French Last Name Format

Question

The profile I have linked to in this question married a woman whose first husband is mentioned variously in their will as "Monsieur Poyon D'Lance" and "Monsieur Poyen de Lance." His brother, the guardian of her children from the first marriage, is called in the will, "Monsieur Poyen Bellisle of Guadeloupe."

I found him listed in Geneanet as "Antoine Robert de Poyen de Lance." 

I would like to (eventually) add him, once I've added Samuel Thompson's wife, but having no experience with French naming conventions, I'm not certain how it should be done.
 

Is there an accepted name field format for him?

Answer 1

French aristos are a naming headache, that one is no exception. He's called in various sources Antoine Robert Poyen de Lance.

If I'm not mistaken, he was born in Capesterre, Guadeloupe, on 4 Dec 1735. You will find his birth in the Capesterre registry at http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=GUADELOUPE&commune=CAPESTERRE&annee=1735&typeacte=AC_NA (see page 2)

His baptism took place on Dec 15 of the same year. The baptism record says Antoinne (double n quite fancy spelling) son of Jean Poyen, without extra "de" whatever.

He's called "Poyen de Lance" on his death record at http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=GUADELOUPE&commune=CAPESTERRE&annee=1772&typeacte=AC_DE, also page 2. His wife Anne is mentioned in the death record, under the name "Eliger" which I find in other places spelled "Heliger".

So, if I had to create his profile, I would go by LNAB "Poyen" with "de Lance" in OLN.

Comments

Oh, wonderful! I've added Anne's Profile.

I'll give her a proper bio tomorrow.

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Nice. I'm a bit struggling finding sources for the Metzler family, merchants and bankers living between Bordeaux and Frankfurt. Huge rabbit hole, very large and endogamic families ... And those names ... Boyer and Poyen are just there to get you confused.

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I found his second name Robert on his daughter’s baptism here:

http://anom.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caomec2/osd.php?territoire=GUADELOUPE&commune=CAPESTERRE&annee=1767&typeacte=AC_NA

(Bottom of page 2)

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OK, I've connected all the left part down to Pierre Claude, the brother of Antoine Robert.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Boyer-7835#Descendants

Do you want me to go further and create the profiles of their parents and Antoine himself?

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I'm sure it would be more accurate if you did it, since you have better mastery of the primary sources' language.

If we collaborate on Antoine Robert, I'll try to add an English equivalent to his bio, then add his descendants.

It looks like his widow brought enslaved people with her into her second marriage, so I can add that part of the research, as well.

Does that sound like a good plan?

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Sounds good to me. Let's do it that way.

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And BTW I'm very much impressed by your work on Betty's Hope Plantation.

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I've found a very interesting study (in French, sorry) about the Poyen, Boyer, Gressier and al. families, with a wealth of genealogical details.

http://www.ghcaraibe.org/articles/2019-art31.pdf

And a lot of explanations about the mandatory inscription of baptism, marriage,and death in catholic records although they were protestants (huguenots), which explain their alliances with the Bordeaux German bankers (Metzler and al.)

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Wonderful!

I'm going to have to let you be the one to sift through the details, though. The only Romance language that I've studied is Italian, and that's not much help.

For what it's worth, I haven't found Poyen or Boyer in the Land Tax records.

Thank you for the thumbs up on Betty's Hope. Now, I'm going to have to make profiles for all of the plantation's enslaved.

Thanks to a 1783 Land Tax, it looks like I'll also be making one for Mount Stewart plantation, as well.

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It explains between other things the above death record transcription. Those huguenot families buried their dead at home, but the death had to be registered in the catholic registries. Same for baptisms and marriages, all more or less "arranged" but necessary to legitimate identity and filiation.

For example the marriage of Pierre Claude Poyen is supposed to have taken place in a Paris church (Saint-Landry), with a transcription at Capesterres. Moreover, those very inbred marriage needed a special authorization from the catholic church, which was of course always granted to rich and powerful families.