching

A Joseph Gaury was baptized in Bainet back in 1748.

Despite our limited sources to identify the origins of Beresfort Francois's mother, we have explored the Gory or Gaury name in Bainet for clues as to her origins. Her 1859 death certificate is highly problematic. The document is partly illegible and the full name of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury's mother Victoire cannot be determined. Fortunately, the estimated age of around 60 was plausible for Beresfort's mother. We know two of his siblings were said to have been born in c.1818 and 1816, which would suggest the mother was probably born in the late 1700s or very early 19th century. We suspect Annie Marie Joseph Gaury was born in the 1790s or so. And indeed we found someone named Anne Marie Joseph Gory born in 1793.

Anne Marie Joseph Gory was baptized in April 1793. Her mother was Victoire Gory, but the father is not named. Note the godfather was a Jean-Baptiste Merillac. Who was the Joseph Gaury named in her 1859 death certificate?

Almaïde François, the sister of our great-great-great-grandfather died in 1888. According to the document, she was 70 and therefore born in c.1818.

We did search ANOM's Baynet files for Joseph Gaury or Gory. To our surprise, there was indeed a Joseph Gory, the son of Jean-Baptiste Gory. However, his baptismal record from 1748 would have meant he was around 45 years old when Anne Marie Joseph was born. It is possible, but there could be other explanations for Anne Marie Joseph's father's origin.

Agathe Gory was baptized in 1758. She had a son named Joseph in the 1770s.

So, if the Joseph Gory baptized in 1748 is not the father we are looking for, what does that leave us with? The Gory or Gaury were mostly free people of color linked to the Bichot, Saugrain, Pitiot and other families of similar backgrounds. Many of the marriages, baptisms, and deaths recorded in Bainet for Gory or Gaury involve the descendants of two men, likely brothers: Jean-Baptiste Gory and Francois Gory. Jean-Baptiste's father was named Louis Gory, who was probably also the father of Francois, too. These two Gory fathered multiple children, including the Joseph Gory born in 1748. The other ones include Marie Francoise Gory, Francoise and Francois Gory, Jean Louis, Marie Victoire, Pierre, Agathe, Elisabeth, Jacques, and Guillaume. One person with a Gory mother included a Joseph Guillaume Deslande, son of Agathe. A few others were born in the second half of the 18th century to Gory mothers. Unless one of them fathered a Joseph Gaury that does not appear in the records, we are still in the dark as to the origins of Anne Marie Joseph's father. 

Victoire Monteise

It seems rather unlikely that Joseph Guillaume Deslande would have dropped his father's name, although he is of the right age range (born in 1776) to have been Anne Marie Joseph's (very young) father. A 1776 birth would have made him in his late teens when Annie Marie Joseph was born in the late 1790s or early 1800s. Then he could also have still been alive in 1859, residing in the bourg of Bainet. However, as previously stated, it seems unlikely that Joseph Guillaume would have used his mother's name.

Joseph Guillaume was about the right age to have been the father of Anne Marie Joseph and live well into the 19th century. 

In 1794, a Pierre Gaury passed away. He was almost certainly the Pierre Gory baptized in 1761 and a son of Jean-Baptiste Gory. Note the mention of his habitation. This Pierre would have been an uncle to Joseph Guillaume Deslande (or Delande) and a cousin of Marie Victoire.

But can we identify Victoire Gory, the mother of Anne Marie Joseph? One of the few persons with that name is Marie Victoire Gory, who had married a grif named Michel Pitiot in 1765. That man, the son of a Pitiot and a a slave, had a child with Marie Victoire (daughter of Francois Gory and a Saugrain) named Jean Joseph Gabriel Pitiot, born in 1781. Interestingly, the godfather was Jean-Baptiste Merillac, the very same man who served as the godfather of Annie Marie Joseph. Is it possible that Marie Victoire was the same Victoire who gave birth to Anne Marie Joseph in 1793? Maybe, but her birth in 1749 would have made her in her 40s in 1793. If she had a child with her cousin, the Joseph Gory, baptized the year before, then Anne Marie Joseph was the fruit of kissing cousins in their 40s. That seems a little unlikely considering the ages and the fact that both of these people were married to others.

