| The History of Our Research |
November 1979 My first visit to the Holy Cross Cemetery in Marquette Michigan was with Leo and Howard Dushane. It was there that my research began when I saw the tombstone of John Dushane. December 1979 I made my first visit to the Peter White Library in Marquette Michigan to look for the obituary of John Dushane in the local newspaper, The Mining Journal. April 1980 Spent time at the PWL to locate known family member's obituaries. June 1980 Contacted the sexton at Holy Cross Cemetery to learn the names of other Dushane's buried there. Also learned the name of John Dushane's father, Thomas Dushane. September 1980 Made the first visit to the Marquette County Clerks office to research Marriage Records. Found the record of John Dushane and Mary Kolka. Confirmed the name of John Dushane's father, Thomas. November 18, 1980 Gave birth to our daughter Danielle Elaine Dushane. May 5, 1982 Gave birth to our son Sean Howard Dushane January 1983 Returned to the PWL to continue researching obituaries in the old newspapers. Located William Albert Dushane, son of Albert Dushane and Pansy Haywood Dove October 1983 Returned to the PWL. Learned about the old Marquette City Directories. Tried to locate as many family members as I could. Found individuals with same surname that I was unable to link to our known ancestors. Learned of different spellings of the surname. November 1983 Did more research of the Marquette City Directories at the PWL. Complied a list of individuals with the surname Dushane, Duchane, Duchene, Duschene. Continued research of the Mining Journal looking for the names of individuals that I had compiled from the directories. April 1984 Spent a great deal of time reading the old Mining Journal's at the PWL, looking for anything of interest. September 1985 Researched old church records of baptisms and marriages. May 1986 Leo went on active duty with the Michigan National Guard. Relocated to lower Grayling, Michigan. June 1987 Searched the Mining Journal for birth notices. September 1988 Searched the Mining Journal for death notices. June 1989 Searched the death records at the Marquette County Clerk's Office June 1992 Researched marriage records with the Catholic Churches in Marquette, Michigan September 1993 Researched baptismal records with the Catholic Churches in Marquette, Michigan June 1994 By this time we had located birth, baptismal, marriage and death records for Albert Dushane, Louis Dushane, John Mangum Dushane and Leo Dushane. We had also located birth records for their children. September 1994 Researched Albert Dushane's family. Sought out information about his wife Pansy Haywood, daughter Leona Margaret and located birth and death records for son William Albert. April 1995 Searched the cemeteries in Marquette County looking for the parents of John Dushane. Compiled a list of other individuals with the surnames Dushane, Duchane, Duschene and Duchene. October 1995 Researched David Pickett, brother in law of John Dushane. September 1996 Researched Mary Haglund, wife of Phillip Dushane. September 1997 Bought a computer and went online. Joined a genealogy list and submitted a limited amount of information about our ancestors in hopes that someone would have knowledge of them. 1998 Received a great deal of feedback from my postings to many genealogy lists online. Couldn't connect other Dushane's to our ancestors though. Corresponded with Jeannot Duchesne from Quebec who claimed our ancestors were her missing link. She wasn't able to provide us with any information that confirmed that. 1999 Corresponded with many individuals throughout lower Michigan with the name Dushane. Was not able to link them with our ancestors. Corresponded with Thomas LaBonte from Wisconsin. He is the grandson of Robert Dushane and Mary LaBonte Dushane who lived in Negaunee in the early 1900's. Learned the name of John Dushane's Mother, Ellen Poliquin. Located her death record and burial information. 2000 Found a posting online with known ancestors names submitted by Brian Freehan. The information told us that Brian is the son of Leona Margaret Dushane, daughter of Albert Dushane. This was a breakthrough. Contacted Brian by phone...it was quite an experience after so many years of research. Held our first Dushane Family Reunion in September. 2001 Researched Frank and Bartholomew Dushane who lived in Negaunee and Ishpeming in the late 1800's, early 1900's. Couldn't find a definite link but believe they may be the brothers of Thomas Dushane, father of John Dushane. 2002 Found the Thomas Dushane family in the 1881 Canada Census. Learned the age of Thomas, the birthplace of John, the names of other children in the family and where the family immigrated from. This information will take our research in many new directions as we continue our research. Held our second Dushane Family Reunion in July. |
 |