A New LaBrune!

I've recently been in touch with a DNA match, seemingly through my LaBrune ancestors. I quickly was convinced that she is a descendant of one of my immigrant LaBrune family who disappeared. Here's why:

My Rationale for Adding Margaret to My LaBrune Family
My LaBrune family	New LaBrune	Explanation
?nne M. LaBrune (partially readable name on ship's passenger list)	Margaret LaBrune	M. could stand for Margaret
?nne M. was 14 years old when ship arrived in 1833	Margaret was born in ca. 1820	Ages are within a year of each other
LaBrunes were living in Clermont county, Ohio in 1840, but without ?nne M.	Married Margaret LaBrune Chauvet and her husband were living in Clermont county, Ohio in 1840	They lived near each other in 1840
LaBrunes moved to Dubuque in 1840s	Chauvets moved to Dubuque in 1840s	Both families moved to Dubuque in 1840s
Shared DNA with ten 4th cousin once removed descendants of George LaBrune ranges from 10cM to 29cM, with a median of 17cM (Ancestry can identify about 1/2 of DNA matches for this relationship, and my DNA tools may not be capturing all data below 10cM, so my median will be higher than the theoretical average of 7cM)	Shared DNA with 4th cousin once removed descendant of Margaret LaBrune is 11cM	Shared DNA is within range of my similar cousins

Here's my preliminary Family Group Sheet for Margaret's family. I'm still looking for information and some of this information may change. But here's what I have so far:

Family Group Record for Adolph Baptiste Chauvet

================================================================================
Husband: Adolph Baptiste Chauvet
================================================================================
           AKA: Cauvett, Schauvett
          Born: 16 Oct 1816 - Montpellier, Departement de l'Hérault,
                 Languedoc-Roussillon, France
          Died: 19 Jul 1895 - Dakota City, Humboldt co., Iowa
        Buried:  - Humboldt, Humboldt co., Iowa
      Marriage: bet 1837 and ca 1845            Place: Cincinatti, , Ohio
================================================================================
   Wife: Jeanne? M. "Margaret" LaBrune
================================================================================
          Born: 1820 - , , , France
          Died: 4 May 1864 - North Buena Vista, Clayton co., Iowa
        Buried:  - Holy Cross [Dubuque], IA
        Father: Philippe LaBrune (1794-Bet 1880/1887)
        Mother: Ann Rayne (1793-1868)
================================================================================
Children
================================================================================
1  F  Mary L. Chauvet
          Born: 23 Oct 1840 - Cincinatti, Hamilton, Ohio
          Died: 6 Nov 1918 - Kansas City, Jackson co., Missouri
        Buried:  - Kansas City, Jackson co., Missouri
        Spouse: Christopher Kalen (1838-1905)
    Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2  F  Margaret L. Chauvet
          Born: 24 Dec 1843 - Dubuque, Dubuque co., Iowa
          Died: 2 Jun 1909 - Dakota City, Humboldt co., Iowa
Cause of Death: nervous prostration and heart failure
        Buried:  - Humboldt, Humboldt co., Iowa
        Spouse: Albert M. Adams (          -          )
    Marr. Date: 9 Dec 1876
        Spouse: Absalom Little (          -Abt 1863)
    Marr. Date: Abt 1859
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3  M  Adolphus B. Chauvet
          Born: 1852 - , Dubuque co., Iowa
          Died: 17 Jan 1890 - Fort Dodge, , Iowa
Cause of Death: inflamation of the bowels
        Buried: 18 Jan 1890 - Fort Dodge, , Iowa
        Spouse: Sarah J. [Chauvet] (1856-          )
    Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4  M  William Louis Chauvet
          Born: 15 Jan 1857 - , Clayton co., Iowa
          Died: 5 Jun 1940 - Los Angeles, Los Angeles co., California
        Buried: 7 Jun 1940
        Spouse: Millie [Chauvet] (          -          )
    Marr. Date:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LaBrunes Arrive at NYC in 1833

LaBrunes on passenger list of ship Robert Morris, arriving in New York City on November 7, 1833.

