52 Ancestors Challenge - Jean Michel Griffard - French and Indian Ancestor - From Ste. Genevieve, Missouri - Week 31

For my previous two posts, I discussed the Griffaw line of my family, my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Griffaw, and her mother, Anne Grissom.  I briefly touched on the fact that I believe the Griffaw name was originally Griffar/Griffard.  It is thought that Jean Michel Griffard is the father of Mary Elizabeth Griffaw and first husband of Anne Grissom.  He is the topic of this weeks post.

As in my previous posts I mentioned the Ste. Genevieve's Project Pioneer.  They honored the Griffard Family in 2001 during their "Jour de Fete," and compiled a genealogical book which showed the family arriving in Ste. Genevieve around the late 1700s from Quebec, Canada.  In this book, it states that Jean Michel Griffard was the son of Jean Alexis Griffard and Marie Madeline (or Magdaleine) Tirard dit St. Jean, and was born September 29, 1780.  Information on Jean Alexis Griffard from the Pioneer book mentioned above says the following (found on page 5):

"Jean Alexis was the only resident of Ste. Genevieve on the militia roster of 1779 listed as a salt maker ("sellier") by profession.  He was French Canadian and came to Ste. Genevieve during the mid 1770's.  In 1777 he married Marie Magdaleine Tirard, daughter of the illegitimate me-tis woman Marie Joseph Deguire Tirard, and took up salt making.  Most likely Alexis left Ste. Genevieve to settle near the Saline.  This is where the salt springs were located.  In 1797 there were only nine salt makers listed on the New Bourbon census, eight were Anglo-Americans, the ninth was the aging but still productive Jean Alexis Griffard.  Since salt was used extensively to cure meat and animal hides for export to New Orleans.  I'm assuming that Jean Alexis and his family traveled back and forth from Ste. Genevieve and New Orleans.  Since Jean Alexis oldest son Alexis was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Elizabeth, another child of Jean Alexis, was born en route from New Orleans and Baptized the following year in Ste. Genevieve.  The spelling of the Griffard name was changed from Greffard to Griffard when Jean Alexis immigrated to Ste. Genevieve.  The spelling Greffard was kept by the Ancestors in Canada because there are Greffards all over Canada and the northern United States.  Jean could write his last name.  He wrote it as Griffar."

According to the book François Vallé and His World: Upper Louisiana Before Lewis and Clark, by Carl J. Ekberg, Jean Michel was baptised in October of 1780, and his godfather was said to be Jean Baptiste Deguire, "of the large and influential Deguire Family" (page 80-81).  The book states that the record shows Jean Baptist Deguire to be Jean Michel's grandfather, but it goes on to say that he is actually his great grandfather, the grandfather of Jean Michel's mother, Marie.  Jean Baptist Deguire was described in the Pioneer book as "a master tailor of Kaskaskia."

In 1810, there is a Michel Greffard listed on a memorial dated December 29, 1805, to the President by the citizens of the District of Ste. Genevieve "expressing their support and confidence in Govenor Wilkinson" (found on Ancestry.com: U.S. Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820).

There is an entry in the 1830 Federal Census for a Michel Grifford living in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.  The census picture is very hard to read, but there is something written above his name, however, I can't make it out and it wasn't transcribed on the listing on Ancestry.com.  In his household Ancestry has it transcribed as one male under the age of 5, one male age 20-29, 2 females age 5-10, and one female age 20-29.  If you look at the actual document, even though it's hard to read, it looks like the older male is actually 50-59 years old.  This would make sense, especially if this is the same Jean Michel Griffard in the Pioneer book, who was born September 29, 1780.

The children I have listed for Jean Michel were mentioned in my previous posts, but here is a picture showing the names that were given to me:

I haven't been able to find any additional information on Jean Michel Griffard.  However, the Pioneer book states that he died January 1, 1836, almost a year after his youngest child, Anne, was born.

