Joseph DOUYERE's extensive family

The ascendants and descendants of Joseph Douyère and  Madeleine Catherine Picard extend their branches over Australia, England, France, India, La Réunion, Madagascar, New-Caledonia, New-Zealand, Polynesia, USA, Vanuatu.

 

Isle Bourbon



Bourbon island was decreed La Reunion island on March 13th, 1793. The origin of its name is the reunion of the patriots at Les Tuileries during the revolution years.

Our family story is linked to the populating of :
- Bourbon island (La Réunion island),
- the colonies of Sainte-Luce and Fort-Dauphin in Madagascar
- and to the history of the Eastern India French Company created in 1642.

Joseph Douyere's descendants will find their lineages by clicking on their names, in the index of names.

   Click on the fish to access the genealogy.


This photo of the Alsatian village : Wisches, is from the site sylviedalsace Pbase.com,vallée de la Bruche part.
You can admire more photos of this beautiful region on http://www.pbase.com/sylviedalsace/valle_de_la_bruche_&page=all


It's from this valley of the Bruche river, from Wisches in Alsace that Joseph Jean Jacques DOUVIER/DOUYER/DOUYÈRE left France to settle on Bourbon Island. The burial vaults of the church still display our ancestors' names : Douvier et Charton.


In fact DOUYERE was not his patronym. His family name was DOUVIER. On the church register, the I had been placed under the V. The two letters were taken for a Y by the genealogists.
On Bourbon island the first census added a E to DOUYER.
Names ending with "er" in Alsace are not pronounced "é", they are said "ère", like Muller, not "Mullé" but "Mullère", or Gander not "Gandé" but "Gandère"
One can see how the freshly debarked Alsatian Joseph Douvier might have unvoluntary contributed to the change of his patronym with his accent.
New genealogical research are now showing that Douvier was originally Dabenhauer.

 Born on January 22nd, 1729 at Wisches (Alsace, France), Joseph Douyère reached Bourbon island in 1751, aboard "la Mutine" from Isle de France island (Mauritius). He married on November 19th, 1754, at Sainte-Suzanne, Bourbon island a "bourbonnaise" : Catherine Picard, born in this island, from parents who also were bourbonnais.

Catherine's great-grand-parents, of various origins, were amongst the first Bourbon island's inhabitants :  Pierre Collin, Julien Robert, Joseph Dango said Laverdure, Perrine Campelle, Catherine Mise, Suzanne Ragolin.

Here are some extracts of history pages from the site Clicanoo :

"...Après l'échec d'une tentative d'établissement des Portugais....c'est à partir des années 1620 que les Français avaient commencé à fréquenter la région de l'Anosy, Madagascar, notamment la baie de Sainte-Luce (Manafiafy), où ils avaient négocié l'établissement d'une habitation..."

"...After a Portuguese failure to attempt a settlement....from 1620, the French started to frequent Madagascar, the Anosy region and more especially Sainte-Luce bay (Manafiafy), where they had negotiated a house settlement..."

 

  

Madagascar

  

"...En ce matin du 15 janvier 1638, le Saint-Alexis part à la recherche de nouveaux territoires, dans l'hémisphère sud, au bout du monde. Un grand lointain que les Portugais et Hollandais connaissent déjà mais que les Français ont à peine exploré.....Dans les derniers jours de juin 1638, il mouille en baie de Saint-Paul à l'île Mascareigne...une chaloupe est mise à la mer et très solennellement, c'est le fils du capitaine, Salomon Goubert qui fixe au tronc d'un arbre les armes du roi de France Louis le XIIIème....."

"...On January 15th, 1638, in the morning, the Saint-Alexis sets off for discovering new territories, in the southern hemisphere, at the end of the world : distant places already known by the Portuguese and the Dutch, but barely explored by the French....In the last days of June 1638, they lie at anchor in Saint-Paul bay, Mascareigne island (first name of Bourbon island)... a launch is put at sea and very solemnly, the captain's son, Salomon Goubert, fastens a sign bearing the arms of the king of France (Louis the 13th) to a tree trunk...."

"...Tout allait changer, en particulier pour l'Anosy, avec la Compagnie française des Indes orientales en 1642... Jacques Pronis...commis de la Compagnie décida de réunir les quelques Français d'abord dans l'habitation de Sainte Luce puis en 1643 dans le nouvel établissement de Fort-Dauphin........"

"...Everything was going to change, in particular for the Anosy region, with the creation of the Eastern India French Company in 1642...Jacques Pronis... the Company's representative decided to gather the few French firstly at Sainte-Luce's house, then in 1643 at Fort-Dauphin, the new settlement ........"

"...Avec Regnault, le premier gouverneur de l'île Bourbon, arrivent de France en août 1665, une douzaine d'hommes.....Débarquée du "Taureau", de "la Vierge" et de "l'Aigle blanc", la petite communauté vit aux abords de Saint-Paul....Le 14 mars 1666, une formidable armada quitte le port de La Rochelle....On aura tout vu! C'est bien la première fois que je vois des femmes embarquer sur ma goélette ne peut s'empêcher de lâcher le commandant d'un des bateaux........." . Ils allaient vers l'isle Bourbon.

"...In 1665, a dozen of Frenchmen arrive with Regnault Bourbon island's first governor....Disembarked from the "Taureau", the "Vierge" and the "l'Aigle blanc", the small community lives near Saint-Paul....On March 14th, 1666, a sizeable armada leaves the port of La Rochelle.....Wonders will never cease ! This is the very first time I see women embarking on my schooner indeed  cannot help to utter the commander of one of the ships......" They were going away to Bourbon island.

"....A Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar, le 27 août 1674, 75 Français furent massacrés et, le 9 septembre, le gouverneur et les 63 rescapés prenaient la mer....parmi ceux-ci  des femmes malgaches qui s'étaient unies par les liens du mariage avec les Français....". Ils vont accroître la colonie de l'isle Bourbon.

"....At Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar, on August the 27th, 1674, 75 French settlers were massacred and on Septembre the 9th, the governor and 63 survivors took to the open sea..... amongst them, some malagasy women who were united in wedlock with Frenchmen....." They were going to increase the Bourbon island's colony.

 

Saint Denis, Isle Bourbon, from a painting by M. Saint-Clair Renouard

 

  

I invite you to discover these interesting articles on the following sites :

   http://www.jir.fr           

   http://www.historun.com                                                      http://www.liledelareunion.com/Fr/Histoire

and two genealogical sites :                           

  http://genealogie.douyere.com                    

   http://perso.wanadoo.fr/henri.maurel

Very interesting books about the Indian Ocean islands and Madagascar can be bought from :            

   http://www.livranoo.com













Many people contributed to the genealogical research and we are thankful to them : Jean-Louis Douyère, Pierre Douyère, Claude Krieger, Evelyne Henriot, Sylvain Bégaud, Christene Anderson, Christophe Platier, Nell Carland, Daniel Létocart and many others cousins who gave me their data and photos to be added to the base.



Would you please excuse any errors in the genealogy and forward the details for rectifications.

More details, history and photos in the following pages

Australia    India   La Réunion   Madagascar   Nouvelle-Calédonie

    

 

 

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