David Louis GEX 
(ID #I1)
(male)
- BAPTISM: 19 OCT 1761, Eclépens, Vaud, Switzerland?
- DEATH: 28 SEP 1845, Posey Co., Indiana
- BURIAL: Maple Hill Cemetery, Posey Co., Indiana
Father: Jean Emanuel GEX (bp. 21 JUN 1711, d. 21 NOV 1782)
Mother: Marianne BONNARD (b. abt 1717, d. 17 FEB 1777)
Family 1
:
Jeanne Lucrèce Marguerite ("Lucille") OBOUSSIER (b. 05 SEP 1763, d. 11 OCT 1806)
- MARRIAGE: 24 JUN 1789, Croisettes-sur-Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
- Jean Antoine Louis GEX (b. 31 MAR 1790)
- Louise Caroline Marguerite Henriette GEX (b. 31 MAR 1791)
- Marc Lucien GEX (b. 05 MAR 1793)
- Anne Susanne Louise Antoinette ("Nanette") GEX (b. 07 MAR 1796)
- Victoire Helvétie GEX (b. 05 MAR 1798)
- Jeanne Louise Félicité Antoinette GEX (b. 28 MAR 1803)
Family 2
:
Marianne GOLAY (b. 07 SEP 1782, d. bef 1851)
- MARRIAGE: 01 JAN 1812, Jefferson Co., Indiana
After a notable early career in the Pays de Vaud, he settled at Vevay, Switzerland Co., Indiana. Exactly how he and his family got there is still in question. A letter dated 04 jan 1845 from Jean Marcel in Jessamine Co., Kentucky to his distant cousin Félix Marcel in Lausanne (ACV PP 416 Ba 13) says that Jean Marcel left Lausanne at the beginning of May, 1805, traveling "with the family of Mr. Gex, with whom we made the crossing" ("avec la famillie de Mr. Gex avec qui nous avons fait la traverce"). The passenger list of the Liberty shows Mrs. Gex with 5 children under the age of 14, and her son Antoine age 14 or older. Apparently, Mr. Gex had arrived in the US earlier. How the Gex family reached Vevay is important, because it suggests that, although the Liberty had been chartered for the projected Swiss colony of the partnership of Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Christian Ernst Zöller (these two partners were aboard the ship), and Jaques Marcel (not on the ship, but he was a first cousin of Jean Marcel), not everyone on board actually intended to be a part of the new colony, which was supposed to be established somewhere in the southern states as soon as land could be purchased. However, other correspondence raises the possibility that Louis Gex was actively involved in Hassler's project, see below.
His wife's name in secondary sources usually includes the name "Lucille", but we read her baptismal record as "Lucrèce", a discrepancy that is still unresolved. It might be an error, or it might be that the family changed their mind about what she should be called. There are many examples in the church records of people whose used a different name in their adult lives. She is called Marguerite Lucille in the marriage banns recorded at Vevey. However, another explanation may be that Lucille was simple regarded as a nickname for Lucrèce at that time.
He followed the fashion of his time in writing his name as Louis "Gex-Oboussier", a practice that has caused endless confusion among American genealogists. Shortly before the end of the 18th Century, it became fashionable in the Pays de Vaud to add the wife's surname to the family name, connected by the "trait d'union" or hyphen. This was simply a fashionable option, not a change in the family name. Unmarried children could also be referred to with the hypnenated names of their parents. The same tradition is still commonly seen in the newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland. The hyphenated name applies only to the specific family unit; it is not used in the next generation. In effect, it is a way of preserving the wife's family name (especially when she came from a notable family), and also a method for distinguishing families with the same surname. Not all hyphenated names in French-speaking Switzerland belong to this tradition, however. There are true hyphenated surnames such as Humbert-Droz, usually written without the hyphen before the end of the 18th Century. Some of the Huguenot families who took refuge in Switzerland brought with them a tradition of compound family names ("noms composés") from the Dauphiné, such as "Richard Janin", written without a hyphen. In Switzerland, after a brief period of confusion where some records called this family Richard, and others where it was called Janin, this "nom composé" was quickly replaced by Richard. What should the genealogist do? It seems best not to follow the 19th Century tradition except when quoting or discussing documents that have used this tradition, in order to avoid unnecessary confusion. The family name was, and remains, Gex.
Pierre-Yves Pièce of the Cercle Vaudois de Généalogie and a distinguished archivist and genealogist, gave the following account of the Gex and Oboussier families to Bill Davis in 1999:
Bonjour,
Voici encore quelques informations sur la famille Gex-Oboussier. Elles proviennent du livre: Union et Concorde, la Révolution vaudoise s'empare du Gouvernement d'Aigle et du Pays d'Enhaut. Les Ormonts résistent !. Ce livre a été publié l'année dernière à l'occasion des 200 ans de l'indépendance vaudoise.
