Numerous descendants, myself and my parents included, have spent countless hours trying to find records in France for Louis J. Houlette, my 4X great grandfather. Despite our efforts, we all came up empty handed. Will recent discoveries finally break down this brick wall?
I sent them the following information…and then I crossed my fingers:
Name: Louis J. Houlette (emigrated to America in 1791)
Birth: 25 Jul 1764, Honfleur, France
Father: Jean Louis Gabriel Houlette (may have come to America)
Mother: died before 1791 - name unknown
Brothers:
Barnard, the eldest, who was a priest
Phillip, who was an architect
Thomas Ditemus, who operated a cafe
Tusant, who was thought to be a farmer
Jean Baptiste (may have come to America)
A day or two later I got an email from the researcher with the following record:
"88. — Le 15 janv. 1770, Louis Houlette, entrepreneur, demeurant au Noyer-Menard, constitue 150 livres de rente en faveur de son petit-fils, Me Bernard-Louis Houlette, acolyte de lad. parr. , afin qu'il puisse parvenir aux ordres sacrés. Fait et passé à Saint-Evroult. Led. sr acolyte était fils de Louis Houlette, marchand, et de Marie-Dorothée Costard, demeurant au Noyer-Menard."(1)
Loosely translated, this states that on 15 January 1770 Louis Houlette, entrepreneur, a resident of Noyer-Menard paid 150 “livres” rent for his grandson, Bernard-Louis Houlette, who was enrolled as an “acolyte” at Saint-Evroult. It goes on to state that Bernard-Louis is the son of Louis Houlette, merchant, and Marie-Dorothée Costard, of Noyer-Menard.
The source documents Bernard’s entire career in the priesthood until his death in 1829. In it we can see that he was highly regarded and quite successful in his chosen career.(1)
I next received an email from the researcher in which he provided this record a marriage bann:
“Ce mardy 6eme jour de juillet 1790 apres publication des bans de future mariage entre Toussaint-Jean-Martin Houlette charpentier demeurant .. en la ville du Havre et de droit en la proisse de Saint-Martin-Saint-Firmin diocese de Lisiux fils majeur de Louis-Gabriel Houlette de de feue Marie-Dorothee Costard ses peres et mere de laditte paroisse Saint-Martin-Saint-Firmin diocese de lisieux, d’une part et Genevieve-Heleine Hauguel, fille majeure de Nicolas Hauguel et Marie-Jeanne Quesnel ses peres et meres (..). témoigné par son père Louis-Gabriel et son frère Louis-Jacques Houlette, de Honfleur.”
This states that the marriage banns were posted on 6 July 1790 for Toussaint-Jean-Martin Houlette, a carpenter from the City of Le Havre, the parish of Saint-Martin-Saint-Fermin diocese of Lisieux, the son of Louis-Gabriel Houlette and the late Marie-Dorothée Costard, also from the parish of Saint-Martin-Saint-Fermin diocese of Lisieux, and Geneviève-Helene Haugel, the daughter of Nicholas Haugel and Marie-Jeanne Quesnel. It was witnessed by Toussaint’s father Louis-Gabriel and his brother Louis-Jacques Houlette, of Honfleur.
The researcher sent me one last email which provided me with enough information to construct a family tree for this Houlette family:
- Louis Houlette, entrepreneur, a resident of Noyer-Ménard in 1770; his wife was Jeanne Hurel.
- Louis-Gabriel Houlette married Marie-Dorothée Costard, daughter of Gilles Costard and Marie Lemonnier, on 11 September 1746 in Saint-Aubin. Louis-Gabriel resided in Noyer-Ménard in 1770 and he was residing in Saint-Martin-Saint-Fermin in 1790. His wife, Marie-Dorothée, died before 6 July 1790;
- Rose-Dorothée Houlette married #1: 30 March 1762 in Le Noyer-Ménard to Robert Olivier; married #2: 5 July 1803 in Le Noyer-Ménard to Toussaint-Gabriel Houlette son of Charles Houlette and Jeanne Duval-Poutrel.
- Bernard-Louis Houlette, was an “acolyte” at St-Evroult in 1770 and a priest at Montviette by 1774. Bernard-Louis died 28 Jan 1829 at Saint-Martin-Saint-Fermin, at the age of 79. He was a priest his entire life.
