Arthur Andris and Victorine Dorval

Pre-Immigration

Arthur Andris and Victorinne Dorval were married in Binche, Belgium at the Hotel de Ville on December 26, 1900. André Darquennes, an European genealogist, has provided an original copy of the marriage certificate from Binche for my grandparents.

Victorine Dorval was born in Binche, Belgium on December 23, 1875 (obituary says 12/24/75) to León Dorval and Josephine Sebille. She first married Jules Meunier, who was born in Binche on November 21, 1872. They had one child, Julia Meunier, later adopted by Arthur Louis Andris after he married "Torinne." Julia was two years old when her father, Jules, died. (This would have been around 1899.) He was a roofer by trade. One legend has it that he fell off the roof and died, another that he died of consumption.

Arthur Louis Nicolas Andris was born in Binche, Belgium. The date on his birth certificate is 4/5/1873, in his obituary, 4/6/1872. There is some dispute over what the name of Arthur's previous wife was. According to the obituary of his son, Arthur N. Andris, which appeared in the Parkersburg News on 12/9/88, her name was Elisa Beaumez. According to my brother's resources, her name was Marie Peticote, and she was very a very small person. Their children were Louise, Arthur N., and Aimé.

Descendants of Arthur Louis Andris and Victorine Dorval

After Victorine and Arthur married, "Grandpa Andris went to Russia to work. He took his wife, Victorine, and his two sons by a previous marriage, Arthur and Aimé. Two other people apparently accompanied them on their trip, their small child, Louis, who was a baby, and Louise Lebrun, Arthur's mother.

According to Julia Staats, Louise, Arthur's only daughter, stayed with her maternal grandmother, the mother of Eliza Beaumont. Julia Meunier (Victorine's daugher by a previous marriage) stayed with her maternal grandmother, Josephine Sebille Dorval from the time of the trip to Russia until she came to the U.S.A. There is again dispute here about the name of grandpa Dorval. According to Julia, the name is John Baptiste, "Papa Sot," which means fool, teaser or joker, and Josephine's nickname was "Mama Fin." Torinne's obituary says his name was León.

Here is a pieced-together version of an often told family legend. My mother's comments are in square brackets, Julia's in parentheses. [When they got to Russia, conditions were terrible, people were starving. Not only that, but the Bolshevik movement was in progress. Arthur had finally just got work, when his fellow workers warned that the Bolshevik's were going to run them out because of hard times.] (The neighbors in the place where they were staying came and warned that the Bolsheviks were coming.) [They needed to leave with only the clothes on their back. Arthur's mother had just died and was not yet buried. He said to the neighbors, "But my mother is dead and not yet in the grave. I can't leave." This was night time. The neighbor said "You must leave now or you will be killed. We will bury your mother for you." They left in a wagon provided by neighbors and went as fast as the horses would go.] (They put warm embers in a container in the bassinet to keep Louie warm. They could hear the wolves howling in the distance.) [They got across the border, where a train was there ready to pull out. And they could see the torches of the Cossacks in the distance.]

Apparently, my Uncle Lou must have been the baby that was in Russia. If his obituary is correct, and he was born in Belgium on August 6, 1902, he travelled with them as an infant. [I can remember my father telling me that Louie was premature, and weighed less than 2 pounds at birth. Dad said that his dad said he could hold him in the palm of his hand. The family legend has it that they put Louie in a cigar box and set him near an open oven door.

My brother Tom thinks that they were escaping some part of the 1905 rebellion in Russia. He also heard a story when he was in Belgium that once Arthur and the family was back in Belgium, a Bolshevik came into a saloon and was "spouting Communism" and Arthur shot and killed the man.

They arrived back in Binche, but times were very hard.

Their next child was Alphonse. His birthdate is a matter of some dispute. His obituary states that he was born on June 6, 1907, in Binche, Belgium, but according to his oldest daughter, Marlene, the year was 1906. We will discuss this further in the next section.