Marie Victoire Gory's son had the same godfather as Anne Marie Joseph. 

Our theory is that Anne Marie Joseph Gory's mother may have been another Gory, probably a younger one. Since there was a plethora of related individuals bearing the name Gory, and all connected to L'islet, perhaps she was born to one of them and we simply have not located any trace of her yet. One candidate for the mother of of Anne Marie Joseph is a Victoire Susanne Monteise (?), born in 1764. Her mother was Marie Francoise Gory and her godmother was Marie Victoire Gory. We know this Victoire's mother married a Monteise (a white man, from Clermon-Ferrand?) in 1759, and she was the daughter of Francois Gory and Marie Francoise Saugrain. Perhaps she was the mother of Anne Marie Joseph, but used the Gory name or was identified as such in 1793? Perhaps that was sensible if one assumes her Monteise father was a white man who married into a landowning family of free people of color.

Victoire Susanne was the daughter of the Marie Francois Gory and a Monteise, who married in 1759. Monteise appears to have been from Clermont-Ferand.

Either way, her child born in 1781 had the same godfather as Anne Marie Joseph, suggesting that he knew Victoire Gory and Marie Victoire, who were also relatives (aunt and niece). We are inclined to believe Anne Marie Joseph Gory's mother was probably child of Monteise and Marie Francoise Gory.

In 1749, Marie Victoire was baptized. Her mother was  a Saugrain.

All of this confirms that Beresfort Francois's mother was from an ancien libre lineage linked to L'Islet. Beresfort's father, however, does not appear in any records we have searched. As we already assumed he was a former slave or child of former slaves, so finding any trace of him will be exceedingly difficult. But we at least know what part of Bainet Beresfort's mother came from, and some of her family connections. Perhaps his father was from the same section of Bainet? 

In 1781, the widow of Francois Gory, Marie Francoise Saugrain, died. Note that one of the witnesses was Jean-Baptiste Marillac, who was the godfather of Anne Marie Joseph Gory in 1793.

It is probable that the Marie Saugrain baptized in 1718 was the same woman who married Francois Gory. She was an illegitimate child of Alexis Saugrain and freed by her Saugrain grandfather (Francois Saugrain?).

We will take a break from our obsessive Bainet historical and genealogical rantings at this point. We are more interested in the African and Creole slave population and do not have the sources needed to really begin to explore that aspect of our region's history.

Cange Revisited, Part 2

The father of Jean Charles was baptized in 1760, also available on ANOM's website

Although we still face the huge problem with a lack of documents for the period from 1796-1803 and several years missing for the 19th century Bainet records in the Haitian National Archives, we thought it might be useful to expand on our last post. Using an 1827 birth act recorded for someone born in the same valley section of Bainet as our great-great-grandmother's father, plus the name of the godfather, we deduced the possible identity of his parents. We found it likely that our great-great-great-grandfather, Jean Michel Cangé, born in or about 1829, was the son of a Jean Charles Cangé and a Marie Jeanne Barthelemy. We would like confirmation with an acte de naissance, but the range of years for Jean Michel's birth have not survived. 

The 1729 baptism of Pierre Cangé, son of Jean and Marguerite (Butet, we think).

As previously stated, we searched for records of a Jean Charles Cangé born in the late colonial period, since we assumed Jean Michel's father was at likely at least 20 or older when the other son was born in 1825. We located one Jean Charles Cangé in our region in the late 18th century, baptized in 1789. That Jean Charles Cangé was the son of a Jean Pierre Cangé and Marie Louise Sougrain. Surprisingly, Jean Pierre Cangé was born in 1760, and baptized in Leogane. His father's name did not appear in the baptismal record, yet his marriage record identified him as Pierre Celin dit Cangé. Sometime between 1760 and his marriage in 1783, Jean Pierre's father recognized him.

