Third Party Confirmations!

As much as I work as a lone wolf so to speak in my genealogy work I do enjoy having others input. Recently I took the plunge and enrolled in a small tribal band of Metis-Cree people. As a help for others I explained the methods I had used so far in differentiating my own genetic markers for native blood. To my great surprise another member messaged me who was quite confident with using gedmatch himself. He is lucky enough to be a direct male descendant from Henri Membertou's band of Mi'kmaq. I was provided from him a three way match between him, myself and a even less diluted relation. The result was a positive match to the Mi'kmaq peoples. I would say to Henri himself but more likely it would be through one of his many contributing female relations.

Chr Start Location End Location Centimorgans (cM) SNPs
10 92446647 95958204 3.7 903
11 56368374 59769693 1.2 717
13 83990938 88896945 3.1 816
21 21293037 24043081 4.0 716
Largest segment = 4.0 cM
Total of segments > 1 cM = 12.0 cM
Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 7.1

Comparison took 0.05190 seconds.
Distant relation.


So this is a interesting factor in what I already know since I compose over four regions of native populations in the small sector I carry. Another cooperation comes from having limited access to my fathers genetic data. Being able to look at his smaller portion of native dna cleared up any possibility of my larger portion coming from him. Indeed my two largest portions of north amerindian and arctic do not come from him. My fathers tracers are for small portions of the south amerindian and mesoamerican. This I had already presumed but rather it is nice to have confirmed in mathematical calculation.

Another change from this last few weeks of research is discovering some depth to two of my fathers grandmothers lines. Along with that is some details on what was coined "Southern European" in earlier results. I now have confirmation through oracle population matching that my southern component is predominately Spanish with only a smattering of Italian. This follows at least the presence of late Italian ancestry in one portion of my tree but I have yet to connect the Spanish in genealogical records.

Statistical Work in Aborigional Ethnicity Prediction

Last year I set out to comb through the rough of my DNA sampling with many algorithms until I found the clearest percentages. In doing this I clustered Asiatic derivative groups under the heading of tricyclic populations as direct relation to the genealogical evidence of First Nations ancestry. However I did not at the time have a major justification for doing this except that these evidences were non compliant with the majority of my recent generational admixture. I also had my mtdna tested which is passed down from my farthest known matrilineal ancestor who came from Kirkgunzeon, Scotland. The result was the mtdna haplogroup H. I had not considered anything further about haplogroups until today.

Someone had also recommended to me that it could be useful to make a genealogical data map. I decided to place within it known birth locations as well as the locations of genetic populations I matched. The variability of genetic population was in some ways shocking. It did however follow the typical water trade routes in it's spread. The deep Asian line however and the Americas seemed not to be related with the exception of two locales of Aleut. Recently I provided information to the younger sister's of my husband about their own native history as Saginaw band of Ojibway. I did this with only name places, some stories and a map. It surprised me how much a map can say and so I thought of this again for myself.

My statistics produced the average of hard 19%, and soft 20% if one accounts for decimals, of Native genetic material per gene. This 20% however was also not a solid component. 53% was of Inuit derivative, 38% Americas proper including Central/South and lastly a unresolved 21% that was more closely related to Asian heritage. Some strict populations that occurred were Aleut, Inuit, Pima, Maya, Ecuador, Colombia, Peurto Rican. The more exotic was Samii, Tibetian, Han, Thai.

These places however share a major component of Haplogroup. Indeed in map review of the locales it is quite evident that the underlying mtdna associated with the portions of my DNA would be Haplogroup A. The great evidence of this is that Tibetan only hosts A of those also present in the Americas. Asian haplogroups are the predecessor of native american strands which is why it is proper to review them together especially in the absence of actual Asian heritage.

Since Catherine Dufour spoke French-Cree I have come to the assumption that she was Métis-Cree herself as other varieties of Metis would speak their own aboriginal language. Of the localized groups the Cree associated with the region she lived refer to themselves as the Innu. I would not however assume to be exact on which regional tribe of the Cree Catherine came from until we ever have the exact name of her mother. There remains as well the possibility that her father Peter was also of mixed ancestry. Within the Boussey family work I am lucky to have not only a exact name for Anne Marie dit Metisse but also the Indian settlement she lived. Port Royal, Nova Scotia is under the Bear River Nation of Mi'kmaq today. It would be lovely to have exacting answers but native american DNA methods are extremely limited.

