Joseph Gabriel de Beausire (July 12, 1771   - 1845 age 74 in Metz)

l recently got in touch with a distant cousin through the internet and have been able to learn quite a bit about this great3 grandfather, whose name was Joseph Gabriel de Beausire.  He was born on July 12, 1771 in Metz, in Northeast France, near the borders of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg in the area known as Alsace Lorraine, where they spoke Alsation, a German dialect.   I also have the family tree dating back to 1440.   The family was well to do and raised thoroughbred horses.    Joseph Gabriel's father, Marie-Claude Sebastien de Beausire (1750-1832 age 82 in Metz) was a Lt. Colonel in the Surville Regiment and later a Councillor in the Parliament of Metz  and a Chevalier of St. Louis.  He married  Anne Antoinette de Goussaud.  They were royalists .  

The French Revolution began in 1788 when Joseph Gabriel was 17, and continued until 1799.  17,000 people were executed, and 10,000 died in jail.   Marie-Claude and Anne remained in France but their children left the country during the turbulence of that period.  Marie-Claude was arrested and sent to prison.   He was sentenced to death with his execution scheduled for the 29th of July 1794 but Robspierre, one of the leaders of the Revolution, was arrested the day before, and Marie Claude was reprieved.  I would love to know the details of that traumatic experience !   The most interesting thing I learned is that Joseph Gabriel's mother, Anne, was a direct descendant of Pierre d'Arc, brother of Jeanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc).  There is a book showing their family tree, although some family members are not listed.   The book is entitled Extracts La Familia de Jeanne d'Arc written by E Debroueilles.    Pierre D'Arc was also a Chevalier du Lys.  I found this exciting as several people in our family claim to be psychic.
  

After leaving France, probably deported by the Revolutionaries, Joseph Gabriel enlisted in the Lowenstein Chausseurs, one of several British regiments raised by foreign nobles to fight the army of Revolutionary France.  He became a lieutenant, later a Captain and finally a Major.  He was wounded in St. Lucia in 1796.  His regiment was incorporated into the 5th Battalion in 1797 together with Hoppesch's Mounted Riflemen, another specialised emigre unit, both using the Baker Rifle.  After the Revolution came the Napoleonic Wars which lasted from 1804 to 1810.  
 

Later as part of his army duties, he became a harbormaster on the island of St. Lucia, where the British Navy ships were refueled with coal.  I have a couple of photos of him, in his army uniform, one of which is of a locket owned by a cousin.  I also have a photo of his grandson, Joseph Beausire,  This is of a portrait which used to hang in the Royal Insurance Company building where he worked in Liverpool.  He was a Director of the company where his uncle, Robert, was an accountant.  The company, which was very successful, (now renamed Royal Insurance Plc) is still in existence.
 

 The building occupied by the company in those days is on the historic list.   It was an award winning design from a competition, with 5 stories, built in 1896 and has now been restored and turned into a hotel.  That was not the first building used by the company.    The previous one, built in 1837, is also on the historic list.   One of the employees tracked down the present day Joseph Beausire, Robert's great grandson, and gave him the portrait.   There are no photos of Catherine Ann Beausire, so it's interesting to see her nephew and ponder whether they looked alike !
 

Joseph Gabriel had 3 children with Polly Kitty.   Very little is known of Polly.  It is likely that Kitty is not her surname but a middle name.   It was found in the baptismal records of the first two sons, Robert (born 1804) and Henry (born 1813), when they were baptized in St. Vincent Cathedral on April 14, 1813.  From DNA tests of her descendants it appears that she was Caucasian and also had some African blood with Nigeria or the neighboring countries of Togo and Benin showing up. Information found online shows that she was a landowner with slaves.  She was reputed to be very beautiful.  Robert was described in a report about his gift of some exquisite reredos to a church in England as an octoroon, which if accurate means he would have been one eighth African.   Another son, Joseph was born about 1814. 

