Antoine Gagné, aka Tony the Sowish
Posted: 08 Jun 2005 16:18
I received this query from a visitor:
On your index of names for this report (1844 land report) is Antoine Gagne. It indicates that the land he claimed is in Maine is this correct. Is it possible the area being reported is now known as the Sowish Lake area, T18R10.
My husband's ggGrandfather was Antoine Gagne. I have been going to UMFK to see if I could find him anywhere. So far this report of yours (1844 land report) is the only place I find him in Maine. I find him in 1901 in Canada Census.
His nick name was Tony the Sowish, referring to the lake.
Is there an actual map of this report? Could I view it?
If you look at the top of the page where his name is found
it appears he did not fall into the 6 year holding, so does this mean his claim was denied, or was he granted the land?
Here's my response, with information on Antoine Gagné:
Here's the entry for Antoine Gagné from the 1844 land survey:
Antoine Gagne,. | 1841 | 6 | 89.75 | Opposite mouth of St.Francis
This is a listing of land that is owned; this particular parcel was on the south bank of the St.John, opposite the mouth of the St.Francis river, in what's now St.Francis, not T18R10. But this is just a list of land that people owned, not necessarily all of the land they owned, nor necessarily where they lived. he'd settled on it in 1841, had cleared 6 acres, and was claiming 89.75. My understanding is that these claims were all approved, even those that did not fall within the strict terms of the Treaty.
I have not seen maps, but based on the information I have seen, I believe that originally this report did come with maps; that is what the numbers and letters at the start of each row refer to. If they are still in existence I'd guess they'd be in the Maine archives, or possibly in the Maine legislative archives (if they are separate, I would think they'd be included with the main archives holdings).
If you look at the 1840 US census you see Antoine (listed as Antoine Gonyon), living apparently in about the same place (I base that on the fact that he's living very close to Pascal Gendreau and others who he's listed near in 1844). Here's the transcription on my website, he's on line 3:
http://www.upperstjohn.com/1840/madawaska-n.htm#53
(although listed as "north of the St.John", this seems to also cover the area south of the St.John that is west of the Fish River)
Does that seem like it is him? He's listed as between 30 and 40 years old, living by himself.
I've also found what appears to be your Antoine in the 1831 land survey done by the state of Maine:
Antoine Garnier Apr 1831 from New Brunswick
Which means he settled on the land on the south bank of the St.John in April 1831 and came from New Brunswick. Here's the page:
http://www.upperstjohn.com/aroostook/deane-kavsouth.htm, you have to just use your search function, search for Garnier (the report's author's spelling of Gagné). This seems to be in a location that's east of Fort Kent, on the river. The report itself was undertaken in July of 1831, so he had apparently just settled a few months earlier.
I haven't found him in other censuses in that period (1833 especially), but it was not uncommon for census takers to miss people.
I hope this is somewhat helpful. Please let me know if you've got more questions.
And if others know anything about this person or his family, please reply to this post.
On your index of names for this report (1844 land report) is Antoine Gagne. It indicates that the land he claimed is in Maine is this correct. Is it possible the area being reported is now known as the Sowish Lake area, T18R10.
My husband's ggGrandfather was Antoine Gagne. I have been going to UMFK to see if I could find him anywhere. So far this report of yours (1844 land report) is the only place I find him in Maine. I find him in 1901 in Canada Census.
His nick name was Tony the Sowish, referring to the lake.
Is there an actual map of this report? Could I view it?
If you look at the top of the page where his name is found
it appears he did not fall into the 6 year holding, so does this mean his claim was denied, or was he granted the land?
Here's my response, with information on Antoine Gagné:
Here's the entry for Antoine Gagné from the 1844 land survey:
Antoine Gagne,. | 1841 | 6 | 89.75 | Opposite mouth of St.Francis
This is a listing of land that is owned; this particular parcel was on the south bank of the St.John, opposite the mouth of the St.Francis river, in what's now St.Francis, not T18R10. But this is just a list of land that people owned, not necessarily all of the land they owned, nor necessarily where they lived. he'd settled on it in 1841, had cleared 6 acres, and was claiming 89.75. My understanding is that these claims were all approved, even those that did not fall within the strict terms of the Treaty.
I have not seen maps, but based on the information I have seen, I believe that originally this report did come with maps; that is what the numbers and letters at the start of each row refer to. If they are still in existence I'd guess they'd be in the Maine archives, or possibly in the Maine legislative archives (if they are separate, I would think they'd be included with the main archives holdings).
If you look at the 1840 US census you see Antoine (listed as Antoine Gonyon), living apparently in about the same place (I base that on the fact that he's living very close to Pascal Gendreau and others who he's listed near in 1844). Here's the transcription on my website, he's on line 3:
http://www.upperstjohn.com/1840/madawaska-n.htm#53
(although listed as "north of the St.John", this seems to also cover the area south of the St.John that is west of the Fish River)
Does that seem like it is him? He's listed as between 30 and 40 years old, living by himself.
I've also found what appears to be your Antoine in the 1831 land survey done by the state of Maine:
Antoine Garnier Apr 1831 from New Brunswick
Which means he settled on the land on the south bank of the St.John in April 1831 and came from New Brunswick. Here's the page:
http://www.upperstjohn.com/aroostook/deane-kavsouth.htm, you have to just use your search function, search for Garnier (the report's author's spelling of Gagné). This seems to be in a location that's east of Fort Kent, on the river. The report itself was undertaken in July of 1831, so he had apparently just settled a few months earlier.
I haven't found him in other censuses in that period (1833 especially), but it was not uncommon for census takers to miss people.
I hope this is somewhat helpful. Please let me know if you've got more questions.
And if others know anything about this person or his family, please reply to this post.