The Curious Trail of Catharine Dufour

It’s always great to hear from people interested in family history, at least that’s what I tell myself. I let my website go stale for some time now as I was finishing undergraduate school and wasting my free time on video gaming. I gather that at some point Google updated its service protocols making my page live in Web searches. Suddenly I have people who were wholly uninterested to help seeing my document list and deciding they have loud opinions to share. I ranted some posts ago about people not understanding the organic nature of self publishing versus professional works. No doubt the comments and demands would eventually fall onto my favorite topic, Catharine Dufour. I was lucky that the third party relation who wanted my work indeed contacted Mr. Charpentier of my post “midnights are not for making friends”. He was kind enough to look into the information our family has especially as he is in my opinion a specialist in French river region history. The work has come out most fruitful this time, a majority of that owning to Mr. Charpentier’s access not mine.

Catharine’s birth date has always been passed down since her sons based on the interview she gave in 1905. While her husband was alive however documents including her in his household indicated an 1813 birth year. The summative works of French genealogy do not have an individual born in 1805 to any of the Dufour, Deveaux couples. The death certificate that I was provided an image copy of by a 3^rd cousin does state Mr. Duforse as Catharine’s father. Nay, the Duforse name is nonexistent in records of that period. Adjusting her birth date uncovers a slew of records due the family most especially while they lived in Canada for some years. Three of the known children now have French catholic baptism statements. One of these children was of the missing portion of eleven that did not survive to adulthood. Marie- Agathe Jones died the same year that Edward Junior’s baptism took place. Indeed it was Catharine’s grandmother, Josephe Garand, who sponsored his baptism as Edouard Jones at her local parish. The same parish had baptized Henry John earlier as Honoré Jones. As French culture in that area was dying out it is not surprising that the children simply lost sight of their heritage.

Yet what about Catharine’s account in the newspaper, does this all not invalidate it? Not exactly.  Catherine’s parents by document consensus were Pierre Louis Dufour and Archange Garand married in 1811 as St. Anne Cathedral. As a family they lived in Frenchtown, a small settlement south of Fort Detroit. While Catharine was born at the height of the war she could not have witnessed the surrender. However she may well have been mistaking the final abandonment of the Frenchtown settlement due to increasing raids and attacks. The emerging soldiers in uniform may well have been coming to protect the settlement. The direction as well that she describes her home from the Fort agrees with the assertion she is recalling Frenchtown. Now while I am ashamed of my third party relative’s reaction to this data I can also say that my own qualms regarding it are just as silly. Indeed this would seem to dismiss the assertion that Catharine was a Métis child. Yet not enough is known of her mother Archange Garand to me yet as well as Louis Dufour’s mother also being undiscovered. I look forward to finding more documents to uncover the Dufour/Dautour/ Garand connection. Meanwhile I have work to update my website to keep me busy!

Graphing FTDNA for Native Blood

It's common for people to find a unsubstantiated family myth regarding a long lost great grandparent of some tribe. It's part of the Rousseau ideal that native culture is somehow noble through its simplicity and to be admired. Indeed looking just at the surface of things at the time of first contact they had more advanced systems of hygiene and significant ecologically-sensitive agriculture. Those of us with genealogical evidence often find it scant due to the nature of the times regarding the personage and citizenship of a native person in the imperial Americas. As a Metis woman I am at a disadvantage that besides the myth and a lucky interview provided by James Sweinhart, a published journalist, that there is no physical connection I can grasp.

Cherokee Nation at Kansas City, 1994

As a anthropologist, I maintain a certain outlook from multicultural perspective but I have found it fails me when working with more traditional native american individuals. Often I am met with hostility which I believe is less to do with how I look, as some might presume, and more to do with the socioeconomics of tribal living. I certainly don't intend to be a bother and the only community I intend to pursue citizenship with would be the Metis peoples in my local Canadian/US sector. Due to the degree of mixture it simply seems idiotic to sequester anything more specific when indeed I am not specific. 

It is that mixture exactly that is the true topic of this post. After my 3rd party transfer to Family Tree DNA completed I uploaded it into GED Matches album to compare with ancestry original interpretation. It is notable to mention that ftdna actually reevaluated the chip itself not just the raw composite to my knowledge. For the most part I saw predictable and minute changes. Side by side I noticed that ftdna cited more africanized Moorish DNA as apart of my Iberian spectrum. When I reviewed MDLP 22 by chromosome it suddenly occurred to me to class out the asian decent populations and revise it for my native american blood. Trycyclic populations including the middle east are often misplaced amounts of plains native which is so intermixed that it more often registers as middle eastern.

