• What's New: New McClure info
• This month's Feature:  Charles PEPIN and wife Marie-Louise MERCEREAU
• John MCCLURE
• PEPIN land records; U.S.
• Cool Stuff
• NewsLetter info

WHAT'S NEW

Got some good stuff to share this month.

We have the first installment of the McClure info from Brian McClure, plus some other Pepin info found by my first cousin Robbyn (thanks again, Robbyn) which may -- either directly or indirectly -- fill in some blanks for some of you.

Then there's the regular stuff.

So enough of my blab and on with the info.  :)

THIS MONTH'S FEATURE: Charles PEPIN and his wife, Marie-Louise MERCEREAU

Remember, before taking this info as gospel, do check it out in the Red and Blue Drouin, as well as the René Jetté, most especially the info on the older families.  (If anyone has the titles of other good reference works, please feel free to pass them along.)

Last month we looked at Louis (2Jean, 1 Robert), and his wife Marie-Madeleine MARTIN dit Jolicoeur dit Lachance.

This month we look at Louis' younger brother Charles (2Jean, 1Robert) and his wife Marie-Louise MERCEREAU, and their 4 kids.

Charles (2Jean, 1Robert) was baptized 18 September 1705 in Charlesbourg.

His wife, Marie-Louise MERCEREAU, eldest child and daughter of Pierre MERCEREAU and Louise GUILMOT dit LALAND, baptised 25 February 1709.

Charles PEPIN and Marie Marie-Louise MERCEREAU married 3 September 1731 in Montréal, and their 4 children are:

1.  Marie-Catherine PEPIN, married Jacques TASSÉ 16 August 1751 in Trois-Rivières; 3 children.

--Extra info on Jacques

...Jacques is the son of Gilles TASSÉ and Marie ENCONIGNART, of St-Jean-Dehaut

...Jacques is the first North American generation of his line.

2.  Marie-Charlotte PEPIN, married Charles-Étienne LAROCHE 9 January 1752 in Trois-Rivières; 2 children.

--Extra info on Charles-Étienne

...Charles-Étienne, son of Augustin LAROCHE and Marie-Louise CORDIN, was baptised 18 May 1727; buried 26 March 1760 in Nicolet

3.  Marguerite PEPIN, married Joseph-Bonaventure BUISSON 16 August 1763 in Trois-Rivières; no listed children.

--Extra Info on Joseph-Bonaventure

...JB was baptised 10 April 1741, son of Jean-Baptiste BUISSON and Agathe PINARD dit LAUZIÈRE

4.  Jean-Charles PEPIN, baptised 13 April 1750.

If you see something that doesn't quite agree with your personal family history, e-mail me and tell me about it.

JOHN McCLURE

Going back to last month and the family info for Louis Pepin (2Jean, 1Robert) and Marie-Madeleine MARTIN dir JOLICOEUR dit LACHANCE, Louis and Madeleine's youngest, Louis-Etienne, married a girl named Jeanne Marie Jennette McCLURE on 25 May 1761 at the Hospital Chapel, Quebec City Quebec.  I have seen Jeanne Marie Jennette McClure mentioned as

1. Janet McClure

2.  Marie-Jeanne Maclure

3.  Jeannette Maclure

Cousin Brian McClure gives her birth as 1745 in Québec City and her death 6 Aug 1815 with no location.  Jackie LaVaque give her death as 5 Aug 1815 in Yamaska county.  The Tanguay lists her only as Jeanne Maclure, daughter of "Jean I" with no dates of any kind other than when she married Louis-Etienne Pepin.  As for Jeanne's dad "Jean", he and wife Jeanne Phinés (baptised 1701; buried 15 Sept 1774, Québec) are listed in Tome 5, p 448 (witrh 5 children) as marrying in 1730; a footnote on Jeanne Phinés says, "Et Fin--Finés"  meaning her her surname is also spelled "Fin"  and/or "Finés".

With that said, we'll start the info from Cousin Brian McClure with the letter that accompanied it from The Genealogy Research Library, of Toronto, Canada.  It shows both where the GRL looked and when, and how to contact GRL if you are so inclined.

The Genalogical Research Library
Suite 15B 256
Jarvis St. Toronto, Canada M5B 2J4
Tel: (416) 360-3929
Fax: 360-4348
E-mail: grl@grl.com
Web Site: http://www.grl.com

September 27th, 2000

Dear Mr. McClure,

We have completed the research we can do on your McClure family research case.  Here is what we have searched and the results in each case:

First I enclose a few print-outs from the Ancestral File, a compilation of pedigrees submitted to the Morman church by peopl who have researched their family trees.  It seems that someone else (several people) has done research on this family (although there's no sources included, so you have to take it with a grain of salt).  I enclose a descendancy chart showing all the descendants, to 5 generations, of John McClure and Jeanne Finn (so far as the submitters knew them), family group sheets for the two earliest generations, and the list of submitters (four) and their addresses (note that the submissions were made in 1992 and 1997, so the addresses may have changed by now).

