There are many mysteries surrounding Catharine Dufour. She’s one of my ancestors, and we even share a name — Catherine. As I looked into her story, I found myself confused. Was she Métis? Who was her mother? In this piece, I will explore her life and try to unravel the many mysteries surrounding her. Join me as we figure out who Catherine Dufour was.
Early Life
Catharine Dufour’s birthday is listed as September 15, 1805, and September 15, 1813, on WikiTree and September 15, 1805, on Geni and Family Search. A baptism record dated September 17, 1813, from St. Anne’s Church in Detroit confirms that 1813 is most likely correct.
When it comes to Catherine’s family, it’s clear that her father was Pierre Louis Dufour, a lumberman who lived in a small log cabin across the river from Fort Detroit. According to WikiTree, Catherine had a sister, Marie Dufour, who died several days after birth. The identity of Catherine’s mother is especially unclear.
Both Geni and WikiTree list her as Marie Archange Garand, but the details vary. Geni suggests that Archange may have been Indigenous, that she was Pierre’s second wife, and that she adopted Catherine after her child with Pierre was stillborn. In contrast, WikiTree makes no mention of Indigenous ancestry and connects her to an extensive French Canadian family tree with no Indigenous peoples.
According to Geni, Catherine’s mother died around 1814, leaving Pierre with two young daughters, which is strange because her WikiTree profile says that her only sister died. Pierre reportedly left his daughters with his mother, Francoise Angelique Dautour, who later placed them with the young Dupuis family. Catharine did not see her father again until 1834.
Based on what we know about Catherine’s background, I am not convinced that Marie Archange Garand is her mother. Nothing about her name or family tree is Indigenous, and Catherine DuFour’s Geni profile clearly states that her mother was an Indigenous woman and not a French Canadian woman. This makes me think that Catherine was Métis, but to know for sure, we would need Catharine’s birth certificate.
Marriage and Family
When Catherine Dufour was 18, she moved to Detroit from Canada and began working as a kitchen cook at the Eagle Tavern. It was there that she met her future husband, Edward “Johnny” Jones. The couple married at the Eagle Hotel in 1834 and went on to have nine children together, including Nancy Josie Jones, Henry Jones, John Henry Jones, Elizabeth Jones, Edward John Jones Jr., Marie Agathe Jones, William Wallis Jones, Walter R Jones and Thomas Jones.
Catherine and Edward lived in Detroit, Mount Clemens and the Dearborn area before relocating to the Louis Gordon farm on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, where they began raising their family. They remained in Canada until 1854, when they returned to the United States and settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Age Mystery
There is confusion surrounding Catharine Dufour’s age at the time of her death. Although WikiTree lists her birth year as 1813, it also contains conflicting information suggesting she was born in 1805 and died on September 2, 1912, in Big Rapids, Michigan, at the age of 106. Catharine is said to have given an interview later in life, claiming she was born in 1805, but no surviving record of that interview exists.
Because Dufour’s baptismal record exists and dates her birth in 1813, I think it is unlikely that she died at the age of 106. It is more likely that she died at the age of 99. If she had lived to be over 100, it likely would have been noted in newspapers or supported by census records, neither of which appear to exist.
The Mystery of ‘Deveaux’
Dufour and her husband’s marriage record contains a misspelling of her maiden name. Instead of Catharine Dufour, it says Catharine Deveaux. This likely resulted from her and her husband’s illiteracy and the oral nature of name reporting at the time. Such errors were common, particularly when French names were transcribed by English-speaking officials unfamiliar with their pronunciation or spelling.
My Connection to Catherine Dufour
I have one connection to Catherine Dufour in my family tree through my mother.
- Catharine Dufour (1805 – 1912) and Edward Jones (1808 – 1901)
- Elizabeth Jones (1838 – 1931) and Nathan Brush (1836 – 1903)
- Amelia Isabella Brush (1864 – 1935) and Joseph Eli Bondy (1858 -1944)
- Pearl Leafy Bondy (1885 – 1966) and Edward Walter Grondin (1886 – 1973)
- Walter Grondin (1910 – 1998) and Mary Catherine Higgins (1908 – 1983)
- Martha Grondin (Born 1950) and Gary Willis (Born 1946) – my parents
Want to learn more about Detroit’s earliest French settlers? Check out Detroit’s Original French Canadian Settlers & Their Fascinating Stories.
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