On average I found that 20% of each chromosome was Asiatic derivative. Since the middle eastern connection is still debatable I also went a step further in removing the trycyclic and Asian components to search for individualized known samples of native american DNA. On average this left a 10-12% of each chromosome to be confirmed native american source which is above the threshold for founder markers. Each of the remaining populations confirmed in my chromosomes were set in known genetic regions allowing me to percentage out the confirmed strains by region. Of the 10-12% confirmed; 53% was Northern Hemisphere (Inuit derivatives), 38% was Americas proper, & 21% was trace matching aboriginal societies in the eastern hemisphere. Percentage peaks for the northern group rested on chromosomes 7, 16, 18 & 22. The Americas group peaked at 13 & 20, but only 20 was highly above the margin of error. Lastly the trace societies were highest peaked on 8 & 15 but not as impressively as the other groups. Overall it was North Amerindian which received the highest proportion spikes but it was also one of the least spread matches across the 22 chromosomes.

So I may be lucky enough to have numbers but it also comes down to personal experience and identity. Personal experience has always pushed me to look at aboriginal life in a learning capacity much like a child watching their parents. Even now I am writing my final paper for my degree program on Native American Studies. The expectations of that work is for me to be a participant but I've always been a participant even in times where I was so far away from the source. Part of my most loving experience was the short time I spent with the Cherokee Nation in Missouri. Despite outward appearance I was drawn in and allowed to participate culminating in a honorary membership. While it may have just been words it started me off on a journey I am still following now, as a Metis.

Family Historian: Hit or Miss

I've had a wonderful set of short messages this past week with a second cousin of mine. She brought up the woes of being a family history researcher. In particular she has been rather glum about family secrets and salacious stories. I've encountered a few of those myself and it seems that once you get past someone's reluctance you then have to deal with the next persons dismissal and anger at the facts. Some of my closer family has just discovered my work which apparently was of no value to them previously. I've suddenly found myself put upon with questions and angry dismissals of fact. Whatever romantic notion my father gave me of how important a family historian is must be on its last legs by now.

As a anthropologist I've been trained to look at the qualitative information but not to the disregard of hard quantative sources. I happen to revel in cultural quirks which seem irrelevant to other people. Corrections are one thing to approach but flat out disgruntled and condescending relatives are another. It is a part of my adaption into a specialization instead of a entire pedigree. In fact with the last angry message I've considered jumping ship. Then again I have to remind myself that the person complaining is not apart of my specialization itself. I am barely scratching the surface as it were of my French family history of the Detroit region.

I also had a awkward conversation with my sister this week after having reviewed some DNA research with my father. The insanity of patriarchal naming hit me out of no where in the fact that I carry the surname Grant yet don't have any of its DNA as a daughter. Then again the same would be said for my mothers side that by a juvenile interpretation of genetics I could also not be a Jones. Unspoken irony then to the fact that my research is focused almost distinctly on my matriarchal lines. Still perhaps that is the answer to having any work undervalued that in truth the relevance of that complaint comes from your perception of your place in those families. Simply adjust ones world view and it seems to seldom matter what facetious opinions people hold except for the sake of accuracy. Then again when people are suffering under the delusion of self serving bias its a fat chance that they can admit to the validity of facts even in the presence of documentation.

So who am I researching for myself or my family? I started this all to learn about my origins and connect to family members that were lost. Now suddenly the ones I've always known are resentful that I'm searching. As the black sheep you'd think I'd have more freedom but maybe that is what they are afraid of...finding family more like myself. I am lucky at least to fit into my own little immediate group of four.

Ancestry: Autosomnal versus MtDNA

DNA doesn't stop with the percentages you find in tests. Often it takes a further investigation into the history of the populations you represent. I have already found a state of questionablity regarding my amount of Middle eastern DNA. In hopes of diving into my alleles and chromosome results representing my aborigional american DNA I also came across the issue of similarity between Appalachian tribes and middle eastern sample groups specifically Berbers. Of special consideration was the Cherokee contribution on my father's side which is intermixed with Muskogee-Creek. The Creeks are known to carry Mayan DNA while the Cherokee often carry, at least autosomnally, markers that are indistinguishable from middle eastern composition to most calculators. The same can be said of other central Appalachian groups while north and south populations are either Beringian or Mesoamerican of some variety, respectively. Therefore for lack of genealogical evidence it is possible that a result as such is perhaps a false positive. 

