Negative evidence is evidence

I found a document on FamilySearch the other day while playing around with wild card searches and the filters on the full-text search feature which provides yet more strong evidence that Henry Schuyler Thibodaux wasn’t the son of the Acadians Alexis Thibodeau & his first wife, Anne Blanchard.

The document is dated 4 March 1782, and it’s from the notarial records in Quebec. It’s related to how Alexis Thibodeau and his second wife, Catherine LeBlanc, were planning on handling the division of their estate amongst their various children. Both had been previously married and widowed. Catherine’s first husband, Jean Baptiste Babin, died while the families were in Philadelphia, which is where she married Alexis.

This document is very specific about the children of Alexis and Catherine. Each had three living children from their first marriage. Only some of these children are named in this document, but the number of children from each marriage is specified fully. Their only living child from the second marriage, Joseph Thibodeau, was also the only child still living with them, and they wanted to have it noted that the other children were in agreement with the arrangement they wanted to make. Joseph was to provide for his parents in their old age, and in exchange it was agreed that it was fair for him to receive their (very modest) property without dividing it among his half-siblings.

Besides Joseph, the children named in this document were

• From Alexis’s first marriage: Marie Thibodeau, wife of Francois Coupeau, dit Saint Martin

• From Catherine’s first marriage: Marie Magdelaine Babin, wife of Pierre Vincent; and Marie Anne Babin, wife of Jean Primault

So who were the other two living children from Alexis’s first marriage? Their other kids are pretty well-documented, fortunately.

The eldest son, Simon Thibodeau, was a professional potter. He married Marie Anne Drolet in 1775 in Quebec and died in 1819. The other child was another son, Etienne Thibodeau. He married Marie Cecile Chartre in 1778 in Quebec and died in 1834. So the other two living children of this Alexis Thibodeau and Anne Blanchard not named in this particular notarial document are accounted for in multiple other records in the following years.

This isn’t the only example of negative evidence that exists for this case. Another great one is this passenger list. I screenshot this citation from Wikitree because I trust it’s correct despite not having the source available in front of me.

This family grouping is consistent in every way with the notarial document, but, again, includes no Henry. Henry would have been under ten years old at that time. The elder two Babin daughters are presumably not with the family because they had already married and were with their own families.

Taken in combination with the letter written by Henry Clay Deshields many years later, we can also consider the fact that Deshields stated his mother, Marie Magdeleine Thibodeau(x), was the sister of Henry Schuyler. There’s no Marie Magdeleine Thibodeau in this Acadian family, either.

While negative evidence isn’t as satisfying as direct evidence showing exactly who Henry Schuyler Thibodaux was and placing him in the company of his parents and siblings as one group, the accumulation of all of this negative evidence isn’t worthless. It means that in order to presume he belongs with these parents, we have to also make logical contortions to try to somehow explain how he wasn’t with his family as a child, despite Alexis & Catherine having children from both previous marriages in the household as well as their son with each other. We also have to somehow explain why they not only didn’t include him in their plans for their property, but rather actively denied his existence completely in 1782. He would have been between 12 and 22 years old at that time.

My intention is not to harp on the disproving part of figuring out Henry Schuyler’s story. I never really cared to disprove the Acadian theory at all, just to understand and find better evidence for whatever the true story actually is. I think this document should be taken as another strong piece of negative evidence against the Acadian story, however, and I wanted to make sure I don’t lose it or have to retranslate it later so I’m putting it here. It’s also quickly becoming apparent that Henry Schuyler’s not the only person in this general group of people who has had some genealogical crimes committed against them over the years. 🤣

I want to be able to say “these aren’t his parents, here are the correct parents with source citations proving the whole chain”. I think it may well be possible soon to do that. I have a couple of related hypotheses as to where he may eventually be found, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself by expounding on them too much here prematurely. 🤣

This is the whole notarial document translated to English:

Before the undersigned Notaries Public residing in Quebec, there were present: Francois Coupeau, dit Saint Martin, residing in the suburb of St. Vallier in this city, and Marie Thibodeau, his wife, whom he duly authorized for the purposes of these presents; Pierre Vincent, master potter, residing in said suburb, and Marie Magdelaine Babin, his wife, similarly authorized; and Jean Primault, master potter, residing in said suburb, and Marie Anne Babin, her husband, also duly authorized; of whom we are told that Alexis Thibodeau, a native of Acadia, was married, and that there are three living children; among whom is said Marie Thibodeau, wife of said Francois Coupeau, dit St. Martin. That said Alexis Thibodeau married in a second marriage to Catherine LeBlanc, widow of Jean Baptiste Babin, a native of Acadia, who died in Philadelphia, where the second marriage was celebrated. That the said Alexis Thibodeau and the said widow Babin thus married in second marriage, without making an inventory; that the said widow Babin, by her late husband, also has three children still living, of whom the said Magdelaine Babin, wife of Pierre Vincent, and Marie-Anne Babin, wife of the said Jean Primault are among the number. That the property of these two families having been ruined by the war and abandoned, and the said Alexis Thibodeau and his second wife having acquired no property in Philadelphia, they came to settle in Canada and took a piece of land in end-grain timber as a concession, located in the village of Petit Lac Saint Paul, in the parish of Bécancour, three arpens in front by thirty arpens in depth, adjoining on the northeast side to Charles Belliveau and on the southwest side to Pierre Landry: on which land the said Alexis Thibodeau and his second wife built a house, barn and stable. That the said Alexis Thibodeau and his second wife being old and unable to exploit the said land, which is their only property with few furnishings and animals; and wanting to establish on this land Joseph Thibodeau their only son living with them, who rendered them many services and who supports them with his work, they come to ask the persons appearing to abandon the rights that they may have according to the laws of this country on the said land and the buildings as well as on the furnishings and animals, which are deemed conquests of the confused and continuous commons between the said Marie Thibodeau his second wife and their children of the first and second marriages. Wherein having regard to the said St. Martin, Vincent and Primault as well as their wives above-named and present have voluntarily and jointly abandoned by these presents without any other guarantee than their acts and promises only, to the said Alexis Thibodeau and Catherine LeBlanc his wife, their father and mother-in-law and mother-in-law, this accepting for the said Joseph Thibodeau their son, to this present and accepting, That is to say, all the movable and immovable rights, fruits and revenues of these accrued to the above-named by the successions of the said Marie Anne Blanchard and Jean Baptiste Babin and first communants of the said Alexis Thibodeau and Catherine LeBlanc, in particular all their rights accrued and to accrue, on the land of the village of Petit Lac Saint Paul above-named, on the buildings as well as on the furniture, animals and personal effects of the said Alexis Thibodeau and Catherine LeBlanc immediately consented to donation inter vivos of the said land and the furniture, animals and personal effects belonging to them, in favor of the said Joseph Thibodeau, in return for which he will pay the debts of the said estates and communities and that he will provide the said Alexis Thibodeau and Catherine LeBlanc with a life pension for their lifetime, without the said assigns and appearing parties being able to be inquisitive or troubled in this regard. For such is the will of the said assigns, who discharge the said Alexis Thibodeau and Catherine LeBlanc, as well as the said Joseph Thibodeau, future donee, from all accounts, inventories and divisions of the said property. Promising and obliging and renouncing and made and passed in Quebec, office of Panet notary, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, on the fourth of March before noon; and the parties declared that they did not know how to write or sign, as requested by the order, except for the said St. Martin, Pierre Vincent and Primault who signed after reading: signed in the original document matured in the said office, Francois Coupeau known as St. Martin, Pierre Vincent, Jean Primeau, Berthelot Dartigny Notary and the undersigned Notary A. Lanet.