THE ARCHIVIST'S ARCHIVE
Gabriel Ferrand, when he died in Angoulême in 1816, was described as "Head of the Bureau of Archives of the Prefecture of the Department of the Charente." He was born in 1738, also in Angoulême, in a very different world. He was a sickly infant, who was given a form of baptism at home, by an accredited midwife, "given the danger of death." Three days later, he was well enough to be brought to the parish church of St Paul, where the "truth of the baptism" was attested to. His father was described as a joiner's assistant. His godfather, who was also his step-grandfather, was a carpenter; his godmother was the wife of a barrel maker. His older sister, Anne, had been buried in the same parish three weeks before, aged nineteen months.
The page of the parish register on which Gabriel Ferrand's baptism is recorded is a mess. His baptism is recorded, and then crossed out. The complicated records of the earlier baptism by the midwife, of the attestation of its truth, and of the "ceremonies of baptism" in the parish church are written at the foot of the page, and the clerk runs out of space. There are notations in two different clerical hands, in two different kinds of ink, and the last line of the record is torn and discolored. It seems to say that a deletion has been approved, but the end of the phrase is missing. The signatures of Gabriel Ferrand's godfather, and of the husband of his godmother, are written vertically, in the inner margin of the page. His father, Louis Ferrand, is described as a joiner, in the crossed out record; in the record at the foot of the page, this is changed to "joiner's assistant," in a heavy, darker ink.
The entire page, to add insult to the injury to the archivist's archive, was omitted when the parish records of Angoulême were digitized on behalf of the Archives Municipales and are thus unavailable online. The events are omitted, in turn, in the transcription of the register by Hubert Marchadier.
In the online records of the archive that Gabriel Ferrand helped to create, the Archives départementales de la Charente, his baptism is not omitted. In the digitized images of the duplicate register, stored in the departmental archives, the record of Gabriel Ferrand's second baptism begins at the foot of folio 1r, and continues overleaf on folio 1v. There is an additional signatory, Jean Dumergue, a saddlemaker, who appears in the duplicate register. In the record of the midwife's baptism, which is again crossed out, Louis Ferrand is described as a joiner; in the record of the parish baptism, his occupation is itself crossed out.
Gabriel Ferrand's later journey, from this unpromising beginning to his position in the prefecture of a department which did not exist in 1738, is full of mysteries. His next appearance in the records of the Archives municipales, is apparently in 1756, in the parish of St André, when he signs the baptism record of the daughter of a maker of playing cards; the father is noted as being unable to sign. Then, in 1757, he signs the record of an unusual event, the "parish assembly" of the "craftsmen and notables" of the parish of Notre Dame de la Peyne, meeting in the parish church. The purpose of the meeting was to adopt, as patron of the church, the holy virgin of Chaumes, and to set the Friday of Holy Week as the date of the annual celebration in memory of the martyred patron. Gabriel Ferrand signs "G. Ferrand," in a large and confident hand. It is just before his twentieth birthday.
Three years later, he signs a notarial document, in respect of the possessions of his mother. His father, Louis Ferrand, the joiner (or joiner's assistant), had engaged himself to work in the island of Grenada, in 1753, and had died in Martinique on the way home. In the notarial document of 1760, Gabriel declares that "having formed the design of becoming a master of arts, in order to instruct youth, he had in consequence established a home in the town, in the parish of Notre Dame de la Peyne, where he is presently living, and had furnished it at his own expense." But he now sees that his mother is "no longer in a condition to live and to support herself without his assistance." He is conscious of the strict obligations owed by all children to the parents who have given them life. He wishes his mother to know that his "sentiments are to comfort her, as much as is within his power, and to make her life less hard." He has entreated her to be willing to accept to make her home with him, and to share his table. His mother, in response, declares that having confidence in his sentiments, she has decided to retire to his home. The document is the inventory of the things she has brought with her; a worn-out square table, six tin spoons, and a few other possessions, to the value of 130 livres.
In October 1763, in the parish of Notre Dame de Beaulieu, Gabriel Ferrand marries Marie Adelaide Devuailly. He signs "G. Ferrand," and is described as a "master writer." He is 25. This record, too, is a mess, and there is a large black inkblot which obscures the name of the bride.
Two years later, in the register of the taille imposition for 1765, Gabriel is described as a "master writer and master of a boarding school." He starts to appear frequently in the parish register of Notre Dame de la Peyne. His first child, called Gabriel, is baptized in November 1764; in 1765 he signs the record of the marriage of his sister, to the son of a tailor. His second son is baptized in January 1766; he and Marie Adelaide have their third son in December of the same year. Their fourth son is born in 1768 and their fifth son in 1770. Gabriel is identified on each occasion as a master writer. In 1775, in the baptism record of their sixth and youngest son, he is identified, by the parish, as a "master writer and master of a boarding school." Gabriel Ferrand had been recognised, at last, as an instructor of youth.
In 1790, the provinces of the old regime were abolished, and Angoulême became the administrative center of the new department of the Charente. In 1793, Gabriel Ferrand receives one of the early certificates of civism in the town, together with three of his sons. These were required of "public officials not elected by the people and employees who are paid out of the revenues of the Republic." In 1798, he appeared in the records of the general administration of the department as "Citizen Ferrand, Archivist." In 1799, he was "Citizen Ferrand, Head of the Bureau of Archives."
ADC, 3E16/25: 6-7/258. AM-A, GG42/77; GG14/23-24. ADC, "Acte entre Aymard Ve Ferrand et Ferrand son fils," May 6, 1760, ADC, Jeheu, notary, 2E850. AM-A, GG8/143. AM-A, "Répartition de la taille," 1765, CC62. GG14/36, 37, 38, 41, 44, 53. ADC, L146. ADC, L131. AM-A, 1E52/426.
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