Prior to Catherine Ann's birth Joseph Gabriel and his family moved from St. Lucia to England where their daughter, Catherine Ann Beausire, was born in Liverpool about 1815.  She was my great great grandmother on my mother's side of the family.  In 1807 Joseph Gabriel was a member of the masonic lodge in Carenage (now known as Castries), St. Lucia.   Joseph Gabriel then returned to Metz alone, and on the 9th of February, 1817 made a claim for return of half the wealth taken from the family during the Revolution, which was allowed by the government.  He either never married Polly Kitty or she had died, but in 1818 he married Anne Louise Phillipine Besser.  They also had four children together.   In 1821 he was promoted to Major and given half pay for his retirement by the British Army.   He was a Marichel de Camp d'artillerie, and a Chevalier de St. Louis.   He died in Metz in 1845 at the age of 74.   

Catherine Ann went to live in St. Lucia at some point, either with her mother or perhaps later with her husband, Thomas Collingwood Parker, who was the government auditor there and quite wealthy.  It's likely that Thomas was a friend of Robert Beausire in St. Lucia since they were the same age and of similar racial heritage, and he may have visited Robert in England if he took his accountancy training there.  They were both in the accounting business.   Thomas was born some time after late 1803 and baptized on the 6th of February, 1806.   He and Catherine Ann lived and raised their 4 daughters, including my great grandmother, Isabella Parker, in a large house called "Retreat" situated on Morne Fortune, a hill with wonderful views of Castries harbor.    The house burned down but was rebuilt much later by Isabella and her husband, after their marriage.
 

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 Notes - first son) Robert Beausire 1804-1854 m. 1) Franceys and 2) Janet Pollock. Cashier, Royal Insurance Co. Liverpool.   (second son) Henry Beausire 1813 - 1876 m. Amy Tyrer. Secretary, Midland & Grand Western Railway, Dublin

Protect Yourself/Your Family From The Scourge Of Plastic
First I should say, investigate, be suspicious. If clothing has some claim to fame, such as that it is wrinkle free (embalming fluid) or moisture wicking (https://www.shape.com/fitness/clothes/harmful-chemicals-hidden-your-workout-clothes), you can be almost certain it's not good for you ! Unfortunately this applies to a lot of products sold nowadays, not just plastics. Other than that, here are some ideas:
 
1. Avoid buying plastic or using it in all its myriad forms. This is very hard to do as many natural products have pretty much vanished. Some are available on the internet.

2. Do not buy synthetic clothing (polyester, nylon, rayon, acrylic, fleece etc. even spandex which replaced elastic along the way. Spandex is almost impossible to avoid.) The clothing industry is beginning to come up with alternatives (such as lyocell, tencel, modal, etc.).  These are made with fibers produced from such things as tree trunks/bamboo soaked in chemicals - however they do not leach plastic fibers. Do NOT use synthetic blankets and sheets, especially fleece !   All night long, as you turn in bed, you will be releasing and breathing in lots of fibers, especially from the blankets.

3. Do not recycle synthetic clothing. Until such time as there is a hazardous waste program in place, put it in the garbage. Clothing made from recycled fibers degrades much faster than the original product. I put mine in a plastic bag which I tie tightly to slow it's entry into the planet.

4. Cover heavily trafficked areas of synthetic carpet with a natural fiber rug (wool, cotton, jute). Also cover the areas where children play. Replace the carpet with something better as soon as you can (tile, natural carpet). Hold your breath when emptying vacuum dust  or dryer dust into the garbage !

5. Keep your food and drinks covered if they are sitting out. There are waxed cloths you can buy or use a clean cotton dish towel, even aluminum foil.

6. I segregate my clothing, I make a cut in the label of the synthetics, where possible so I can discriminate. I wash synthetic on the delicate cycle and then hang to dry. I do not put them in the dryer. There are filters you can buy to trap the fibers in the wash but that residue will go in the trash and end up leaching out, albeit more slowly. 1,900 miniscule fibers leach from each synthetic garment, at a minimum EVERY SINGLE TIME IT'S WASHED. Some thick fleece produce 2 million at a time.

