When Cousins Marry

I was talking with someone about one of their 9x great grandparents.  The question came up-- how many ninth great grandparents do we have?  It turns out we typically have 2,048 ninth great grandparents.  Naturally, the number doubles with each succeeding generation.  It's simple math.  That is, until cousins get married.

There are several instances of cousins marrying each other in my tree.  One marriage, way back there, is in my direct line.  7th great grandmother Elizabeth Brashear married her first cousin Samuel Brashear in December of 1717 in Prince George's County, Maryland.  Even more egregious, they were double first cousins.  Their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters.  I understand cousins marrying was fairly common at the time--  well, maybe not double cousins.

The effect of this union changes the number of ancestors one can claim up and down the line.  Because they were double cousins, Elizabeth and Samuel shared both sets of grandparents.  Imagine sharing both sets of your grandparents with your spouse!  Their child, Benjamin has only 4 distinct great grandparents instead of the normal 8.  See in the graphic below how some of my 9th great grandparents show up twice in the same tree.  Each color represents an individual person.

The reduction in ancestors caused by this cousin union affects every descendant all the way down to me.  Instead of having 2,048 9th great grandparents, I have 4 less @ 2,044 (assuming there are no other cousin matches in my tree somewhere).  Consequently, that reduction doubles with each preceding generation.  I have 8 less 10th great grandparents and 16 less 11th great grandparents than typical.

Ursule Rose Dubois des Corbières

Saint-Servan-sur-Mer, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France 

Virginia Lobdell Jennings in her book, "The Plains and the People," casually makes a claim that I have always found just a little bit brow-raising.  Her statement goes like this,

"Eugene Amedee Sherburne came from the vicinity of Rosedale, Louisiana and settled at Fontania Plantation near Port Hudson about 1835.  In later years this was called Fontania Landing.  His father or grandfather was in the diplomatic service in France and married Rose de Corbain who was wardrobe keeper for Marie Antoinette.  Eugene Amedee Sherburne joined Plains Presbyterian Church in 1857, died in 1859 and was buried on his plantation." (p.338).

Everything is great until you get the the phrase, "...who was wardrobe keeper for Marie Antoinette."  Though I can't claim to be fully aware of what that position entails, I would expect to see a footnote with sources cited for a claim like that.  Unfortunately, there is no indication of where that information originated.

Jennings book was published in 1998.  Many records have become more readily available since then.  We know now that Eugene Amadee Sherburne was born in France and it was his father, Samuel, who was indeed a diplomat.  Eugene's mother's name was actually Ursule Rose Dubois des Corbières.  I count her as a fourth great grandparent and she was 100% French, but was she wardrobe keeper for Marie Antoinette?

So lately, I've been researching- Who was Ursule Rose Dubois des Corbières and why is her name frequently followed by "des Corbières?"

There are two locations in France that go by the name "Corbières."  One is a district in the south of France near the Pyrenees famous for its red wine production. The other is a section of the town of Saint Servan in the vicinity of Saint Malo.  This is a well known resort area in Brittany- on the northern coast of France.  St Servan and St Malo bleed into each other today.  This Brittany location is where we find United States Consul Samuel Sherburne and his bride, Ursule Rose Dubois in the late 18th century.

The first breakthrough came from a marriage record found for Ursule Rose and Samuel.  This is a fortunate document because not only does it give us a date and location for the wedding, but it also names the parents of both the bride and groom.  The wedding happened on August 3, 1796 at Saint Servan-sur-Mer, Bretagne, France.  We also have a St. Servan baptismal record for Ursule Rose.  We can estimate an early 1768 date of birth based on the October 13, 1768 baptism date.  This baptismal record seems to refute the DAR applications I'd previously been relying on that indicate her birth in 1776, Nantes.

Both the baptismal record and the marriage record name Rose's parents as Claude Dubois and Elizabeth Charlotte leMortellec.  Claude, I have learned, was a very prominent merchant, ship owner, alderman and treasurer for the local Parish at St. Servan-sur-Mer.  We now have birth and marriage records for him as well.  He was born in Brittany in 1725 and after the death of his first wife, married Elizabeth in 1757.  It is said he had 4 children by his first wife and 10 by Elizabeth Charlotte leMortellec.  Our Rose is the youngest of all of Claude's children.

Claude bought a substantial property in St. Servan-sur-Mer on September 9, 1756.  This was in the area known as Les Corbières.  There, it was most likely he who built or substantially renovated a Pavilion house 42'x 37' with cellar, a raised ground floor, upper floor of sleeping rooms and finally a mansard floor with additional rooms.  It is believed the original structure dated to the 1720's.  The house still exists.  It was substantially renovated and increased in size in 1900, but pictures of the original structure from the 1870's,  or so, show what it looked like when Rose was born there...

Dubois home sometime before 1900.  This is the home Rose was born into.

