 BOUCHERIE Auguste Henri Eugène |   | Born: 1856-04-24 | Died: 1939 |
| Father: BOUCHERIE Auguste | Mother: SCHNELL Caroline Esther Gustave Marguerite | ||
| Children: none | |||
| Siblings: BOUCHERIE Adrien, BOUCHERIE Helene (2), BOUCHERIE Helene (1) | |||
BOUCHERIE Auguste Henri Eugène de LA MOTTE was born April 24, 1856 – Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône , France. He died in 1939 at the age of 83 years.
Auguste had a passion; that being to record his proud family linage – meticulously documented in his notebook, “Famille Fölsch”. The Grant Family Tree and ensuing WH Grant website owes so much to this remarkable man.
It would seem he was finding the task of up keeping his genealogy research not easy, and requested WH Grant’s assistance relating to the Australian branch of the family tree.
Auguste wrote to WH Grant in 1907 (who had by then established himself and his family in Australia). Auguste had heard word from WH Grant’s sister Louisa (residing in France) that he was interested in his family linage. His letter appears to suggest he was writing to thank him for kind words written by WH Grant to his elderly mother. However his main purpose for writing, it would seem, was to provide him a pedigree of the family Fölsch and to glean information from WH Grant regarding the Australian branch to assist his research.
Auguste impressed upon WH Grant the importance of the Family Tree by referring to their main ancestor of common progenitor, Marguerite Newenham. He refers to Grace Pargiter who he explained filled all the peerage of the United Kingdom.
Furthermore he makes mention of various aristocrats. Among many referenced, David King of Scotland, Henri 1 King of France and Richard 1 Duke of Normandy. It seems remarkable how much information Auguste was able to gather in his lifetime, and just how accurate his records were, considering he lived long before the digital age.
Together with his letter, Auguste sent a notebook to WH Grant . He had very cleverly devised a means of indexing his very complex and long family linage within the pages of his humble notebook. Future generations became to refer to this notebook as “The Black Book”.
In about 1965, his notebook, an exceptionally important catalogue of historical records was passed onto WH Grant’s (then 12 year old) great granddaughter, Elizabeth Rogan by WH Grant’s youngest daughter Nellie Rogan nee Grant. Thankfully Elizabeth’s mother, Marion Rogan took the “Black Book” and placed it in the safe hands of Marie Gamble nee Grant.
Auguste added additional blank pages for WH Grant to utilise; pages we have since copied and used as digital background pages for the electronic version of the Black Book and for pages within individuals’ Albums as a means to preserve its authentic appearance on the website.
Coincidentally the 1907 letter from Auguste Boucherie to WH Grant became the background for this website. In an attempt to create an appropriate theme for the website we chose this letter, written in French, having no idea at the time of its exceptional significance. So we feel that somehow perhaps Auguste Boucherie was still well and truly in charge of his project.
Coming back to Auguste Boucherie; at the time of writing his letter to WH Grant he had recently retired after serving in the Colonial Army, to the Artillery Section, as a squadron leader (a Major in English). At that time he was living in Marseilles with his elderly mother, Caroline Esther Gustave Marguerite SCHNELL (reference as per his letter to WH Grant June 1907).
Many years later, in his letter to Nellie Gladys GRANT, 16 March 1931 he writes: I was married on 25th March 1911 in Niemes to Adrienne Boileau of Cistelniu. His letter to Nellie was written as a result of Nellie writing to her cousin, Heather Zullig making inquiry as to whether Auguste Boucherie was still alive. Auguste decided to prove as much by way of writing a personal letter of reply. In the letter he extends his condolences for the recent death of her father; his cousin WH Grant.
He also makes reference to the “Black Book”. He writes: I think that in 1907 I sent your father a family book, from the Family Folsch, into which we married. I hope the book is not lost & that one of you has kept it in order.
All things considered, it is almost a miracle that his family book, titled Famille Fölsch has survived. Surely he would be pleased that almost a century later it has indeed not been lost and that his hard works within its pages have been well preserved.
As like Auguste Boucherie had hoped in 1931, we are so grateful that it remains in good order, nowadays expressed in so many formats of which future generations hopefully will benefit and expand upon. It is with great appreciation to this man’s work that we are able to access and discover information about our forebears that we would have never otherwise known.