Marie Anne Louise CHRISTIANSEN
Biography

CHECK OUT (BELOW) WHAT APPEARS TO BE EXCELLENT RESEARCH DONE BY L. ROBERTS AND FOUND AT HTTP:/ / WORLDCONNECT.ROOTSWEB.ANCESTRY.COM/ CGI-BIN/ IGM.CGI?OP=GET&DB=RBRTSLM&ID=I195

"MARIE ANNE (ANNETJE) LOUISE CHRISTIAANSE:

PREFACE: THERE IS GREAT DISAGREEMENT AMONGST GENEALOGISTS AND DESCENDENTS ON THE PARENTAGE OF MARIE ANNE (ANNETJE) LOUISE AND ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF HER AS THE "SEMI-BLACK" MOTHER, NAMED ONLY AS ANNA, AT THE BAPTISM OF AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF SHE AND "MOSES DE PUIS", BAPTIZED IN THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY ON 27 DEC 1696. THE FOLLOWING IS ONE INTERPRETATION, BUT CERTAINLY NOT THE ONLY INTERPRETATION, THAT CAN BE DRAWN FROM THE MEAGER DATA DISCOVERED ABOUT THIS INDIVIDUAL. SHOULD ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BECOME AVAILABLE IN THE FUTURE, THIS ANALYSIS COULD CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY. AND SHOULD A DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA SEEM TO BE MORE REASONABLE, THIS INTERPRETATION MAY BE MODIFIED.

BACKGROUND: MARIE ANNE WAS REPORTEDLY BORN CA. 1675/ 1676 IN CORLAER (SCHENECTADY), NY(1). A RECORD OF HER BIRTH HAS NOT BEEN FOUND. SHE MARRIED MOISE DUPUIS ("MOSES DE PUIS") ON 21 JUN 1697 IN THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY, NY(2). MOISE WAS INDICATED AS BEING FROM CANADA, BUT BOTH WERE LIVING IN ALBANY AT THE TIME OF THE MARRIAGE. ON 12 JUL 1699, MARIE ANNE WAS BAPTIZED INTO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION IN MONTREAL, QUEBEC(3). ACCORDING TO THE PRDH, BASED ON THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE PROVIDED BY MOISE, MARIE-ANNE'S FATHER WAS CHRISTIAN CHRISTIANE, ALTHOUGH THIS HAS NEVER BEEN CONFIRMED.

MOISE DUPUIS ("MOYSE DEPUIS") AND A "SEMI-BLACK" WOMAN NAMED ANNA HAD AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD, CHRISTENED JEAN-BAPTISTE, WHO WAS BAPTIZED IN THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY ON 27 DEC 1696(5). THE QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT THE "SEMI-BLACK" WOMAN REFERRED TO AS ANNA WAS MARIE ANNE CHRISTIAANSE. (ONE RESEARCHER SUGGESTS THAT THE TERM, "SEMI-BLACK" COULD HAVE REFERRED TO A PERSON WITH PART AFRICAN, INDIAN OR EVEN PORTUGUESE ANCESTRY. HOWEVER, IN THE CHURCH RECORDS, INDIANS ARE GENERALLY REFERRED TO AS HEATHENS.) A JEAN-BAPTISTE DUPUIS WAS NOT SUBSEQUENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THIS COUPLE, SUGGESTING THAT HE DIED AT A VERY YOUNG AGE OR THAT HE WAS NOT, IN FACT, THE OFFSPRING OF THIS COUPLE.

BY AT LEAST JULY 1703, MARIE ANNE AND MOISE WERE IN LAPRAIRIE COUNTY, NEW FRANCE WHEN THEIR 3RD LEGITIMATE CHILD, MARIE FRANCOISE WAS BORN AND BAPTIZED(4).

ALSO PLAYING INTO THIS ANALYSIS IS THE INFORMATION THAT ONE MARIE LOUISE CHRISTANCIEN, LIVING "AT LA PRAIRIE" IN 1702, WHO HAD BEEN A CAPTIVE OF THE INDIANS IN NEW FRANCE, WAS COMPENSATED 60 LIVRE, APPARENTLY HAVING BEEN PREVIOUSLY RANSOMED FROM THE INDIANS BY THE FRENCH AND DECIDING TO REMAIN IN NEW FRANCE(6). THERE SHOULD BE LITTLE DOUBT THAT THIS IS THE SAME INDIVIDUAL AS MARIE ANNE CHRISTIAANSE, THE WIFE OF MOISE DUPUIS.