I just stumbled across (read "found on FamilySearch.org) the family of Philip LaBrune on the passenger list of a ship that arrived at New York City on November 7, 1833.

First, why I think this is our family. From the 1840 and 1850 US census records of our Philip LaBrune, I have the following family in 1833:

Philippe, b. 1794 in France
Ann, wife, b. 1793 in France
George, son, b. 1824 in France
Unknown, son, b. between 1825 and 1830, probably in France
Nicholas, b. 1831 in France
[born later were:
Unknown, daughter, b. between 1835 and 1840, in France or the US
Jean-Baptiste, b. 1840 in Ohio]

The passenger list shows the following family:
Philippe (probably), 38 years old (b. 1795), male, Weaver, French citizen
? ends in -ria or -nn or -nna, 39 years old (b. 1794), female, French citizen
? ends in -ne M., 14 years old (b. 1819), female, French citizen
? ends in -orge, 11 years old (b. 1822), male, French citizen
? ends in -un C., 7 years old (b. 1826), male, French citizen
? ends in -los, 5 years old (b. 1828), male, French citizen

There is some uncertainty in the names, but what is shown matches well with the LaBrunes whose names we know, the birth years and countries match well, and the arrival fits in the window we thought to be between 1831 and 1840.

They arrived on a ship called the Robert Morris, sailing out of Le Havre, a very large port on the north coast of France, and arrived on November 7, 1833 in New York City. The  153 passengers were mostly from France and Bavaria and included several weavers, seamstresses and shoemakers, as well as bakers and farmers.

This passenger ship record adds some new information about the family.  The LaBrunes immigrated in 1833.  Philip was a weaver in France.  He and Ann had a daughter, name ending in -ne and middle initial M, born in about 1819 that was no longer with the family when we first found them in Ohio in 1840, when this daughter would have been about 21 years old. My guess is that she married, so there is another branch of the LaBrune family somewhere.  Philip and Ann's second son's name ends in -n, his middle initial is C, and he was born in about 1826, probably in France. Nicholas may have been born a little earlier than the census indicates, in about 1828. Their youngest daughter, born between 1835 and 1840, was probably born in the US.

Double Cousins

I recently came across a report of a Dooley cousin in St. Louis - Alex Dooley, Hamburger Man in St. Louis - (though I haven't yet contacted this family and they may not be aware of our connection). My Legacy Family Tree software tells me that Alex's children are my fourth cousins, through two different paths, i.e., double fourth cousins.  I set out to find out what that means genetically and if there is some sort of metric to allow me to compare a "double fourth cousin" to the more common single fourth cousin.  There is a Coefficient of Relationship, R, related to degrees of relationship, but the math might be too much, so first I'll skip to the results, then try a brief basic explanation, then point to some resources for more information, if you're interested.


Single relationships

Siblings have about half of their genes in common, the degree of relationship is 1 or first, and the corresponding coefficient of relationship, R, is 1/2.  Advancing one generation: first cousins have in common about 1/8 of their genes, the degree of relationship is 3, and the corresponding R is 1/8. Each consecutive generation shares just 1/4 as many genes as the previous generation, the degree increases by 2, and the corresponding R is only 1/4 as large.  The following table shows these values through fourth cousins.

Relationship	Degree	R	% genes in common
Self or identical twins	0	1	100
Siblings	1	1/2	50
1st cousins	3	1/8	12.5
2nd cousins	5	1/32	3.1
3rd cousins	7	1/128	0.8
Double 4th cousins	8	1/256	0.4
4th cousins	9	1/512	0.2

