In the Valley of Bainet

Although the Cange of the valley of Bainet are only one group of interest to us, we decided to revisit them in our efforts to piece together the origins of families in that part of Bainet. Again, we were forced to consider that some of the Cange in the valley are indeed descendants of people living there in the colonial era. For instance, Pierre Louis Cange, identified above as the owner of a habitation at Petit Harpon in 1806, was probably the same Pierre Louis Cange born in the valley of Bainet in 1791. 

Baptized in 1792, Pierre Louis was the son of Pierre Louis Cange and Marie Elisabeth Barreau. Interestingly, his godmother was a Bejin or Begein, Marie Jeanne Begein. The Bejin name survived in the valley of Bainet, and Habitation Bejin was where our great-great-grandmother was born. This suggests that the Cange of the valley of Bainet and the Bejin were connected in the late 18th century. Pierre Louis Cange was also still living in the area after independence, too. 

Indeed, it was probably this very same Pierre Louis Cange who registered the birth of a son, Jean Baptiste Cange, in 1826. The godfather of the child, a Julien Cange, is unknown to us but presumably a relative. Nonetheless, the evidence supports the idea that this Pierre Louis Cange was likely the one born in 1791. In addition to him, we have suggested that another Cange in the valley of Bainet, Jean Charles, was probably Jean Charles Celin Cange born in the 1780s in the valley of Bainet. There was also a Barthelemy Cange residing in the valley of Bainet during the 1820s, who served as the godchild of a child of a Francillon and a Varache (of Cange origin). 

Knowing the pattern of naming children after their grandparents, we wonder if a later Barthelemy Cange, born sometime in c.1841 in the valley of Bainet, was related to him. This later Barthelemy Cange, the son of Zamir Cange and Alphonsine Fiefe, married in 1884. His marriage certificate indicates he was 43 years old, so we assume he was probably born in c.1841. His father, Zamir, however, would have been probably born in the 1810s or 1820s, and was perhaps a son of Barthelemy Cange. Considering the longevity of the Fiefe and Cange names in the valley of Bainet, we consider it possible that Zamir was related to our Jean Michel Cange in some form or another. 

We also know that an Alexandre was married to a Marie Therese Cange, having a child together in 1818. Their child had the same godmother, Rose Adelaide Lacour, as a child born in 1804 of a Louise Alexandre in the valley of Bainet with Pierre Minaud. And the godfather of Louise Alexandre's child was a Louis Jean, the same name given to a son of Jean Charles Cange with Marie Jeanne Barthelemy. All of these people, living in the valley, must have known each other, assuming Louis Jean and Louise Alexandre were still around in the 1820s. Jean Baptiste Alexandre, married to Marie Therese Cange, may have been married to one of the Cange related to Pierre Louis or Jean Charles Cange. The godmother of Louise Alexandre's child was the same godmother to Jean Baptiste Alexandre's child, perhaps suggesting that she was a friend or relative of both. Louise Alexandre's child had a godfather named Louis Jean, which was also the name of Jean Charles Cange's son born in 1825. And last but certainly not least, the godfather of Jean Charles Cange's son was a Desire Alexandre. Our theory is that Jean Michel Cange and Cherilise Alexandre may have been a product of these Cange and Alexandre families.

Marie Louise Sanon

Although we have mostly exhausted the vital records from Bainet available on the Family Search site, we did come across the probable mother of our great-great-grandfather. Marie Louise Sanon, or Sannon, was born in 1858 but her parents registered her birth the following year. Apparently her parents lived in the valley of Bainet, like many of our other forebears in the 19th century. Sanon was and is an extremely common surname, but a rough indication of her father's age (34) suggests Gille Sanon was born in c.1825. Marie Louise's mother, Dame Marie Victoire Laguerre, was probably born in c.1823. 

We assume our godmother's Laguerre family come from the same section of Bainet but Laguerre was also a common name in the commune. In addition to Marie Victoire Laguerre, we found a birth record for a son of Gai (?) Laguerre, Abraham, born in 1848. It might be safe to assume Marie Victoire Laguerre and Gai Laguerre were relatives since both were living in the valley of Bainet and of the same generation. This is probably as far back as we can go unless someone with access to different types of records can help us figure out the origins of Gille Sanon and Marie Victoire Laguerre. We assume their parents were born in the late 18th century or beginning of the 19th. 

Alexandre of the Valley

 Another problem for our interests in Bainet genealogical research is the rather large Alexandre family. Our great-great-great-grandmother, Cherilise Alexandre, probably born in the late 1820s or early 1830s, was a native of Bainet's valley section. Since the Bainet 19th century civil records are missing several years, we could not find any record of her birth. However, we know that in 1825, a Desiré Alexandre was the godfather to a son of Jean Charles Cangé. Cherilise Alexandre had at least 2 or 3 children with a Jean Michel Cangé, so we wondered if Jean Michel was a son of Jean Charles Cangé and perhaps Desiré was the father of Cherilise? 

