Claude Alexandre THOUVENIN et Victorine Henriette MANGEOT of Bezaumont, Lorraine, France

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The Thouvenin family of Bezaumont

The Thouvenin family is traced back to Simon who died January 9, 1690. It is the first death entry that we find recorded in the parish registers of Ville au Val. Simon Thouvenin was already married in 1645 where he is called "laborer" in a notarial document [Footnote 14]. Later he is said to be a "mason" [Footnote 15] in other notarial documents. We can suppose that the grave of Henry Thouvenin still existing in the cemetery of St Pierrat in 2004, was also the burial place of Simon and of the Thouvenin family of Ville au Val. The parents of Simon were probably already in Ville au Val: we find the mention of George Thouvenin "mason" in Ville au Val in 1616 [Footnote 16]. The 23 April 1622 George Thouvenin sells two pieces of vineyard adjacent to Demenge Thouvenin and Bastien Thouvenin. December 5, 1669 are mentioned the late Demenge Thouvenin and Claudon of Ville au Val (14 E 75).

One can suppose that in those days the trade of mason was associated with the trade of stone cutter. Is this the reason that the tombstone of Henry Thouvenin is remarkably well cut?

It is with this historical back ground that I would like to talk to you about Claude Alexandre Thouvenin and Victorine Henriette Mangeot (better known by the given name of Henriette) and their three daughters: Eugenie, Aline et Jeanne, three sisters who loved each other and radiated their joy of living.

Their father, Claude Alexandre Thouvenin born in Bezaumont February 2, 1850, was cabinet maker and farmer [Footnote 17]. His daughter Aline always said that he had not fought in the war of 1870 because he had pulled a good number. He hid in the vineyards with the baron de Pommery from Ville au Bal, during the Prussian occupation, so as not to be drafted in the ennemy army. They were hiding in the beanpoles and their family took food to them everyday.

Prior to his marriage, Claude went to neighboring villages to do wood work on the churches. But after his marriage he concentrated his efforts to cultivate his land and still continued with some woodwork. His house had a carpenter shop with a big workbench and all the necessary tools to saw, tear to shreds, make moldings, etc. This carpenter shop made the joy of his grandson Claude Becker, my brother, during the 1940's when he went on vacations in Bezaumont.

The entrance door to the workshop [Footnote 18] was the official entry for the animals and the people. However there was another beautiful door at the entrance of the corridor nearby. The story is told in the family, that when my grandfather Claude was making that door a friend came by and admired the beautiful work of Claude who agreed that it was a beautiful door and he would not even be paid for it. His friend was very surprised because he thought that such a fine job deserved an appropriate payment.

The residential part of this farm house had four very large rooms downstairs with a cellar and two attic floors. There also was a carpentry workshop, a barn, chicken coop, stables, wood shed and a court yard with rabbits cages [Footnote 19]. In the kitchen there was a large chimney and a bread oven. The corridor near the kitchen went from the garden to the east side, all the way to the street on the south side.

Just outside of the corridor, in the garden, there was a bench against the wall.

There was shade in the summer and it felt so nice to sit there! This wall still exists in 2004.

It is in 1881 [Footnote 20] that Claude Alexandre Thouvenin acquired this farm house from an Andre Lorrain who had acquired it in 1831 from Nicolas Colson of Belleville.

Considering that Claude had a distant relationship with these two people, we can suppose that it is partly by inheritance that Claude acquired this farm. It is such a shame that this beautiful house which sheltered the childhood and youth of Eugenie, Aline and Jeanne burnt in 1944 with all the remembrances, memorabilia and family photos. We have found an old postcard in which we can see the gutter of the roof [Footnote 21].

Claude Alexandre Thouvenin was born [Footnote 22] in the house of "uncle Thouvenin" or the house at the top of the village, or the house which is today in front of the town hall. On the wall of the house we can still read the inscription: "This stone has been laid by me Hanriette Perin daughter of Paul perin and Jeanne Mauri her mother, the year 5 of the French Republic, the year 1798" [Footnote 23]. Henriette Perrin was born July 12, 1786 the 9th child of a family of 11 children. The two children born after, had died before 1798, therefore she was the youngest living child at the time and had the honor to get her name engraven on that stone. Since Paul Perin and Jeanne Mauri were related with Pierre Thouvenin the father of Claude Alexandre Thouvenin, we can suppose that it is again partly by inheritance that Pierre acquired this house. Apparently there was a Bible in this house and two large picture of the miracle in Cana. According to Aline, these things were stolen by the soldiers during the 1914-1918 world war.

Claude Alexandre Thouvenin had a brother Jean Marcel Thouvenin who was not married and continued to reside in this home after the death of his parents, the reason that it was called the house of uncle Thouvenin. The sister of Claude and Jean Marcel, Marie Marguerite Felicite was married to Louis Robert in 1869 and resided in a house in the street which runs down the lane, about where Mrs Colette Cherie is residing today.

Aunt Robert had a son “cousin Emile” who was only eight month old when his father died, martyred by the Prussians during the 1870 war, when they made him ride between two horses with a foot in the stirrup of each of the two horses.

(According to what Aline told her daughter Yvette.)

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