DUTOIT: A Family from Moudon, Switzerland
John DANSON (ID #I26455)
(male)
- BIRTH: 14 OCT 1834, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- BAPTISM: 15 OCT 1834, Basilique de Notre-Dame, Québec, Québec, Canada
- DEATH: 05 MAR 1836, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- BURIAL: 06 MAR 1836, St. Louis Cemetery, Québec, Québec, Canada
Father: John DANSON (b. 26 MAY 1793, d. 03 NOV 1835?)
Mother: Catherine POWER (b. 1797, d. 27 DEC 1834)
His burial record is the first definite indication that his father had died:
(From the parish register of 1836 for Notre-Dame de Québec, fol. 48v, burial 91:) "Le six Mars mil huit cent trente six, Nous Prêtre Vicaire de Québec soussigné, avons inhumé dans le cimetiere St. Louis, John, fils légitime de feu Sieur John Danson, et de Dame Catherine Power, décédé la veille, en cette ville, agé de seize mois, Présens Pierre Rinfrette soussigné et Laurent Bontête (?) qui n'a su signer..."
This record is ambiguous as to whether Catherine had already died. Although the construction is not strictly grammatically correct, the word "feu" can sometimes be used to mean that all the persons whose names follow are deceased, and not just the first name in the list. This is evidently the case here, because the burial record for Catherine on 28 dec 1834 is very clear.
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
| |__
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1793 - 1835) m 1818|
| | __
| | |
| |_Frances BRAGG ______|
| (1764 - ....) m 1787|
| |__
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|--John DANSON
| (1834 - 1836)
| __
| |
| _Michael POWER ______|
| | (1770 - 1815) |
| | |__
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|_Catherine POWER ____|
(1797 - 1834) m 1818|
| __
| |
|_Elizabeth TOVEY ____|
(1771 - 1851) |
|__
Return to Index
Jonathan DANSON (ID #I26456)
(male)
- BAPTISM: 29 APR 1819, Workington, Cumberland, England
Father: John DANSON (b. 26 MAY 1793, d. 03 NOV 1835?)
Mother: Catherine POWER (b. 1797, d. 27 DEC 1834)
Another baptism for apparently the same child at the church of St. Peter in Liverpool 26 jul 1819 indicates the father was a mariner and gives the family's address as Stanhope St. The maiden name of the mother, Catherine, is not given. There does not seem to be another occurrence of a John Danson with a wife Catherine in either Workington or in Lancashire.
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
| |__
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1793 - 1835) m 1818|
| | __
| | |
| |_Frances BRAGG ______|
| (1764 - ....) m 1787|
| |__
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|--Jonathan DANSON
|
| __
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| _Michael POWER ______|
| | (1770 - 1815) |
| | |__
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|_Catherine POWER ____|
(1797 - 1834) m 1818|
| __
| |
|_Elizabeth TOVEY ____|
(1771 - 1851) |
|__
Return to Index
Marion (Mary Ann) DANSON (ID #I11225)
(female)
- BIRTH: 15 JAN 1832, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- BAPTISM: 16 JAN 1832, Basilique de Notre-Dame, Québec, Québec, Canada
- DEATH: 02 FEB 1916, Marinette, Marinette Co., WI
- BURIAL: 04 FEB 1916, Marinette, WI
Father: John DANSON (b. 26 MAY 1793, d. 03 NOV 1835?)
Mother: Catherine POWER (b. 1797, d. 27 DEC 1834)
Family 1
:
Solomon VICTOR (b. abt 1833, d. 21 APR 1900)
- MARRIAGE: 31 OCT 1860, Manchester, Lancaster, England
- +Virginia Rosalind VICTOR (b. 26 JAN 1863, d. 24 NOV 1935)
- +Walter Moses VICTOR (b. 12 MAR 1865, d. 30 SEP 1933)
At the time of her marriage, October 31, 1860, she was living at 1 Belgrave Terrace, Higher Broughton, Salford. Solomon was living at 113 Bury New Road, Strangeways, Manchester. (On the 1861 census, the family living at 1 Belgrave Terrace, Broughton, Salford, is Icha Sergioides, age 38, born in Constantinople, "Levant merchant", his wife Aspensia, children Alenandoz, Nicholas, Julia, and John, and servants Eliza Turner, Ann Bagshaw, and Sophia Patrick. We presume Marion had worked here. This entry is indexed by Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org as Sergivides, a name that is otherwise unknown.)