Unfortunately, we could not find any more information on this Desiré Alexandre. There was one person with that name who lived in nearby Jacmel, where the birth of his son was recorded in 1849 (record accessible thanks to Family Search). Described as living by the Grande Riviere of Jacmel, rather far from the valley of Bainet, we find it unlikely he was the same person we are looking for in 1820s Bainet. However, he was around the right age to have been the father of Cherilise: born in or around 1791. Moreover, he produced a Francois Pierre as a witness, albeit one too young to have been our Francois Pierre, only 29 years old.

Since the years covering Cherilise's birth appear to be lost, we did check for other Alexandres in Bainet. In fact, one of them registered the birth of his son in the 1850s, and a Cherilis Alexandre appears in the document as a witness. We assume this Cherilis Alexandre was somehow related to ours. And the father of the child, Saint Firmin Alexandre was perhaps also related to our Cherilise. Sadly, we lack adequate documents to confirm. However, it might be safe to many or most assume the Alexandre in the valley were related, perhaps descendants of Desiré. We also found a number of Alexandre related to us or other Bainet families related to us. 

Origins of Celin dit Cangé

Due to our obsession with their dit name that has survived among many Haitians, we have completely overlooked the original family name of a large family of free people of color: Celin. The founders of the lineage in Haiti were actually a white man from Galice (Galicia) named Pierre Sellin (Celin, or perhaps a Gallicized Salinas?) and a woman of color named Marie Therese Damillide or Damilide. The latter may have been from Veracruz, taken in a French raid on that part of Mexico. It is difficult to read the surname of Marie Therese's mother (Orada? Orara? Arara?) and the place of origin seems to be Vella or Novella Cruz isle espagnolle, but Veracruz the ville might have been the intended place of origin. Regardless of her exact origins, Pierre Sellin appears to have married a woman of color since their children were identified as such in later records. Their daughter, for instance, married a Jean Baptiste Souché who was a "mulatto" and habitant of Jacmel.  

The two were married in Leogane parish in 1695 and produced at least 3 or 4 children. It looks like their household was enumerated in the Jacmel Quarter and its dependencies in the 1703 Census. We assume Jean Salin or Jean Celin born in Leogane parish was the one who married Marguerite Butet and produced numerous children, beginning with Jean Baptiste in Baynet. 

In addition to Jean, his sister Elizabeth or Isabelle also married a Souché and his brother Pierre Celin probably also had children. Perhaps Pierre the father or Pierre the brother also acted as the godfather to Jean's children born in the 1720s before they moved to Petit-Harpon. Intriguingly, one of the Pierre Celins (perhaps Jean's father, or more likely his brother?) married the widow of Francois Saugrain, Marguerite Francq. 

Trying to make sense of the numerous Cangé in 18th century Jacmel, Bainet, and Leogane is difficult with only digitized ANOM parish registers. The repetition of Jean and Pierre as names sometimes leads to confusion, although we now understand why Pierre was so commonly used as a first name (after the founder of the lineage and the brother of Jean). We assume the Jean Sellin born in the 1690s was the only one who had children with a woman named Marguerite Butet, perhaps a sister of Jeanne Butet (illegitimate daughter of Rene Butet of Le Mans). However, the Jean Baptiste baptized in Baynet in the 1710s had a mother with a different surname, something like Courville? We are also unsure about deaths of Jean Celin's parents or if most if not all people bearing the Celin dit Cangé name were actually descendants of Jean.

Part of our confusion stems from the 1703 census. According to that source, the Cangé (or Celin) household included 2 males bearing arms and 2 adult women. We are probably safe to assume that by this period Pierre Sellin and Marie Therese were 2 of the adults. Who were the other ones? Was Pierre Celin accompanied by some unknown cousin or brother we are ignorant of? His sons would have been children and too young to be counted as men bearing arms. 

What makes sense to us is that Jean Celin, born in the 1690s, was the "mixed-race" child who started having children with Marguerite in the late 1710s and 1720s. He was probably illiterate and by the late 1730s or 1740s, had established himself at Petit-Harpon. Some of his children stayed or moved back to Jacmel and Bainet, spreading their Celin Cangé name around the area. Some of their descendants ended up in the valley of Bainet, such as Jean Pierre and Jean Louis in the late 1700s. We assume the "Calit Cangé" habitation in the valley of Bainet was named after one of them and that some remained in the area after the Haitian Revolution. 

Since Celin disappeared and Cangé survives in the Bainet and Jacmel area, and the Cangé were a numerous family in the 18th century, we assume that some of us are descendants of them. Our earliest known ancestor with the name was probably born in c.1829 in the valley of Bainet, but we are missing too many years of the 19th century Bainet civil records to positively identify his parents. However, we earlier pointed out a connection between a Jean Charles Cangé and an Alexandre who acted as godfather to his child in the 1820s. There were also other Alexandre-Cangé ties in the valley of Bainet and Jacmel during the early 19th century. In nearby Jacmel, for instance, one Jean Baptiste Alexandre was married to a Cangé and had a child in the 1818. We think the parents of our great-great-grandmother may have been from close Alexandre and Cangé backgrounds, perhaps living in or near Bergin (Begin) but lack the required documents to prove it. Nonetheless, we're willing to bet good money Jean Michel Cangé was somehow related to Jean Charles Celin Cangé or another one of the Cangé living in the valley of Bainet during the 1790s. After all, the valley isn't that large of a place and many people must have remained in the area after independence.