Matrilineal Monday: My Husband’s Matrilineal Line

Two weeks ago, I posted my seven-generation matrilineal line here. Today, I’m following up that post with a brief review of my husband Michael’s matrilineal line. His line is shorter than mine – it’s only four generations. His matrilineal ancestry goes back to his great-grandmother who died in 1925. I should emphasize that this is Michael’s known matrilineal line; of course, his line extends even further back, but at this time, it’s unknown to him and to me despite our research into his past.

Michael’s Matrilineal Line:

1. Michael Demoskoff

2. Ann Cazakoff (1926-1980)

3. Polya [Pelageya] (Polly) Poznekoff (1887-1971)

4. Oxenia [Aksin’ya] Malakoff (?- 1925)

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

In Memoriam: Eugène Desgroseilliers

Early Life

Eugène Desgroseilliers, my maternal grandfather, was born on 30 August 1900 in St-Charles, Ontario. He was his parents Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers’ first child. Eugène, the eldest of 14 children, had ten brothers and three sisters. His youngest sibling, Joseph, was only two years old when Eugène married in 1925.

Eugène with his younger brother Arthur and sister Alma, about 1907.

Eugène grew up in St-Charles, which had been carved out of the forest wilderness south of Sudbury after the CPR railway opened up the region in the 1880s-1890s. Eugène’s father Albert supported his family as farmer; they lived for a while on lot 9, concession 2. When Eugène was about 17 years old, the family moved to Moonbeam in northeastern Ontario, where some of his relatives lived.

Marriage and Family

In Moonbeam, Eugène met and courted a young woman named Juliette Beauvais, whom he married in the local Roman Catholic church on 18 August 1925. The couple were a visual contrast: he was tall (6’7”), she was short (5’2”). Juliette was so petite at her marriage that Eugène could wrap his hands around her tiny waist.

Eugène and Juliette had nine children: a son Noël Xavier (born and died on Christmas Day 1926), followed by five daughters (Mariette, Madeleine, Simone, Marianne, and Jacqueline), then a son (Gaston), and then two more daughters (Normande and Jeanne d’arc). Sadly, Marianne died in 1938 when she was six years old following an appendicitis attack, while Gaston died in 1941 of his injuries after falling out of a moving car; he was only six years old. My mother and her sisters say that their father never really recovered from the loss of his son Gaston.

Eugène and Juliette on their wedding day with their parents, 1925.

When he married, Eugène was a farmer in Moonbeam, but after moving to Hearst in 1927, he became the town’s chief of police. (My Mom doesn’t know what qualifications her father had in order to do police work, but believes he was chosen for the job because of his imposing height.)

For the next few years, Eugène served as chief of police in Hearst, and then transferred to Rouyn and later Duparquet and Cadillac, all in northwestern Quebec. With regular employment during the Depression, Eugène provided well for his family, and was able to afford such luxuries as a piano and boarding (convent) school education for his elder daughters. He was known for his generous nature, giving food and money to the poor who came knocking at his door.

Eugène when chief of police, 1930s.

Difficult Years

About 1940, Eugène became ill with double pneumonia and lost his job as police chief. The family returned to live in Ontario, where Eugène worked for a short time in an explosives and munitions factory near Parry Sound. By 1942, the family settled in Blue Water, a village near Sarnia, Ontario. Eugène then worked sporadically as a carpenter, but the family was very poor and there was little money.

The family suffered another tragedy when Juliette was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1948. She died after a short illness that August. Eugène was left alone to raise his family. The youngest daughters continued with school, but the eldest ones had jobs or were married. (My mother regretted having to quit high school to find work soon after her mother died, because her father couldn’t afford the fees.)

Final Days

Eugène with his daughters (left to right) Jeanne d'arc, Jacqueline
and Madeleine, Blue Water, Ontario, 1959.

In the summer of 1960, Eugène told his daughter Jacqueline that he was ill. He did not know it at the time, but he had cancer. Eugène died on 20 September 1960, having just turned 60 years old. His funeral took place three days later at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Blue Water. 

My Memories

I don’t really remember my grandfather, even though I visited him on a couple of occasions when I was a toddler. I’m told that he would rock me on his knees and call me his “p’tite poule noire” (little black chicken) because of my dark brown hair and eyes.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: Lukeria Demoskoff and her young sons

Lukeria (Lucy) Demoskoff with her sons George (left) and William (right), about 1917.

Lukeria wears traditional, everyday Doukhobor woman's clothing: a printed cotton apron over a full skirt, a long sleeved blouse, and a head shawl.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Family History Through the Alphabet – S is for …

S is for … Spirit Wrestlers.