The first known record in the United States is a civil court case, Marion Victor v. Solomon Victor, a divorce action, September term, 1869, in the Court of Common Pleas of Wayne Co., Indiana. The divorce was not granted, according to a notice of court orders published in the edition of Thursday, October 14, 1869 in The Radical, Richmond, Indiana. She next surfaces as "the woman in question" in a sensational incident in Bloomington, Illinois. She had "run away" with Alston Rich and had lived with him as his wife in Bloomington from about May, 1870, until August, 1870, when Solomon Victor discovered where she had been living and shot Alston Rich (who recovered, and left town with Mrs. Victor, after which Solomon was acquitted of attempted murder). By November, 1870, she was in DeKalb County, Illinois, where she filed for divorce, but by March, 1872, she and Solomon had apparently reconciled, because she withdrew the suit.
The next definite record in the United States is the 1880 census of Marinette, Wisconsin. In 1882, she bought a house there at 802 Terrace. In 1895, she sold the house and was living in Omaha. In 1899, Albert Fairchild quitclaimed the same house back to her. Marion sold the house to her daughter in 1913, but remained in the household until her death in 1916. She is living with her daughter and son-in-law in 1900, Gosper Co., NE (ED 74 p 3), showing birthplace as "Canada Fr."
Family lore says she was raised in a convent in Quebec, and came to England when "of age". Exactly what that means is not very clear — but it is certain she should be listed on either the Canadian or British census of 1851. The 1851 census in Quebec, however, is suspected of being incomplete. In any event, she has still not been found.
(Albert Fairchild was Asa Albert Fairchild, born about 1852 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, son of John Fairchild and Laura Porter Bigelow from Vermont, who moved to Marinette, Wisconsin in 1863. His wife was Helen May Graves, according to the birth record of their son Maurice Fairchild, 11 oct 1887, at Marinette, Wisconsin. They were married 14 July 1878 at Peshtigo, Oconto Co., Wisconsin. Another source places Asa's birth at Knightstown, Henry Co., Indiana, and notes a daughter Marion Fairchild born 31 mar 1882 and died 12 oct 1882, at Marinette. This family is the subject of a typescript by Herbert I. Corning, The Family History of Asa Albert Fairchild and His Wife Helen May (Graves) Fairchild which is Supplemental and Part of the Fairchild Genealogy, Long Beach, California, 1968, now in the collections of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, not yet examined.)
A possible sighting was found on the "Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerks" web site, in a series of extracts of marriage records in the parish of St. Mary's (Church of England, founded 1754, closed 1890), in the city of Manchester, England. At the marriage of Thomas Todd, agent, of Manchester, and Matilda Alexander, of Patricroft, on 28 jan 1854, the witnesses were Robert Harrison and Marion Danson. The witnesses at this period are usually one male, for the groom, and one female, for the bride, so this Marion is very likely a woman. Our Marion was 22 years old at this time, and this record, if it is indeed her, places her in Manchester, where she was married six years later.
The 1861 census shows her age as 20, birthplace Quebec, Lower Canada. The age seems to be in error, as all other documents so far located put her birthdate about 1832 or 1833. It is just possible she managed to get to England in time for the 1851 census.
Marion and her two children are still in Marinette on the 1885 Wisconsin State Census. They are not on the 1875 census of Marinette at all (then in Oconto County), so it is still unknown whether Solomon Victor ever reached that city. Her son Walter claimed on one census that he had come to the US in 1867, but there are no definite records of any member of this family in the US (with the possible exception of a Solomon Victor who arrived in NY in 1854) prior to 1869.
We now know that Marion and her two children sailed from Liverpool on the steamship St. George, arriving at Quebec on 23 jun 1868. Solomon was not aboard, nor did we find him on the indexed passenger lists for Quebec 1865-1869. The passenger list says she was married, age 32, and gives her occupation as "matron." The Victors are the second family on the embarkation list, coming aboard on 05 jun 1868.
In the Drouin collection of French-Canadian records, now available on Ancestry.com, we finally located the records of this family, as well as the reason why they were so difficult to find. There are only a few entries in the Drouin collection indexed as Danson. We now know that at least some Dansons have been indexed incorrectly as Dawson!
The baptism of Mary Ann Danson was recorded at the Basilica of Notre-Dame in the city of Quebec on 16 jan 1832 (indexed by Drouin as Dawson):
"Le seize janvier mil huit cent trente deux nous Pretre vicaire de Quebec sousigné avons baptisé Mary Ann née hier de legitime mariage de John Danson maitre d'un batiment et de Catherine Power de cette ville. Parain: Joseph Bradley. Marainne: Catherine Bradley sousignée, le pere absent."
There does not appear to be any relationship between Marion Danson Victor and the Albert Fairchild involved in the real estate transactions in Marinette. He was Asa Albert Fairchild, son of John Fairchild and Laura Porter Bigelow, with New England ancestry back to the middle of the 18th Century—and no Canadian ancestry.
Although there is no trace of her siblings in later records, and no evidence of any cousins on her father's side living in Canada, we now know that she had many relatives on her mother's side who lived in Quebec city. At least one aunt and many cousins were still in the area when she returned to Canada with her children in 1868. Had she remained in contact with them? Did their families retain any memory of her story? Did any of them remember her in their wills? In particular, had her uncle William Power been her guardian?
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
| |__
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1793 - 1835) m 1818|
| | __
| | |
| |_Frances BRAGG ______|
| (1764 - ....) m 1787|
| |__
|
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|--Marion (Mary Ann) DANSON
| (1832 - 1916)
| __
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| _Michael POWER ______|
| | (1770 - 1815) |
| | |__
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|_Catherine POWER ____|
(1797 - 1834) m 1818|
| __
| |
|_Elizabeth TOVEY ____|
(1771 - 1851) |
|__
Return to Index
Thisbe DANSON (ID #I26562)
(female)
- BIRTH: 04 MAY 1822, At sea
- BAPTISM: 18 DEC 1822, St. Mark's, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
Father: William DANSON (b. abt 1790, d. MAY 1824)
Mother: Agnes MACQUARRIE (b. abt 1791, d. MAY 1824)
A sampler by Thisbe Danson, dated 1832, when she was 10 years old, has survived (photo in Wikipedia article on Clan MacQuarrie attributed to Paul de Bedyk at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54061854). While some accounts say that the entire family—William, Agness, and all of their children—were aboard the Thisbe when she was lost at sea in 1824, the published accounts do not mention any survivors. Therefore, since Thisbe herself clearly survived, it seems more likely that Agnes and the children were not on board, and that all but Thisbe eventually died prior to the 1841 census, at which time Thisbe was found living with relatives in England.
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
| |__
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_William DANSON _____|
| (1790 - 1824) m 1816|
| | __
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| |_Frances BRAGG ______|
| (1764 - ....) m 1787|
| |__
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|--Thisbe DANSON
| (1822 - ....)
| __
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| _Donald MACQUARRIE __|
| | m 1790 |
| | |__
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|_Agnes MACQUARRIE ___|
(1791 - 1824) m 1816|
| __
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|_Martha LEA _________|
m 1790 |
|__
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William DANSON (ID #I26561)
(male)
- BIRTH: abt 1790
- DEATH: MAY 1824, At sea
Father: John DANSON (b. abt 1759, d. 13 MAY 1814)
Mother: Frances BRAGG (b. abt 1764, bur. 30 JUN 1848)
Family 1
:
Agnes MACQUARRIE (b. abt 1791, d. MAY 1824)
- William DANSON (b. 04 SEP 1816)
- John DANSON (dates unknown)
- Frances DANSON (b. 11 SEP 1819)
- Agnes Ann DANSON (b. 25 NOV 1820)
- Thisbe DANSON (b. 04 MAY 1822)
- Elizabeth Jane DANSON (b. 11 JAN 1824)
From about February 1810 until February 1817, he was Master of the ship Frances, of which his father John Danson was the major owner and "Ship's Husband", according to a deposition made by William in 1822 in connection with a dispute about the finances of the ship (National Archives of the UK, C 13/794 and 812). From the spring of 1817 until the ship was sold in 1821, the master of the ship identified in several other records was John Danson, evidently William's next younger brother.
Advertisement from the Liverpool Mercury, 26 jul 1823.
This is the only known representation of the Thisbe.
Although I was not able to locate the baptism for William, his descendants indicate he belongs here, and he is clearly identified as the son of John and Frances Danson in the dispute of 1822. By then he was the master of the brig Thisbe, after which his daughter was named — she was born on this ship in 1822 — , and which sank in 1824 on its way to Montreal, all hands lost. By 1841, the daughter Thisbe, age 19, was living with her grandmother Frances Danson, age 77, in Workington. The Monthly Magazine and British Register, volume 41, reports the marriage of Captain William Danson, of Workington, to Miss M'Querie of Liverpool, in the issue of March 1, 1816. There was another William Danson, a blacksmith from Pilling, Lancashire, with a wife Agnes Speight, married in 1813, and thus a possible source of confusion in sorting out the children to be attributed to the present William. The children baptised at Liverpool and at Workington are most likely his.
He arrived at Quebec with the Thisbe on 16 may 1822 (the newspaper report calls him Dawson), having left Liverpool on April 26 (more likely the date reported by the newspaper should have been March 26), and proceeded from Quebec on to Montreal, arriving 24 may 1822 (the newspaper report this time calls him Dinson). It was on this voyage that his daughter Thisbe was born, according to the family story. The Thisbe next reached Quebec on 24 sep 1823, again from Liverpool. In 1824, the Thisbe was reported to have sailed from Liverpool on April 6, but never arrived in Quebec. The wreck of the Thisbe was reported in the Montreal Gazette on 24 sep 1824: "A Jolly Boat with 'Thisbe of Liverpool,'on the stern, was picked up by the Margaret Ann, arrived at Miramichi, in long[itude] 36. The boat was bottom up. This vessel, it is stated sailed from Liverpool in April last with a very valuable cargo for Montreal, and has not since been heard of."
A more extensive report of the mishaps of that season was reported in the Caldonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland) on 19 jul 1824:
Ship News, Aberdeen, July 15.
The Jean, [Master] Innes, arrived at Quebec, after a boisterous passage of 47 days from Liverpool, with some of his sails split, and loss of part of his bulwarks. Captain Innes gives the like melacholy account of the loss and damage of shipping on the outward passage to America, as has been already so amply detailed—not a vessel, as he writes, arriving, but has suffered more or less from the heavy gales they had encountered. The Pilot, [Master] Law, and Brilliant, [Master] Beverley, of this place, had both arrived; the former after being nearly lost, having upset for some time, and lost all her boats, but was supplied with one boat by the Jean, off Seven Islands Bay; and the latter with considerable damage in her sails. The crews of seven vessels, which had been abandonded, had arrived at Quebec; as also the master and four of the crew of the fine brig Cumberland, with a valuable cargo on board, (found abandoned at sea, as stated in our last) the remaining part of the crew, eight men, being washed overboard by a heavy sea, by which the above survivors were variously disabled. The Thisbe, with a general cargo, and the Camillus, in ballast, which sailed from Liverpool on the 3rd ult. with the Brilliant, had not arrived. In passing the south-east end of St. Paul's Island, the wreck of a large ship ashore, with her bowsprit only standing, was observed from the Jean, with the appearance of something like a tent near the wreck. From this circumstance, Mr. Innes supposing some of the crew might still be alive, hoisted out one of his boats, and boarded the wreck, which he found to be a large new ship, about 400 tons per register, fir built, paint strokes and covering boards black birch, with knees at the bows, which shews that the vessel had had a billet or figure head; but the stern was gone, and there were no papers found to discover the name, &c. The cargo consisted of lower port timber, with lathwood for broken stowage; and from the quantity of seamen's clothes, blankets, &c. among the wreck, he apprehended the crew had been lost in the fall of last season. This is unhappily confirmed by farther accounts of the fate of the unfortunate crew and passengers, 22 in number, being found dead in a tent, in which they had endeavored to shelter themselves, and preserve life, after the loss of their vessel, which proves to be the new brig Jessie of Greenock.
It was not long after this that news of the fate of the Thisbe reached Liverpool. The Liverpool Mercury reported on 30 jul 1824 that "a jolly-boat, with 'Thisbe, of Liverpool,' on the stern, was picked up by the Margaret Ann, arrived at Miramichi, in lon. 36. The boat was bottom up." (This is the same report that appeared in the Montreal Gazette almost two months later, see above.) When the Margaret Ann at length returned from Miramichi, New Brunswick, the Liverpool Mercury reported the further details: "On the 11th May, the Margaret Ann, from Miramichi at this port, picked up the Thisbe's boat, in lat[itude]. 46 23, lon[gitude]. 35 0; at the same time, saw a vessel's topmast, with the heel uppermost, supposed the head to be kept down by the rigging." The "jolly boat" was the small boat, about 16 feet in length, equipped with 4 or 6 oars and sometimes a sail, used for small tasks such as ferrying passengers between ships, etc. It would normally have hung at the stern of the ship, so that it could be lowered easily to the water (see the article on jolly boat in the Wikipedia). The mast found nearby was probably that of the Thisbe, all hands surely lost.
A marriage "allegation" dated 27 jan 1816 for this couple was filed at Cheshire (FHL microfilm #1894298). The bride's name in that record was indexed on the FamilySearch,org web site as Agnes McQuire, but the original "allegation" record clearly calls her Agnes McQuarrie. Both spouses (William listed as a mariner) were at that time "age 21 and upwards", and both gave their residence as Bridgewater Street, Liverpool.
An apparently different William Danson figures in a legal action at Quebec, 09 apr 1801, brought by William Danson, of the copartnership of Thomas and William Danson, merchants of Bristol, asking for the appointment of a curator within this province to the vacant succession and estate of Thomas Danson deceased, for which a list of his friends have nominated John Blackwood of Quebec (BAnQ 03Q,CC301,S1,D8689, digitized at https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/archives/52327/3404198?docref=hSE433_y-l9nk_AWuHbpeA. Further pages of this action reveal that Thomas and William Danson were late of St. Johns in the Island of Newfoundland, but now of the city of Bristol, England. Might this be a previous generation of the Dansons, originally from Workington? The action was initiated in connection with a claim entered 06 apr 1801 by the partnership against John Paint, late Master of the ship Flying Fish, now at the city of Quebec, defendant. There are many traces of this family, including the will of (this?) William Danson, merchant of Bristol, PROB 11/1703/188, dated 07 sep 1825, but that date appears to be when it was admitted to probate, as the death of William Danson occurred 21 mar 1825, as reported in The Gentleman's Magazine, and burial at St. Paul's Churchyard, Bristol, is noted 28 mar 1825 . Information online says will includes wife Elizabeth, son Edmund Rowe Danson (and Edmund Rowe was in Newfoundland; Edmnud Rowe Danson was baptised at Harbour Grace 07 dec 1793), Frederick Danson, Hugh William Danson, and Thomas Elias Danson. Online genealogies suggest William was born in 1745, no parentage suggested. Another will, dated 28 dec 1816, is in Newfoundland Will Books, vol. 1, pp. 6-15, transcribed in the family tree of this William Danson on FamilySearch.org, mentioning, among other assets, real property at Bristol but not elsewhere. That family tree Thomas Danson, William's business partner in Bristol, is almost certainly the Thomas Danson, Esq. who was buried 27 apr 1800 at St. Paul's Church, Southville, Bristol. Nothing has yet surfaced that provides a connection between the Danson family of Workington and the Danson family at Bristol. The family tree for William Danson on FamilySearch.org mentions under "Occupation" that he was a merchant and ship owner, "also with property in Liverpool", but no source is provided for this statement. It may be that mentions of the Danson family in Liverpool have been conflated with those for the family in Bristol.
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
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| |__|
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| |__
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|--William DANSON
| (1790 - 1824)
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|_Frances BRAGG ______|
(1764 - ....) m 1787|
| __
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|__|
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William DANSON (ID #I26457)
(male)
- BIRTH: 04 AUG 1829, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
- BAPTISM: 04 AUG 1829, Basilique de Notre-Dame, Québec, Québec, Canada
Father: John DANSON (b. 26 MAY 1793, d. 03 NOV 1835?)
Mother: Catherine POWER (b. 1797, d. 27 DEC 1834)
Baptised as Guillaume Danson, and indexed in the Drouin collection as Guillaume Dawson. The baptismal record says that his father John Danson was then captain of the ship Madner (or perhaps Nadner?). The godparents were Joseph and Henriette Binet.
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1759 - 1814) m 1787|
| |__
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_John DANSON ________|
| (1793 - 1835) m 1818|
| | __
| | |
| |_Frances BRAGG ______|
| (1764 - ....) m 1787|
| |__
|
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|--William DANSON
| (1829 - ....)
| __
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| _Michael POWER ______|
| | (1770 - 1815) |
| | |__
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|_Catherine POWER ____|
(1797 - 1834) m 1818|
| __
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|_Elizabeth TOVEY ____|
(1771 - 1851) |
|__
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Nicolas DANTZ (ID #I5342)
(male)
- BIRTH: of Zicoltz, Grisons
Family 1
:
Louise MAYOR (dates unknown)
- MARRIAGE: 13 NOV 1803, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
[14658]
[14658]
Marriage banns published at Lausanne 06 and 13 nov 1803, bride listed as "Louise Mayor fille de Isaac Samuel Mayor de Ballens".
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Charlotte DAPPLES (ID #I21919)
(female)
- BAPTISM: 10 JUL 1724, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Father: Jean François DAPPLES (b. abt 1690, d. 05 MAY 1772)
Mother: Jeanne Elizabeth CHARRIÈRE (b. abt 1701, d. 02 MAY 1785)
Family 1
:
Marc Antoine PORTA (b. 1725, d. 25 MAY 1781)
- MARRIAGE: 8 AUG 1745, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Susanne Françoise PORTA (dates unknown)
Family 2
:
Samuel Auguste André David TISSOT (b. 20 MAR 1728, d. 13 JUN 1797)
________________________________
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_Jean Pierre DAPPLES __________|
| (1655 - ....) |
| |________________________________
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_Jean François DAPPLES ______|
| (1690 - 1772) |
| | ________________________________
| | |
| |_Gabrielle Françoise SEIGNEUX _|
| (.... - 1736) |
| |________________________________
|
|
|--Charlotte DAPPLES
|
| ________________________________
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| _Abraham CHARRIÈRE ____________|
| | |
| | |________________________________
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|_Jeanne Elizabeth CHARRIÈRE _|
(1701 - 1785) |
| _Marc DE SAUSSURE ______________
| | m 1664
|_Jeanne Françoise DE SAUSSURE _|
|
|_Magdelaine Marguerite DE LOYS _
m 1664
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Legend: Protestant minister.
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