Résumé

President, Construction Company, Hoquiam, WA, 1920.

Relocation

Born to a father, Philip J. Mourant, born on the Isle of Jersey and a Scottish-Canadian mother, Ann Acteson, Philip J. Mourant, is thought to have been born in Quebec, Canada, although there is some question about this. The 1881 Canadian Census recorded "Jersey" for the origin of Philip and his sister, Barbara. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1881; Census Place: Hope, Bonaventure, Quebec; Roll: C_13187; Page: 16; Family No: 60, accessed 03/25/2020.) Whether this meant Jersey, the English Channel Island, or another location, is unknown. Many Jerseymen were involved in the maritime trades, and large numbers immigrated to Canada, particularly the Gaspé Peninsula, beginning in the late 17th century. A baptismal record indicated that Philip J. Mourant had been born on 09/26/1867 in Hope, QC. It is likely that the father had come from Jersey, and the son from Hope, about 20 miles east of the City of Bonaventure.

According to one source, Philip J. Mourant, moved to the US in about 1871, where his family resettled in WI. (See Edson Beall, National Register of Historic Place Registration Form for the Judge Charles W. Hodgdon House, Hoquiam, WA, [Olympia, WA: Washington State Historic Preservation Office, 2005], p. 4.) If this is true, it might have been for a brief time, as the family appeared living in Bonaventure, QC, in the 1871 Canadian Census. The 1871 Census listed "Peter" Mourant as Philip's father, and noted his birthplace to have been "Jersey" which was crossed out and replaced with "France." His mother was listed as having been born in England. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1871; Census Place: Hope, Bonaventure, Quebec; Roll: C-10369; Page: 33; Family No: 109, accessed 03/25/2020.)

He, his mother and sister also were listed as living in Bonaventure in the same census 10 years later. By that time, Ann Acteson, Philip's mother, had remarried Scottish-Canadian Hugh Thompson, a Bonaventure farner 19 years her senior. Ann apparently had a large family with her second husband.

Beall wrote that Mourant moved West to Vancouver, WA, in about 1887. Subsequently, a job influenced him to move about 138 miles northeast to Hoquiam, WA, by 1889. He remained living and working in Hoquiam until his death in 1943.

Mourant lived with his wife, Ethel and daughter, Ethel, at 524 4th Street in Hoquiam, WA, in 1920.

In 1930, Mourant, his wife, daughter, son-in-law, Ross Kenwood (born c. 1898 in MN), and two grandchildren occupied a residence at 205 H Street in Hoquiam. This house had a high value, $25,000, about five times the cost of an average house in WA State at the time, suggesting Mourant's prosperity in the contracting business.

He was buried at the Sunset Memorial Park, Hoquiam.

Parents

His parents were Philip J. Mourant, (born c. 1846 in Jersey, England), and Ann Acteson (born c. 1845 in England). His father was a farmer at the time of his birth. Something happened to the elder Philip Mourant by the 1880s, and he no longer appeared in family records after 1885. A legal proceeding was noted in Canadian documents, indicating that Ann Acteson and Philip J. Mourant had some sort of legal issue in 1885, and that her name appears with that of her second husband on the same form.

His birth father was no longer with Ann in 1881, when the Census of Canada recorded the Ann, Philip and his sister, Barbara, (born c. 1870 in Jersey), living with Hugh R. Thompson (born c. 1826) in Bonaventure, QC.

Spouse

He wed Lydia Ross Mourant (born c. 1867 in QC, Canada) on 03/03/1891 in the Presbyterian Church of New Carlisle, QC. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Institut Généalogique Drouin; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Drouin Collection; Author: Gabriel Drouin, comp., accessed 03/25/2020.)

Children

He and Lydia had a daughter, Ethel May Mourant (born 11/05/1891 in Hoquiam, WA).

Biographical Notes

His father's name was also "Philip J. Mourant," and that of his grandfather, too, may have been the same.

The 1900 US Census recorded his birthdate to have been 09/1866, and his birthplace to have been Canada, not Jersey. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Hoquiam, Chehalis, Washington; Page: 18; Enumeration District: 0011; FHL microfilm: 1241741, accessed 03/25/2020.)

The 1900 US Census indicated that he had been naturalized in 1884, while Lydia underwent naturalization in 1890. The Census of 1930, however, stated that he had been naturalized in 1889 and his wife, 1891.

• Hoquiam, WA (Architect's Death)
  Hoquiam, WA 98550

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