In 1768, a Terrien married Elisabeth Cangé. Her parents, Jean Celin and Marguerite Butet, were described as free "mulattoes" 

The trouble now becomes identifying this Pierre Celin dit Cangé. There were far too many people carrying variations of Pierre or Jean or a combination of the two in 18th century Bainet, Jacmel, and Grand-Goave. This may have arisen from the original Cangé in this part of the island, which included 2 adult males according to a 1703 census. It is possible that these two adult males included a Jean and a Pierre who each passed on their names. We know that a Pierre Cangé baptized in Jacmel in 1729 was the son of a Jean Cangé and his wife, Marguerite (both presumably mixed-race). His godfather was named Pierre Cangé, perhaps a brother, cousin, or uncle of his father. Our original theory was that the Pierre Cangé baptized in 1729 married a Petit, and became the progenitor of several more Cangé in the 1750s-1770s. If he was the father of our Jean Pierre, born in 1760, he does not seem likely to have ever married his illegitimate son's mother.

If, however, the father of Jean Pierre was a Pierre Celin Cangé whose paper trail was recorded in Grand-Goave and not the same person as Pierre Louis Celin, we cannot identify him at the present stage. The Pierre Cangé born in 1729 seems like the best candidate based on age and known living locations. However, we still have to figure out his alleged "legitimacy" and if there was a Pierre Celin Cangé who did eventually marry the mother, Marie Francoise Geoffroy. The Petit-Harpon, Leogane, and Bainet connections make us inclined to see Jean Pierre as a grandson of Marguerite Butet, but we need more documents to affirm that theory. Either way, understanding Jean Pierre as born out of wedlock might have made him someone of lesser social standing?

Wadai's Foundations

It is always disappointing when a local scholar of an understudied precolonial African state produces mediocrity. Although Ouaddai, fondation d'un empire by Mahamat Seid Abazène Seid has the benefit of drawing on local, oral sources as well as the written literature on Wadai, it does not suffice for an overview or deep analysis of a major state in precolonial Chad Unfortunately, his frankly too brief book focuses mainly on the founder of Wadai (Abdel Kerim) and jumps all over the place chronologically to make a few generalizations about the nature of the state, its ethnic dimensions, and the administrative positions. There are some occasionally bizarre irrelevant references to Africa as the berceau of monotheism and an interpretation of Chad as both Arab and Africa. The latter position seems fair enough, and no one can deny the centuries-long presence of Arabic-speaking populations in Chad or their inclusion in the states like Wadai, Bagirmi, and Kanem-Borno. 

He seems to mostly support the idea of Abdel Kerim being of Abbasid Arab origin, but also Maba or at least spoke the language. We are also supposed to believe he married the daughter of the last Tunjur king in the region. The mix of traditions also suggest that he may have studied in Borno and Bagirmi as well as spending time in the Hijaz. His state adopted his name, and Wadai became a regional hegemon (albeit most of this seems to be in the 19th century, not the 17th or 18th centuries?). Wadai's problems with royal succession and internal dissension eventually paved the road to French colonial conquest. Nonetheless, Seid's study points to rational administration through the surveillance and rotation of officials and the non-despotic nature of the state. He rightly points out the limitations of al-Tunisi and Nachtigal, especially as the former was biased and his description of the kingdom should rightfully be seen as mainly reflecting the specific era of Saboun's reign. We also suspect Wadai to have been more in the sphere of influence of Borno until the late 18th century or early 19th. After all, Wadai's first invasion of Bagirmi supposedly occurred at the request of the mai. One also suspects the constant struggles for control of Kanem during much of the 1800s attests to Borno's continued interests in Kanem and the eastern shores of Lake Chad. 

