This blog will not appeal to most readers, as it is family genealogy written for family members who may be interested and also those who happen into this blog, that can offer more information on the Guttin-Lombard history.
Please follow through the French language to the English that follows.
More of Regis and Isabella Hunter and their children to come later.
Régis Adolphe Guttin-Lombard
This story is about one of our grandparents, Régis Adolphe Guttin-Lombard. It is a compilation of what we know and think we know about his life. We have had the advantage of a few family records and pictures and the assistance of Rémi Layat, a distant cousin and Linda Guttin Williamson, a wonderful, much closer cousin. However, it would not have happened at all without the help of Fabrice Montmartin, our friend in Lyon who has supplied us so generously with advice, information and pictures -- only a fraction of which is included in this story. We cannot thank him enough. …............................................................................................................................................................
From Rémi Layat about Régis Adolphe:
“Son père, Joseph GUTTIN-LOMBARD (1802 - 1844 ), est né à Chirens est s'est installé à Moirans, ou habitait ces oncles et ses cousins (placé en apprentissage ?)
Son père Jean-baptiste était un petit agriculteur plutot pauvre de Chirens.
Son grand-père Charles né à Pladru, environ 10 km au Nord de Chirens, s'est installé à Chirens. Il avait une petite boulangerie, puis un petit hotel.Il a finit malade et ruiné.
Il avait 3 frères Jean-Baptiste, Mathieu (mon ancètre), François. Ces 3 étaient des petits agriculteurs et vivaient aussi de petits artisanats. La plupart des enfants sont devenus ouvriers dans des forges après 1860.”
The parents and grandparents of Regis Adolphe Guttin-Lombard:
His great grandfather, Charles, was born in Pladru and moved to Chirens (about 10 km to the north) where he had a small bakery and then a small hotel. He didn’t end well -- ill and bankrupt. His 3 sons were Jean Baptiste, the grandfather of our Regis Adolphe, Mathieu, the ancestor of Rémi Layat, and François. The brothers became small farmers and craftsmen. After 1860, many of their children became foundry workers.
His grandfather, Jean-Baptiste, was a small, rather poor farmer in Chirens.
His father, Joseph,was born in Chirens and moved to Moirans.
Jean Baptiste Guttin-Lombard --- Marianne Carra Bartholémy Robin --- Jeanne Massit
1767 - 1831 I 1769 - 1844 I
________________________________________ ___________________________
Jean Baptiste Mathieu Joseph Francois Catherine
1796 - 1862 1800 - 1802 - 1844 1805 - 1862 1803 - 1840
Joseph Guttin --- Catherine Robin
1802 - 1844 I 1803 - 1840
________________________________________________________________
Joseph Régis Adolphe Gaspard Melchior
1834 - 1873 1836 - 1914 1839 - 1840
….......................................................................................................................................................................................................
Régis Adolphe Guttin born on June 9, 1836 in Moirans, France, was the middle child of
Joseph Guttin-Lombard and Catherine Robin.
Record of Régis Adolphe’s birth
Le neuf juin mil huit cent trente six à quatre heures du soir à la Mairie de
la commune de Moirans département de l’Isère, pardevant nous Joseph
Arthaud adjoint officier de l’Etat-Civil de la dite commune, est comparue
Eugénie Lafuma, accoucheuse, habitante à Moirans, âgée de vingt huit
ans, laquelle nous a présenté un enfant du sexe masculin né ce matin à
sept heures dans le domicile du Sr Joseph Guttin-Lombard cultivateur
habitant à Moirans et du mariage de ce dernier avec Catherine Robin
agée de trente cinq ans, et auquel il a déclaré donner les prénoms de
Régis Adolphe. Lesdites présentation et déclaration faites en présence
des sieurs Cyprien Auguste Ravoir âgé de quarante sept ans et Jean
Mathiot âgé de trente cinq ans, propriétaires domiciliés à Moirans
témoins qui ont signé avec nous, et la comparante après lecture faite.
RAVOIR Eugénie LAFUMA MATHIOT ARTHAUD
On June 9, eighteen hundred and thirty six. at four o’clock in the evening, at the Town Hall in the Commune of Moirans, Department of Isère, there came before Joseph Arthaud, Associate Officer of the Registry office of the aforesaid commune, Eugenie Lafuma, midwife, living in Moirans, twenty-eight years old, who introduced to us a child of the male sex born this morning at seven hours at the home of Mr. Joseph Guttin-Lombard, farmer, living in Moirans and of the marriage of him with Catherine Robin, thirty-five years old, and to which he gave the first names of Régis Adolphe.The aforementioned presentation and statement made in the presence of
Mr. Cyprien Auguste Ravoir, forty-seven years old, and Mr. Jean Mathiot, thirty-five years old, domiciled owners in Moirans, witnesses .
