Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sibling Saturday: Juliette and Agathe Beauvais

Juliette and Agathe were my maternal grandmother and great-aunt, respectively. Their parents Joseph and Olivine (Hotte) Beauvais married in August 1897 in Hartwell (now Chénéville), Papineau County, Quebec.

Juliette, born on 30 June 1901 in Chénéville, was the third child and eldest daughter. Agathe, who was born on 3 March 1918 in nearby Montpellier, was the thirteenth child and second youngest daughter. They had twelve brothers and two sisters. Twenty-three years separated the oldest child Ovide from the youngest, fraternal twins Jean-Marie and Jean-Paul.

The Beauvais children were raised mostly in Montpellier, a village in the Laurentian Hills in Papineau County, in southwestern Quebec. Their father Joseph was a farmer and woodcutter. About 1922, the family moved to the quaintly named village of Moonbeam, in northern Ontario. Four years later, mother Olivine died in June 1926 of ‘cardiac asthenia’ (Da Costa’s syndrome).

A few months before her mother’s death, Juliette married Eugène Desgroseilliers on 18 August 1925 in Moonbeam. They were blessed with nine children: Noël (who died at birth), Mariette, Madeleine, Simone, Marianne (who died young), Jacqueline (my Mom), Gaston (he died when he was six years old), Normande, and Jeanne d’arc. After living in northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec for a few years, Eugène and Juliette settled in Blue Water, near Sarnia, Ontario in 1942.

Juliette Beauvais and her sister Agathe Beauvais

Juliette (left) and Agathe (right) pose on a staircase in the above photo. The handwriting on the back of the picture says “à Hearst vers 1930” [in Hearst about 1930]. I doubt that the year is correct, because Agathe would have been only 12 years old. If the location is correct, though, the photo dates more likely to the mid-1930s, because Juliette, her husband and their children lived in Hearst, west of Moonbeam, until about 1936, when they moved to Rouyn, Quebec.

On 25 March 1940, Agathe married Lucien Larouche in Val d’Or, Abitibi District, Quebec. Their marriage registration gives their occupation as bonne (maid) for Agathe and mineur (miner) for Lucien. The couple had eight children: Renée, Gaston, Blandine, Gérard, Laurier, a son (who died soon after birth), Elisabeth, and Christian.

In 1948, Juliette became ill. She had advanced cancer of the pancreas. Within a few months of the diagnosis, she died in hospital in Sarnia on 14 August 1948, four days before her 23rd wedding anniversary.

Agathe survived her sister by eight years. She died suddenly from a blood clot after giving birth to a son on 30 December 1956. My Mom and Dad were visiting her sister Madeleine in Kirkland Lake at the time. Mom recalls that she was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom at Aunt Madeleine’s house when Dad woke her to break the news. Mom cried because Agathe, her godmother, was her favorite aunt.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday: Murray Grozelle

Murray R Grozelle gravemarker

Murray Grozelle is my maternal fourth cousin two times removed. Our common ancestors are Joseph Prosper Desgroseilliers (1743-1795/1800) and his wife Charlotte Nunegand dite Beaurosier (1754-1835).


The sixth child of Gilbert and Mary (O’Connor) Grozelle, Murray was born on 20 April 1923 in Esther, Alberta. [1] He had five older siblings: Ruth, Carmen, Thelma, Sylvia and Melvin.

Murray died on 30 August 1981 in Cottonwoods Extended Care at Kelowna General Hospital in Kelowna, British Columbia. [2] He was buried on 1 September 1981 in Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in Kelowna. [3]

His gravemarker reads:

In Memory Of
Murray R.J. Grozelle
1923 – 1981

Murray’s father and mother predeceased him in 1953 and in 1971, respectively. Murray shares his mother Mary’s plot.

Gilbert Mary and Murray Grozelle gravemarkers
Graves of Gilbert (left), Mary (right), and Murray (lower right)

My husband and I took these photographs during our recent visit to Kelowna, when we attended the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society’s conference in September 2016.


Sources:

1. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Murray Randolph Joseph Grozelle (written as Murray Randolph Joseph Grozelle, indexed as Murray R J Grozelle), 30 August 1981, death registration no. 1981-09-014247.

2. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Murray Randolph Joseph Grozelle, 30 August 1981.

3. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Murray Randolph Joseph Grozelle, 30 August 1981. Also, Memorial Park Cemetery, City of Kelowna, database (http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page270.aspx : accessed 21 September 2016), entry for Murray R.J. Grozelle, death 30 August 1981, plot B 6 62 81.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Darlene Belair (1935-2016)

Aunt Darlene – Dad’s sister – died early this morning in hospital in Peterborough, Ontario, surrounded by her loved ones. She had been unwell for the last few years with multiple health issues, including COPD, diabetes, and dementia.

Darlene was the youngest surviving child of Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair. Born “Marie Lilianne Darleen” on 18 October 1935, Darlene had three older siblings: Maurice (my father), Jeanne (Joan), and Raymond (Ray).

Darlene Belair with her parents and brothers and sister
Darlene (back, right) with her parents and brothers and sister, 1956

Although born in Cochrane in northern Ontario, the Belair family lived in nearby Fauquier, where my grandparents relocated from southern Ontario during the Depression. Later, they moved to Timmins, where Darlene and her brother Ray went to elementary school. Later still, Darlene was educated at Académie Sainte-Marie in Haileybury, Ontario, a boarding and day school for girls run by an order of nuns.

After she moved to Peterborough in the early 1960s, Darlene worked at various jobs, including managing a convenience store and owning and operating a taxi cab in the 1980s. She was also a factory worker at Western Clock Company (Westclox) and at Outboard Marine Corporation.

Darlene Belair with her great-nephew Nicholas
Darlene with her great-nephew Nicholas, 2014

I’m glad that I had a chance to see my Aunt a couple of years ago when my husband and our son visited my home province of Ontario. I was happy to be with Darlene once again, because I always felt that she and Dad were a lot alike – they resembled each other, were hard workers, loved animals, and both had a sense of humor and loved to laugh.

Rest in peace, tante Darlene.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Church Record Sunday: Angélique Desautels’ 1699 Baptism Record

With Christmas just one week away, I searched my ancestor database for an ancestor who was born on Christmas Day. The closest I got, though, were two ancestors who were baptised on December 25th: Angélique Desautels (1699-1780) and Augustin Rochon (1728-1805).

I wrote about Augustin, my paternal 6x great-grandfather, two years ago; see 52 Ancestors: #52 Augustin Rochon, born on Christmas Eve. Today, I’m featuring Angélique Desautels, ancestor no. 965, my maternal 7x great-grandmother.

Eldest child of Pierre Desautels dit Lapointe and his wife Thérèse-Angélique Thuillier, Angélique was born on 24 December 1699, eleven months after her parents’ marriage in Montreal. [1] She was likely a premature baby or appeared in danger of dying, because she was baptised without delay at home by her paternal grandfather Pierre Desautels. [2]

Newborn Angélique survived and was baptised the next day on Christmas in Notre-Dame church in Montreal. Father R.C. de Breslay, a French-born Sulpician and Notre-Dame’s parish priest, administered the Sacrament. [3] In attendance at the ceremony were Angélique’s father Pierre and her godparents Pierre Desautels (her paternal grandfather) and Jeanne Bernard [sic] (her maternal grandmother). [4] Of those three, only Pierre, grand-père, declared he could sign his name, which he did. (His signature appears just before that of the priest, in the second image below.)


Baptism record of Angelique Desautels

Angélique Desautels' 1699 baptism record (FamilySearch)

My transcription of Angélique’s baptism record, above (original lineation indicated by / ):


Le vinq cinquième Décembre mil six cent / quatre vinq dix neuf les ceremonies du baptême / ont étés supplies a Angelique fille de pierre / Desautels et d’Angelique Thuillier [sa femme] née / et ondoiée a la maison par pierre Desautels grand- / pere [du dit] enfant le vinq quatrieme des mois / et an [le dit] grand pere a servi de parein aux ceremonies / La mareine Jeanne Benard femme de Jacques Thuillier / le pere et la mareine ont declaré ne savoir signer / de ce interpollés suivant l’ordonnance / 
[signed] P desautels / R C De Breslay [prêtre] faisant / les fonctions curiales

My translation of the record (original lineation indicated by / ):


The twenty fifth December one thousand six hundred / ninety six the ceremonies of baptism /  were substituted to Angelique daughter of pierre / Desautels and of Angelique Thuillier [his wife] born / and [provisionally] baptised at home by pierre Desautels grand- / father [of said] child the twenty fourth of the month / and year [the said] grand father has served as godfather at the ceremonies / The godmother Jeanne Benard wife of Jacques Thuillier / the father and the godmother having declared they could not sign [their names] / added to [the text] following the regulation /  
[signed] P desautels / R C De Breslay [priest] performing / the parish functions

In January 1720, Angélique married Simon Sicard, a miller, by whom she had eleven children. Angélique died on 13 September 1780 in Sault-au-Récollet, in present-day Montreal. [5]

Sources:

1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 338.

