Henri Fournel (1688-1753) and Anne Launois (1692-1758)

This is the 7th in a series of posts on my earliest FOURNELLE ancestors. After setting up the stage, introducing the main characters and supporting cast, I am now discussing each of the children of my 7th great-grandparents Jean FOURNEL (1655-1721) and Catherine SETON (1657-1702). All posts written to date are listed at the end of this post.

1766 Baptismal Record of “Henry Fournier.” Image courtesy of Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), 5 Mi 259/R 1 vue 55 de 529.

Henri FOURNEL (1688-1753), the fourth child and third son of Jean and Catherine, was born 2 June 1688 in Saulnes (Meurthe-et-Moselle, France). His godparents were Henry LOUIS and Barbe DROUET. His father’s name was written as Jean FOURNIER and his mother’s name was blank followed by sa mère, or his mother.¹ At home were his oldest sister Françoise (10 yo) and his brothers, Nicolas (5 yo) and Jean (2 yo).

Following Henri’s birth, four more children were born to Jean and Catherine: Jeanne (bef. 1691), Sébastienne (abt. 1692), Marie (1696), and Jacques (abt. 1699). As mentioned in previous posts, Marie may have gone by Marie Catherine or there was another sister (born before 21 September 1702) whose birth/baptismal record has not been found. No marriage or record of death has been found for Marie or Marie Catherine.

Henri was fourteen years old when his mother Catherine SETON died on 21 September 1702.²

Henri’s older siblings married in 1708, 1710, and 1713. A marriage record for Henri has not been found. He was not married when he served as the godfather of Barbe COURTOIS, daughter of his sister Françoise FOURNEL and Jean COURTOIS, on 20 June 1715. He was described as un jeune garçon or young boy indicating he was not married.³ Interesting is that the godmother of the child was a young girl named Barbe DROUET, the same name but not the same person as Henri’s godmother in 1688.

Henri Fournel marries Anne Launois

It is known that Henri FOURNEL and Anne LAUNOIS were a married couple. They had three known sons who married after Henri’s death. These marriage records confirm the parents to be Henri FOURNEL and Anne LAUNOIS. Birth records for the sons have not been found and their years of birth have had to be estimated from their age at death.

• Henri was born about 1716 and died 27 Aug 1782 at the age of 66 years.
• Mathias was born about 1733 and died 22 Feb 1793 at the age of 66 years.
• Dominique was born about 1735 and died 25 Jun 1785 at the age of 50.

The estimated years of birth for the sons would suggest Henri and Anne were married about 1716. They may have had more children between 1716-1733. One more son has been found as will be discussed at the end of this post.

Henri’s father Jean FOURNEL died 3 September 1721 in Saulnes.⁴

The next three decades are unaccounted for – no birth, marriage, or death records.

Marriages of the sons of Henri and Anne

1753 Death Record of “Henry Fournelle.” Image courtesy of Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), 5 Mi 259/R 1 vue 455 de 529.

Henri died at the age of 65 (the record notes 60 years) on 6 August 1753. He is identified as the husband of Anne LAUNOIS. His son Henri and his brother Jacques were the informants on the record.⁵

1756 Marriage Record. Image courtesy of Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), 5 Mi 259/R 3 vue 123 de 328.

Three years after the death of Henri, the first of his sons was seen marrying in Herserange. Henri FOURNEL married Marie Claire BOULANGER (1737-1810) on 26 February 1756.⁶ The groom signed his name in block letters. They were the parents of 12 children born between 1757 and 1781. Five did not survive to adulthood. Five of the daughters are known to have married. No further records were found for a son and a daughter.

Henri and Marie Claire’s first-born Marie Joseph was the only grandchild Anne LAUNOIS would know. The elder Henri’s widow Anne died at the age of 66 on 14 February 1758. Philippe BAILLIEU, a priest, and Dominique FOURNEL, her son, were the informants on her death record.⁷

Five years after the death of his mother, Dominique FOURNEL married Marie COMES (1734-1764) on 8 February 1763 in Herserange.⁸ Marie died on 13 January 1764 following the birth of their son Mathias.⁹

1765 Marriage Record. Image courtesy of Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), 5 Mi 259/R 3 vue 60 de 328.

