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I was an engineer in the Suez Canal Company, but when the Canal was
nationalised in 1958, I was then forced into early retirement. Having thus acquired
a certain amount of compulsory leisure, I started researching my family's
genealogy. My first step was to research the descent of one of my ancestors,
Nicolas VINCHON (1570-1649) who was Seigneur de Douchy, not far from
Saint-Quentin . Some research had already been carried out around 1900 and a
large wall chart had been drawn by M. Theophile VINCHON, previously a solicitor
in Picardie but presently retired and living in Paris.
I tried to complete the chart, and up to date I have found more than
fifteen thousand descendants from Nicolas VINCHON, among whom are to be found
many consequential people, such as bishops, bankers, members of parliament,
prefects, ambassadors, rubbing shoulders with a chairman of the St Gobain
Company or with famous painters; it also includes princes, marquises, earls,
barons, Royal Altesses, and so on...
I searched the Records Offices in many départments, I walked the breadth
and length of many cemeteries, visited a lot of people, wrote letters and drew
family charts, all of which is summed up in a large album containing some 400
pages.
One of the branches that I studied in more details, the de VIEFVILLE
line relates to Marie THERY, one of Nicolas Vinchon's granddaughters. She was
born in Athies, , married Jean Louis de VIEFVILLE (1651- 11726), a ploughman in
Gauchy, a suburb of Saint-Quentin. Louis's son, Jean de VIEFVILLE (1675-1724)
settled in Malzy, not far from Guise. He contracted an advantageous marriage
with a demoiselle de MONCUYOT and his descendants include Jean Louis de
VIEFVILLE des Essars who was a deputy in the Etats Generaux in 1789 as well as
Jean Francois BELIN and Camille DESMOULINS, who were both deputies at the
Convention. Besides, two of Jean de VIEFVILLE 's daughters contracted brilliant
marriages : on one hand, Marguerite married in 1745 Pierre MARTINE (His mother
is a demoiselle MARTINE born in Aubigny, Villers St Christophe.), Seigneur de Villers-St-Christophe, an
ancestor of the five living children of His Royal Altess the Prince Michel de
Bourbon-Parme, a direct descendant of Louis XIV; on the other hand, Marie Barbe
Florimonde married in 1743 in Malzy Jean SOHIER (1715-1783), a farmer from the
farm Notre-Dame de la Paix de St Antoine in St Pierremont sous Montcornet, near
Laon.
Having found all this while searching the Records in Laon, I first drove
to Malzy where I visited the cemetery. There I found an enclosure with the
well-aligned and well-kept tombs of all the de VIEFVILLE family, including the
1899 deputy, Jean Louis de VIEFVILLE des Essars who was made a Baron under the
Empire in 1813 and whose title was confirmed in 1818. The de VIEFVILLE must
have been wealthy if I judge by the fact that one of their descendants owned in
1913 a mansion looking over the Parc Monceau in Paris, and a second residence,
a fine villa, inside the confines of the Bois de Boulogne.
Next I went to St Pierremont to have a look at the cemetery. Just like
in Malzy , I found a small enclosure with many Sohiers' graves. The oldest
grave is that of Nicolas SOHIER (1638-1728). A little further lies Jean SOHIER
(1715-1783) together with his wife Marie Barbe Florimonde de VIEFVILLE
(1731-1759) as mentioned above.
Also I wanted to see the farm with the prestigious name of Notre-Dame de
la Paix de St Antoine; it is located some 2 kilometres from the village on the
road to Bosmont. And there, facing the farm, by the side of the road, stands a
Cross with the following inscription : " The Sohier family of N.D. de la
Paix de St Antoine ... 1715 ... and in memory of the pilgrimage made by the
widow AUBERT, a granddaughter and niece ~ 13.6.1807
Later I met Mr Andre GODET, the Mayor of St Pierremont who told me that
his family tradition inferred that the Sohiers were issued from an illustrious
family descending from Charlemagne.
Then, more recently, one of my cousins told me that indeed a Sohier
family was shown to be descended from Charlemagne - but traced only until circa
1450 - in Hozier's "Armoirial General" edited by Firmin Didot in 1872
and reedited in 1972 by the Editions du Palais Royal (register No vii - part 2
- page 827).
Moreover, and this quite by accident, I came across a brochure , written
in 1971 by Mr. Edouard du Chesne, concerning the village of Bertry (Nord), with
a few pages on the Sohier family that lived in Bertry between 1100 and 1400.
But then what became of the Sohiers between 1500 and now?
