{"id":1066,"date":"2017-12-26T18:00:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-27T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iseeancestors.com\/comm\/?p=1066"},"modified":"2024-11-20T14:36:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:36:23","slug":"voisins-at-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/2017\/12\/26\/voisins-at-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Voisins at New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I am related to Peter Joseph Voisin (1807-1892), the patriarch of the Voisin families of Waterloo County, Ontario, near Kitchener. This was proven by a Y-chromosome DNA match between me and a known descendant of the Kitchener Voisins, Clifton Voisin. I also determined Peter Joseph\u2019s sister Maria Anne Voisin (1798-1879) immigrated to Waterloo county. The next piece of the puzzle was a family connection to Buffalo, New York. That\u2019s where I found a third sibling, Henry Joseph Voisin (1801-?) and his family, in Welland County, Ontario, just across the Niagara River from Buffalo.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Canadian naturalization record indicates Peter Joseph Voisin had been in the country since September 1832. <\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Interestingly, land records show his brother Henry Joseph Voisin purchased his farm in Welland County also in September 1832. <\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This implies both brothers immigrated together at the same time.<\/p>\n

A tattered ship\u2019s manifest shows an unknown Voisin family. <\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The ship Groton<\/em> arrived at the port of New York on August 20, 1832 from Le Havre, France. The ship\u2019s captain was Richard Baker. The portion of the manifest that would show the first names of the Voisin family members is missing. It appears as a large dark area, possibly an ink stain. However enough remains to match segments of their given names, and their ages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If the brothers traveled together, Henry Joseph Voisin and his wife Anne Marie would have had two of their four surviving children with them, Joseph, Jr., and Marie Anne. Peter Joseph Voisin was still unmarried. So there would have been five members in their party. The manifest indeed shows five people and their ages agree with their known birth records.<\/p>\n

“_____ Voisin, 30” is likely Henry Joseph Voisin, actual age 30. <\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\n“_____ Maria Voisin, 26” is likely Anne Marie (Ditner) Voisin, actual age 28. <\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\n“_____enri? Voisin, 4” is likely Joseph Voisin, Jr., actual age 5. <\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\n“_____ra Voisin, 3” is likely Marie Anne Voisin, actual age 3. <\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>
\n“_____ Joseph Voisin, 25” is likely Peter Joseph Voisin, actual age 25. <\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph, Jr.\u2019s name could have been Joseph Henry Voisin. Perhaps they named him by reversing his father\u2019s name, Henry Joseph, like they did their daughter Marie Anne, named after her mother Anne Marie.<\/p>\n

The manifest indicates they intended to reside in the United States, but that was perhaps a standard response for all passengers. Actually they probably already decided on their destination based on letters from their former neighbors in France who had already immigrated. Or, perhaps after they arrived, they saw newspaper advertisements for cheap land in Canada.<\/p>\n

The Voisin family likely made their way to Buffalo, New York via the Erie Canal, which many immigrants did. They continued into Canada, just across the Niagara River. That is where Henry Joseph Voisin purchased 55 acres of land on September 22, 1832, just one month after the Groton<\/em> arrived at New York.<\/p>\n

Peter Joseph Voisin may have stayed there a short time, but he eventually made his way 90 miles northwest to Waterloo County, Ontario. He settled there and in 1837 he married Catherine Meyer. Coincidentally, the Grasser family listed just below the Voisin family on the ship manifest also settled in Waterloo county. Families typically migrated together for mutual support and protection.<\/p>\n

Maria Anne Voisin, the sister of Peter Joseph and Henry Joseph, did not immigrate until 16 years later, about 1848. <\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Her passport indicated her intended destination was \u201cWaterlo,\u201d probably meaning her brother Peter Joseph Voisin in Waterloo County, Ontario.<\/p>\n

Although I am related to this Voisin family, I\u2019m not sure yet precisely how. My great-grandfather Joseph Voisin (1858-1916) could be a son, a nephew, or a cousin of Henry Joseph Voisin. There were perhaps other Voisin family members who immigrated, but Henry Joseph and Peter Joseph seem to be the first to step foot on American soil. Although they settled in Canada, many of their descendants found their way to Michigan.<\/p>\n

The Ship Groton<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Wharves of Boston in 1829, by Robert Salmon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Groton<\/em> was probably built about 1830 at Medford, Massachusetts by Sprague and James, and registered in Boston. She could carry 348 tons. For comparison, the above painting <\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> depicts a similar ship of the same class built in the mid to late 1820s. <\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The Groton<\/em> made at least four voyages to transport immigrants to New York. It carried about 130 passengers each time. She arrived on October 31, 1831, on August 20, 1832, on November 5, 1833, and on June 4, 1834. She also carried cargo from New Orleans and the Caribbean on other voyages.<\/p>\n

It was common in those days before radio and radar, for ships to signal as they passed one another on the open sea. These messages were relayed when one ship made port, and often published in the newspaper. Reports usually mentioned the ship seen, the date and its coordinates. In one published in the New York Evening Post<\/em> of April 4, 1832, the Schooner Star<\/em> \u201cspoke\u201d with ship Groton<\/em> of Boston from New Orleans on March 16 at latitude 25\u00b0 4\u2019N and longitude 85\u00b0 30\u2019W. She was therefore in the Gulf of Mexico approaching the Florida Keys.<\/p>\n

Ships also carried foreign newspapers that they delivered upon their arrival. It was a way for people to learn about news events in Europe. A voyage between Le Havre and New York at that time would have taken three to six weeks.<\/p>\n

The Groton<\/em> met an inglorious end. After a voyage in 1839 from New Orleans carrying cotton, tobacco and molasses, she caught fire while docked at Brooklyn. Much of her cargo was lost, which being from New Orleans in 1839 likely meant it was the product of slave labor. The ship itself was a total loss. First her fittings and then the remains of her hull were later sold at auction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tattered ship\u2019s passenger list from 1832 shows a mysterious Voisin family. The vague reference was not enough to identify my ancestors\u2014until now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,5,11,15,83,10],"tags":[100,142,140,143,141,101],"class_list":["post-1066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-evidence","category-france","category-life-and-times","category-paternal-ancestors","category-surname-voisin","tag-canada","tag-erie-canal","tag-immigration","tag-port-of-new-york","tag-ship-groton","tag-voisin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1066"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1538,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1066\/revisions\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iSeeAncestors.com\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}