Descendants of François Vifquin

Table of Contents

• Descendants
• Surname List
• Name Index
• Download GEDCOM file (163738 bytes)

Prepared by:

Brian Cole
1665 E. 12700 E.
Draper, UT 84020

Send e-mail with corrections, additions, links, or other info to: brian@realvalue.net

Biographies

• Caroline Vifquain history, presented by Sally Stauffer Vifquain at the Vifquain Reunion Aug 3rd, 2002, Estes Park, CO. (PDF Version for printing)
• Victor Vifquain Biography.  This was done by a group from Belgium who are interested in Civil War Soldiers from Belgium.  I translated this from French using a computer program, but I don't know French, so it may be difficult to understand.

Pictures

I scanned in some pictures pictures from about 1880 to 1915 here.

Pictures from the Summer 2002 Vifquain Reunion

Panama Canal

Victor Vifquain was the United States General Consul for 8 years (according to newspaper article)during the construction of the Panama Canal.  I'm going to take a trip to the Panama Canal in a few months, so I'm researching info about this.  I'll post what I find.  I have cropped out and deleted the unnecessary pages due to space limitations.

The French tried to build a sea-level canal (without the locks that are there today) from 1880 and gave up in 1897 after the death of 22,000 workers.  They were trying to repeat the success that they had in building the Suez canal, but it was not the same type of environment - a desert versus a mudslide prone rainforest full of disease.  In 1903 the United States helped Panama gain independence from Columbia.  The United States started work on the canal in 1904, this time with a series of locks, and finished in 1914.

Info from Sally Vifquain's history of Caroline Vifquain:

"It is unlikely that the older sons traveled with them this time, as Victor was 34 and Elmer 32, both married. Theresa was 29 but unmarried, John was 27 and had married in 1889, (he would return to work in Panama from 1908 to 1914), Marion was 25. Carrie was 21 when they traveled to Panama. But died there in 1895 and her body was later return to Lincoln for burial as her final request. Charles Joy was 19 years old, and Josephine, age 13. Caroline may have shared her husband's concern for the exploited Chinese people they found in Panama, but it was Victor who was awarded the order of the Double Dragon by the Emperor of China for aiding the Chinese subjects in Panama. After another six years of living away from Nebraska, the family returned to live in Lincoln in 1897."

• New York Times:  9 Feb, 1896: "Panama Transit Business.  Comments Officially Made by United States Consul Vifquain"
• Public Health Reports, Treasury Department: Vol. XII No 28, 9 July 1897.  Discussion of yellow fever.
• Public Health Reports, Treasury Department: Vol. XII No 30, 23 July 1897.  Discussion of yellow fever. Vice Consul-General C. J. Vifquain is probably Victor's son H. Charles Joy Vifquain.  He would have been about 23 years old at that time.
• Kentucky Public Ledger: 17 Sept 1897.  Vifquain says that Africans that had been working on the canal would be sent back to their native country.
• The Daily Nebraskan: 16 Jan 1902.  Vifquain promotes completion of the route through Panama versus a canal through Nicaragua.
• The Canal Record: 1 Jul 1908.  Documents a chess match.  One of the teams was led by "B. M. Vifquain" (Blakely Marion).  He would have been about 40 years old in 1908.  It would appear that Blakely was involved with the construction of the canal when the United States was working on it.

Links

Here are all the links that I could find that relate to Vifquain:

 

The 1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis - Ordering Information Amazon.com: The 1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis CWBN Book Review: The 1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis   Amazon.com:   A Frenchman fights for the Union : Victor Vifquain and the 97th Illinois

Links

• Illinois Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (1)
• Illinois Civil War Medal of Honor Recipients (2)
• Nebraska Commandery Original Members and Officers (1885-1902) of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the US (MOLLUS)
• Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Saline Co.
• Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Saline Co. - Part 2
• Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Saline Co. - Part 5
• Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Lancaster Co. - Part 7
• Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska - Nebraska as a state - Part 9
• Opposing Forces: Battle of Mobile Bay, 1864
• Fort Blakely, Alabama
• Siege of Fort Blakely, Alabama

If you have a link to add, e-mail me at brian@realvalue.net

Vifquain Family Reunion 2012?

• Info will be posted if available.

Last Updated 24 Feb 2011