On February 10, 1742, in Montigny, France, a farmer named Joseph Jegout attended the burial of his wife, Jeanne Roussel, accompanied by their son, Dominique Gegoux (I).  Fourteen years later, on January 12, 1756, the two men gathered again in Montigny to celebrate Dominique's marriage to Catherine Hovasse.  Between these two generations, a distinct linguistic shift occurred.  Joseph signed his name with steady, elegant script, utilizing a distinct lowercase j complete with a dot, and ending clearly with a t - a signature that remained unchanged across nearly two decades as joseph jegout.

His son Dominique, however, served as the local schoolmaster maitre d'ecole.  Driven by his role in education, Dominique seemingly chose to reform and modernize the family surname.  Because both father and son signed these official parish documents side-by-side, they were undoubtedly aware of the divergence.  While we can only imagine their discussions on the matter, they ultimately agreed to disagree.  Through this lineage, Joseph and Dominique (I) would become the great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather of the artist, Theo Gegoux.

In September 1792, the newly formed French Republic discarded the Gregorian calendar in favor of a secular, revolutionary system.  This dramatic break from tradition now serves as a rite of passage for genealogists.  It was under this system that the parish records of Reherrey, France, captured a foundational link in the Gegoux lineage.  On May 29, 1804-recorded officially as the 9th day of Prairial in Year XII of the Revolution - Jean Francois Gegoux was born to Dominique (II) Gegoux and Genevieve Marchal.  He was the thirteenth of fourteen children.

Jean Francois's family endured immense hardships during these turbulent decades.  Like most everyday French citizens, they suffered under the Revolution's economic volatility, and faced deep personal tragedy.  During the notoriously brutal winter of November 1787, the family lost newborn twin sons, Dominique (III) and Jean, who succumbed on their first day of life amid a season that claimed a catastrophic number of children across France.

Despite these struggles, the family preserved a commitment to education.  Dominique (II) passed his vocation as a schoolmaster (instituteur) down to his sons, Dominique (IV) and Jean Francois.  By February 1829, both brothers were working as educators in the small village of Vacqueville.  At the christening of Dominique (IV)'s son, Dominique Eugene, both brothers signed the ledger with the elegant, customary flourishes of their trade.  This abundance of local schoolmasters vividly mirrors Victor Hugo's descriptions in Les Miserables.  Hugo writes of itinerant regional teachers paid by the valleys, who wore quills in their hatbands to broadcast their credentials: one quill for reading, two for arithmetic, and three for Latin.  This practice offers a beautiful visual precursor to our modern idiom of adding "a feather to one's cap":  

 
How Many Feathers?  
This historical timeline invites us to wonder how many symbolic quills Jean Francois Gegoux carried in his hatband.  He likely earned at least two.  In 1890, historian Hamilton Child published his Gazetteer of Jefferson County, N.Y., noting:  

While Child's account is mostly accurate, the details require nuanced context-information likely supplied to him directly by the artist, Theo Gegoux.

First, Jean Francois was actually born in nearby Reherrey, roughly ten miles north of Baccarat.  Child likely substituted the tiny hamlet of Reherrey with Baccarat, capitalizing on a name widely recognized by Americans for its world-famous crystal manufacturing.

Second, Child's timeline is slightly flawed; official French parish records place Jean Francois in France as late as April 1829, when he attended the funeral of his brother-in-law, Jean Baptiste Ledoux.

Finally, though documented as an instituteur, did Jean Francois truly graduate from a college?  In the eyes of his son Theo, a formal certification from a French pedagogical academy certainly equated to a collegiate degree.  To successfully teach French in New York City, Jean Francois would have easily commanded at least two, if not three, of Hugo's metaphorical feathers: one for advanced reading, one for arithmetic, and a final feather for mastering the English language required to navigate his new American home.

 
The Marriage and Early Hardships  
The exact vessel that carried Jean Francois Gegoux to the New World remains an enigma, despite countless hours spent poring over microfilm and Filby's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index.  Arriving sometime after the spring of 1829, Jean Francois traveled to the vicinity of Beauharnois, Quebec, where he fell in love.  On November 11, 1833, he married Marie Josephete Leduc.  Their union produced eleven children, though tragedy bracketed the generation: both their firstborn and final child died in infancy.  This left Theo as the youngest of nine surviving siblings.

