By MICHAEL F. DWYER
Gingras to Shangraw—a fairly straightforward attempt at the phonetic pronunciation of a French name, but nonetheless it holds fascinating stories of one extended family’s immigration, identity, and assimilation. At 16, Austin Shangraw [Augustin Gingras] (1826–1912) along with several dozen other French-Canadians, moved to Pittsford, Vermont, filling a population void as Vermont natives left the state in the 1830s and 40s. Town records report that Thomas F. Bogue, Justice of the Peace, officiated the marriage of Austin Zangro and Matilda Billings on November 17, 1846. We know much more about Austin than about the typical immigrant because his family record was included in Abiel Caverly’s History of the Town of Pittsford, published in 1872. Few town histories of this era would have included immigrants. The Pittsford Historical Society has preserved the original questionnaire that Caverly used to gather information for the biographical sketches in the book. [See illustration #1 for Austin].
Two of Austin’s handwritten responses to questions need fuller explanations. Austin claimed “Moscow, C[anada] E[ast]” as his birthplace. Here, Moscow is a phonetic rendition of “Maska,” the original indigenous name for what became the town of St. Hyacinthe, Québec. Austin recorded his wife’s name as Marguerite Bélille, not Matilda Billings. Her various name transformations will be the subject of the next installment of Lost Names. Austin and Marguerite had nine children born in Pittsford between 1847 and 1869. Their first four children, Agnes, Mary, Austen, and Hattie were all baptized on 30 July 1853 by a traveling priest from St. Joseph’s Church in Burlington. This action suggests Austin’s non-Catholic marriage had been “rehabilitated,” which then followed with the baptism of the children. Their remaining children did not receive Catholic baptism—in fact, Austin joined the Pittsford Congregational Church in 1857, making him the first French-Canadian to join that church.
For 31 years, Austin leased a 170-acre farm from Ransom Burditt on the west side of the Otter Creek. In 1895, he purchased the property, an upward step in social mobility. Curiously, all Austin and Marguerite’s children left Pittsford upon reaching adulthood, two of their sons eventually settling in California. Their children’s return visits often made local news snippets in The Rutland Daily Herald. A substantial monument, “Shangraw/Grimes,” marks the parents’ resting place in Pittsford’s Evergreen Cemetery. Although daughter Lizzie Grimes died in Atlanta, on 1 Dec. 1926, her body was returned to her parents’ lot for burial. [Illustration 2, Shangraw/Grimes stone].
My research on the Shangraw family assumed a wider context through a serendipitous conversation. In May 2022, following my presentation, “Adventures in DNA,” at the Shrewsbury Community Meeting House, I asked longtime acquaintance Julanne Sharrow for a drink of water. She asked, “Do you think DNA results can really knock down [ancestral] brick walls?”
“Yes,” I said and added, “Who are you looking for?”
“William Shangraw.” Of course, I remembered “William” as Austin’s brother. He and his wife are also buried in Evergreen Cemetery. [See illustration #3, west face of William Shangraw monument]. Julanne later wrote, “It took my breath away.” Julanne had searched in vain for a Québec baptismal record, circa 1833, for a Guillaume Gingras who corresponded to William Shangraw of Pittsford and West Rutland.
One needs more than individual pieces of this puzzle to interpret name changes within this family. Austin and William’s parents, Augustin Gingras and Marie Daunais, married in Contrecoeur, Québec, in 1823. With frequent moves, they had twelve children over a span of twenty years. Their youngest child, Guillaume Gingras (1848–1912), born in Pittsford, baptized in Canada, went by the name of James Shangraw! How does this explain Julanne’s ancestor, William Shangraw? He was baptized as Joseph Magloire Gingras. In moving to Vermont, he left behind his French name, went by “Bill,” and like brother Austin, he joined the Congregational Church.
Six Gingras brothers all left Canada for Vermont. Three of them stayed here: Austin, William, and James Shangraw. Frank Gingras (1827–1881) died in Fall River, Massachusetts. Basile went by the name of Paul Shangrah (1837–1904) and died in Osborne County, Kansas. The longest-lived of the group, Joe Gingrass (1845–1927), died in Logan, Colorado. This newspaper story from Topeka (Kansas) Daily Capital, 21 Sept. 1900, attests how family ties persisted over time, distance, and epic shared history:
BROTHERS MEET AFTER 35 YEARS.
Two very remarkable meetings occurred yesterday on the grounds of Camp Lawton, as the ground of the reunion now being held at this place is called. Paul Shangrah, company D, Fourteenth Vermont infantry, who lives on a farm two miles north of Portis, met, for the first time since the winter of 1865–66, his brother, Joe Shangrah, company C, Tenth Vermont infantry. Paul Shangrah, the elder brother, left home the winter after they were mustered out of service and in 1873 came and settled on his farm near Portis and has lived there ever since. His younger brother, after roaming around in Canada for a time, finally settled in Potawatomie country, Iowa, and has been farming there for the past twenty-two years. The brothers had lost track of each other and did not know where each other were until about two years ago. A few days ago, the Iowa brother determined to make his Kansas brother a visit and came on without letting him know he was coming.
