Boniface Mysteries
?The Plot Thickens?
Boniface Newsletter, July 29, 2001.
This will be our 12th reunion, and we've learned a lot since we started coming together for
picnic lunch once a year. The last names on our list of attendees are numerous, but we all
have one name in common somewhere back in our history; BONIFACE. So far, one man
and woman has been responsible for all of us gathering each year. Let us offer up a prayer
of thanks for Francis and Sarah Ann (Dann) Boniface, who loaded up six kids and brought
them here 144 years ago (without the benefit of stereo, seat belts and air bags). This paper
is an attempt to summarize what we've come to know in the last 12 years, and showcase
how much we still have to learn. Maybe by putting all our heads together we can solve
some of the yet UNSOLVED MYSTERIES.
Where did we come from?
The English Census of 1851, first uncovered by JoAnn Brohl in the LDS archives in
Salt Lake City, Utah, show Francis and Sarah Ann and 4 of their children living in Hailsham,
Sussex, England. The 1851 Census showed Francis living with another Francis and his wife
Lucy, old enough to be parents, and we took them as such. Some of the other names in the
family were reruns (or were we the reruns?) of names we know over here. Caleb, Sarah,
Lucy, and of course, our Francis, born 1820. This time the family was living in Pevensey.
Where is Pevensey, you ask? Well, take out a map of England, and look at London. Let
your eyes drift southeast to places like Hastings and Eastbourne. Pevensey is about a third
of the way between Eastbourne and Hastings, just in from the Coast, on Pevensey Bay.
Four hundred years ago it was still a port. As a matter of fact, William the Conqueror landed
there in 1066, and marched from there to Hastings, to do battle. He rebuilt and fortified the
old Roman fort there, as his first stronghold in England. The English refortified it in WWII,
because of its view of the English Channel. Our family probably looked across the Pevensey
salt marsh towards that castle daily. Northwest, across the salt marsh, called Pevensey Levels
on my atlas map, but called the salt marsh by old folks we talked to, lies the town of Hailsham.
Just a bit northeast of Hailsham, almost directly north of Pevensey, is the village of Herstmonceux,
home of Sarah Ann Dann. There's still quite a number of Dann's there in the phone book.
Hailsham is the biggest, and will show up the best on your map. Its where the Merchants and
business men lived and worked. Between Hailsham and Pevensey lies a flatland lush with grass,
where many Bonifaces farmed. This area was formed as silt naturally reclaimed it from the Bay.
For years it was too salty for anything but grass to grow, so it pastured many cattle, and sheep.
Looking out across it, one realizes why Francis settled down on 'The Marsh' once he got to
Michigan. This was land he knew and understood how to till and farm!
How did we get here?
Once again JoAnn discovered the answer. Francis and Sarah Ann and 6 children were
passengers on the ship 'AMASON' (Amazon?) sailing from London to New York, and
landing on the 7 of June, 1857. Frank Raymond Boniface, Frank and Jennie's son, remembers
sitting on his grandfather's knee and hearing stories of sailing on a big ship for a long time, maybe
6 weeks, and of running out of food and fishing over the side of the boat, and of sharks
congregating around the ship when a baby died onboard, until the crew and passengers
finally held a burial at sea.
But how did we get HERE? And why here?
Now here's a good question. They landed in 1857. By the 1860 census they were already
here, living in Orangeville twp. The 1870 plat map shows their farm on Marsh Road. They
must have come almost directly here. How did they do it? The family of Lloyd Boniface,
son of Frank and Jennie, holds an old oxen yolk that came from the Boniface farm upon
the death of Caleb and Traiton. Was this just used in farming, or did it aid their trip from
New York state? And why Michigan, Barry County, to be exact? As JoAnn and Betty
Wolhuis have pointed out, Some of the Dann family was already here. Sarah Ann father
and several brothers had settled on Marsh Road, on that big curve east of Plainwell
(called Sarie Dann's Corners by Bill and Lloyd Boniface's generation and older).
Sarah had family here, and they had possibly communicated what kind of land was
to be had here. This is all just speculation on the part of some of us. The questions
above are still open. Have any of you heard any stories from your parents, uncles, etc.?
How many of us came?