In Nicolas VINCHON's descent I had already noted down a few families
issued from Charlemagne, namely :
1 - The Princes of Bourbon Parme, as mentioned above.
2 - Two of my grandchildren, Liliane and Yves RENE descend, through
their father, from the Choiseuls, the Counts of Dreux and Louis
XVI.
3 - The counts of Lambilly (see Armoirial General vol. vii - 2 page
67)
4 - A magistrate, born in Saint-Quentin, Mr. Carpentier, descends from
Charlemagne through the Chatelains from Amiens who lived in Moncheaux
(Pas-de-Calais).
However the fact that I now could add another family issued from
Charlemagne to my existing collection of Nicolas VINCHON's descendants did
stimulate my research.
A few months ago, I received a letter from Mr. ROLLAND de RAVEL, who
lives I Paris; his mother was a SOHIER and she died in 1963, she descended from
the St Pierremont branch and was the last person named SOHIER. I immediately
went to visit him, and he told me that his great grandfather, Hippolyte SOHIER
(1815-1911) was a prefect under the Empire first in the Indre department, then
in Yonne, Indre et Loire, Morbihan and finally in the Marne départment. He was commandeur
de la légion d'honneur , had married Marguerite FOUQUIER from Herouel (de Foreste),
and that he thought that he descended from Charlemagne, therefore he had
started to carry out the relevant searches. His father, Jacques SOHIER
(1786-1849) had been a notary and the Mayor of Vervins; his grandfather, Adrien
SOHIER (1756-1832) who was born in St Pierremont, had been a farmer in Origny
en Thiérache. Sadly, Hippolyte SOHIER had one granddaughter, but no grandson,
so that he gave up his research since the surname was doomed to disappear.
However the same research was taken up by one of his descendants, Mr. Georges
DEVIOLAINE, born in 1869, a master glass-maker in Vauxrot near Soissons. The
research were successful, except maybe for the exact descent of Simon SOHIER
who was probably born in Sebourg, east of Valenciennes, and of his son Nicolas,
born in 1490, who was a bailiff in Voucelles, a hamlet located north of
Quarouble (Nord).
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When I went to St Pierremont's cemetery and visited the farm of N.D. de la
Paix de St Antoine, I had no idea that had I just seen the last vestiges of one
of the most illustrious families in our country, a family whose descent, from
father to son, since Ferreol circa 450, then Charlemagne in 800 , we have been
able to trace right down to Marie SOHIER (1885-1963).
Such a line of descent is, I think, quite unique in History as there are
few families , even among the Capetians, that can be traced, from father to
son, through more than fifteen centuries. The SOHIER descent thus comprises of
more than 50 generations from father to son from Ferreol right up to the
present day.
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Before indicating the details of the filiation, I would like to
demonstrate why we can affirmatively say that the SOHIER descendants are,
theoretically speaking, pretendants to the throne (see Quid encyclopaedia,
under the heading Prétendants au trône de France) . Also I want to explain how
the SOHIER surname happen to work its way into the line of
descent.
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First let's consider the Carolingians.
Charlemagne had several children from his wife Hildegarde, the eldest of
whom and the ancestor of the SOHIERs being Pépin, the king of Italy (who had a
son, Bernard); the second son was Louis the Pious whose wife. Ermengarde was a
shrew; she tried to have Bernard, the king of Italy and rightful heir,
sentenced to death so that her husband could succeed to the imperial crown .
Louis the Pious did not dare kill him outright, but he had his eyes punctured,
which brought out Bernard's death a week later. Louis was very remorseful and
accepted the public penance imposed to him by the monks. He retired to Attigny,
in the Ardennes, where he remained for some time. However Bernard , the true
heir to the crown, had a son, Pépin II who was given the County of Vermandois.
Pépin II is also known as Pépin of Péronne.
The Counts of Vermandois, whose capital was Vermand, between Peronne and
Saint Quentin, became very powerful lords. Thus Pépin II's grandson, Herbert
II, 3rd Count of Vermandois, managed to take as his prisoner Charles III
"le Simple", the King of France, who was kept in captivity first in
the dungeons of St-Quentin, then in those of Château-Thierry and finally in
Péronne where he died on October 7th 928. Some time later the kings of
France
became anxious of the increasing power of the Counts of Vermandois. King
Henry I, King Philippe I and King Louis VI the Fat led the fight against the
feudal lords; consequently the Counts of Vermandois were thrown a few
seigneuries and feudal lands like bones to a dog.
