Meet our Members: Denis Savard

Question

Hi everyone!

It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Denis Savard. 

Denis became a Wiki Genealogist in July 2021. He is a wonderful asset to our Acadia Project.

When did you get interested in family history?

I was 10 when my grandmother died. As a gift, a great uncle who was in the clergy, offered me and my brother a 6 generation tree. I was instantly hooked. He then showed us the basics to research the rest of our tree... I only realized years later - looking a another cousin's tree drawn with his distinct handwriting - that he had been white-washing our family tree, masking the fact that my GGGF married his first cousin once removed. That's why I descend from the Barra McIntyres twice over. 

What is your genealogical research focus?

I have several projects on the go. Some long term, like the Montreuil & Vincennes research for my SAVARD... or SAVART line. There is a lot of unpublished material there. It is right now blocked at a 1565 marriage and I am hoping for a key find to connect to.

I am also working on a complete population study on my home county (Restigouche NB), but from the time of the first settlers in the Baie des Chaleurs, so it starts off with a wide net up to 1900. Still in the 1810s. It is one of my area of expertise, so I wish to build further on that. 

My first priority at the moment however is the Mothers of Acadia project (Acadie ADN), since last December. I have replaced Lucie LeBlanc Consentino as project administrator (FTDNA), and as such working in closer collaboration with Stephen White, the long-time genealogist at the Centre d'Études Acadiennes (Centre for Acadian Studies) at the Université de Moncton, who verifies lines and includes signatures in the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadienne (2nd edition in the works, as for the first edition covering 1714-1780). If it one reason the dictionary's publishing dates is pushed forward, with all the new discoveries brought forward. Many filiations to this day are best guess scenarios, contrary to Quebec genealogy which has more consistent and just better record keeping under the FC clergy. So DNA is uncovering teen mothers whose kids were raised by family as their own, etc. It is also correcting wrong guesses when signatures don't match. And there are always new discoveries with French records being more and more available online.  

Another project, with former Charente-Maritime Archives (La Rochelle) director Pauline Arsenault, who's from my neck of the woods, we are researching the origins of Acadian settler Pierre Arsenault. More on that below. 

As you can read between the lines, WikiTree is not my main focus to be entirely transparent. But fortunately, with the help of Cindy Cooper and Gisèle Cormier at the Acadian project, we can work in collaboration. They flag new issues that come up that I can address and clarify. I had learned to coding but I have just too many projects on the go to be in full (free) time. But I do comment on profiles when I come across some with blatant mistakes or unfounded speculation. 

I also take on professional contracts which take precedence when they come up, but the rest of these are volunteer work (i.e. no remuneration) for the general advancement of genealogical knowledge. Some subjects can evolve into newspaper columns, periodical articles, or even books.

Are you are interested in certain surnames or locations?

Self-servingly, all the surnames I descend from. At least of the lines are related. But of course my scope expands over time, on Acadian surnames in particular with my new responsibilities, whether I descend from them or not. 

(interview continues in comments)

Comments

Do you have a favorite ancestor?

Tough question to limit it to just one. 

But to the original question, I have to stick with my patrilinear ancestor who was a writer and domestic servant to the captain of arms of the Château de Vincennes and the Bastille in 1565. He later was a soldat morte paye - or half pay soldier in time of peace. He likely served some, but that is how he is describes the times he is mentioned in records past 1565. Jehan SAVARD dies in 1602, and its through a heritage. I am trying to tie him to Simon Savart l'amiral, a clerk who lived from his pen, but also had a military nickname. Profiles are very similar and would add two generations to the early 16th c. 

What is your toughest brick wall currently?

So many walls... My Irish ancestors are likely the most difficult for obvious reasons. Patrick Burns allegedly left Cork and lands in Miramichi in Sept. 1787, and settles in what will be Charlo NB in May 1789. My other one is Rose McDunn (Thomas McDunn & Frances McDunn) of Sligo and/or Westmeath according to the same record (1834 marriage in Quebec) which copies don't agree. The surname is nowhere to be found in either county, but was likelier simply Dunn.

What brought you to WikiTree?

Most consolidated trees are ripe full of inventions and unsubstantiated claims. The interesting thing with WikiTree, is that those can be pointed out and corrected, so they don't get repeated over and over as is the case most places with public trees. My column in 2015-2016 in l'Acadie Nouvelle gave me an «expertise» in.

Which project are you most involved in?