IT IS LIKELY THAT MARIE ANNE HAD BEEN ABDUCTED DURING ONE OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN FORAYS INTO NEW ENGLAND AND NEW AMSTERDAM. AND SHE THEN BEING RAISED BY THE INDIANS FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, WAS RANSOMED BY THE FRENCH. THE FRENCH-INDIAN RAID ON CORLAER, MARIE ANNE'S REPORTED BIRTH PLACE, IN 1690 COULD HAVE RESULTED IN HER CAPTURE AND TRANSPORT TO CANADA, BUT ACCORDING TO AN ACCOUNT OF THIS EVENT BY PETER SCHUYLER ON 15 FEB 1690, NO WOMEN WERE TAKEN CAPTIVE(7). SPECIFICALLY HE INDICATES THAT CORLAER WAS BURNED AND THEY BROUGHT BACK PRISONERS AND HORSES LADEN WITH SPOILS AND HE STATES: "BUT YE SNOW WAS SO EXTREAM DEEP YET IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY WOMAN TO MARCH A MILE. SO YET THEY TOOK ONE BUT MEN AND BOYS THAT COULD MARCH". HOWEVER, THERE WERE AT LEAST 6 SUCH ATTACKS AGAINST CORLAER DURING THE LAST DECADE OF THE 17TH CENTURY, ANY ONE OF WHICH COULD HAVE RESULTED IN HER CAPTURE AND TRANSPORT TO NEW FRANCE.

BASED ON THE ABOVE INFORMATION, THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE:

MARIE ANNE CHRISTIAANSE, BORN CORLAER IN 1675/ 1676, WAS TAKEN CAPTIVE AS A YOUNG GIRL AND CARRIED TO NEW FRANCE DURING ONE OF THE RAIDS BY THE FRENCH AND INDIANS IN THE PERIOD 1690-1695. SHE REMAINED IN NEW FRANCE FOR SEVERAL YEARS BEING PARTIALLY ASSIMILATED INTO THE FRENCH-CANADIAN OR INDIAN CULTURE. UPON BEING RANSOMED BY THE FRENCH IN ABOUT 1696, SHE RETURNED TO HER FAMILY IN THE ALBANY-CORLAER AREA OF NY. IN MY OPINION IT IS POSSIBLE, BUT DOUBTFUL, THAT THE ANNA, MOTHER OF THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD WITH MOISE DUPUIS, WAS THE SAME PERSON AS MARIE ANNE CHRISTIAANSE. HOWEVER, MARIE ANNE WAS IDENTIFIED BY HER FULL NAME ("ANNETJE CHRISTIAANSZ") IN THE SAME CHURCH BOOK, BARELY 6 MONTHS LATER AND IT WOULD SEEM THAT HAD SHE BEEN THE SAME PERSON AS ANNA, MOTHER OF THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD, HER FULL NAME WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN IN THE BAPTISM OF THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD.

BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF HER BIRTH DATE, A POSSIBILITY SUGGESTED BY SOME RESEARCHERS IS THAT MARIE ANNE WAS AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD, THE PRODUCT OF A LIAISON BETWEEN A CHRISTIAN MAN--POSSIBLY CHRISTIAN CHRISTIANSEN--AND AN AFRICAN SLAVE OR INDIAN DURING THE FAMILY'S TIME IN CORLAER(8). THE UNCERTAINTY OF MARIE ANNE'S BIRTH YEAR IN SOURCE MATERIALS, BUT IN ALL SOURCES SEEN TO DATE, APPARENTLY PRIOR TO THE FIRST MARRIAGE OF CHRISTIAN CHRISTIAANSE, WOULD TEND TO SUPPORT THIS THEORY. IF TRUE, IT IS POSSIBLE THE MARIE ANNE WAS THE SAME AS ANNA, MOTHER OF THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD, JEAN BAPTISTE, BAPTIZED IN 1696.

