The widow Eugenie Caroline Theodore Rinsby died in Lowerhill nr Richmond, London

[Axonais]

Thank you. This deed is already known. It was made in Heeze near Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Storm van 's Gravesande was "schepen" (= alderman) of the court in Heeze before which this deed was registered. He was not related to Caroline Victoire Ravanel. She is known by the Christian names Caroline Victoire (Ravanel), Caroline Frédérique (Ravanel) and Eugenie Caroline Theodore(a) Rinsby née Ravanel.

[PatLac]

Thanks! What about Hendrik Bock?

And have you managed to read the name of the witness at her aunt's marriage to Johann Caspar Fizer?



According to Merck's book partially available on Google Books, Frau Hofmann (Marie Antoinette nee Ravanel) had three nieces: one niece, C. Reynier (or Reigner), in Lausanne. She was the daughter of Marie's sister Mme Chapuis (Sara Louise nee Ravanel). Caroline Christiane Henriette Chapuis married Jacques François Reynier, who died in 1773, (death mentioned in the book as 'had already died in 1774').

The second niece was a governess in Homburg "Mlle Rabennel". She could be Eugenie, but...

The third niece who was single and living in Holland is more likely to be Eugenie. But Eugenie or Caroline Victoire Ravanel was still called Ravanel and not Mme Rinsby in 1786 when her aunt died (the 11 Oct 1786 deed) and she left Beverwijk and went to Trévoux with Wolff and Deken in March 1788, she would have had to marry and become a widow during this short period of time. One other option is that she had married and become a widow whilst living in Trévoux, which is even less likely. The last option is that she had invented her marriage and husband.

https://books.google.nl/books?id=aKo-0yKvAgcC&pg=RA3-PA315&dq=merck+ravanel&hl=nl&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi_m-eBqdCNAxXjhv0HHUVIH_kQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=Reignes&f=false

A Google (terrible) translation:

...d'Epreville marries. She was godmother to Adelheid Merck; see Letter 864, note 1. - Caroline, the eldest princess of Darmstadt, married to Friedrich von Hessen-Homburg since 1768, also wished, in 1777, to have Ravanel as governess for her children; see Jacobi, Goethe's Lila, p. 61. The Darmstadt Frag- und Ananzeigersblättgen No. 33, of August 17, 1778, also names Mademoiselle Rabenell, governess of Homburg, among the travelers who arrived. - Another niece, C. Reynier, in Lausanne, entrusted Merck with the administration of the estate of her aunt Fises on September 23, 1786, who had inherited an affair from her aunt Katharina ("the" Ravanel). cf. Letter 852. - Another
unmarried niece lived in Holland; cf. von d'Epreville, November 18, 1786.

Could they be confusing Caroline Victoire Ravanel (Eugenie) with Caroline Christiane Henriette Chapuis (C. Reynier)?

[PatLac]

I know this isn't a likely place of burial for Eugenie, but I think it's a remarkable coincidence. And I think the handwriting could very well be "Rinsby".

Mrs. Rinsly
Burial
Place: St. Peter-The-Great Church, Chichester, Sussex, England (Chichester Cathedral)
Date: 29 Nov 1806

Another remarkable coincidence (or not?) is that the burial of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, who died one month later and was buried on 5 Jan 1807, is in the same page. His father and Leonard Smelt were both amongst the British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6X1Q-THC?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AJ83N-MPB&cc=1473016&lang=en&groupId=

[jonwarrn]

I know this isn't a likely place of burial for Eugenie, but I think it's a remarkable coincidence. And I think the handwriting could very well be "Rinsby".

Mrs. Rinsly
Burial
Place: St. Peter-The-Great Church, Chichester, Sussex, England (Chichester Cathedral)
Date: 29 Nov 1806

That's a really great find, Pat.

I agree that it could well say Rinsby.
The bishops transcript, which has less info, for comparison, here
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D4WC-2J

Chichester as a possible place of death or burial perhaps not so unlikely, because of the solicitior, James Champ?

Paradise was the burial ground in the cloisters at Chichester Cathedral. Now all open space I think.

[Axonais]

The proxy in Heeze dated 11 Oct. 1786 was passed in the office of the manor of Heeze, where were present Storm van ’s Gravesande and H. Bock, both “schepen” (alderman). H. Janssen was the clerk.

The marriage registration of the Fizer-Ravanel couple gives two witnesses: Marie Antoinete Hofmann widow (“Witib”) née Ravanel and the captain Francois De Kaipf.

The letter (“Brief”) nr. 864 mentioned in the book by Ulrike Leutschner seems to have been written on 18 Nov. 1786 (p. 64). I do agree that the “weitere Nichte” [an other niece] who lived at that time in Holland must have been Caroline Victoire Ravanel.

As no sea-captain of the name Rinsby can be found in Dutch archives or printed literature and this name seems to be very rare indeed and her widowship suddenly falls out of the cloud  in 1790 it may very well be that Caroline invented her state of being a widower. I doubt Caroline’s widowship for a long time myself.