An Interesting Side Note About Jean Michel Griffard's Maternal Grandmother:

Although this post is about Jean Michel, I would like to highlight an interesting story about his mother, or actually his mother's mother, and there family line, since I don't plan on doing individual posts for them.  The information on Marie and her family was taken from the book François Vallé and His World: Upper Louisiana Before Lewis and Clark, by Carl J. Ekberg as well.  Marie's mother, Marie Joseph Deguire, was the illegitimate daughter of Jean Baptiste Deguire and an Indian slave who was owned by Joseph Buchet, a Notary at Fort de Charters.  The book cites the following on page 81:

Very rarely in the society of colonial Ste. Genevieve did a man live to serve as godfather to his great-grandson.  When Deguire died less than a year later, Father Gibault noted in his burial record that Jean-Baptiste had “always lived a most Christian life.”  Indeed, either out of Christian charity or from a moral compass aligned by some other code of values (probably the former), he had acknowledged paternity of his illegitimate métisse daughter and conveyed to her his name.  When he died without legitimate issue, Marie-Joseph inherited Deguir’s entire estate as sole heiress.

In another book, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, edited by Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, and Gary Kremer, (page 237), It goes on to state that in "1747 Deguire paid Buchet one hundred livres "to redeem" two of his natural children borne by one of Buchet's slaves."  Marie Joseph Deguire went on to marry 3 times before she died in 1788.  Not only did Marie Joseph Deguire, an "illegitimate metisse daugher" inherit her father's entire estate, but she also inherited the estates of 2 of her husbands who preceded her in death.

I felt that was something that should be mentioned, and interesting information about the ancestors of Jean Michel Griffard.

If you have any questions, or concerns, about the information above, please leave a comment.  I'd be happy to share any additional information I have.  Thanks for reading!!

52 Ancestors Challenge - Mary Elisabeth Griffaw - born 1821 in Perry County, Missouri - Week 29

Mary Elisabeth Griffaw was my great, great, great grandmother.  She was born November 27, 1821 probably around Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.  Back in 2003, my Great Aunt Vickie sent some papers to my mom.  They were copies of things she received at the Gibson family reunion in De Soto, Missouri.  Below, is a copy of a page that showed Mary Elisabeth Griffaw and her 4 siblings written on a piece of paper.

Here, the last name looks to be spelled Griffar.  Doing research on this family, I've also seen it spelled Griffard, Griffon, Griffan, and Gorfard.  This line of ancestors were not well educated.  Censuses show many could not read or write, so to have the name misspelled would not surprise me.  In fact, when researching the name Griffaw on Ancestry.com, I could not find it until the 1880s, and then only in southeast Missouri, where this line is from.

Ste. Genevieve's Project Pioneer honors two family lines each year during their "Jour de Fete."  In 2001
they honored the Griffard family who came to the area around the 1780s from Quebec, Canada.  In the book they created for this family, they show all 5 names listed above.  In this book it says the parents of these children were Jean Michel Griffard and Anne Grissom.  I'm not sure where their information comes from, there are no references in the book (I do have a copy in hand).  However, I do know that Mary Elisabeth's mother's name is Anne (also shown as Ann, Annie, and Anna).

There is an entry in the 1830 Federal Census for a Michel Grifford living in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.  The census picture is very hard to read, but there is something written above his name, however, I can't make it out and it wasn't transcribed on the listing on Ancestry.com.  In his household Ancestry has it transcribed as one male under the age of 5, one male age 20-29, 2 females age 5-10, and one female age 20-29.  If you look at the actual document, even though it's hard to read, it looks like the older male is actually 50-59 years old.  This would make sense, especially if this is the same Jean Michel Griffard in the Pioneer book.  Church Baptismal records list him as being born September 29, 1780.

The first document were we see Mary Elisabeth's name is a marriage record dated June 25, 1840 in Bois Bruel, Perry County, Missouri.  She married Hezekiah Cotner.  Hezekiah was the son of Jacob Cotner and Elizabeth Lewis who lived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.