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Plastic was developed in 1907 but did not come into large scale production until the 1940's. In the 1970's the first synthetic clothing was produced and since it gives the textile industry more profit, it is now used in billions of garments. Plastic production has exploded with approximately 150 million tons at the present time ! So in a relatively short period of time it has polluted the entire planet and everything on it, even the bodies of insects. It's psychologically difficult to protect yourself against microscopic objects especially when the danger comes from everyday objects but the fibers are now in the water (rain/ocean and fresh), in the air you breathe, both indoors and out, and in your food.

The garment industry has been aware of the problem of synthetic microfibers for almost 20 years. They have immense lobbying power and so far have managed to block even feeble attempts by lawmakers to bring it to the attention of the public.

　

The Greatest Threat to Life on Planet Earth
 - SYNTHETIC CLOTHING

I recently saw a brief mention of pollution from plastic microfibers (PMFs) in the oceans in a news article, and my curiosity was piqued. I decided to investigate and what I read appalled and alarmed me. Here is my report:
PMFs are now found throughout the US in the water supply (94%). There seems to be some sort of cover up going on about this invisible problem, even though synthetic/plastic microfibers are causing immune system damage and/or weakening the health of all creatures that ingest them. That includes humans but particularly aquatic creatures from water fleas to plankton (which are killed by them) to whales. Synthetic fibers are found in nylon, polyester, fleece, acrylic, rayon and even spandex, etc. all made from by-products of crude oil. The damage is even worse from thick fleece and (unfortunately) from clothing made from recycled plastic. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-new-york-river-dumps-millions-of-fabric-microfibers-into-the-ocean-daily/

In humans, plastics generally disrupt the endocrine system and affect all glands in your body, including those that control your moods. https://www.livescience.com/26496-endocrine-system.html
Even garments that are part synthetic are just as polluting. Only 100 percent natural materials, such as cotton, wool, linen, silk, hemp, cashmere, jute etc. are safe. The unique shape of PMFs causes them to attract dangerous and carcinogenic chemicals that are also in water, such as dioxin, PCBs and pick up bacteria (see end of article); and from the fabrics all the dyes and chemicals that are used and sometimes flame retardants and even waterproofing chemicals (in fabric furniture). In addition, even the production of synthetic fabrics involves the use of large amounts of dangerous chemicals.


A minimum of 190,000 fibers leach from each garment into the drains every time it is washed, depending on the washing method, with the number increasing as the garment ages. Some release 250,000 or more. Only the largest - about 40 percent are filtered out by sewage plants; the rest enter the environment. Even the most sophisticated RO system only catches the larger fibers. 0.6 to 1.7 million TONS A YEAR is one estimate, with the number rising all the time as the garment industry makes less and less clothing from natural sources. https://storyofstuff.org/uncategorized/the-story-of-microfibers-faqs/

A small amount are shed as you move about. The California legislature recently debated a law to label all garments with easily visible warnings and a request that synthetic garments be handwashed, but it did not pass. The garment industry lobbied against it ! It probably wouldn't have helped much, but at least would have made the public aware. Even handwashing won't solve the problem if you use a dryer, as that spews massive numbers into the atmosphere, where the fibers presumably are breathed in. It is now legal in California to use a laundryline and hang your laundry outside to dry, with certain exceptions ! (see Assembly Bill No. 1448). I found no information about lung damage in my research. I have a book, The Secret Life of Dust which was written prior to awareness of this problem. It mentions that all dust spreads across the planet, for instance dust from the Sahara Desert, so this scourge is being spread planetwise through the air. I found no mention of whether they are carried in rain water.
PMFs have been shown to pass the blood/brain barrier, and in fish cause behavioral changes such as slower eating and less exploration of surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-brain-fish-affected-plastic-nanoparticles.html

PMFs are also ingested in your food, with an estimate of over 100 dropping onto one plateful of food as you eat, in the average home. They are in beer, in sea salt (660 pieces a year) ; in food cooked with water, and in irrigation water where they are absorbed into the soil and may affect plants, including your fruit and vegetables. Sewage sludge from human waste used for fertilizing crops, contains them, as do sludge ponds, and various industrial processes. Most bottled water has about 150 pieces per bottle. Alarmingly they are even in honey. Could this be another reason for the huge decline in the number of bees and recently the documented "alarming decrease" in the number of insects in general ?  Without insects and plankton we will be in danger of starving, not only ourselves but most creatures.

