My 2x great grandmother Catherine was known within the family by different maiden names. One line of the family only knew her as Catherine Charbonneau, while other lines knew her as Catherine Gagné or Catherine Gagnon.  

 

In addition to confusion over her given surname, there were various fanciful stories and rumors handed down through the family that presented conflicting facts. This all caused my mom and her cousins to understand that there was uncertainty and mystery about Catherine's true identity and background. 

 

I set out in 2019 to solve the mystery with genealogical records and DNA, and after extensive research I am happy to say that I have documented what I believe to be her actual identity and family lines. Using Y-DNA and records, I have also made important discoveries about the possible paternity of her first two children, including my great grandfather Louis. I plan to cover much of this information in future blog posts.

While I continue to research Catherine, her children, and ancestors, I am interested in sharing my current findings here to inform others who may be researching her, and to encourage people to contact me so that we may collaborate.

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To summarize my findings, I'd like to introduce you to Clemence Gagné! Clemence, who I will continue to refer to as Catherine, was born on January 13, 1851, in St. André d'Argenteuil, Québec, Canada, near Montréal. 

 

Her parents were François Xavier Gagné and Louise Brière. She was perhaps the youngest of at least twelve siblings, some of whom also immigrated to Delta County, Michigan where Catherine later settled with her husband Julien Ménard (aka Julius Maynard). Her father François died in1861 when Catherine was only ten. Louise passed away in1882 in Québec. 

 

Catherine's first three children were born in Québec. Her eldest was my great grandfather Louis, born on December 12, 1868, followed by Marie Louise, born on March 25, 1871. Parish records of their baptisms confirm that both children were born out of wedlock. 

 

She married Julien Ménard on August 12, 1877, in the parish of St. Philippe d'Argenteuil, Québec, which is located just a few miles from St. André. Because Catherine's marital status prior to marrying Julien has been the subject of speculation for many years, I will write a future blog post to discuss what I have learned so far. Spoiler alert, my research has not uncovered any prior marriage record, nor was she identified as a widow upon her marriage to Julien, as would be typical. But there's more to the story, so please stay tuned.

 

Catherine's third child, Abraham, was born on April 27, 1878, in Québec.  Abraham's baptism record was one of the first documents that helped me begin to break down the genealogical "brick wall" of Catherine's identify.

 

She and Julien then immigrated to the U.S. sometime after Abraham's birth and before the U.S. census was taken in early June 1880, which shows them as living in Escanaba, MI. They would go on to have two more children in Michigan, Isabel born in 1880, and Phillip born in 1884. 

 

My research shows that Catherine also had at least two children who were still born or passed away shortly after birth, one in 1883 and another in 1890. Catherine herself died at the age of forty-seven on October 2, 1898, in Escanaba. Her death certificate states that she died due to stomach cancer.

 

For more information about Catherine and her family or to see her family tree back to the founding of New France (Québec circa early 1600's), please feel free to contact me using the "contact" tab above. Don't forget to click the button below her picture to see her partial family tree back five generations.  

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