AN ALTERNATIVE ANALYSIS MIGHT STATE THAT POSSIBLY AT SOME TIME DURING HER FORCED STAY IN NEW FRANCE, MARIE ANNE MAY HAVE MET MOISE DUPUIS AND MAINTAINED AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH HIM AFTER RETURNING TO NY. OR PERHAPS MOISE WAS A MEMBER OF THE RAIDING PARTY THAT CAPTURED MARIE ANNE AND FIRST MET HER IN THAT MANNER. IN 1696, THIS RELATIONSHIP PRODUCED THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD BAPTIZED JEAN BAPTISTE, AND THEN IN JUL 1697 THEY MARRIED.

AT SOME POINT FOLLOWING THEIR MARRIAGE IN 1697, THEY RETURNED TO NEW FRANCE. THEIR FIRST BORN LEGITIMATE CHILD WAS CHARLES, REPORTEDLY HAVING BEEN BORN BEFORE 1699 AT AN UNDETERMINED LOCATION IN NEW FRANCE(9). THEIR SECOND CHILD, MARIE-ANGELIQUE, WAS BORN BEFORE 1701, ALSO IN AN UNDETERMINED LOCATION IN NEW FRANCE. THEIR THIRD CHILD, MARIE-FRANCOISE, WAS BORN AND BAPTIZED IN LAPRAIRIE IN JUL 1703, SHOWING THAT THE FAMILY WAS DEFINITELY IN NEW FRANCE AT LEAST BY THIS TIME. MOST OF THE CHILDREN BORN TO THEM FOLLOWING THIS TIME WERE BAPTIZED IN LAPRAIRIE.
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(1) IN THE 1600'S, SCHENECTADY WAS KNOWN BY THE FRENCH AND INDIANS AS CORLAER. THE NAME CORLAER CAME FROM THE NAME OF ARENT VAN CURLER (OR VAN CORLAER), A DUTCH COLONIST WHO CAME TO "NEW NETHERLAND" IN 1637 TO ASSIST IN THE MANAGEMENT OF RENSSELAERSWYCK, THE ESTATE OF HIS COUSIN KILIAEN VAN RENSSELAER. ARENT MADE FRIENDS WITH THE NATIVE AMERICANS, MEDIATING ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS BETWEEN THE INDIANS AND THE COLONISTS. IN 1662 HE PURCHASED A TRACT OF LAND IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY AND FOUNDED THERE WHAT TODAY IS SCHENECTADY.
(2) RECORDS OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, 1683-1809, EXCERPTED FROM YEAR BOOKS OF THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, P. 29. HTTP:/ / ALEPH0.CLARKU.EDU/ ~DJOYCE/ GEN/ ALBANY/ REFCHURCH.HTML.
(3) THE POPULATION OF QUEBEC BEFORE 1800, PROGRAMME DE RECHERCHE EN DEMOGRAPHIE HISTORIQUE (PRDH), UNIVERSITE DE MONTREAL, GAETAN MORIN, EDITEUR. SUBVENTIONNE PAR LE FONDS DE L'AUTOROUTE DE L'INFORMATION (HTTP:/ / WWW.GENEALOGY.UMONTREAL.CA/ EN/ MAIN.HTM). CERTIFICATES #210975 & #21959.
(4) PRDH CERTIFICATE #18059.
(5) RECORDS OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, 1683-1809, P. 73.
(6) NEW ENGLAND CAPTIVES CARRIED TO CANADA BETWEEN 1677 AND 1760 DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS COLEMAN, EMMA LEWIS PORTLAND, MAINE 1925, VOLUME ONE, PP.121-124.
(7) NEW ENGLAND CAPTIVES CARRIED TO CANADA BETWEEN 1677 AND 1760 DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS, PP. 181-182.
(8) MOISE DUPUIS-COUREUR DE BOIS CAMPBELL, RITA (HTTP:/ / OURWORLD.CS.COM/ _HT_A/ RAYMDUPUIS/ MOISE.HTML?MTBRAND=CS_US)
(9) PRDH CERTIFICATE #7851."



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