Barcelona Spain, Francisco Brunett -b.1834

[shep00]

This man is my biggest brick wall.
He arrived in New Orleans in 1852 and listed his occupation as seaman in the first census to appear in 1860. Several last name spellings thru documents in the US are Brunet, Brunetti, Brunette, Brunettie. I am sure most of these are misspellings.

In his naturalization papers he states he was born in Barcelona Spain in 1834, no parents or family listed on any documents through the years. In several census he lists his parents as born in Spain.

How do I go about finding out what his birth name was before coming to the US?

There are several stories floating around the family as to how he got here. A book published by an elder of the town he ended up in "Husser Happenings of Long Ago" say that he stowed away in a sugar barrel leaving Spain. Some other stories included that he was on the boat with a brother who got off the boat in the Philippines and another story says that an older brother put them on the boat.

I know they had sometimes up to 5 different names and have come up with a few possibilities as to who he was before coming to the US but nothing concrete.

I would love to find out his true identity.
Possibilities: 1. Francisco Jayme Felix Brunet Masso 2. Anton Joseph Francisco Nicolau Brunet 3. Francisco Jose Martin Brunat Rigall (not too sure about that one)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mrsruz]

Following the Spanish naming pattern, Brunet would have been his father's family name which he would have used on a day to day basis. For more formal matters, it would have been followed by his mother's family name, giving the impression of a double barrelled surname, although in fact the second surname is rarely used except for formal identification, eg a birth certificate.

[garstonite]

welcome to Rootschat
https://en.geneanet.org/fonds/individus/?country__0__=&country__1__=&country__2__=&country__3__=&country__4__=&exact_day=&exact_month=&exact_year=&from=1834&go=1&ignore_each_patronyme=&ignore_each_prenom=&nom=brunet&page=1&place__0__=&place__1__=&place__2__=&place__3__=&place__4__=&prenom=francisco&prenom_operateur=or&region__0__=&region__1__=&region__2__=&region__3__=&region__4__=&size=10&subregion__0__=&subregion__1__=&subregion__2__=&subregion__3__=&subregion__4__=&to=1834&type_periode=between&zonegeo__0__=&zonegeo__1__=&zonegeo__2__=&zonegeo__3__=&zonegeo__4__=

something for you to have a look at - a free site but some records are pay per view

[garstonite]

this is a little early
Francisco Casillas Brunet b 1740 married Theresa Gertrudis Margarida Birba Mallol - b 1745  in 1770 Girona,Barcelona
fathers name Pere Antoni
I would make a note of it in case the name pops up again in children / grandchildren - also google Brunet family Girona ,Barcelona - you might be lucky

[garstonite]

https://gw.geneanet.org/amenzell?lang=en&n=brunet&oc=0&p=baby+boy

contact this tree holder -Brunet in Aguliana,Girona ,Barcelona 1842- baptism

[shep00]

Thank you all! I am in the process of checking out each link everyone provided. I sure hope I can find some information on him.