I also believe she was living in the household of Nathaniel J. Divine during the 1840 census.  Her mother married Nathaniel in 1836, after the death of her father.  The ages of the children in the household match the ages of the children written above.  The family was living in Perry County, Missouri.

The 1850 Federal Census, we are able to finally see Mary Elisabeth's name along with her family.  They are living in Brazeau Township, Perry County, Missouri.  The following people are shown in the household:

• Hezekiah Cotner age 39
• Mary Cotner age 28
• Nathaniel J. Cotner age 9
• Martha Cotner age 6
• Michael Cotner age 3
• Susannah A. Cotner age 1

Not far from them is her mother, brother John and sister Ann.  her mother is listed as Ann Davis.  Nathaniel J. Divine died sometime before 1844, when she married Spencer B.R. Davis.

In 1860, the family moves to Liberty Township, St. Francois County, Missouri.  Here we see the following shown on the Federal Census for this year:

• Hezekiah Cotner age 48
• Mary Cotner age 37
• Martha Cotner age 14
• Mida Cotner age 11
• Mary Cotner age 7 
• Hezekiah Cotner age 1

I'm not sure what happened to Nathaniel and Micheal.  They may have died between 1850 and 1860.  I believe Mida is Susannah A., possibly short for Arminda?  The younger Hezekiah was actually Isaac Hezekiah.

By 1870, we do not see Hezekiah.  I believe he may have died sometime prior to the 1870 Federal Census.  In the household, we see the following people living in Marion, St. Francois County, Missouri:

• Mary Cotner age 46
• Mary E. Cotner age 16
• Isaac Cotner age 11
• Louisa Cotner age 9

I'm not sure what happened to Martha.  She may have married and moved away, or may have died as well.  Louisa is my great, great grandmother, Louisa Nancy Carolyn Cotner (you can read about her and her husband and children in the post I did earlier about her husband William Francis Gibson).

By 1880, the family moved to Plattin, Jefferson County, Missouri.  Here it states Mary is a widow.  Mary Elizabeth Cotner (daughter of Mary Elisabeth Griffaw) had married James Gibson, and her mother, brother Isaac and sister Louisa were living next to them.  On a side note, James Gibson was the uncle of Louisa's husband, William Francis Gibson.  In the household we see:

• Mary Cotner age 50
• Isaac Cotner age 20
• Louisa Cotner age 16

The ages on these census records are always different!

By 1900, after all her children had married, she moved in with her brother John.  John never married, and I believe he owned a farm in Plattin.  I believe this, because in the papers my Great Aunt Vickie gave my mother, there were some notes from Betty Tracy Thayer, daughter of Emma Clyde Gibson, Granddaughter of Louisa Cotner.  In it Betty wrote about a fond memory her mother, Emma had:

"She (Emma) recalled the times when she was a child that her father would rent a carriage (rig) with horses, and they would all pile in it, kids and mother and father, and drive out to the "Plattin" to her grandfather and grandmother Cotner's farm for the day, she said it was "great fun."

John would have been her great uncle, not her grandfather, but grandmother Cotner would have been correct.

After 1900, I'm not sure what happened to her.  I haven't been able to locate a death record, and she is not located on the 1910 census that I know of.  Her daughter, Louisa, passed away in 1904 of "Consumption," or Tuberculosis.  Louisa's husband died also that same year from the disease.

Mary's daughter, Mary E. Cotner Gibson, along with her brother, John Baptiste Joseph Griffaw, and mother, Anne Grissom Griffaw Divine Davis, were all buried at Charter Baptist Church Cemetery in Festus, Jefferson County, Missouri.  Maybe that is where she would have been buried too?  I'll have to make a trip down there to see.  It's on my very long list of places to go and research.

If you have any questions, or concerns, about any of the information listed above, please leave a comment.  I'd be happy to share any additional information I have.  Thanks for reading!

