France: Anna Elizabeth Parmiter bn 1833 Dorset, England

[meekhcs]

Hello Everyone

My apologies this post contains a lot of info and is therefore very long.

Anna Elizabeth is one of several Parmiter sisters who converted to Catholicism in Dorset c.1840 and I am hoping someone can help me to break down a little more of her brick wall.

Anna Elizabeth was bn in 1833 at St Andrew's Farm in East Stoke, Dorset, England. Her parents were Thomas Parmiter and Sarah Gillingham were

She was baptised into the C of E faith on 2nd June 1833 at Holy Trinity Church West Lulworth, Dorset, England as Anna Elizabeth, but thereafter was known as Anna.

Anna's mother Sarah passed away in 1835.

In 1837 her Father Thomas remarried, to Mary Ayres, and thereafter he and his wife, together with Anna, her elder sister Sarah , and younger step sister Mary Shepherd began the process of converting to Catholicism. Thomas was a tenant Farmer to The Weld Family, one of the foremost Catholic Families in England at that time.

In the 1841 census Anna is attending St Monica's Convent School at Spetisbury in Dorset

On 28 December 1841 she is conditionally baptised at the Convent and takes the name Anne/Anna Mary

On the 30 May 1843, again at the Convent, she is confirmed and takes the name Anna Mary Monica Catherine

In 1846 her Father Thomas dies and leaves her £50 in his will.

In the 1851 census she is living with her older brother William Thomas, and his wife Ann, at 2 Albion Place, Islington, London, England,  and is described as a milliner.

I have confirmed all of the above with various records and I am completely happy it is correct, and have posted this info before.

I have since found out the following:-
In the 1840s older sister Sarah travels to France to follow her Catholic faith and begin her objuration, in Paris.

From Sarah's obituary we learn that there was a real tussle between the Parmiter Sisters and Brothers after the death of Father Thomas. The Girls wished to follow the Catholic faith, but the sons of Thomas and Sarah were staunch Church of England, and they were the eldest siblings too.

At sometime between 1851 and 1854 Sarah returns to England and "rescues" Anna from her brother William Thomas and takes her back to France with her.

Anna settled into a Monastery of the Visitation, presumably in Paris, but the Obituary doesn't say where, and this is once again where her trail goes cold.

Anna's sister Sarah, who also wanted to devote herself to God, made an unsuccessful attempt to settle into cloistered life with the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul. She then connected with "The Daughters of the Heart of Mary" in France, and in 1857 went to a new commune in Rome of The DHM, and remained there until she passed away in 1906.

After Anna is brought to Paris c.1851-1854 by her sister Sarah, I lose track of her again.

I don't know which name she was known by Anna or Anne/Anna Mary or Anna Mary Monica Catherine, or whether indeed she would have been re baptised again, in France with a different name altogether.

If anyone can add any info re her time in France, or indeed find out if she died there, I would be very grateful.

Thank you

Sally

[joger]

Hello Everyone



Anna settled into a Monastery of the Visitation, presumably in Paris, but the Obituary doesn't say where, and this is once again where her trail goes cold.

 Can you tell us what the obituary says and when ?

[meekhcs]

Thank you for your interest.

The info is contained in the obituary for her sister Sarah who travelled to France in the 1840s, became an oblate in Paris in February 1854 and took her vows Aug 15th 1856.

The relevant part of the obituary follows the above statement:-

Urgent family reasons recalled the new Catholic to England: one of her sisters [ I know from the following this was Anna Elizabeth] had also renounced Protestantism and was violently persecuted because of her change of religion. Sarah (Marie) Parmiter ran to her aid. God willing, she had the joy of delivering the poor captive from the prison where she was held, in the very home of one of their brothers, she took her to France and soon saw her enter a monastery of the Visitation.

Sarah (Marie) Parmiter, too, wanted to devote herself to God; but not feeling called to cloistered life, she made an unsuccessful attempt with the sisters of St Vincent de Paul. It was then that she connected with the Society through M. Litard. She was admitted to the “Nov General” [Novembre?] and spent about three years there.

You will notice that there is no date in the section. All I can tell you is that Anna Elizabeth was in London with her brother in the 1851 census and her sister Sarah travelled to Rome somewhen in 1857, so we are looking at a 6 year time frame, but possibly the years 1856 and 1857.

Thank you, Sally

[joger]

I rather think that Nov is for "Noviciat ".
If she stayed in Paris , she was in this monastaey :
https://www.service-des-moniales.cef.fr/monastere-de-la-visitation-a-paris/

[meekhcs]

Of course. Noted thank you. I translated the obit from French and there were many abbreviations and November was the first thing that popped into my head.

Sally

[joger]

You could try to write to the monastery (see the link I gave) and ask for infos concerning her .
They may have a file for her and a date of death etc...

The death certificate ( like for anybody) will be in the "Etat civil Registers " of Paris if she died in Paris.

Unfortunately the archives of Paris were burnt in a fire , it was reconstructed till 1859 with many missing certificates.

[meekhcs]

Again thank you, I will make contact and see if they respond.

Sally

[meekhcs]

Just a quick update.

I dropped an email as suggested to the monastery in Paris but to date have not received a reply. I will come back to this in the New Year.

Meanwhile thank you to everyone who read my posts