Immigrant Ships
Transcribers Guild

Ship Albree

I, James Balls, Master or Commander of the Ship Albree do solemnly, sincerely and truly swear, that the within list, signed by me and now delivered to the Collector of this District, contains the names of all the Passengers, taken on board the said Ship at the Port of Liverpool or at any time since, and that all matters therein set forth are, according to the best of my knowledge and belief, just and true. I do further swear, that (a line drawn through here, indicating "none") of the said Passengers have died on the voyage. Sworn before me, this 9th day of Jany. 1837. (No signatures on statement.)

List of all Passengers taken on board the Ship Albree whereof Balls is Master, at the Port of Liverpool and bound for NEW-ORLEANS.

Columns represent: name, age, sex, occupation, country to which they belong, country of which they intend to become inhabitants.

    
   1* Antoine Bonaparte      22    male    gentleman    Rome    U. States

  Baggage 
  three trunks, one cask, one fowling piece

  (Signed) James Balls

Transcriber's Notes:

*This passenger is Antoine Bonaparte who was a member of the illustrious 
Bonaparte family, and a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France.  
Antoine was a prince who was born 21 Oct 1816 in Frascati, Italy, the 
son of Lucien Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon.  Antoine's mother was 
Alexandrine Jacob de Bleschamp.  Known as His Imperial Highness Bonaparte, 
he died in 1877 in Florence.

Correspondence 10/16/2004
My mother's paternal G-G-Grandfather was Arthur Glover Spencer, born 1819 
in London, son of Matilda Glover and George Spencer-Churchill (5th Duke of 
Marlborough) who at the age of 17/18 signed on as part of the entourage of 
His Highness Antoine Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) to travel to New Orleans 
from Liverpool aboard the Ship Albree, Capt. James Balls -Master, arrived 
9 Jan 1837. There is some supposition that they were or became friends. 
Either on board the same ship or (most likely)residing in New Orleans was 
a Comilla St. Germain-de Bourbon, rumored to have been born to white parents 
in Barbados. 

Arthur and Comilla got together and within that year (1837) she became 
pregnant, and gave birth to Joseph Charles Spencer in 1838. There is no 
record of their marriage, and it is unclear whether he was born in New 
Orleans or enroute to Montreal (mostly likely in Philadelphia) but Comilla 
apparently had a difficult birth and either died as she was delivering or 
shortly thereafter. 

At the age of 6, Joseph's father Arthur married in Philadelphia and 
settled in southern New Jersey. There are two half-brothers recorded 
as Bloomfield-1845 (he lived long and had many children, mostly girls, 
and died in Downe Township, Cumberland County) and Arthur- 1847 (probably 
died before issue). 

Joseph Charles Spencer married Sarah Jane Trewax(de Trieux) in Tuckahoe, 
NJ around 1875 after becoming a widower with 6(surviving) sons: John S.- 1859, 
Joseph- 1862, Cornelius- 1864, William- 1866, Aaron- 1869, and Charles- 1872. 
Joseph and Sarah Jane had 5 more surviving children: Sarah Frances(Fanny)- 1878, 
Ella- 1880, Bloomfield- ?, Arthur- ?, and Tillie Comilla- 1891. 

Sarah Frances(Fanny) married Thomas Pettit and had "Tommy"(blind), Leon, 
Bessie, Ella Frances- 1911, and LuLu(died as an infant). Fanny died in 1916 
when Ella Frances was 5 years old and she was raised by her aunt, Tillie 
Comilla. Tillie had no children of her own. Ella Frances got pregnant at 
age 16 and had my mother, Comilla Frances. My mother was born 5 June 1928 
and was also raised by Aunt Tillie. Ella Frances married Walter Stow(e) 
and they had 5 more survivng children: Walter, Albert, Elizabeth(Betty), 
Pearl and Emma. She died in 1976, in Millville, New Jersey, a widow having 
lived with "Posty" Post for at least 25 years.

My mother's biological father is listed on the Birth Certificate as 
Ralph Giffard(or Gifford) and the only reference I can find to any 
Ralph Giffard at the time is a pseudonym used by a Rodolpho(or Rolph) 
Guiffra, immigrant from Sicily, in order to work with his candy-maker 
brother in Millville, NJ. However, Aunt Tillie's (and Fanny's) sister 
Ella was married to a Frank Gifford (they had one son, Chester).
Ravyn Comylla(Comilla Frances) Martine Giuliani

National Archives and Records Administration, Film M259, Reel 14.

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