RAVOIR Eugenie LAFUMA MATHIOT ARTHAUD
The church in Moirans where Régis was baptized.
About the name, “Guttin-Lombard”
In the records in Moirans, sometimes the full name, “Guttin-Lombard”, is used and sometimes just “Guttin”.
[From Fabrice Mpntmartin: “Well, let's come back to your family roots. Yes, indeed there are many names and dates in my last email. What can be surprising for you is that many of your ancestors wear 2 family names : Guttin-Lombard, Barnier-Brunoz, Cado-Milliat, Jacquin-Amieu, Garenjoud-Poulat, Deschaux-Bourde, Prieur-Mollin... Well, that is something happening in some places around here but nearly only in the countryside. At that time, people were not so many and did not go far to find a bride or a groom. So there was quite few family names. Moreover, your ancestors lived closed to the Alps mountains, probably living in deep valleys closed to the 'rest of the world'... So, in one village, they had to find s trick to make a difference between all the people wearing the same family name. That trick was to add one female name to the father's name. For instance, your oldest Guttin-Lombards have one Claude Guttin married to a Jeanne Lombard and so is born a new family name. It means that in most cases, the 2nd name comes from a woman but most of the time, it has been added in a very past time and it is difficult to find the couple who gave 'birth' to this new name. For the Guttins, you have been quite lucky. Maybe there are other people having some Guttins or Guttin-xxxx names and can be directly related to you. I saw yesterday in the white pages that there are still quite many Guttin-Lombard in that area.”]
Régis Adolphe had a brother, Joseph, two years older and a brother, Gaspard Melchior, three years younger. When Régis was four, his one year old brother died, and four days later, his mother died. We don’t know what happened that killed both the little boy and his mother in only four days.
A little less than a year later, his father, Joseph married Catherine Poncet of Apprieu. Four years after that, Joseph himself died, leaving his sons, Régis, 8 years old and Joseph, 10 years old, orphans.
There is almost nothing known about the life of Catherine Robin, the mother of Régis and Joseph but it appears that after their father died, one of her brothers became the guardian of Régis and probably Joseph. So far we don't know the name of that person or how it came about. What we do know is that when Régis was 20 years old and obliged to register with the military, a Robin uncle signed for him as his guardian. Régis was unable to attend at the time probably because he was a tailor’s apprentice in Grenoble.
Régis Adolphe Guttin
Régis' brother, Joseph became a silk weaver in Lyon and in 1859 married Marie Louise Jacquillion and joined her silk weaving family. Lyon was a major centre of the silk-weaving world. Marie Louise, known as Louise, had been widowed four years earlier after a very brief marriage and had one daughter, Antoinette Caroline Joséphine Berger. Joseph and Marie Louise had a daughter also called Antoinette -- Antoinette Adolphine Guttin-Lombard (sometimes spelled Adelphine). Marie Louise’s parents were Antoine and Antoinette Jacquillon and that may explain why both daughters were named Antoinette. The “Adolphine” was in honour of Régis Adolphe who was her god father and certified her birth.
Joseph Guttin, the brother of Régis Adolphe
Marie Louise Guttin, Joseph’s wife
Two pictures of Antoinette Adolphine Guttin
Régis became a tailor and lived at 95 Montée de la Grande Côte, now the old part of Lyon. Thanks to
Fabrice Montmartin, we have pictures taken in 2009 of the house where he lived.
95 Montée de la Grande Côte (with graffiti)
Another view of the house and street. Régis’ house is on the left, on the far side of the house with arches. The bit of visible graffiti helps identify it.
Another view of the street. Some of the houses date from the 1500’s
Other than his being a tailor, we don’t know anything about Régis’ life in Lyon or why he decided to leave France. We do have a copy of a letter from the mayor of Moirans exempting him, at the age of 30, from military service because he was not tall enough. Régis must have been about 5’ 3” tall or a little less.
Letter from Mayor of Moirans exempting Régis from military service.
“The Mayor of Moirans County of Rives Department Isère certifies, that Mr. Régis Adolphe Guttin-Lombard, tailor, son of Mr. Joseph Guttin-Lombard and of Catherine Robin, deceased, born at Moirans (Isère ) 6 June 1836 was entered on the registration roll of young people of that Commune called to form the conscript contingent for the year of 1866; that because of the No, 3 drawn at lottery and by a decision by appeal board, he has been exempted for being below regulation height.
This certificate is issued to serve as a reference document only.
Given at Moirans by the Mayor
17 April, 1866”
Régis immigrated to Canada in 1870 and became a naturalized citizen two years later -- that from the 1901 Canadian census. However a Freedom of Information search of Canadian records failed to turn up any record of his naturalization.
