Monday, December 13, 2010

What is the Gery/Jeury/Seury in some of the Pinta documents?

Most of the numerous documents I have collected with JB's name show him as Jean Baptist Pinta or J. B. Pinta.  He seems to only sign his name as J. B. Pinta.  However, the following documents show the addition of another name which has been confusing.   Is it a title, a family name, an indication of an area in which he lived or what?  Why would it been used sometimes and not all the time?  Perhaps some of you may have an opinion on this.  Please leave your comments.

1)      Archives nationales d'outri-mer website (1803):  Birth record of Anne Joseph Brunet, witness/sponsor: Jean Baptiste Gery Pinta.  As you can see in the scanned copy, when he signed his name he did not include the name Gery.  This document has not been completely translated.


2)      Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Vol 10, 1810-12 (this book is transcribed from original documents, but I have not seen the original document):  
PINTA [JEURY, JEURY PINTA] Henri (Jean Baptiste, merchant goldsmith, jeweller, and Lucece Henriette GRANDMAISON, residents of Port-au-Prince on Santo Domingo), b. Oct. 20, 1810, bn. Aug. 1, 1807, at Santiago de Cuba, s. Henri St. Jeme, French lieutenant colonel, resident in this city, and Louise Henriette LEG(D?)IER, sp. Pi(err?) DESNOU, merchant, presently in (*), absent, p. Anne JEURY PINTA, child's sister, resident of this city (SLC, B22, 100).

 3)     Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Vol 12, 1816-17, transcription is as printed in Archdiocese records publication and I have attached the original scanned copy below:
PINTA, Joseph (Juan Bautista Seury, native of Clamecy, Diocese of Soissons in France (Clamecy, dept. of Aisne, arrondissement of Soissons), and Luz Hanrrieta GRANDE MAISON, native of Port-au-Prince on Santo Domingo, both residents of this city), b. Sep. 30, 1816, bn. Jun. 22, 1816, pgp. Luis PINTA and Maria Durna FERTE, mgp. (o), s. Victor Amadeo CARLOMAGNO and Juana FLAYOZE (SLC, B29, 71)

4 comments:

  1. Hello,

    I am happy to wish an happy new year to all members of this blog!

    Perhaps an idea: I read in baptisms/marriages/deaths records of Picardy (XVIIIth century) that some men (very few) had "Gerÿ" as first name. Probably, JB had 3 first names: Jean, Baptiste, Gerÿ, but the third was rarely used.

    Clamecy records before French Revolution are not available on the Web (destroyed during first World War? or lost? or...not scanned?Or...??), I can't check JB'first names.

    "Gerÿ" was really unusual 3 centuries ago, and today, is not used in France.

    Good assumption or not? JB is born in Picardy in XVIIIth century. On Birth record of Anne Joseph Brunet, the umlaut on y of "Gerÿ" (very rare in French langage)is conspicuous. But...no evidence, always in doubt, sorry.

    Michel

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  2. Thank you and Happy New Year to you too Michel. I think your assumption is the best we have right now, and it seems the most logical. Your knowledge of French research is so helpful to everyone. Thank you.

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  3. Michel, thanks so much for your comments on the Seury/Juery/Gery name. I had noticed previously when researching this name that there is a "St. Juery" in the Tarn Mid-Pyrranees region and had wondered then if Jean Baptiste was named after another saint.

    It is so frustrating that these records written by Frenchmen don't have his name straight. I am used to French names being mangled when written by Spanish or English clerks, but you would think the French would have done a better job!

    Oh well, I suppose if this were easy, it wouldn't be so much fun.

    Judy

    January 8, 2011 2:32 PM

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  4. I've been going through page after page of 1764 records from St. Domingue and found a lot of individuals who had "Jeury" as one of their names.

    Judy

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