Benedict or 'Bill' William Nyson

[gj15488]

Does anyone have any information about Benedict 'Bill' William Nyson who was born in Norway, worked at the Montreal Daily Star in Canada and married Jeanne Grignon, sister of author Germaine Guèvremont (née Grignon) in 1915?

Benedict or 'Bill' Nyson was born in Christiania (Oslo, Norway) in 1890 as the youngest son of the Norwegian politician Hans Hein Theodor Nysom (with an m!, though he apparently anglified or at least changed the name when he moved to Canada) and Wilhelmine Sissenere.
His given name at birth was Bengt Wilhelm Nysom and he emmigrated to New York in 1906, moved to Canada - though in the latter part of his life he returned to New York, where he worked at the New York Times.

'Bill' had two siblings, an elder brother: Hans Hein Nysom, born 2. September 1877 and who moved to the USA at the age of 18

...and an older sister Isidore 'Lilly' Nysom (born 1882), who stayed in Norway, marrying major Nils Sigurd Echoldt

My family in Norway and I are distant relatives of 'Bill Nyson', and we thought that line of the family had died out entirely. If you know otherwise, please do get in touch

Yours most sincerely
Ayla Backe

[Vigdis Jøsang]

Hei

Legger inn link til den andre etterlysningen, slik at man ikke gjør jobben to ganger

https://slektsforum.slektogdata.no/view ... p?t=102837

Mvh
Vigdis

[gj15488]

Kanskje like bra takk

[dn27264]

Hi,

As you probably already know, the sister of William Nyson's wife, Germaine Guèvremont is a French-Canadian author who is quite well know in both French and English Canada, as well as France.

As far as I've been able to find out, William Nyson married Jeanne Grignon on 25 Nov 1915, as per the following book:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=mp-kbt4 ... on&f=false

I think that they had two children (daughters):

1. Jeanne Nyson
2. Germaine Nyson

The link to these two can be found here. You could contact the owner of the family tree who might be able to tell you something, but even he doesn't seem to have much information on the two children.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/us ... -0007.html

Erik

[dn27264]

Take a look at this, a bit about his time in the First World War as a member of Princess Patrica's Canadian Light Infantry:

http://canadiangreatwarproject.com/sear ... p?ID=78934

Erik

[dn27264]

Hi,

They had a least one daughter, Marie Wihelmine, baptised Catholic on 20 Aug 1916. If you don't read French, let me know and I'll translate it for you.

Erik

[gj15488]

Yep, Erik, already knew about the relationship to the author Germaine Guèvremont, but thanks anyway.
Have also seen the stuff about Nyson's part in the 1st world war, though the link about possible daughters of Bill Nyson and Jeanne Grignon is news to me....will follow it up and see what I can find out.
Thanks again

[gj15488]

Ooohhhh, my French is a tad rusty and the writing is a bit hard to decipher...though made out something about Nyson being in a battle in England?

[dn27264]

Okay, give me a few minutes, I'll post it.

Erik

[gj15488]

PS. Was the child called Marie Marguerite Jeanne? And baptised 4 days after the birth? Can't seem to see a date or year for the birth, though....

[gj15488]

Thanks, Erik where did you find the info about the baptism? Perhaps I can find more children of the Nyson's

[gj15488]

I've been looking in the wrong place, further down on the same page, at what could be another child, Marie Marguerite Jeanne - or have I got this wrong, is that the full name of the mother (wife of Nysom)? Marie Wilhelmine makes sense, though, as Bengt Nysom's mother was called Wilhelmine Sissenere.

Didn't notice you had already written the date of birth for Marie Wilhelmine, sorry was too busy looking at the page and trying to make out what it says

[dn27264]

Okay, here it is:

The 20th of August 1916, we attest that we have baptised Marie Wilhemine, girl born four days ago, of the marriage of Bengt Nyson (in the military, currently at front, on the battlefield in England) and Jeanne Grignon. The godfather is Louis Joseph Hyancinth Guèvremont, an civil employee, from the Parish of Sacre Coeur in Ottawa. The godmother is Germaine Grignon, wife of the godfather. They have signed (the baptism record?) after reading it without problem. (sorry, can't make out this last sentence, but the first word is Monsieur…….").

Signature of Germaine Grignon
Signature of Louis Joseph Hyancinth Guèvremont

Signature of Priest, L A Gauthier

-----------------

Looks like she was born on 16 August 1916, and that sadly Bengt was in Europe with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

This is from Ancestry.ca, and the record is from the Drouin Collection, which contains of the Catholic Church records for all of French Canada. You can search for the Collection online to get a description of it.