Other references to an Adolphe Guttin
1866, an Adolphe Guttin, born 1836 in France, sailed from Le Havre to New York on the Shakespeare
1870 US census, an Adolphe Guttin appears as a labourer in what seems to be a hotel or very large lodging place in East Hampton, Massachusetts
Because of the same birth year, it is possible that our Régis Adolphe first lived in the US and then, later, moved to Canada. I like to think he came directly to Canada. It seems likely, after tailoring for more than ten years in France, that he had the means to open his tailor shop and it would be odd that he would remain a laborer in Massachusetts for four years before arriving in Owen Sound. Besides, the name Adolphe Guttin is not unique in the US. Just an idea.
When I did a search of the Canadian 1871 Census, looking for all the tailors from France, an “A. Gatlin” is listed in Toronto - St. Lawrence Ward. I like the idea that this is our Adolphe because he says he emigrated to Canada in 1870 and I think “Gatlin” could be a the best guess of the person who took the census and tried to write the name “Guttin”. Strictly an idea.
It is hard to understand why Régis Adolphe chose a place to settle as far out of the way as Owen Sound. The most likely reason is because of Fr. Francois Xavier Granottier, a Basilian priest and a Frenchman of the same age, who was the first pastor of the Catholic church in Owen Sound. Fr, Granottier grew up in Val Fleury, quite a distance from Moirans so we don’t know if they knew each other in France. However, the Basilians had a school in Annonay about 45 miles from Lyon and possibly a parish in Lyon and that might have been where they met or heard of each other. Régis arrived in Owen Sound some seven or eight years after Fr. Granottier took up his pastoral duties there.
In any case, Régis did arrive in Owen Sound and did open a tailor shop. Furthermore, in 1873, at the age of 37, he married a young, 18 year old Scottish woman, Isabella Hunter Saunders. It seems highly unlikely that a Roman Catholic Frenchman in his mid-thirties could even become acquainted with, let alone marry, a woman half his age and a Presbyterian Scot to boot. It may be partly because Régis was a tailor and Isabella Hunter had a strong family tailoring and sewing background. Her maternal grandfather (Thomas Little) was a tailor, her mother (Jane Little Saunders) a seamstress and her sister (Mary Saunders Coulson) listed herself as a tailoress in an 1881 Census. It is possible that they came to know each other in the course of the tailoring business.
Marriage Certificate of Adolphe Guttin and Isabella Hunter Saunders
Here is Régis standing in front of his tailor shop on Poulett Street (now 2nd Avenue East) in Owen Sound. (I think it was where Fulford’s Hardware store more recently used to be.)
Here are two advertisements for the tailor business.
An advertisement for his business says that Régis made buying trips to Europe and that would have helped him maintain ties to his family in France. Unfortunately, his brother Joseph died in 1873 when he was only 38 years old, some 10 months before the birth of Régis' and Isabella Hunter's first child, Louise May Guttin (Lulu). The godmother and namesake of that baby is recorded on Lulu’s baptismal certificate as Louise Guttin --- that is Marie Louise Guttin, now the widow of Régis' brother, Joseph in France. The godmother, Louise, related by marriage, seems to be the source of all the Louises who follow and continue to march on down the generations.
Régis and Isabella Hunter had two more children, Joseph Andrew, born 1876 and Reginald Armand, born 1879. Both Joseph and Reginald were born in Toronto. The train which began in the 1870's would have made traveling the distance of 120 miles much more possible but we are missing a lot of details about their lives. In the 1870's Owen Sound was a wide open port city.
The Guttin family home in Owen Sound was at 1159 4th Avenue East and Régis' tailor shop was on Poulett Street, the main street in Owen Sound.
Their son, Joseph, never married. He was a freight clerk in Orillia before he enlisted in the first world war at the age of 39. He was 5’6” tall. He died in 1962 in Owen Sound. It is possible that he had a son, George. George Guttin worked in stage management in Toronto and died in 1981.
Reginald married Mary Willoughby and had six children before his sudden and tragic death in an
accidental shooting in 1924 at Niagara on the Lake.
Lulu, Régis' daughter, received an elegant education in Quebec and Toronto. Fluent in French, she was an accomplished pianist and later directed the choir at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in
Owen Sound. There is a story that her education was financed by Fr. Granottier. Certainly, her brothers had no such advantages.
Lulu married James Edward Keenan who, with his three brothers, founded Keenan Brothers in
Owen Sound. They had five children -- to be taken up in another story.
Here is Lulu, in the white dress, shortly before her marriage in 1901. Régis sits beside her.
Below, Régis Adolphe and Isabella Hunter Guttin and little Louise Keenan, daughter of Lulu.
Régis died at the age of 77 on January 31, 1914 and was buried in St. Mary's cemetery, Owen Sound on February 2, 1914.
Shannon Louise Smith Coble
February, 2011
Many thank you's Shannon for doing such a nice presentation and of course, huge big thanks to Fabrice and Remi
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