In the early days of May 2012 researching for Louis (1844-1918) Bowman's mother “Sophie” (after obtaining her Pension Record Benefit attempt paperwork within her son's Civil War Pension Record) and doing Robert Bowman's atDNA (autosomal) “FamilyFinder” at FTDNA mid-March of 2017, there was an intriguing match to a Kenneth Senecal.
I had sent in an inquiry to his wife Joan, yet got no response, if I recall; or if I did, they didn't seem interested in sharing any ancestral information of the paternal lineage of Kenneth.
Suffice to say, as a genealogical researcher, it was easy to discern the parentage and thereby gain awareness of the paternal grandfather, et al.
His wife Joan Ellen (Kistler) Sénécal apparently was in custody of her husbands FTDNA account.
Robert Bowman matched to Kenneth at 40 cM Shared DNA, so I was most intrigued and began mapping his ancestry paternally (etc.). His late wife Joan (1945-2020) was the administrator of her husbands FTDNA acct. Kenneth had two sisters, no brothers, and had several daughters, and no sons.
Joseph Sénécal dit Laframboise (1774-1858) and Marie Josephte Geneviève (Angélique) Gosselin (1776-1847)
Jean Baptiste Sénécal dit Laframboise (1810-1964) Notre Dame du Rosaire, Ste. Hyacinthe, Qc. Canada
Théophile Hector Sénécal dit Laframboise (1938-1893)
Frank Edward Sénécal (1882-1962) Rutland, Vt.
Kenneth Edward Sénécal (1942 - ) Danby, Vt.
I inquired of Robert Bowman if he would be willing to do an AncestryDNA test in late December 2019, and he agreed. I mailed him that particular DNA “saliva sample” kit, and sent it into the lab for processing.
I speculated that Kenneth's paternal ancestor Jean Baptiste (1810-1964) might be “Sophie” Sénécal's POSSIBLE sibling and that his parents MIGHT BE “HER” parents. I pulled and pushed and prodded and genealogically mapped up down and sideways on Joseph and Geneviève's people, seeing what would “connect” genetically and genealogically. But eventually ... a realization came.
What made this lineage genealogically tantalizing “a possibility” was that MANY of this Sénécal-Gosselin descendancy came down out of the Province of Quebec, (Ste. Hyacinthe in particular, INTO Vermont (Rutland County). Interestingly, a descendant, Henry William Sénécal (1899-1985) was born in Saratoga Springs, and died there as well. And a Henry Walter ("William") Sénécal (1867-1934) had been born in Benson, Rutland County, Vermont, and died in Wilton, Saratoga County, New York. He being the son of Théophile Hector Sénécal (1838-1893), who was the son of Jean Baptiste Sénécal (1810-1864).
These were NOT the lineage of “Sophie” -- mother of Louis (1844-1918) Bowman.
They were an INDIRECT LATERAL LINEAGE though of her people.
So back to the drawing board with the search, looking and sleuthing for the correct lineage.
One evening December 05, 2019, I began to ponder about Louis and thinking to myself, I proceeded to type in “Louis”(first name) and “Illegitimate” (surname), and then the year “1844” into AncestryDNA for Granby, Qc., Canada ... but nothing came up.
So I switched my “game” of quasi-searching up a bit, feeling a “sense of things” saying to myself why not use instead, the first name of “Illegitmate”and “Louis” for the surname name.
Up came this weird odd transcription “Ellagitoun” which of course, attracted my attention, (but in French of course it would be “Illégitime”) ... it was him ... BINGO! I decided to look at the documented Baptismal and see if this was the “the hiding-in-plain sight but elusive Louis/Lewis Bowman” and sure enough, I found Louis Bowman born on July 20, 1844!
Yet in Ancestry.com the image was just blurry to discern to translate completely, but knowing FamilySearch.org had better image quality...