I mostly got involved in the Acadia Project after an invitation, after I pointed out some issues in the comments. For the moment, I am mostly consulting with Cindy and Gisèle when issues come up, but there is much work ahead to clean up many of the early Acadian profiles going forward. SInce Stephen White's dictionaries are still unpublished in their current form, I cannot speak on every profile at any moment. Even my interpretation may be a bit outdated as I am not systematically informed of all new discoveries. 

How can others help the Acadia Project?

DNA testing. Matriliear Acadian descendants should test Full mtDNA (Family Tree DNA). For our purpose, it is the most useful to confirm line. Male lines are also interesting as we would like 2 Big Y tests per surname, but that side of the DNA project has yet to be developed. But those are welcome to join for future expansion. I am speaking of the Acadian DNA project which informs in turn the WikiTree Acadian project.

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What is your favorite feature on WikiTree?

The ability to attach document reproductions within the profile. This is a game changer in consolidated trees. It has served me recently for an episode that had eluded me. See below.

What feature would you most like to see added or improved?

Speaking from the French perspective, but it really applies to most of the non-Anglo-Saxon world: I think married names (for women) should be removed from profiles. In French customs, women kept their name and identity even when married. Women generally had more rights than in the Anglo-Saxon world: widows could benefit from the rights any man would, plus they would often replace their late husband in their trade, if they were qualified enough. My ancestress Marie Pichon was qualified a master printer when she married a second printer (Charles Sevestre) in 1632. But I digress. If a woman's husband name is unknown, we wouldn't be searching for her under that name. If it is known, we already know to search for her by that name if everything else fails (advance search options could include/exclude). As it stands, married names are put to the forefront of the profiles, while it is only a borrowed name, for the duration of the marriage. It adds little to a profile except add confusion to their identity, and it adds even more confusion in the cases where both spouses were born under the same surname (as my Irish McDunns or Dunns).

In my opinion, married names in genealogy add little but add confusion, a woman in this context should always be referred to her birth name unless there was some other name change involved. Referring to women by their married name when we know their birth name is just willingly excluding relevant information. The opposite is not true as the married name can always be implied. Like I said, this is only my opinion based on cultural references. It is easier to drop that practice when we understand it dates from a time and place when women were something to «own» in English law and were listed with cattle....  If just inconvenient there, it becomes falsification for pre-1765 French Canadian women's profile, as they are listed often under a married name which was never theirs and they never used in their lifetime, therefore becoming an anachronism. Then it's just noise confusing the issue. I've seen confusion in New England families because women are assigned names which distracts from the birth name and people are assigned to the wrong families. Those would have been avoided if the wife was just listed as Mary __ to show her maiden name is unknown. If I am searching for the parents or info on a Mary Smith - sifting through is a large enough task without adding all the Mrs Mary Smiths added automatically to the lot.

Another issue that floated to the top recently, is I notice people abusing the DNA connection. People should only apply their signature to their direct line, and not imply it to everyone «supposed» to descend from that line (sisters, maternal cousins, etc). Implying those suppose there are never any non-maternal events or wrongly assigned parents. Which is not the case, as DNA is showing us. So doing this, even though well intentioned is very counter-productive. I have two cases like this.

This can be fixed on the coding side of WikiTree. Any tested profile should only be able to populate their direct line, and only to the extent it doesn't contradict others already assigned. This could be done retroactively by removing signatures not directly on the tester's line.  I have two specific cases where there are contradicting signatures, and project editors cannot remove even them. Cécile Breau (1702) has three tester signatures attached to her, yet none of them descend from her directly. In fact, the first tester from that line has a different signature and resolved a long standing mystery (parent need swapping but samples wrongly show the opposite).

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Do you have a story about how you were helped through the work of others on WikiTree?

Absolutely, and very recently to boot. For the last two years, me and a fellow Canadian researcher in France were on the trail of who we thought the Acadian pioneer Pierre Arsenault (Arsonneau). We were sure we were on the right guy, a sea merchant who had just bought his ship in 1676, to abandon it in the Azores the next year (while his partner continued south), the same year of his first born in Acadia. This candidate could sign and wrote documents. But we were stuck lacking the smoking gun (but with ample circumstantial evidence), as his trips never mentioned Acadia, despite evidently traveling North to buy fish while declaring the West Indies as official destination at the admiralty (La Rochelle).

Then I noticed a report contributed to his WikiTree profile, that recorded our Pierre's ship being pirated in June 1683 by William Johnson of Boston (this November report actually names James Taylor who was behind the group). This document doesn't show up on usual genealogical publications as more «historical» in scope. But our key proof resided in his ability to sign (and compare signatures). But the document was ambiguous, as the wording suggested he could sign, but the mark showed he couldn't, although we suspected he was absent when his co-signer might have «marked» for his. The «mark of Pierre Arsonneau» part was in the hand of the other signee, not the scribe as it should be...