But how did the SOHIER surname come into the Count of Vermandois's line
of descent? The last but one Count of Vermandois, Herbert IV had a brother
nicknamed "Sieger", a German word meaning "the Victor", and
this translates into French as "SOHIER". The eighth and last Count of
Vermandois, Eudes, had a red-haired son whose godfather was his great-uncle
Pierre,namely Herbert IV's brother. The godfather gave him the name SOHIER,
name that was his own nickname. Thus the SOHIER surname established itself and
lasted until 1963.
After the Counts of Vermandois had been dispossessed of their title by
Hugues the great (1057-1101) who had married Alix de Vermandois, young SOHIER
a.k.a. the Red, the first of that name, went to settle in Epahy (Somme) and his
descendants lived in Bertry, in Dehéries (Nord) and in other fiefs such as
Serain (Aisne) and Iris (Nord). However, the Sohier gradually lost their wealth
to some extent, possibly because of plunder consequent to the foreign
invasions. Thus we come to the period circa 1450 and to Jean III SOHIER whose
several children emigrated : Jean to the isle of Jersey, Martin to Holland;
those two children become Protestants. A third son, Simon, settled in Vaucelles
par Quarouble, near Valenciennes; his issue remained Roman Catholic. This third
son had a son, Nicolas SOHIER, a censor of Vaucelles. the next three
generations went to live in Conde sur Escaut from 1550 to 1650. Finally we come
to 1670 when Nicolas III SOHIER, who had gone to the Ardennes, came to settle
at the farm N.D de la Paix de St Antoine in 1715 as testified by the
inscription on the cross by the road side opposite the farm. Sadly this farm
saw the departure of the last Sohier descendant on November 10th, 1977, that is
Mr. Jacques Godet whose father had sold the farm circa 1953!
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Her is a recapitulative summary of the SOHIER filiative line of descent,
and of their ancestors from Ferreol circa 450 AD till the present day.
---------
FIFTY GENERATIONS
of SOHIER de VERMANDOIS
Identifying the descent from FATHER to SON of a famous
family
through 15 centuries (from the 5th century to the present day)
____________________________________________________
No SOHIER's ancestors before Charlemagne
1- FERREOL - Prefect of the Gauls circa 450 AD
2- His son - FERREOL II (450-490) born in Rouergue
3- His son- FERREOL III from Auvergne - he lived in
Narbonne
4- His son- AUSSERT - nicknamed the Senator - He married he daughter of
the Frankish King Clotaire
5- His son- ARNAUD - Duke of Austrasia, Palatin Count
6- His son- St ARXOUL (588-640) Mayor of the Palace - Bishop of Metz -
he married Dodde in 611 - Became a bishop after his wife's death.
7- His son- ANSEGISE - he married Begga, Pépin the Old and Ille's
daughter
8 etc PÉPIN II ( of Heristal) - Mayor of the Palace in 714 - he married
Alparde - he was the victor at the battle of Tertry (near Vermand) in
687
9- CHARLES MARTEL (689 -741) - Duke of Austrasia - he married Chrotrude
he won the battle of Poitiers in 732 - he fell ill in 738 in Verbarie (Oise)
and died in Quierzy near Chauny (Aisne).
10- Pépin the Short (714-768), another Frankish King - he married
Berthe-with-the-big-foot
--------------------------------
11- CHARLEMAGNE (742-814) - he married circa 771 Hildegarde
(758-783)
----------------------------------
The SOHIER ancestors become Kings of Italy
12- PÉPIN, Charlemagne's eldest son , (776-811) becomes King of Italy at
the age of 5- he marries Berthe
13- BERNARD - the King of Italy (797-818) - He marries Cunégonde - His
uncle and aunt have his eyes punctured to prevent him from becoming emperor
The SOHIER's ancestors, deprived of the Kingdom of
Italy,
become Counts of Vermandois
14- PÉPIN II - the first Count of Vermandois (a.k.a. Pépin from Péronne)
from 840, at the death of Louis the Pious
15- HERBERT I - 2nd Count of Vermandois - killed in 902
16- HERBERT II - 3rd Count of Vermandois - he married Hildebrande, the
daughter of Robert, the first King of France- He became very powerful, and he
made a prisoner Charles III; this King of France was kept in captivity
in
St-Quentin, then in Château-Thierry and finally in Péronne where he died
in 929
17- ALBERT - 4th Count of Vermandois - he died in 988 - he married
Cerbrege of Saxe; when the latter became a widow she remarried the King of
France Louis IV
18- HERBERT III - 5th Count of Vermandois -he died in 1015 - he married
Hermengarde - He endowed richly the monasteries of Homblières, Vermand and St
Quentin
19- OTHON (or EUDES) - 6th Count of Vermandois after his
brother
20- HERBERT IV - 7th Count of Vermandois - he married Alix of
Crepy-en-Valois. His brother Pierre was nicknamed "Sieger", a German
word meaning "Victorious" translated into French as
"SOHIER"
21- EUDES - 8th and last of the old Counts of Vermandois - he married
Avige; they had 4 children among whom Eudes ( nicknamed the Nose) who became
Seigneur of St Simon and Ham, and SOHIER (the Red) as follows. Eudes' sister,
Alix, marries Hugues of France, son of Henri I of France and brother to
Philippe I of France. Hugues deprives Eudes of the County of Vermandois for his
own gain.
