M. 8 Feb 1770 in Post Vincennes, Illinois Territory2
Husband: Louis Godere
D. 11 Sep 1798 in Vincennes, Northwest Territory3
When Barbe-Elizabeth Levron wanted to get married, there was no priest around to conduct the ceremony, so she and her hopeful husband had to find another way to make their vows.
Barbe was born on December 20, 1748 at Fort Frontenac to Joseph Levron dit Metayer and Marie-Josephe Cousteau.1 Fort Frontenac was a remote military post and had few families living there; Barbe’s grandfather was a captain at the fort.4 When she was 2-years-old, her parents moved with her to the area around Fort Detroit, and they lived for the next few years starting a farm on the south shore of the Detroit River (present-day Windsor, Ontario).5 She seems to have had a slightly older brother who died at Fort Frontenac in January 1751; perhaps the boy was sick and her parents had left him in the care of his grandfather. While in Detroit, two more girls were born. By 1759, the family moved to Post Vincennes, where a younger sister was born,6 and four more children were born by about 1770.
This was a time when England defeated France in the French and Indian War, and Vincennes came under British control. In 1764, the French authorities, along with the parish priest, left town, and French settlers were left to manage on their own.7 Barbe was 17 or 18 when she was betrothed to Louis Godere. Without anyone to perform the marriage, they recited vows before witnesses and began living as husband and wife.8
On November 4, 1766, Barbe gave birth to a daughter who was baptized in a makeshift way by a notary.9 She had two more children before a priest came to Vincennes, and on February 8, 1770, her marriage to Louis was legitimized along with the baptisms of her children.2 They went on to have 8 more children, with the youngest born in 1788.10
Transcript copy of 1766 Vincennes parish register with notary Phillibert officiating.
Some sources have claimed that Barbe was the “Madame Godare” who famously sewed a flag for George Rogers Clark during the American Revolution, but it's more likely that the wife of her husband’s brother François was this woman.11 Barbe may have supported the American cause in other ways. On the night after liberating Vincennes from the British, the women of Vincennes welcomed the American troops by preparing them a feast,11 and she may have been a part of that celebration.
Barbe continued raising her family in the years after the war. Her husband Louis died on June 14, 1794,13 and she died on September 11, 1798 at the age of 50.3
Erroneous Honor
In spite of the fact historians have shown there is no way to really identify Madame Godare, the University of Vincennes decided to proclaim it was Barbe, and they named a residence hall after her. In January 2017, a writer for the Vincennes Sun-Commerical looked into the evidence supporting this, and the facts cited by the school are completely mangled.14 They claimed Madame Godare was 54-years-old, the mother of an 11-year-old girl named Marie-Joseph, and that her name was “Marie-Elizabeth Leveron.” There was even a portrait painted of Madame Godare that now hangs in the lobby of the building.
Sign in front of University of Vincennes residence hall. (Source: Google Street Views)
Children:
1. Françoise-Agnes Godere — B. 4 Nov 1766, Fort Vincennes, New France;10 D. about 1835;15 M. Louis-Favel Ravellette (~1758-1835), 2 Aug 1784, Vincennes, Northwest Territory16
2. Marie Joseph Godere — B. 16 May 1768, Fort Vincennes, New France;8 D. 12 Jul 1794, Vincennes, Northwest Territory;17 M. Honore Denis, before 19 Oct 1785, (probably) Vincennes, Northwest Territory18
3. Louis Godere — B. about 1770, Fort Vincennes, New France;19 D. 11 Jan 1795, Vincennes, Northwest Territory20
4. Felicité Godere — B. 20 Nov 1773, Fort Vincennes, New France;21 D. 25 Feb 1795, Vincennes, Northwest Territory;22 M. Alexander Vallé, 23 May 1793, Vincennes, Northwest Territory23
5. Pierre Godere — B. 6 Nov 1775, Fort Vincennes, New France24
