And suddenly, something mysterious happened: somebody appeared - or she reappeared - in our family: Aimable Briand, our aunt-great-great-grand-mother, born in Brest in 1815.
My father used to tell me that my great-grandparents were cousins. But I never found an evidence of this, having checked their certificates of birth and of marriage. When one day, I pay attention to a detail in the marriage certificate of my great-great-grand-father Ange Briand: one of the witnesses, says the document, is “beau frère du contractant " (brother-in-law of the contractor); his name was Philippe Dierce. To be a brother-in-law of my great-great-grand-father, still single, he had to be, necessarily, married with Ange’s sister. But ... who was that sister? On the other hand, the bride’s mother, Eugénie Marie Marchal, had "Dierce" as her surname. Then: Philippe Dierce, being cousin of someone, has to be the cousin of the bride and also a nephew of the bride’s mother. And, searching, I found that, exactly, his father Georges Louis Dierce, was a brother of Victoire Dierce, the mother of my great-great-grand-mother Eugénie. Definitively, Ange married the cousin of his brother-in-law, not his cousin. Only remained to confirm if it was true that my great-great-grand-father Ange had a sister married with Philippe Dierce.
In an old report of payment of royal indemnifications, I found receiving a pension from the colonists expelled from Saint Pierre et Miquelon, who? : Well, precisely Madame Aimable Briand, "veuve Dierce " (widow of Dierce), born in Brest in 1815. From there to obtaining her birth certificate in Brest there was one only more step. Not only have I obtained her birth, but also that of Phillipe Dierce, his husband, and their marriage certificate.
It was a strange sensation: this aunt had got lost between the centuries, had faded away in the night of the time, into the emptiness. And in a moment, probably extemporal, I take her of her hand and give her the welcome to our family back again. Come in, aunt; we were waiting for you.
My father used to tell me that my great-grandparents were cousins. But I never found an evidence of this, having checked their certificates of birth and of marriage. When one day, I pay attention to a detail in the marriage certificate of my great-great-grand-father Ange Briand: one of the witnesses, says the document, is “beau frère du contractant " (brother-in-law of the contractor); his name was Philippe Dierce. To be a brother-in-law of my great-great-grand-father, still single, he had to be, necessarily, married with Ange’s sister. But ... who was that sister? On the other hand, the bride’s mother, Eugénie Marie Marchal, had "Dierce" as her surname. Then: Philippe Dierce, being cousin of someone, has to be the cousin of the bride and also a nephew of the bride’s mother. And, searching, I found that, exactly, his father Georges Louis Dierce, was a brother of Victoire Dierce, the mother of my great-great-grand-mother Eugénie. Definitively, Ange married the cousin of his brother-in-law, not his cousin. Only remained to confirm if it was true that my great-great-grand-father Ange had a sister married with Philippe Dierce.
In an old report of payment of royal indemnifications, I found receiving a pension from the colonists expelled from Saint Pierre et Miquelon, who? : Well, precisely Madame Aimable Briand, "veuve Dierce " (widow of Dierce), born in Brest in 1815. From there to obtaining her birth certificate in Brest there was one only more step. Not only have I obtained her birth, but also that of Phillipe Dierce, his husband, and their marriage certificate.
It was a strange sensation: this aunt had got lost between the centuries, had faded away in the night of the time, into the emptiness. And in a moment, probably extemporal, I take her of her hand and give her the welcome to our family back again. Come in, aunt; we were waiting for you.
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