Blaise Louis HENOCQ b.1788 Paris

[Nanny with Rosie]

Good morning - I am hoping someone can help me break down 'the wall' with this ancestor of mine.

Blaise Louis HENOCQ was born in Parish c.1788 came to England and married Elizabeth SMITH on 16 June 1811.  They had three children Joseph b.1812, Louisa b.1810 and Ann b.1814 (all London).

I believe Blaise was a tailor.  Why did he come to England - was he coming over with a Client?

He returned to France where he died 06 March 1822 at 3 Rue de Doyenne in Paris.  His wife Elizabeth remained in England and died at 17 Trafalgar Grove Greenwich London. 

I am hoping that Blaise had siblings that remained in France who had details of his early life and possibly of his parents/grandparents.  Also do I have any distant relatives? 

Unfortunately I cannot speak French and would need any answers in English, if possible.

Many thanks in anticipation of a response.
NANNY WITH ROSIE

[jorose]

Rue du Doyenné was a street in Paris, part of the area that disappeared in the expansion of the Louvre:
http://www.balzacsparis.ucr.edu/visit/tuileries.html
Judging by Google Books the area was rather (in)famous!

A couple of hurdles: early bmds in Paris are spotty because the Hôtel de Ville was set on fire in early 1871.
So his civil death record, which might have listed his parents, may not survive.
His birth would be in church records but it's a question of which church!

Pretty much no French genealogy sites have any English, but there is a good word list here:
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/rg/guide/WLFrench.asp

This is the Paris archives site:
http://canadp-archivesenligne.paris.fr/
They have the indexes to the "reconstructed" records, and I think eventually they will put up the reconstructed records themselves (they have said they will, but I've not seen any timeline). The indexes just give name, date, and arrondissement, and are alphabetical by surname most-of-the-time. Only about a third of events have been recovered.

[Nanny with Rosie]

Thank you for taking the time to response with all that info.  I certainly gives me something to work on - for a long time I did not know where to look.

NANNY WITH ROSIE

[sgrollitt]

Hello Nanny,

Our friend Jude is a great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Blaise Henocq through his daughter Ann, who married Samuel Finch Houghton. We have no other information about Blaise.

[Nanny with Rosie]

Hello - some many years ago I was in correspondence with a member of the Houghton family - a vicar if I remember correctly and he had done quite a lot of research on that family name and as a consequence came across the Henocq link. 

Ann was the daughter of Blaise Louis and his wife Elizabeth Smith.  Do you want to know more or do you have that already?

NANNY WITH ROSIE

[sgrollitt]

We knew about Blaise's marriage to Elizabeth Smith and also that Blaise was born and died in Paris whereas Elizabeth died in England (London). Oh, and that Blaise had been a tailor. Do you know whether he had his own busioness or did he work for someone else?

[Nanny with Rosie]

Morning - you seem to have got as much info I have - I am curious as to why he came to England in the first place, married here and then return to Paris sometime where he died.

Not being a french speaker I am unable to persue an investigation into the Paris link as recommended by a previous Rootschatter.  Did he come over with a client escaping the French Revolution or from Napoleon - questions without answers.

NANNY WITH ROSIE

[sgrollitt]

You could go into the suggested website, copy out all French text, put it into a translation tool (or even Word), and come up with some English text that might give you an unexpected clue or scrap of information

[Nanny with Rosie]

Afternoon - you sound as if you know your way round the computer with suggestions like that.  Must admit it is something I didn't know you could do.

I am still curious as to why and when he came to England and the fact he returned to France leaving a wife and children.  He did die relatively young, maybe he had intended to return.  We shall never know!

NANNY WITH ROSIE