52 Ancestors Challenge - Anne Grissom Griffaw Divine Davis lived to be 104 years?? - Week 30

My last post was on Mary Elisabeth Griffaw.  This week, I'm going to talk about her mother, Anne Grissom.

In the Charter Baptist Church Cemetery is a headstone for Anna Griffaw, who died at age 104.  I believe this is the grave of my 4th great grandmother.  The stone says she was 104 years old when she died in 1885!!  The record of her death is also found on Missouri Digital Heritage, you can see it here (the original can be seen on Ancestry.com, if you have a subscription, look up Annie Griffaw under the database Missouri death records, 1834-1910).  I have a newspaper clipping regarding the death of her son, John Baptiste Joseph Griffaw, written around August of 1920.  In the clipping, it states that his mother lived to be 104 too.  But is that correct?  They may have just copied what was on the headstone or death record.  Every census record I have found on her says otherwise.  Death records aren't always right, and tombstones aren't always right either.  For now, I'll just fill you in on what I do know, and where I received my information.

Newspaper clipping on the death of John Baptiste Joseph Griffaw.  Not sure which paper it came from, but someone wrote August 1920 on it.  This copy was given to my mother from her Aunt Vickie.  John was not our great grandfather, as it was written above.  From family notes, it is said the children of William Gibson and Nancy Louise Carolyn Cotner would travel out to visit their "grandparents" on their farm in Plattin.  Their grandmother, Mary Elisabeth Griffaw Cotner was a widow by the time they were born, and was living with her brother John, their great uncle in Plattin.

I don't have any true proof stating Anne's maiden name was Grissom (i.e. birth record, marriage record, etc.), so I can't be sure.  I do have a copy of a family history book that was completed by the Ste. Genevieve Project Pioneer on the Griffard family that settled there around the 1780s.  In that book, it states "Jean Michel Griffard married Anne Grissom.  She was born 1804."  It also states the names of their children along with their birth dates.  These children were the same children written on a piece of paper I received from my mom, who received it from her Aunt Vickie back in 2003.

Back in 2003, my Gibson family had a reunion back in De Soto, Missouri.  I wasn't able to attend, but my Great Aunt Vickie sent my mom some copies of paperwork from the event.  One of those papers was a list of children and their birth dates.  No mention of a mother or father though.  Here is a copy of that paper.

Where this came from, I'm not sure.  But the first name is indeed the name of my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Elisabeth Griffaw.  Mary Elisabeth married a man named Hezekiah Cotner, a man of German decent whose family settled in the Cape Girardeau and St. Francois county areas of Missouri in the early 1800s.  Together, they had my 2nd great grandmother, Louisa Nancy Carolyn Cotner.  I've written briefly about Nancy in an earlier post that was about her husband William Francis Gibson.  There you can see a picture of Louisa and William.

I'll start by saying, I'm not sure where Ste. Genevieve Project Pioneer received their information.  There are no references for any of it.  So, this hunt is a work in progress.

The first census document we see with the Jean Michel Griffard family may be found in 1830.  On Ancestry.com, we find an entry for a Michael Grifford, or Michael Griffard, living in Ste. Genevieve City, Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri.  In his household there was one male under 5, one male, age 50-60, 2 females age 5-9, and one female age 29-29.  If you go to the next page, it clearly says there are 5 people in the household.  Above his name something was written, but I can not read it.  It is too faint to see on the online copy.

I believe this is the family of Jean Michel Griffard.  He was born in 1780, which puts him at about 50 years old.  His birth is well documented in church records, and in several book that I have seen (more about him in a future post).  If Anne was born in 1804, then she would have been about 26.  Mary Elisabeth and Susan Mary would have been 9 and 6.  Finally, Micheal would have been 4, so under the age of 5.

