French Postcards c1908

[adamthomas]

Hi All

Recently found in my late Nan's belongings was about 20 colour postcards from 1905-1910, all posted from France to an address in France. Nearly all to a family called "Catillon/Catillion" in a place called "Oisy-le-Verger" which is in the Calais region. Currently translating the postcards but mostly they seem to be friendly messages wishing everyone well. Some are sent from a "Joseph" who could be my Nans grand father (no idea why he would have been in France though if it was). Been doing web searches to try and find more out about the Catillon family but not really getting anywhere.

Can anyone shed any light?

Many Thanks

[jorose]

http://www.archivespasdecalais.fr/Archives-en-ligne
 - the department is "Pas de Calais" and their archives site has some info online.
This is in the form of sets of images which you have to search by hand, all of these could be useful:
Tables décennales de l'état civil - ten year indexes of births, marriages, deaths
Recensements de population - censuses - the latest online for Oisy-le-Verger is in 1906.

I had a quick look through some of the pages of the census - page 9 has a Catillon family, a Charles who is a Maître Maçon (master mason), his wife Pacifique Delcroix, and two daughters, Leotine and Marie.  I went back to look at earlier censuses and in 1886 this family (page 4) had a son Joseph, 20.

There might be other families by that name (I didn't check very far into the images) and Joseph is not exactly an uncommon first name but if they were from elsewhere in France to Oisy-le-Verger, they might be from this Joseph or another one, travelling for work and sending postcards back to the family?

www.geneanet.org has several hits for this family name/location (try refining by dates).

The "Recrutement militaire" (military recruitment) records are also online. Looking for Joseph in 1886, when he was 20, the index shows:
Joseph Charles Catillon, Arras, 1886, 779
and the actual recruitment record shows this was the same man as the censuses (gives parents' names, and various other details but I don't have any experience with French military records so I'll leave that for others to decipher).

[adamthomas]

Many Thanks.

Have now translated them and the Joseph mentioned is:

Joseph Dupriez and his address is 15th Artillery Regiment, 12th Caserne Battery, Caux a Douai (North)

and in another it is:

41st Artillery, 12th  Caserne Battery

The other names we have, in Oisy-le-Verger are:

Marguerite Catillon
Madame Delfolie (?)
Fernand Catillon
Achille Catillion

[jorose]

Hmm...

1905 class military recruitment, Arras, includes:
Achille Henry Francois Catillon (442)
He was b. 15 Jan 1885, Oisy le Verger, his father is J. Bte. Desire (Jean Baptiste Desire?) Catillon, his mother Leocadie Hortense Delfolie

He died in WWI: http://memoiresdepierre.pagesperso-orange.fr/alphabetnew/o/oisyleverger.html
(and see also http://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/ )

Your Joseph Dupriez appears to be Joseph Antoine Dupriez, found in the class of 1908, number 1144.
He was b. 26 November 1888, Oisy le Verger, son of Antoine Dupriez and Zelia Canivet, who were both deceased by 1908. A Francois Duprez (relative?) is mentioned.
He is listed as being initially in the 15e Regiment d'Artillerie, then (in 1911) the 41st.

From the bmd tables, it appears Zelia Canivet may have died in 1895 (always look for women under their maiden names, even if married).

In the 1891 census, the Dupriez family are on page 10, with children Alphonse, 11, Leotine, 7, Marie, 5, and Joseph, 2
Alphonse's entry in 1900 in the military recruitment records only lists his mother as deceased.

In 1901, they are neighbours:
Antoine Dupriez, 42, with the same children as in 1891 (Joseph is 13) and Adelaide DeLoffre w. Dupriez (his mother in law/stepmother) next to Jean Baptiste Catillion, wife Hortense Delfolie, and children Achille, 16, Marguerite, 11, Fernand, 6, and Charles, 4.

[adamthomas]

Thank you so much!! Its nice to know the conections between the people.