Gregoire: In New York City

 Finding Emile Godissart listed as Octave’s brother-in-law, his contact, on the U.S. Customs form for Oct.8, 1907, opened up the Jamain family line as well as the Godissart.  I hadn’t planned on researching collateral lines yet, but here they were.  How could I resist?

Octave Gregoire’s wife, Laure Jamain, was already known to me, from their marriage record [link here], and from the same source, her parents, Lucien Jamain and Marie Josephine Marchelart.   But the name Godissart was new to me. I found that Laure's sister Jean married Emile. More about that later.  

For now, I will explain Leon, because he at one time owned 40 Gramercy Park in New York City, where Octave and his family probably stayed when they first arrived.

I first found him in the State and Federal Naturalization Records held at the National Archives, and published on ancestry.com.  This was his  “Declaration” to become a citizen, as noted in the abstract.  It shows that he was born in 1872 in Belgium and that he arrived in the U.S. on Mar.15 1901.  This form, filed in the Southern District Court of New York, is dated June 17 1902.  He was living at 47 E. 9th St., with no city recorded, but it probably was New York. As luck would have it, Emile Godissart's Declaration is directly above it, dated the same day.

Declarations of Emile Godissart (top) and Leon Jamain in the

                                            U.S. District Court, New York, showing the same address for both men.

                                                  

Then Leon is enumerated on the 1905 New York State Census, living at 40 Gramercy Park.  On the line for “Occupation” there is a firm “X” written in, indicating something, but I’m not sure what.  Living with him are his sister “_____ Jodissart”, that must be Jean; a “Mistress” Rossana Ester (as the transcriber typed it for the abstract,) originally from Sweden; his mother Josephine Machelart, a brother Grude Jamain, also 30 years old.  Then follows a list of boarders interspersed with two maids.  The "X" might be there to signify that he is the superintendent of the building. More research needed here; I am interested to find out why the term "Mistress" was used to identify Ester Rossana, among other interesting tidbits.

    

   Leon Jamain on the New York State Census 1905, living at 40 Gramercy Park, New York City.  From     ancestry.com.