Origins of DuBois and Brunel families and Surname translation information.

Note Father:
A report of the Reverend Mr. W. Twyman Williams dated 24 July 1937 and communication with Mr. S. Gordon Smythe called attention to a statement in E. de Valcourt-Vermont's America Heraldica that Chretien du Bois of Wicres, a village near Lille, belonged to the family of DuBois who were Seigneurs of La Bourse and Beaufermez, two old family estates in the vicinity of Lille. Mr. Williams found an Antoine du Bois, of the DuBois de Fiennes family, but in a cadet branch founded the latter part of the fourteenth century, who was Seigneur de la Bourse, as his ancestors had been for five or six generations, and who became Seigneur de Beaufermez by his marriage to Philipotte de Landas, Dame de Beaufermez. Wallerand du Bois, son of Antoine and Philipotte de Landas Dame de Beaufermez-du Bois, first of his line to be by inheritance Seigneur both of La Bourse and of Beaufermez, married 1583, Madelein de Croix. Wallerand and Madeleine de Croix-du Bois thus lived at the right place and the right time to have been the parents of Chretien du Bois, father of Louis, the emigrant to New York. For since the Parish Register of La Bassee (in which Wicres is situated) shows that Chretien du Bois had at least two sons older than Louis, who was born in 1627, Chretien could not have been born much later than 1600 at latest, not too late for the birth of a son to parents married in 1583. A later report of the Reverend Mr. W. Twyman Williams dated 24 July 1937 states: "A communication from Monsieur J. S. Willems-Le Clercq of Brussels, an accredited genealogist of the Institute, gives only negative values of proving that the wanted records were NOT to be found in the church registers of Leyden. The genealogist wrote that he had examined the Cambrai Historical Society's publications, in which are genealogies of families resident at or near Wicres and known to have inter-married with the du Bois of that locality, and also the state archives at Gand, where in the 17th century were kept records of the court within the jurisdiction of which Wicres then belonged. "In the data thus far received there were several items of positive value, corroborating, so far as they go, Mr. Williams' conclusion that our ancestor, Chretien du Bois of Wicres, was a son of Wallerand du Bois who married 1583 Madeleine de Croix.

First: the estate of Beaufermez, of which Wallerand du Bois was Seigneur, is proved to have been situated at Wicres. The value of this item is apparent in connection with the hitherto unsupported statement of America Heraldica that Beaufermez was one of the estates possessed by the ancestors of Chretien du Bois.

Second: the family to which Madeleine de Croix belonged also had estates in the commune of Wicres.

Third: estates at Wicres owned by several du Bois and by 'the Seigneur of Beaufermez (Bauffremez)' adjoined estates of the family Billau (Bilyou), one of whom is known to have married a daughter of Chretien du Bois. We have a record of this marriage in Leyden, and in New York a record mentioning Louis DuBois as uncle of a daughter of this marriage."

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