Dominique married again on 28 December 1765 in Herserange to Barbe SCHMIT (1744-1812).¹⁰ She gave him six children, two of whom are known to have married and continued the line.

1766 Marriage Record. Image courtesy of Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), 5 Mi 259/R 3 vue 49 de 328.

About 4 months after Dominique’s second marriage, his wife’s sister Magdelaine SCHMIT (1736-1786) married his brother Mathias FOURNEL on 1 May 1766 in Herserange.¹¹ Magdelaine was Barbe’s older sister. Mathias and Magdelaine had five children, only two reached adulthood and married.

The deaths of the sons of Henri and Anne

Henri, the son of Henri and Anne, died on 27 August 1782 at the age of 66 in Saulnes.¹² His widow, Marie Claire BOULANGER outlived him dying on 9 December 1810 in Messancy (Belgium) at the age of 73 years.¹³

Dominique died on 25 June 1785 at the age of 50.¹⁴ His widow Barbe SCHMIT died 7 April 1812 at the age of 68.¹⁵ Both died in Saulnes.

Mathias’ wife Magdelaine SCHMIT predeceased him on 24 August 1786 at the age of 50.¹⁶ Mathias died on 22 February 1793 at the age of 66 years.¹⁷ Both died in Saulnes.

The discovery of a fourth son

An examination of the relationships of persons mentioned in the baptismal records of all of Henri FOURNEL and Anne LAUNOIS’ grandchildren brought to light another son of the FOURNEL-LAUNOIS couple.

Pierre FOURNEL was the godfather of Marie Catherine, the daughter of Mathias FOURNEL and Magdalaine SCHMIT, baptized on 16 April 1767.¹⁸ His relationship to the child and/or parents was not given.

On 18 August 1771, Pierre was the godfather of Pierre, a son of Henri FOURNEL and Marie Claire BOULANGER. The godfather’s relationship was noted as the uncle of the child.¹⁹

Pierre was also the godfather of Marie Joseph, daughter of Dominique FOURNEL and Barbe SCHMIT. She was baptized on 18 June 1774 and her godfather was her uncle.²⁰

As Pierre FOURNEL was identified as an uncle of two of the three children, does this mean he was a brother of the children’s fathers?

Aimé Tarnus, compiled Histoires des Familles, Hussigny-Godbrange de 1550 à 1900, a family book for the town of Hussigny that is lacking church records for the years between 1716-1765 with only 1753-1756 and 1758 being available. To get around the lack of records for the town, Mr. Tarnus consulted records of the Archives Départementales de Moselle, the Archives Départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle, the National Library in Paris, and the Luxembourg National Archives. A good part of the work in the departmental archives, other than the church and civil records, was done using the judicial archives and the notary deeds.

In Mr. Tarnus’ family book of Hussigny, I found the following abstract of a  notarial record he attributed to Henry FOURNELLE, a laborer from Hussigny, born about 1713, married to Anne ADAM. Henry died 6 January 1793²¹ and his wife Anne died 17 August 1783.²² This individual has not been researched other than locating the death records. It is, at this time, unknown if he is related and how.

M. et M. 23 E 114 : le 18/12/1765, CM. entre Dominique FOURNEL, man. à Sosne la basse, assisté de Henry et Pierre FOURNEL ses frères, Jacques FOURNELLE de H., leur oncle, et Barbe FELMIN(?) fa. de Mathieu, marchal ferrant à Tiffer., et de Cath. GODFRIN etc…²³

The abstract mentions Dominique FOURNEL, a laborer from Saulnes, assisted by Henry and Pierre FOURNEL, his brothers, and Jacques FOURNELLE of Hussigny, their uncle. STOP. I suspect a transcription error in the second half. The transcriber was not sure about the surname of the lady Barbe FELMIN(?) and included the question mark.

