By MICHAEL F. DWYER
In 1850, the census of Addison, Vermont recorded this family: John Naylor, age 65, laborer, born Canada, with [wife] Charlotte, age 65, born Canada, along with supposed children, claiming to have been born in Vermont: Nazro, age 30, Edward, age 20, William, age 14, and Martha, age 10. Nazro died a few years later. A cemetery stone survives in Town Line Cemetery, Bridport, for Nazro Naylor, son of John and Charlotte, who died on February 5, 1856, in his 38th year. The 1860 census reveals how the reconfiguration of the family changed with Edward Nailor, age 27, born Canada, now head of household, with parents John and Charlotte, both 65 years old, apparently not having aged in a decade. It should be noted that all three could neither read nor write which explains the spelling variation of Naylor to Nailor as well as the imprecise ages.
Before the Civil War, with only one other married couple named Naylor born in Canada living in central Vermont, it led me to hypothesize the name originally had been Cloutier, from the French word clou, meaning nail. Naylor/Nailer was a direct translation of an occupational name of one who sold or made nails. I could not, however, match up to a Jean [John] Cloutier who married Charlotte in Canada circa 1818. John Naylor died in 1862, Charlotte in 1866, their dates surviving from their cemetery stones and not from vital records which may have disclosed the names of their parents. John and Charlotte’s son, William Naylor, counted in the 1850 census, died from consumption in Vergennes on November 4, 1873, age 39. His death record claimed his parents were Symon, not John, and Charlotte Naylor. At last, here came the breakthrough moment because with more digging I found a marriage record in Québec between Simon Cloutier and Charlotte Brouillet at St. Denis-sur-Richelieu in November 1818. Many other families from this area settled in Vermont. Baptismal records for Nazaire [Nazro], Edouard [Edward], and Guillaume [William] proved that Simon and Charlotte were the right parents. Why did Simon get recorded as John? No logical reason—John was probably just easier to say.
JOHN NAYLOR IN the 1850 census for Addison, Vermont.
One of the problems with French names that are approximate translations is that there are other families named Naylor in the area who were either English or Irish. Just to make sure that I was not barking up the wrong tree, I traced the paternal pedigree of Brandon resident Joseph L. Naylor (1917–1978) to his migrating ancestor, Joseph Cloutier from Canada who was Simon Cloutier’s brother! In another branch of the family, Rob Naylor of Brandon’s Naylor & Breen Builders is the descendant of William Naylor who died in 1873. As such, these Cloutiers transformed to Naylor/Nailors were descendants of Zacharie Cloutier, who sailed from France to New France in 1634. Zacharie, a carpenter, must have been a hearty soul because he died in 1677, at the advanced age of 85 or 86. While he could not sign his name, he made the mark of an axe on the marriage contract of his daughter Anne on her marriage to Robert Drouin on July 27, 1636, in Beauport, Québec, believed to be the oldest surviving original document of its kind.
When a name is lost, it is a heritage lost. When rediscovered, it is a heritage regained.
