Does baby Dorothy belong in my tree?

March 16, 2017March 15, 2017 thegenealogygirl

gg - george eliot quote

Francis Cyprien Duval & Alice Hyde are my 2nd great grandparents. They are pictured above with four of their five children who survived birth and infancy. Their oldest son, Francis Henry (back left), is my great grandfather.

I have known about 5 of their children for years. Slowly I have been finding little tid-bits that indicate there were additional children.

These are the five children who are well known to me:

Annie Marie Elvera Duval, 1899-1979
Francis Henry Duval, 1901-1996
Leon Howard Duval, 1907-1941
Dolores Lenore Duval, 1909-2005
Alexander Valmore Duval, 1916-1997

Notice the gaps? Six years between Frank and Leon, and seven years between Dolores and Valmore. Those are pretty big gaps for a Roman Catholic like Francis Cyprien Duval.

For a few years now I have known of two other children. The first is a baby boy who was not named. He was born and died on 15 February 1915 in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The second child is referenced in the 1910 census for the family while they are living in Fairbanks, Alaska. Alice is listed as the mother of 5, with 4 living. That means that there is a child who was born and died prior to 10 February 1910.

So my revised list of children looks like this:

Annie Marie Elvera Duval, 1899-1979
Francis Henry Duval, 1901-1996
Unknown Duval, born and died prior to February 10, 1910
Leon Howard Duval, 1907-1941
Dolores Lenore Duval, 1909-2005
Baby Boy Duval, 1915-1915
Alexander Valmore Duval, 1916-1997

It seems likely that the child I learned of from the 1910 census belongs between Frank and Leon in that 6 year gap, but that is just speculation.

It now appears there may be an additional child.

A baby girl named Dorothy.

The Western Call, a BC newspaper, has a death and funeral announcement found in their 14 October 1910 issue that reads:

DUVAL

The death took place Wednesday morning of Dorothy, the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Duval, corner of Twenty-sixth avenue and Martha street. The funeral was held Thursday morning at 9.30 o’clock from the residence, Rev. G. A. Wilson Officiating.

Could this Mr. and Mrs. Frank Duval be my Frank & Alice Duval?

Most likely.

I know from an interview of their son Frank in the late 1970s/early 1980s that Frank and Alice left Alaska sometime after Alice’s father Henry died in 1907. They were still in Fairbanks when the 1910 census was taken in February of that year. I know that after they left Fairbanks they lived in Vancouver for a short time before moving to Lynn Valley, BC where they all lived until sometime after Francis Cyprien Duval’s death in 1919.

So once again, I revise my list of children for Frank and Alice:

Annie Marie Elvera Duval, 1899-1979
Francis Henry Duval, 1901-1996
Unknown Duval, born and died prior to February 10, 1910
Leon Howard Duval, 1907-1941
Dolores Lenore Duval, 1909-2005
Dorothy Duval, died 12 (or 11th) October 1910
Baby Boy Duval, 1915-1915
Alexander Valmore Duval, 1916-1997