Your find of the burial of Mrs. Rinsly in the church in Chichester is really important and a great success. Her name could indeed be read as Rinsby.  According to her approved will it was James Champ of the city of Chichester notary public who translated it from the original French to English and the Reverend George Marwood was constituted as executor.

This George Marwood probably was the Rev. George Marwood who was a canon of Chichester Cathedral. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Metcalfe-760. His mother was Anne Smelt. I haven’t yet figured out her relationship with Leonard Smelt.

[PatLac]

Anne was Leonard Smelt's sister.

https://www.thepeerage.com/p66976.htm#i669754

As for the origins of Canon George Marwood (originally Metcalfe) he has discussed his own genealogy.

https://archive-cat.magd.ox.ac.uk/records/MCA/PR/30/1/C4/11/11-Fols.-2-5

His father's grandmother was Anne Marwood, daughter of Sir George "1st Baronet Marwood of Little Buskby" Marwood, M. P. She married William Metcalfe. Their son Rev. Thomas Metcalfe is Georges's father, mother Anne Greene.

[PatLac]

Another interesting information regarding Leonard Smelt.

Lord Holderness (Robert D'Arcy) was Leonard Smelt's neighbour and responsible for introducing him to King George III.


“The principles of a subaltern were believed
to be pliant. Lord Holderness himself owed
his preferment to his insignificance and to his wife,
a lady of the bedchamber to the Queen, as she did
hers to her daughter’s governess, whom the Queen
had seduced from her to the great vexation of Lady
Holderness. The governess, a French Protestant,182
ingratiated her late mistress with the Queen, and
her mistress soon became a favourite next to the
German women.”

“182 Mademoiselle Crom of Geneva.”

Excerpt From
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, Volume 4 (of 4)
Horace Walpole


I wonder why Eugenie went to England and lived with the Smelts and I'm beginning to think there is a Royal connection through Swiss governesses.

I had this crazy idea that she changed her birth name, Caroline Frederique Ravanel, to Caroline Victoire Ravanel after her husband's death (maybe during the 4th Anglo-Dutch war), if he really existed, or after she became involved with the patriots (including Wolff and Deken, but maybe others).

And maybe she reverted to her maiden name after her husband's death because Ravanel was a name attached to her famous aunts, like the influential lady of the Hesse-Darmstadt court Margarethe Katharina Ravanel, and that could open doors amongst potential employers.

Now, why Eugenie and Theodora(e)? If she was acquainted with Marie Antoinette's chamber ladies and if (big if) she was the Mrs. Rinsby mentioned by the Marquis de Bombelles, she could have attached those names as an aristocratic touch.

Another avenue of investigation is her brother-in-law responsible for her legal affairs, Joseph Bouchet D'Epréville (or de Préville), married to her sister Marianne.

He was a "secret minister counselor of the Duke of Zweibrücken" (correct me here Axonais!). Was Eugenie involved with the patriots? Was Joseph involved in suspicious political activity?

.. ihn ferner davor, in dem städtischen Komitee mit einem politisch zweifelhaften Mann namens Préville ...” „... Zweibrücken zurückgeblieben. 2. Er habe im Hause eines suspekten d’Epreville (de Préville) verkehrt. Dieser ...” „... ausführlich eingeht, während er die Vorwürfe Nr. 2 und 3 kurz abtut. Mit de Préville sei er seit seiner ersten ...”

https://www.beck-elibrary.de/en/10.17104/9783406704826/montgelas-bd-1-1759-1799-zwischen-revolution-und-reform?q=preville&page=1

I found a previous marriage in Brussels when he was just 23 to a somewhat famous (for her bad acting) commedian actress, Marie Anne Nonancourt, who used to act under her many husbands' surnames, including Mme du Bouchet.

"Le 14 octobre 1763, elle passe en effet un contrat de mariage par-devant notaire avec le chevalier Joseph Du Bouchet de Préville, âgé de vingt-trois ans65.

65 AEB, Notariat général de Brabant 7572 (notaire Lindekens)."

https://journals.openedition.org/etudes18/2066?lang=en#ftn65

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Le_Sueur_Fontaine

[PatLac]

Axonais,

You haven't said if you have access to this chapter that mentions Mlle Ravanel in Holland.

https://classiques-garnier.com/abraham-trembley-et-autres-precepteurs-suisses-en-hollande-correspondances-1733-1801-gouvernantes.html

I have tried to buy it but the website is refusing my card.  I'll try again on Monday.

I see that Marita Mathijsen has mentioned it in her book, so I reckon it doesn't have any new information?

[Axonais]

Yes I know the relevent pages of this book already. The only important information we learn from them is that Caroline Ravanel was in the Netherlands in 1784 already and that she was known to a nobleman living in the East of the country. He was in search of a governess for his children. So it is pretty sure that she was a governess as well.
The book may be interesting for the Swiss governess phenomenon in a more general way, but not for Ravanel as such.