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Stephen Ganoe - Rev. John Gano's Autobiography

Started by Private User on Sunday, September 8, 2019

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Participants:

Private User

Geni Pro
Darrell Kent Johnson Harnett

Geni member
Erica Howton

Geni Pro

Profiles Mentioned:

Etienne ‘Stephen’ Gano, III

Geni member
Marie Madeleine Brooks

Geni member
Susannah Gano

Geni member

Showing 1-30 of 40 posts

Private User

9/8/2019 at 3:26 PM

I would like to straighten out the Gano lineage, since one of them is reportedly my 7th g-grandmother. I hope to accomplish this and other genealogical tasks on my list of problems, on and with Geni, because of the wonderful tools and all the exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable people who are available and often willing to help. The concept of a world tree really amazes me, and I think it is worth the time and effort I might need to invest in sprucing up my little corner. This biggest hindrance to working here is that practically anyone can tamper with the tree, and so we have to deal with far too much wild speculation, imagination, or worse. But I realize that is all beyond my control, so I'll just do the best I can with it. I'm about to test the actual value of my Pro subscription...

According to Rev. John Gano's autobiography published in 1806, his G-GRANDFATHER, a French Huguenot, FRANCIS Gano (aka Francois Gerneaux, the French form of the name), escaped French persecution by emigrating with his family to New Rochelle in the year 1666. The story of their escape is very well-known and often repeated in history books.

Rev. John Gano's GRANDFATHER was STEPHEN Gano, (aka Etienne Gerneaux). His grandmother was Ann WALTON Gano (Etienne's wife). Etienne was born in France and immigrated to New Rochelle as a child along with his parents and some siblings.

Rev. John Gano's FATHER's name was DANIEL Gano. His mother was Sarah Britton, daughter of Nathaniel Britton of Staten Island.

His MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER's maiden name was STILWELL.

https://books.google.com/books?id=PFYwAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontco...

"My own life suggests progenitors, which were on my father's side, from France,—on my mother's, from Britain. My great-grandfather, FRANCIS Gano, brought my grandfather STEPHEN Gano, (when a child,) from Guernsey, in Jersey ; it being a time of bloody persecution. Flight, or the relinquishment of the protestant religion, of which he was a professor, were the only means of preserving his life. He chose the former. One of his neighbours had been martyred in the day, and, in the evening, he was determined on as the victim for the next day ; information of which, he received in the dead of the night. He thereupon chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and, in the morning, was out of sight of the harbour. Of what number his family consisted, I am not able to say. On his arrival in America, he settled in New Rochelle, in the state of New York, and lived to the age of one hundred
and three.

"My grandfather, STEPHEN Gano, married, I believe, ANN WALTON, by whom he had many children, some of whom died in youth ; those who lived to marry were DANIEL, Francis, James, John, Lewis, Isaac, and three daughters, Sarah, Catharine, and Susannah, the last of whom lived to the age of eighty-seven.

"My father was the first of the beforementioned [i.e. DANIEL GANO]. He married Sarah Britton, daughter of Nathaniel Britton, of Staten Island. Her mother was a Stilwell, who made a profession of religion when about twenty years ofage, and continued a member of the Baptist church till her death ; her age was near an hundred."

So from this first-hand account we can see that there are many errors in the Gano lineage published on Geni. The following are just a few:

1. Rev. John Gano's father should be Daniel not Etienne.
2. Etienne's father should be Francis not "Etienee"
3. Rev. John Gano's father should not be married to a woman whose name is identical to that of his paternal grandmother (i.e. his father's own mother).
4. Since this is a family of some historic prominence, with potentially thousands of blood relatives -- every Gano profile should include some sort of authoritative corroborative source for every fact included therein. In many cases here, there is absolutely nothing given as sources.

Of course we must rely on second-hand sources in most cases, but that's better than no sources at all.

The published autobiography of a man of Rev. John Gano's intelligence and character is an excellent source, in the absence of something more authoritative. I don't doubt that Rev. John Gano knew his own father's name, nor would he lie about it. You can't get away with lying about such things within a tight-knit community like his of people who frequently intermarry and know one another so well. Not getting his own father's name right would have ruined his credibility forever. So his father's name was Daniel Gano.

