I'm Still Here

I just spend all my time doing homework and trying to find Alexander Beaubier! I know nothing more about that man then when I started. It is so frustrating!

I am going to have to finish and post my last eight posts for "52 Ancestors" probably next year. I have to do my last two homework assignment that are due January 8th now because I have to have hernia surgery on the 23rd of December and with only a week to recover before I go back to work - going to work is all I will have the time and energy for.

52 Ancestors - #44 William Tubbs Graves - My Double Great Great Great Great Grandfather

According to James McGee who wrote “A Branch of A Tree – A McGee Family in History”, William Tubbs Graves was the only child of Thomas Graves and Lydia Tubbs. He was probably born in Hudson, Columbia County, New York. Thomas Graves died on June 19, 1783 when he was just 51 years of age and a little over one year after the birth of his only child William on April 13, 1782.

William was 23 years old and his bride Maria (Maritje) Herder was 20 years old when they were married on August 1, 1805.The information for Maria is from the records of the Reformed Church, Claverack, Columbia County, New York, under births and christenings: Maritje Herder, born March 27, 1785, and christened March 28, 1785; and her parents were: Peter Herder and Eva Land (spelled Landt for another child's record). Claverack is 4 miles from Hudson.

William and Maria’s first two children can be easily found in church records: From the records of Saratoga Reformed Dutch Protestant Church, Schuylerville, Saratoga County, New York: Peter Herder Graves, born May 12, 1806, christened June 29, 1806; parents: William J. Graves and Maria Herder.  From the records of the Reformed Dutch Protestant Church, Easton, Washington County, New York: Thomas Graves, born June 14, 1808, and christened July 31, 1808; parents: William J. Graves and Maria Heider. Their second child was my ancestor Thomas Tubbs Graves – my great great great grandfather, who became the father of James A Graves.

William and Maria’s first daughter and third child Eefje (Eva) Graves was born August 20, 1810. Getty Maria Graves was born September 23, 1812.

In 1815 William and Maria moved to Jefferson County, New York from Herkimer County, New York.William L. Graves was born February 2, 1815 in LeRay, Jefferson County, New York. Lydia Graves was born on December 21, 1816. A son John Henry Graves was born January 9, 1819 and he died the next day. On March 1, 1820 William and Maria had another son they named John Henry in Pamelia, Jefferson County, New York.

William and Maria were in Clayton, Jefferson County when their daughter Rebecca was born on February 23, 1823. Rebecca would go on to marry Edward McGee and become the ancestor of James McGee, who has provided the information I have on William, Maria and their family.

William and Maria’s youngest and tenth child is also my ancestor.  Henrietta Graves was born on April 6, 1830. Henrietta married Alexander Beaubier and their eldest daughter Effie Beaubier married James A. Graves, her cousin and the son of her Uncle Thomas Tubbs Graves. Henrietta, who was my great great great grandmother died age 25 years 9 months 5 days on January 11, 1856. It was her brother John Henry who either provided or helped provide a headstone for her grave in the Clayton Village Cemetery in Clayton, Jefferson County, New York.

At some point William and Maria moved to Indiana. William Tubbs Graves died October 5, 1838 in Adams Township, 2 miles east of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was 58 years old.

Great great great great great great great great great grandparents: Samuel Graves/unknown

Great great great great great great great great grandparents: Mark Graves/Elizabeth Knights

Great great great great great great great grandparents: Thomas Graves/Mary Hopson

Great great great great great great grandparents: Mark Graves/Elizabeth Richardson

Great great great great great grandparents: Thomas Graves/Lydia Tubbs

Great great great great grandparents: William Tubbs Graves/Maria Maritje Herder

Great great great grandparents: Thomas Tubbs Graves/Fidelia N. Riggs

Great great grandparents: James A. Graves/Effie Beaubier

Great grandparents: Jefferson Thomas Graves/Martha Matilda Riches

Grandparents: Effa Belle Graves/Alva Ashbury Tucker

Parents: E. Rosalie Tucker/Lionell Burris Mitchell

52 Ancestors - #8 Effie Beaubier (1846-1899) - One Answer Gives Us Twenty More Questions

I grew up hearing stories about a French great great grandmother who was very beautiful. No one knew her first name and they were not quite sure of her last name – Bouvier, Bubier, Boyer, or Boobier. She was my mother’s great grandmother and her eldest child Jefferson Thomas Graves was my mother’s beloved grandfather. JT was a very nice and kindly man. My mother died in 1994 and she never knew anything more about her great great grandmother.  

Sometime in the last five years my cousin Chris found her picture – I think by contacting someone on a message board. Her name was Effie Beaubier (that was about the only combination of letters we hadn’t put together.)

Effie Beaubier was born in Clayton, Jefferson County, New York in 1846 to Henrietta Graves (the sister of Thomas Tubbs Graves) and Alexander Beaubier. Effie Beaubier married James A Graves who was the son of Thomas Tubbs Graves (so they were first cousins.)

 Effie and James

Have You Seen This Man?

 

We have one picture of Alexander Beaubier and know nothing much about him. It is likely given his name and their location at the time (1000 Islands region bordering Canada) that his family was French Canadian but we don’t know – and we can’t find anything out!

His name is A. J. or J. Alexander Beaubier. He was born in New York state in 1821 - parents unknown. In 1845 he married Henrietta Graves (daughter of William Tubbs Graves) also born in New York on 6 April 1830. In 1846 they had a daughter Effa (Effie) and in 1848 a son William. In 1850 he was a farmer in Clayton, Jefferson County, New York. They had daughter Harriett “Clara” Clariisa on November 12, 1850 and son George in 1852. On 11 January 1856 Henrietta died. Effie most probably was working as a servant at age 14 in 1860 while living in Orleans, Jefferson County, New York. Alexander may have had an older brother William who was born in Canada and lived in Orleans, Jefferson County during the 1850's to 1880's.

It is just so frustrating trying to find anything out about this branch and I have corresponded with several people with the same problem. One of them had this photo at least. This is all we know. I was looking through documents the other night and my cousin Chris called and asked what his name was because she was at the Family History Library and wanted to look for him. He is driving us all nuts!