Erik

[dn27264]

Sorry, it notes in the left-hand column that Bengt Nyson has an 'alias', Nysom.

I'll see if I can find more children.

Erik

[gj15488]

Are there two girls? Twins? Marie Wilhelmine and Marie Marguerite Jeanne? From what I can make out it says that they were both born on the same day in 1916...or am I wrong?
Poor mother, Jeanne, giving birth whilst her husband is fighting in the 1st world war, not knowing whether he'll ever return to see his child/children

[gj15488]

Benedict 'Bill' William Nyson was born in Oslo 1890 and baptised Bengt Wilhelm Nysom with an m. He changed his name after moving to Canada, presumeably to make it easier for people to pronounce and remember. His father was called Hans Hein Theodor Nysom and his mother Wilhelmine Sissenere

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

My apologies, you are absolutely right, these are twin girls, the second being Marie Marguerite!

I'll work on the second translation!

Erik

[gj15488]

Oh and I thought that family line had died out! Then there must be some descendants living somewhere in the States or Canada! Twins makes perfect sense too, as there were other twins in the Nysom family.

Thank you so much for all your help, Erik! (perhaps I should brush up on my French now )

[dn27264]

Hi there,

Here's the second:

The 20th of August 1916, we attest that we provided the cermonies of baptism to Marie Margeurite, girl born and baptised four days ago, of the marriage of Bengt Nyson (in the military, absent, currently on the battlefield, England) and of Jeanne Grignon. The godfather is Joseph Jérôme Grignon, owner (of a business?), from this Parish (Ste. Scholastique). The godmother is Valetine Labelle, wife of the godfather. They have signed (the baptism record?) after finished reading.

Signature of Valentine Labelle
Signature of Joseph Jérôme Grignon

Signature of Priest, L A Gauthier

----------------

Do you notice the name Valentine Labelle. If I'm not mistaken, the fellow whose family tree I sent you (rather the link to it) is reseaching the descendants of Jean Labelle. This godmother is perhaps the link to that family?

You might be right about brushing up on your French, you might just have some French-Canadian relations about! Let me know, but I can send you the link to where you can order copies of the birth registrations from the Province of Québec.

Erik

[gj15488]

I'm absolutely gobsmacked! Will have to let this all sink in a bit before I try to search for more info now.
This is fantastic, and I couldn't have found this without your help, Erik (don't have an account with Ancestry.com and - hence - can't access all their info)

What great people there are on this site thanks again

[dn27264]

Hi there,

No need to thank, very happy to be of help. A very interesting sounding family to say the least. I wish you the best of luck in tracking down the family.

Here is a link to the vital statistics ministry of the Québec provincial government. The ministry deals with the registration of all births, marriages and deaths, so they would have official documents of the marriage and birth of the twins. Anyhow, you can read up on the ministry as it might be of help you in the future?

If you need any help in the future, don't hesitate to let me know and you can e-mail me directly at [email protected]

Best regards,

Erik

[dn27264]

Sorry, here's the link:

http://www.etatcivil.gouv.qc.ca/en/default.html

Erik

[gj15488]

Thanks!
Gonna call it a day now

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

Here's Bengt and Jeanne's marriage record (25 Nov 1916) from the parish church book for the Village of Ste. Scholastique (now a part of Mirabel near Montréal) church book. Let me know if you'd like it translated. You'll see the mention of Bengt's parents in the text. Looks like the priest has a bit of trouble with the 'n' at the end of Bengt's surname!

Erik

[dn27264]

Hello again!

Here's Jeanne's baptism record. You'll see that her full name is Marie Anne Jeanne Henriette Grignon.

If I find the twin girls' marriage records (assuming they married of course) I'll let you know.

All the best!

Erik

[gj15488]

Thank you for the additional church records, Erik.
As I said, my French isn't up to scratch (if it ever was...though it's over 20 years since I studied French now, and I haven't used it since ) but I managed to make out the important parts Good to see it confirmed in the marriage liscense that Bengt was the adult son of Hans Hein Theodor Nysom and Wilhelmine Sissenere - it wasn't easy finding Bengt in Canada, I can tell you!

Just out of curiosity, are you Norwegian born, or of Norwegian ancestry? If you should ever need help searching for Norwegian ancestors or with translations from Norwegian, let me know (I was born in London, though moved to Norway when I was 11 before returning to England for my studies).
Best regards
Ayla

PS. Was that Raymond chap Bengt's best man? And did he and Jeanne's father state that they knew not of any lawful impediment why the two should not be joined in matrimony? Did they act as witnesses?