“Illegitimate Louis” Baptismal Record, B. 314 Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979, Granby Notre-Dame-de-Granby, Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1844-1876. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org
This particular baptismal very likely remained “hiding in plain sight” even to the Bruchac$ but perhaps even to the descendant children and grandchildren of Louis (1844-1918). Illegitimacy in the historical days f the 1840s had been a significant social issue, with a focus in England and the United States, where its prevalence had been growing in numbers due to many familial factors.
Children born out of wedlock obviously faced legal discrimination, poverty, and social stigma, which led to exclusion from familial inheritance and professional employment opportunities. Society often pressured fathers to provide for illegitimate children through bastardy laws, but this process could be hostile. The widespread concern about children born out of wedlock stemmed from mostly a religious desire of upholding monogamous marriage and protecting family respectability.
So with that said, in the above baptismal record, it translates to:
Louis was born July 20, 1844 in Ely Township, Le Val-Saint-François, Quebec, Canada, (NE of Granby, Shefford Co., Qc., Canada) when his mother was 34 years 1 month and 4 days of age; he was baptized indicating an illegitimate birth, at the age of 10 months and 22 days, his parents (according to the priest) were unknown, on June 11, 1845. This baptized infant’s godparents were Louis Sénécal (Sr.) and Josèphte Vincent.
Was Louis discerned to be illegitimate at the time of his baptism in 1845 by the traveling Catholic Priest simply because the parents were not married in the eyes of the Catholic Church (i.e. father was Protestant and mother was Catholic)?
Was it because the mother didn’t know who the father was (by name) or had simply refused to name the birth father of her son?
In Ely Township, there was a small group of Anglo-Protestant settlers and some Francophone converts that became Protestant, who had settled there previously.
The Roman Catholic priest who signed this particular baptism record was Jean-Fleury Baudrand. This priest was also an Oblate of Mary Immaculate who devoted his energies during the winter of 1843-1844 and he worked for two months with Father Dandurand. He returned to the area together with the diocesan priest, Father Hughes, in July, September and October 1844 and in January-March, June and September 1845. They preached and administered the sacraments in about twenty localities, branching out from four centers: Granby, Stanstead, Dunham and Stanbridge, all in Quebec
Eastern Townships.
The godparents listed in the baptism of Louis (1844- ) were, in fact, the young infant’s maternal grandparents, by way of his mother, Marie Élisabeth (Sophié) Sénécal dite Laframboise.
Marie Élisabeth (Sophié) Sénécal dite Laframboise who had been born June 16, 1810 was also baptized with her younger brother at Notre Dame du Rosaire Catholic Parish in Saint Hyacinthe on October 03, 1815.
Her godparents were Charles Noël Messier (brother-in-law to Louis Sénécal Sr.) and his wife, Angélique Sénécal (sister to Louis Sénécal Sr.).
“Sophie's own baptismal record has not yet been located”?
“These documents confirm hr family's presence in the Saint-François-Xavier de Saint-François-du-Lac (Yamaska County, Québec) and, later, in the neighboring parishes of Pierreville and Odanak.”
WHERE?
The Bruchac$ are not PROVIDING the objective evidence as to their claims; they are ONLY merely implying unsubstantiated “facts”
Here's the verbatim actual 1815 Baptismal images:
Godfather: Charles Noël Messier
(brother-in-law to Louis 1784-1855 Sénécal Sr.)
Godmother: Marie Angélique (Sénécal) Messier (1772-1821)
(sister to Louis Sr.)
Marie Élisabeth (Sophié) Sénécal dite Laframboise’ younger brother, Louis (Jr.) was born in ca. 1812-1813 and he was baptized that same day of October 1815 as his older sister, and his godparents were Adrien Ménard and Magdeleine Benoît dit Livernois. These godparents were the sister and brother-in-law of the young son of his mother, Marie Élisabeth Benoît dit Livernois.
