Hi all,
I'm so so close to breaking down a brick wall but there are still some major questions that need to be answered and I've done so much work on this that I'm just starting to get frustrated & burnt out. I was just wondering if there was anyone here that could help.
So the problem is George B Bissell (b.c. 1808), my 4th great-grandfather. I've been trying to find his connection to the Windsor Bissells (i.e. figuring out his parents). Apologies if this gets a little long but I'm going to try to include all of the relevant information that I've gathered.
I know from DNA analysis that George B descends from George & Lydia (Gay) Bissell. We have both autosomal and yDNA that establishes this. This is a good start and I've been going down all the lines and trying to eliminate them one by one. What I'm left with now is two possibilities (unless there's something else super weird that happened which I'm not accounting for).
The most likely scenario that best explains the DNA evidence is that George B is the son of George (b. 1750) & Abigail (Diego?) Bissell. In addition to the DNA, they did have an (as of yet unidentified) son named George who is mentioned in George 1750's will.
George 1750 was in the Revolution and applied for a pension in 1832. In the application he states that he lived pretty much his whole life around Salisbury and Sharon, CT. Census records pretty much bear this out (at least post-1800). He mentions that he lived for 7 years at Ballston, NY, but doesn't say when. He also details his 6 months of service in the war which took place around NYC mostly, and he spent some time as an invalid before being discharged.
George B (1808) on the other hand, gives his birth place as Canada East (Lower Canada, i.e. Quebec). Furthermore, DNA analysis shows a connection with surnames that trace back to the area south and east of Montreal (Lamoureux, Tetreault/Tatro, Archambeault/Shambo, Tremblay, etc.). And beyond that, George B's son Chance's 2nd wife was Selena Tatro who came from Vermont to Kansas where they were married (the DNA I'm analyzing does not descend from Selena but from his first wife). So there is clearly some major connection to Quebec that George B has, while his (possible) father never mentions going anywhere near there. Unfortunately, I've been having trouble getting a fix on a precise Canadian ancestor via DNA because of endogamy.
In order for this to make sense to me, George B's mother would have to be of French Canadian descent. There is a marriage record of Sharon 1779 that gives her maiden name as "Abigail Diego," Diego obviously being a short or misspelled form of some other name. I was wondering if it could be French-Canadian, something like "Daigneault" but it's just a guess and despite the marriage record saying George "of Salisbury" m. Abigail "of Sharon" I haven't really been able to find any even remotely French-Canadian names living around Sharon. The closest is "Delano" but I don't think that family comes from Canada.
Further, some of George's immediate family did go to Canada, albeit Ontario rather than Quebec. In the Carleton Papers, there are 5 of them who petitioned for land as loyalists in 1783: George, David, David Jr, John, and Joseph. David, David Jr (who actually turned out to be Jehiel, David's oldest son), and Joseph all drew lands in Augusta, Grenville. John re-petitioned in 1791 and didn't mention having drawn land prior to that, but he was then recommended for land at Matilda, Dundas. He actually returned to Connecticut a short time later. As for George, who I presume to be the father (b. 1720) because the Bissell book cites a source that said he "became a Tory and fled to Canada," I haven't been able to find the outcome of his petition. I wonder if there is a way to find this information?
None of this really serves to explain how George 1750 could have met and married a French-Canadian woman in 1779.
The other possibility that I haven't been able to rule out completely is that George B is son of David Jr, the son of David and grandson of George 1720. However, David Jr had land and was living at Augusta at least until 1805 when he signed lands over to brother Jehiel & Asahel Wright. According to Jehiel he died at Augusta in 1810, and he appears in his father's will that was written in 1808 so it seems he was alive when George B was born. HIs brother Jehiel lists 3 of David Jr's children in his own will which doesn't include a George, but it's possible that list isn't exhaustive. Anyway, I'm just having trouble imagining him marrying a woman of French-Canadian descent (there aren't any of them in the area where he lived as far as I can see), and I haven't found anything to indicate that he went to Lower Canada and had a son in those years before he died, AND it doesn't match quite as well with the DNA profile, but I can't fully rule it out as a possibility.
Finally, I'll point out that there was a Bissell line that went to Quebec during the relevant time frame, Randall Mumford Bissell (whose father lived at Pittstown, NY) went there and lived at Caldwell & Christie Manor and was baptized at Iberville, which geographically is exactly where I'm expecting to find a connection. But this line is not from George & Lydia, it is a more distant line. Hopefully you can see why this is confusing, haha.
Anyway, tl;dr: Is there some whiz of Quebec / Loyalist history out there that can help me explain (or help me come up with a plan of attack to find) George B Bissell's connection to Lower Canada?
Thanks so much in advance for any help!