[dn27264]

Hei Ayla,

Jeg er på jobben akkurat nå men skal skrive litt mer hjemmefra. Ja, det stemmer, jeg har norske besteforelde fra Aust-Agder og Rogaland. Jeg prøver å hjelpe nordmenn og andre som leter etter slektninger som utvandret til Canada. Dersom jeg får vanskeligheter med min stamtavle skal jeg sikkert ta kontakt med deg, takk for det!

Jeg tror du er bedre enn de fleste når det gjelder fransk og for nordmenn og andre skandinavier som har slektninger som utvandret til franske deler av Canada er det sikkert vannskelig å finne disse menneskene på grunn av språket. I Canada finnes det sikkert flere tusen fransk-talende kanadiere som har norske røtter.

Skal prøve å finne andre opplysninger om familien i Canada om du vil, bar si fra!

Ha det riktig godt!

Erik

[gj15488]

Jeg er imponert over norsken din, i og med at du er födt og oppvokst i Canada! Ikke dårlig av foreldrene dine å läre deg språket - jeg kunne ikke mer enn et par ord norsk da jeg flyttet til Norge (mormor, morfar, fiskeboller etc sånne viktige ord)

Og takk for den lille hvite lögnen om mine franskkunnskaper det hjelper jo selvfölgelig at jeg har engelsken min som utgangspunkt....

Jeg söker fortsatt etter mer info om dötrene til Jeanne og Bengt Nyson (men forgjeves, så langt - om du har tid og gidder tar jeg gjerne imot mer hjelp)

Tviler sterkt på at du kommer til å behöve min hjelp med norske databaser eller scannede kirkeböker, men bare si fra om det behövs.
Ha det så godt, du også!

[dn27264]

Hei Ayla,

Beklager, har hatt det forferdelig travelt, skal skrive snart med mere opplysinger.

Ha det bra!

Erik

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

I'm so sorry that I haven't written, having been so terribly busing as of late. I have managed to find a document about Jeanne and the twins (page 15). It doesn't mention too much, just that Bill went off to war while she returned to her father's house to give birth to the twin girls who would in their turn cause a lot of fuss in the household.

You probably already have these dates of the three daughters:

Jeanne (1890-1978)
Germaine (1891-1892)
Marianne Germaine (1893-1968) - the author

The beginning of the article provides some family history.

Have you made any progress?

Erik

[gj15488]

Hi Erik!
Sorry for not replying sooner, I haven't checked this site for a few days. You don't have to apologise for not replying sooner, though! I'm sure you have more than enough other things to do than help every Tom, Dick and Harry find relatives in Canada, but I am most grateful for all your help

I haven't been able to find any more info on the twins, or anything else about the family. I've tried looking for them in the States, as I knew that Bill, at least, moved to New York eventually. For all I know, he and Jeanne may have gone seperate ways, and the daughters (and any other children the couple may have had) remained in Canada....

I've seen some articles about the author and sister-in-law of 'Bill Nyson' before, though not the one you posted here. From what I can gather, Germaine had quite a crush on Bill he is portrayed as a rather dashing and adventurous young man!

Recently I have been searching other branches of our family history, but at the moment I have just started on a copy of the portrait of Bill's paternal grandfather, which we were so very lucky to find. Naturally, the present owners (though not related) are loathe to part with the portrait, so I decided to paint one myself (I have studied art, done various portraits of people and other artwork, and worked as an illustrator)

Should you have the time and inclination at some point later to further help me in my search for Bill and Jeanne's descendents, I would be most grateful.

All the best
Ayla

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

No, it'll probably be a bit tricky finding out more about the family and the twins as many of the church records and census records are legally closed for now, however, I would say it's impossible.

I agree, Germaine was quite enamoured by Bill and he with his Norwegian background would probably have seemed quite exotic. It would be very interesting to know what happened to the Jeanne and Bill and their two daughters. I am assuming that after the War Bill returned to Montréal to be with the family. We know that the twins were born in Jeane's father house while Bill was at war. If we could figure out where Jeanne's father was located (probably Montréal) we could look through the City of Montréal directories, which are located here:


Annuaires Lovell de Montréal
http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/lovell/

These might shed light on the family and where they lived during and after the War?

I'll see if I can think of anything else.

All the best!