Unfortunately, we are forced to rely on al-Tunisi, Barth, Nachtigal, and other outsiders since our surviving corpus of written sources is rather limited. The oral sources have much potential, but Seid's study is too brief and problematic to provide a proper analysis of this major Chadian kingdom (or empire). Moreover, Seid's attempt to interpret the Tarikh al-Fattash and Tarikh al-Sudan to support a Songhai connection or influence on Wadai is difficult to take seriously. Frankly, we do not know to what extent Muslims from the Songhai state were using the "Sudan Road" to reach Mecca. Moreover, the resurgent Borno kingdom as a huge state blocking Songhai from expanding east of Hausaland would suggest weak or limited Songhai influences or impact on Wadai. We find it far more likely that Wadai (and the Darfur Sultanate) owe more to Kanem-Borno and the previous Tunjur state than to any Songhai or Western Sudan societies. One also wonders if any attempt to read the prophecy of a future caliph of Takrur from Tarikh al-Fattash as predicting Wadai's rise is completely misguided. 

Parang

A lovely video on a beautiful Trinidadian musical tradition. Happy Christmas.

Snapshot of the Slave Population in Bainet

1764 map of Bainet's bay and coastline, showing where the Perronneau plantation was located in that era. It was an indigo or cotton habitation.

Although most of the documents necessary to even begin to understand the complex origins of the slave population in Bainet are sitting in French archives, we were surprised to see some of the notarized records from 1793-1794 digitized on Family Search. We are referring specifically to Minutes notariales, 1704-1803, from the Notariat of Saint-Domingue. One document stood out to us as particularly interesting in that it consists of a list of slaves, part of a donation by the widow of Nicolas Perronneau. Although sometimes hard to decipher, it names about 61 enslaved people and their various nations. We attempted a crude table breaking down the enslaved population by national origin, avoiding issues of gender and age:

What we find useful out of this random sampling of the enslaved population from 1793 is the huge number of Creoles. The preponderance of Creoles among the plantations in this region has been noted elsewhere, especially in an article on indigo and coffee plantations by Roseline Siguret, "Esclaves d'indigoteries et de caféières au quartier de Jacmel (1757-1791)":

Siguret's article only analyzes 2 Bainet indigo plantations from the 1770s, but the results are similar in the disproportionately Creole presence. Our 1793 sample did not include nearly as many nations. However, it is possible that many of our Creoles were in fact children of parents from some of these nations, like Poulards, Aradas, Bambaras, or Cotocolis. Indeed, we noticed that many of the Creoles were rather young, suggesting a population whose African-born parents may have only landed in Saint Domingue in the the few preceding decades. The other conspicuous presence is that of the Ibos and Congos. It would seem that the enslaved African-born population of Bainet was heavily derived from Ibos and Congos by the late 1700s. 

Part of the 1793 list of bonded people

Of course, one would need data on coffee plantations in the interior and additional indigo or cotton estates for more accurate generalization. Coffee plantations, especially those started more recently, may have relied more heavily on imported Congos and featured a smaller workforce. The more established coffee, cotton, and indigo plantations were more likely to have disproportionately Creole slaves. This might explain why the widow of Nicolas Perronneau's "property" included such a disproportionately 

Creole population.

Useful table in David Geggus's "The French Slave Trade: An Overview"

Trying to make sense of the African population of Bainet in the late 18th century will require far more research than what was attempted here. However, the sample from 1793 does seem to follow Siguret's general observations. Instead of more Congos than Ibos, our sample included far more Ibo. Nevertheless, we are talking about an enslaved population that was heavily Creole, Congo, and Ibo. Our 1793 sample includes a few Mine, a Senegalese, and 1 Nago. Our forebears were a heavy mix of Congos, Ibos, and Creoles. Creoles with deeper roots in the colony may have been far more likely to have origins in the Bight of Benin and Senegambia. That could explain the "Arada" and "Nago" influences on the Creole culture of the island. In other words, we are "Congo" in the mornes, "Arada" (and Ibo) in the plains or lowlands.

Bainet

What the Bainet church looked like in the early 1900s, according to Bonnaud. The area in those days looked rather different from the more developed Saint-Pierre Church of later decades, although we are seeing the church from the hills, not the place.