These two young children’s mother apparently had died before January 21, 1822, as on this date, their widowed father Louis had remarried to Marie Josèphe Françoise Jarret/Beauregard dite Vincent. The second wife was the widow of Noël Collet who had died in the early winter of 1817 in Saint Hyacinthe.
Through this very informative baptismal record of Louis (1844-1918) in June of 1845, thankfully said, through the Godparents of the ten-month-old boy, we could ascertain and validate objectively the boy's birth mother, Marie Élisabeth (Sophié) Sénécal dite Laframboise.
Now REMEMBER: The Bruchac$ are attempting to manipulatively “under specify” (without any objective evidence and documentation whatsoever), implying, and “leading” (to support what they claim is their family oral tradition's) on the Joseph Bruchac Blog readers to a faulty “conclusion”... Per the dated August 14, 2025 post:
“Our great-great-grandmother Sophie Sénécal dit Laframboise was born in the early 1800s into the long-established Sénécal dit Laframboise family, whose name appears consistently in the parish registers of Saint-François-Xavier de Saint-François-du-Lac (Yamaska County, Québec) and, later, in the neighboring parishes of Pierreville and Odanak.”
😂
Bruchac$ are simply but utterly “under specifying” by manipulation (or outright lies) and they do not “get it correct” ...
Jesse B. Bruchac ought to stick with the Abénaki language, of which some Abénakis say he likewise “butchers” and “weaponizes” for his fellow Pretendian$/ “Abenaki$” of Vermont and New Hampshire. Just like he is doing to his own familial ancestors.
It's ALWAYS about the $$$$$$$$.
Clearly, the Bruchac$ are DESPERATELY “weaponizing” FRAUDULENTLY “attaching” and “framing” themselves with incorrect “unfounded” information to a naïve audience of blog readers of his father and themselves ...
to Odanak with their alleged ancestral
“Proximity and Association”
We see this with Pretendian$ of the “Abenaki$”
Possible Abenaki Connections:
The question of Abenaki ancestry through Sophie remains unresolved. The Sénécal dit Laframboise name appears in registers alongside well-documented Abenaki families such as Obomsawin, Wawanolett, Annance, and Panadis.
Oral tradition within our family—echoed by an Odanak elder—suggested a symbolic link ... between the Bowman surname and the Obomsawin line.
💩💩💩💩
Yet no parish act has been located showing Sophie’s branch intermarrying directly with Abénaki-titled families. As René Jetté noted in his Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (1983), Indigenous descent in French-Canadian genealogy must rest on explicit archival evidence.
Bruchac$ = 💩💩💩💩
O'Bomsawin Y-Haplogroup:
Q-M242 > MEH2 > M346 > L53 > L54 > CTS3814 > CTS11969 > Q-M3
So there's that.
Bowman Y-Haplogroup:
R1b-M207>M173>M343>L754>L761>L389>Z2106>Z2109>KMS67>BY39280>FT94529>
FT246748
Louis (1844-1918) Bowman
nor his parents were Native / Indigenous / Abénakis.
How do we KNOW that Marie Élisabeth (Sophié) Sénécal dite Laframboise (1810-1901) was and is the correct mother for Louis (1844-1918) Bowman Sr. that Joseph III, Mary Ann, and Margaret of the Bruchac$ Cluster in Greenfield Center, NY descends from?
From the DNA descendants genetic matches (of course).
It was May of 2018, when I got our first genetic match ...
Rita (Castonguay) St. Amand had posted in an Ancestry.com Tree a somewhat ancestral limited Tree of her people.
Yet, (thankfully) she had given enough parental and grandparent information, that I could begin to map her ancestry back into the geographical area of where Sophie Sénécal dit Laframboise (1810-1901) had stated she was at (in the 1840s) per her son Louis/Lewis's Civil War Pension Record information (ca. 1890-1913).
Indeed, Rita St. Amand, matched to other Bowman descendants, Brenda Ordway, Theresa Pietrofeso, Mark Ordway, and even Marge Bruchac (“mbruchac”)!