And for what it's worth, the Gano autobiography is also listed among the sources for Wikipedia's very brief bio on Rev. John Gano.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gano

Darrell Kent Johnson Harnett

9/9/2019 at 6:15 PM

Hi Debra,

Great to see all your hard work. I know for certain my tree has many duplicates and names gone wrong. I will go over mine with regards to your tree. Surely it can't hurt to at least try to correct errors. I also find it a problem with names which have been anglicized and don't quite make it through correctly. My grandmother spelled her maiden name as Gano and the number of variations is hard to comprehend.

Private User

9/10/2019 at 4:06 AM

So happy to hear from you, Darrell, pleased to make your acquaintance.

I have faith in the family, you, and Geni curators to work together to iron it all out. I'd like to approach the task methodically and do a thorough job of improving the validity of the part of the Gano pedigree that is most relevant to me personally. I hope that doing so will also benefit all other blood relatives, as well as present a clearer and more accurate family history.

At this point, I've only identified some of the problems and done a little research and fact-gathering. I'm still trying to decide just where to begin to make the proper corrections. I sincerely appreciate all sage advice, or professional or family assistance. Thank you so much.

I share your concerns about the spellings, it can get a little confusing. Even my own very English surname has variations, is often misspelled, and actually evolved over time from something else entirely (repeatedly, I suspect). But that is to be expected. I try to use whatever spellings or language forms are most appropriate for each individual. In other words the forms and spellings they used for themselves in letters or documents, that are found on their tombstones, or in official records. Nevertheless I am keenly aware that even official records are often full of misspellings.

And by the way, while I'm here I'd like to share a link that I found to a pedigree for Francois Gerneaux that is available through the State of Indiana Library system:

http://link.library.in.gov/portal/Pedigree-of-Francois-Gerneaux/-Fz...

I haven't figured out yet how I might gain access to it, and haven't been able to find it anywhere on the internet, despite that it consists only of one page. It is dated 1900, and I would really like to see it.

Darrell Kent Johnson Harnett

9/12/2019 at 4:35 PM

Pleased to make your acquaintance as well. I will do my best.

Private User

9/12/2019 at 7:26 PM

I'm currently working on obtaining a copy of the Francois Gerneaux Pedigree by James Talmadge Benedict (c.1900). I've since learned that this pedigree chart is indeed relevant to the Gano family history.

Private User

9/16/2019 at 4:51 PM

Darrell, I have just ordered a copy of Francois Gerneaux's pedigree and I'm so excited.

I haven't received it yet (probably tomorrow evening). But as you can see from the catalog entry, the pedigree is definitely relevant to the Gano family.

Private User

9/18/2019 at 3:00 PM

Darrell Kent Johnson Harnett I received the link to the Gano pedigree, and was informed by the sender that the link "will work for anyone", so I take that to mean it's okay for me to share it here.

The Francois Gerneaux pedigree was authored by James Tallmadge Benedict and published in 1900. It consists of one very full sheet of print. Copies are referenced within the catalogs of both the American Antiquities Society and the Indiana State Library system. So I assume it has historical significance. I do not know if it was originally published as part of a book, or not.

Regardless, it is so refreshing to see the documented truth laid out on paper, in the face of all the speculation and guesswork that the family has been subjected to for many years. Francois Gerneaux, originally from Rochelle, France, had 3 children:

1. MARY Gano Denman Brooks (Marie Madeleine Gerneaux), my 7th g-grandmother, who is reported as such in the Denman Family History by Harriet Newell Harris (c1913).

2. JEREMIAH Gunnough/Gano, who was mentioned fondly and named as an executor in the will of John Denman III of Newtown, Long Island, New York.

Neither Mary's nor Jeremiah's progeny is shown on this pedigree, but

3. STEPHEN Gano's is. Stephen (aka Etienne Gerneaux) had 8 children and none of them were named Stephen or Etienne or Etienee.

Stephen Gano had 3 daughters (Sarah, Catherine, and Susannah), and 5 sons (DANIEL, Francis, James, Lewis, and Isaac). Only one son's progeny is shown on this pedigree: Daniel's.

Daniel also had 3 daughters (Sarah II, Jane, and Susannah II), and 5 sons (Daniel II, Stephen II, JOHN, Nathaniel, and David). And only one of these sons, Reverend John Gano, is shown with progeny on this pedigree chart.

John had 11 children, 4 daughters and 7 sons. Of these, the progeny for only one son is shown here: Rev. John Gano's son, Stephen III, who married in 1783.

