France: Jean Mandineau, Moncoutant, Deux-Sevres, c. 1700

[JenNZL]

Hi all,

I'm trying to locate any online archived records pertaining to the birth and ancestry of Jean Mandineau (the husband of Anne L'Homme, who is discussed in this thread:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=769281.0).

Jean, like his wife Anne, was a Huguenot refugee, arriving in London sometime prior to his marriage to Anne in 1736.

From what our family tree records say, Jean was most likely born around 1700 - 1710. His marriage to Anne L'Homme (in London) states: Jean Mandineau, originaire de Moncoutant en Poitou.. 

The existing family tree we have states that his father was Francois Mandineau, and his mother was named Helene, and that Jean had a sister who was born five years earlier than he was. It also states that Francois married late in life. I would like to try to find primary source documentation to support these details.

I believe Jean was possibly a weaver, (the burial record of one of his children lists his occupation as such, and it appears that was also the occupation of the L'Homme family) though our family tree records state that in France, Francois and family had a multi-generational agricultural background. Subsequent generations of the Mandineau (later anglicized to Mandeno) family in London worked successfully as market gardeners.


I have been searching here (with my very limited French):

https://archinoe.fr/v2/ad79/visualiseur/etatcivil.html?id=790004307

 ...but have found no mention of any Mandineau or Mandineaux families (I have also seen it spelled Mandinot in some documentation.) Can anyone recommend any other places to look? Is there something I'm missing? I understand that these are Catholic parish records, but I presume there must be some extant documentation to support the original claim in the family tree that Jean's parents were Francois and Helene. (the original research was undertaken pre-internet, via visits to France / London, I believe.)

Any suggestions / redirections / assistance much appreciated. I am still exceptionally thankful for all the time and help of members in the aforementioned thread regarding Anne L'Homme.

Kind regards,

Jenni

[JenNZL]

One more thought...there's also this (linked to by a helpful forum member in the thread regarding Anne L'Homme) that suggests there were Mandineau families living in nearby Bazoges-en-Pareds and Mouilleron-en-Pareds:

http://www.bois-tiffrais.org/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=106

I've tried searching the archives there but am really struggling a bit to interpret the website and find where exactly within it I need to look to. I've been looking here:

http://www.archives.vendee.fr/Bazoges-en-Pareds
http://www.archives.vendee.fr/Mouilleron-en-Pareds

It seems close enough geographically to make sense, though. Thoughts?

J

[JenNZL]

One more thing I've just uncovered today, that I'll share just in case it adds to the complete picture and is helpful in any way: the second of Jean and Anne's children, Pierre (born in 1738 in London), had as godparents Pierre Mandinot and Anne Mandinot. I wonder if Pierre could be a brother / cousin / uncle? Anne, too, could be related, perhaps - in adjacent records, where the mother stands as godmother her name is followed by 'sa mere', and in this instance it isn't. Could this Ann Mandinot also be a relative of Jean, perhaps?

(found here:

https://archive.org/stream/registersoffrenc23egli#page/190/mode/2up/search/mandinot
(p190, line q)

and also in a handwritten version on ancestry (as below).)


Anyway...another piece of the puzzle, perhaps...

[jorose]

This is a period which is quite difficult for Huguenot records - they may well have been forced unwillingly into "converting" and attending Catholic services but often continued to worship privately/secretly in their own faith despite the massive penalties for preaching or attending a protestant service.

https://arbredenosancetres.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/abjurations-massives-a-moncoutant/
 - apparently the Catholic priest at Moncoutant was particularly anti-protestant and there are records of a large number of "conversions" in the Catholic parish records around 1685/6. It would be worth taking a look through these records to see if any Mandinot or Mandineau names pop out. The condition is not very good I know, so it might

Also important reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonnades

There are some records indexed for the Vendee (not 100% by any means and a lot of parish records don't survive for this period also)
http://www.nomsdevendee.fr/
  - a search here shows a Magdeleine Mandineau, aged 25, a servant, of Bazoges-en-Pareds, Abjuration (i.e. she was a Huguenot who converted, at least on paper)
 - also a Jeanne Mandineau, daughter of Jean Mandineau and Madeleine Brunet, marrying in Mouilleron-en-Pareds in 1706

[JenNZL]

Hi Jorose,

Thank you for that information - I've now had a hunt through the abjurations for those years but unfortunately have not turned up any Mandineau / Mandinot family members. In fact, thus far the name seems conspicuously absent from the Moncoutant registers in general - I've not yet looked through them in their entirety, but in the large chunks I've searched, spanning a wide range of years, I haven't found a single mention of the name.  I wonder if the Vendee records might be a better place for me to search - at least the family name is mentioned there, and clearly at least some of them were Huguenot as evidenced by the abjuration of Magdeleine you linked to below.

Frustratingly, I presume the information pertaining to Jean's birth must be out there somewhere - I presume someone has, when doing the family research in the past, somehow ascertained this Jean / Francois / Helene  connection.  I note that the family tree we have also asserts that Francois was a Huguenot leader of some sort, and regularly traveled to Paris and elsewhere to commune with colleagues - whether or not this information is able to be backed up by evidence or was more speculative, I'm unsure. I can't quite figure out where or how such information could be uncovered.

At any rate - thank you for your help! I'll keep searching.

Jenni

[JenNZL]

Actually, now I think of it, it strikes me that perhaps the information around Jean's parentage could have come from Jean's admission to the church in London - does that sound possible? I've not yet examined the Huguenot Society's records (though I understand that the family members who undertook the previous research have consulted them in depth.) Perhaps that's the answer (though I'd still really like to hope that I could then trace the family back further in the French records.)

I can't find Jean in the Threadneedle Street Tesmoignages (which is where his wife Anne L'Homme and her family are found, and where Jean and Anne's children are all later baptised). Does anyone know if there are any other online sources in which to look up these records? Were there tesmoignages at the other French churches in London that are available online? Otherwise I suppose it might necessitate a library visit - I believe our library system holds copies of at least some of the Huguenot Society records.

Any advice much appreciated :-)

J