2. Notre-Dame-de-Montréal (Montreal, Quebec), parish register, 1642-1699, no page no., no entry no. (1699), Angelique Desautels baptism, 25 December 1699; Notre-Dame-de-Montréal parish; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 9 December 2016).

3. E. A. Chard, “Breslay, René-Charles de”, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 2, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003– (http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/breslay_rene_charles_de_2E.html : accessed 9 December 2016).

4. Notre-Dame-de-Montréal, parish register, 1642-1699, Angelique Desautels baptism, 25 December 1699.

5. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 9 December 2016), Marie Angelique Therese Desautels Lapointe, Individu no. 24106.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday: Mary (O’Connor) Grozelle


Mary OConnor Grozelle gravemarker

Mary Grozelle was the wife of Gilbert Grozelle, a distant maternal cousin of mine. Daughter of James and Catherine (McNearney) O’Connor, Mary was born on 17 October 1885 in Victoria Road, Victoria County, Ontario. [1]

Mary and Gilbert married in 1905 and had six children: Ruth, Carmen, Thelma, Sylvia, Melvin and Murray. Mary died on 15 November 1971 in Kelowna, British Columbia. [2]

Her gravemarker reads:

Mary R. Grozelle
In Loving Memory
1885 – 1971

Gilbert died in 1953. He and Mary are interred next to each other in Memorial Park Cemetery, Kelowna, while son Murray shares his mother’s plot. [3]

Gilbert, Mary and Murray Grozelle gravemarkers
Graves of Gilbert (left), Mary (right), and Murray (lower right)

My husband and I took these photographs during our visit to Kelowna, when we attended the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society’s conference in September 2016.

Sources:

1. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 28 September 2016), entry for Thelma Mary Grittner [sic], 19 January 1959, death registration no. 1959-09-001632. Thelma’s mother Mary (O’Connor) Grozelle was the informant.

2. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Mary Beatrice Grozelle, 15 November 1971, death registration no. 1971-09-016099.

3. Memorial Park Cemetery, City of Kelowna, database (http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page270.aspx : accessed 21 September 2016), entry for Mary Beatrice Grozelle [sic], death 18 November 1971, plot B 6 62 81.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Sunday’s Obituary: Lucille Saucier

Lucille (Potvin) Saucier obituary

Lucille (Potvin) Saucier passed away ten years ago on 15 November 2006. [1]

Born Doris Lucille Potvin, she was “Lou” to her family and “Cousin Lou” to my Dad and I. Actually, I was first cousin once removed to her, while she and Dad were first cousins.

Lou was the only daughter of Clement and Cecilia (Vanasse) Potvin. She was four years older than her cousin Maurice, but they were rather close as young children and spent vacations on their grandparents’ farm on Ile des Allumettes in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In later years, Dad always spoke fondly of Lou, probably because he knew her best of his Vanasse cousins.

When I was a student at the University of Ottawa, Lou would invite me to her home for meals (and much appreciated they were) or to just hang out when I got lonely living in my dorm. Lou and I corresponded fairly regularly after my family moved to British Columbia. She was a wonderful source of information about our relatives and ancestors.

Cousin Lou is still missed and remembered to this day.

Source:

1. “Doris “Lou” Saucier”, obituary, undated clipping, 2006, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Joan (Belair) Laneville, Timmins, Ontario, 2016. Yvonne scanned family memorabilia, including this obituary, when she visited her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville in May 2014. Joan and Lou were first cousins.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Amanuensis Monday: Last Will and Testament of Alphonse Grozelle

An amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I recently wrote about my distant cousin Alphonse Grozelle (aka Alphonso Grozell); see Alphonse Grozelle (1854-1921).

