www.geocities.com/kota151/Tobin_family.html translate help

[kammy]

I really need help with this translation. No one can seem to help me. I can speak french but I can not read the hand writing of this document. Please...please can some one offer me any help. Thanks much in advance. I put a picture of the letter on the web site in subject line.

[Jenny]

Hmmm. I had a look but can't make head nor tail of it. Sorry. Perhaps someone of French origin might be able to decipher it and write what it says on here then you could have a better go at translating it!


Marcos, where are you? Can you read this???

[CLL]

Hi,

Wow, it's not easy is it, but how fascinating to be looking at something so old. My printer is unfortunately off-line today, but should be back on this evening, so I'll have a look then - I can't figure much out on screen.

Thanks for making it available for us to look at, I hope I'll be able to help. I'm fascinated by history, and also happen to be bilingual!

[kammy]

Thanks both of you for taking a look. It would be great CLL if you could print it out & make somethings of it. It is very difficult. I can make out the first part of "of the age of 47" & the word Ireland. I know the word garde means to keep safe but without being able to make out much of the rest it does me little good.
I have been doing family history for years now. The record comes from the Ministere De La Defense in Vincennes. I spoke with Colonel F. Guelton who was so kind enough to send me a photo copy of the record.
The record belongs to my ancestor who was what Ireland called "the wild geese". He left with King James army & fled to France where he was employed under the French flag. It's quite an interesting story actually.

[CLL]

Hi kammy,

My partner (who's French) and I were looking at this yesterday evening. We've made a start but haven't got everything yet! I wondered if you knew your ancestor's birthplace in Ireland - it looks like Gorrovvy or something similar, but a quick search on the internet hasn't helped! If we knew what that word was, by looking at the letters we might be able to figure out more of the rest.

Thanks!

[kammy]

Hi CLL,
No I wish I did know where he was born. I was hoping this might shed some light on that. I changed the picture on the web site if you'd like to take a look. I put up two more listings of family names that were on the same page as mine. I was thinking maybe it might help with some of the letters. I checked the twon name you thought it looked like but didn't come up with anythin either. I will keep looking maybe I can match it with something .

[kammy]

I did some researching. Interestingly enough the name below Tobin "Richard Nugent" is listed as being from Mulingarre Ireland. There is no Mulingarre Ireland...but there is a Mullingar Ireland. Looks like whom ever wrote the records was unsure how to spell some of the place names. With that in mind the only similar place in Ireland I could come up with so far is Guernsey. Whether that is correct or not

[kammy]

Hmmm there is also a Garryvoe village in Cork county Ireland. In keeping with the double v's in Gorrovvy. That seems perhaps a closer match then Guernsey. Being in Cork is a plus since I know some of my ancestors came from Cork county. I'd be interested in seeing what you have come up with so far maybe that will help me out. Again thanks for taking the time with this.

[CLL]

Hi,

That's interesting. I think I'll leave the place name aside, once you put together the fact that it may well be spelt incorrectly and the fact that unfortunately I'm completely ignorant of Irish geography, it's not really a recipe for success!

This is what we have come up with so far:

Tobin, ? agé de 47 ans, né à Gorrovvy (?) en Irelande fût ? 1688. Garde de camp ? ? ? Gendarme or Gendarmerie jusqu'en 1704. Lieutenant (?) dans ? ? anglais (?) 1704. Le ??? juin 1711.

Sorry, it's not great is it really!

So, adding in a bit of guesswork, we can say that he joined (fût = was) in 1688. He was a camp guard or gendarme until 1704, possibly made a lieutenant, maybe in some capacity to do with the English or the English language. Then something else happened in June 1711, which is probably what they are recording.

At the moment, I can't see any more than that, but if you manage to shed any further light please shout and I'll have another go!

Kind regards,

CLL

[kammy]

That helps me out quite a bit. I think I may be able to get a little further with this. What you came up with is along the same lines as what I had. I don't know much about Ireland geography but I have a friend who does. I will keep working at this. If I crack it I will let you know what I came up with. Again thank you so much for taking the time to help.