Name |
Alphonse Gamard |
Suffix |
Sr. |
Birth |
7 Mar 1806 |
Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium |
Gender |
Male |
Immigration |
Bef 1839 |
Census |
1850 |
New Orleans, Louisiana [1] |
- aged 42, born in Belgium, job = "Mr"—merchant?
|
Census |
1860 |
New Orleans, Louisiana |
Obituary |
Obituary from the Times-Picayune, 22 Nov. 1874:
GAMARD--on Thursday evening, at half-past 8 o'clock, ALPHONSE GAMARD, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, a native of Belgium, and for the last thirty-five years a resident of this city.
His friends and acquaintances, and those of the families of A. Gamard, A. Guillemet, Simmons and J.B. Couret, are respectfully invited to his funeral, which will take place This (Friday) Evening, November 20, at half-past 4 o'clock, from his late residence, No. 369 Canal street, corner Roman. |
Religion |
Catholic |
Death |
19 Nov 1874 |
New Orleans, Louisiana |
Burial |
20 Nov 1874 |
St. Louis Cemetery #2, New Orleans, Louisiana [2] |
Notes |
- Thank you to David Quénéhervé for tracking down his and his family’s records in Belgium.
According to his son Alphonse Jr.'s death record, Alphonse Sr. was a native of Ghent, Belgium. Alphonse's Sr.'s obituary implies that he immigrated to the U.S. in about 1839: "Alfonse Gamard, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, a native of Belgium and for the last 35 years a resident of this city" (Daily Picayune, 20 November 1874, p 4, col. 4). This would make his arrival in New Orleans about 1839. This coincides with his marriage and the birth of his first child. He would have been about 33.
There is also this passenger arrival record from 1824:
Name: A. Gamard
Arrival Date: Nov 24, 1824
Gender: U
Port of Departure: La Havre
Ship Name: Brilliant
Family Number: 310421
National Archives' Series Number: M259-4
Port of Arrival: New Orleans
It seems likely that this is the same person; he would have been 18 at the time of this record. He seems, then, to have been moving back and forth. Perhaps he decided to settle in New Orleans because of his marriage.
His son Alphonse Jr.'s death record also records Caroline R. Simmons’ last name (this is also just about the only record the name "Simmons"). No marriage certificate exists for the couple in NOLA marriage records, and no marriage record exists for the couple in the NOLA parish church records. They may have been married in SC (see under his wife for mor here, however). While there is a "Pauline Gamard" in LA on the 1840 census, no other Gamards appear in LA or in SC at the time. Alfonse and his family appear in 1850.
A letter exists from Alphonse Gamard the immigrant dated 1848; it is a letter to his wife in Rapides parish from France, written in French, when he made a trip back there. If he was for the "last 35 years a resident," why was he writing to his wife in Rapides Parish? Note this immigration/arrival record, which seems to have been from that trip:
Name: ??? Gamard
Arrival Date: Nov 27, 1848
Age: 35
Gender: U
Port of Departure: La Havre
Place of Origin: Belgium
Ship Name: Vesta
Family Number: 120644
National Archives' Series Number: M259-29
Port of Arrival: New Orleans
In 1849 a case is recorded, Gamard v. Hart, that was appealed to the Lousiana Supreme Court over the ownership of a slave; see here on Google Books. The suit mentions that “Gamard was a country merchant, doing a very limited business. He was insolvent, by his own admissions in his proceedings on his surrender, at the date of his sale [of the slave, in 1843], and continued to be much embarrassed in his affairs at the date of the donation [in 1845].”
Family history has it that there was apparently a split in the family between his son Alfred and the rest after Alfred married into the protestant Hewitt family. [3]
|
Person ID |
I3696 |
Last Modified |
30 Dec 2023 |
Spouse / Partner |
Caroline Rebecca Simmons b. Abt 1819, Charleston, Berkeley Co., South Carolina d. 4 Jan 1899, New Orleans, Louisiana (Age 80 years) |
Marriage |
Abt 1838 |
Children |
+ | 1. Emma Elizabeth Gamard b. Oct 1839, ? Cotile, Rapides Parish, Louisiana d. 24 Apr 1921, New Orleans, Louisiana (Age 81 years) |
| 2. Rosana G. Gamard b. Abt 1841, ? Cotile, Rapides Parish, Louisiana d. 2 May 1908, New Orleans, Louisiana (Age 67 years) |
+ | 3. George Alfred Gamard, Sr. b. 6 Oct 1842, Cotile, Rapides Parish, Louisiana d. 25 Mar 1933, West Hartford, Hartford Co., Connecticut (Age 90 years) |
+ | 4. Alphonse Gamard, Jr. b. Aug 1846, ? Cotile, Rapides Parish, Louisiana d. 2 Sep 1937, 4106 Canal St., New Orleans, Louisiana (Age 91 years) |
|
Family ID |
F371 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Last Modified |
30 Dec 2023 |