Help with French Descent

[garstonite]

is it possible that this is a relation
www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
Baptism: 30 Jul 1815 Collegiate and Parish, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Hannah Gourdin - Daughter of John Gourdin & Martha
    Abode: Manch
    Occupation: Fustian Cutter
( fathers forename unclear )
I wonder if John was actually Jean - and he came here after the Napoleonic Wars , which coincidentaly ended the year this Hannah was baptised ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars   and a Fustian Cutter was responsible for preparing heavy cloth - Military Uniforms - and that`s why the French Army were "looking for him " this French Connection may go back longer than you think ??....  200 years ??
added- the French for Martha is Marthe .....it might be worth trying www.familysearch.org for a marriage in France 1800-1815 for Jean Gourdin to Marthe ??

[jorose]

The surname Gourdin (and variant Gourdain) is mostly found in the north of the country, as well as over the border in Belgium.  However, unless we get lucky, it will be hard to search without a more exact location (there is no equivalent of freebmd for France).

French families often swap around first names (people will have baptismal names) so "Marc" at marriage and "William" to family is not unusual, e.g.:

official first names: Jean Pierre Olivier
normally went by: Olivier (or Oliver)

So yours may appear as William Mark/Mark William/Guillaume Marc/Marc Guillaume in various records.

Note: a son appears on Australia WWI records as "William Mark Gourdin" (father William), born Preston.
His birth appears to have been registered in Preston as "William Mark Gordon". 

A second note on naturalisation status/"british subject" - this was often not accurately reported on the census. It might not be what he himself reported but that somebody assumed "Gordon" must be a British name when totting up statistics. I don't see any trace that he actually naturalised.

[jim1]

Family story is that they had to keep moving as "people were looking for him". Something to do with the war and the French Army

I wonder if he was a Legionnaire & deserted ?
If Margaret Hannan appears to be the right mother bear this one in mind:
RG 9; Piece: 2743; Folio: 54; Page: 18

[Waterloo24]

Thanks you all so much for your thoughts.

Being in Australia I am only just reading them now 

Gosh this indeed could turn into a complicated affair. However it could also turn out to be an interesting one.

I always had a bit of a feeling about the Legion Deserter theory but that may just be my romantic imagination running away with me.

The BS info is interesting too. I think I will start with Alfred s Birth certificate and see where it takes me.

Thanks again so much to you all

[jim1]

Let us know how you get on.

[Waterloo24]

Will do ... Thanks again for your help 

Let us know how you get on.

[Waterloo24]

FINALLY got the birth certificate from the UK and the parents are indeed Mark Gourdin and Margaret Hannan.

I shall now order the previously mentioned marriage certificate in the hope that gives me some insight into birthplaces etc.

Sorry to be a bit dim but I am bot sure what I am looking at here 

If Margaret Hannan appears to be the right mother bear this one in mind:
RG 9; Piece: 2743; Folio: 54; Page: 18

Thanks x

Family story is that they had to keep moving as "people were looking for him". Something to do with the war and the French Army

I wonder if he was a Legionnaire & deserted ?
If Margaret Hannan appears to be the right mother bear this one in mind:
RG 9; Piece: 2743; Folio: 54; Page: 18

[jim1]

It's the ref. no. for the 1861 census for Margaret Hannan.
Her father is Martin but you will need to see the marriage cert. to see if it's the right Margaret.

[jorose]

He could well have been conscripted into the army:

Numbers were filled out by limited conscription by lot, the burden of which spared the middle and upper classes who could afford to purchase exemptions. This unequal system continued until the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

Unfortunately the marriage certificate will not tell you where hew as from but it will at least tell you his father's name. Have you managed to find this family in the 1891 census?  I can't seem to spot them.