The family farm sat in Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, roughly fifteen miles southwest of the nearest established parish in Beauharnois.  When Theo was born on November 19, 1850, his family immediately braved the elements to transport the infant to the parish church for christening.  In the mid-19th century Catholic countryside, the bitter Canadian winter cold was a lesser hazard than the spiritual risk of an infant dying unbaptized.

At the Roman Catholic Church of Saint-Clement-de-Beauharnois, the infant was christened Theophile.  His eldest brother, Francois Xavier, was appointed godfather at just fifteen years old; a protective bond that would be deeply tested before Theo himself reached his fifteenth birthday.

Editorial and research synthesis support was provided by ChatGPT (OpenAI). Copyright © 2026 On January 19, 1857, Jean Francois died prematurely at age fifty-two.  His sudden loss left Marie Josephete with a farm to manage and nine hungry mouths to feed.  To survive, the two eldest brothers left home to seek fortunes elsewhere, and the three oldest daughters hired out as domestic servants.  This economic fracturing left young Theo and his two remaining older brothers to work the family land alone.

Gegoux.com would like to acknowledge the editorial and research synthesis support provided by ChatGPT (OpenAI). Copyright © 2026

Gegoux's Early Life  
Excerpted from his autobiography written in Champoeg, Oregon Jan 24, 1925.  
Gegoux attended school and while yet in his A, B, C's he displayed a great love for drawing faces on the margin of his book, for which he was severely punished by the burly Teacher.  So much so indeed, that the would be little Artist's desire to draw was whipped out of him, and, of course, caused him to think that it was wrong to draw pictures.  Consequently years elapsed before drawing was thought of again.  
But it is said, "What is within will out" may it be good or bad.  He was raised and brought up on the farm.  No chance to see any works of art to awaken his dormant talent.  His mother received her education after marriage and that was extremely limited, for, there was no time for literature.  Land had to be cleared, a home to build, and children came unto her with regularity every two years or less.  
After the Father's demise the widowed mother was unable to keep intact her large family. The older ones, Xavier and Honore broke home ties to seek their fortunes in the wide world.  Xavier landed in Clayton, N. Y. where a shipyard was in operation.  Having a liking for ship building he got a job hewing timbers. Henry became a lumber jack in the big woods of upper Canada.  The three girls, Christine, Mathilda, and Adelle, who were old enough to work, also left home.  They became domestics in different families.  The younger children, Rose, Joseph, Louis, and Theodore remained at home. Able having died in his infancy, and Rose died at 15 years of age.  
So at that time, 1857, the Gegoux family consisted of mother and three sons, the oldest one was nearly 15 years old and was the plowman and bread winner on the place.  The word bread always reminded Theo that they did not always have it to eat.  "Well, does the writer remember of being sent out on a bread borrowing mission, to the nearest neighbor first, then to the next, and yet to the next."   Gegoux wrote, ".. the writer obeyed willingly, knowing that it meant an appeasing of that ravenous hunger, which seemed insatiable."   Gegoux said he also remembered the queer looks in the ladies eyes when they handed him a full loaf of six pounds saying, "Tell your mama she need not pay it back when she gets some flower to bake some bread".  
God Parent (Brother) Cares for Theo  
In 1864 the oldest brother and god parent Francois, who resided in Clayton, N.Y., offered to take charge of Theo.   This offer was gladly accepted and Theo made his way across the line into the United States, in October 1864. Theo was hired as chore boy to a farmer for a period of six months.  Then, he went to Carthage N.Y. where years after he was destined to be born into the Art world.  At the latter place he busied himself at whatever he could find to do, such as peeling hemlock bark for the Tanners.  
Gegoux would take contracts to cut into logs the hemlock trees which he had peeled.  He would then skid those logs into big piles on the edge of the nearest creek, using an ox team to do the work.   Then roads were made and as soon as the winter set in the roads were used through which to draw the logs.  Which were taken to the nearest creek, which overflowed its banks in the springtime, and the logs were floated to the larger stream.  Theo was often assisted along by the log drivers and eventually these logs found their way to the saw mills, miles away.  His contracts for peeling bark and cutting logs being fulfilled he resolved to discontinue that kind of work and learn a trade.  