Second, I searched out in-house resources for early New England and found an interesting account, that might refer to your McClure family in an article entitled "The Redeemed Captives of 1747".  It says that ïn the Boston Public Library there is preserved what is to believeed to be the only existing copy of the Boston Gazette, or Weekly Journal, of Tuesday, 18 Aug. 1747.  It contains a list of captives who had been taken by the French and Indians at divers times and places and carried to Canada and who in summer of 1747 were sent from Quebec to Boston, where they arrived on 16 Aug. of that year.  Among them was Rev John Norton, from whom the list published in the Gazette was obtained.  In the Boston Weekly Post-Boy of Monday, 24 Aug. 1747, of which also only one copy, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, is known to be in existence, there is printed a list of these captives, classified according to the times and places of capture.  A comparison of these two lists shows that each contains some names not given in the other.  Both lists included "John Mclure (M'clure) and Jane his wife, of Sarahtoga" among those who were "turn'd over to the French and remain at Canada".

Also in our in-house collection, we have an index to passenger and immigration lists.  I have printed off a list of McClure entries.  As you will note, many of the references are McClures living in Augusta County, VA in 1740.  These are not likely your McClures.  There are also a few McClures listed in Boston in the early 1700s who might be related to you family (there is a John).  The only pre 1700 entry was for an Elisabeth McClure who was transported to VA in 1684.

Next I had a series of publications and records relating to early Massachusetts examined.  These included:

1. Famous families of Massachusetts

2. Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts

3. Mayflower families through five generations: descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass, December 1620

4. Peirce's colonial lists: civil, military and profressional lists of Plymouth and Thode Island colonies comprising colonial, county and town officers, clergymen, physicians and lawyers

5. Plymouth Colony records

6. True stories of New England captives carried to Canada during the old French and Indian Wars

7. Barnstaple (which included Forestdale), MA vital records 1641-1784

8. Genealogical Notes on Barnstaple Families

In addition, we checked a family history called "Our Haddon, McClure, Curry and Allied Families", but it referred only to McClures in Indiana, Illinois and Virginia.

So I then went back to our French records specialist and asked her to see what she could do further on this family.  Here is her report:

This research did not bring in much new information though there were some leads to follow.

There is no records of baptism for any of John Maclure & Jane/Jeanne Finn/Phinnes children in Québec.  A few remarks on the list of children:

1) Marguerite b. 1736 & Marguerite m. 1764 in Québec may or may not be one and the same person.  According to her death record in 1773, she was born in 1742.  The first Marguerite may have died and the family named a later child the same (very common practice).  Age at death can also be off a number of years.

2) Jannetje and Jeanne are very likely one person.  Probably Dutch influence (or priest) in New York resulted into a very Dutch name.  She would thus marry at the age of 18.   Even if we had found the baptisms in Québec, these would say that the parents were "de cette paroisse"(from this parish), since they had settled in Saint-Roch de Québec.

The earliest references to the family are from 1750, 1754 and 1752 when Jean McLure is a witness at three different marriages.  Most of the married persons are natives of Scotland.  I looked at the notary contracts for Maclure and checked the two that mention John Maclure (marriage contracts of Hélène and Jeanne).  The rest deal with their children.  No mention of their origin.  All members but Jeanne Finn of the Maclure family can sign their names.  John signs McCluer, other members use the French version Maclure.  Among witnesses to the contract of Jeanne is Jeremy Duggan -- probably another Scotsman.

I've checked information on the French forts in New York from avaliable books.  No mention of McClure/Maclure in the records.  The index of "Names of Persons for whom Marriage Licenses were issued by the Secretary of the Province of New York previous to 1784" by Gideon J. Tucker (Albany, 1860) lists Daniel McClure marrying Mary Fallansby July 4, 1765 (from Marriage Bonds, Vol. IX, p. 194).

Passenger Immigration Lists mention the following McCLure (no information of their origin) going to Augusta County, VA in 1740: John, Jane, Agnes, Andrew, Eleanor and James Maclure.  However, all males are still in Virginia between 1777 and 1785 (Index of Virginia Tax Lists).

The book "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" by Clarence Almon Torrey (Genealogical Publications Co, Inc., Baltimore, 1985) records several Finney/Phinney marriages.  Several of them take place late 1600s in Barnstaple, suitable to be parents of Jeanne Fin/Phinney (see attached).

Finally, in Drouin (parti historique) there is an interesting history (attached) of John McCluer working in English Garrison in Canso, Acadie, then being taken to Québec City after garrison surrendered to the French in spring 1744, then being employed by Georges Trévoux, King's gunsmith.  In 1748, Janet Finn is mentioned to abjure Protestantism at the Catholic Seminary in Québec.  I tried to verify some of this:

1) Finn's abjuration does not appear in the list of abjurations in PRDH.  Drouin also implies that John was Catholic, thus allowed to work freely in Québec.

