Ferdinand Désiré Joseph Copesmette

Lifespan: 1835-11-22 — 1923 (lived to age 87)

Summary

Eldest known child of Alexis Joseph Copesmette and Julienne Désirée Meuron. Born in Mélin, Brabant Wallon, Belgium on November 22, 1835 — the very same date of the year that his younger brother Isidore would be born nine years later. Named Ferdinand Désiré Joseph at the civil register, but went by Désiré (his mother’s name in masculine form) throughout his American life.

Emigrated with the Copesmette family to Wisconsin — likely the same 1856 emigration that brought his brother Isidore (per Isidore’s “44 years in US” entry on the 1900 census), when Désiré would have been about 20.

By 1870 he was settled in Green Bay (1st Ward), Brown County — not Red River, Kewaunee County, where his brother Isidore farmed. Worked as a stone cutter, the same trade as his father Alexis in Mélin. Owned $700 of real estate. Married to Josephine (b. ~1837, Belgium); four children present in the 1870 household: Marcella (b. 1861), Isadore (b. 1864), Paulina (b. 1866), Francis (b. 1868). All four children Wisconsin-born. The 1870 census enumerator already spelled the surname as Coppersmith — Désiré’s branch Americanized the name about a generation earlier than Isidore’s branch did.

Relationships

• Parents: Alexis Joseph Copesmette (1811–1889, Mélin → Red River) & Julienne Désirée Meuron (1815–1891, Mélin → Green Bay)
• Brother: Isidore Joseph Coppesmette (1844–1911) — the direct line to Foggy. Different community in Wisconsin (Red River farming), different surname spelling (kept Coppesmette longer).
• Spouse: Josephine Fumal (b. 25 February 1837, Piétrain, Brabant, Belgium — daughter of François “Frank” Joseph Fumal, b. ~1814, and Florence Joseph Filée, b. ~1816). Piétrain is ~10 km from Mélin, suggesting Désiré met her either before emigrating or through the Belgian Walloon community in Brown County.
• Children: at least 8 per FamilySearch (4 sons + 4 daughters). Four are visible in the 1870 census; the other four were born after 1870 and remain unnamed in our records.
  • Marcella Coppersmith (b. 1861, Wisconsin)
  • Isadore Coppersmith (b. 1864, Wisconsin) — named after his uncle Isidore
  • Paulina Coppersmith (b. 1866, Wisconsin)
  • Francis Coppersmith (b. 1868, Wisconsin)
  • • 4 more (3 sons + 1 daughter, or other split summing to 4) born after 1870 — unnamed

Sources

• Mélin civil register, 21 November 1835 — birth declaration. Father: Alexis Copesmette (24, tailleur de pierre, Mélin). Mother: Julienne Désirée Meuron (20, couturière, Mélin). Witnesses: Henry Joseph Larys (clerc d’église, age 31), Pierre Joseph Nelis (tailleur d’habits, age 48). Registrar: Ernest Meuleman, Officier de l’état civil de la commune de Mélin, province de Brabant.
• 1870 US Census, 1st Ward City of Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin (enumerated 3 August 1870 by Daniel M. Whitney, Ass’t Marshal). Page 25, dwelling 182, family 180. Listed as “Coppersmith Desire,” age 34, male, Stone Cutter, real estate $700, born Belgium, both parents foreign-born, cannot read/write (col. 16/17). Eligible male citizen (col. 19 marked).
• Geneanet (gw.geneanet.org) — gives death year as 1923 (lived to age 87 — longest of the 9 known siblings).

Research Notes

• Naming: Born Ferdinand Désiré Joseph; preferred Désiré (matronymic, masculine form). Census-takers and clerks wrote it as “Desire” or “Désiré.”
• Trade inheritance: Alexis was a stone cutter in Mélin (per the 1835 register). Désiré carried the same trade across the Atlantic to Green Bay. Stone cutting in 1860s–70s Green Bay would have been steady — civic buildings, foundations, headstones (notably, Isidore + Celestine’s eventual Allouez headstone may have been cut by family).
• Two brothers, two communities: Désiré urban (Green Bay, stone-cutting), Isidore rural (Red River, farming). They likely stayed in close contact but the records branch into separate counties.
• Naming his son Isadore (b. 1864) — same name as his brother Isidore, born just months apart in 1844 in Belgium. The two Isadores are about 20 years apart in age (uncle/nephew). Easy source of past confusion in derivative records.
• Spouse Josephine’s identity — now resolved as Josephine Fumal, b. Feb 25, 1837 in Piétrain, Brabant. Her parents were François Joseph Fumal and Florence Joseph Filée. Piétrain is in the same Walloon Brabant region as Mélin (~10 km away). The Gauthier household at the next dwelling in 1870 is therefore not in-laws — just Belgian neighbors.
• FamilySearch error to watch: FamilySearch’s profile for Josephine grafts on Désirée Meuron’s death info (July 18, 1891, Green Bay, Saint Paul Wrightstown). That’s Désirée’s death, mis-merged. Josephine’s actual death date and burial are unknown to us — find via 1880/1900/1910 census or Brown County death records.
• Next steps for this branch:
  • 1880 + 1900 + 1910 + 1920 census for Désiré’s household — would name the 4 post-1870 children, document his late life, give exact death date (he lived until 1923, so likely appears in all four enumerations).
  • Death date and burial: Geneanet gives 1923 — search Brown County / Green Bay death records 1923 for “Désiré” / “Desire” / “Ferdinand” Coppersmith; check Allouez, Woodlawn, and other Green Bay Catholic cemeteries.
  • Allouez and Woodlawn cemeteries in Green Bay — likely burial site for Désiré and Josephine.
  • Brown County marriage records for “Desire Coppersmith” + Josephine Fumal, ~1859–1860.
  • Piétrain civil registers (Belgian Brabant) — Josephine Fumal’s birth Feb 25, 1837 and her parents François Fumal + Florence Filée; their wider family.
• Map relevance: Désiré is an uncle to the direct line, not a direct ancestor of Foggy’s. He won’t appear on the /map page, but his presence in Green Bay is part of the broader Mélin → Wisconsin Belgian story this family enacted.