Marie Louise Sanon

Although we have mostly exhausted the vital records from Bainet available on the Family Search site, we did come across the probable mother of our great-great-grandfather. Marie Louise Sanon, or Sannon, was born in 1858 but her parents registered her birth the following year. Apparently her parents lived in the valley of Bainet, like many of our other forebears in the 19th century. Sanon was and is an extremely common surname, but a rough indication of her father's age (34) suggests Gille Sanon was born in c.1825. Marie Louise's mother, Dame Marie Victoire Laguerre, was probably born in c.1823. 

We assume our godmother's Laguerre family come from the same section of Bainet but Laguerre was also a common name in the commune. In addition to Marie Victoire Laguerre, we found a birth record for a son of Gai (?) Laguerre, Abraham, born in 1848. It might be safe to assume Marie Victoire Laguerre and Gai Laguerre were relatives since both were living in the valley of Bainet and of the same generation. This is probably as far back as we can go unless someone with access to different types of records can help us figure out the origins of Gille Sanon and Marie Victoire Laguerre. We assume their parents were born in the late 18th century or beginning of the 19th. 

Cherilise?

Another problem for our interests in Bainet genealogical research is the rather large Alexandre family. Our great-great-great-grandmother, Cherilise Alexandre, probably born in the late 1820s or early 1830s, was a native of Bainet's valley section. Since the Bainet 19th century civil records are missing several years, we could not find any record of her birth. However, we know that in 1825, a Desiré Alexandre was the godfather to a son of Jean Charles Cangé. Cherilise Alexandre had at least 2 or 3 children with a Jean Michel Cangé, so we wondered if Jean Michel was a son of Jean Charles Cangé and perhaps Desiré was the father of Cherilise? 

Unfortunately, we could not find any more information on this Desiré Alexandre. There was one person with that name who lived in nearby Jacmel, where the birth of his son was recorded in 1849 (record accessible thanks to Family Search). Described as living by the Grande Riviere of Jacmel, rather far from the valley of Bainet, we find it unlikely he was the same person we are looking for in 1820s Bainet. However, he was around the right age to have been the father of Cherilise: born in or around 1791. Moreover, he produced a Francois Pierre as a witness, albeit one too young to have been our Francois Pierre, only 29 years old.

Since the years covering Cherilise's birth appear to be lost, we did check for other Alexandres in Bainet. In fact, one of them registered the birth of his son in the 1850s, and a Cherilis Alexandre appears in the document as a witness. We assume this Cherilis Alexandre was somehow related to ours. And the father of the child, Saint Firmin Alexandre was perhaps also related to our Cherilise. Sadly, we lack adequate documents to confirm. However, it might be safe to many or most assume the Alexandre in the valley were related, perhaps descendants of Desiré. We also found a number of Alexandre related to us or other Bainet families related to us.