Our double relationship

So, where does the "double" come in? Back in 1863, William Dooley married Elizabeth Martin in St. Louis.  In 1887, William's niece, Anastasia LaBrune, married Elizabeth's nephew, James Hogan. This created a double relationship between the Dooleys and the Hogans. William and Elizabeth's son, Thomas, was a first cousin to both Anastasia LaBrune on his father's side and James Hogan on his mother's side.  As an aside, since Thomas was an only child AND the Dooley's were Anastasia's only family in St. Louis AND Thomas and Anastasia were only four years apart in age AND James Hogan was also family AND the Hogan kids and Thomas' kids were all close in age, the Hogans and Dooleys were probably very close, akin to siblings, at least in their teen and adult lives.  In the next generation, Thomas' kids were second cousins to the Hogan kids, once through Anastasia and the Dooleys and again through James and the Martins.  This made them double second cousins. The next generation were then double third cousins, and so forth. How does that change the values in the table? Basically this means that instead of having one set of ancestors in common, they have two, both the same number of generations back, so the descendants of Thomas Dooley and of James and Anastasia LaBrune Hogan all have twice as many genes in common. The degree of relationship for double fourth cousins in 8, R is 1/256, and they have about 0.4% of their genes alike. According to one of the sources listed below, this is about 117 genes of the approximately 30,000 in the human genome.

More about quantifying relationships

If you'd like to know more, perhaps about how to include half siblings, or how to trace out any relationships, here are some explanations on the WWW:

Genetic and Quantitative Aspects of Genealogy
A thorough explanation of the Coefficient of Relationship (R) and related subjects.

Quantitative Consanguinity
A less through explanation with more applications to genealogy, but they only show degrees of relationship through 7, whereas a fourth cousin is degree 9.

Degrees of Relation and Number of Genes Shared
Not thorough, but relates R to the number of genes shared for various relationships.

Hypothesis: Philip LaBrune m. Josephine Oligée in Ohio in 1868

[Just realized I posted this information at Iowa GenWeb in 2012, but nowhere on my blog or website. So:]

If there are any LaBrune researchers listening, please let me know if you have any information that might support or refute an hypothesis I'm working on.

What I think I know:
(1) Philip and Ann LaBrune and family were in Clermont Co., Ohio in 1840. Jean-Baptiste was born there after the census. In 1850, the family was in Dubuque co., Iowa. Comparing the 1840 and 1850 censuses, a 20-25 yr old boy and a 10-15 yr old girl are not with the family in Dubuque. (These are the ages they would have in 1850.) Did they stay behind? Did they die? Were they not members of the family, but just living with them in Ohio? I don't know, but I have looked around to see if there are any LaBrunes back in southern Ohio.
(2) We don't know what happened to Philip. He is in the 1860 census. He is listed in an 1865 property tax roll. He is not in Dubuque in the 1870 census. He is not buried with his wife and the other LaBrunes. I have not researched extensively myself, but know of no death records for Philip. As an interesting, a little surprising, side note: Daniel Dooley, a neighbor and father-in-law to Philip & Ann's son, Jean-Baptiste, is buried next to Ann. Ann died in January 1868.
(3) In Oct 1868, a Philip LaBrune married a Josephine Oligée in Brown co., Ohio, a county adjacent to Clermont co., where the LaBrunes lived in 1840. Thinking this might be the missing LaBrune son, who possibly stayed behind, I dug deeper. I found Philip and Josephine in the 1880 census. They were both born in France: he in 1796; she in 1804. This Philip is about the same age our Philip who disappeared from Dubuque. Could it be?

Putting together the pieces:
As I said, the last record I have of Philip in Dubuque is a tax roll in 1865. If he did not die there, I assume he would have remained with his wife, Ann, while she was living. She died in Jan 1868, about 9 months before the marriage in Ohio. Perhaps after the death of his wife, he went back to the Clermont/Brown co. area of Ohio for something. Maybe that's why when Daniel Dooley died a year later, in 1869, the LaBrune family allowed him to be buried in "Philip's plot", since Philip had moved away and remarried. Maybe that's why there is no record of Philip's death in Iowa - he didn't die there?