In 1868, Theo entered a marble shop, with the intention of serving a full apprenticeship of three years.   After working for five months, doing the rough work in the shop, Theo asked the foreman if he would let Theo do some of the carving. The foreman's reply was, "There are two ahead of you in the shop, and they are as anxious as you for promotion.  You will have to serve two years before you can be permitted to do carving."   It was then that Theo resolved to quit the marble shop and go to work and earn money, so that he could pay someone to teach him.  
Theo got employment in a saw mill at $1.50 a day and boarded at a cheap hotel.   In the course of a few weeks the saw mill shut down for some necessary repairs.  Being idle, the proprietor of the hotel asked Theo if he would be willing to assist with tending bar.   The proprietor explained telling Theo that the bartender had gone home for a visit and was taken ill.  
Theo the Bartender  
Theo reluctantly accepted the job, until the saw mill was put in order again.  The sick bartender grew worse and after a few days, died.   It was then that the proprietor begged of Theo to remain as bartender and offered to pay more than Theo was getting at the saw mill.  
Considering that Theo would get his board free, he would save more money.  Very shortly he would be able to pay for the lessons he desired to take in art.  So he resolved to accept the hotel proprietor's offer, but found that it was next to impossible to save any money.   He was also in the constant company of tossers and drunks which was extremely distasteful to him.  
For Theo knew that he was the cause of much misery, several forlorn looking women would at different times walk into the bar room and say to the bartender such as the following appeals "Oh don't give my husband any more liquor he came home drunk last night and was abusive to me and he said he was in here."  Others would pitifully recite tales of woe, which proved to Theo that he was in a very bad business.  But the saying that it is "darkest before day" proved true.  
The proprietor requested that Theo go and ask Mr. Wilcox "the sign painter" to come over.  Saying, "I want him to paint a sign for me."  Theo asked what kind of a sign was wanted, and the proprietor said, "Well you see, we have a billiard table, a bowling alley, and a shooting gallery.  I want that lettered on a sign."  Like a flash, the thought came to Theo, "Oh let me do that painting for you."  The reply was, "Did you ever paint?"  "No", said Theo, "But anybody can paint a sign, let me do it .. won't you?"  Theo was told, "Well if you think you can do a good job, go to it."  
Sign Painter  
In due time, the sign was painted but without any lettering.  It was pictured.  It consisted of three pictures alike on each side for the sign was to be hung over the side walk in front of the hotel.  There being a presentation of a bowling alley, a man preparing to roll a large ball at the 10 pins; and a billiard table.  Also two men were pictured engaged in a game; and there was a landscape, in which a hunter was in the act of shooting at a flock of ducks, that were flying overhead.  
When the sign was completed the blacksmith was requested to bring on that long bar of iron which was to be affixed to the front of the hotel, and on which the sign was to hang directly over the sidewalk.  The Reader can imagine the intense, anxious feeling of Theo who was just inside.  He was in back of a transparent curtain watching every move, and listening to hear what would be said when his first work of art was seen by others as by himself.  For this was painted in seclusion, at times when Theo could be absent from his duty, filling beer mugs for the "guzzlers".  
But the time had now arrived. One of the blacksmith helpers was given a key and told to climb up three flights of stairs which led to the garret and to unlock the only door in sight.  The helper was told in that room he would find the sign which was made of inch board, round like a wheel, and bound with a thin band of iron.  But instead of a hub in the centre a round hole about ten inches in diameter was cut.   And in that hole, at right angles to each other two wires were inserted.  Two wooden balls on each wire were threaded, two of the balls were painted white, and of the other two, one was painted light red and the other dark red resembling four billiard balls, the tout ensemble producing a very pleasing effect.  
Everything being in readiness the sign was brought down stairs and handed to the men on the ladders and hung up.  Now the query was heard on all sides "Who painted it?"   No one seemed to know! Someone remarked, "Ah! that's one of Wilcox's best." Others said "Wilcox can't paint like that."   But a knowing one said, "Theo, the bartender painted it". That news spread quickly and several of Theo's friends rushed in to offer congratulations and take a drink on that.   But one or two of the crowd stepped up to Theo and told him a few things that would not look good in print, however the remarks made gave the bartender an awakening.  