After Haiti Sun's flattering piece on Bainet, this picture of the Church appeared in the journal. Then we also have the paintings of Edgar Jean-Baptiste for other views on Bainet:

Besides Edgar Jean-Baptiste's painting of this view of the town, he also completed a painting of the Place Saint-Pierre before UNICEF, 1974, available at the Haitian Art Society site.

Our small town may not be as pretty as Jacmel or as impressive as other Haitian or Caribbean cities, but we think it is special. We hope the Eglise Saint-Pierre is fully restored and Bainet sees a brighter future.

Revisiting the Cangé

Jean Michel Cangé and our Alexandre appear here.

Although Cangé was and is a common surname, we are revisiting it to trace the origins of our great-great-grandmother, Marie Thérèse Cangé. A seamstress and farmer born sometime in the 1860s, our great-great-grandmother lived well into the 20th century. From the sole extant photograph of her and some of the descriptions recalled from our grandmother, we have a limited idea of who she was and cannot begin to imagine what her life was like. Of course, we could not even begin to imagine living in the Vallée of Bainet in the 19th century or the life of material deprivation or disease which characterized 19th century Caribbean peasant populations.

Our Marie Therese, born in c.1867 in the Bejin section of the valley of Bainet. Her father was Assez or Jean Michel, born in c.1829. His father was probably a Jean Charles, perhaps the one born in 1788.

In 1806, some of the old ancien libre Cangé were living in Jacmel. Dame Marie Magdelaine Cangé, married to a Varache, had General Pierre Cangé serve as her child's (Jean Baptiste) godfather.

What we could uncover from her past is the name of her parents and, perhaps, some of her father's origin. Her father, Assez or Jean Michel Assez Cangé, was a resident of the valley born in or around 1829. The paucity of surviving records from Bainet for much of the early 19th century made it difficult to pinpoint his origins. Fortunately, the indexed records on Family Search made it easier for surprise discoveries. An 1827 record identifying a Louis Jean Cangé born in 1825 provided the light. It identifies Louis Jean's parents as Jean Charles Cangé and Marie Jeanne Barthelemy, residents of the Vallée.

Almost indecipherable, this 1827 document identifies Jean Charles Cangé and Marie Jeanne Barthelemy.

Even more convincing of a possible link to our great-great-grandmother is the name of Louis Jean's godfather: Desiré Alexandre. We know that our great-great-grandmother's mother was named Chérilise Alexandre. It is likely that the Alexandre and Cangé of the valley were close. That helps explain why Jean Michel Assez ended up with Chérilise Alexandre. Moreover, this tells us that Chérilise's father could have been named Desiré or he was likely part of the same family. The Alexandre of the valley were also linked to the Tournesy, another family with marriage ties to the Francois. It was a small world, so everyone knew everyone else. 

1789 Baptism of a Jean Charles Cangé.

Knowing that Jean Michel Assez was born in c.1829, and his brother was born in 1825, we suspect their parents were born in the late 1700s or very early 1800s. Since the Cangé were a large family of free people of color in the 18th century, spread across Bainet, Jacmel, and Petit-Harpon, we thought it useful to check Saint Domingue records (digitized and available at Archives nationales d'outre-mer) for anyone with a name of Jean Charles born in the late 1700s. To our surprise, there was a man of that name born in 1788. His 1789 baptism was recorded in Jacmel, and it identified him as Jean Charles Celin Cangé, son of Jean Pierre Celin Cangé and Marie Louise Saugrain. His godfather was Jean Charles Celin Cangé, godmother Marguerite Celin Cangé. Marie Louise Saugrain and Jean Pierre Cangé also had at least one other child, a Jean Louis Alexis, baptized in 1784. His godfather was Alexis Saugrain, and he was certainly an older brother of Jean Charles. Anyway, the two were married in 1783, and neither one knew how to sign their name. The parents of Jean Pierre Celin were listed as Pierre Celin dit Cangé and Marie Francoise Geoffroy.

