Where They Lived ...

2 - France

Metz * St-Dizier * Paris-St Denis-Senlis * Amiens-Lille

Metz and St Dizier.In the 16 th century we find the surname Pincemaille in the regions of Metz and St-Dizier. Metz , 57 Moselle, Lorraine belonged to a region in balance between the German Empire and the Kingdom of France. To the South-West of Metz we have near St-Dizier the village Thonnance-lès-Joinville, Haute-Marne (52), Champagne active in 1552 in the battle of Metz. This regions were till the 16 th century ruled by different local autorities, all bounded to the German Empire. After 1552 they gradually came under the dominance of France

• Metz: The branch of the Pincemailles around Metz started in a small place Vany falling under Failly.   They were winegrowers (vigneron-î, wijnbouwer-Nl) and they are living till today in and around Metz. But in 1872  after the defeat of France against Germany some of them born in Elsace-Lorraine but living at that time outside this territory choosed for the French nationality and we will find them in the Provence, Paris and Bretagne.We will find from the beginning also some Pincemailles  in the city of Metz and one of them was a well known freemason Erasme Pincemaille, "maître perruquier de la paroisse St Victor" (~parfumier) and member of the lodge "Saint Jean de la Candeur". When he wrote in 1763 a book "Conversations allégoriques organisées par la sagesse, 13H., London 1763" he was publically accused to sell for his own profit the secrets and the rites of the lodge. Surpriseling he was not a descendant of the  Pincemailles from Vany but his origins were Dinant in Belgium. .
  • Vany  ( Failly): The parish registers of the marriages in Failly only start in 1674. Therefore we were lucky to find a notarial deed (see original text on parchment) of the " Amandellerie de Ste Croix-Metz " dated 23 Nov 1623   . In that year the old Simon Pincemaille , wine-grower  who lived in Vany near Metz gived all his properties  to his children who must supply him with all what was necessary to live and also sufficient wine. An important part of all the French Pincemailles will find their origins here. Some members of the family and as far as we can see the poorer migrated in the direction of Luxemburg to places like Ennery as for example Jean-François Pinsemaille after his marriage in 1775,   but others probably also to Basse-Ham and Mamer (Luxemburg). Others choosed in 1872 after the defeat against Germany for France while living at that time outside Alsaze-Lorraine. We find them in Nîmes (Provence), Bretagne or Paris.
    • Basse-Ham : we found some people in 1786- 1826, surname first Pinsmal(e) then Pinsmail and Pincemail.
    • Mamer (Lux) ->Usa: Theodore Pincemaille ° in Chieuilles near Metz mover first to Mamer in Luxemburg, but some years after his marriage he emigrated to America. He arrived March 1853 at the Port of New York. and  travelled from there to Holy Cross,Ozaukee Co, Wisconsin where a lot of Luxemburgers tried to start a new live. They leaved their country where they get only famine and diseases following bad harvests (potato crisis 1845-1850). This family americanised their family name to Passmel in 1883. This branch has ended today.
• St-Dizier: This branch of the Pincemaille family started in Thonnance-lès-Joinville, near St-Dizier  and some descendants live there till today. They also were winegrowers. But from ca 1616 we find them also in Eclaron.
  • Thonnance-lès-Joinville We have traces of this Pincemaille family in 1477 and in 1538:
    1. between 1476 and 1477 a certain Jean Pincemaille of Thonnance was during 6 months in military service as sergeant. He received therefore 15 s. t. Remember that the 5th of january 1477 was the day of the defeat of the duke of Bourgondy near Nancy and maybe he was involved in this battle. 
    2. In 1538 the local duc affranchised the population of Thonnance and Suzanne-court by a letter of "affranchisement"  (Nl-vrijlating lijfeigenen) on  august 31th 1538. We find in this letter the following Pincemailles: Jehan, Guyot, Didier, Geofîoy. Original transcriptions have been made in 1605 and 1626 and can be found in the "AD de la Marne". Important is that François de Guise "duc de Guise, Seigneur de Joinville(52)" and head of the "Catholic League" in France lead the battle for Metz in 1552. So the question arises if there is some connection from this period between the branches in Metz and Thonnance-lès-Joinville.

    We have found in Thonnance-lès-Joinville descendants of an Antoine Pincemaille  deceased before 1605. But between 1624 and 1653 a number of parish registers are lost and we have diificulties to link some of the grandchildren of Antoine with the married grandchildren. . We have most information of Didier Pincemaille a grandchild of Antoine.  Descendants of this Didier give us in the 19th and 20th century a family of ingeneers who lived also in Algery.

  • Eclaron: Louis Pincemaille, son of Gillis x Suzanne de la Ferté,  born in 1616 married in 1644 with Antoinette Jacquot. of Eclaron.  It's possible that he was born in Thonnance.

A lot of research has yet to be done and I can give only some typical exemples of immigration and emigration from before 1800.

• Paris-Roissy-Senlis region. 

  Allready  in 1532 we find  a Pincemaille in Paris namely the priest Thomas Pincemaille, originary from Picardy.