Most PMFs enter the environment from the US, so we are the most responsible for polluting the entire planet. A friend in Pakistan tells me that in his country the poorer people cannot afford to buy natural garments, in spite of the discomfort of synthetic clothing in the heat of summer. Water dispersed from carpet washers is likely teeming with millions of them. Then there are the fibers percolating through the soil from landfills mostly from old clothing and carpet. 5 billion lbs of old carpet are disposed of each year in the US, though a small percentage are made of natural fibers and recently many are recycled. Some sort of hazmat program should be set up if you wish to dispose of your PMF products, to prevent them seeping into the ground water. It is hard to believe that the people who developed synthetic fabrics did not have some idea of the havoc they could cause ?! Similar fibers are in car tires and those also end up in the water and air. In our attempt to solve one problem we create another, since used tires are now recycled in various ways, including tarmac for roads, which wear down , also releasing PMFs into the environment. Plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade so the problem is increasing exponientially. PMFs are also in the intestinal tracts of fish so it's particularly unwise to eat creatures you consume whole, such as mussels, oysters etc. (70 pieces each serving)

(There is still a problem from microbeads which were banned in 2017, during Obama's administration, from "rinse off cosmetics". That law contained a loophole, which corporations have taken full advantage of, to continue use of them in other cosmetics, detergents and sandblasting materials. California and some other states are working to pass new protections.)


Synthetic fibers are much cheaper than natural ones so allow manufacturers more profit. On a recent expedition to buy Christmas gifts I was shocked and depressed to see the piles of synthetic clothing, particularly thick fleece. Are manufacturers trying to get rid of their stockpiles as they are afraid of a ban or consumer backlash ?! The problem was discovered in the early 2000's and in 2011, Mark Browne, a researcher, reached out to apparel makers for help with a study. All declined except women's apparel maker Eileen Fisher, though in early 2015, Patagonia, the developer of many PMFs, commissioned a study from the Bren School of Environmental Science at UC https://www.outsideonline.com/2091876/patagonias-new-study-finds-fleece-jackets-are-serious-pollutant
Manufacturers are researching new chemicals with which to treat fabrics in an attempt to solve the problem, but more chemicals ....? In the meantime more and more clothing with PMFs is being produced and less from natural fibers. I just bought my usual jeans which have always been cotton with a little latex and now see they are part polyester. I will be returning them to the store. Tree trunks are soaked in chemicals like sulphuric acid and zinc to make a new fabric, Tencel, though that does not contain PMFs. Each garment has a content label but the past few years those are not usually in the neck or waistband but concealed in the lower part of the garment, making identification more time consuming. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/may/13/clothes-companies-microfiber-pollution

Microfibers are an increasing problem as they filter throughout the environment and could eventually threaten the health of most creatures on our beautiful planet. I just read an article about the astronauts in which they said that the only color to be seen from space came from Earth, life on which, in the age of crude oil, we seem to be destroying. Ultimately it will be up to you, the consumer, to make choices that protect the planet, and the sooner the better. You can continue on, or you can avoid these products. More recently it has been found that they are causing reproductive problems in wildlife, such as failure to calve in whales.


(Update January 1, 2019 - Dr. Andrew Weil - bacteria are in the fibers. This could cause problems for those who swim in lakes, rivers, even the ocean, though some bacteria are killed by salt water. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/31-fla-infected-bacteria-salt-water-f8C11379013

Insect "Armageddon" report in guardian.co.uk (not yet connected by them to PMFs) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers

wash post Oct 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/are-synthetic-fleece-and-other-types-of-clothing-harming-our-water/2016/10/28/eb35f6ac-752e-11e6-be4f-3f42f2e5a49e_story.html?noredirect=on


(c) Elizabeth Donnell- 2019