1784 Baptism of a Jean Louis Alexis, brother of Jean Charles.

In 1806, Marie Jenevieve's birth was recorded. The daughter of a soldier named Pascal, she was born in 1798 on the habitation Calit Cangé in the valley of Bainet.

These Cangé were from the Petit-Harpon branch, the group that bequeathed Pierre Cangé to the struggle for Haitian independence. However, the Cangé free people of color were all related in those days, many deriving from the union of a Jean Celin Cangé and a woman of color, Marguerite Butet. We have discussed Marguerite Butet before, and thought it worthwhile to share that she died in 1786, in Bainet. The Cangé living in the valley of Bainet before Haitian independence included her relatives, such as Jean Louis Cangé and his wife, a Favre from Croix-des-Bouquets. We won't bore you with rants on the Cangé origins anymore than we have done in the past, but it might be worthwhile to take a look here.

The 1786 death of Marguerite Butet reported here. We suspect this woman's sister was one of the ancestor of several Boursiquot of Jacmel in the 1700s.

We know a Jean Pierre Cangé was living in the valley of Bainet because he served as the godfather to a Marie Antoinette Lanneau in 1791. He was unable to sign his name and was probably the very same Jean Pierre Cangé married to Marie Louise Saugrain. Of course, this would also make him the father of Jean Charles Cangé and established in the valley section within a few years after 1788.

Although our theory for the origins of Jean Michel Cangé requires more proof, we find it likely that he could be a descendant of the less fortunate, illiterate members of the Cangé family already living in the area before 1804. In fact, it is possible that a more established, wealthy Cangé like Jean Louis and his wife Charlotte may have supported or attracted relatives to the valley. We know the valley also included Pierre Louis Cangé and his wife, Marie Elisabeth Barreau, in addition to a Jean Pierre Cangé, a griffe. It may not have been too surprising or difficult for free people of color with less means or education to marry or reproduce with ex-slaves and their descendants in the early 19th century, giving birth to people like my great-great-grandmother, with nouveau libre and ancien libre blood. The close relations between less fortunate free people of color and the enslaved majority must have encouraged intermingling. 

The marriage of Pierre Cangé and Marie Louise Saugrain. The Saugrain name goes back to the earliest days of the Jacmel quarter, and appears to have been associated with a number of free people of color, including a mixed-race Marie Saugrain, baptized in 1718 in Bainet. Her emancipation was also proclaimed in her baptism, but her mother's origins remain a mystery. They were also linked to the Gaury or Gory of Bainet in the 1700s, as Marie Saugrain married a Francois Gaury. Their daughter, Marie Francoise Saugrain, was baptized in 1738. Coincidentally, Beresfort Francois's mother used the Gaury name, perhaps a link to the same family or due to an old place name.

The fusion of free people of color and former slaves in the beginning of Haitian independence helps elucidate why some of our Bainet forebears were fair-skinned or white-looking. Some of our ancestors were free people of color, who were already known in Bainet as being disproportionately numerous. Indeed, the large number of free people of color who owned land made them attractive wives to French settlers in the 1700s. However, the true challenge and major interest of ours is to explore the African past of the Haitian people. That is a far more difficult task which requires tools and measures currently inaccessible. DNA testing is one option, but we prefer a paper trail. Perhaps there are freedom papers or more detailed records on the slave population during the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue era that could tell us more. Discovering how our Congo, Nago, Arada, Hausa, Mandingue, or even Madagascar forebears became Haitian is the final, most interesting challenge.

François Origins

Rough sketch of the ville and surrounding area from Louis C. Thomas's Section Rurale ou Section Communale. 

