In this final installment of the Will of William Mitchell, I will give some family connections and context.
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| 1815 Map of Mobile |
First, here is a chart of my direct connection to William Mitchell:
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| Chart from RootsMagic software |
William is my paternal fifth great-grandfather. My grandfather only knew his grandmother, Clara (Ford) Hawthorne, and first mentioned her name during an interview I conducted with him around 1978. To uncover our family's earlier connections, I had to reconstruct the lineage through genealogical research.
In the FamilySearch family tree, William is recorded as Guillermo Mitchell. This is because when he first arrived in Mobile about 1793, it was under Spanish rule, and the Spanish equivalent of William is Guillermo.
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| FamilySearch tree |
According to an article by Lynne S. April and Eugenia W. Parker titled "Laurendine," published in the Deep South Genealogical Quarterly (Vol. 34, No. 4, November 1997, p. 168), Marie Anne Dufais (also spelled Dufay or Dufelli) did not marry William Mitchell. Instead, she married Francisco David, whose surname their daughter, Marie Theresa, adopted.
This revelation leads to many unanswered questions. The search for these answers may never be known.
William Mitchell is most likely buried in Church Street Cemetery in Mobile, as the city's oldest cemetery, Campo Santo, ceased burials in 1813. Documents I have uncovered indicate that the Executor of his Will paid for services and the construction of his raised grave, which included bricks and a metal cross. However, I have not yet been able to determine its exact location.
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| Church Street Grave Yard, Mobile, Alabama |
On a trip to Mobile in October 2010, I visited the grave of William Mitchell's daughter, Marie (Mary) Theresa (Mitchell) Laurendine. She is also listed on Find a Grave HERE.
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| Mary Theresa (Mitchell) Laurendine |
Conclusion
Much more research is needed on this branch of my family tree and to learn about this time period of French, Spanish, and American history. As for the descendants of William Mitchell, there must be thousands throughout the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.
What a wonderful 4-part post. I'm impressed with what AI did to summarize the will and its codicil.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa! See you in Louisville!
DeleteSo, William Mitchell had a daughter with Marie Anne Dufaisi, but they were not married. He also had a son and daughter with Marguerite. He left everything to Marguerite and her children and didn't mention the daughter of Marie?
ReplyDeleteI just came over to find that chart you published years ago about birth places of several generation of ancestors, and I got caught up in your four part series. Very interesting.
Sorry for the delay in my response. From the analysis: "Provisions for Zeno, New Orleans Margueritte, and Therese Lorandine:
DeleteThe remainder of Mitchell's property (land, slaves, and livestock) is divided equally among these three individuals." On a side note, This (Caucasian) daughter, who I'm descended from, was married at the time to the son of one of the largest landowners in Mobile, Jean Baptist Laurendine. I need to find the actual disbursements paper work next. P.S. I see you know my San Diego friend Yvette Porter Moore. We went to the same grade school. She was in my younger sister's class.
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