Why?:
Why would Philip go back to Ohio? I haven't found other LaBrunes there, so I'm giving up on finding the missing son. But what about the daughter? She could have been 5 in 1840 (listed as female under 5 at the time of the census). The first record I'm aware of in Iowa is the 1850 census, so the LaBrunes could have left Ohio as late as 1850. The missing daughter could have been as old as 15 years old when they moved. Still kind of young. I've gone back and looked at the 1860 census of the Oligée family in Brown co., Ohio. Josephine was married to an older Jacob Oligée and had several sons. The three that I saw were all married, and their wives were 20 to 25 years old, the age range of the missing LaBrune daughter.

Conclusion:
I think the missing LaBrune daughter being married to one of the Oligée boys is a stretch. But I think there's a good chance that our Dubuque Philip moved back to Ohio and remarried. The age, the name, the location, the timing, and the lack of other LaBrunes in that area prior to the 1868 marriage are an awful lot of coincidences. I don't spend alot of time on my genealogy, but I'd like to dig up more information to either support or shoot down this theory.

Goodwins of Cascade, Iowa from about 1856

Posted this on Rootsweb this week. A brief summary of the Goodwin family, the family of Lydia LaBrune's biological mother, from 1856 Dubuque co. to California in the mid-1900s.

Thomas Jefferson Goodwin m. Eliza A Summers

Thomas Jefferson Goodwin, b. 1832 Indiana, m. Eliza A Summers, she b. 1841 in Iowa, in 1856 in Dubuque, Iowa. They had 5 children and raised them in Cascade township: Emma (1880), Alonzo (1862), Ida (1863), Rollie (b. 1876, d. 1877), and Monroe (1879). The 1880s brought big changes for the families.

Emma had married Oscar Albert in 1879, but he apparently abandoned them in 1885 and she was granted a divorce in 1887. By then, the Goodwin family, including Emma, had moved across the state to Sioux County. Emma had four children (as far as I can tell), of whom she was granted custody. I know that Verda was adopted by the Board family in Cascade and that Lydia was adopted by the LaBrune family (my family) in Jefferson twp. [Verda went on to marry William Gearhart, then Daniel Moore; Lydia married Frank Schirmer.] I don't know what became of the other two kids, nor why the children were given up (taken?) for adoption. Emma began a new family with Lars Peterson in about 1894.

Emma's sister, Ida, married Pedermar (?) Jester. They had seven kids before he died in the late 1890s. She remarried Stanley (?) Tibbets.

I don't know what became of Alonzo.

Sometime around 1908 the whole clan moved out to southern California: Eliza Goodwin to LA with Monroe, Emma Peterson and family to San Diego, and Ida Tibbets and family to Long Beach (LA co.). Some of the older grandchildren may have married and stayed in Iowa, as did Emma's children from her first marriage.

I'm especially interested in finding out why the Emma Goodwin Arnold children might have been given up for adoption.

Lydia LaBrune Schirmer 1882-1955

Lydia LaBrune is first seen in the family of Jean-Baptiste and Catherine Dooley LaBrune at the age of 13 in the 1895 state census.  In 1900, she is described as adopted. And that is all we knew. Very recently I was contacted by a couple of Lydia's great-grandchildren who had discovered through a living relative that Lydia was believed to have a sister by the name of Verda Moore, who lived in Cedar Rapids in the 1930s. A few hours of research uncovered a good deal of Lydia's origins.

Lydia and Verda and another sister, Bessie, were the children of Emma Gooding and Oscar Arnold.  Emma and Oscar married in about 1879 (they are together in 1880 in the census in East Cascade, Dubuque co.).  The girls were born in about 1880 (Verda), 1881 (Lydia), and 1883 (Bessie).  In 1885 the family is together in Cascade; "Lida" and "Virdia" are both there! According to divorce papers (as reported in the newspaper), Oscar was abusive and abandoned the family in 1885 in Cascade.  In 1887, Emma filed for and was granted a divorce and custody of the kids.  That's the last information I found for them. I couldn't find any more trace of Oscar, Emma, or Bessie. In 1895, Lydia was with the LaBrunes in Jefferson twp and Verda was living with Lewis and Liddie Board and family in Cascade (both in Dubuque co., Iowa). In 1902, Verda married William Gearhart in Dubuque. They had four kids, then William died in 1909. Verda then married Daniel Moore in 1911. I found a newspaper article saying she filed for divorce for cruel treatment in 1920, but apparently they resolved their differences, at least for a while, since they were together as a family in 1930. In 1962, Verda Gearhart was buried next to William Gearhart, so I'm not sure of the history of Verda's relationship with Daniel Moore.

