Cecil CHAMPENOIS Family
Champenois Family
Genealogy
John and Bubba 1956
Private to Sergeant - Cecil Champenois, Jr. 1972/1979
Champenois Family 1980
Champenois Children 1986-Field of Bluebonnets
Alma 17 - King Lamoni - Peru
Star Gate SG-1 True Science
MOVIE: Cast a Giant Shadow-Kirk Douglas
MOVIE: McLintock-John Wayne
This is the CHAMPENOIS Family Website. Welcome! Please, have a look around and see if there is any information that might interest you.
Why all the flags? These flags represent
some of only a few nations and states from which I and my ancestors
descend. If you would like, you may save them by using your mouse
and right-button click the "save picture as..." and then
save the picture with the default name into your desired directory
on your own computer's hard drive. I "borrowed these
"flying flags" from another web
site and you should only use these on personal web sites. Do a
search on "Flying Flags" on:
www.yahoo.com
and you will
find them quickly. And by the way, these flags use a
lot of CPU time, so your screen may paint slowly
when you come to this web site depending on your PC's CPU
and memory.
There are several
variations of the Champenois name in America. I have seen, even
in my own family line, the spelling of "Champanois", but
that was a mistake written on a document, because
succeeding generations in my own family line have continued to
spell it as the French do to this day, "CHAMPENOIS". There
is also another variation, "Champenoy". This
spelling is the way that I and my family used
to pronounce our surname.
Years ago, as a young United States Marine
Corps Private in Naval Air Station Memphis (Millington), Tennessee,
as I was departing my taxi for the Memphis Airport, a French Taxi
Cab driver, saw my Marine Corps SeaBag and asked me how I pronounced
my "nomme". I responded phonetically,
"Shampenoy". I don't know how many times he said "No,
No, No" to me, but it was enough to get my attention. He said
that my name is a French name and "You should be proud of your
name and pronounce it correctly!" The Frenchman then proceded
to tell me how to pronounce my name. He said, "SHAMPENWA",
phonetically. Since he was from France and was so insistent, I felt
that he must know what he is talking about. Since that day, I have
"usually" pronounced my surname in this
manner.
My 3rd Great Grandfather, Pierre-Isaac CHAMPENOIS, departed
Nantes, FRANCE, in 1801 and arrived in the Port of New York;
he resided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pierre married Mary BUSH in 1811
and had three children, Mary Louisa Elizabeth (b: Mar 2, 1812), Mary Adelaida (b: Mar 22, 1814)
and Stephen Charles (b: Jul 17, 1816).
Pierre-Isaac departed the United States for a short trip back to France in 1816. He returned to
the US from Nantes on 4 October 1816 with his niece, but we do not know her name. Pierre came
through the Philadelphia Port on a ship called the "South Carolina". This claim is backed up
by the WTA Index Passenger List of Aliens on the ship "South Carolina". Pierre was officially
immigrated or was naturalized as a US citizen to the United States of America on 16 October 1816;
his name was probably "Americanized" to Peter at this time. I received a copy of Pierre's Naturalization certificate from Bill Bohne, my cousin.
See below link for the Naturalization Paper.
I suspect that Peter's wife, Mary Bush, died around 1817; Peter then departed Philadelphia in about 1817
and moved to Mobile, Alabama, where soon he married Drusilla Pipkin in mid to
latter 1817. Peter and Drusilla had three children, Isaac (b: Jul 12, 1818), Simon Peter
(b: Jul 8, 1826) and Martha Maria who may have also been born in 1826 (twin? I don't know.).
Peter died June 19, 1842 in Mobile, Alabama. My direct ancestor was Pierre-Issac's son,
Simon Peter.
Pierre Isaac becomes a U.S. citizen and is known as Peter Isaac Champenois
Naturalization of Peter Isaac Champenois
Letter from the Archives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Archives
Letter from the Archives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama Archives - Page 1
Mobile, Alabama Archives - Page 2
My cousin, W.Bohne, is also pursuing his
family line, as his mother is a CHAMPENOIS decended from Isaac Champenois.
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