Shortly Theo was looking the town over in search of someone who could give him a few lessons in drawing and painting, but found no one.  In the mean time, Theo had approached the only photographer in town with a view of studying photography with him.   But in reply, the photographer said that a friend of his, in Lowville N.Y. was looking for an apprentice. Saying, "I'll write to him if you can pay the price, he will teach you photography."  For in those days an apprentice had to pay $50.00 or more for the privilege of entering into the secrets of the darkroom.  In a few days, the Lowville photographer arrived in town to interview the bartender, but the latter was unable to produce the $50, which seemed to be the only obstacle.  
Photo Retouching  
So, Theo being very anxious to get out of the atmosphere he was in, made the photographer the following proposition, "If you will teach me all you know about photography, I will work for you one whole year without pay, but you are to board me."  "Well", said the Lowville photographer, "I'll confer with my wife about it and I will write you an answer".  In a few days a letter came which was worded briefly, saying, "Come and we'll give you a trial."  
They had but little confidence that a bartender would ever amount to much.  However a beginning was made.  The first evening, shortly after supper the dishes having been cleared away, the three of them approached the table again, but this time it was to learn how to retouch negatives which had to be done by lamp light in order to save day light for other works.  
A negative to be retouched was held over a white porcelain lamp shade, the lamp light passing through revealed all the imperfections of the skin, such as wrinkles and freckles.  So Theo, the apprentice, was given a lead pencil sharpened to nearly a needle point and was told to try his hand at it.  
In a few minutes the negative was finished and was passed over to the photographer's wife who always helped doing this work. She looked at the negative with much scrutiny, and without making any remarks passed it over to her husband.  Who looked as though he was extra well pleased at what he saw, and then leaned over to the apprentice, "Didn't you ever work at this business before?"  Theo replied, "No sir, this is the first negative I ever saw".  
"Well!, Well!", turning to his wife said, "He can do it better than either of us."  And to prove what he said was true he put down his retouching pencil and would not retouch another negative.  So Theo the apprentice became a professional retoucher in one day and could have gone to New York City and commanded a $25.00 a week salary.  Though there was but a verbal agreement between the two men, Theo adhered to it strictly and he remained at his task till the end of the year.  
First Art Work  
During the last week of his stay a lady artist arrived in town to organize a class in painting.  In a few days she had secured the names of several pupils, including the ex-bartender Theo.  The teacher named all the things quite necessary that each pupil must procure, such as easel, pallet, palletknife, brushes and the principle colors, and saying, "I am going back home and I will return in a few days to commence teaching".  
But Theo, the ex-bartender, could not wait for the teacher's return.  Having access to many good photographs in the gallery, he chose one of a gentleman who was well known and commenced to sketch a life sized portrait from it.  Within ten days the lady artist returned to proceed with her class and every pupil with easels and accessories were present, and each one, in turn, was set to work.  Copying from some little colored prints or whatever they chose.  
Finally, everyone was at her special task, except Theo the ex-bartender, "the only man pupil" in the class, who produced two canvases, of the same size, about 20 ins. X 24 ins.  One a brand new canvas, and the other a portrait of a gentleman. "Oh! I would advise you to copy something less difficult at first", the teacher exclaimed.  "Well", said Theo, "On the new canvas, if you will permit me, I would like to paint your own portrait".  "The other is one that I have painted during your absence, do you like it?"  Theo, the ex-bartender, never forgot the expression on the Teacher's face.  This was in the year 1873.  
And so at the age of 23 we find Theo Gegoux the exbartender launching out into the art of portrait making.  Having returned to Carthage N.Y. he opened a studio, and for nearly four years, continued to study portraiture in crayon, pastel and oil.  
The above was written in Champoeg, Oregon Jan 24, 1925  
by Yours Truly, Theodore Gegoux (1850-1931)