The SOHIERs's ancestors, deprived of the Vermandois, settle
in
Cambresis, and become Seigneurs; they take up the "SOHIER"
surname
22- SOHIER the Red - Eudes' 4th child , was the godchild of his great-uncle
Pierre (see No 20 above), the same man who gave him the SOHIER name; the
surname will perpetuate itself to the present day. SOHIER the Red was Seigneur
of Epehy (Somme), of Lieramont and of Dehéries (Nord) - He married Adele of
Vauvoisin and died circa 1097 - through his wife he inherited the Seigneuries
of Cagnicourt and Sandemont (between Arras and Cambrai) , Haynecourt, Fressies,
Warcoing (West of Cambrai), St Vaast, Briastre ( East of Cambrai), Iris (Nord),
Serain (Aisne), etc... He had 3 sons, the eldest, Almaric, stayed in Epehy; the
second , (see below) received the farms around Beheries et Clery, while the
third , Thiebold became Dean of Cambrai.
23- HUGHES I SOHIER , the Magnificent - Seigneur of Dehéries - he
married Lucie Amélie of Torote and they had 6 sons and one
daughter
24- Gauthier SOHIER - he died in 1138 - he married Adelaide of Cambrai -
He went to the Holy Land and was congratulated by Godefroy de
Bouillon
25- Renaud SOHIER - Knight and Sire of Dehéries and Serain - he married Ade
de la Fosse
26- Hugues II SOHIER - Seigneur of Dehéries, Serain, Proyales, etc... -
he married Rosel, the daughter of the Prevost of Cambrai - he died in 1203 in
the Holy Land at the capture of Zara.
27- Hellin SOHIER - Seigneur of Dehéries and Euvillers - he died in 1235
- he married Gilberte Creton of Estourel, dame of Euvullera-Alla in the Holy
Land
28- Pierre I SOHIER - Seigneur of Dehéries - Governor of part of Artois
- he married Ameline of Beaumont, then Marguerite of Incy, and had six
sons
29- Hernotin SOHIER - Seigneur of Dehéries, Bertry and Tronquoy -
Captain and Governor in Cambresis - he married the daughter of Robert d'Eune
Fair of Cambresis
30- Gilbert SOHIER - a knight, sire of Dehéries and Bertry - he died in
1299 - he married a demoiselle Louvet, of St Vaast
31- Mathieu SOHIER - a knight , Sire of Dehéries and Bertry - he died in
1355- he was the governor of Beaurevoir in 1324, of Oisy in 1327, of Crèvecoeur
in 1348 - King Jean II the Good took him as a Mayordomo, which is an important
function. following an argument between the inhabitants of
Crèvecoeur-sur-Escaut and their governor, King John sided with Mathieu
SOHIER whom he called " our loyal friend, Mathieu SOHIER, our own
Mayordomo, Captain and Governor"
32- Pierre II SOHIER - Seigneur of Dehéries; bailiff of Onnaing and of
Quarouble in 1378 - he married Marie Leuriote and had two sons, Pierre III (see
below) and Nicolas - his second marriage was to Mathilde de Villers au Tertre
and they had a large issue.
33 - Pierre III SOHIER - He was the last Seigneur of Dehéries; also a
bailiff of Arleux in
1392 - He married Jeanne de Haveron and had three sons - He left
Cambrésis and settled in Mons where he died in 1410 . His motto was
"Stella XPI duce" as engraved on the family ring passed on from
father to son in the SOHIER family right up to the present day.
34 - Pierre IV SOHIER , nicknamed "Tap" - a bailiff of Ors and
Catillon (near le Catteau) in 1436 - he married Marie de Leyre and had two
sons, Christophe and Jean. Just as he father did, he sold a few more
Seigneuries and deepened his family's poverty.