- Thomas Houlette, carpenter, originally of Le Noyer-Ménard married 23 November 1780 at La Noé de la Barre to Marie-Victoire Letellier, daughter of Guillaume Letellier and Marie-Anne Auzoux;
- Toussaint-Jean-Martin Houlette, carpenter, was living in Le Havre and the parish of Saint-Martin-Saint-Fermin on 6 July 1790 when the banns were posted for his marriage to Geneviève-Helene Haugel, who was born in Gainnesville on 12 July 1757 the daughter of Nicholas Haugel (1721-1793) and Marie-Jeanne Quesnel (1720-1793).
- Marie Houlette, married 26 Nov 1780 in Le Noyer-Ménard to François Lambert son of François Lambert and Anne Petit.
- Louis-Jacques Houlette, a resident of Honfleur, was witness to the marriage banns of his brother Toussaint-Jean-Martin on 6 July 1790.
So let’s compare our family story about Louis J. Houlette with this information:
The family story says Louis J. was the son of Jean Louis Gabriel. According to this research Louis-Jacques was the son of Louis-Gabriel.
The family story says Louis J. was from Honfleur. According to this research Louis-Jacques was living in Honfluer in 1790.
James Dale Houlette, the son of Louis J. and my 3X great grandfather, thought his father’s middle name might be Jack. According to this research his name was Louis-Jacques.
The family story says Louis J.’s mother died before he came to America. According to this research the mother of Toussaint-Jean-Martin, and presumably that of Toussaint’s brother Louis-Jacques, died before July 1790.
The family story says Louis J. had 5 brothers: Barnard, who was the eldest and a priest; Phillip, who was thought to be an architect; Thomas Ditemus, who may have kept a cafe; Tusant, who was thought to be a farmer; and Jean Baptiste who came to America with Louis J.. According to this research Louis-Gabriel Houlette and Marie-Dorothée Costard had four sons and two daughters. Bernard-Louis, the eldest son, was a priest; Toussaint-Jean-Martin, who was a carpenter; Thomas, who was also a carpenter; and Louis-Jacques.
I hope by now you’re as excited as I was when to first got this information.
I’m ever so grateful to Geneanet for offering to conduct research at a price an average person could afford. And, I can’t thank the researcher enough for taking the tiny threads of information I had about our Houlette family and using them to find a family that so closely matches our story.
Maybe, just maybe, this is our Houlette family. The facts certainly seem to mesh pretty nicely with the story we’ve been told about our Louis J. Houlette.
But, we must be careful not jump to conclusions. Much work is still needed to prove that these are, in fact, our French ancestors.
Oh how I wish I were one of those lucky few who are invited to appear on Who Do You Think You Are? or Finding Your Roots and have their family tree magically laid out before them. I guess I should put that right up there with winning the lottery however.
Instead, I can only hope that perhaps someday another Houlette descendant who is fluent in French will take this new found information and use it to conduct further research in the records of France. If so, I hope they’ll email me at knjacobs@yahoo.com to let me know what they discover.
Or, perhaps someday the French websites will offer their information in English so that those of us who aren’t fluent in their language will gain access to France’s records.
Or, perhaps someday France will allow DNA testing for genealogical purposes. To date, such testing has been banned in France on grounds that it could be a violation of bioethics.
Wishful thinking? I hope not.
____________________
Sources:
- Piel, Léopold Ferdinand Désiré, Inventaire historique des actes transcrits aux insinuations ecclésiastiques de l'ancien diocèse de Lisieux, ou, Documents officiels analysés pour servir à l'histoire du personnel de l'évêché, de la cathédrale, des collégiale, des abbayes et prieurés, des paroisses et chapelles, ainsi que de toutes les familles notables de ce diocèse, 1692-1790, Volume 5, 992 pages, Lisieux : E. Lerebour, 1885, [Call number bx1532.l54p5], Digitized by University of Toronto.
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How we’re related:
Louis J. Houlette & Anna Plumb
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James Dale Houlette & Agnes N. Smith Clarke
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Anna Margaret Houlette & Levi Slinker
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Agnes Emeline Slinker & Peter Alexander Creger
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James Iver Creger & Gertrude Ethel Blayden
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Helen Pauline Creger & John Robert Nielsen
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Me
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