After randomly checking Family Search for something unrelated to genealogical purposes, I noticed that the indexing of Haitian digitized records has made great strides. Although some of the indexed records contain errors and must be fact-checked with the original documents, they are usually reliable indicators. Moreover, even the ones currently unavailable for view but digitized from the Haitian Civil Registries, have proven to be of tremendous value for reconstructing the extended family network of my Bainet-born grandparent. I see all kinds of connections among the various Haitian families I have heard were related to me. Now all we really need is a miraculous manifestation of significantly more records from the beginning of the 19th century. That, plus any registry from the church Saint-Pierre could help fill in the numerous gaps in our documentation.

The death of Beresfort François's mother, a Gaury, was recorded in 1859. This is also one of the multiple documents in which Beresfort François's signature appears, leading one to think he was literate.

Our latest obsessive perusal of Bainet documents confirms our first suspicions about François origins. Our lineage does appear to have begun with a man named François Pierre and an Anne Marie Joseph Gaury. Their descendants took François Pierre's first name as the family surname. François Pierre was presumably born a slave (if his birth preceded the revolutionary period). His partner, whose 1859 death certificate suggests she was born in c.1799, was listed as the natural daughter of a Joseph Gaury and Victoire. Since she was likely born in the late 1790s or early 1800s, Anne Marie Joseph Gaury was never a slave. Her father, Joseph Gaury, may have been enslaved or was possibly a free person of color. Her mother, Victoire, is impossible to trace. Searching for Gaury or Gory in colonial Bainet, we came across a few people carrying the name. It was carried on among the descendants of a François Gory and his mixed-race wife, Françoise Sougrain. The two had children who were baptized in the 1730s and 1740s, suggesting that they were probably born in the 1710s and 1720s. Therefore, the Gaury or Gory name has been in Bainet since the origins of the parish. We believe Joseph Gaury, the grandfather of Beresfort, was either a descendant of one of the affranchi Gaury or someone who took the name from an old habitation owned by them after emancipation.

The birth of a Jean Baptiste to Beresfort François and Afloride (Ifloride?) Michel is available on Family Search.

In addition to our ancestor, Beresfort (also known as Gontrand), François Pierre and Anne Marie Joseph Gaury also had at least 2 other children: Bonaventure François and Almaide François. These two appear in 1880s Bainet documents: Almaide François's death certificate and a marriage license for Bonaventure putting his birth in c.1818. If Bonaventure and Almaide were born in the 1810s, then it is probably fair to assume a similar time frame for Beresfort François, perhaps in the 1810s or 1820s. Some of the confusion in later Bainet documents about the children of Bonaventure and Beresfort may have arisen due to the two being brothers. Nonetheless, the Bonaventure relation to Beresfort proves my theory that one of the Carriere, who married a daughter of Bonaventure was likely also related to Roselin Carrière. Roselin appears in the death certificate of Anne Marie Joseph Gaury. Their surname likely came from the colon Louis Carrière, who passed away in 1774.  We suspect the Haitians who carried the name during the 1800s inherited the surname via residing on the old habitation owned by them or mixed-race progeny of Louis Carriere, a native of Languedoc. Anyway, Roselin was also named to the conseil de notables for the commune of Bainet in 1849, before Soulouque declared himself emperor. Therefore, Roselin was probably someone of status who knew our great-great-great-grandfather, Beresfort.

The death of Louis Carrière. There was indeed a habitation Carrière in the valley of Bainet after 1804, according to this source.