So I got the flash to check in Boston, since this piracy act happened during peace time between France and England, in Europe as in the Colonies. Marcel Jusseaume, searching on location for me (another Arsenault descendant), found mention of the case in John Noble's transcriptions (1901) of the Court of Assistants, where «Arsneaw master of the St Charles» (same ship mentioned pirated in the first report) pleaded his case. Noble notes clearly that most of the supporting evidence papers were lost, and only the summaries remain. But our request was also sent to the Suffolk clerk's office, which happened to have in their vault the 3 depositions by Arsenault, Abraham Bourgeois and a La Rochelle sailor describing the capture of the ship and mistreatment of some sailors. But his deposition is clear, he could not sign. I'll pass on the details of our failed cadidate, since its a false lead, but he had a fascinating story. And so did ours, but we still don't know where he was born. There are at least three false candidates (i.e. birth and parents) floating around in public trees. But not on WikiTree.

I have since added his deposition in Boston to his WikiTree profile, since that's what pointed us where to look.

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Bienvenue Cousin Denis... Always happy to read what you come up with.

Answer 1

I wonder how wikitree would handle it if the Y-descendant of two assumed full-sibling brothers, for example, had different haplogroups.  If the system showed the difference between those propagated through a direct line and those presumed by family relationships, it would be interesting.

Answer 2

Denis, I was fascinated by your story, and my ears perked up when you spoke of Restigouche. My fraternal grandmother, Gertrude Melanson, was born there. We are 6th cousins. The work you have done is impressive.

Comments

I share your comments for change. The woman's maiden name is supposed to be the name on her profile! When filling in the profile information, her married name can be documented. I joined wiki tree app. 2015 mainly because of one profile for each person, with documented proof.

One recent change about two months ago shocked me! Many, many persons with some iteration of my birth surname, Martin; with the question if any of them was my father??? Suffice to say, I was not happy to see this. Seems like a bit of spam? I have my parents' profiles on Wiki tree with Autosomal DNA proof, etc.: Ancestry, 23andMe and Family tree.

The one suggestion you made and I have been hoping for is a tree that consists only of direct, proven ancestors, i.e., greats, as far as your research can go. And mine trace way back, mostly to France and Scotland. So many cousins, etc., just confuse when editing one's tree. But, in my free time, I am not averse to finding and clarifying cousins. That is where we find our ancestors and meet our cousins.

Sincerely,

Jeannette Martin-Saladino

In c!osing, I believe we may be related. Will check when time permits. Company is coming in two days ... Christmas preparations are in order.

Answer 3

Congratulations, Denis! Great interview and very interesting work you are doing on all the French connections. My husband is Acadian (Louisiana) so I have researched his line but I have to rely on others for the records written in French!

Answer 4

Ditto on  whateveryone has said! Great interview! Congratulations on you M.O. M. recognition! We are 12th cousins! Thank you forr the sunshine!

Answer 5

Denis, Always nice to meet another cousin and find out what interests they have.  I love that you are such an ambitious person and continue to learn new things.

Keep up all the work you are doing for our tree!

Answer 6

Denis, we are honored to work with you.  Thank you for all the insights and data you have provided and I look forward to more coming.  What an interesting example of how multiple people can contribute to profiles and improve the tree together as you've described in your work.  Thank you for everything you do for the Acadians!

Answer 7

Congratulations Denis, We are 8th cousins according to wikitree.

Answer 8

Fascinating interview Denis.  I was drawn in by your link to France in the 1500's.

My ancestor Daniel Rainier or Regnier was purtorted as leaving the same area as your ancestors (Clarente-Maritime around the time of the Edict of Nantes.

Also we are 10th Cousins through Massachusetts Bau Company.

Loved the read, Denis.  

Your Canadian cousin' Brad.

Answer 9

Hello Denis, we are distant cousins (21st/1xr MRCA Rogert (Holand) de Holand. I enjoyed you interview very much and appreciate your comments about women maintaining their birth names. WE would have a lot (a great lot) fewer 'Unknowns'!

Answer 10

Really interesting information about French women. Thank you for all the Wikitree work that you are doing - 22nd cousin Twice removed. That is indeed very distant - but quite fascinating.

Answer 11

Considering the names of married women: Different countries handled that differently. In Italy women also keep their maiden names throughout their lives, but in Germany it was law that married women give up their maiden names and use the surname of their husband (or like FRG's first First Lady) add their maiden name to their married name. This law was only changed in the 1990s.