Before moving on, I thought I ought to publish my last few notes on Jean Keff and Pierre Keff, in case someone passing happens to be trying to work out their family tree. (I should again stress what a good source of information filae.com is.)
Children of Jean Keff & Reine Lichtenberger
Note that in the notes for Jules Joseph Keff, Jean Keff is referred to as “Jean Pierre Keff”.
Leon Pierre Jean Keff
b. 20 Feb 1865, Paris
d. 27 Feb 1900, Paris (named as "Pierre Jean Leon Keff")
Pierre Jean Baptiste Keff
b. 20 Jun 1866, Paris
Anais Keff
b. 24 Feb 1869, Paris
d. 06 May 1887, Paris
Jules Joseph Keff
d. 9th Match 1869, aged 2 years 9 monthsChildren of Pierre Keff & Catherine Birschens
Note that Pierre Keff’s profession is given as both “tailleur” and “polisseur”, while Catherine Birschens is referred to as “cartonniere”.
Catherine Birschens died on 13 Mar 1871 at Epinay-sur-Orge.
Victorine Josephine Keff
b. 27 Nov 1864
d. 03 May 1865 at 4 Rue Grange aux Belles, aged 5 months
Josephine Catherine Keff
b. 21 Jun 1863, Paris
m. (no date) Victor Pierre van de Casteele
d. 14 Mar 1944, Paris
Wow. That’s a lot of work Nick! I’m on a similar adventure but not holding as strong you did!
Misca: actually, I have to say that filae.com made a lot of it easy. If you can read French, the Parisian registries are tolerably legible.
Note that Reine Lichtenberger previously had (by a pere inconnu) a daughter Marie Josephine Lichtenberger in Strasbourg in 28th July 1861, who then (all too predictably, sadly) died on 7th December 1861 in Wissembourg, Bas-Rhin.
Victor Pierre van de Casteele married Mathilde Judith Jeanne Delphine RACQUE (RAQUE) in 1880 but they divorced in 1892. He was born in Brest on 13 Sep 1847: and died in Paris 14e Arrondissement in 1926 aged 79, or in Paris 20e Arrondissement in 1930 aged 83. (Both records exist, you choose which one you prefer.) He and Josephine Catherine Keff seem to have had no children.
Curiously both Jean and Pierre Keff’s families seem to have had no offspring: and this seems to have been just as true of all their brothers and sisters.
Annoyingly, there was a Pierre Keff (b. 1866) born to other parents, whose path criss-crosses the archives annoyingly. But a Pierre Jean Baptiste Keff? Nowhere to be found.
Leon Keff (1918-1993) was born to Jean Keff and Catherine Theobald, so no connection there.
Catherine Derichelle (is that a Belgian surname?) also seems to be untraceable.