For years we have supposed that Francis and Sarah Ann and their family of 6 were the
only ones to come over, and all of us stem from them. No one had heard any stories to
the contrary. That's why JoAnn was astounded when she found the ship's list last year
to find 2 mentions of a Francis Boniface. At first she thought they had listed him twice, until
she looked closer. The 2nd Francis was listed as 57 years old, and traveled with Lucy his
wife, sons Caleb and George, daughter Charlotte, and a 6 year old child Moses. Michele
found out from Bonifaces overseas that Moses was the son of Charlotte, and is listed as
such in the Hailsham Baptismal Parish Register.
Where did others go?
Now here's the gigantic mystery, which all of you can help solve. Where did they go?
Barry County doesn't list any other Bonifaces in its records of the time. The 1860
census doesn't either. So where did they go? Frank Raymond Boniface received a letter
in the early 1980?s from a Boniface in New York who wrote to the Barry County courthouse,
looking for a Frank Boniface, because he was looking for relatives. He was an elderly man,
they exchanged several letters, and then the answers stopped. Frank Raymond thought that
possibly the man had died. Unfortunately, in the years since, the letters that Frank Raymond
received have disappeared, an he cannot remember the man's name. A check of Social
Security Death records shows a lot of Bonifaces in New York state, and after consulting with
Frank Raymond about location and which names sounded like possibilities, Michele did write
for the records of an Alfred, born in 1886, but his father was also an Alfred, so this doesn't
seem to the family. At $7 a pop, it gets prohibitive to ask for many records, without a lead.
There is also the chance that we may not be looking for the Boniface name. Barbara Osborne,
a relative in Canada, says that she remembers her grandfather telling her mother that there might
have been a name change once they got here, though he doesn't know the reason behind it.
In a family diary, there is mention of hearing that 'Granny' Lucy Boniface,who had been baptized
on 1 April 1798, had died on 29 July1897, not quite 99 years later. Just where is the question.
On the 1851 English Census, Francis is listed as age 60 and an invalid, Lucy is 55, George is14
and a cripple. Caleb is 10, Charlotte is 20 and a cook. The ages on the ship's list give Francis's
age as 59, (not 63), and Lucy's as 55, instead of 58. Caleb seems to have aged 9 years in 6.
Did forgetfulness cause the difference in reported ages, or were they trying to look acceptable
for immigration? The child, Moses, age 6, is found in the Hailsham Church records listed as the
baseborn son of Charlotte. These, plus the fact that the diary states that Lucy lived to be around
100 years old, are our main clues. Where did they go? How far did they go with an elderly
couple, one an invalid in 1851, a child, and a cripple? (How crippled?. In 1841 his Uncle George
was also listed as a cripple. Genetic?) If they did not come to Barry County with Francis, there
seems to be a good chance that if we can find Caleb or George, we can find the rest of the family.
So far, the records online have no mention of a Caleb or a Moses, the 2 names most easy to
pick out in a long list of names. No luck with any of the Georges.
Is there a Brown Connection?
We are not sure. But Barbara Osborne, trying to remember what name her grandfather may
have mentioned when talking about the possible name change, says 'Brown' pops to mind,
though she is no way sure. There are several Caleb Brown's in the 1860 census around the
country, but so far all of them have checked out as having been here for several generations.
As for George Brown, forget it. How many George Brown's lived in each state in 1860, any idea?
Yup, almost as many as John Smiths. Talk about a name to disappear with!
Do we have any relatives in England?
Yup, some more distant than others! When Michele (Boniface) Tsuji and Alvin Warren
dragged their spouses Aki and Joan to England in 1999, they were blessed enough to be
led to a Boniface family holding a family tree that had a vacant space under Francis Boniface,
born 1793. The tree said Frank? America? We've since verified with church records that
this indeed is Francis, husband of Lucy, father of our Francis (born 1820). The Sussex family
of James Boniface and his father, Norman, whom we met, are descendants of George (1800),
younger brother of Francis (1793). There were 14 children in all born to their parents,
William Boniface(1763) and Elizabeth Woods, though many died in childhood.
