52 Ancestors 52 weeks : Branching out, DEVILLERS Maurice Charles...

Version française à lire ou à relire

As I wrote in a previous article, sometimes I find ancestors without having looked for them... They are there, in the register that I consult! This is the case of Maurice Charles, our mother had never told us about a half-brother of his father... and yet!

On June 30, 1894, in Paris, in the 15th, madeleine DEVILLERS, daughter of Charles Georges, twenty years old, commercial employee, and Angèle PÉRON, twenty-two years old, silk worker, was born. The father declared it on July 3 at 11 a.m. and, the same day at four o'clock in the afternoon, he recognized Maurice Charles, born on February 24, 1893, in the same district. The couple is not married but lives together at 44, rue Lourmel.

But now, life is not simple and the couple will not get married! Madeline died on July 25, 1894, and Claudine Marie Angèle, her mother, died on September 29 of the same year... Charles Georges, far too young, did not ensure the education of his son. According to online censuses, Maurice Charles is entrusted to a half-sister of his mother, Jeanne Marie, and her husband, Michel PETITBON.

Jeanne Marie was born on September 7, 1867 in Plestin-les-Grèves, in the Côtes-d'Armor. She is the daughter of Yves, thirty-six years old, ploughman, and Marie Jeanne GUÉZENNEC, thirty-seven years old, housewife. His mother died the day after his birth. She had an older sister, Marie Yvonne, born on March 24, 1865, also in Plestin. Yves PÉRON remarried on May 3, 18871 with Marie MÉNOU. Three children were born in Plestin:

• Marie-Françoise, on April 12, 1856,
• Claudine Marie Angèle, on july 20, 1872,
• Pierre, on  february 20, 1876, died on february 8, 1877.

And then Jeanne Marie attended the death of her father on June 22, 1885. On November 3, 1888, she married Michel PETITBON, twenty-eight years old, ploughman, son of Efflam and Marie Jeanne LE FLOCH. Jeanne Marie and Michel's home expanded with the birth of two daughters, Marie Yvonne and Anne Marie, on November 8, 1889 and April 12, 1893, respectively.

The following year, his half-sister Claudine Marie Angèle returned from Paris with two children: Maurice Charles, one year old, and Madeleine, just a few days old. It is in her commune of birth that Angèle barely returns after giving birth and her baby dies. Then, it was his turn on September 29, 1894! Maurice Charles remains alone, his father in Paris and he in Brittany... Of course, the family is gathered in council to appoint the substitute guardian. To know who it was presented, you have to read the document...

Jeanne Marie gave birth to another daughter, Marie Anne, on 28 April 1895; the baby died on May 2, 1895. What is certain is the census of 1896 which notes that Maurice is placed with his aunt and uncle, Jeanne Marie and Michel PETITBON. That year, Jeanne Marie's family lived in the home of Marie Yvonne GUÉZENNEC, an aunt born on August 10, 1832. On the census, it is written that Michel PETIBON is the son-in-law, but Marie Yvonne is indeed the sister of Marie Jeanne, mother of Jeanne Marie and died on September 8, 1867. In the 1901 census, the members of the household were the same, Josephine MEURIC was still the servant. There, Michel PETIBON is the nephew of Marie Yvonne GUÉZENNEC, always designated as the head of the family.

Efflam Marie PETIBON was born on July 15, 1903. Marie Yvonne GUÉZENNEC died between 1905 and 1911...

From the class of 1913, Maurice Charles is called up for military service. In the census, it is described chestnut hair and eyes, and measures 1.63 m. On November 13, 1913, he joined the 101st Infantry Regiment.

Some nine months later, it's War! The 101st is in order of marches: 3 battalions, or 12 companies for a strength of 62 officers, 3,300 men and... 202 horsepower. As the Battalions are based in two different garrisons – Dreux and Saint-Cloud, the first step is to bring people together. The transport is done by rail and everyone disembarks at Dugny station, in the Paris region, and the journey ends by road. On August 8 the battalions are distributed as follows: Brabant-sur-Meuse, Samogneux and Haumont-près-Samogneux, in the Meuse. On August 10, the regiment is carried forward, all day, the gun is heard on the side of Mangiennes, a commune that it comes to defend from the following August 12. After some exchanges with the enemy, the 101st Infantry is stationed at Villers-lès-Mangiennes. The German troops being announced coming from Luxembourg, the regiment set out on August 21 to reach Belgium at Grandcourt, a town it reached around 8 p.m.

On August 22, at 5 a.m., the Division shifted from the Saint-Léger. At 7:30 a.m., an intense fog hindered the formation of the column, the 3rd Battalion (interspersed in the Artillery Column, while it received the order to go towards the General of Division who was surrounded. The two companies of the 3rd Battalion headed directly to Ethe, the rest of the 101st moved to Gomery, but the following order forced all the infantry to move to Ethe. The exchanges with the enemy were violent and, at noon, order was given to retreat to the edge of the Bois de la Malmaison, as soon as the retreat had begun, the regiment had to move forward again in the direction of Ethe and then towards Latour in order to avoid the looting of this locality. The Battalion could not advance, it retreated: the enemy did not pursue!

On August 23, at 5:15 a.m., the Division gathered north of Villers-le-Rond in adjoining brigades. The 101st Infantry is placed east of the road to Villers-Vézin and covers the gathering. The 1st Battalion is positioned at Hill 334, the other two Battalions remain in cantonment. Around 3 p.m., the 317th Infantry Regiment was subjected to German artillery fire, it did not hold and retreated. The Battalion of the 101st was caught in the crossfire and was forced to

It was during this last day that Maurice Charles was reported missing. The Journal de Marche et des Opérations of his regiment – 26 N 674/1, the 101st Infantry reports very well the military facts but nothing, absolutely nothing, concerning the human losses... Maurice Charles DEVILLERS died on 23 August 1914 by the Tribunal de Lannion on 18 May 1920. The deed was transcribed on the registers of Plestin-les-Grèves on July 23 of the same year 1920.

Now an important question for our family: did our grandfather, Georges Lucien, born in 1910, orphaned by his mother in 1911, have knowledge of this half-brother born eighteen years earlier ?... One of his sisters, Jeanne Alice, married a LE MOULLEC, certainly, born in Le Havre, but whose family is from Saint-Michel-en-Grèves! Track to follow by interviewing the descendants of the couple DEVILLERS-LE MOULLEC...