The rest of the picture was mostly given from sources we already encountered during our last bout of genealogical hyperactivity. Based largely but not solely on the 1890 marriage certificate for Pierre Leopold Francois and his wife, Marie Therese Cangé, I discovered that my great-grandmother's brother, Donatien, was born in 1905. Recently finding her birth certificate from 1899 confirmed the parentage. Her mother's mother, Chérilise Alexandre, is difficult to trace. However, Family Search records include some documents on Alexandre's other children with Assez Cangé. Those documents reveal that Assez's formal name was probably Jean Michel Cangé. Assuming the estimated age is correct, Jean Michel was born in c. 1829, presumably in the valley section of Bainet.  All the Cangé of the valley were probably related and were likely descendants of the large clan of free people of color bearing the same surname in the 18th century. The topic of Cangé origins has been broached elsewhere on this blog, so we won't repeat it. Suffice to say, already by the end of the 18th century, they were a large family with branches in Bainet, Jacmel, and Petit-Harpon. Unfortunately, we lack the requisite documents to prove exactly which ones those living in the valley of Bainet descended from by the days of Jean Michel. Regardless, the Cangé were a well-known family with a surname that can be traced to the earliest days of Bainet settlement. Despite our lack of documents, we made a quick survey of colonial-era documents records on the Cangé who were living in the valley in the late 1700s. Our findings revealed at least 2: Jean Louis Cangé, who was married to Charlotte Favre from Croix-des-Bouquets and a Pierre Louis Cangé. The latter was the son of Pierre Louis Cangé and Marie Therese Petit.

The parents of our great-great-grandmother are identified here. Chérilise Alexandre and Jean Michel Cangé had a few other children besides our great-great-grandmother.

Perhaps most intriguing for us was finding out the François connection between our great-grandmother and great-grandfather was not immediately obvious. Told throughout my life that the two were close cousins, I found out that the father of my great-grandfather was a Joseph or Joseph Antoine François. Joseph Antoine does not appear to have been a sibling of Leopold François. Instead, Joseph's father was identified in another record as a Cambronne François. Perhaps Cambronne was a son or sibling of Beresfort François, but it establishes that my great-grandparents were not first cousins. How Cambronne and his son Joseph were related to Beresfort is difficult to say with our incomplete Bainet records. A death certificate for a Cambronne in Bainet only identified his father as François and his mother as a "Foratine" or "Forastine." Perhaps Cambronne's father was Beresfort and his mother Iflorine or Iflorine Jean-Michel? Family traditions are not particularly help here, either. All I can remember from traditions, photographs, and descriptions is that my great-grandfather was dark-skinned, like his half-sister who married a Point du Jour. My great-grandmother, on the other hand, was remembered as very fair or white-looking, perhaps something inherited from her mother. Based on the little we could find, we are inclined to believe Cambronne was a son of Beresfort or Bonaventure.

Part of the marriage license of our great-great-grandfather Leopold. 

Last but certainly not least, Family Search records confirmed the existence of Marinas François. The ancestor of my godmother, I had first heard of him several years ago. Well, it turns out he existed and was possibly born in or around 1857. Marinas was a tailor living in the town of Bainet, and married to a Louissaint. I assumed he was illiterate but on some birth certificates for his children, his awkward signature appears. Although unable to find a death certificate for Marinas or anything to identify his parents, my godmother's testimony suggests he was part of the same François clan. If he was born in the late 1850s, he was young enough to be a child of Beresfort or Bonaventure. Naturally, his father could have been another child of Francois Pierre and Anne Marie Joseph Gaury. Either way, Marinas Francois was another relative whose existence confirms the connection with the Jean-Paul, Louissaint, and Pierre-Saint families. My godmother's account has been largely confirmed, although the exact parentage of Marinas cannot be determined.

Our Marinas appears here, described as a tailor.

Overall, these new indexed records have greatly contributed to my interests in genealogy and Bainet history. They support some of my conclusions reached 2 years ago on the origins of our family name. Moreover, they have given me a number of new surnames and connections to research. At this point, much will remain a mystery. The shadowy founder of our lineage, possibly born enslaved, will require some archival digging to discover. Joseph Gaury, on the other hand, may be easier to trace in the latter days of French colonialism. Our Alexandre and Cangé lines, beginning with individuals likely born in the 1820s or 1830s, is also hard to investigate. For them, however, I suspect conversations with other descendants of Alexandre and Cangé in the valley might shed some light. With this information, I can put a human face to the history of Bainet from the zenith of Jacmel's prosperity and the role of our Bainetian farmers in providing the coffee, fruits, and other exports for the port. Someone should write a book on the history of Bainet that humanizes it with the personal details of its people.