French WW1 Records - Devancaze

[ATGoldsmith]

Hello,

I'm trying to find out what happened to the father of Louis Eugene Stokes (born as Louis Eugene Devancaze).  His father was killed in World War 1 but this is all the definite facts I know about him!  There is a Louis Devancaze travelling to New York (where Louis Eugene Stokes was brought up) in 1911 and I reckon this is him.  However I have no idea where I could find a death for him. 

Louis Eugene Stokes was born 21 December 1914 in France (as Devancaze) and died on 9 December 2004 in the USA.  His mother was Berthe Louise Zeziger (1893-1934).

Thanks,

ATGoldsmith

[jorose]

I don't see the 1911 entry at  http://www.ellisisland.org but I can see a 1915 one for Berthe and Louis (indexed as "21" but actually I think 1 1/2).

They were from Escou, Basses-Pyrénées (modern Pyrénées-Atlantiques).

Judging from http://www.geopatronyme.com "Davancaze" is a more likely original spelling.

http://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr
 - there is a database here for French war dead. A likely possible is Jean Louis Davancaze, b. 11 Dec 1882 Dognen, died 18 Dec 1918.  Unfortunately these records generally do not show next of kin.

He can be found on the Pyrenees-Atlantiques record site:
http://earchives.cg64.fr/etat-civil-search-form.html
But there are no marginal notes indicating a marriage on his birth, and the records do not go up far enough to see the birth of son Louis.

More military records for him here:
http://consultarchives.cg64.fr/registre_militaires/74738

There isn't a note of marriage but there is some record of his whereabouts from 1902 (when he started military service) until his death - and in he is recorded as being in NY as of 12 Dec 1911.

I think they married in NY: http://www.stevemorse.org/vital/nymarriages.html?index=groom shows Jean L. Davancaze in 1913 , possible spouse "Zeisiga, Bertha".  I guess he returned to France with her shortly afterwards, where the child was born, but then she went back to the US when he went off to war?

[ATGoldsmith]

Thanks for these links! They are really useful and I think you may have cracked it!

ATGoldsmith

[jorose]

I find Pyrenees-Atlantiques to be one of the less user-friendly French archive sites (which knowing some of them is saying something!), so if you need help digging up  more Davancazes just give me a shout.

[ATGoldsmith]

Thanks jorose,

I'll keep it in mind

ATG