Profile: Henri Emile Amond Menilus d'Assonville
Sex: Male
Father: Armand Octave Marie D'allonville
Mother: Elisa Rosine Tinart
Birth:
26 Jul 1834 in Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France; Alternative birthplace: Liege (Luik), Belgium/Rysel, Belgium/Lille, France
Military Service:
Nov 1857 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India; Took part in the Relief of Lucknow before migrating to South Africa
Immigration:
1859 in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa; Migrated from France.
"She was married to the late Monsieur Henri Emile D'Assonville, who landed in Port Elizabeth in 1859"
Arrived with 3 French friends, Tiran, Chezé, Deschamps and Englishman Scouts
Marriage:
Aletta Frederika Terblans: 15 Dec 1864 in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Business:
1866 in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa; Opened Assegaaibosch Hotel
Freemasons
5 Dec 1871 - admission to United Grand Lodge of England Freemason, General Trader, Port Elizabeth Lodge.
Travelled To Paris:
1873 in Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, France; Travelled to Paris to seek cure for stomach cancer. 3 of Children attend school in Paris.
Baptism:
1881 in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Death:
25 Sep 1908 in Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa; Cause: Stomach Cancer
Burial:
Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Children:
Gustave Adolphe Dassonville
Louisa Margaret Dassonville
Maria Catharina Dassonville
Amand Fidele Constant Dassonville
Victor Edouard d'Assonville
Jules Albert Solomon Dassonville
Constance Malvina Dassonville
Henri Emile Dassonville
Good Evening.
My mother is the youngest daughter of Henri Emile d’Assonville, son of Henri Emile d’Assonville (married to Aletta Frederika Terblanche) and she turns 100 on 13 April 2019. She is in reasonably good health and lives in an old age home in Uitenhage, East Cape.
I am just curious about the names of the parents of Henri Emile d’Assonville – where did you obtain the info from? I have it as Gustave Adolphe d’Assonville (could be d’Allonville) and his wife’s names as Constance Louise Mahiels, but I cannot find any info about above names. Maybe our family was on the wrong track all the time?
Hi Myrna,
I was also interested to know about Henri’s parents.
I am Arnaud, my grandfather was Arnaud d’Assonville and my grandmother was Theresa d’Assonville). My father is Jules. My Ouma Theresa always spoke of you Myrna, as having all the info on the family history. 🙂
If you feel like touching base, please feel free to contact me: arnaud_d68@hotmail.com
Hi Myrna & Arnaud,
Thanks for reading, and commenting on this post! My apologies for the late reply, I don’t get much time on this anymore.
I also found the information on Gustave and Constance on Geni, but there was no supporting information and I could not find any supporting information. My investigation was led by the snippets of information I found published about Henri and Aletta d’Assonville. Particularly the reference to French nobility.
There are no records I could find of any French nobility named d’Assonville, so that was a dead end.
What led me to the d’Assonville/d’Allonville connection is a profile on Aletta d’Assonville in 1935 Women of South Africa, where it is specifically stated that Henri d’Assonville’s father served in the Charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War as General d’Assonville.
Luckily there are extremely good records for this, so I approached the Crimean War Historical Society and they helped me track down the d’Assonvilles. There was no d’Assonville that served in the French or English military at all during that time, but there was an Armand d’Allonville who served in the Charge of the Light Brigade as General d’Allonville.
It is no smoking gun, but it’s the closest link I could find. It could be a mixture of family legend and fact that has led me down the garden path – happy to be corrected if you come across any documents showing otherwise 🙂
Thanks again for reading!
Hi Simon,
Thank you for sharing this information.
I’m a descendant of Henri Emile d’Assonville and I found this very interesting. You have also filled in some gaps in my knowledge of our family history. The d’Assonville’s also owned a chateau in Belgium (then still a part of France). I also have more old family photos and ones of the Assegaaibosch Hotel, should you wish to contact me.
Cheers,
Arnaud Jules d’Assonville
Hallo both Arnaud and Simon. I have not visited this site for a very long time and wish to thank you both for your replies.
I tend to agree with your family legend theory re the general serving in the army, Simon. I wrote to a French gentleman from whom this info was apparently obtained, but the reply from him (via a secretary, or such) was that he was quite ill and had no recollection of having given out such information. This baffled me, but I also could not find any evidence of a general d’Assonville in the French Army. I even checked the names on the Arc de Triomphe (by studying photo’s of the names) and came up with nothing.
I did however visit the castle Bouchout in Meise, Belgium, which belonged to the d’Assonville family for a very short period of time. It made for a very enjoyable visit.
There was reference (maybe also speculation?) of Henri Emile and his family growing up in a castle next to a river somewhere in France, but the Bouchout was not it.
My mom turned 102 on 13 April 2021 and is a bit frail and in quite some pain, but still doing needlework by hand and walking with a stroller. Her mind is still relatively sound.
Thank you for all your efforts – much appreciated.
I hope through this Covid19 pandemic that you are all safe and well.
Kind regards
Myrna Nortje
myrnanortje@yahoo.com
+27 82 733 4041