6. Jean-Baptiste Godere — B. 1 Aug 1777, Fort Vincennes, New France25
7. François Godere — B. 13 Sep 1779, Vincennes, Northwest Territory;26 D. 24 Feb 1837, Vincennes, Indiana;27 M. (1) Marie Boneau (1786-1831), 30 Jan 1804, Vincennes, Indiana;28 (2) Genevieve Carie (1789-1855), 27 Dec 1832, Vincennes, Indiana29
8. Elizabeth Godere — B. 9 Sep 1781, Vincennes, Northwest Territory30
9. Marie-Louise Godere — B. 2 Oct 1785, Vincennes, Northwest Territory;31 D. Oct 1820, Lawrence County, Illinois;32 M. François Cadoret (~1780-?), 28 Jan 1802, Vincennes, Indiana33
10. Joseph Godere — B. 22 May 1786, Vincennes, Northwest Territory;34 D. 16 Sep 1787, Vincennes, Northwest Territory34
11. Françoise Godere — B. 31 Mar 1788, Vincennes, Northwest Territory35
Sources:
1 Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, George F.G. Stanley, 1954
2 Marriage record of Louis Godere and Elizabeth Levron, Indiana, Marriages, 1780-1992, FamilySearch.org
3 Death record of Barbe Levron, Indiana, Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, FamilySearch.org
4 Online database of voyageurs contracts, Centre du patrimoine, Saint-Boniface, Manitoba
5 “Edward Cicotte Ledger 1749-1752,” Michigan’s Habitant Heritage, Vol. 29, #3, July 2008
6 Estimated birth year of Josephine and marriage year of François and Josephine based on birth record of her oldest child, François Joseph Turpin, Indiana, U.S., Select Marriages Index, 1748-1993, Ancestry.com
7 From November 1765 to February 1770, baptisms and marriages in the St. Frances Xavier church were witnessed by a notary, not a priest. Baptisms were allowed to be conducted by non-clergy, but marriages needed a priest to be official.
8 Baptism of Marie Joseph Godere (Barbe’s second oldest child), with marriage described as clandestine, “Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901, p. 208
9 Baptism of Agnes Godere, “Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901, p. 205
10 Baptismal record of Françoise Godere, Indiana, Births and Christenings, 1773-1933, FamilySearch.org
11 There were three women in Vincennes married to men named Godere. One of the others, Marie-Therese (Campagnot) Godere (~1745-1803), makes a better fit for the story, and anecdotes passed down through her family credits her as being Madame Godere. This is mentioned in the book in footnote 11.
12 Creole (French) Pioneers at Old Post Vincennes, Joyce Doyle, Loy Followell, Elizabeth Kargacos, Bernice Mutchmore, and Paul R. King, 1930s
13 Find-a-Grave listing of Louis Godere
14 “Who Was Madame Godare,” Vincennes Sun-Commerical, 29 Jan 2017
15 Ravellette’s from Indiana Roys, Griffith, etc, Orval L. Ravellette, genealogy.com
16 Marriage record of Louis Ravallet and Agnes Codere, I. M.
17 Death record of Marie Godere, widow of Honore Dany, A complete survey of cemetery records, Knox County, Indiana, collected and compiled by Mrs. Alta Amsler, 1975, p. 302
18 Baptismal record of Honore Denis, I., B & C.
19 Baptism of Louis Godere, “Records of the Parish of St. Francis Xavier,” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, Vol. 12, 1901, p. 205
20 Death record of Louis Gaudere, A complete survey of cemetery records, Knox County, Indiana, p. 300
21 Baptismal record of Felicité Coder, I., B & C.
22 Burial record of Felicite Gaudere, I., D. & B.
23 Marriage record of Alexander Valeix and Felicite Coder, I. M.
24 Baptismal record of Pierre Coder, I., B & C.
25 Baptismal record of Jean Baptist Coder, I., B & C.
26 Baptismal record of François Godere, I., B & C.
27 WikiTree listing of Pierre François Godere
28 Marriage record of François Godere and Marie Boneau, I. M.
29 Marriage record of François Godere and Genevieve Carie, I. M.
30 Baptismal record of Elizabeth Godere, I., B & C.
31 Baptismal record of Marie Louise Coder, I., B & C.
32 Burial record of Marie Louise Godere, I., D. & B.
33 Marriage record of François Cadoret and Marie Louise Godere, I. M.
34 Baptismal record of Joseph Codere, I., B & C.
35 Baptismal record of Françoise Codere, I., B & C.