This abstract is referring to a marriage contract (see the abbreviation: CM.) drawn up by a notary between Dominique FOURNEL and Barbe SCHMIT before their marriage. The record is dated 18 December 1765 while the marriage took place on 28 December 1765.  Barbe SCHMIT was the daughter of Mathias SCHMIT and Catherine GODFRIN of Differdange (seen as Tifferdange in early records).

The places of residence of Henry, Pierre, and Jacques are not noted. However, Dominique was the only person of this name in Saulnes around 1765. He has been proven to be the son of Henri FOURNEL and Anne LAUNOIS as were his brothers Henri and Mathias through their marriage records. In turn, the elder Henri FOURNEL and Jacques FOURNELLE were both sons of Jean FOURNEL and Catherine SETON. Jacques witnessed his brother Henri’s death record in 1753 and is referred to as his brother.

The Henry FOURNEL mentioned in the abstract is not the Henry FOURNELLE (b. abt. 1713 and died 1793) that Mr. Tarnus attached this abstract to in his book. Although the compiler attributed the record to the incorrect person, his inclusion of this information in his book helped to prove Pierre FOURNEL was the son of Henri FOURNEL and his wife Anne LAUNOIS. Pierre’s life has been documented for the years 1765 when he assisted his brother when a marriage contract was drawn up and in 1767, 1771, and 1774 when he was the godfather of his nieces and nephew. It is, however, not known when he was born, if he married, or when he died.

In the next two posts, I will be writing about Jeanne and Sébastienne, daughters of Jean FOURNEL and Catherine SETON, before I get to their youngest son Jacques who was mentioned several times in connection to his brother Henri of this post.

Going Back to the Earliest Fournelle Ancestor (Part 1)

Going Back to the Earliest Fournelle Ancestor (Part 2)

Going Back to the Earliest Fournelle Ancestor (Part 3)

Françoise FOURNEL (1678-1729) and Jean COURTOIS (1684-1745)

Nicolas FOURNEL (1683-abt.1748) and Barbe AGARANT (abt.1678-1758)

Jean FOURNEL (1686-1749) and Jeanne BERKIN (1683-1759)

Henri FOURNEL (1688-1753) and Anne LAUNOIS (1692-1758)

Jeanne FOURNEL (~1691-aft. 1756) and Jérôme PÉTRISOT (~1680-1761)

Sébastienne FOURNEL (~1692-1752) and Jean FRANÇOIS (~1681-1741)

Jacques FOURNELLE (~1699-1774) and Marie JACOB (1695-1758)

© 2020, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.

