Revisiting the Cange

Jean Michel Cangé and our Alexandre appear here.

Although Cangé was and is a common surname, we are revisiting it to trace the origins of our great-great-grandmother, Marie Thérèse Cangé. A seamstress and farmer born sometime in the 1860s, our great-great-grandmother lived well into the 20th century. From the sole extant photograph of her and some of the descriptions recalled from our grandmother, we have a limited idea of who she was and cannot begin to imagine what her life was like. Of course, we could not even begin to imagine living in the Vallée of Bainet in the 19th century or the life of material deprivation or disease which characterized 19th century Caribbean peasant populations.

Almost indecipherable, this 1827 document identifies Jean Charles Cangé and Marie Jeanne Barthelemy.

What we could uncover from her past is the name of her parents and, perhaps, some of her father's origin. Her father, Assez or Jean Michel Assez Cangé, was a resident of the valley born in or around 1829. The paucity of surviving records from Bainet for much of the early 19th century made it difficult to pinpoint his origins. Fortunately, the indexed records on Family Search made it easier for surprise discoveries. An 1827 record identifying a Louis Jean Cangé born in 1825 provided the light. It identifies Louis Jean's parents as Jean Charles Cangé and Marie Jeanne Barthelemy, residents of the Vallée. Even more convincing of a possible link to our great-great-grandmother is the name of Louis Jean's godfather: Desiré Alexandre. We know that our great-great-grandmother's mother was named Chérilise Alexandre. It is likely that the Alexandre and Cangé of the valley were close. That helps explain why Jean Michel Assez ended up fathering children with Chérilise Alexandre. Moreover, this tells us that Chérilise's father could have been named Desiré. 

1789 Baptism of a Jean Charles Cangé.

Knowing that Jean Michel Assez was born in c.1829, and his brother was born in 1825, we suspect their parents were born in the late 1700s or very early 1800s. Since the Cangé were a large family of free people of color in the 18th century, spread across Bainet, Jacmel, and Petit-Harpon, we thought it useful to check Saint Domingue records (digitized and available at Archives nationales d'outre-mer) for anyone with a name of Jean Charles born in the late 1700s. To our surprise, there was a man of that name born in 1788. His 1789 baptism was recorded in Jacmel, and it identified him as Jean Charles Celin Cangé, son of Jean Pierre Celin Cangé and Marie Louise Sougrain. His godfather was Jean Charles Celin Cangé, godmother Marguerite Celin Cangé. Marie Louise Sougrain and Jean Pierre Cangé also had at least one other child, a Jean Louis Alexis, baptized in 1784. His godfather was Alexis Sougrain, and he was certainly an older brother of Jean Charles. Anyway, the two were married in 1783, and neither one knew how to sign their name. The parents of Jean Pierre Celin were listed as Pierre Celin dit Cangé and Marie Francoise Geoffroy.

1784 Baptism of a Jean Louis Alexis

These Cangé were from the Petit-Harpon branch, the group that bequeathed Pierre Cangé to the struggle for Haitian independence. However, the Cangé free people of color were all related in those days, many deriving from the union of a Jean Celin Cangé and a woman of color, Marguerite Butet. We have discussed Marguerite Butet before, and thought it worthwhile to share that she died in 1786, in Bainet. The Cangé living in the valley of Bainet before Haitian independence included her relatives, such as Jean Louis Cangé and his wife, a Favre from Croix-des-Bouquets. We won't bore you with rants on the Cangé origins anymore than we have done in the past, but it might be worthwhile to take a look here.

The 1786 death of Marguerite Butet reported here 

Although our theory for the origins of Jean Michel Cangé requires more proof, we find it likely that he could be a descendant of the less fortunate, illiterate members of the Cangé family already living in the area before 1804. In fact, it is possible that a more established, wealthy Cangé like Jean Louis and his wife Charlotte may have supported or attracted relatives to the valley. We know the valley also included Pierre Louis Cangé and his wife, Marie Elisabeth Barreau, in addition to a Jean Pierre Cangé, a griffe. It may not have been too surprising or difficult for free people of color with less means or education to marry or reproduce with ex-slaves and their descendants in the early 19th century, giving birth to people like my great-great-grandmother, with nouveau libre and ancien libre blood. The close relations between less fortunate free people of color and the enslaved majority must have encouraged intermingling. 

The marriage of Pierre Cangé and Marie Louise Sougrain.

The fusion of free people of color and former slaves in the beginning of Haitian independence helps elucidate why some of our Bainet forebears were fair-skinned or white-looking. Some of our ancestors were free people of color, who were already known in Bainet as being disproportionately numerous. Indeed, the large number of free people of color who owned land made them attractive wives to French settlers in the 1700s. However, the true challenge and major interest of ours is to explore the African past of the Haitian people. That is a far more difficult task which requires tools and measures currently inaccessible. DNA testing is one option, but we prefer a paper trail. Perhaps there are freedom papers or more detailed records on the slave population during the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue era that could tell us more. Discovering how our Congo, Nago, Arada, Hausa, Mandingue, or even Madagascar forebears became Haitian is the final, most interesting challenge.