New Maiden Names for Old: "New Maiden Names for Old by Roger Bissell

The Strange Case of Catherine Goulais Bissell Ely

by Roger Bissell

As some of you know, census records show no Bissells in Michigan before 1830 and only one Bissell (Theodore) in 1830, whose children were all shown as being under 10 years of age. Yet, big as life, there was a Catherine Bissell (sometimes referred to as Catherine Goulais), born 1817 in Michigan, mentioned in the early records of Minnesota. (I stumbled across her existence while trying to uncover the roots of my great-great-grandfather, Pierce Bissell, born 1816 or 1817, supposedly in Michigan.)

In volume 6 of Minnesota Historical Quarterly Magazine, we read that Reverend E. M. Ely married Miss Catherine Bissell of the Mackinaw Mission on August 30, 1835. Her maiden name was Goulais, and she was of mixed blood (p. 351). And in volume 8, we read that Catherine Bissell Ely was born November 25, 1817 and was educated at the Mackinac Mission (p. 247).

In volume VI, part 2 (1891) of Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, we find that Mr. Ely of Fond du Lac (now part of Duluth) was married to Miss Bissell of Mackinaw (p. 123). And in volume IX (1900), we find that Edmund Franklin Ely (1809-1882) was a pioneer teacher and missionary at Fond du Lac who was married in 1835 to Miss Catherine Goulais, one of a group of reinforcement teachers from Mackinac (pp. 246-7).

Question: if her maiden name was Goulais, how could she be called Miss Bissell? Answer: Bissell was her maiden name, too!

As a researcher with the Mackinac Island State Park Commission told us in a letter several years ago:

For some time, I have been researching the Mackinaw Mission. Catharine Bissell is one of many interesting persons connected with the mission.

She was born on 25 November 1817 at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Her father was a French Canadian whose surname was Goulais. Her mother was a half-blood Chippewa Indian who drowned near Mackinac in 1827. In 1824, she entered the mission and remained until she moved to LaPointe on Madeline Island (Wisconsin) where she married Edmund F. Ely on 30 August 1835. Reverend William T. Boutwell performed the marriage. Catherine had two children: Mary Wright Ely born on 29 May 1836 and Delia Cooke Ely, born on 28 February 1838.

Catherine received the name 'Catherine Bissell' while at the Mission. It was common practice for Easterners who supported children in missions to be able to give them Anglicized names. She was named after Josiah Bissell Jr. of Rochester, New York. [emphasis added]

Aha! Now we're getting somewhere. Catherine Goulais was sort-of-adopted by Josiah Bissell Jr. of Rochester, New York.

Referring to the Jones book, we find that Josiah Bissell III (1757-1822) died in Rochester. Among his children were Richard (b. 1796) and Josiah Wolcott IV (b . 1790). One of Josiah IV's children was a daughter Catherine who was born in 1821 and died in 1822. Isn't it obvious that this is the infant daughter after whom Josiah ("Junior") IV named Catherine Goulas upon becoming her sponsor?

(As a footnote to this, I wonder if Pierce B. Bissell might have been "adopted" by the same process and was never a Bissell to begin with. There is some hint of Indian blood on Pierce's mother's side, and his older son's name was Richard, as was Josiah IV's brother! Or, perhaps he might have been Richard's son.)

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