Re: Loya History and Origin
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In reply to:
Re: Loya History and Origin
Heidi Agin 7/07/04
Hi,
I am not descended from Thomas Loya, but I am descended from French Canadian Loyers and I know it can be very frustrating to find records of people, particularly when the name can be butchered in a variety of ways.In the 1870 census, there is a Thomas Loyan in Champlain, Clinton, NY who was 28 years old and worked on a farm.His wife's name was Lucy and she was 27 years old.They had two daughters, Cora, age 7, and Mary, born in April of that year.Both children and Lucy were born in NY, Thomas was from Canada.Both Thomas's and Lucy's parents were of foreign birth (prob Canada).
I would assume that both Thomas and Lucy were Roman Catholic and that they were married in a Catholic Church no later than 1862.If the churches that served the French Canadians in New York were like the churches of Quebec, the marriage register would contain not only the names of the bride and groom, but also their parents (or previous spouse).I suggest you start with the churches of Champlain that existed in 1862 that served French Canadians.If you know where Lucy was in 1860 I would also search there.Please keep in mind that even a simple name like Loyer has been misspelled not only as Loya, but also Loyie, Loyear, Loguer, Logue, Layer, Layan, Lovyer, Lahiae and probably ways we haven't even considered.I don't know what the laws of the state of New York were regarding marriages at that time, but they may also have been required to get a civil marriage license, which could make your search easier (the counties may have indices that would be easier to look up and would state who married them).
Once you find the parents, they were probably married in Quebec and then you should be able to find the marriages in the Blue Drouin.
Good luck.