Rita's closer relative was Denis Gagné ... who also multiple times matches to the Bowman descendants.
Robert H. Bowman and Denis Gagne AncestryDNA Match
Bruce Geroux matches to Denis Gagne, et al.
Rita (Castonguay) St. Amand matches to Mark D. Sherlock
Rita, having been in 1950 in the State of Maine, was the daughter of Joseph Arthur Castonguay (1919-1988) and Bertha Marie Beaudry (1921-1989). Her father having been born in New Bedford, MA, marrying in 1946 in Sherbrooke, Qc., and passing away in Maine. Rita's mother was born in Martinville, Qc., Canada, also passing away in Maine.
From an published obituary I then extrapolated more genealogical information as to relatives of Rita and that of her father:
OBITUARY:
Joseph Arthur Castonguay was the son of Éuclide and Eva (nee: Holcomb) Castonguay; he was a disabled veteran of WWII having served in the Canadian Armed Services.
He had lived in Lewiston, Maine most of his life.
He was survived by his wife the former Bertha Beaudry; two daughters Mrs. Willard (Theresa) Clark of Lewiston, ME; and Mrs. Kenneth (Rita) St. Amand of Durham, ME; five sons Vincent “Jerry” and Leo, both of Durham, ME, David of Auburn, Donald of Lewiston, ME and Roger of the US Naval Base in Kami Seya, Japan.
Did Rita genetically match to the Bowman's because of the paternal or maternal ancestors? Was Bowman a anglicization of Beaudry? I didn't know, but I pondered a bit on those “possibilities” too.
Bertha (Beaudry) Castonguay (1921-1989) was born in Granby, Qc.
Joseph Arthur (1919-1988) Castonguay 's father was Joseph Éuclide (1888-1971) Castonguay, born per the Catholic Parish Records, in Ste. François Xavier de West Shefford de Bromont, Shefford, Québec, Canada. He died in Manville, Providence County, Rhode Island.
Joseph Éuclide (1888-1971) Castonguay was the son of Jean Baptiste Castonguay, the latter ancestor born on June 24, 1850 in Granby, Qc.
Jean Baptiste Castonguay was married on February 12, 1877 at the age of 26, within the Catholic Church Ste. François Xavier de West Shefford de Bromont, in Shefford, Qc. His bride was Marie Délina (Adélina) Raymond.
She, Marie Délina (Adélina), was born May 25, 1852 and was baptized on August 21, 1852, per the Notre Dame de Granby, Shefford, Qc. Parish Records, the daughter of Georges Rémon dit Raymond and Élisabeth Sénécal dite Laframboise.
On the twenty-first (21st) day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two (1852), we, the undersigned missionary of Granby, have baptized Marie Délina born on the twenty-fifth (25th) of May of the legitimate marriage of George Raymond and Sophie Laframboise of the Township of Farnham
Godfather: Joseph Quinn (the Godfather signing)
Godmother: Marguerite Goulet
~
“Whether remembered as Sophie Sénécal or as Sophie Sénécal dit Laframboise, she anchors the Bowman line in the Saint-François-du-Lac / Pierreville / Odanak region, where French-Canadian and Indigenous lives were closely intertwined. Her story highlights the tension between record and memory—archival sources naming a husband Charles Bowman, oral tradition recalling Joseph Bowman, and a maiden name linking her to one of the enduring families of the Saint-François valley.
Even without a baptism or marriage act in her name, Sophie’s legacy endures in the persistence of the surnames Sénécal and Laframboise in the historical record and in the living community at Odanak. Through her, we glimpse a possible Abenaki connection—not yet provable in the archives, but preserved in family memory and reflected in names still carried today.”
Bruchac$ are making up 💩 regarding Louis (1844-1918) Bowman and his parentage, and their ancestors.
😳 WHY? 😳