Today, I look at his last will and testament. It is rare that I find wills for my ancestors or relatives, so I was pleased to come across Alphonse’s will at FamilySearch.org last week. The digitised probate packet wasn’t large (it consisted of 40 images) and the documents weren’t complicated.

In the spring of 1912, Alphonse made a will in which he named his younger son Joseph as executor. The total value of Alphonse’s property was not more than $3225.00. [1] He bequeathed all his real and personal estate (two ¼ sections of land) and “all the horses, machinery, and in fact all that is pertaining to the said land” to his son Joseph. He added that he owed $100.00 to his son Peter Richard Grozell. Last, he specified, “to the rest of my children they are not to receive any of Estate what so ever”. [2]
Alphonse Grozelle will part one
Last Will and Testament of Alphonso Grozell, part one (FamilySearch.org)

Alphonse’s will, dated 12 May 1919, was proved and registered in Surrogate Court of Judicial District of Estevan, Saskatchewan on 30 December 1921. Its administration (letters probate) was granted to Joseph. [3]
Alphonse Grozelle will part two
Last Will and Testament of Alphonso Grozell, part two (FamilySearch.org)

Here is my transcription of Alphonse’s will. (Note: Portions of text that are filled-in by hand or typewriter are shown underlined.)

[image 7 of 40]



Sources:

1. "Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931," digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTN-FJT : accessed 3 October 2016), Alphonso Grozell [sic], 1921, probate file, no. 0648, “Petition For Probate” (image 3 of 40); citing Saskatchewan Estevan, Queen's Bench Provincial Court, Regina; GS film no. 1,220,692.


2. "Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931," digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTN-FJT : accessed 3 October 2016), Alphonso Grozell [sic], 1921, probate file, no. 0648, “Last Will and Testament of Alphonso Grozell” (images 7-8 of 40); citing Saskatchewan Estevan, Queen's Bench Provincial Court, Regina; GS film no. 1,220,692.


3. "Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931," digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTN-FJT : accessed 3 October 2016), Alphonso Grozell [sic], 1921, probate file, no. 0648, “In The Surrogate Court of […]” (image 33 of 40); citing Saskatchewan Estevan, Queen's Bench Provincial Court, Regina; GS film no. 1,220,692.


Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Alphonse Grozelle (1854-1921)

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been researching Alphonse Grozelle, my 2nd cousin 4x removed. Using records I’ve found about him at Ancestry.ca and FamilySearch.org, like his homestead applications, his death registration and his will, I’ve put together a brief biography for him.

Birth and marriage

Alphonse was born on 1 January 1854 in Ops Township, Victoria County, Ontario. [1] He was the ninth of eleven children of Pierre Desgroseilliers (later Grozelle) and Félicité L’Eriger de la Plante dite Laplante. In about 1850, Pierre, his wife and their children moved from Châteauguay County in Canada East (now Quebec) to Victoria County in Canada West (now Ontario).

When he was 22 years old, Alphonse married Annie McAlpine in August 1876. [2] The couple had ten children: seven sons and three daughters. Alphonse worked as a farmer, lumberman, and general labourer, according to census records and some of his children’s birth registrations. In early 1903, Annie gave birth to her tenth child, a son named Archibald, who did not survive. Sadly, Annie died a few months later on 1 September 1903. [3]

Saskatchewan

Entrusting his youngest surviving children to the care of his eldest son, Alphonse left Ontario for Saskatchewan between 1903 and 1911. He was enumerated in that prairie province on the 1911 census as ‘Alfonso Grozell’, laborer. [4]

That July, Alphonse applied for a homestead (SE¼, S18, T4, R23, W2) near Bengough, Saskatchewan. [5] After making the necessary improvements on his 160 acres of land, he was granted his homestead in November 1914. [6]

Alphonse wrote his will on 12 May 1919. He named his son Joseph, who had moved to Saskatchewan in about 1910, as executor and sole beneficiary. [7]

Illness and death

About October 1920, Alphonse returned to Ontario. Within a few months, he was ill and sought a doctor’s care in May 1921. [8] Soon after, Alphonse made his last appearance on a federal census when he was enumerated in his brother Eric’s household in Bexley Township, Victoria County. [9]
Alphonse Grozelle 1921 death registration
Alphonse Grozelle's death registration (Ancestry.ca)

