How My Cousins Sent Me Round in Circles!
Marie Catherine BOUTILLIER, born on 15 November 1745 in Oye-Plage near Calais, and Marie Catherine BOUTILLIER, born on 30 January 1745 in Oye-Plage. Were they one and the same person? Sisters? Ten months separated them — possible!
— « I leave you alone for five minutes and you start again! Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, how ordinary! Which one did you find first? »
— Neither. Sometimes I would come across one, other times the other! Born in the same year and in the same village, enough to make anyone lose their mind.
— « Knowing you, you must have filled pages with the information you found. »
— Yes, and I was tearing my hair out when I switched from one to the other without even noticing. To make matters worse, members of GENEANET were struggling with the same problem.
— « You used to plan your work. Why don’t you do the same for genealogy? »
— Studies and work are intellectual; genealogy is passion — I rush in! You’re right, WATERMAN, I’m going to use that method for genealogy as well.
— « Don’t worry Catherine, I may be getting old, but I’m still here to advise you. The day you have to replace me, I shall pass on my knowledge, my experience and our friendship to your new fountain pen. »
— I promise you one thing: if you ever leave me, another WATERMAN will take your place.
— « Sniff, sniff… Back to our sheep. How did you put these two young ladies back into their rightful places in your family tree? »
— For this one, I went back to my good habits. One sheet of paper for each Marie Catherine, the Pas-de-Calais archives open, my screen zoomed to 150%, and off I went. I wrote down the references for every record so I could find them easily when I copied everything onto GENEANET.
Let’s look at their dates of death. The one born in November died on 13 January 1783 in Vieille-Église; the one born in January died on 13 April 1784 in Guemps, another little village in Pas-de-Calais.
They really are two different people! In addition, the one born in January was named Marie Catherine Dorothée.
And the parents? Marie Catherine born in November was the daughter of Alexandre BOUTILLIER and Marie Madeleine MIHON. Marie Catherine born in January was the daughter of Jacques BOUTILLIER and Marie Catherine COUVREUR.
Moreover, Jacques and Alexandre were the sons of Cornil BOUTILLIER and Marie Françoise FRION.
The cousins
The two young ladies were therefore cousins.
The husbands: Marie Catherine of November married Louis François DUBOIS in 1761 in Vieille-Église; Marie Catherine of January married Pierre Charles RENAULT in 1764 in Saint-Omer.
Their children: Marie Catherine and Louis François DUBOIS had three children, including their second son Jacques Louis, who married his cousin Marie Françoise Euphrosine RENAULT as his fourth wife, daughter of Marie Catherine and Pierre Charles RENAULT.
Their daughter Geneviève Euphrosine DUBOIS married Charles François POINTEZ in 1829, the grandparents of my great-grandmother Catherine POINTEZ.
— I’ve found it!
— « You see, well-prepared work pays off. »
— Our mutual friend Marie found a name for you: Watson. What do you think?
— « Watson WATERMAN, Watson WATERMAN! I like it! Thank you, Marie! »
😄 This one is fun because we can almost see the birth of Watson before he fully became Watson.
A rebrousse temps généalogie 