The Volant Family
Louis Pierre Volant was born on 5 May 1854 in Saint-Avit-du-Moiron, Gironde, in France's famous wine-growing region near Bergerac, Bordeaux and St. Emilion. His father, mason Pierre Volant, was born in Saint-Avit-Saint-Nazaire, as well, on 11 April 1819, to Pierre Volant and Jeanne Ledoux. Jeanne Ouvrard, his mother, was born in the commune of Razac-de-Saussignac in the neighboring department of Dordogne on 25 March 1827 to Jean Ouvrard and Marie Blazinet. Pierre Volant and Jeanne Ouvrard married in Saint-Avit-Saint-Nazaire on 18 March 1849, where they baptized at least six children, including two who died as infants.
The Schuch Family
Salomé Schuch, meanwhile, was born on the other side of the country in northeastern France, on 10 March 1854 in Brumath, Bas-Rhin in the Alsace region. Salomé's father, Jacques Schuch, was a tailleur de pierre or piqueur de grès (stone mason or stone cutter) by profession, in a region known for its stone quarries near the border with Germany. He married Salomé's mother, Christine Bergtold, on 22 September 1853 in Brumath and the couple had seven children: Catherine in 1848, recognized as legitimate at the time of her parents' marriage, plus Salomé (1854), Marguerite (1855), Dorothe (1857), Christine (1860), Madeleine (1862) and Jacques (1865). Sadly, Jacques Sr. died just before his fortieth birthday in 1865, just over a month before the birth of his last child and only son Jacques, and leaving Salomé fatherless at the age of 11. Christine took on work as a day laborer to support herself and her children.
Jacques Schuch, father of Salomé, was born in Brumath on 14 December 1825 to André Schuch, a ferblantier (tinsmith), and Eve Schneider (no profession). Eve was André's second wife; the couple married just four months after the death of André's first wife, Anne Catherine Schmidt. Jacques tragically lost his father just after his sixth birthday in 1831, leaving his mother Eve to raise three young children on her own — eerily similar to what later happened to Jacques' own wife and children.
Salomé's mother, Christine Bergtold, born on 12 April 1829 in Brumath, was the daughter of Jean Georges Bergtold, a revendeur (dealer) and Anne Marie Goetz. She died in Brumath on 13 September 1886, ironically 21-years to the day after the death of her husband, Jacques. At the time of her death Brumath was a part of Germany, having been incorporated into the Elsaß-Lothringen region from 1871 following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War until the end of World War I in 1918. There was also a brief return of the area to German control during World War II.
Christine's mother, Anne Marie Goetz, was yet another woman left to raise her children single-handedly after losing her husband, Jacques Bergtold, when he was just thirty-six.
While her great-grandfather, Louis Volant, may not have been the Legion d'honneur recipient that she thought he was, J.K. Rowling has much to be proud of in her deep French roots stretching out across France and back through many generations.
Sources:
1. David Harrison, Patrick Sawer, and Kim Willsher, "JK Rowling's Great-Grandfather was a French First World War Hero," The Telegraph, 7 February 2009, Web edition (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/4548877/JK-Rowlings-great-grandfather-was-a-French-First-World-War-hero.html : accessed 6 July 2011).
2. Paris, Île-de-France, Naissances, 1877, 10th Arrondissemont, entry 3607, Louis Schuch, 30 July 1877; digital image, Archives de Paris, Archives numérisées (http://canadp-archivesenligne.paris.fr : accessed 19 July 2011); citing cote V4E 3726.
3. Levallois-Perret, Seine, Mariages, 1883, entry 53, Volant-Schuch, 17 March 1883; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1,658,641.
4. Paris, Île-de-France, Naissances, 1878, 9th Arrondissemont, entry 2434, Gabriel Jean Volant, 24 December 1878; digital image, Archives de Paris, Archives numérisées (http://canadp-archivesenligne.paris.fr : accessed 19 July 2011); citing cote V4E 3553.
5. Levallois-Perret, Seine, "Registre Double Des Actes de Naissances, Pour L'an 1880," entry 131, Adolphe Charles Volant, 21 February 1880; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1,658,637.
6. Levallois-Perret, Seine, "Registre Double Des Actes de Naissances, Pour L'an 1881," entry 147, Gaston Lucien Volant, 17 March 1881; FHL microfilm 1,658,637.
7. Levallois-Perret, Seine, "Registre Double Des Actes de Naissances, Pour L'an 1882," entry 581, Helene Salomé Volant, 16 August 1882; FHL microfilm 1,658,638.
8. "Paris, France & Vicinity Marriage Banns, 1860-1902," digital images of extract cards, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 July 2011), entries for Louis Volant and Elisa Mary Anne Smith, 3 and 9 December 1899; Archives de Paris et sa région: Publications des bans de Mariages 1860-1930 (Paris: ARFIDO S.A., 2006). England, marriage certificate (photocopy of original register entry) for Louis Volant and Eliza Mary Ann Smith, 1900; citing 4B/4, Yarmouth registration district; General Registry Office, Southport.
9. Harrison, Sawer, and Willsher, "JK Rowling's Great-Grandfather was a French First World War Hero."
