Great Great Gran

I’ve become an obsessed amateur sleuth / family tree builder… thanks to cousin Jerry!

The above photo is my father’s mother’s father’s mother: my great great grandmother Mary Ann Hodge nee Dutaillis. She had an amazing life.

Having just finished my search for my long missing great uncle, I’ve plunged into another family mystery. Was Mary Ann’s Dutaillis’ grandfather really a count? The story goes a very important French gentleman had to leave France and his fortune behind; travelling to Scotland to start a new life.

The story got embellished along the way I’m sure. My father’s version includes a mistress and the birth of twins … Now, my great gran Eliza, she was a bit of a snob; perhaps her mother-in-law was too. Could the family have made up an association with someone important just because of Mary Ann’s last name? Or perhaps just embellished a few details to try to make the story fit with that important figure in the French Revolution, Count Adrien Dutaillis.

Finding information on a birth before 1800 is difficult (Mary Ann’s father is believed to have been born in 1797 in Edinburgh, Scotland), especially if the couple was unmarried. Records were not kept the way they were later on. For instant, in England, censuses didn’t start until, I believe, 1841. Having become quite fond of census data, I encourage you to participate in all such endeavors yourself when asked. I just completed a “Housing” survey from Statistics Canada. I have a whole different attitude to the questions now that I’ve searched for answers myself.

The mysteries of family genealogy include things like how to spell illegitimate. I might get it right eventually. I think I will come up with an abbreviation! I got mad the last time and just wrote BAS***D instead. You would think autocorrect would correct when you needed it! Nope. NO WAY. Even here. I had to go back and play with the word till the red line under it disappeared.

I have convinced myself we are no relation at all to Count Adrien Ramon du Bosc Dutaillis (1760-1851). Instead I am looking for a member of the Second Estate, born in France probably around 1770 give or take a decade, who had to leave France to save his ass in the face of the oncoming French Revolution. Estimating arrival in Scotland as 1780 to 1790, I have found a few candidates, my favorite, August Dutaillis… Currently, I am trying to confirm that this man is Mary Ann’s grandfather. Because that could be the name he took upon leaving his old life behind, I may never find out his true lineage. First to confirm he is who I seek!

Wish me luck!