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1. Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), browsable images of microfilm collection of parish and civil records (online http://www.archives.cg54.fr/), Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 55 of 529. New terms of use: En application du règlement sur la réutilisation des données publiques adopté par le conseil départemental de Meurthe-et-Moselle (délibération de sa commission permanente n°17, en date du 16 janvier 2017), je m’engage à mentionner la source du document téléchargé (Arch. dép. de Meurthe-et-Moselle, [suivi de la cote complète]), en cas de réutilisation. 1688 Baptismal Record (right page, last entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b538076c2be : accessed 2 July 2020). ↩
2. Ibid., Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 333 of 529. 1702 Death Record (right page, last entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b538082e2f7 : accessed 7 July 2020). ↩
3. Ibid., Herserange 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 253 of 529. 1715 Baptismal Record (right page, 1st entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b53807dfa71 : accessed 16 August 2020). ↩
4. Ibid., Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 183 of 529. 1721 Death Record (left page, first entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b53807b3cf3 : accessed 7 July 2020). ↩
5. Ibid., Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 455 of 529 . 1753 Death Record (right page, 1st entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b53808948e4 : accessed 8 July 2020). ↩
6. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3> image 123 of 328. 1756 Marriage Record (right page, top entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f040929 : accessed 8 August 2020). ↩
7. Ibid., Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 438 of 529. 1758 Death Record (age at death 66 years) (left page bottom and right page top). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b538088633f : accessed 8 July 2020). ↩
8. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 69 of 328. 1763 Marriage Record (right page, last entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f0253fe : accessed 8 August 2020). ↩
9. Ibid., Herserange > 1668-1773 > 5 Mi 259/R 1 > image 417 and 418 of 529. 1764 Death Record, part 1 (right page, bottom entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b538087212c : accessed 14 September 2020) and 1764 Death Record, part 2 (left page, top entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3e74c/54b5380872e64 : accessed 14 September 2020). ↩
10. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 60 of 328. 1765 Marriage Record (left page, last entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f021335 : accessed 8 August 2020). ↩
11. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 49 of 328. 1766 Marriage Record (left, first entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f01bd40 : accessed 10 September 2020). ↩
12. Ibid., Saulnes > 1782-1822 > 5 Mi 492/R 1 > image 9 of 376. 782 Death Record (age at death 66 years) (left page, first entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ed0f349/54ae6cf63e59f : accessed 10 September 2020). ↩
13. Belgique, Luxembourg, registres d’état civil, 1580-1920, (images), FamilySearch (België Nationaal Archief, Brussels / Belgium National Archives, Brussels), Messancy > Actes 1810-1817 > image 63 of 368. 1810 Death Record No. 34 (age at death 77). (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRXG-NM7?cc=2138510&wc=S51W-N3F%3A367348201%2C367562201 : accessed 10 September 2020). ↩
14. Archives Meurthe-et-Moselle (54), Saulnes > 1782-1822 > 5 Mi 492/R 1 > image 22 of 376. 1785 Death Record (age at death 50) (right page, 2nd entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ed0f349/54ae6cf642ad3 : accessed 14 September 2020). ↩
15. Ibid., Saulnes > 1782-1822 > 5 Mi 492/R 1 > image 262 of 376. 1812 Death Record (age at death 68) (right page, 1st entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ed0f349/54ae6cf6c4d95 : accessed 14 September 2020). ↩
16. Ibid., Saulnes > 1782-1822 > 5 Mi 492/R 1 > image 29 of 376. 1786 Death Record (left page, 2nd entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ed0f349/54ae6cf645095 : accessed 10 September 2020). ↩
17. Ibid., Saulnes > 1782-1822 > 5 Mi 492/R 1 > image 152 of 376. 1793 Death Record (age at death about 60) (left page, first full entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ed0f349/54ae6cf67ece0 : accessed 10 September 2020). ↩
18. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 42 of 328. 1767 Baptismal Record (left page, bottom and right page, top). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f018da6 : accessed 16 September 2020). ↩
19. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 18 of 328. 1771 Baptismal Record (left page, bottom entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f00ab31 : accessed 16 September 2020). ↩
20. Ibid., Herserange > 1743-1791 > 5 Mi 259/R 3 > image 221 of 328. 1774 Baptismal Record (left page, 1st entry). (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea3ebca/54b536f07d615 : accessed 14 September 2020). ↩
21. Ibid., Hussigny-Godbrange > 1714-1809 > 5 Mi 268/R 1 > image 559 of 677. 1793 Death Record of Henry Fournel
    (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea53d8a/54b01054a7deb : accessed 23 September 2020) ↩
22. Ibid., Hussigny-Godbrange > 1714-1809 > 5 Mi 268/R 1 > image 167 of 677. 1783 Death Record of Anne Adam. (http://archivesenligne.archives.cg54.fr/ark:/33175/s0054ad10ea53d8a/54b010535bdd6 : accessed 23 September 2020) ↩
23. Aimé Tarnus, Histoires des Familles, Hussigny-Godbrange de 1550 à 1900, Tome 2 (2002-Fortier à 4096-Mohy), page 529, family 2015 Fournelle Henry husband of Anne Adam. “M. et M. 23 E 114 : le 18/12/1765, CM. entre Dominique FOURNEL, man. à Sosne la basse, assisté de Henry et Pierre FOURNEL ses frères, Jacques FOURNELLE de H., leur oncle, et Barbe FELMIN(?) fa. de Mathieu, marchal ferrant à Tiffer., et de Cath. GODFRIN etc…”] ↩