Ronquete family in Louisiana

[*Sandra*]

I think Erato would do a very detailed search on Virginia at the time.  I also went through the Census records searching trying to unravel the mystery at the time and today have spent odd sessions but still got no further forward.  Sad as it is to say this may remain a proverbial brick wall - although I do hope I am wrong. 

[cimbrio]

Don't worry, thanks anyway *Sandra*.

What I still can't find is Elias Sr. Ronquete's death date; I've seen the surname spelt so many times that God knows how they would type it in on the search machines: Bronquette, Ronquette, Ronguet...

Tomorrow I'm going to visit one of my mum's aunt. We've recently found out that her next-door neighbour is related to us (though we have to trace our common ancestry back to the 18th century).

Thank you very much for your help!

[*Sandra*]

Louisiana Deaths should cover 1850-1875; 1894-1954 - I don't suppose everyone is listed annd never founnd Elias.  That might be a question you could ask if you get a good response from RAOGK. Sorry 

Regards
Sandra

[cimbrio]

Hello all, and happy new year! I hope 2011 is an even better year still.

I've been fortunate enough to find the will of Manuel Joaquin de Ben (1773-1851), whose grandson José Antonio de Ben Martínez emigrated to the USA in 1860 and thus founded the American branch of this family originally from Spain. The will is interesting because its fills in some gaps about the family, and in it Manuel Joaquin de Ben mentions his children by his late wife. Among them is a "José Bentura de Ben" [sic] who at the time (december 1851) lives in the "States of America". I would presume they mean the United States, and that he having emigrated there would have managed to get his nephew José Antonio to go and live there as well. I would like to know if it's possible to find out anything about José Bentura/José Ventura (spellings of the name vary, as does that of the last name, Deben/de Ben).

Thank you!

[cimbrio]

I found him with two sons (presumably) living in New Orleans; they own three slaves, all under 15 years of age (two mulatos and one black slave). SHOCKING! I never expected this. But no trace of their mother... The children are called Francis and Manuel, and all were born in Spain, so they emigrated to America between 1830 and 1850. Can anyone trace their date of arrival, roughly?

Best regards!

[*Sandra*]

Feliz año nuevo, Cimbrio - Espero que estés bien 

Do you have the dates of birth for Jose Bentura De Ben and the 2 children please ?

Gracias
Sandra

[cimbrio]

Muchas gracias *Sandra*  Feliz año nuevo a ti también 

This is what I know about them:
José Ventura de Ben (Ventura is the correct spelling, it appears as Bentura in his father's will in 1851, but he's called Jose in the other documents I've seen on pilot.familysearch.com) was born I think around 1797-1799; his parents married in 1796, I know that for a fact, and he was their firstborn. In the US 1850 census he is listed as being 51 so c. 1799.

In the same census of 1850, Francis (or Francisco) de Ben and Manuel de Ben (presumably his sons) are living with him, and they are 25 and 18 respectively. I've found Manuel Deben (slight alteration of the last name) being 34 roughly in 1865, when he took part in the American Civil War, on the Confederate side. I haven't found out if he died during the war, I don't think he did. His cousin José Antonio de Ben (emigrated in 1860) also took part in the war.

Both Francis and Manuel were born in Spain, which would indicate that they emigrated sometime between 1830 and 1850. I have no idea about their mother or if they had other siblings. Their christening records are kept in Santiago de Compostela, where I'm going in a month. I'll probably be able to find who their mother was, but any more details about them in America (when they died, when José [Ventura] de Ben died, what they did for a living after the war...).

Thank you so much!

[*Sandra*]

Su muy bien recibido.


Hmmmm. No es un buen comienzo

This seems to fit with the age on the 1850 Census where Manuel was a Clerk living with Jose and Francis who were both Gardeners.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0b26/


New Orleans - Louisiana Death Record.

Manuel DeBen  - Age: 32 Yrs -  Death Date: 21 Jun 1864

[cimbrio]

Oh, that's quite young. So Manuel would have died during the war in fact. Is there any way of telling whether he died because of it?

The death in 1864 would establish his date of birth as 1832, which fits but can only be confirmed in the parish records in Santiago. What about José, Manuel and Francis' father, is there any record of him dying in Louisiana?

Perhaps you've already seen it but in this link here
(http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/civil-war-cubans/cazadores.htm) it says there's a Manuel Deben who took part in the war:

Deben, Manuel    Private    2    34    Spain    Grocer

The 34 may be a mistake, because the other facts fit; he's described as a clerk in 1850, so he wasn't in a particular trade and may have turned from clerk to grocer...

Gracias *Sandra*