Addendum:
Found more information, regarding Emma Arnold.  She was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Goodwin and Eliza A. Summers.  She is with them in the 1870 census in Cascade. Her father died in about 1882 and is buried in Cascade.  In 1887 her divorce was filed in Sioux co., in the far western side of the state, far from Cascade. Her mother, Eliza Goodwin was there in 1900 and I suspect that Emma had gone to live with her mother who had relocated there. In about 1894 Emma married Lars Peterson and they had four or five children together.  They live next door to Emma's mother in 1900 in Hawarden, in Sioux co.  In the 1900 census, I also found a clue as to how Emma's daughter, Lydia, came to be adopted by Jean-Baptiste and Catherine LaBrune.  A few houses away from the Goodwins and Petersons in 1900 are Caspar and Adaline Luchsinger.  Caspar's first wife was Jean-Baptiste's niece. His second wife, Adaline, was also related to the LaBrune family.  So when Emma gave up or lost her children, Lydia may have found a new family through their Luchsinger neighbors. By 1910, both Emma Peterson's and her mother's families had moved out to California: Emma to East San Diego, Eliza to LA. I believe that Eliza Goodwin died between about 1910 and 1918.  Emma Goodwin Arnold Peterson passed away in 1940 in San Diego.

Famille LaBrune à Dubuque, l'Iowa, E.U.

Jean-Baptiste LaBrune était benjamin de, je crois, cinq enfants nés à Philip et Ann LaBrune.  De leur voyage de la France, je sais peu: une des enfants est née entre 1835 et 1840 en France et Jean-Baptiste est né à l'Ohio aprés le recensement en 1840 et dans 1850 la famille était arrivée, moins deux enfants, à Dubuque, Iowa, une destination populaire pour les immigrés français. (Avant la Vente de la Louisiane en 1803, la plupart de la territoire entre la rivière Mississippi et les montagnes Rocheuses appartenait (au moins en excluant les peuples indigènes) à la France, à l'exception de quelques années sous le contrôle de l'Espagne. Cette territoire était en plus grande partie ni développée ni explorée, donc la rivière Mississippi était la frontière d'une étendue sauvage, du point de vue des Etats-Unis. Beaucoup de trappeurs français se sont installés dans des lieux comme Dubuque le longue de la rivière d'où ils faisaient commerce de peaux avec l'Est.) Donc la famille LaBrune a quitté la France vers la fin des années 1830s, aurait pu voyager d'abord au Québec, et se cheminait vers les villes françaises à l'autre côté de la rivière Mississippi.  Il est possible que quelques uns des enfants avec eux ne soient pas leurs propres enfants (les noms des individus n'étaient pas enregistrés dans le recensement de 1840) ou qu'ils se soient mariés ou installés quelque part en route ou qu'ils aient péri. Je crois que les familles qui se déplacaient en migration vers l'ouest avaient tendance à s'installer quelque part pendant quelques années, puis continuer, donc il se peut que notre famille LaBrune est restée faire de la cultivation des années à l'Ohio avant de reprendre la route à Dubuque. Le fils aîné, George, s'est marié à Dubuque en 1846.  Peut-être il y est allé et puis a persuadé ses parents d'amener la famille là-bas. J'ai très peu d'information sur leur voyage.  En tout cas, en 1850 la famille était aux parages de Dubuque où elle est restée de nombreuses années. Ann est morte en 1868 et est enterrée dans le cimetière Catholique St. Joseph.  Lisez mon post antérieur sur Philip, mais il a disparu. Il est possible qu'il s'est déménagé à l'Ohio et s'est remarié après la mort d'Ann.