On y trouve la mention de Gex-Oboussier à la page 291:
"GEX-OBOUSSIER Louis David (˙ 19.10.1761 Eclépens, † 28.9.1845 Mapple Hill Cemetery à Posey Co. Indiana). Fils de Jean Emmanuel Gex et de Marianne Bonard. Originaire d'Eclépens, il est négociant à Vevey, membre du comité de Vevey où il habite le Bourg aux Favres. Il est également membre de l'Assemblée provisoire à Lausanne. Son véritable nom est Gex. Après son mariage avec J. Marguerite Lucille Oboussier, il écrit son nom Gex-Oboussier. Attesté à Vevay, Indiana, dès 1804, avec son beau-frère Luke Oboussier, il y avait déjà acheté un terrain en 1802. Il y produisait un excellent vin. Il se marie une seconde fois avec Marianne Bornand (fille de Jacques David Golay, née le 7.9.1782, mariée avec Henry Bornand en 1802, divorcée, remariée avec Louis Gex-Oboussier en 1812) que par simplification américaine tous appelaient Mme. Oboussier. Sa fille Victoria Columbine Gex naît en 1812. Il est considéré comme un grand philosophe."
Le livre de M.Dufour que vous connaissez sans doute est également mentionné à la page 318: The swiss Settlement of Switzerland County Indiana, Indiana Historical commission, Indianapolis, 1925.
Concernant le Refuge il s'agit des protestants qui ont quitté la France lors de la Révocation de l'Edit de Nantes en 1685 par Louis XIV. Cette révocation supprimait tous les avantages accordés aux calvinistes. 200'000 à 300'000 personnes émigrèrent en Suisse et en Allemagne. Vous trouverez facilement des informations en anglais sur Internet.
Meilleures salutations,
PY Pièce,
Cercle Vaudois de Généalogie
Translation:
Bonjour,
Here is some further information about the Gex-Oboussier family. It comes from the book Union and Concord: The Revolution of Vaud conquers the Government of Aigle and the Pays d'Enhaut. The Ormonts resist !. This book was published last year on the occasion of the bicentennial of Vaudois independence.
We find in it a mention of Gex-Oboussier on page 291:
"GEX-OBOUSSIER, Louis David (born 19 Oct 1761at Eclépens, buried 28 Sep 1845 Mapple Hill Cemetery, Posey Co., Indiana). Son of Jean Emmanuel Gex and of Marianne Bonard. A native of Eclépens, he was a businessman at Vevey, member of the Committee of Vevey, where he resided in the quarter of the blacksmiths. He was also a member of the Provisional Assembly in Lausanne. His true surname is Gex. After his marriage with Jeanne Marguerite Lucille Oboussier, he wrote his name Gex-Oboussier. Attested at Vevay, Indiana beginning in 1804, with his brother-in-law Luke Oboussier, he had already purchased land there in 1802. He produced an excellent wine there. He married a second time to Marianne Bornand (daughter of Jacques David Golay, born 7 Sep 1782, married to Henry Bornand in 1802, divorced, and remarried to Louis Gex-Oboussier in 1812), who by an American simplification everyone called Madame Oboussier. His daughter Victoria Columbine Gex was born in 1812. He was considered a great philosopher."
The book by Mr. Dufour that you undoubtedly know about is also mentioned on page 318: The swiss Settlement of Switzerland County Indiana, Indiana Historical Commission, Indianapolis, 1925.
Concerning the "Refuge", it refers to the protestants who left France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 by Louis XIV. This Revocation suppressed all of the rights accorded to the Calvinists. 200,000 to 300,000 individuals emigrated to Switzerland and Germany. You will easily find information about this in English on the Internet.
Best regards,
PY Pièce,
Vaudois Circle of Genealogy
The Indiana Historical Society has a collection of the papers of the Gex family (not yet examined, but some of them are quoted in Indiana Wine, by James L. and John J. Butler, Indiana University Press, 2001).
Some of our information about this family comes from transcripts of the Lausanne and Vevey church records was kindly provided by Nancy J. Emmert, CG.
A letter from David Golay to his father in Switzerland, 30 aug 1804, is published in an English translation by Ruby Golay Stoner (David Golay, His Ancestors and Descendants, 1984, p. 35 ff.). David Golay had just arrived with his extended family in the settlement of "New Switzerland", Indiana, traveling from Ulster Co., NY. He makes the following observation: "There is a Mr. Gex of Eclepens who has been in partnership with Mr. Collomb the elder of Vevey who is our neighbor. He is waiting for his wife and children next spring with a colony of the canton of Berne, for whom he bought some land." (This same letter is the source of the erroneous information that his wife was a daughter of Félix Oboussier of Lausanne.) Mr. Collomb the elder may be François Philippe Fréderic Collomb of Vevey, whose son Jaques Paul Colomb married a Johannot and thus became the Mr. Colomb-Johannot who seems to have loaned money to another of the Vevay settlers, Jean Jaques Dufour. If this story is correct, Gex and Collomb must have been in contact with Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler and his partners Christian Ernst Zöller and Jaques Marcel, though we have so far found no evidence of this. If Louis Gex had purchased land for the colony, we would expect to see a later division of his land in favor of some of Hassler's "colonists". Stoner also reports that Louis Gex had traveled on some part of his journey with Albert Gallatin. It is actually possible that Gex could have encountered Gallatin somewhere in Pennsylvania, but probably not on the Atlantic passage
_Sébastien GEX ______
|
_Jean Samuel GEX ________|
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| |_____________________
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_Jean Emanuel GEX ___|
| (.... - 1782) |
| | _____________________
| | |
| |_Henriette Marie BERGER _|
| (1686 - 1744) |
| |_____________________
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|--David Louis GEX
| (.... - 1845)
| _____________________
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| _________________________|
| | |
| | |_____________________
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|_Marianne BONNARD ___|
(1717 - 1777) |
| _____________________
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|_________________________|
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|_____________________
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