This is the funeral record of John Bard, my great-great-great grandfather, who came from Germany in 1846 with his wife and son. The handwritten record is from the parish records of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Beaverville, Iroquois County, IL. The record is in French, as the community was settled by French-Canadians in the 1840's. A new family mystery has come to light in this document! John Bard is noted to be the widower of Lady Wasnay, but my g-g-g-grandmother's name was Cecelia "Lilly" Brend Bard.Lilly died in 1883, but there is no funeral record at St. Mary's for her -- she is buried in the cemetery there! There is a written funeral record for a "Lady Wasnay, the spouse of John Bard" in 1883 when Lilly died. Why was Cecelia "Lilly" Brend Bard listed as Lady Wasnay in the church funeral records? Was she an aristocrat of some sort? Is Wasnay a reference to where she was born? This is the new family mystery I need to solve!
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