Stephen Ganoe - Rev. John Gano's Autobiography

Bear in mind the following (and feel free to correct any factual errors):

1. Earlier blood-related descendants of Francis Gano wrote a memoir (Rev. John Gano) and a genealogy (the Denman Family History) stating that the American Gano patriarch was originally "Francois Gerneaux", a French Huguenot refugee from Rochelle, France who arrived in New Rochelle in 1686.

2. But based on pure speculation by the NY historian, Riker (in whose work I have found yet another very detrimental error wherein he confused the names Denton and Denman, so he seemed good for that sort of thing and not a true genealogical authority) -- some recent anonymous or not well known, perhaps amateur, 'genealogists' have made the logical leap that this Stephen Garneau (var. Sp. including Genejoy and Gueneau, Geneau, etc.) of Staten Island, an accused "Papist" (i.e. Catholic, not Huguenot) is the real patriarch of the Gano family. I disagree, and I'll explain why.

2. Besides the obvious (Huguenot and Catholic being incongruous religions), the ship on which they say Stephen Garneau was a passenger (the Gulden Bever or simply the Bever or Beaver), embarked from from Holland and arrived in "New Netherlands" (not New Rochelle).

3. The man they claim lived in Staten Island (not New Rochelle).

4. Dates don't match, spouse info doesn't match.

5. Names don't match.

6. Offspring doesn't match.

7. Stephen Geneau (sp.) of Staten Island, with wife Lydia "Matereu" (var. Sp.) was never claimed by either the Ganos or the Denmans earliest descendants.

8. In one Dutch Reformed church baptismal record dated Feb. 4, 1663, we find Stephen Garneau as father of Sara with witnesses Jacob Cobjouw and Magdalena du Trieux (a French name). For mother it is only noted, "N. Materum" which should translate to "N/A" i.e. "immaterial". The mother's name is not given in the record.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9CL-PJ5R

9. Citations for claims that Mary Gano was born Oct. 17, 1660 do not check out when followed and examined. It's simply not there (if you see it, please point it out to me).

10. In any case, if Mary was born in 1660 she would have been quite old by the time she married Mr. Brooks and had two more sons, Deacon Samuel and Jacob Brooks (age sixty when the last one was born, which is really absurd).

That alone (although I'm sure there's more) is enough to blow the theory to shreds, imho.

Only an amateur (like me) could make the mistake of having a sixty year old woman giving birth. It's virtually impossible.

I should have said, "Like most of us here."

Thank you Erica, and sorry for the cross-posting.

I appreciate the question and problem, and my intention now is to focus more on that. I've realized for a long time that we were operating mainly on published early descendants' family testimonies.

I've already done a lot of work on Mary Gano Denman Brooks, in NJ. And there is her first husband, John Denman's will naming her and her brother Jeremiah "Gunnough" (if I spelled it right). The ties of her to both the older Denman children as their mother and to the Brooks boys as their mother, establishes their relationship as step-siblings. It's proven in her own will, if I recall. And other records I'd have to dig up.

But yeah, I am looking to establish Francis's presence in New Rochelle, along with the marriage of Mary and her first (Denman) husband, in Newtown, Long Island. So far the circumstantial evidence is excellent, imo. But it would be very nice to have something more substantial and indisputable.

I appreciate your assistance and guidance, as always.

Debra

Unfortunately, the conflation between the Huguenot Francis Gano of New Rochelle and the Catholic Etienne Garneau/Geneau of Staten Island has been long perpetuated here and elsewhere across the internet (including and perhaps originating in Findagrave, idk for certain).

In my research I learned that the Staten Island man, Stephen, died around age 40. At one point I found Lydia Mesterau and realized after reviewing the data that she could not be connected to the Rev. John Gano family.

That plus none of Stephen and Lydia's children match up with "Mary Gano and her brothers Stephen and Jeremiah", who were the only known survivors of Francis Gano and their unknown mother, as shown on their historical published pedigree produced by a descendant (surname Benedict) accepted by the DAR and American Antiquities.

The notes for Etienne, Lydia, and their branch are unconnected and imho do not belong with the French Huguenot, Francis Gano's profile.

The Gano family claims Francis had a daughter named Mary. All that is known about Mary Gano is claimed by the early Denman historian: that she was the wife of our John Denman III of Long Island, who in widowhood relocated with their children to Westfield and Cranford NJ and subsequently married the Brooks gentleman producing two more sons who were their half-brothers.

That much is reasonably well established, along with the name of Mary's brother, Jeremiah, in her first husband John Denman's will. So far no conflicts between the actual (i.e. made by the earliest published family) Gano and Denman claims.

The challenge for us is to prove that John Denman's widow was Mary "Gano" as the early Denman historian claimed. (The Gano pedigree focused entirely on the descendants of her brother, Stephen, to include Rev. John Gano.)

And to further establish her father, Francis's presence in New Rochelle or anywhere in the vicinity where his daughter could have been introduced to John Denman of Newtown.

I'm working on finding those missing pieces. The region was hit very hard during the Revolution, so I don't expect it to be very easy.

The Episcopalian church in Elizabethtown NJ, where the Denmans were originally members, was also destroyed during the Revolution.

However, the Presbyterian church in Newtown held onto many of their earliest records, somehow. So maybe there's hope. There was a lot of cross-over between the Protestant church membership, as seen in the fact that the Denmans began attending the Presbyterian church in Westfield after their Episcopalian church was destroyed. The same sort of thing also occasionally resulted from marriages between members of different protestant sects.

So it's pretty tough going for genealogists and that's why earlier blood-related family published testimonials are so valuable. Because in some cases that's all we have left.

I should add that the conflations had me very confused for quite a long time.

But although I and more modern genealogists have been thoroughly confused by it, no such conflation is found in any of the early Gano and Denman family published histories.