That brings me to another interesting point regarding researching population groups. My high percentage groups contain the prefix paleolithic. It is important not to overlook this point because it places the history of those people much farther back in the human migration process (it can also indicate a period of isolation). The inclusion of the term beringian also points to a Asiatic admixture of the paleo-eskimo groups spanning from Russian Siberia through Greenland into Canada and Alaska. There is no consideration for any non Inuit first nations group in my results so far. Given my most recent addition of Indian blood I am wondering if perhaps that means the mother of my great grandma Catherine was also a Mi'maq woman along with a more removed grandmother from Nova Scotia. 

I have a favorite photo taken of myself after my parents divorce with a black and white camera. At the time I noticed that I appeared very Asiatic if not Eskimo due to the mongoloid feature of my eyes and wide face, these features are most notable in the mornings. 

A next step I would like to take is ordering a mtdna test, most likely from familytreeDNA for price points sake. It's another consideration I have made regarding Ancestry.com's poor assessment of my little genetic rainbow that perhaps the exclusion of know admixture as "noise" is not the only way they pigeonhole people. While I have a beautiful plethora of source populations I also have very distinct Y-DNA and mtDNA strains from European origin. My father's y-dna is I1a, now called I-M253, which comes from Fennoscandia especially Denmark. This prehistoric movement of  Danish Vikings was apart of the early population of Anglo-Saxon regions in Great Britain. This haplogroup also asserts the fact that according to myth our branch of the Grant clan is a relation of Haakon Siggurdsson and his brood. Haakon's lineage is just one of the possible origins to the Grant clan. 

Maternal dna would be a new chapter into who and what I am. The genealogical record unfortunately stops short with Elizabeth Paterson my 8th maternal grandmother in Kirkgunzeon, Scotland. I would assume given her location and the families association with Ireland that my maternal line may be Pict. This could also be gross generalization based on birth location. Elizabeth is a 18th century woman giving plenty of time for known mass migrations including the historical banishments of eastern Jews who migrated west in 1300, 1400, 1600 and 1700 AD. Autsomnally and from rare alleles it is predicted that I have a middle eastern haplogroup though as I said above error is possible. I am hoping for a surprise but I would be happy with any result. Further research is always warranted.

Unzipping My Raw DNA, Part Two

I don't believe that most people are prepared to make the jump in amateur genealogy to that of the intermediate especially with the inclusion of genetics. When the veil is lifted and you see who you are deep in your cells and atoms it can be either encouraging or feel as though all your work has been through colored glasses. Genetic testing is probably a positive for those whose ancestors were static and the acculturated generations match those that actually make up your being. I'm having the rather mirror-house experience where the recent does not match not only who I am as a person, but also is a falsification or at best over-simplification of the real genetic source.

The time it's taken to run the simulators and compile them into a single excel document however has given me enough pause to collect most of my thoughts. I have to remember that the exotic is mostly deep ancestry so it would not be relevant necessarily except for some quirks. Yet the mirror house experience is that, everything is exotic, at least in comparison to the records and beliefs of those still living today. Working first with admixtures there is a varying degree of interpretation still to the amount of 'white' that I am. Ancestry's estimate was 52% British isles/34% Scandinavian, on the whole roughly 80-90% carbon white.

Harrapaworld, Asia map, disputes this number with only a maximum of 48.5% European. 'Africa 9' on Dodecad echo's a similar opinion that I am 67.5% or less European (including Indo-European as strictly white). Dodecad World version 3 places this number closer to 52% with the rest highly africanized Iberian or west/southwest asian. Eurogenes perhaps gave the most honest admixture result due to it's definitive sub sects. North Sea, which includes water bound parts of Scandinavia as well as the British isles rests at only 20%. JTest states that of these European groups only 25.4% is wholly white and inadmissible as Jewish. I am only 3% however above the noise level (2.5%) for Azkenazi Jewish heritage so the direct line there is remote. Yet the large chucks of central and eastern European do echo the ancestry given my fathers genetic test.