35 - Jean II SOHIER - the younger brother who lived in Mons - he married
Jeanne de Moulin and had three children, including Jean III (see below) and
Florence who became abbess in Valenciennes - He sold a few more Seigneuries in
1477 and paved the way for the family's loss of fortune which was consummated
by his son.
The SOHIER family is ruined and scatters
36 - Jean III SOHIER - Seigneur de la Bussière ( by Quarouble near
Valenciennes) - He married Madeleine de Fay - He sold all the property of his
mother, Jeanne du Moulin and the patrimonial fief in Cambrésis, completing the
ruin of the family (22. 08. 1495) - He had three children :
1) Simon who was born in Sebourg
and who will remain in the Valenciennes area
2) Jean IV SOHIER, born in 1474,
who emigrated to the island of Jersey; he left two
branches, one leaving
to settle in Boston, and the other settling in Bolbec.
3) Martin SOHIER, born in 1484, a
silk merchant in Mons, who went to Holland - this
last branch died away in
1691.
37 - Simon SOHIER, born in Bobourg - a Bailiff and Censor of the Seigneurie
of Vaucelles
(by Quarouble- Nord) - He married Jeanne Lecomte.
The SOHIERs settle in Condé-sur-Escaut
38 - Nicolas I SOHIER, born in 1490 - a bailiff of Vaucelles - He
married Wauldrut Huberland and had 8 children, the seventh being :
39 - Nicolas II SOHIER - an alderman of Condé-sur-Escaut in 1576 - born
in 1530 - He had 3 children, Hugues (see below), Jean (or Léon) and
Arthur
40 - Hugues SOHIER - an alderman of Condé-sur-Escaut - He was born in
1560 - 5 children
41 - Jacques SOHIER - the fifth child, born 22.03.1606 in
Condé-sur-Escaut, who married Claire de Bury.
The SOHIERs move towards the Ardennes, then to Saint-
Pierremont (Aisne) near Marle, and later in Thiérache
42 - Nicolas III SOHIER - baptised 17.03.1638 in Condé-sur-Escaut; he
married Marion CAMUS from St Loup-Champagne (Ardennes) and he died
20.09.1728, age 90, at the farm N-D de la Paix de St Antoine in St Pierremont
where his son was living. His tombstone still exist in the cemetery in St
Pierremont, in the enclosure reserved for the SOHIER famaily.
43 - Jean SOHIER - born 19.08.11688 - he married 20.01.1711, in Guise,
Marie MINETTE
44 - Jean SOHIER - a ploughman at the farm N-D de la Paix de St Antoine,
in St Pierremont; born 01.01.1715 in St Loup-Champagne (Ardennes) - he died
08.08.1783 at the farm St Antoine - he married 13.07.1745 in Malzy
(Aisne)
Marie Barbe Florimonde de Viefville (1721-1859), a lady issued from a
wealthy family and including noteworthy people (see the annexed table on the de
Viefville family)
Apart from the descent from father to son, I tried to establish the
whole of the descent of No 44 (as above), that is Jean SOHIER and Marie Barbe
Florimonde DE VIEFVILLE, together with all their children, both male and
female, their grandchildren, etc... which represents over five hundred people
who all descend from Charlemagne.
However let's proceed with the SOHIER's descent.
45 - Adrien François SOHIER - a farmer in Origny-en-Thiérache (Aisne)
born 23.03.1756 at the farm St Antoine, and who died there 22.09.1832 - he
married 12.04.1785 in Origny-en-Thiérache Juliette Paroux
46 - Jacques François SOHIER - (1786-1849) - a notary and a mayor of
Vervins; he married Emilie Perin
47- Hippolyte SOHIER - under the 2nd Empire, he was a prefect in Indre,
Yonne, Indre et Loire, Morbihan, Marne, etc... HE was born 21.07.1815 in
Vervins; he died 13.08.1911 in Paris - he married 14.04.1846 in Foreste (Aisne)
Mélanie Fouquier d'Hérouël (1825-1911) - He was made Commandeur of the
Légion d'Honneur
48 - Adrien SOHIER - born 21.06.1851 in Blois; he died 05.03.1928 in
chambéry - he married 31.05.1881 in Paris Cécile Delondres (1865-1941) - he
lived in the château de la Meynardie by Coquille (Dordogne)
This last SOHIER had but one daughter, Marie, thus putting an end to the
SOHIER father to son descent.
49 - Marie SOHIER - born 02.10.1885 in La coquille - she died 12.11.1963
- she married Mr Marcel ROLLAND de RAVEL and had 9 children.
For all other issue from the SOHIER, please refer to the annexed tables
, the descent of Jean SOHIER -de VIEFVILLE (Tables A to F).
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