Arthur Andris and Victorine Dorval

Beginning a New Life in the U.S.A.

Given what we have learned from the immigration records, we must question some of the received tales. My mother has always maintained that Victorine went first to America with Julia, and that husband, Arthur, and his sons, Arthur and Aimé followed in a year. That now is highly questionable. For one thing, it is clearly stated on the manifest for both Mrs. Andris' trip with her two small children in 1909 and Arthur's sons' trip in 1910, that they are going to meet Arthur Andris, first in Charleston and then in Clarksburg. Unfortunately, I have been able to find no record of father Arthur's crossing. Nevertheless, I propose the following theory.

Arthur Andris came to the U.S.A. in 1908 and ended up in Charleston, WV. This is consistent with the statement in his obituary of May 23, 1930 that "he came to America 22 years ago." Probably, there were other Binchois friends or relatives already here (to be discussed later). Money was saved, and Mrs. Andris and her two small sons followed the next year, travelling in second class. Sometime soon thereafter, the family ended up in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and stayed in Clarksburg until 1916 or 17, when they came to Marietta. This checks out with the destination for Julia, Arthur and Aimé listed in the ship manifest. [I think they may have had a grocery store in Clarksburg some of the time, but not sure.]

My father, Fernand, was born in Clarksburg on October 22, 1910, (although at times, dad held that he was born in 1911).

The only way that it could have been true that Julia came with Victorine in 1909 is if she had returned to Binche, and then came for good in 1911. However, I think that this is very unlikely. They were obviously saving money for these passages, and unless there was a wealthy patron, Julia wouldn't have been able to afford two ocean trips in less than two years. In addition, Julia Staats said in a phone conversation with me (3/22/97) that while the family was living in Clarksburg, WV, a friend went to Belgium and came back with Julia. While she was in Clarksburg, Julia met Alfred Bourmork, but they didn't marry until they moved to Marietta. The Bourmorks came to the United States in the late 1800s. Those who came before 1905 came to Castle Gardens near The Bowery, others came to Ellis Island.

Also near this time the family was extremely poor. They bought second-hand shoes and sometimes the shoes didn't match. Mrs. Andris went to pick blackberries one time and got kicked by a mule. She had a rupture from that that caused trouble later in life.

There were glass factories in Clarksburg and Marietta. Accoring to Julia Staats, people from the glass factories would go to Belgium and help families come to the USA. When they arrived in Marietta, the men in the family worked in the glass factories. According to my father, his father worked at a glass plant in Salem and one on Northview (Clarksburg) WV. Another notation I have from somwhere says that they worked in factories in Salem, Northview, Clarksburg and Point Pleasant.

Apparently, there was another child, Philip, stillborn in 1913.

Karen Ruhloff sent me this 1914 picture of her grandfather, Arthur N. Andris, the oldest son of Arthur Louis Nicolas Andris and his buddies, Alex Holmes (right) and Pete Borman (center).