According to the information found in the family book by Ste. Genevieve Project Pioneer, we see Jean Michel Griffard dies January 1, 1836 in Ste. Genevieve.  I'm hoping there is a record of this somewhere, but again, I don't have that record.  So I'm not 100% sure of this.  But I do know there is a record for a marriage for "Mrs. Ann Griffan" to Nathaniel Divine in the neighboring county of Perry, Missouri, on July 18, 1836.  In addition, Anne's daughter, Mary Elisabeth, named her first born son Nathaniel J. Cotner.  Could she have named him after her stepfather??  There are no other Nathaniels that I can find in the family.

Later, in the 1840 Federal Census, we see a Nathaniel Divine living in Perry County, Missouri with the following people living in the household (the actual ages of the Griffard family in 1840 are in parenthesis - they are not listed on the census, I'm just making a comparison):

• one male age 5-9 (John Baptiste Joseph Griffard age 9)
• one male age 10-14 (Michael Griffard age 14)
• one male age 40-49 (Nathaniel Divine)
• one female age 5-9 (Ann Griffard age 5)
• two females age 15-19 (Mary Elisabeth Griffard age 19 and Susan Mary Griffard age 16)
• one female age 30-39 (Anne Grissom Griffard Divine age 36 if born i 1804)

February 26, 1844 there is another marriage record that I believe belongs to our Anne.  It shows Ann Divine married Spencer B.R. Davis in Perry County, Missouri (info from Ancestry.com, Missouri Marriages to 1850).  Nathaniel Divine must have died between 1840 and 1844.  Spencer B.R. Davis may have died not long after the marriage too.  Because in 1850, we find and Anne Davis living with John B. Griffan (or Griffau) and Ann Griffan (or Griffau) in Brazeau Township, Perry County, Missouri.  Not far from them are Mary Elisabeth and her husband Hezekiah Cotner with their family.

I have searched high and low to find the family on the 1860 Federal Census, but haven't been able to yet.  We do find Anne on the 1870 Federal Census though.  She is now living in Plattin Township, Jefferson County, Missouri, and listed as Anna Griffaw age 50.  Her son John is living with her.  The ages for her and John are not correct.  But it says they were both born in Missouri.  It also says both of her parents were of foreign birth.  Notice too, she is using the last name of Griffaw, not Davis.  

In 1880 we find Anne and John both living in Plattin still.  This time, John's age is listed as 30 years old, and Anne is listed as 65.  John is now listed as head of household, and Anne listed as his mother.  Her place of birth is now listed as Kentucky, with her father being born in Virginia and mother born in Pennsylvania.  They are both listed as having the last name of Griffaw.  

On April 20, 1885, the death of Annie Griffaw was reported.  On this death record (which can be found on Ancestry.com, Missouri Death Records 1834-1910) it states she died March 12, 1884.  Did they really wait a year to report it?  Her tombstone, which you can see here at findagrave.com, says she died March 14, 1885.  So which is it?  The number 4, on 1884, is underlined in the record.

This death record also says she was 104 years old.  Would that be right?  It also states she was a widow, of Irish decent, and born in Kentucky.  The record says she had been living in Missouri for 90 years, and died at her son John Griffaw's residence in Plattin Township.  Cause of death was Angina Pectoris.  She was buried at Charter Cemetery (now Charter Baptist Church Cemetery in Festus, Jefferson County, Missouri) March 14, 1885.  So she probably did die in 1885, not 1884 like the other part of the record states.

If Anne was 104 in 1885, she would have been born in 1781.  Which means she would have been 54 years old when her youngest daughter, Ann, was born.  Not impossible, but I'm not buying it!!  I'm guessing she was born around the early 1800s.

I've done a little research on the last name of Grissom, trying to find any family she may have had living nearby.  There was a Nelson Grissom living in Perry County in 1840, 1850, and 1860.  He was born in Kentucky about 1804.  Could they be related?  I haven't found a link.  There are a few Grissom families residing in Kentucky in the early 1800s.  I'm still looking into a connection, but I know I may never find it.

If you have any questions, or concerns, about any of the information listed above, please leave a comment.  I'd be happy to share any additional information I have.  Thanks for reading!