The French Connection .....

[LesleyB]

Hi David
I'm not seeing either Charles or Gabrielle in the 1901 in Scotland. There is a possible Charles in Glasgow, but he is several years too young:
1901 DUPREE CHARLES M 17 ANDERSTON GLASGOW CITY/LANARK
(I'd expect your Charles to be aged about 24/25 given that he said he was 29 in 1905)
The one above is living as a lodger with a family called McKay & another lodger Mary Dupree, aged 50, a widow, a sackmaker, born Ireland (his mother?). He was born Glasgow and is a foundry labourer. None of this fits your guy, so I'm pretty sure this is NOT him.

I'm not seeing anything obvious on the English 1901 either.
I wonder if this implies that they came to UK between 1901-5? Or that they are there somewhere, but I'm just not finding them....

Best wishes & a bientôt! (hope the Français is coming along nicely!)
Lesley

[LesleyB]

Just found this:
http://francegenweb.org/mairesgenweb/re ... p?id=14159

Not at all sure of its significance? One Charles Victor Dupre seems to have been the Mayor of a town called Villeneuve-du-Paréage in 1860.
Map:
http://maps.google.fr/maps?oi=eu_map&q= ... 9age&hl=en
- its south of Toulouse (you can zoom in & out with the slider on the left of page)
Not quite sure what we do with that piece of information though....not clear how to follow it up. Could he be your grandfather's father? Maybe, maybe not... Possibly just print it out and keep it for the day when it might fit in somewhere....along with those Dupres who met their end with madame guillotine.

Its also a long time since I sat higher French!

Best wishes
Lesley

[CatrionaL]

dmac

The next step might be a holiday in the Ariège, an interesting area to explore, , with a visit to the town hall at Villeneve du Paréage fitted in. Although Dupré is a common name and Charles and Victor fairly usual given names, the combination Charles Victor is rare, only 3 in France since 1900.

Unfortuanately, I don't know of any english speaking site for French research.

I've just sent an e-mail to my local genealogical society to ask if anyone is spending their summer holiday in the Ariège and couild have a look at any information concernant Charles Victor Dupré.

If I can help with any translation, I will do willingly.

Best wishes

Catriona

[dmacdiarmid]

Thanks very much Catriona for your information some great ideas there, i will digest them tomorrow before watching France in the world cup final.
Vive la France!

[dmacdiarmid]

Loads of stuff here to digest Lesley. I think the naturalisation is the key but who holds that information i don't know.
The French sites that you pointed out i've spent some time on already and have replies in French don't know what it means but hey!!
David

[LesleyB]

Hi David
The naturalisation document is held at the National Archives at Kew:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cata ... ID=5103490

As you can see on the page there is a link to order a copy - the "request this " button. I'd be tempted to go for the estimate first, partly 'cos we have no idea how long a document it is, and also because I played around with the digital express copy request last night to see how it worked and couldn't get any sense out of it, the sequence didn't seem to actually put the thing in the virtual basket and you couldn't seem to get to a payment page ....but maybe I was just havin' one of those evenings!

If you are having problems with text in French, Catriona has very kindly offered to help you out (see her post above) with any translations. I'm sure if you copied and pasted them either here or into a PM (private message - button under Catriona's post) she might be good enough to give you the gist of them. There is also babelfish, a translation web site, which comes out with some wierd and wonderful suggestions sometimes but it can be enough to help you get the meaning of a passage:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Think it will be Italia per me, domani! Viva Italia!!
Best wishes
Lesley

[dmacdiarmid]

Lesley,just had a very strange day.Found Gabrielles grave,not only is she there but she has a 3yr daughter died of a fatal accident there,also my father and his wife (not my mum).They died in Norham on tweed.Just the English side of the border by 100yds.ps Gabrielles daughter JOYCE died in 1919.David

[LesleyB]

David
Was at NRH today. Have a transcribed birth for you 1906 - will send via email..tomorrow, too late today! (& another birth & death)

That explains why I couldn't find his death!! Glad you have found the grave.

Its just great to see all the pieces falling into place.

Best wishes
Lesley

[dmacdiarmid]

Lesley i am genuinely overwhelmed by your help.How do you find all this?Iam getting details daily.I am struggling to type it onto Legacy.One finger very slow.My kids think i'm obsessed,i think they maybe right.Why did they change their names?David

[LesleyB]

Hi David
Well, if nothing else your typing will improve!!

My kids think i'm obsessed

Oh, forgot to warn you about that on the course...damn! We're all obsessed here.... we neglect the living (!) to spend time as much time as we can with what my family refers to as "dead people". Such is Family History. Welcome to the club - sounds like you are a fully fledged member now.

I don't know when they changed the names from French to UK sounding names. But...my guess would have been that it was probably about the time of that naturalisation in 1920. But...that doesn't quite hold given that we have Dupré mentioned in a marriage in 1927. I don't know.

It is always a very strange experience visiting graves when you are closely related to the people but have never met them. For me there is always the feeling that it is the closest you are going to get, which is sad, but it does bring, I feel, a sense of closure - you have searched, you have found them and you know now who they were & have at least some sense of what their lives were like. Very sad about the three year old daughter, Joyce. It's always sad to find the deaths of children, no matter how often you come across them in your tree.

Best wishes
Lesley