2) There's no Georges Trévoux, first reference to a Georges Tréroux in PRDH is from 1748.

3) Bona Arsénault's "L'Acadie des Ancêtres" briefly mentions the take-over of the Canso Garrison, noting that there were only a handful of British soldiers in that garrison.  The captain was not Duvillier (Du Villiers was in charge two years later) Duvivier.  The 900 French soldiers continued their march towards Beaubassin and Annapolis.  It seems likely that some of them would have been detached to take some civilian "prisoners" to Québec.  The French campaign in Acadie suffered pure losses until February 1747, when they captured the fortress in Les Mines.  no mention of prisoners taken:  "The English left Les Mines February 14 with 300 men, 18 officers, surgeons and commissaries".

4) SInce Jannetje is born in August 1743 in Albany, it seems unlikely -- though not impossible -- that the family is in New Brunswick in spring 1744.

Some of Drouin's histories are inventions -- we also have to remember that some of this work was done some 80 years ago.

I can surely look for traces of their stay in Acadie but -- even if I find them there -- we will probably find nothing more than we know now.   List of notary contracts and the two marriage contracts will be mailed.

I enclose the two items mentioned in the report as attached.  I will mail the notary and marriage contracts to you when they arrive here.

This completes the reasearch that we can do on this family on the fees paid.  If you have any questions about his report, please do not hesitate to telephone me, toll free at 1 800 667 0300 or send me an email message at janice@grl.com.

Sincerely

Janice Nickerson Research Assistant

So, now, we have a few more spelling variations for John's surname and a few new places to look as well as places not to look because they've already been checked.

PEPIN land records U.S.

On August 16th, right after I had sent out the August COUSINS, my first cousin Robbyn sent me an email with a land record that she felt very confidant was for one Etienne Pepin born 11 June 1832 (a while back I sent her a copy of my still-under-construction monster data base).

The property described is, and I quote "the south half of the northwest quarter: the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter, and the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of Section twenty-three in township one hundred and forty-two, of Range twenty-six, in the district of lands subject to sale at St. Cloud, Minnesota, containing one hundred and fifty-seven acres, and fifty hundredths of an acre"

This document is dated 1 Nov 1873, and signed by Ulysses S. Grant.

In answer to my early queary about me trying to figure out where St**land, Minnesota, was, Jackie LaVaque replied:

"The "St.**land, Minnesota" is actually St. Cloud, which is a city of about ... oh, it has to be around 75,000 people now, located about 65 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. I didn't know there were any Pepins there. I may check a couple of St. Cloud directories and just see if there are any folks named Peppin or Pepin living in that area. St. Cloud and environs is known for its large German Catholic population, so I was kinda surprised to see the Pepin name come up in relation to St. Cloud. I was able to decipher the town name immediately.  There are more Pepins in the Twin Cities area by far than in central MN."

"Thanks much for sending this. It's great! And signed by U.S. Grant hisself!  :)"

I asked Robbyn where she found Etienne's land record and she replied:

"Whenever I go to new and interesting placed I my usual 'variations on Peppan' search.  And, this turned up... This the URL http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/search.asp* From the viewing screen for each document you can order a certified copy if any one requires a hard copy.

"Also, this afternoon...  (busy girl, eh?) I found a Harry Peppan in Philadelphia, PA.  I have a request out on PA-Census list.  I'll let you know what the group comes back with.  And...  a Thomas Peppan, DOD Jan 23, 1901 in Maitowoc Co., Wisconsin.  I don't have access to this record - if any one does...  Wisconsin Deaths, 1820-1907; Volume 4, Page 0011, Reel 051, Image 0084, Index Volume 02, Sequence #296247."

For anyone who wants an e-copy of Etienne's land record  (who haven't already asked)  let me know and I'll foward it along.

And as soon as Robbyn hears back from the folks on the PA-census list, I'll let you all know.

*has changed to http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/Logon/Logon_Form.asp

COOL STUFF

I would like to share a proud moment for my first cousin Robbyn.

On 23 June 2001, she wrote to tell me that her eldest son Andrew had just graduated from elemetary school and at his fifth grade graduation he was presented with the Seymour Kaplan Humanitarian Award.

Good Job, Andrew!

(And good job, Robbyn!)

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

If you have family you want to share this with but they don't have a computer, please feel free to print it out and share it with them.  If you have family with a computer who you think might be interested in the newsletter, drop'em an e-mail and let'em know about it; feel free to pass along my e-mail address. 

If at anytime you wish to be change the way you receive the newsletter, drop me an e-mail at lisa@fortlangley.ca and tell me.