L'enfant aîné, George, s'est marié à Domathilde Breault à Dubuque en 1846. Elle est née à Montréal en 1826 et je suppose qu'elle avait un assez fort accent français parce que la plupart des traces écrites lui assignent les noms de Mathilda ou Martha ou Mary.  Ils ont élévé neuf enfants aux environs de Rickardsville: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (resté célibataire), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, soeur cadette de Peter), Edmire (quelques fois dit Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), et Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Quelques uns des enfants se sont déménagés vers l'ouest à Sioux City et la Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Tôt dans leurs mariage, George et Martha étaient propriétaires d'une taverne sur la route des diligences qui traversait Rickardsville, mais tous les recensements disent qu'ils étaient fermiers.  George est mort en 1873.  Lorsque leur fille, Mathilda, s'est mariée en 1866, Martha est allée vivre avec elle à Dubuque. Martha est morte en 1914 et était enterrée à côté de George dans le cimetière St. Joseph à Rickardsville.

Trois des cings enfants dans la famille de Philip et Ann à l'Ohio ont disparu: un fils né en fin des années 1820s en France, Nicholas né vers 1831 en France (ce dernier était avec la famille dans le recensement de 1850 à l'Iowa, mais puis a disparu), et une fille née en fin des années 1830s en France.  Je continue à chercher des traces écrites d'eux.


Jean-Baptiste, le benjamin de la famille et le seul né aux E.U., s'est marié à Catherine Dooley, une voisine à Jefferson Township originaire de l'Irelande.  Jean-Baptiste a eu du succès comme fermier.  Ils ont élévé six enfants: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (morte à l'age de 19 ans), Daniel (resté célibataire), et Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer).  Trois autres enfants sont morts très jeunes: William (1 mois), Thomas (2 ans), et Josephine (3 ans).  Je crois que Lydia est née Lydia Maxwell, une voisine de la famille LaBrune, et était adoptée par eux après le décès de ses parents.  Anastasia s'est mariée à James Hogan à St. Louis, où ils ont élévé leur famille.  Le frère de Catherine Dooley LaBrune (mère d'Anastasia), William, était épicier prospère à St. Louis et sa femme était de la même famille que les Hogans.  Anastasia et James se sont fait leurs connaisances chez l'oncle William, sans doute. John, Daniel et Lydia sont restés aux environs de Dubuque.

LaBrune Update

I had a few LaBrunes floating around in my data that I've attached to our family.

Jean-Baptiste LaBrune was the youngest of, I believe, five children born to Philip and Ann LaBrune.  About their journey from their native France I know only that one of the children was born in the mid to late 1830s in France and Jean-Baptiste was born in Ohio after the 1840 census and that by 1850 the family, minus two of the kids, was in Dubuque, Iowa, a common destination for French immigrants. (Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, most of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was French territory, though for a short time under Spanish control.  This land was largely undeveloped and unexplored, so the Mississippi River was the edge of wilderness, from the point of view of the United States.  There were many French trappers that settled in places like Dubuque along the Mississippi where they traded their pelts with the East.)  So the LaBrunes left France in the late 1830s, may have gone first to Quebec, and were making their way west to the French towns across the Mississippi.  Some of the kids with them may not have been their own (no names are given in the 1840 census) or may have married or settled somewhere along the way or may have perished.  My sense is that families that migrated west tended to settle in the east, then move on after a few years, so maybe they spent a few years farming in Ohio before deciding to move on to Dubuque.  The oldest son, George, married in Dubuque in 1846.  Perhaps he had gone ahead and persuaded his parents to bring the family.  There is very little information about their travel.  In any case, by 1850 they were in the Dubuque area where they remained for many years. Ann died in 1868 and is buried in St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery.  See my earlier post about Philip, but he disappeared.  It's possible he moved to Ohio and remarried after Ann's death.

