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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Finding a Belgium Ancestor

Jane's Question:
My grandmother who we always knew of as Lucie Stiren from Hondelange,Belgium came to the US in 1915 according to census records. I had gotten some information on birth from a relative in Belgium which had her name as Suzanne Lucie. She married Paul Paquet in the US (Michigan) and am told they met here.

I have been unable to find Lucie coming in on any ship and would really like to. He sister came with a gentleman and was listed under his name and her
last name wasn't listed. So I am thinking Lucie could have come with a family or something and I'll never find her? If her last name wasn't listed
was this a common thing or did it just happen that way with her sister.

Anyhow any suggestions as to finding the ship Lucie or Suzanne-Lucie Stiren came on would be appreciated.

Hello Jane,

In the past, I have had some success locating European passengers to Michigan on Canadian passenger lists on Ancestry.com. I did a quick look for you, but did not find anything evident. You may want to spend some time looking further at Canadian (and Great Lakes) passenger lists.

Escanaba, Delta County, is where Paul and Lucie lived 1915/1930; Escanaba is the county seat for Delta County.Paul states that he has been naturalized. The LDS have films for Delta County Naturalization records, 1867-1955;you may be fortunate and find that Paul included his wife's information. Footnote.com also has Naturalization Recordsicon from NARA

LDS (and the Delta County Genealogy Society) have newspaper indices from 1909. I did find a number of Belgians in Escanaba; there may have been social notes published in local newspapers (e/g/ "Miss Lucie Stiren was the guest of Mr and Mrs Joseph Bintz this weekend; Miss Stiren is the sister of Mrs. Bintz and she has just arrived here from Belgium.")

I found these census records on Ancestry.com
1910 census, delta escanaba Joe Mary Bintz (census taken 14 april) mrried 0 yr mother 1/1 Mary 0 years old

1920 census, Delta Co, Bark River: Joe, Mary, Anna 14, Emil 5, Helen 3, Leona 11 mos

I also found this marriage record:

Groom name: Paul Paquet
Groom age: 36 years
Groom birth year: 1881
Groom birth place: Luxemburg
Bride name: Lucie Stiren
Bride age: 27 years
Bride birth year: 1890
Bride birth place: Belgium
Marriage date: 28 Apr 1917
Marriage place: Escanaba, Delta, Michigan
Father of groom name: Nicholas Poquet
Mother of groom name: Margaret Lieber
Father of bride name: Nick Stiren
Mother of bride name: Madaline Horwick
Film number: 2342720
Digital GS number: 4210010
Image number: 195
Reference number: v 2 p 39 rn 6486
Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925

and this appears to be Lucie's sister:

Groom's name: Joseph Bintz
Groom's age: 37 years
Groom's birth year: 1873
Groom's birthplace: Belgium
Bride's name: Marie Stiren
Bride's age: 27 years
Bride's birth year: 1883
Bride's birthplace: Belgium
Marriage date: 08 Apr 1910
Marriage place: Escanaba, Delta, Michigan
Groom's father's name: Nicholas Bintz
Groom's mother's name: Annie Heisen
Father of bride's name: Nicholas Stiren
Mother of bride's name: Helene Harnich
Film number: 2342688
Digital GS number: 4209131
Image number: 579
Reference number: v 2 p 5 rn 3773
Collection: Michigan Marriages 1868-1925

1917 draft: Paul Paquet May 7 1879 in Lux. wife lucie which I found on Ancestry.com

1920 census, Delta Co, Escanaba
Paul (arr 1905)(Naturalized 1906??)
Lucie (arr 1915) ,
Henry 1+

1930 also escanaba
Paul (arr 1916 Naturalized)
Lucie arr 1915
Paul H 11
Nicholas 7
M. Rodolph 5

1 comment:

  1. I feel fortuante to have stumbled on your blog post here...I'm researching my husband's family tree for his birthday present. Paul & Lucie up there happen to be his great-grandparents, and now you've given me names to go back another generation. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete