Benoit COURVOISIER-PIOT 
(ID #I2418)
(male)
- BIRTH: 14 JUN 1794, Les Ponts-de-Martel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- BAPTISM: 28 JUN 1794, Les Ponts-de-Martel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
- DEATH: 07 SEP 1833, Vevay, Switzerland Co., Indiana
- BURIAL: Vevay Cemetery, Vevay, Switzerland Co., Indiana
Father: David Louis COURVOISIER-PIOT (b. 30 MAR 1754)
Mother: Marianne FÉVRIER (bp. 28 OCT 1764, d. 03 JAN 1822)
Family 1
:
Augustine THIÉBAUD (dates unknown)
- MARRIAGE: 01 MAY 1827, Switzerland Co., Indiana
- +Louisa Henrietta COURVOISIER (b. 03 MAR 1826?, d. 08 MAR 1852)
- Frederick Louis COURVOISIER (b. abt 1832)
Catechumen at Les Ponts-de-Marel, Christmas 1811.
Marriage banns were published in his home town of Les Ponts-de-Martel on October 21 and 28 and November 4, 1827 (indicating that he and his bride both resided at Vevay in the United States), but by then, the couple had already been married at Vevay. The request to publish the banns probably took longer than anticipated to reach the church at Les Ponts! Records from that parish show that he was born in 1794, not 1806 as listed in transcripts from the Vevay Cemetery. The 1806 date, in fact, is virtually impossible. Benoit Courvoisier gave his age as 32 when he applied for citizenship in 1827, and he purchased land from Francis Louis Reymond and his wife in January, 1822 (he would have been only 16 years old at that date, if the 1806 date were correct!). It is possible the tombstone was misread.
There is a Benoit Courvoisier on the passenger list for the ship Constantina, from Amsterdam, arriving at Philadelphia 18 aug 1817. On the same ship were a J. A. Courvoisier, L. Perrenod, Aimé Perrenod, and a few others with surnames typical of the same part of Neuchâtel. There is as yet no proof that the Benoit Courvoisier on the Constantina was the one who came to Vevay, but no other Benoit Courvoisier of his generation has come to our attention.
The evidence for the identity of the Benoit Courvoisier who settled at Vevay, as listed above, is relatively weak. It is entirely confirmed by the discovery of a case that came before the Supreme Court of Indiana in 1858 (Report of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana 10:454-459, 1858). The case of "Thieband, guardian, v. Sebastian, administrator" was appealed from the Switzerland County Circuit Court. Daniel F. Courvoisier, having made a will, died in Paris, France on 15 jun 1832. Among other bequests, he left his estate to his wife Julia M., and upon her death, that estate to be divided in six parts, one of which was to be distributed to his brother David L. Courvoisier, during his lifetime, and after David's death to any surviving children of David who had been born before Daniel's death. David L. Courvoisier had in fact died before his brother Daniel F., leaving three children: Frederick, Lewis, and Benoit. As of 1858, Frederick was said still to be living. Lewis had died without leaving a widow or descendants. Benoit had died in 1832 or 1833 (we know that the tombstone in the Vevay Cemetery says 1833), leaving two children, Frederick Lewis and Louisa Henrietta. Louisa had married first to an O'Neal, by whom she had a son Frederick B. O'Neal, still living, and then to Mr. Sebastian. The wife of Daniel Courvoisier died in 1848 (thus setting in motion the process to distribute Daniel's estate to his various legatees, including the descendants of his brother David). Louisa, Benoit's daughter, died in March, 1852, leaving as her only descendant her son Frederick B. O'Neal, then about four years old. On 20 mar 1849, Auguste Delachaux was appointed by the justices of the peace of "Poutz", Switzerland (probably a misreading of Ponts, meaning Les Ponts-de-Martel, where Benoit's family lived), as the attorney for Frederick and Benoit Courvoisier, to distribute the shares of the estate that fell to the descendants of David. Evidently, the fact of Benoit's death was not then known in Neuchâtel. The amount of this share was $2,300, of which half was given to "Thieband", as guardian of Frederick B. O'Neal. But Sebastian held that the money should not have gone to Frederick B. O'Neal, but to his wife's estate. The opinion of the court appears to have sided with "Thieband", and notes that the court in Switzerland County had admitted a copy of Daniel's will and a deposition given at La Chaux-de-Fonds by Auguste Delachaux into evidence, incorrectly. We may learn more about the situation if these items are part of the records of the county court.
On 23 sep 1833, Emanuel Pernet and Charles Thibaud were appointed to administer the estate of Benoit Courvoisier (Switzerland Co., Indiana Probate Orders "A", 1831-1837, p. 163). On that occasion, Charles Thibaud gave an oath that "fifteen days had fully passed" since the death of Benoit. Since we have the death date from his tombstone in the Vevay Cemetery, we know that, at least in this case, the wording of the oath was precise, 15 days having indeed "fully" passed since his death! It appears that there was a requirement for at least 15 days to have elapsed since the death before an estate could be brought before the probate court, and that the request for letters of administration was normally made as soon as possible.
Further research reveals that the ancestors of several of the Vevay settlers were connected by marriage. Benoit Courvoisier-Piot's maternal grandmother Marie Isabeau Perrenoud had remarried to David Henri Pétremand, whose step-brother Frédéric Thiébaud was the grandfather of Augustine Thiebaud, future wife of Benoit. Also, a daughter of the same David Henri Pétremand was the third wife of Charles Emanuel Haldiman, whose daughter Marianne, wife of Daniel Buren, was another Vevay settler.
_______________________
|
_Pierre Frédéric COURVOISIER-PIOT _|
| (1720 - ....) m 1748 |
| |_______________________
|
_David Louis COURVOISIER-PIOT _|
| (1754 - ....) m 1785 |
| | _Abel ROBERT __________
| | |
| |_Rose Marie ROBERT ________________|
| (.... - 1811) m 1748 |
| |_Anne Marie JEANNERET _
|
|
|--Benoit COURVOISIER-PIOT
| (1794 - 1833)
| _______________________
| |
| _Abraham FÉVRIER __________________|
| | (.... - 1780) |
| | |_______________________
| |
|_Marianne FÉVRIER _____________|
(.... - 1822) m 1785 |
| _Isaac PERRENOUD ______
| |
|_Marie Isabeau PERRENOUD __________|
|
|_______________________
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