François and Pontif Rossignol

In the 1860 US Census of Aroostook County, Maine, in Township 18, Range 5 (now Frenchville and Ste-Agathe), there are two families by the name of Rossignol which are somewhat of a mystery, because of mixups in the Ste-Luce church registries, which, as seen further below, combine the names of the fathers and mothers of these two families:

On page 516, lines 5-11, there appears this family:

Rosinal         Pontiff         |    45 M   | Farmer       |  800   650 | Canada      |     X             |
Rosinal         Ermine          |    44 F   |              |            | Canada      |     X             |
Rosinal         Octave          |    20 M   |              |            | Canada      |                   | 
Rosinal         Ermine          |    17 F   |              |            | Maine       |                   | 
Rosinal         Mary            |    10 F   |              |            | Maine       |                   |
Rosinal         Nerbert         |    18 M   |              |            | Maine       |                   |
Baton           Baptiste        |    75 M   |              |            | Canada      |                   |

Two pages earlier, page 514, on lines 25 through 33, this family appears:

Rosinal         Francis         |    53 M   | Farmer       |  600   400 | Canada      |     X             |
Rosinal         Sovreign        |    45 F   |              |            | Canada      |     X             | 
Rosinal         Francis         |    15 M   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         William         |    13 M   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         Eliza           |    11 F   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         Michel          |     9 M   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         Harriett        |     7 F   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         Artimais        |     4 F   |              |            | Canada      |                   |
Rosinal         Clarisse        |     1 F   |              |            | Maine       |                   | "can't read" is marked and crossed off

The first family appears to have come to Maine from Canada between 18-20 years before the 1860 census, that is, in about 1840-1842 (based on birthplace of children). The second family appears to have come over within the previous year (again based on birthplace of children).

Yet the marriage records as described in the Dictionnaire Généalogique de Madawaska, as well as the Ste-Luce (Frenchville) marriage records, seem to have combined these two families, listing the parents as Pontif-François Rossignol and Hermine-Sévérine Marquis, married St-André in Kamouraska, Québec, 10 Feb 1834. Thus children from both of these families are listed as children of Pontif-François and Hermine-Sévérine Marquis:

These seem to be from the first family above (actually the children of Pontif Rossignol and Hermine Marquis):

ROSSIGNOL, OCTAVE fils de Pontife Frs et Hermine Severine Marquis - 1834
FONGEMIE, MARIE fille de Frs X et Madeleine Castagne-Castonguay - 1841
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1860-11-20
p.1867

ROSSIGNOL, HERMINE fille de Pontif et Hermine Marquis - 1834
GUIMOND, JEAN RAPHAEL fils de Charles et Marie Bernier - 1831
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1860-11-12
p.1849, Brides.exe

ROSSIGNOL, NORBERT fils de Pontiffe Frs et Hermine Severine Marquis - 1834
BARON, OZITHEE fille de Francois et Olive Leclerc - 1831
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1863-08-10
(p.1867)

 

These seem to be from the second family above (actually the children of François Rossignol and Sévérine Marquis):

ROSSIGNOL, WILLIAM fils de Pontife Frs et Hermine Severine Marquis - 1834
PICARD, VENERANDE fille de Gilbert et Docithee Osithe Martin - 1847
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1872-04-15
p.1870

ROSSIGNOL, MICHEL fils de Pontife Frs et Hermine Severine Marquis - 1834
SAUCIER, MARIE fille de Antoine et Rosalie Pelletier - 1849
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1887-09-28
(p.1867)

ROSSIGNOL, HENRIETTE fille de Francois et Severine Hermine Marquis - 1834
BOSSE, HENRI HONORE REMI fils de Alexis et Celeste Levesque - 1831
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1875-01-17
(p.1849, Brides, exe)

ROSSIGNOL, CLARISSE fille de Francois et Severine Marquis - 1834
HEBERT, FLORENT FLUERENT fils de Simon et Marie Louise Belanger - 1843
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1877-05-13
(p.1846, Brides.exe)

 

It is unclear which family these two are from:

ROSSIGNOL, PONTIFE fils de Pontife Frs et Hermine Severine Marquis - 1834
MARTIN, SOPHIE fille de Michel et Arthemise Antonia Dumont-Guere - 1862
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1881-07-11
p.1869
Given the date Pontife may have been born after the 1860 census. Or he may have been named Pontife-François and is thus the François listed in the second family above:

ROSSIGNOLL, ZOE fille de Francois et Severine Marquis - 1834
BOUCHARD, UBALD fils de Richard et Suzanne Chasse - 1851
maries a Ste Luce Frenchville, ME - 1877-09-17
p.1854, Brides.exe
Given the date, Zoé may also have been born after the census; or she may be the "Mary" from the first family or "Eliza" or "Artimais" from the second.

The first family, Pontif and Hermine, with Octave, Norbert and Hermine, does appear in the 1850 US Census, in Madawaska Plantation, p.157a

Resgnol   Phamtif   38   M    farmer         900       Canada                        X
Resgnol   Armene    32   F                             Canada                        X
Resgnol   Octan     10   F                             Me.
Resgnol   Herbert   9    M                             Me.
Resgnol   Armon     7    F                             Me.

So clearly these are two separate families. What is strange is the mixture of the names of both parents in the records.


Update! Thanks to Robert Rossignol who pointed me to the following information, posted by Daniel Lacomb at http://genforum.genealogy.com/rossignol/messages/141.html :

Beware of marriage dictionaries and the internet!!! Transcriptions lead to inevitable errors. Here is an example dealing with some sons of Julien Rossignol jr and his first wife, Suzanne Boucher.

The marriage dictionary (Lang/Langlois) gives this information:

1. Maurice Rossignol, married Hermine Marquis at St-André-de-Kamouraska Qc on Nov. 5th 1839;

2. Pontife Rossignol, married Hermine Marquis at Rivière-du-Loup Qc on Feb. 10th 1834;

3. François-Xavier Rossignol, married Séverine Marquis ca 1845, the date and place of their marriage was not given in the dictionary.

With this information, we are led to believe that Julien Rossignol jr had these three sons among other children.

When we look for their baptism records in the original parish registers, we find those for Maurice and François-Xavier, but not for Pontife.

Then we look for their marriage records, again in the original church registers. -We find one for Maurice Rossignol and Hermine Marquis at St-André-de-Kamouraska Qc on Nov. 5th 1839. -Up next is Pontife Rossignol and Hermine Marquis' record: however, the parish and date given for them (Rivière-du-Loup Qc Feb 10th 1834) does not yield their marriage record! Instead, it is the marriage record of François-Xavier Rossignol and Séverine Marquis that we find! Not Pontife and Hermine like the dictionary claims!!! Moreover, confirmation of this comes from the notary Alexander Fraser. He recorded François-Xavier and Séverine's marriage contract on Feb. 9th 1834: the day before their church wedding!

The final piece of the puzzle, bringing an end to this problem, falls into place when we read Norbert Rossignol's baptism record. His parents are listed as being: "Maurice-Pontife" Rossignol and Hermine Marquis!!!

Maurice Rossignol had a double name and was using mostly Maurice even though his full name was "Maurice-Pontife"!

In short, the Ste-Luce registers have for some reason combined Maurice-Pontife and François-Xavier into one person, and did the same with their wives, Hermine Marquis and Sévérine Marquis.

If you have any further information on this family, including any ideas why the Ste-Luce register has combined these people, I'd like to hear from you!


Return to the 1860 US Census of Township 18, Range 5

Last revised 20 Dec 2002