  In the 17th and 18th century we find also a lot of Pincemailles in official functions in the parliament of Paris and some of them came from Villeneuve-sur -Verberie. Others from Roissy and St Denis came also to Paris in the 18th century. They were craftsmen  (F: artisan, Nl: ambachtslui).

  •  Paris: Thomas Pincemaille We find there a priest Thomas Pincemaille, canon of the church Notre-Dame of Noyon about 90 km North of Paris. He was mentionned in 1532 as Thomas de Pinchemaille, the Picard,  and  rector of the university of Paris. The 1st October  1543 he made a gift to his sister and her husband who was a "drapier". They had the choice: 20 "livres tournois" being the yearly interest (rente annuelle-î) of a house in the faubourg St-Marcel-lez-Paris or half of the house rent (huur-Nl, loyer-î) of the same house as far as there will be peace between the King of France and the Emperor  (The Emperor Charles V reconquered in 1525 the city of Tournai). All this elements indicate that this family could be original from Tournai (B).
  • Roissy We find also about the same time a family  in Roissy, Val d'Oise 95, probably a crosspoint for people going to Paris and ? coming from Senlis /Compiègene or from Crépy-en-Valois. The people in Roissy were craftsmen (F: artisan, Nl: ambachtslui) like cartwright (F: Charron, Nl: wagenmaker) etc and farmers, but at a smaller scale as in Villeneuve-sous-Verberie. Etienne Pinsemaille, born 1596. He married 3times. One of his sons Charles Pincemaille went to Villepinte and one of his sons Noêl Pincemaille,( marchand bonnetier) married in 1721 Marie Teinturier and was  hatter (F: bonnetier, Nl: hoedenmaker) in Paris. 
  • Senlis, Oise (60) , Picardie. There we will find big farms to supply Paris the capital of France with food. We will find the surname Pincemaille in the 17th/18th century in the triangle Senlis, Compiègne and Crépy-en-Valois around the mount Cornon. We find yet  a Pincemaille, bourgeois of Compiègne in 1310. Later on we find them from 1600 on around  Villeneuve-sur-Verberie on the road between Compiegne and Senlis.
    • Villeneuve-sous-Verberie, Oise(60), Pic:   in places like  Raray, Bethisy-St-Pierre, Le Luat,  Villeneuve-sous-Verberie, Ruly etc. The Pincemaille of Villeneuve-sur-Verberie on the road between Senlis and Compiègne are the most important and maybe they are  also the ascendants of the Pincemailles in Bordeaux. We find some of their descendants also in official functions in the parliament of Paris.
    • Senlis-> Bordeaux: Martin Pincemaille named "de Rochelle", bourgeois of Bordeaux deceased before 1741 and son of Martin Pincemaille  bourgeois of Senlis, was  in the service of the king of France as " receveur des droits du Roy" in Bordeaux. We have genealogical information till 1832, but some descendants lived there till about 1980.
    • Chevrières: Although we find between 1600 and 1700 Pinchemaille families in Chevrières 10 km north of Villeneuve we could not establish a link with the Villeneuve branch. They were "manoeuvrier" what means day labouror or "journalier" and thus on a lower level of the society than the families of Villeneuve.

• Amiens  Lille. We find there people with the surname Pinchemel (sometimes PincheNel), Pinchemaille and Pinchemail. The only region where we found till now before 1600 the CH in the family name is the southly part of the region Kortrijk-Oudenaarde-Tournai and Mons in Hainault.
  • Amiens, Somme(80), Picardie. We find the surnames Pinchemel  south of Amiens in Hailles and Quevauvillers and Pinchemaille north of Amiens in  Varennes.  The first mentionning we find in Boves, when Adam Pinchemelle in 1507 put his mark on a document of "coutumes locales".
    • Hailles: They were probably also farmers. They live till today in the region, part of a genealogy has been made.
    • Quevauvillers: We will find here the same patronyme Pinchemel, starting with Adrien Pinchemel born ca 1635, we will find in his descendants a lot of first names Adrien. He was a bricklayer (F: macon, Nl: metselaar) and under his descendants we find  postmasters and people in the production of ribbons (F: passementiers, Nl: lintenmakers, sters)". A book has been published by a descendant P. Pinchemel about the depopulation of  rural Picardie.
    • Varennes, Somme(80, Picardie. We know of a Firmin Pinchemaille born 1680. Part of a genalogy has been made till about 1800. Descendants till today around Varennes, north of Amiens and in Amiens. But yet in 1569 we found  25 km above Varennes in Saulty and Rebreuve-sur-Conche, (hamlet la Couture), 62, Nord-Pas de Calais a Simon Pinchemaille in a taxlist of Artois under the spanish Habsbourgers.    
  • Lille, (59), Nord. We find here the surname Pinchemail at the borderline with Belgium (Mouscron). They live till today in the region, but maybe some of them migrated in the 20th century to the dep. Loiret(45), Centre. A genealogy has not been made.
  • Boulogne -sur-mer (Pas-de-Calais): Beuvrequen near Boulogne-sur-mer. We find in march 1305 an inventory of the habitants of this village with Eustachius Pinchemaille and his sons