Fifth Generation

20. Guillaume "William" DUBOCQ was born between 1769 and 1771 in Libourne, Gironde, FRA. His place of birth and parents' names were provided by his 1799 marriage record, on which he gave his age as 28 ... implying a 1771 birth. This date is consistent with the ages he gave at the time of the birth of his first two daughters in Saint Domingue. On an 1834 ship's manifest, when he traveled from Ponce to Philadelphia, he gave his age as 65 ... implying a 1769 birth. He died on 30 May 1834 at the age of 65 in Philadelphia, PA. A family Bible in New Albany gives his date of death as 30 May 1834 and says he died in Philadelphia while on his way to New Albany to visit his daughter and grandchildren. This family name is also spelled Duboscq, Dubosq, Dubock or simply Duboc. We know nothing certain about the earlier history of this family (We know a François Duboscq married Phillipe Michelet in Libourne on 25 Aug 1723, but have no way at present to determine whether they were our ancestor's grandparents.) Our Guillaume Dubocq used the appropriate translation of his first name, depending on where he lived: Guillaume in France and Saint Domingue, William in the US, perhaps Vilhelm on Saint Thomas, and Guillermo in Puerto Rico.

When and how he got to Saint Domingue (now Haiti) is still unknown. There he became wealthy as a merchant in Port-au-Prince. With the worsening situation, due to French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror at home and the slave rebellion which began in 1791 and ended with the independence of Haiti as a black republic in 1804, he and his family went into exile in Philadelphia. He became a naturalized US citizen on April 26, 1804 and lived with his family in Philadelphia operating as a china merchant near the corner of Second and Pine Streets. He maintained their Philadelphia home throughout his life.

The family moved on to Shippingport, Kentucky (near Louisville), probably about 1818. This town was then a center of French exiles. The family's presence there is noted in the 1820 census. 1820 newspaper articles in Louisville indicate that Dubocq favored the construction of a canal to bypass the Ohio River rapids on the Kentucky side of the river, and in 1820 purchased land in Shippingport where the canal would be built. There he was involved with John Tarascon, a founder of Shippingport and a major speculator in the area. Tarascon's business empire collapsed in 1824 and he committed suicide in 1825. In an audit of the Bank of the United States done in 1831 and reported to Congress, an 1824 unpaid loan was drawn by Tarascon with William Dubocq listed as endorser. This was about the time we believe the Dubocq's left the Louisville area.

We believe William Dubocq and some of the family then went to Alabama for a short period of time. Certainly this included the Croxalls. Before this move, and after the marriage of their three oldest daughters, his wife returned to their Philadelphia home. In 1817, William Dubocq had invested in the Vine and Olive Colony that was undertaken by a group of French expatriots and authorized by Congress. This development in Marengo County, Alabama was a failure, and by the mid-1820s the area was being taken over by American settlers intent on planting cotton. It is likely the Dubocq family stayed only long enough to get an understanding of the situation, and sell their land. The Colony ceased to exist by 1830. Later the Croxalls returned to the Louisville area (New Albany, IN), the Chardon's probably to New York, the Sheridan's to New Orleans, and Dubocq and his son moved on to Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. We know that they were there in 1830, when "Wm. Dubocq" shipped 307 bags of cocoa powder, one box of unspecified merchandise, and fourteen barrels of brandy to Philadelphia aboard the brig Rebecca Huddell.

In 1831 he and Julo moved to Ponce, Puerto Rico. A Spanish royal decree of 1815 encouraged immigration to Puerto Rico. In 1831, Alexander Harang, an 1818 immigrant from Louisiana, subleased half of Pámpanos and leased half of Los Meros to Guillermo Dubocq, "a French exile from Saint Dominique who had sought asylum in the United States and later moved to Saint Thomas." During the previous five years, Harang had invested 40,000 pesos in improving these two properties ... Los Meros being a large-scale cattle raising and cotton growing farm, and Pámpanos being a sugar plantation with a steam-driven mill and over 60 slaves. A "Letter of Domocile" filed by Guillermo and Julio in 1833 gave them the right to live permanently and own land in Puerto Rico, and ... after five years ... to apply for Spanish citizenship. In 1834 he went to the U.S. to visit relatives in Philadelphia, New York, and New Albany, Indiana and he died during that trip at his Philadelphia home. Marie-Anne Françoise TROCHON DE LORIÈRE and Guillaume "William" DUBOCQ were married on 15 July 1799 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.²⁸ They were married in a civil ceremony in Port-au-Prince, in keeping with the secular requirements of the new French republican regime. Their marriage record reads, in part:

"Au jourd d'hui Vingt Sept messidor an Sept de la Republique francaise ... Se Sent presenté en la Salle publique de Cetto Commune le Citoyen Guillaume Dubocq agé de Vingt huit ans, negociant natife de Libourne departmente de la Gironde file ligitime de Jean Dubocq et de Marie Labatte, domicilier de Citto Commune. Et la Citiyenne Marie anne francoise Trochon de Lauriere [sic] agú de Vingt trois ans, natife de la Croix des Bouquets departement de L'ouest de Cetto Colonie, fille en ligitime marriage de feu René Trochon de Loriere et de Marie Hoguet veuve et primiere nous [?] de Amable Gacien Robiou Lobinere [sic] domicilie de Cetto Commune ..."