The home after the 1900 additions

LINK>>>>>>>>>Google Maps 3d view of house as it sits today<<<<<<<LINK

The city of St. Malo and the surrounding area was virtually demolished during the Allied invasion of France in 1944.  It is estimated that only about 20% of the existing structures were salvageable due to the bombardment.  After the war, for a period of about 30 years, the buildings were "lovingly recreated stone by stone" says the local tourist brochure.

The Dubois family lived in the Les Corbieres area of St Servan for many years.  The area has a rich history.  Settled in the 1st century BC, it has been occupied by many peoples.  The Celts settled the area.  The Romans fortified it. In the 6th century, Irish monks established a monastery.  The monks are credited with naming the island in honor of a celtic bishop named Maclow.  This name has come down to us as Saint Malo.  Interestingly, St. Malo is similar in appearance to and not very far from the more well known island commune, Mont Saint Michel.  

During the time of the Viking raids, the surrounding inhabitants of St. Malo moved to the island and fortified it further.  In the 1400's through the 1700's and even up to the time of our Claude and his daughter Rose, the port was home to the famous French Corsair raiders- Privateers for the King. 

St. Malo about 1860

From the beginning, the port at St. Malo had been a very important node for international trade.  This is no doubt the impetus for Samuel Sherburne's initial contact with the Dubois family and meeting his future wife, Ursule Rose.  

Samuel Sherburne was born in New Hampshire to a well-to-do and established family.  He secured the position of United States consul at Nantes.  I believe this might explain the supposition by the DAR applicants regarding Rose's birth location. Nantes is about 95 miles due south of St. Malo.  

A consul was responsible for facilitating trade between a host country and the U.S. and also protecting the welfare of U.S. citizens abroad.  In Samuel's day, this primarily involved providing assistance to indigent U.S. sailors within his area of influence at Nantes.  Samuel served under the presidencies of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison from about 1792 until about 1816.  He was only 22 years old in 1792.  

James Monroe would be the following President, but in 1814, he was Secretary of State and oversaw the duties and actions of all U.S. consuls.  I found a letter from that year in which he dismissed David Warden, the consul at Paris, and requested information  on  the conduct of Samuel Sherburne, the consul at Nantes and Mr. Vail, the consul at L'Orient.  I haven't found a response, but would be very interested to read it!  I did discover, however, that Mr. Vail, mentioned in the letter, was not only a fellow U.S. consul in a neighboring city, but was also Samuel's brother-in-law.  Aaron Vail, merchant of New York, married another daughter of Claude Dubois.  She was Elizabeth Ursule Dubois and they married 5 years before Samuel and Rose.  Both weddings were in Saint Servan-sur-Mer.  

Aaron Vail was an interesting character.  He had an abiding interest in the prospect of steam powered ships and became acquainted with a man named John Fitch.  Fitch was an American engineer working on a design for steamboats.  Vail invited Fitch to France to develop his prototype.  Fitch accepted but struggled in the execution due to the ongoing French revolution.  Fitch returned to America leaving his plans and sketches with Vail.  Vail eventually turned over the documents to another acquaintance, Robert Fulton!

Vail passed away in late 1813 and his wife and 6 children subsequently moved to Washington DC.  About this same time, Samuel and Rose Sherburne and their children moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Claude Dubois had passed away by this time but you wonder if the family was marrying daughters off to Americans intentionally- maybe to escape what was going on in France at the time.  Between Elizabeth's wedding and Rose's wedding, the French Queen, Marie Antoinette, had lost her head.

But none of this confirms whether or not Rose was "wardrobe keeper" of the Queen.  I have yet to find evidence for this claim.  Rose was 25 when the Queen was executed.  So, I suppose the dates work out ok.  It's possible.  The geography doesn't make sense.  Paris is 200 miles from St. Servans.  Wouldn't the wardrobe keeper need to be in the same location as the queen?  Perhaps Rose lived in Paris for a while in her teens?  We will need evidence.

St. Malo today

We don't know a whole lot about Rose after her move to the United States.  We know they settled in Baton Rouge in East Baton Rouge Parish around 1816.  Samuel passed away there on October 6, 1819.  In 1820 Rose is listed as head-of-household in the U.S. Census for East Baton Rouge Parish.  There are 8 household members.  One is a slave.  The children are indicated as 4 males between 10 and 25 and 2 females between 10 and 15.  Our Eugene Amedee is one of the males.  He was 18 in 1820. Rose was 52 or 53 at the time.

The following clippings are taken from the Baton Rouge Gazette September 23rd, 1820. The larger ad was on the front page...

I believe Madame Sherburne's academy for Young Ladies was run by our Ursule Rose DuBois Sherburne.  I don't see another Sherburne in the 1820 census for Baton Rouge who might fit.  Also, I find it interesting that she teaches all kinds of needle work.  Maybe this is circumstantial evidence for Virginia Lobdell Jenning's claim.