♂François Godere

François Godere (1740 – after 1780) was a French settler of Post Vincennes, on the Wabash River, born at the post of Ouiatenon higher up the river, who married twice and whose name runs through the parish register of Vincennes in the years when it seldom had a priest. In January 1773 he stood godfather to his sister’s son, a child born the previous June to parents “not yet married on account of the absence of a priest”. On 20 July 1778 he signed his name to the oath of the inhabitants of Vincennes renouncing George III and swearing allegiance to the Republic of Virginia. He was the sixth great-grandfather of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), through his daughter Marguerite Godere (1768–after 1816).

Early life

He was born in 1740 at Ouiatenon, the French post among the Wea on the Wabash, the son of Francois Emery dit Codere and Agnes Richard dit Lafleur. His own marriage act of 1773 calls him “native of the Ouiatenons” and names his parents as “François Gaudere and Agnes Richard”. His father had died by 1756, when his mother remarried at Vincennes. The surname was written Coder, Gauder, Goderre and Godere, among other forms; beneath several entries in the register his name appears as he signed it, “francois Goderre”.

By 1761, at about twenty-one, he was standing godfather to children of Vincennes families, and in January 1773 he was among the witnesses at the marriage of Joseph Seraphin Tougas dit Laviolette and Jeanne Marie Cardinal.

Marriages and family

On 3 June 1767 he married Marguerite Chapart (1748–1772) at Kaskaskia, in the Illinois Country. Their only known child, Marguerite, was born at Vincennes on 20 March 1768 and baptized by Étienne Philibert, a layman who performed the post’s baptisms when it had no priest; her godfather was her mother’s father, written Nicolas Chapaut. Marguerite Chapart died in 1772.

On 18 January 1773 he married Marie Therese Compagnotte (1756–1786) at St. Francis Xavier, Vincennes. The act describes the bride as a native of Mobile and names her parents as François Compagnot and Marie Anne Romagne. The couple had four children, born between 1774 and 1780. Their first, a son François, was baptized by Philibert on 30 January 1774, the day he was born, “according to the intention of Holy Church”, with Jean Baptiste Cardinal as godfather.

On 24 January 1773, a few days after that second marriage, the priest Pierre Gibault conditionally baptized Amable, son of Amable Beaulon and François’s sister Marie Joseph Gaudere, with François as godfather. The boy had been born on 15 June 1772 to parents who, the register says, “were not yet married on account of the absence of a priest”, and he was legitimized when they married; François and his brother Louis witnessed the wedding. Vincennes had no resident priest for long stretches in these years, and couples married before a lay notary and witnesses, or waited for a visiting missionary to bless the union.

Death

He was still living on 26 October 1780, when he signed the baptism of his daughter Victoire at Vincennes. He died at Vincennes after that day; no burial record has been found. His widow died in 1786. His daughter Marguerite, orphaned at about twelve, married Louis Renaud dit Deslauriers, and in 1784 the register named her as the daughter of “the late” François Codere.

Notes

His death date

Earlier accounts gave his death as 1779 or 1780. One such date rests on an online family tree alone; the other repeats the date given for his mother’s death. His signature on the baptism of his daughter Victoire at Vincennes on 26 October 1780 shows that he was still living that day, so neither earlier date is followed. The 1976 English translation of the St. Francis Xavier baptisms, printed in the Genealogical Reference Builders Newsletter, records that entry as “signed Francois Goderre”. No burial record has been found, so the death is dated only to after that day.

The oath of 1778

The oath of 20 July 1778 is printed in George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771-1781, Illinois Historical Collections volume 8 (1912), pages 56 to 58. In the printed list his name appears as “francoise goderri”. He signed the oath himself rather than making a mark.