DURANDEAU, John Edward (Grimwade p.498, 746)

[MCB]

The christening of John Edward, the son of Phillip and Elizabeth Durandeau, was recorded at St James, Clerkenwell in 1803.
He married Elizabeth Mary Denton at St Leonard, Shoreditch in 1826; both were from that parish.
Christening records for two of their children in 1829 and 1831 show him as a silversmith at Clerkenwell and Dorrington Street respectively.
As a widower in 1846 he married Elizabeth (Betsey) Wilson Holt at St Philip, Liverpool by which time he had become a baker.
Later christening records of their children at St Peter, Liverpool show he became proprietor of Zoological Gardens.
He died in Liverpool in 1861.

[silverly]

A John Durandeau silversmith arrived in New York from London aboard the Brig Lord of Landsdale on 24 August 1833. He is listed in Longworth's 1834 New York City directory as a silversmith, and I find mention by family history researchers that he is also in Longworth's 1835 New York City directory and in Matchett's 1836-37 Baltimore Directory.

[MCB]

There were concerns that, from silversmith, he had become a baker then a zoo proprietor but the name is unique and his was the only one in later UK records.
Are there any records of this name in New York etc after 1846, when a John Edward Durandeau was clearly in Liverpool UK, to show he went to the USA and didn't come back please?

Mike

[silverly]

I'm still digging for information and what I have here may not be new, but on February 11, 1847 John and Elizabeth Durandeau's daughter Elenor was baptized at St Peters in Liverpool. John is listed as a bullion dealer and their residence was on Waterloo Road.

The 1861 Liverpool census lists Henry Durandeau as a bullion dealer and tobacconist. His wife and sister although both British subjects were born in America.

[silverly]

1851 Liverpool Census listed as a bullion dealer and son Henry the same. His surname was identified as Davander by one person doing indexing.

[MCB]

In view of the references to bullion dealing his occupation as a baker referred to above seemed incongruous. Looking again at the registration document for his marriage to Betsey in 1846 his occupation could just about read "broker" or, being driven further by the benefit of hingsight, "banker".

[silverly]

For my eyes, it's broker for sure.