With his health deteriorating, Alphonse was admitted to Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, Victoria County in mid-August. [10]. He died there ten weeks later on 12 October 1921. [11] The cause of death was “sarcoma of sternum” and exhaustion. [12] He was buried on 14 October 1921 in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in Victoria Road, Victoria County, Ontario. [13]

Discrepancies

According to his death registration, at which his son William was the informant, Alphonse had been 10 weeks at his place of death, that is, in hospital since about 17 August 1921, and had resided in the province of Ontario for one year, that is, since about 12 October 1920. [14] However, his son Joseph, as executor of his will, stated in an affidavit that Alphonse’s residence at the time of his death and for at least six months prior was Bengough, Saskatchewan. [15]

Next week on "Amanuensis Monday", I’ll examine Alphonse’s last will and testament.

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 September 2015), entry for Delfonce Grozell – Annie McAlpin [sic], 28 August 1876; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Toronto, Ontario Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS932, reel 22. 1901 census of Canada, Township Dalton, Victoria (North), Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 119, subdistrict D-1, p. 5, dwelling 33, family 33, [Fronce?] Grozelle (written as [Fronce?] Grozelle, indexed as France Grozelle); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 September 2016); citing Census of Canada, 1901, microfilm reels T-6428 to T-6556, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Library and Archives Canada, 2004.

2. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Delfonce Grozell – Annie McAlpin [sic], 28 August 1876.

3. Find A Grave, digital images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 4 October 2016), photograph, gravestone for Annie McAlpine (1855-1903), Find A Grave Memorial no. 119300728, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Victoria Road, Ontario, Canada.

4. "Recensement du Canada de 1911," database, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org : accessed 5 October 2016), entry for Alfonso Grozell [sic] (b. 1859); citing Regina Sub-Districts 6-71, Saskatchewan, Canada; Library and Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; FHL microfilm 2,418,579.

5. “Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 October 2016), entry for Alphonse Grozell, homestead no. 426681; citing Homestead Grant Registers, R190-75-1-E, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

6. “Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada, Homestead Grant Registers, 1872-1930”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozell, homestead no. 426681.

7. "Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931," digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTN-FJT : accessed 3 October 2016), Alphonso Grozell [sic], 1921, probate file, no. 0648, “Last Will and Testament of Alphonso Grozell” (images 7-8 of 40); citing Saskatchewan Estevan, Queen's Bench Provincial Court, Regina; GS film no. 1,220,692.

8. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 August 2015), entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 232.

9. 1921 census of Canada, Township Bexley, Victoria (North), Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 135, subdistrict D-2, p. 1, dwelling 4, family 4, Alfonso Grozell [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 October 2016); citing Sixth Census of Canada, 1921, Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31; Statistics Canada Fonds.

10. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921.

11. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921.

12. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921.

13. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921. Find A Grave, digital images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 4 October 2016), photograph, gravestone for Alphonse Grozelle (1854-1921), Find A Grave Memorial no. 119300761, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Victoria Road, Ontario, Canada.

14. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, database, Ancestry.ca, entry for Alphonse Grozelle, 12 October 1921.

15. “Saskatchewan Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931," digital images, FamilySearch.org (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VNTN-FJT : accessed 3 October 2016), Alphonso Grozell [sic], 1921, probate file, no. 0648; “Affidavit To Domicile of Deceased” (image 10 of 40); citing Saskatchewan Estevan, Queen's Bench Provincial Court, Regina; GS film no. 1,220,692.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Jean-Baptiste Desgroseilliers’ 1755 Burial Record

Today is the 261st anniversary of the death of my maternal ancestor Jean-Baptiste Desgroseilliers. He didn’t start out life with the surname Desgroseilliers, though. He was Jean-Baptiste Bouchard at his baptism in 1698. Later, he used Dorval and Desgroseliers [sic] as surnames.

I wrote about him earlier this year in Sibling Saturday: The Children of Jean-Baptiste Bouchard (1698-1755).