Stephen Gano III had 9 children, and of them the lineages of only 2 of the daughters (Margaret and Clarissa) is shown. However, Stephen also had 3 sons (Daniel III, John II, and James II) whose lineages are not shown here.

However, it's a safe bet the sons married and had children. I'm providing the link here, but if for some reason it doesn't work out, I plan on including copies of the pedigree on some of the key Gano profiles. Feel free to add them to your own ancestors' profiles, wherever appropriate.

I really hope this pedigree chart will be helpful for the family and everyone who sincerely wishes to do the right thing for them, genealogically speaking.

https://aasmwa-my.sharepoint.com/personal/nfiske_mwa_org/_layouts/1...

Private User

10/26/2019 at 9:28 PM

I apologize for being so slow to realize that the link doesn't work from here, and that I forgot to mention that I added an image of the pedigree to Mary Gano's profile.

https://www.geni.com/photo/view/828415?album_type=photos_of_me&...

https://www.geni.com/photo/view/828415?album_type=photos_of_me&...=

Marie Madeleine Brooks

I'd hoped the link would work, so that people could zoom in on it easily. However, I copied it to add to the Media tab on Mary Gano.

Private User

10/26/2019 at 9:41 PM

I just realized we can actually zoom in on the Mary Gano picture. It works great.

I'd like to remove every profile above Mary's father, and change his name to reflect the information given in this pedigree by James Talmadge Benedict, who is or was actually a very well educated member of the Gano family.

Private User

10/26/2019 at 9:58 PM

And the autobiography by Rev. John Gano (linked and quoted, above) perfectly corroborates the information found in this pedigree.

Private User

10/26/2019 at 10:06 PM

https://books.google.com/books?id=S2UZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA242&dq=...

DAR lineage book proving James Talmadge Benedict's direct descent from Rev. John Gano, Chaplain in the Revolutionary War.

Erica Howton C

3/28/2023 at 3:58 PM

There’s a note on the FindAGrave for “Mary Denman Brooks” (1674-30 Jun 1761)

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19164014/mary-denman_brooks

PLEASE DO NOT SEND REQUESTS TO ENTER HER MAIDEN NAME AS GANO. This is an error started by shoddy research which is being propagated further by careless genealogists. Mary's sister-in-law Martha Denman was married to Jeremiah Gen(o)ung, which explains the 'brother' relationship between Jeremiah and Mary's husband John Denman. The Genung connection has been misconstrued as a connection to Gerneau and Gano surnames.

Private User

3/28/2023 at 8:05 PM

https://www.geni.com/discussions/201983?msg=1330113

Findagrave, maintained by someone or something identified with nothing more than a serial number, is not a valid source for anything other than pictures of tombstones, which I can appreciate. If they have death certificates, obituaries, or other relevant records referenced, cited, and linked, then it could be of some value.

However, calling people's work "shoddy" while making an invalid claim of their own, is pretty pathetic. I'm surprised you would pay any attention to it. That manager ruined Mary Gano's Findagrave profile.

Another one ruined Daniel Denman's FAG profile by insisting on giving him the same middle name and wife as his gg-nephew or cousin or something (perhaps unrelated, I don't think I ever found the connection).

It's sad that can happen on sites purporting to be of a genealogical character. But those managers refuse to budge, so there's nothing much that any of their descendants can do about it.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Genung_Ganong_Ganung_Genealogy...

Mary GANO's (aka originally Gerneaux) husband John Denman had no sisters, certainly none by the name of Martha.

Mary Gano on the other hand, had a brother (i.e. his brother-in-law) by the name of Jeremiah Gano/Gerneaux. Johnny was a poor speller, lol. And they just happened to live among the Dutch as well, just to add to the confusion. But genealogists are supposed to be aware of that sort of thing, as it is quite common. As mentioned in my other post, I did my research, a lot of it, and a lot of fact-checking, before reaching these conclusions.

I understand that people not even related to the family may have their own ideas about it. And that there isn't much I can do about it. I did try. Spent many years working on it, even more intensely since 2019 when I started this discussion.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Genung_Ganong_Ganung_Genealogy...

Private User

3/28/2023 at 8:24 PM

I refer to the published Ganung family genealogy, pp. 19-20. Their Jeremiah Genung (no relation at all to Mary Gano/Gerneaux or any of the Gano family) -- is married to a Martha whose maiden name is Unknown.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Genung_Ganong_Ganung_Genealogy...