Southern heritage is much more pronounced than Ancestry claimed with some rare alleles coming from Cyprus, Lithuania, and East Asia. Spain and Northern Italy are the founders of my southern heritage with only one so far found in the genealogical record. Dodecad World 9, for example places me at 72.5% Atlantic_Baltic, 25.5% Caucusus/Southern European and around 1.5% Amerindian. 1.5 is interpreted over and over as either Asiatic or Amerindian, notably however it is inferred as Mexican/Central American Indian when addressed. It also increases as high as 3-8% given the presence of oceanic, papuan, beringian and east asian derivatives. If this was a test I don't believe that 20-53% is ever a passing grade so why would I ignore the beautiful multicultural heritage I have.

So what about the estimations given by Ancestry.com? Well I think I figured that out partially inspired by a comment by the authors of GEDMatch's algorithms. "It not just the presence of a unique factor but also the presence of that percentage compared to like individuals." Thus unique factors on chromosomes could be viewed as noise and with strict interpretation ignored completely as genetic drift for known populaces. With the wars over centuries of the Germanic tribes then it would be easy to assume a known factor level of 'noise' and thus exclude it altogether. I believe this is how Ancestry.com applies their ethnicity predictor so it is most simplified and accurate for Europeans, no doubt their largest consumer at whole.

So what am I? Very roughly estimated in admixture...

• 26-40% Southern European (Spanish, Italian, Iberian, Sardinian) 
• 18-24% British Isles/North Seas (Great Britain, France, Scandinavia) 
• 12-26% Middle Eastern (Persian, Near East, West Asia)
• 8-10% Eastern European (West Germany, Balkan, Slav)
• 3-8% Asian/Amerindian (Mezoamerican, Beringian; East-South Asia, Oceania)
• 3-5% North African (Mozabite, Morroccan, Byaka)

Metis On All Sides

Recently I've come across an interesting fact regarding Ancestry and family legends. As my Father's story goes, a grandmother accused his Father of having Jewish ancestry. I was searching for that angle so hard that I was genuinely surprised to find a different answer. My fathers paternal great grandmother did not carry Jewish ancestry but she did hide a branch of Muscogee (Creek). My father's Metis heritage is Anglo-Metis occurring first in Virginia and then travelling through North Carolina to Oaklahoma. Anna Dabney was the most recent ancestor who was considered a full tribal member. Her Children appear on the Rolls including the 1835 Trail of Tears. The boys of her family however all appear to have inherited their grandfathers status of "Cherokee by Blood". Tracking down the tribes to which I have a family history has been somewhat difficult considering the non-status of Metis here in America.

My working list so far consists of the following:

• Metis of the 3rd Generation
  None in USA; Michigan, USA
• Mi'kmaq of the 9th Generation
  Bear River First Nation; Annapolis, NS
• Muskogee of 8th generation
  Muscogee Creek Nation; Tulsa, OK
• Cherokee of 6th Generation
  Appalachian Cherokee Nation, Montross, VA 

     This revelation is not lost on me considering the finding of Metis ancestry on both sides of my maternal grandfather's parentage. The Mi'kmaq is documented however to far removed for a tribal membership and I assume Pottawatomie for my Metis grandmother but recentness hasn't met me with much paper evidence. This is due in part no doubt to her birth shortly after the fire that consumed Detroit in 1805. Another aspect would be the probability of a "country marriage". After all her father not only flees the area when the British take the fort, he also marries again after her mother in a legal fashion sometime around 1834. Peter never returns to Michigan by all accounts. Two generations now in order to create me and my sister, peoples of varying degree of native blood but all Metis have found each other. That has to be meaningful considering I now find myself near marriage to a half-blood Ojibwae.

The feeling that I was different and more alike a different people than those I encountered been a lifelong occurrence. This is something I have been discussing with my Native Studies teacher at University. She is absolutely thrilled to learn what traditions bled through all the years of lost identity for my families. Small things like aboriginal art (Mi'kmaq) and hand-me-downs no one could assertain too. For me however it was personal and spiritual experiences, including reciprocity that is unlike modern sensibility.

Endless Discovery

Today I am off to Amherstburg, Canada to visit my Grandmother Lucienna. I intended to have many questions to ask her but the Wismer family is fairly well researched already so I have little need except to enjoy humorous tales. I do of course have some hope that she may have pictures of her maternal grandparents, the Mills, who don't seem to be researched anywhere else. This may be due to the fact that like my Grandfather Harvey Jones's family most of the generations have since passed on and what little grandchildren my age remain have no interest. I thoroughly enjoy collecting images on my family especially since I don't particularly match any living relatives that closely.

