A Sunday in God-Years by Michelle Boisseau

As someone who finds herself immersed in the history of her family, imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered A Sunday in God-Years by Michelle Boisseau.  Michelle is the granddaughter of Florence Ryan and FitzPatrick Boisseau.

I was not aware of the history of the Boisseau family at all -- if I had a family with as interesting a history as this family, I would feel compelled to write a book about them, too.  But Michelle is a poet -- and I could never duplicate her way with words.

Her book lists nine generations of Boisseaus. (You can view the history by clicking on the image and then magnifying it). The first generation of immigrants came from France in 1685.  They were Huguenots (French Protestants). Since our family is largely Catholic, I was surprised to read that the initial immigrant was Rev. James Boisseau and his wife Sarah Holmes.  I wonder if the transition to "Catholic" occurred when Florence Ryan came into the picture.

One section of her book is titled "Fitz Patrick Boisseau".  This name is woven through multiple generations of the Boisseau family.  To use Michelle's words:

Odd name.  Yoked way back.  It was the name of my good brother, Pat, the name of my talented fuckup of a father, John Fitz Patrick Boisseau, died of wounds received fighting for the Confederacy.

. . . Each man supported the name "Fitz Patrick Boisseau" like a family cowlick or cancer . . .

My dead brother, Pat, spent twenty years on the warm side of brilliant, funny, kind, admirable, then thirty-three years wandering the woods of the madlands where devils hang like possums from branches, where Jesus is a volcano, and like a hank of hair your soul is yanked from your body by a passing pickup while you talk on a pay phone to your sister.

I am nothing but curious now.  Is this quote a literal account of how Pat died?  If so, how tragic.  I've always found it a challenge to discuss mental illness in any of its forms.  Her language moves me.  I feel the pain.

Today I visited Spring Grove Cemetery in search of graves.  Three generations of Fitz Patrick Boisseaus are buried there, as well as my Great-Aunt Florence and Pat's second wife, Lois.  They are not all in the same plot and I stopped checking after finding this grave.

I know there are some good things that came from all of this.  On one of the interviews Michelle gave, she discussed  a book her father gave her that had been in the family for some time. It was a book written by Longfellow that had been given to Michelle's grandfather in the 1890s. Her father, Pat, presented it to her when she received her PhD.

I hope that Michelle and her siblings find this blog and gain understanding by reading about their "Ryan" side of the family.  The more I learn about my ancestors, the more blessed I feel on every level.

PRX Radio Interview   This is a link to a radio interview Michelle did for her university.  Very interesting.

Read Michelle Boisseau's response in the comment section below.

Florence Ryan Boisseau and FitzPatrick Boisseau

I love the stories -- and boy does Florence Margaret Ryan have one.  Florence, born December 30, 1895, was truly the middle child of James Hugh and Rose Ryan.  She was the fifth of nine children.

Florence married FitzPatrick Boisseau, a Southern Gentleman, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia.  Mr. Boisseau was a Freight Manager for the railroads and came to Cincinnati about 1888.  Much of what I learned about Florence and her husband was told by her granddaughter, Michelle Boisseau, on a youtube video.  Click on the link Virginia in Verse and start playing at about minute 33.

The Boisseau grandchildren never knew their grandfather, as he died at the age of 77 in 1941.  On the video Michelle says that her grandfather, whom she describes as an elderly gentleman, met Florence in a drug store where she worked as a pharmacist.  She speculates that her grandfather, who was 58 years old when he married Florence on October 24, 1925, "was looking for a young wife . . . to take care of him."  As there was a 28 year difference in their ages, I think that is a fair observation.

I'm trying to put myself in Florence's position.  I imagine the years when she was growing up, the family was typical of many at that time, as it is unfair to compare their standard of living with what we consider to be middle class today.  She was 18 years old when her father died, leaving the family in poverty.  She was 30 years old and unmarried when this older gentleman showed an interest and the promise of a comfortable life.  Who wouldn't consider it?

In addition, Florence became the mother of a son, FitzPatrick Boisseau, in 1926.  When "Pat" was just 12 years old, his father died leaving Florence a widow.  Florence doted on her only child and he was provided with every advantage.  He attended Summit, an elite private school in Cincinnati.  He was extremely bright and landed a job in both radio and television in Cincinnati.  Apparently his privileged background did not provide him with the coping skills needed to deal with a wife and nine children.  Their marriage ended in divorce.

The April 1, 1996 obituary published in the Cincinnati Post included this information:

Veteran Cincinnati broadcast newsman Fitz Patrick ''Pat'' Boisseau, 69, died Saturday at Mount Washington Care Center. Mr. Boisseau spent more than 30 years in broadcast news here on both WLW radio and WKRC-TV. Between 1951 and 1952, he worked for the U.S. Information Service as a radio officer in Bangkok, Thailand. He left WKRC-TV in 1963. He joined WLW in 1967, where he remained until 1982.

A more realistic portrayal of the family history was found on a posting re: Michelle.  For the full story, go to PoetryNet.org

Michelle Boisseau was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1955, into a family that by 1964 grew to baseball-team size: Fitz Patrick (Pat), Jonathan, Michelle, Madeline, Nancy, Robert, Charles, Barbara, Denise. Her parents had long ties with Cincinnati, though Boisseau's paternal grandfather had come from Virginia and was a descendent of Huguenots who fled France in 1685. In the mid 1960's their mother, a commercial artist, returned to work when her husband, a radio and television news broadcaster, had a series of manic episodes. Boisseau's parents separated and were later divorced.

I'm going to deviate from my normal pattern and post some information about the Boisseau family history in the next post.  Michelle made the job easy by publishing a  book.  It is so interesting.  Stay tuned.