On the Internet, Michele connected with even closer relatives. Looking around the web
site of the Boniface Internet Group (BIG) she saw mention in the ancestor gallery of a
Thomas Boniface (1834) and his wife Harriet, from Ditchling. One of the mysteries that
has intrigued her from childhood is the address of a Thomas Boniface in England that has
remained in the family safe for several generations. This Thomas Boniface lived in Ditchling,
near Huispierpoint, in Sussex, England. She had found no answers in England, but was
ecstatic to find that the Thomas listed on the web page turned out to have a forehead and
nose reminiscent of her Uncle Orville's. Tracking members on the web site who had
contributed the picture, she found that they came from Thomas, who was son of Francis
(1793) and Lucy! One son had stayed in England! This son Thomas had 13 children, and
one of his sons, George, also had 13 children! Our Francis (1820) had eight children,
Thomas had 13, and they each had a son whom they named Caleb, after their brother!
Do we have any other relatives on this side of the ocean, or anywhere else in the world?
Well, three of Thomas's children came to Canada, and then several of his son George's
children came to Canada, so we do have pockets of relatives spread around the north.
More distant cousins made their way to Australia, and then New Zealand. On the Boniface
Internet Group, 12 of us have made connection, 8 of those being descendants of
Francis (1793) and Lucy. The rest connect earlier, 2 with William and Elizabeth, 1 with
William's father Francis, and 1 with his grandfather Thomas.....
What Nationality is the name Boniface?
Boniface, Bonniface, Bonyface, Boneface, are all spellings found in our family tree.
It depended on how the person writing down the record spelled what he heard.
It wasn't until after 1850 or maybe even later that the spellings were standardized.
Our family of Bonifaces were still in England in the 1600's. So they have been English a long time.
The name means 'doer of good deeds', and has a French/Latin base. Perhaps the name came
over with William the Conqueror in 1066! Maybe we'll never know. There are Boniface's in
France, and even Bonifacio's in Italy. Some of the Boniface's that I've called in New York
actually come from Italy, and Anglicized their name in the States.
How many Boniface reunions are there next year?
Since the members of BIG heard earlier this month of our reunion, they've decided that the
picnic/pot luck style of reunion is a good way to start off, and are now talking of having one
in each country next year! Ours for the East side of the country, Vancouver for the West
side of the continent, plus one in New Zealand, Australia, and England. They've booted
around the idea of having them all (except ours) on St. Boniface Day (June 5), and then
thought that it might be even nicer to have them on different dates, so that someone might
go to several. We'll see what happens. Ours is set already, the last Sunday of July, here
at Shelp's Resort, unless you all have a different idea.
Where can I find out more?
Keep your eyes and ears open, and take down notes whenever you find or hear something
that might come in handy later. Look for old pictures and letters. Ask names and write them
on the back of photos. Ask questions to jog the memories of family members - tape the
answers if you can. Write down what you remember hearing/seeing as a child. Clip news articles,
weddings, obits, etc. Take photos of your family, young and old. Record your family important
dates. Try to collect whatever info you can from the older members of your family, and try to
build a good record of your younger family, as it happens. Keep it all in a file, or a notebook,
as easily findable as you can make it. Copy what you can and share it, so that it's in more
than one place. 20, 40 years from now, someone will be glad to find it.
BIG (Boniface Internet Group) is administered by Steve Everitt, and is found online at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~surnamru/steve/index.html
Look around
the site. Maybe join the mailing list. It's a friendly group, we get several letters a day
posted to the list for all of us to read and answer if we desire. We've shared a lot of info,
have some in archives in the 'members only' area, have some in extracts, pictures, etc.
I'm searching several family names, and have joined several mailing lists, and let me say
that in my estimation, the Boniface list is what a list should be!
Please give me your e-mail address today. I started a Boniface web site that's for the
descendants of Francis Boniface, by invitation only. I have some pictures on there, lots
more to go on when I have time, and would love you to add what you have.
We could share info among ourselves, and have an easy way of communication.
I'm not always quick to answer, but don't give up on me.
What can I do to help?
I think I got carried away and incorporated the answer into the answer of the question above.
Remember, it's amazing how many cousins we have around the world!
If people only remembered that, we might have less wars. Shoot a brother maybe,
but who wants to shoot a cousin?
Hope you liked this, though it got a little long.
Here's my e-mail address. Write me with any suggestions/comments, and tell me
you want on our Family of Francis Boniface web site.
chelitsuji@prodigy.net
Michele Tsuji
11334 Sprague Rd.
Delton, MI 49046 USA tel. (616) 623-5313