I can't help people who get Gano and Gunnough (as spelled in John's will) -- mixed up with Ganung and Genung (totally different pronunciations). The final "g" in Gunnough is silent.

But just because people confuse the two families (both well enough documented for family genealogy, btw), doesn't mean that Mary and her brothers should have to give up their last name. I'm just smh right now, incredible.

Private User

3/28/2023 at 9:24 PM

For further reference, here's where this got started:

https://www.geni.com/discussions/185827?msg=1624696

Private User

3/28/2023 at 9:29 PM

Followed by this:

https://www.geni.com/discussions/185827?msg=1625028

(Then finally landing here with Erica's post above.)

Private User

3/28/2023 at 9:31 PM

Page 43 in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Proceedings_of_the_Huguenot_So...

Erica Howton C

3/28/2023 at 10:06 PM

Comment at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gano-1

Gayneau-8 and Gano-1 appear to represent the same person because: These are the same individual, but Gano-1 preserves her mythical father "Francis" rather than her actual father, Etienne. I've copied from my research notes below to clarify the confusion:
FRANCIS GANO, allegedly died 1733, aged 103, was supposedly a Huguenot from the Guernsey who settled at New Rochelle, New York in 1661 (Virkus, Compendium, i. 116). His great-grandson, the Rev. John, gave the following account of him:

My great grandfather, Francis Gano, brought my grandfather Stephen Gano, (when a child,) from Guernsey, in Jersey; it being a time of bloody persecution. Flight, or the relinquishment of the protestant religion, of which he was a professor, were the only means of preserving his life. He chose the former. One of his neighbours had been martyred in the day, and, in the evening, he was determined on as as [sic] the victim for the next day; information of which, he received in the dead of the night. He thereupon chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and, in the morning, was out of sight of the harbour. Of what number his family consisted, I am not able to say. On his arrival in America, he settled in New-Rochelle, in the state of New-York, and lived to the age of one hundred and three (Biographical Memoirs, 10).

As Guernsey had been an English territory for centuries, the tale can hardly be true, but it may, perhaps, encode some vague family memory of persecution leading to emigration, whether there or elsewhere. Even Francis’ name is almost certainly wrong and it seems clear that the real founder of the family was,

ETIENNE GAINEAU OR GENEAU of La Rochelle immigrated from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam in the summer of 1661; purchased a house and lot in Pearl Street, New Amsterdam, 1662; granted 80 acres of upland and 10 acres of meadow on the west side of Staten Island, 2 June 1677. He married LIDIE METERAU OR METEREN, who emigrated with him from Amsterdam together with two children (Fernow, Records of New Amsterdam, v. 42; Leng, Staten Island and its People, ii. 900).

Private User

3/28/2023 at 11:09 PM

"As Guernsey had been an English territory for centuries, the tale can hardly be true,"

Does that make sense to you? I see no value in repeating hearsay without sources to back any of it up.

Erica Howton C

3/28/2023 at 11:19 PM

https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000193218825920&graph_node_id=profile-7415042&mode=followed

The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .)
https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11816/17/23575602
Family Genealogies, Notes or Records: Gano, Stephen (New York, Staten Island)

Private User

3/28/2023 at 11:26 PM

Francis Gano as I have reminded everyone many times before, was from Rochelle, France. No one has ever claimed he was originally from Guernsey. I certainly never did. So to imply something like that is what I guess is called a strawman argument.

He had to take his family and leave Rochelle, France, in a hurry after being warned he was about to be arrested for being of the wrong religion. The story of their clandestine flight from France is pretty complicated and open to some speculation, but for genealogical purposes it isn't necessary to know every little detail. We know where they came from, why they left, when they left, and where they eventually settled.

He sought refuge in Guernsey, as did many other Huguenots. They also sought refuge in England for a long time. Some like John Sevier and Francis Gano, subsequently left England for the New World.

As I recall he left Rochelle alone at first, hid out in Guernsey for awhile then arranged for the passage of his family so they could be reunited before eventually sailing to the Dutch Colonies in what later became New York.

I am not a history professor. But I know a fallacious statement when I hear one. And I know enough history to know what is and isn't plausible. I also trust my sources, within reason.

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 12:01 AM

What do you make of the Consuelo Furman article?

https://media.geni.com/p14/85/58/47/ae/53444862e9154ec0/_the_identity_of_susannah_wife_of_stephen_gano_jr_original.pdf?hash=5ec16fa75daf90a0db27e75a59eabdf850cfe12d88e94c4d006981677d6585c8.1733903999

Private User

3/29/2023 at 12:30 AM

Thank you, Erica. I am interested and have been looking at that. I think she was pretty good, and I'm happy about finding the De Bever reference (had lost track of it and was going nuts trying to find it, lol).