Jean-Baptiste died on 11 October 1755. [1].He was buried the next day in the seigneurie of Deschambault, west of present-day Quebec City. Deschambault's St. Joseph church, its cemetery and its presbytery (maison curialle), where the parish priest Menage recorded the details of the burial, are located on Cap Lauzon, a promontory overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

1755 burial record of Jean Baptiste Desgroseilliers
Jean Baptiste Desgroseliers burial record (FamilySearch.org)

The burial record above reads in French (original lineation indicated by / ):

[Sidebar] 
Enterrement / 
de Jean / 
baptiste / 
Desgroseliers

[Text] 
Le douzieme jour du mois d’octobre de l’année mil sept cent cinquante cinq dans /
le cimetière du cap lauzon paroisse de St Joseph seigneurie d’Eschambeau a été /
enterré Jean baptiste Desgroseliers âgé autour de cinquante ans mort du jour /
précedent après avoir recu tous ses sacrements. Et on assisté a son enterrement /
pierre Arcan et pierre grolo pris et appeller pour temoins lesquels ont declaré ne /
sçavoir écrire ni signer de ce enquis suivant l’ordonnance. lequel enterrement /
a été fais par nous prêtre soussigné curé de St. Joseph en foi de quoi nous avons /
signé dans nôtre maison curialle au cap Lauzon les jour et an que dessus

[signed] Menage ptre

My translation:

[Sidebar]
Burial /
of Jean /
baptiste /
Desgroseliers

[Text]
The twelfth day of the month of October of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty five in / 
the cemetery of cap lauzon parish of St Joseph seigneurie of Eschambeau was /
buried Jean baptiste Desgroseliers aged about fifty years died of [the] day /
preceding after having received all his sacrements. And have assisted at his burial /
pierre Arcan and pierre grolo taken and called as witnesses who have declared not /
knowing [how to] write nor sign [their names] as inquired following the regulation. which interment /
was done by us undersigned [parish] priest of St. Joseph in witness we have /
signed in our parish home [presbytery] at cap Lauzon these day and year as above

[signed] Menage [priest]

Source:

1. St-Joseph (Deschambault, Quebec), parish register, 1705-1782, p. 56 verso, no entry no. (1755), Jean Baptiste Desgroseliers burial, 12 October 1755; St-Joseph parish; digital images, "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 8 October 2016). Note: To access this browsable-only image, follow this path from the FamilySearch homepage: Search > Records > Canada > Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979 > [Browse] > Deschambault > Saint-Joseph-de-Deschambault > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1705-1782 > image 238 of 392. 

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday: Gilbert Grozelle

Gilbert Grozelle is my maternal third cousin three times removed. We descend from Joseph Prosper Desgroseilliers by his wife Charlotte Nunegand dite Beaurosier: Gilbert through eldest son Ambroise (b. 1774) and me through younger son François (b. 1783).

The fourth child of Alphonse Grozelle ( Desgroseilliers) and Annie McAlpine, Gilbert was born on 20 May 1884 in Bexley Township, Victoria County, Ontario. [1] He had nine brothers and sisters: Jennie, Peter, Charles, William, Joseph, Mary, Mabel, John, and Archibald.

A labourer, then farmer, Gilbert married Mary O’Connor on 2 June 1905. [2] Daughters Ruth and Carmen were born in Ontario before the family moved west to the prairie province of Saskatchewan in about 1910. The family moved once more, to Alberta, about 1912. Four more children (Thelma, Sylvia, Melvin, and Murray) were born between 1915 and 1923.

About 1945, Gilbert and Mary relocated to British Columbia. Gilbert, who had suffered from chronic coronary sclerosis for five years, died on 12 June 1953 in Kelowna, British Columbia. [3] He was buried four days later in Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in Kelowna. [4]

Gravemarker of Gilbert Grozelle
Gravemarker of Gilbert Grozelle

His gravemarker reads:

Grozelle Gilbert
In Loving Memory
1884 – 1953


Gilbert and Mary, who died in 1971, are interred next to each other. Their son Murray, who died in 1981, shares his mother’s plot.


Graves of Gilbert Grozelle Mary Grozelle and Murray Grozelle
Graves of Gilbert (left), Mary (right) and Murray (right, bottom), foregound

My husband and I took these photographs during our recent visit to Kelowna, when we attended the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society’s conference in September 2016.

Memoria Park Cemetery in Kelowna British Columbia
Entrance to Memorial Park Cemetery, Kelowna, BC

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 September 2015), entry for Gilbert E. Groselle – Mary O’Connor, 2 June 1905; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928, 1933-1934; Toronto, Ontario Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS932, reel 119. 1901 census of Canada, Township Dalton, Victoria (North), Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 119, subdistrict D-1, p. 5, dwelling 33, family 33, Gillbert Grozelle [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 September 2016); citing Census of Canada, 1901, microfilm reels T-6428 to T-6556, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Library and Archives Canada, 2004.

2. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 September 2015), entry for Gilbert E. Groselle – Mary O’Connor, 2 June 1905.

3. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Gilbert Eric Grozelle, 12 June 1953, death registration no. 1953-09-006570.

4. Memorial Park Cemetery, City of Kelowna, database (http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page270.aspx : accessed 21 September 2016), entry for Gilbert Eric Grozelle, death 12 June 1953, plot B 6 62 82.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Church Record Sunday: Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers’ 1618 Baptism Record

Nearly 400 hundred years ago, my maternal ancestor Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, was born in Charly-sur-Marne, France.

Baptism record of Chouart des Groseilliers
Médard Chouart's baptism record [1]

I downloaded the record (above) a few years ago, but could only partially decipher the Latin text:


31 […] [die?] […] [x. […] [baptizatur?] [fuii?] Medardus filius Medar / Souar de Mariae Poirier [coningmy?] [C---iraxman?] fui Ant[onius / Chouar maxenna aubry Fllim […]

Basically, the words translate into English as Medar, son of Medar Chouar and Marie Poirier, was baptised on 31 July1618. The godfather was Antoine Chouart, presumably brother to the elder Médard. [2]

The officiating priest of St-Martin, a 12th century church, did not indicate when Médard was born, but it’s reasonable to think that he received the Sacrament the day he was born or the next day.

Few details are known about Médard’s early years due to the “obscurity that covers his youth”. [3]

Sources:

1. Saint-Martin parish (Charly-sur-Marne, France), Registres paroissiaux et d’état civil, Baptêmes 1600-1645, vue: 126/364, poste: 242; baptême, Medardus Souar [sic], 31 juillet 1618; digital image, Archives Départementales de l’Aisne (www.archives.aisne/fr : accessed 8 September 2012).

2. Grace Lee Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, reprint, 1978), 2.

3. Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness, 5.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Dorothée Brassard, "la bonne femme"

'Good woman' Dorothée, my 9x maternal great-grandmother, and I share the same birthday: July 30. Born in 1656 in Quebec, she was baptized there two days later in Notre-Dame church. [1]

Baptism record of Dorothée Brassard
Dorothée Brassard baptism record (Généalogie Québec)

Dorothée’s father Antoine Brassard was a master mason. He was possibly from Normandy, France, while her mother Françoise Méry was possibly from the Perche region of France. They married on 14 January 1637 in Quebec, making them one of the first families in New France. [2]

The tenth and youngest child, Dorothée had six brothers, Alexandre, Antoine, Guillaume, Antoine, Jean-Baptiste, and Louis, and three sisters, Marie-Madeleine, Jeanne, and Marguerite. [3]

The Brassard family lived in Quebec when it was enumerated on the 1666 census, and then in nearby Sillery on the 1667 census. [4] Antoine did well for himself, for on this last census he had twenty-seven arpents of improved land and three farm animals. [5]

Sillery Church and Cove from the Plains of Abraham
“Sillery Church and Cove from the Plains of Abraham”

Dorothée lost her parents when she was a young teenager. Her father Antoine died in 1668 or 1669, while mother Françoise died suddenly at her home in Quebec in July 1671. [6]

Between the deaths of her parents, Dorothée entered into a marriage contract in December 1670 that was later annulled. Her intended, Pierre Ménage, was a carpenter, who was about 8 to 14 years older than she was. Originally from Poitiers, France, Pierre eventually married fille du Roi Anne Leblanc, had children, and died in 1715 in Quebec. [7]

Within a few months of this marriage disappointment, Dorothée entered into another marriage contract, this time with Pierre Richer dit Laflèche, on 5 September 1671 in Quebec. [8] Pierre, originally from the province of Anjou in France, was a Carignan-Salières soldier, who chose to remain in Canada when his regiment returned to France in 1668. [9]

Dorothée was the mother of twelve Richer children born between 1673 and 1700. Two daughters, Etiennette and Christine, died young, but the other children, Catherine, Marie-Thérèse, Pierre, Michel, Jean-Baptiste, Marguerite, Marie-Josèphe, Marie-Thérèse, Antoine, and Marie-Anne, survived and most married. [10] I descend from the eldest surviving child, Catherine (1674-1746).