Their oldest known child, George, married Domathilde Breault in Dubuque in 1846.  She was born in Montréal in 1826 and I assume she had a heavy French accent since most records name her Mathilda or Martha or Mary. They raised nine children in the Rickardsville area: Mary (m. Peter Limoges), Celina (m. Casper Luchsinger), Josephine (m. John Liebold), Caroline (m. Amab Cousley), George Nicolas (m. Adeline Crevier), John B (did not marry), Joseph (m. Josephine Limoges, younger sister to Peter), Edmire (aka Adeline m. Martin Cunningham), and Mathilda (m. John Schwind). Some of the kids moved west to the Sioux City area and to the nearby Dakota Territory (Mary Limoges, Celina Luchsinger, George N. LaBrune, and Joseph LaBrune). Early in their marriage, George and Martha operated a tavern on the stagecoach road through Rickardsville, but every census record lists George as a farmer. He passed away in 1873. When their daughter, Mathilda, married in 1886, Martha went to live with her in Dubuque, Martha passed away there in 1914 and was buried next to George at St. Joseph's Catholic cemetery in Rickardsville.

Three of the five children in Philip and Ann's family in Ohio disappeared: a son born in the late 1820s in France, Nicholas born in about 1831 in France, and a daughter born in the late 1830s in France.  I'm still looking for traces of them.

Jean-Baptiste, the youngest of the family and the only one born in the United States, married Catherine Dooley, an Irish-born neighbor in Jefferson township. Jean-Baptiste did well as a farmer there. They raised six children: John P (m. Elizabeth Rooney), Anastasia (m. James Hogan), Mary (died at the age of 19), Daniel, and Lydia (m. Frank Schirmer).  Three other children died as infants: William (1 month), Thomas (2 years), and Josephine (3 years).  We think that Lydia was born Lydia Maxwell, was a neighbor of the LaBrunes, and was adopted by them  after her parents passed away.  Anastasia married James Hogan in St. Louis, where they raised their family.  Catherine Dooley LaBrune's (Anastasia's mother) brother, William, was a successful grocer in St. Louis and was related to the Hogans.  Anastasia and James undoubtedly met at uncle William's house. John, Daniel and Lydia stayed in the Dubuque area.

LaBrunes

I don't know how to go back further in time with the LaBrunes.  I first found them in 1840 in Stonelick Township, Clermont co., Ohio.  Ten years later they were in Dubuque co., Iowa, where they settled.  By comparing the two censuses you can see that two children are no longer with the family in 1850: a son born between 1820 and 1830 in France and a daughter born between 1835 and 1840, we know not where.  I'm assuming the daughter passed away since she would only be 10 to 15 years old in 1850, so probably still living with the family.  The missing son, on the other hand, would be 20 to 30 years old and could easily have gone his own way.  Somewhere.  There are not many LaBrunes in the United States in the mid 1800s, which should make it easier to find any stray family members.  But I haven't found any.  A while back I found a LaBrune was married in Brown co., Ohio, adjacent to Clermont co. where our LaBrunes had lived, in 1868.  I was hoping that this might be the missing son, who had stayed in Ohio.  Recently, though I found some more information.  The 1868 marriage was between a Philip LaBrune born in about 1796 and  a Josephine Oligee born in about 1804.  Not what I was looking for.  But it is odd that a LaBrune would live so close to where our LaBrunes used to live.  And he has the same name.  And the same age.  So now I'm considering this: Our last record of Philip in Dubuque was on an 1865 property tax list.  Ann, his wife, died in 1868 and is buried in Rickardsville, near Dubuque.  But Philip is not buried there.  I'm starting to think that after the death of Ann, Philip went back to Ohio - I'd like to find out why - and remarried.  I'm going to look into this more ....

Which is straying from my original point.  The LaBrunes came from France, since Philip, Ann, and some of the kids were born there.  They probably sailed to French-speaking Canada, then headed into the United States.  All of this travel took place between the birth of Nicholas in about 1831 and their presence in Ohio in 1840.  Where to look for records?