But apparently the "passenger list" for that voyage was incomplete. My source is clear that the list was only of passengers who OWED money for their trip.

Francois Gerneaux was said to have been very wealthy, so presumably he had plenty of money and paid his fares in advance.

http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/01/ship-journal-de-beve...

The fact that the list is incomplete is enough to cast doubt that Etienne Genejoy is the same person as Francois Gerneaux.

I'm still looking.

Private User

3/29/2023 at 12:34 AM

Btw while I'm here, I have already checked out the Etienne / Lydia Mesterau claim and disproved it quite awhile ago (at least to my own satisfaction). I found their marriage and some baptismal records, and concluded something else. But now I need to find my notes or the sources I used, so I can explain my what I found and refresh my memory.

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 1:38 AM

Dates and locations are different for Francis / Francois (1686 / New Rochelle) & Etienne (1681 / New Amsterdam). They seem like different families.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gano-28

Stephen Etienne Gano was baptized on 29 May 1654 in La Rochelle, Charente-Mtaritime, France. Growing up Catholic, his family migrated to Amsterdam, The Netherlands where they latec migrated to New York on the ship 1De Bever (The Beacon) in 1661 Arriving on 09 Mat 1661 the family settled in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York. He married Susannah Usselton on 01 Aug, 1679 in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York. They had ten children.

https://books.google.com/books?id=eZ9YAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q&... has the family of Francis Gano arriving in 1686 and settling in New Rochelle.

I do not think however that

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 1:57 AM

Here’s the passenger list of “The Beaver”

https://www.immigrantships.net/v10/1600v10/beaver16610729.html

The Beaver

Amsterdam, Netherlands to New Amsterdam (New York)
Sailed 9 May 1661
Arrived 29 July 1661

The Beaver sailed from Amsterdam May 9, 1661 under Captain Pieter Reyersen arriving in New Amsterdam July 29, 1661

8-12* Estjenne Genejoy (Etienne Geneau), from Rochelle, and wife and three children ages 1/2, 3 and 7 years.

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 2:13 AM

The same ship, the Beaver, took over Hugh Barents De Kleyn, from Buren; Aert Teunisz Middagh, from Heykoop (settled in Brooklyn); and Evert Pietersen Keteltas, returning to New Amsterdam as "consoler of the sick, chorister and schoolmaster;' also Etienne Geneau, a Huguenot from La Rochelle, his wife Lyria Metereu and three children. He lived at Harlem, I believe, in 1675, but went to Staten Island, and was the Gano ancestor.

Geneau, or Gano. (See Notes pp. 107, 120.) He bought property in New Amsterdam, April 29, 1662; again July 15, 1670, a house and lot in Broadway; and his wife. Lydia Metereu, another, on the Bever Graft. April 22, 1672. In 1676, he was granted 85 acres of land on Staten Island, "near the commons. Geneau was a Huguenot. "Flight or the relinguishment of the Protestant religion was the only means of preserving his life. One of his neighbors had been martyred; he was determined on as the victim for the next day, information of which he received in the dead of the night. He therefore chartered a vessel, removed his family on board, and in the morning was out of sight of the harbor.' From his son, Francis, whom he brought with him, come all of the name, so far as known. The above extract is from the Memoirs written by his descendant, Rev. John Gano, chaplain in the American army in the Revolution, and afterward a pastor in New York, who died at Frankfort, Ky., in his 78th year, August 10, 1804.

Private User

3/29/2023 at 7:53 AM

I've been looking at Consuelo Furman's sources and her reasoning. Her work is thorough but not entirely flawless.

https://archive.org/details/historyofhugueno00bair/page/n197/mode/2...

In "History of the Huguenot Emigration to America" as cited in her report (vol. 1, p. 182), both "Etienne Gaineau" and "Etienne Genejoy" are listed side-by-side in the same sentence and paragraph among many refugees of the same timeframe, specifically as being from France via Holland on Dutch ships.

Nowhere in that passage does it make the connection between "Etienne Genejoy" and "Francois Gerneaux". Her insistence that his name was Etienne, not Francois, seems to be based solely on her belief that the surnames are identical.

https://archive.org/details/denmanfamilyhist00harr/page/n45/mode/2u...