Yesterday I considered the idea of tracking down a history course on Canada that I could take. It seems most colleges do not offer it so I settled into a quick reading of the Wikipedia page. The word Acadian came up and I was curious enough to read through it wondering what background this cultural group had. It seems Acadian could be in both of my parents tree's with my Paternal lines in Maine and now it seems through so quick luck today I have my answer in my mother's tree.

It is no new knowledge that I greatly honor my grandfather's Metis heritage from his father and as it turns out his mother also had a metis heritage of her own. Within a maternal offshoot from the Boussey's to the LaPierre's I came across my 9th Great Grandmother, Anne Marie Fauconnier Dit Metisse, born between 1616-1631 at the Metis settlement in Port Royal, Nova Scotia. She had married a Acadian man named Rene Raimbault, whose daughter Jeanne married Francois LaPierre. Jeanne's grand daughter Angelique married Nicholas Boissy (Boussey) my 6th Great Grandfather. All of this is such an amazing find since I so recently stumbled upon the new knowledge of the Acadian's perhaps it is serendipitous.  It appears that Anne Marie may have been Micmac Indian and luckily she has more records than most Indian women of that time. Further research into both the Acadian's and the life of Anne Marie will of course be a new focus for me.

Who is Henry Dupuis?

My Great (x3) Grandmother Catharine is a enigma. Upon her death in 1912 she had stated that she never left the great lakes in all her life. According to limited genealogical data her father was Peter Duforce of Fort Detroit, a Frenchman. Her death certificate written at a Nursing home in Big Rapids, Michigan tells a different story. (K)Catherine according to that document was daughter of Henry Dupuis, a Belgian immigrant. So who is this Henry Dupuis and how could he possibly be her father?

In searching the back story of Peter Dufour born of Bonvivant in New France (1754) one comes across the general consensus that Peter was a traveling man. Thinking back to the research shared with me by Guy Carpentier,of the Dufour Family organization, we have evidence that post revolution Peter traveled under assumed names between the lakes and river fronts. Peter eventually retook his name over time and it is here that we find him mentioned in the journal's of  John Baptiste Perrualt II, which are published in "Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections" in 1909". Perrault began traveling in 1783 with the local fur trade alliances down the Mississippi. His companions for this trip are named as Canadian men: Mr. Sacharit of Quebec;  St.Germain, Mr. Robert & Mr. Dupuis of Maskinong; Antoine & Francois Beauchemin, Manard, L.Lavalle of Sorel & Yamaska. Marchesseau sold all his goods in the trade to Chouteau, of St-Louis.
It is here that we have the first appearance of Dupuis alongside a trip that would fall headlong into a encounter with Peter Dufour (alias Dufaut).

"...Upon entering the river the next day and doubling the point of the little lake, we saw a wintering-house. It was that of Mr. Dufaut, come from Grand Portage, clerk for NW. and we stopped before his door. As Mr.Kay had perhaps taken only one drink he now took the second which made him ill-tempered so that instead of receiving politely Mr. Dufaut, who came down to meet him on the beach, he treated him rudely... "


At this time Dufour and children of related surnames began to be birthed in the area in which both Dupuis and Peter Dufour travelled. A Pierre Dufault for example appears in one of the areas know to be propagated by Pierre son of Bonvivant.

Pierre Dufault, Ojibwa Metis, b-1815 Sault Ste Marie son of Ojibwa Metis parents, listed March 28, 1836 treaty.

It was popular at the time for Frenchmen to have multiple families because the Catholic church did not always honor marriages between frenchmen and Indians. It is possible that Catherine's mother was never legally wed which explains the lack of documentation. However family story claims that there is a existing newspaper announcement from the times stating that Pierre Dufour had wed an indian woman. For now information like that remains a holy grail. Yet I cannot dismiss the existence of Henry Dupuis from Belgium.

A History Divided

As readers no doubt would know my focus on genealogy always seems to come back to the War of 1812 within the Detroit River area. At the time our nation was liberal and as such the peoples straddled lands that today are quite separate. While renewing my research interest I came to the realization that this division is a great hurdle to my record finding.

My maternal line consists of a strong influx of French and German Canadians all of who traveled quite often into Michigan. This creates a disparity between records. While I can easily search the Library of Canada's Genealogical supply I am limited in my findings due to coresidency or immigration. Sadly during this period not only were the first generational wave immigrants themselves, from France (or otherwise), but their children then became Canadian immigrants into the United States. 