Erik

[gj15488]

Thanks Erik,
I have sent a request to the library/archives you linked to. We'll see whether they can help me find out any more about the family (that's if they understand what I wrote in what was probably a very strange kind of French have asked them to reply in English )
Ayla

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

Here's perhaps a lead. If you take a look at this link:

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_ ... br=3721054

Scroll down to the bottom, where it reads 'Additional Information'. Under the title 'Custodial History' it state (in French):

"The documents have been found again, after the death of Joseph-Jérôme Grignon, at the residence of Jeanne Nyson Dawson, grand-daughter of the author."

What a lot of people don't know is that Jeanne and Germaine's father, Joseph-Jérôme Grignon, was a well-known author in his own right. So, it looks as if Jeanne and Bill's daughter, Marie Anne Jeanne Henriette Grignon, married an Anglophone (probably an English-speaking Montrealer) with the surname Dawson.

This might help in your search!?

Let me know how things turn out, I'd be very interested!

Erik

[gj15488]

Thanks Erik,
I don't seem to be getting anywhere on this so today I posted a query on the ancestry.com message board....I'll let you know if I get any response

Cheers, Ayla

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

If you get really stuck, let me know, I'll see if I can get down to the Archives. In the meantime, I'll see what else I can dig up. Jeanne definitely married someone with the surnam Dawson.

Good luck, and drop a line.

Erik

[gj15488]

Hi Erik!
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, but things have been a tad hectic.
My posts on ancestry.com came up with info on the other sister (who went by the name of Germaine Nysom, for some reason) She eventually married exceedingly late in life (in her sixties) to a young man from Haiti....Needless to say, she didn't have any children of her own either - so it seems the Canadian line of the family died out too
Och well, at least I no longer need to brush up on my French though I do think it's strange that Benedict 'Bill' Nyson and his wife didn't have any other children after the twin girls - perhaps they got divorced, I don't know.

Hope all is well with you, and thanks again for all your help
Ayla

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

Thanks for the update. I was at the National Archives here in Ottawa the other day and took a look in the Nyson family. I found out what you found out on your Ancestry postings, that Germaine married in her sixties to a fellow from Haiti, and that Jeanne married a man named Gordon Dawson.

It was interesting that the obituary showed Germaine using the spelling Neyson. Even though she married quite late doesn't mean that she didn't have children (as you've probably thought about too). I would probably be tempted to look into her life a bit more if possible for any children born out of wedlock.

What about Jeanne and Gordon Byran Dawson. They might have moved from the Province of Québec to another province, which means that there could be descendants elsewhere in Canada?

You could look through the City of Montréal directories to see if you can find Gordon and Jeanne Dawson in the years after their marriage (i.e., after 1957) still living in Montréal. If they are still there for several years then it might well be that they had no children, but if they moved to another part of Canada shortly after their marriage then they might have had children whose records would be found in with other provincial authorities. So, there could have been some Dawson children born after 1957 and in another province, especially if the Gordon and Jeanne can't be foud in the Montréal directories.

Annuaires Lovell de Montréal
http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/lovell/

Just a few thoughts.

Let me know if I can be of help!

Erik

[dn27264]

Hi Ayla,

I took a look through the City of Montréal directories (1950 to 1962) and have a bit of information:

- It looks as if Jeanne and Germaine lived together at least from 1950 to 1956. In 1956, their mum, Jeanne, came to live with them. In the directory the mum is listed as a 'widow'. Jeanne (daughter) is working as a 'commercial artist' (perhaps for a magazine?), while her sister is working as a secretary.

- By 1957, Jeanne (daughter) has moved out, presumably gone to live with Gordon Bryan Dawson who is living at 3874 Sherbrooke Avenue East in Montréal. He remains living at that address till at least 1962 (the year I stopped looking). He is employed as some sort of textile inspector and working at City Sponging Company Limited in Montréal.

I know that this doesn't help much, and I realise after that both Jeanne and Gordon were in their 40s when they married each other so the chance of them having children is slim.

It looks as if the only what that there could be descendants is if either Jeanne or Germaine had a child out of wedlock. If this is the case then any child would have likely taken the surname 'Nyson'.

Anyhow, it's not looking good, but one thing you could try doing if you really wanted to pursue any possible children would be to write a letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette. I'm sure that they would publish the letter and you might just get a letter or e-mail from someone who knew the family and could fill in the gaps.

You could also try the Montréal Genealogical Society, they might be able to pass the word along to their members or even put your 'search' into their regular publication, that is, journal or newsletter.

Okay, that's it for now.

Erik