The "De Bever" is not mentioned anywhere in the "History of the Denman Family", either.

In recent years I found a number of inconsistencies and some serious errors in material used mainly as a sort of filler in textbooks. If more in-depth, logical and supported with relevant reliable sources they would be more convincing.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101062238926&view=...

"Holland Society of New York, 1902 Yearbook" pp. 17-18 merely repeats the exact same passenger list.

https://archive.org/details/statenislanditsp02leng/page/1014/mode/2...

"Staten Island and Its People", p. 900 repeats the exact same unsubstantiated claim that this Etienne Genejoy allegedly lived in Staten Island and is the same person as Francis Gano, the patriarch featured in Rev. John Gano's memoir.

https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll...

Yet in the memoirs the Gano patriarch, Francis, settled and died in New Rochelle (age 103). The only mention of Staten Island with regard to the Gano family is that Sarah Britton, Rev. Gano's mother, was from there.

New Rochelle is not on Staten Island.

Likewise, in the memoirs there is no mention of Lydia Mesterau or any "Lydia" whatsover (Francis's wife isn't named at all). No Etienne. And no ship, "De Bever".

So I don't understand how a genealogist could make such a logical leap equating Francois or Francis Gerneaux or Gano with the Etienne (? sp.?) of the Staten Island family, when neither name nor residential location match.

2019 was four years ago, a long time. I didn't know at the time how to upload documents to profiles, and was warier than ever of adding notes or changing anything. I still remember everything I learned about it, but finding the references may take some time.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822019573328&view=...

Riker seems probably the source of all the later speculation. Of Etienne Geneau of Harlem and wife Lydia or Lyria Metereu, he said:

"From his son, Francis, whom he brought with him, come all of the name, so far as known. The above ex- tract is from the Memoirs written by his descendant, Rev. John Gano, chaplain in the American army in the Revolution, and afterward a pastor in New York, who died at Frankfort, Ky., in his 78th year, August 10, 1804."

So Riker claimed not only was this Staten Island Etienne Geneau the FATHER of Francis Gano, he was also a Huguenot refugee.

But as I mentioned before, beside the fact that Riker, although admittedly a knowledgeable historian, cited nothing specifically to support these genealogical references and claims.

And when I found and reviewed official records for Lydia and Etienne, I eventually concluded based on the facts that the families are unrelated and Etienne is not Francis.

I also seriously doubt the conflicting claim by Riker that Etienne and Lydia are Francis Gano's parents. So also doubt that this Etienne Geneau in Harlem and Staten Island is related in any way to Rev. John Gano, the war chaplain and his son (?I think), the war surgeon.

I need some time to take a break first and then find those records. I know they are different families, and I wish others could see it too. I've read Riker's speculations which I think are the original source for the others.

It makes sense that Etienne Geneau of Harlem/Staten Island was Catholic, if that's true. Because according to Riker when they got into an argument Mr. Palmer used it against him. However, Riker's genealogical notes are very brief, speculative, and full of conflicting information.

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 9:53 AM

I don’t think Etienne and Francis are the same person.

There seems substantial evidence (ship passage, property) for Etienne Geneau, however spelled. And, it doesn’t seem likely he had a son Francis.

I do not think the memoirs of Rev. John Gano are a very reliable  source.  It seems more likely he was in fact descended from Etienne, son of Etienne.

But of more relevance, is the identity of Mary, wife of 1) John Denham 2) Philip Brooks. So far I’m not seeing good evidence for her origins. She’s not really the right age to have been the Mary Madeline born about 1660 to Etienne, and listed as his baby on the manifest of The Bever in 1661.

Erica Howton C

3/29/2023 at 9:56 AM

https://archive.org/details/denmanfamilyhist00harr/page/n45/mode/2u...

Francis Gerneaux died at New Rochelle in 1723 at the age of 103 years.

It is not known when John Denman and Mary Gano were married, nor when she was born or when she died. The entire period from the arrival of the Ganos at New Rochelle in 1686 till the death of John Denman at Newtown in 1713, was but twenty-seven years ; and as the youngest of his children was born when he was sixty-four or sixty-five years old, his wife must have been much younger than he was. She doubtless kept her family together and went with them to their new home in New Jersey after the sale of their farm at Newtown in 1717.

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Stephen Ganoe - Rev. John Gano's Autobiography

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