Translating: "Today, the 27th of Messidor in the 7th year of the French Republic [15 July 1799 converting from the French Republican calendar to the Gregorian calendar] ... Presenting themselves in the public hall of this city were citizen Guillaume Dubocq, 28 years of age, a merchant who is a native of Libourne in the Department of Gironde, legitimate son of Jean Dubocq and Marie Labatte, residents of that city. And, citizen Marie-Anne Trochon de Loriere, twenty-three years of age, native of Croix-des-Bouquets in the Department of the West of this colony, legitimate daughter of the marriage of the late René Trochon de Loriere and Marie Hoguet widow, whose first husband was Amable Gatien Robiou Laubinere, who was a resident of that city." They both, along with several witnesses, signed the civil register.

The information regarding the first four children of this marriage is well documented by the data the family provided with the donation of the 1807 Peale painting to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, as well as the public record. We know a little about Virginie from the Croxall family Bible and NYC death records. As for Julio, his life and exploits are documented in family sources as well as the public record. There were probably other children born between Virginie and Julio, but it is unlikely they survived infancy.

21. Marie-Anne Françoise TROCHON DE LORIÈRE was born on 8 November 1773 in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti.²⁹ She was baptized in Croix-des-Bouquets on 14 Nov 1774. Her baptismal record gives her birth date as "huit de Novembre de l'anneé derniere" ... 8th of November in the previous year. Her godparents were Jean François Perrier de Lépine, a captain of the Dragoons, and Anne Duchenne, the wife of Jacques René Ballan battalion commander of the Militia at Port-au-Prince. She died on 25 December 1848 at the age of 75 in Philadelphia, PA. She died of an "apoplectic fit" ... probably a cerebral hemorrhage.

She was orphaned at age 9 and Bénigne Michateau, a Port-au-Prince merchant, was her legal guardian. But, she lived in Croix-des-Bouquets with a man named Robiou who was related to the Ballan family, and also related to her future husband.

According to family lore, following the deaths of her first husband and their son at the hands of the rebels, she fled to the U.S. While returning to St. Dominque to recover family property, she met her second husband aboard ship. They married and she gave birth to two daughters in Port-au-Prince. In 1804, the family fled to Philadelphia when the Slave Rebellion in Haiti re-ignited.

She moved with the family to Shippingport, KY but the family retained their Philadelphia home. Following the marriages of her three oldest daughters in Shippingport, she returned to Philadelphia where she lived the remainder of her life.

Children were:

	i.	Marie-Antoinette "Uranie" DUBOCQ was born on 2 August 1800 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.30 Her republican birth record gives her name as Marie-antoinette Dubocq and her birthday as quatorze (14th) of Thermidor of year 8 of the French Republic -- 02 Aug 1800. Her father is identified as a 29 year-old merchant. She died on 12 August 1846 at the age of 46 in New Orleans, LA. Her death is recorded in the Orleans Parish Death Index. Her given name of Uranie found there is consistent with Murray's records of 1820 ... rather than the name Ireneé which was (at a much later date) associated with her miniature portrait by Peale.
	ii.	Marie-Felicite "Aglaé" DUBOCQ was born on 14 December 1801 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.31 She died on 10 March 1879 at the age of 77 in New Albany, IN.32 She was very involved in the Temperence Movement in New Albany. In 1878, she applied for a War of 1812 widow's pension. Aglaé Kent Bixby, who donated Peale's painting "Madame Dubocq and her Four Children" to the Speed Museum in Louisville in 1932 is her granddaughter.
	iii.	Marie-Lucille "Delphine" DUBOCQ was born in 1804 in Philadelphia, PA. She died in 1880 at the age of 76 in Paris, FRA. She inherited the "Madame Dubocq" painting from her mother. According to the 1850 US Census, she was a 45-yeasr-old, living in New York with her husband and her daughter's family. They all moved back to France prior to the start of the Civil War, at which time she sent the painting to her sister in New Albany.
	iv.	Alphonse DUBOCQ was born in 1805 in Philadelphia, PA. He died on 20 October 1810 at the age of 5 in Philadelphia, PA. A Philadelphia city death certificate states that he was 5-years-old and was buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia on October 21.
	v.	Marie-Jeanne "Virginie" DUBOCQ was born in 1807 in Philadelphia, PA. She died on 23 July 1839 at the age of 32 in New York, NY. All we know about her is the birth year, death date, and husband's surname ... based on a New Albany family Bible and NYC Death records.
10	vi.	Stephen Julius "Julio" DUBOCQ.