Pierre died in May 1722 in in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, a seigneurie on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River south of Quebec City, where he and his family had been established since about 1700. [11]

Dorothée survived her husband by sixteen years. She died at her home in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, presumably in early November, although her burial record doesn’t state the day.

Burial record of Dorothée Brassard
Dorothée Brassard burial record (Généalogie Québec) 

Dorothée was buried there in the parish cemetery on 7 November 1738. Described as “la bonne femme Dorothée Brossard [sic]”, the priest noted that she had received with piety all the Sacraments prior to her death. [12]

Sources:

Image credit: “Sillery Church and Cove from the Plains of Abraham”, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-13 Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana.

1. Notre-Dame (Quebec, Quebec), parish register, 1621-1671, p. 35 verso, no entry no. (1656), Dorothée Brassard baptism, 1 August 1656; Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 23 January 2015).

2. Denise Gravel, “Les premières familles de Québec”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 58 (automne 2007): 231-256, specifically p. 232; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

3. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec des origines à 1730 (Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), 164 and “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 23 January 2015), Antoine Brassard – Françoise Merry [sic], Famille no. 267.

4. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 164.

5. Roland-J. Auger, “Etat général des habitants du Canada en 1667”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 18 (janvier-avril 1967): 1-116, specifically p. 28; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

6. Gravel, “Les premières familles de Québec”, 240.

7. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 793.

8. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

9. Michael H. Ryan, “De Richer à Rishea: Une famille québécoise à Peterborough”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 61 (hiver 2010): 311-318, specifically 311.

10. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

11. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

12. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Quebec), parish register, 1738-1739, p. 8 recto, no entry no. (1738), Dorothée Brossard [sic] burial, 7 November 1738; parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 23 January 2015). According to her burial record, Dorothée was about 86 years old, but she was actually four years younger.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Church Record Sunday: Angélina Meunier’s 1896 Burial Record

Two years ago, I wrote about my great-grandmother Angélina Meunier; see 52 Ancestors: #7 Angélina Meunier – My great-grandmother. Today, I focus on her burial record on the 120th anniversary of her death.

Angélina died on 26 July 1896, four days after giving birth to her 11th child, a son, who did not survive. Her funeral took place two days later in Sainte-Cécile parish church in Masham (now La Pêche), Quebec.[1]

1896 burial record of Angélina Meunier
Angélina Meunier burial record (Ancestry)
Here’s a close-up version:

1896 burial record of Angélina Meunier
Angélina Meunier burial record, cropped (Ancestry)

The burial record (above) reads in French:

Le vingt-huit Juillet, mil huit cent quatre vingt-seize, nous / soussigné, Curé de cette paroisse, avons inhumé, dans le cime / tière paroissial, le corps d’Angélina Meunier, décédée / l’avant-veille, en cette paroisse, à l’âge de quarante et / un ans, épouse de Pierre Bélair, cultivateur, de cette parois / se. Étaient presents Pierre Bélair, époux de la Défunte, Jo- / seph Pinsonneault, cultivateur, qui n’ont pas su signer; / plusieurs Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, dont la / Défunte faisait partie, qui ont signé avec nous. Lec / ture faite. [Signatures of twenty-four women belonging to the Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, followed by the officiating priest.]

My English translation:

The twenty-eight July, one thousand one hundred ninety-six, we / undersigned, [parish priest] of this parish, have interred, in the parochial ceme / tery, the body of Angélina Meunier, deceased / the previous day, in this parish, at the age of forty / one years, spouse of Pierre Bélair, farmer, of the pari / sh. Were present Pierre Bélair, spouse of the Deceased, Jo- / seph Pinsonneault, farmer, [neither of] who knew how to sign [their names]; / several Ladies of the Congregation of Ste. Anne, of which the / Deceased belonged, who signed with us. Reading [of this record] done. [Signatures of twenty-four women belonging to the Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, followed by the officiating priest.]

Source:

1. Ste-Cécile (Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Quebec), parish register, 1887-1898, p. 209 verso, entry no. S.20 (1896), Angélina Meunier burial, 28 July 1896; Ste-Cécile-de-Masham parish; digital images, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2012).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.