Growing up in my day I have always visited my family still residing in Canada so I can understand how living so close in the Detroit River area one simply considers it a skip across the stream. Our Secretary of State would of course not agree since I have to hold a Enhanced license as supplement for a Passport. Historical Detroit's records are measly at best from what can be accessed online and I feel as if the States has failed me in this respect.

Yet new information always appears such as my stumbling upon a possible site for my Ancestors wedding site. I had been given the name "Eagle Hotel" in Detroit, Michigan to which nothing existed. However a pleasant surprise in my search today lead me to the Eagle Tavern of Greenfield Villiage.Possibility is high that this tavern was the site of my Great Grandparents wedding as the groom was a Ferryman for some years running the water trail from New York to Detroit originally. I can only look forward to what more study might bring and perhaps more records may open up here in Michigan.

Midnight Introductions aren't for Making Friends

When I began to have a strong interest in the information a close cousin passed down to me about my Great Grandmother Catherine Jones (Dufour) I took each element word for word. That is to say no independent fact checking before running head first into the Drouin Collection of records on the Dufour Family in Quebec.

Last night I received a response from the Vice-President of the Dufour families association of North America. He was nonetheless not to happy about a midnight message I had sent last year complaining about the merging of two first cousins into one record.

Mind you I was suffering Sepsis from a liver abscess and blocked gallbladder so I doubt I wrote my comments to the webmaster very tactfully.

According to Guy Charpentier, the Pierre Parfiat Dufour of St, Anne parish changed his name and relocated to Missouri where he married, twice.

Due to his actions during the American Revolution, in 1778, Parfait assumed temporarily a false identity, calling himself Antoine during the hostilities, most likely to avoid retaliation by the British against his siblings living in the Detroit area. Once the war of independence had ended, and Detroit had been handed over to the U.S.A., he reassumed his true Christian name - Parfait. He used indifferently or jointly the names of Antoine and Parfait thereafter.

Now while I should be incredibly happy with this since I have recently considered a generation younger to most likely contain Catherine's father by a son of Joahim Dufour... Mr. President states that through firsthand research he can find no document proving these men: Antonie Dufour born in Montreal and Pierre Parfiat born in Quebec are separate individuals.

The hilarity here is that with divided interest I recently filled out the siblings tree's looking for another Pierre Dufour who could have passed down the name. This led me to review the marriages of women into the Dufour family of which those attributed to Pierre incognito are clearly documented elsewhere with younger men. Now if Pierre Parfiat was my Grandmother's father then he would have been 51 when he conceived her. My Grandmother's obituary says that she never moved from the Detroit river region and her father was with her all of her youth.

"Jonesfield Township History Traced to 1812: Mrs. Edward Jones, A.ea's First Resident, Lived to be 107." "In Detroit August 16, 1812, American General William Hull ... gave up the fort...a 6 year old half French half Indian girl named Catherine DuForce ... was at the fort. She had been born September 15, 1805, the daughter of Peter DuForce and his Indian wife, and had lived all her life along the Detroit River." ~ through death "Catherine's death notice came in the Big Rapids Bulletin Herald September 6, 1912. She died September 5, just 10 days short of her 107th birthday. The notice said: "In the death yesterday afternoon at Mercy Hospital of Mrs. Katherine (Catherine) Jones, the State of Michigan lost its oldest Native inhabitant. She was 106 years, 11 months and 17 days (actually 20 days), and despite the ravages of time, she retained a remarkable physical vitality and a wonderfully clear memory. The body was shipped to Hungerford this afternoon and the funeral services will be held at the Hungerford Church. Internment will be in Hungerford." She was buried in Hunkleford Cemetery near Woodville, about seven miles west of Big Rapids."

Source: The Saginaw News, Sunday May 29, 1966 (section B, Page 3) & USGENWEB

Oh and Mr. president you are about to publish that Pierre Dufour Born April 1754 married his nephew's wife who was almost 30 years younger. Good luck with that...

Now onto the more interesting ideas. If Pierre did go into hiding in Missouri than that places him in the Red Reedies area to which another mystery Dufour/Dufault family exists. Therese Dufault maybe another child and lays creedence to the family tales of a mixed heritage. (Clues to ancestry of Therese Dufault)

If Pierre Dufour, Jr. did leave the Great lakes region than why is he listed as a founding member of Wayne County (Historical Publications of Wayne County)

Oh Pierre you Dirty Bird...!