First Marchildon in United State?

The following information is coming from John Marchildon, Phoenix, Arizona. Until now, we think that Francois Marchildon may be the first Marchildon to come in the US. There is also a Marchildon family branch in the Maine, Mass, Connecticut areas but I did not received any information to prove that this branch is from an earlier time. Francois was born in Batiscan, Québec in 1820. His parents were Louis Marchildon and Victoria Rhéau. He came to the Saint Louis area about 1842. Insofar, as we are able to determine, he was the first Marchildon to come to the United States. On November 4 1844 he filed a Declaration of intention to become an American citizen. On 16 August 1848 he married Julia Ann Bates at Florissant, Missouri. By 1849, Francois had located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Downtown Cape Girardeau

He is shown in the records as having a store on Main Street, three doors south of Harmony Street in 1849-1851. He appears in the 1850 census in Cape Girardeau, and a warehouse of which he was partial owner was damaged in a tornado 27 November 1850. By September 1858, his location on Main Street was occupied by H. & J. Cook. Francois purchased Outer Lot N32 in Cape Girardeau on 13 February 1858, and there is a notice in the Cape Girardeau Eagle for 14 October 1858 that there was a new store at his old site.

The hearsay story is that Francois, now probably known as Francis, operated a store on a Missipi River steamboat. This story took on some validity when John Marchildon (research in 1981 and 1993) found that he was not buried in Cape Girardeau nor at Egypt Mills where Francois had had some interest in the stock of a store. There was also no record of his estate being probated at Cape Girardeau. He has just disappeared. Going on the assumption that the hearsay was true and that he had died while on a journey to the South, John made inquiries by the mail in various river towns from New Madrid to New Orleans. His death record was found through the kindness of a history buff who encountered his name in the microfilms of the Natchez Democrat and a record at the Natchez Cathedral. He had died 28 April 1883 at "Cypress Grove, La." Cypress Grove was doubtless the name of a plantation near Natchez, and maps show three such possible places: One in Tensas Parish in section 17 and 48, T12N R12E; one between Frogmore and Dumbarton in Concordia Parish; and one that is north of Natchez on the Mississipi and which belonged at one time to Zachary Taylor, but this is not the place. Records show he died of heart didease, age 63, and was buried in "Catholic ground" at the Natchez City Cemetery on 5 may 1883, John Marchildon went to search the Natchez Cemetery (1993). Addendum: Refer to aditional note about Francois Marchildon tomb.

There is two sites near Vidalia that bear the name Cypress Grove. John searched for his grave and found no marker and never found a plate of the cemetery showing it. There are no probate records in Tensas or Concordia Parishes nor ar Natchez.

Children of Francois Marchildon

(1820-1883)

Francois and Julia Ann had five children, two of whome died at an early age. They were as follow:

1. Adolf, born 5 April 1851

2. Julia, born 15 August 1852.

3. Francis X. born 15 January 1855.

4, Eugene, born 2 April 1857. Eugene appears in the 1860 census but not in the 1870 census nor ever again in the records, and so his death as a child is presumed,

5. Leo, born 13 October 1858, died 6 February 1859, buried in the Old Lorimer Cemetery in Cape Girardeau.

Adolf left Cape Girardeau for Memphis. He married Katie Carrigan about 1895. They had one doughter, Mary or May, who was born 1 August 1896. Adolf owned a commission house on the riverfront in Memphis for many years, but later became involved in a real estate promotion and became the first mayor of Lenox, Tennessee. This town was later incorporated into the city of Memphis. His obituary states that he had been a secretary to the governor of Texas at one time, but I (John Marchildon) have never found a record of him leaving Memphis. He had business reverses and died of heart disease 24 July 1902 and is buried in Calvary Cemetary, Memphis, as are Katie and May. His daughter May did not marry and worked for many years as a legal secretary in Memphis. She died 24 December 1982

Julia married James E. Reilly 15 June 1869. Estate Records at the Cape Girardeau Courthouse show that the couple had a daughter Mary Jane. James died 21 December 1870 and Mary Jane died in April 1871. They are both buried in Calvary Cemetery, Saint Louis. Julia remarried 19 February 1873 to Charles E, Rodney. She died 16 October 1876 and is buried in Old Lorimer Cemetery. Rodney lived until 5 April 1901.

Francis X. married Sarah Garaghty 22 October 1892 and lived in Cape Girardeau. They had one son, Leon, born 16 March 1894. Francis died 27 September 1896 and is buried in Old Lorimer Cemetery. Leon married a widow, Emma Donnelly Wibbenmeyer, and had no children. Leon died 19 November 1971.

John Marchildon tracked down all the descendant fo Francois Marchildon to find that none are living.