Michigan's ITA E R I T A G E Jouma{ of tfie !French-Canaiian 1feritage Society of !Micfzigan Vol. 32 #3 Jul. 2011 Michigan's Habitant Heritage, Vol. 32, #3, July 2011 The Dudzeele and Straten Ancestry of Catherine de Baillon, Part 1 John P. DuLong, 1 FCHSM member (
[email protected]) Nothing quite haunts a genealogist like an unsolved mystery. The Dudzeele family in the ancestry of Catherine de Baillon is one such mystery. The Dudzeele arms appear on a commemorative enameled plaque of Marguerite de Gavre d'Escomaix, the abbess of Ste-Gertrude at Nivelles, commissioned in 1461. She was the youngest daughter of Arnauld VI de Gavre d'Escomaix and Isabelle de Ghistelles, verified ancestors of Catherine de Baillon. 2 Many Americans and Canadians can claim descent from Catherine de Baillon and thus from the Dudzeeles. Figure I: Commemorative Plaque for Marguerite de Gavre d'Escornaix, the Abbess of Ste-Gertrude, Nivelles, displaying her ancestral arms and the images of the Madonna and child, Ste-Marguerite, a crouching dragon, and a kneeling abbess Marguerite in the middle, 1461. Heraldic evidence is often used to illustrate family history but is seldom useful in solving genealogical problems. However, in the ancestry of Catherine de Baillon, this plaque with five family arms displayed upon it was of particular genealogical value. The impaled Gavre d'Escornaix and Ghistellcs arms are for the parents of Marguerite. To the left these anns arc repeated individually. The franc quarter of the Ghistelles arms displays the Luxembourg arms and was thus an important piece of evidence proving a 1 The author would like to thank Barbara Lc Tarte and Kcshawn Mitchell, Document Service, Sladen Library, Henry Ford Health System.