Friday, August 29, 2008

deMoulpieds in the USA

Hello all. I and some cousins have been researching the deMoulpied family in the USA and Guernsey for a few years now. I will briefly go over what I have pieced together so far.

The deMoulpied line in the USA I come from originated with Joseph deMouilpied, a minister, who came to Canada around 1853, eventually having 6 children. Three of his sons came to America, 2 settling in Manchester, New Hampshire. I will call this the East Coast deMoulpieds.

Joseph had a sister, Charlotte, who also spent time in Canada and married Francis de la Mare. Joseph and Charlotte's parents were Thomas deMouilpied and Marie Blondel back in Guernsey. THAT will be another blog.

A couple of generations before Joseph, a Nicolas deMouilped, came to the USA and settled in Wisconsin. I will call this the Mid-West deMoulpieds.

Both Joseph and Nicolas are from the same lineage, a few generations apart but related for sure. I am fairly certain that these are the only 2 deMoulpieds who came from the Isle of Guernsey to the USA. Please let me know if you know otherwise. So, I guess we are all related!

Both Nicolas and Joseph originally had the Island spelling of deMouilpied. It can be tracked which generations dropped the "i" before the "l".

Also from this lineage, a brother of Nicolas went to Australia and there is a line there too. Other deMoulpieds might have also gone to Australia but I do know this one related line.

My circle of cousins and I have compiled quite a comprehensive family tree which I hope to get on line soon. The East coast deMoulpieds are fairly well accounted for. The Midwest group, well we need some help. I have LOTS of fantastic photos starting with Joseph and even his Parents in Guernsey. Again, I will try to get these on as soon as I can.

Back in Guernsey, we have the family lineage well established back to the late 1500's. The deMouilpieds were land holders and enjoyed good status on the island. We have copies of the family shield and motto. There is a road and section of the island named after the family name, and beautiful still standing homesteads.

The shield that so many different cousins have/had are all the same. It says in french the name is actually Du Port, Lord of Mouillepied and le Bois Masson. It also says he was a Marquis. So our detective brains have concluded that deMouilpied came from the La Rochelle area of France and owned the Land parcels of Mouillepied and Bois Masson, and his name was actually Du Port. Du Port fled to Guernsey because of the first wave of Huguenots slaughter and upon arriving in Guernsey, changed his last name to, from where he came, de (from) Mouillepied. This was a very common way to name yourself back then. Now check this out: Chateau Mouillepied

This is all very exciting. Hope to hear from you! Debby deMoulpied