CLIENTS TESTIMONIALS

EUROPE

In search of my Amoretty/ Amoretti (Italian?) family and distant ancestors.

My name is Sharon and I live in Sydney, Australia. When I began this genealogy search for my ancestors, I was new to computers and therefore a little hesitant to forward money to someone I had found in the internet. However I need not have been so concerned as Marielle A. Bourgeois came highly qualified and set to work as soon as she received my payment.

Marielle found my family with very little information I shared with her about my great grandfather who came to Australia in 1853 – his name, his birth date in 1821 and the possibility that he was born in Marseille, France. The search proved to be quite a challenge due to the fact that there were 80+ churches in Marseille and the surname Amoretti was a popular name both in France and in Italy, particularly around Oneglia (near San Remo), Italy, which is where she found our family roots.

She found 38 family members of my great grandfather as well as other valuable information regarding the Amoretty/ Amoretti global family in France and Italy. She traced records back to the first half of the 1700's and also translated these documents into English so that we could understand them. I felt wonderful seeing the records come through, linking my family together.

Marielle is dedicated and goes above and beyond the call of duty as a genealogist in helping people find their roots. She provided me with old maps of Marseille and various places in Italy where my people lived, not far from Monaco. I recommend Marielle A. Bourgeois to anyone who wants to trace their ancestors wherever they came from for I know that she has numerous contacts around the globe. Sharon, Australia Email address: sharonjeffery@aapt.net.au

In Search of our Streiber ( Prussian/ German ) ancestors

My grandfather Streiber and his four siblings emigrated from Germany to Holyoke, Massachusetts between 1897 and 1904. I was able to locate their arrival records in America but was totally at-sea about how to locate any of their birth records.

All I had going for me was the family lore that their parents were Julius and Christine Benst (Bentz, Benz, Bienst) Streiber, the children were born in Gnesen (Gneisen, Gneison, Gneisson), Germany and the Streiber family members considered themselves to be Prussians. I put together a list of four city names that looked something like “Gnesen” located respectively in Brandenburg, Sachsen, Bayern in Germany and one in Poland. I rejected the Polish city out of hand and was trying to figure out how one would get at German birth records. I felt totally overwhelmed.

It was my good fortune at that time that I came across an article about "The King's Daughters" written by Marielle A. Bourgeois, M.A., which interested me because of my mother's roots in French Canada. We shared a few emails and I asked if she would be willing to take on my search for birth documents in Germany for my Streiber family.

Marielle assessed the information I provided her in light of her understanding of the activities in Germany at the time the births would have occurred and wanted to search through birth records in Gnesen, Poland. I was very skeptical but made the fortunate decision not to try to micromanage her efforts.The happy result was that Marielle located in Gnesen, Poland, birth records for three of the four Streiber siblings – my grandfather's among them, an exciting and emotional time for me and my family. Thank-you Marielle. Sandy Streiber Briggs, Newport, Rhode Island, USA, eMail address: hlbriggs@cox.net

In Search of my French ancestor although I ignored where he was from in France.

Marielle Bourgeois is a dedicated genealogist who fell into my life at a time when I'd almost given up hope of connecting my French ancestors, Jean-Baptiste Cardot and his wife, Marie H. (maiden name unknown), back to their native land. I had very little information about them before they settled in Philadelphia (sometime before 1850). According to family lore, we knew that he was a weaver who had brought a Jacquard loom with him from France and we had his approximate birth date.

Marielle took on this challenge of finding Jean-Baptiste's birth place with enthusiasm. She has 30 years of experience in her field and numerous knowledgeable research contacts. She contacted her researchers in France, to find out where, in the mid 1800's, the most important weaving centers were located. Marie H.'s census records indicated that she had been born in Belgium. Knowing that fact, Marielle searched for weaving communities near Belgium in Northern France. She found Jean-Baptiste and his family in a tiny village - he came from a family of professional weavers. The church's records were hand written in French and she provided me with translations.

She ordered the records available for neighboring parishes in that area and found more of my ancestors well into the sixteen hundreds. To date, she has identified somewhere between 180 and 200 of these ancestors and their family members. I heartily recommend Marielle Bourgeois to anyone who is struggling with what appears to be an impossible genealogical search. She is not only familiar with many countries and where their genealogical documents are located but she also possesses what I would call an “innate feeling or sense” about people's names and places of origins. What she has accomplished is exceptional and amazing! Lucy. Email: lucyweymouth@mac.com

In search of my Bêche ancestors

I had searched for my great grand-parents' documents, Louis Bêche and Louise-Henriette Nottet, for fourteen years and had accumulated a lot of genealogy information in America. In Europe, I had traced only the baptism of my great grand parents' oldest daughter, in Paris, in 1873. Feeling a bit lost, I reached out to Marielle A. Bourgeois for help.

She transfered the search from the Bêche side in France to the Nottet side in Belgium. She found the marriage of Louis Bêche and Louise-Henriette Nottet in a small village – Buret – of the Luxembourg province in Belgium. From that important finding, we traced 5 generations of Bêche and over 300 original documents on both the Nottet and Bêche families, in Belgium and in France. I connected with descendants of my distant relatives and have been able to create meaningful friendships. Marielle is an excellent researcher and has contacts around the world. Richard, California, Email address: fburda@sbcglobal.net

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