JOHN ARIAIL a Research Diary, Book 1
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JOHN ARIAIL A research diary, Book 1. Note: This book contains material, which is basically a diary of our thoughts while we were conducting the research on the Ariail family. Much of it is original in nature and contains the thoughts of the author, James Patterson, the 4th great grandson of Jean Baptiste Mathias Ariail. Some of the material comes from historical books in Louisiana and Banks County Georgia. Much of the research was conducted in Libraries within the United States and Archives in Canada and France and contains newspaper articles, which are quoted from various newspapers. Many of the places where we seem uncertain as to who a person might be only reflect out thoughts at that particular time. See the Family Tree and the material in that section contains our final determination of who a person might be. Much research was done as to who the parents of Chloe Climelia Ives might be; however, we have determined that we now know her parents to be Zachariah Ives and mother Lois Harrison. The same hold true for our ancient grandfather, John (Jean-Baptiste Mathias Ariail). We were very uncertain until enough documents were uncovered to leave without any doubt, that we had discovered just who he was. His ancestors back into the 1500’s can be found in the family tree. There will be everything from poems found in the Family Bible purchased in Connecticut in the 1775 time frame to the actual birth records of several family bibles viewed during the research process. That is how we found out that Chloe had a middle name of Climelia. That opened our eyes as to why so many of the early Ariail girls were named Climelia. Also, many records are contained about the members of the family who served in the Civil War and what happened to them during and after the war. Tragedies are recorded, and touching moments are noticed in the lives of various persons talked about in the document. However, this is who we are---we are creatures of our Almighty God and you will see the Mosaic representation of human life, checkered with good and evil, tessellated with the beautiful illustration of individual lives as the family lived out the generations, which we have spanned. We are all encompassing, farmers, lawyers, teachers, doctors, authors, warriors and parents. We are all here, we are our own society. Enjoy while you read and realize how our research progressed over the past 20 years. John Ariail, who was he? We originally said, we just don't know but now we do know. Several people have done some extensive research in an attempt to find out, but so far all avenues had come up short of the main road. This research, by no means, has stopped and attempts will continue until eventual success provided records exists anywhere in the world that will point to John's roots. In The Bible, God told Abraham to come out of the land of Ur and he would show him a land where he would make him a nation that would number like the sands of the sea. We could make the same comparison with John as God must have led him out of the land of "Windsor" to Massachusetts where he met a lady by the name of Hannah Rich and they were married as documented in two Warren Massachusetts record books. One of these is Warren Town Records page 95 and the other is The Systematic History Fund, instituted in 1806, which contains the Vital Records of Warren (formerly Western), Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849. This record contains the following entry, "Ariail, (note: exact spelling of John's last name is used), John of Windsor and Wid. Hannah Cowens, int. June 18, 1774." That is the earliest record, so far found, that exists telling us of the roots of John. Hannah has been traced further back, but not John. In talking with elderly family members, three bits of lore have surfaced that are possibilities for further research. Mrs. Flora Brantley, of Raleigh, N.C., whose line of the family comes through Luke Ariail, tells of stories passed down that indicate that John's line came out of Canada and on down to Louisiana, by way of Connecticut. Mrs. Leland Ariail, (Ruth Hemphill), tells of talks with James Claudius Ariail where he told her that John came from France and James Claudius' sons, Olen, Kermit and Felton Ariail state that their father told them the Ariail's were Irish. All of this lore contains elements of truth, as we will see from the following information. If the Ariail's were part of the Huguenot movement, then we know why they left France. The Huguenots fought several wars in France to preserve their religious freedom apart from the Catholics and the Holy Roman Empire. In 1685, between 400 thousand and one million Huguenots left France because the situation had become intolerable. They went to the Netherlands, England, Germany, New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. They did not have trains, buses or planes during those early times; they left in mass and went the best way they could. This sea of people went to Switzerland, and that small country not being able to take care of so many refugees, they in turn sent them to the places mentioned above. Now, are there other Ariail’s in the world that cannot be connected to our forefather John at this time? The answer is yes. There is a Jean Ariail (another spelling for John) whose spouse is Marie Louise Allard, who married Jul 13, 1761 living in Saint Charles De Charlesbourg, Quebec, Canada. This raises a big question. John was 40 years old when he married Hannah, was he previously married with other children and was the "Windsor" actually Windsor, Quebec, Canada. If so that would make the statements of Flora Brantley’s side of the family correct. Then what about the French origin? Well there is strong evidence that the Ariail’s came from France, perhaps migrating by the way of Ireland as family lore states, but nevertheless they are French. There was a Charles Arial (will spell names the way the documents show) who married a Marie Moreau, who had the following children in France. Marie Arial b. 1723, Jean Arial b. about 1724, and Jeanne Ariail b. 1725. Is this Jean (French spelling for John) b. about 1724 actually our John? We don't know, but it shows that the Ariail’s were in France before they show up in Massachusetts and Connecticut. There were other Ariail’s in France also, Guillaume Arial, wife Louise Babaud, Children: Marie Arial b 1688, Janne Arial b. 1689, and Mathieu Arial b. 1692. (Michael) Michel Arial, child Nicolas Arial b. about 1663, Nicolas Arial, wife Elisabeth Levesque had child named Jean Arial b. 1694. Also a Renee Arial married Francois Moreau and had two children named Francois Moreau b. 1726 and Rene Moreau b. 1726. There is more documentation in the Family History Files on these Ariail’s in France, but they originated from the following area: Vallet, Loire-Atlantique, France; also listed as Of, Vallet, L-A, France. Until lately, we were not exactly sure what year John and Hannah were born, now we know. There exist three sets of records that tell us exactly when they were born. One of these records is a family Bible, another is a copy made from that Bible and the third are records from the First Congregational Church in Southington, Connecticut where John and Hannah went to church. The Church records are exact, even telling us what John and Hannah died from. They are as follows: "Aug 28, 1800, Hannah, wife of John Ariail, died from consumption Age 63." Then about 3 or 4 entries below it states: "Dec 12, 1800, John Ariail died from Dropsy Age 66." That would place John's year of birth as abt. 1735 and Hannah's year of birth as abt. 1736. The only variable here would be their actual birthday that could possibly throw the dates off by a few days or months. Actually, from information gathered from our latest research in Brookfield, Massachusetts, we now know who Hannah’s' brothers and sisters are and that Hannah’s' mothers maiden name was Hannah Goss. Let me list some vital statistical information here that has heretofore been unknown, at least by some of us, that will let us know who our grandparents were as far back and six or eight generations up in Connecticut and Massachusetts. So here goes: Hannah’s' mother and father, Exsperence Rich and Hannah Goss. They were married in Brookfield, Mass. on May 27, 1723. Hannah’s' brothers and sisters were: David Rich, b. Aug 27, (1740?), Elijah Rich, b. Aug 26, 1734, Hannah Rich, b. Aug 27, 1736, (town records uncertain of year, however, we know it to be 1736, they had listed as 173(8)?). John Rich, b. Jul 27, 1736, (ok, here we have Hannah and John as being twins, the month is uncertain, its either Jul or August, but they are twins), Moses Rich, b. Jun 4, 1730, Philip Rich, b. Nov 15, 1732, and Submit Rich, b. Oct 18, 1727 or 1728. Hannah’s' first husband was Thomas Cowens and they were married in Brookfield Massachusetts on Jul 23, 1770. Thomas died on Feb 9, 1771, age 31 and is buried in G.S.7 (which is the old cemetery in W. Brookfield, Massachusetts.) From the history of John and Hannah furnished by Tom Ariail, we know that John and Hannah married and settled down in Farmington, Connecticut.