In 1786, Archbishop Nikifor referred to a group of people who had broken away from the Russian Orthodox Church as dukhobortsy or “spirit wrestlers”.[1]  It signified “those who wrestled against the spirit of the church and God”; it was meant as an insult.[2]  This sect, living on the fringes of the Russian Empire in what is now Ukraine, embraced the name a few years later, but changed its meaning to signify those who “wrestle with the spirit of truth”.[3]

The Spirit Wrestlers were pacifist Christians whose spiritual origins date back to the mid-1600s when reforms were introduced in the Russian Orthodox Church.[4]  They rejected formal, organized religion, including the sacraments and the priesthood. The Doukhobors were persecuted by the government for their beliefs and forced into exile in far-flung regions of the Empire throughout the 17th – 19th centuries.

With the financial backing of Leo Tolstoy (through sales of his novel Resurrection) and the intervention of others like the Society of Friends (Quakers), approximately 7,500 Doukhobors (descendants of the original "Spirit Wrestlers") left Russia for Canada in 1898 and 1899. Smaller groups continued to arrive until the early 1930s.[5]  Today, there are about 40,000 Doukhobors in Canada, living mostly in the provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia.[6]

Sources:

1. Svetlana A. Inikova, “Spiritual Origins and the Beginnings of Doukhobor History”, in The Doukhobor Centenary in Canada, Andrew Donskov, John Woodsworth and Chad Gaffield, editors (Ottawa: Slavic Research Group, University of Ottawa, 2000), p. 2, note 6. Other sources give a different year (1785) and a different archbishop (Ambrosius). See, for example, Koozma J. Tarasoff, Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers’ Strategies for Living (Ottawa: Spirit Wrestlers Publishing, 2002), p. 1, and, John Woodsworth, compiler, Russian Roots & Canadian Wings (Penumbra Press, 1999), p. 11, note 1.

2. Tarasoff, Spirit Wrestlers, p. 1.

3. Tarasoff, Spirit Wrestlers, p. 1.

4. Tarasoff, Spirit Wrestlers, p. 1.

5. Jonathan J. Kalmakoff, “Index to Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Shiplists.htm : accessed 14 September 2012).

6. Tarasoff, Spirit Wrestlers, p. ix.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Amanuensis Monday: Deed of Sale between James Nesbitt and Pierre Genvre

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

This deed of sale between James Nesbitt and my paternal great-grandfather Pierre Janvry (1851-1941), whose surname is rendered as “Genvre” in the deed, was drawn up on 20 September 1881. It was registered on 29 September 1881. The transcription of this deed appears in quotation marks, with preprinted portions shown in black and handwritten portions shown in red.

“This Indenture made the twentieth day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy Eighty-one

Between James Nesbitt, of the Township of Masham in the County of Ottawa and Province of Quebec farmer

of the one part, and Pierre Genvre of the said township of Masham farmer

of the other part, Witnesseth, That for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred dollars current money of this Province

to the said James Nesbitt

in hand paid by the said Pierre Genvre

at or before the execution of these presents, (the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged

by the said James Nesbitt) he, the

said James Nesbitt

doth hereby grant, bargain, sell and confirm unto the said Pierre Genvre

his heirs and assigns for ever, all that certain lot of land,

situated and being in the township of Masham aforesaid and described as the lot number fifty-five in the fourth range of the Township of Masham aforesaid containing one hundred and twenty-three acres of land in superfic[ies] more or less

To have and to hold the said lot of land and premises hereinbefore granted, bargained and sold, or intended so to be, with their and every of their appurtenances, unto the said Pierre Genvre his heirs and assigns forever

In Witness Whereof, the said parties hereto have hereunto set their hands and Seals the day and year first above written, at the Township of Wakefield in the District of Ottawa, (in duplicate.)

Signed, Sealed and Delivered     James Nesbitt

A. Cates                                   Pierre his Genvre

Isaac B. Yorke                                  x

                                                      mark ”

Source: “Deed of Sale Between James Nesbitt and Pierre Genvre”, dated 20 September 1881; Demoskoff Family Papers, photocopy held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2012. The photocopy, was supplied by Eloi Belair to Yvonne, his cousin, during her visit to his home in Hull, Quebec in the 1980s. Eloi was Pierre Genvre [Janvry]’s grandson.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday's Obituary: Juliette Desgroseilliers

On Tuesday, 4 September, 2012, I posted a photo of my Desgroseilliers grandparents’ gravemarker. I posted my grandfather Eugène's obituary last Sunday. Today, I’m following up those posts with a scanned image of my grandmother Juliette’s obituary. Note that her married name is misspelled twice in the clipping as “Des Grosielliers” and as "Des Grosielleiers". (Her daughter Normande's name is also misspelled as "Normand".)



Juliette Desgroseilliers obituary, 1948.



Source: “Mrs. E. DesGrosielliers”, obituary, undated clipping [August 1948], from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2012. Juliette’s obituary, along with other family newspaper clippings, was given by Mrs. Maurice Belair (née Jacqueline Desgroseilliers) to her daughter Yvonne in the 1970s. 

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

In Memoriam: Wasyl Demosky

My husband Michael never knew his paternal grandfather, Wasyl Demosky, because he died twenty years before he was born. 

According to family tradition, Wasyl was originally from Tiflis, Russia (now Tbilisi, Georgia) or Kars, Russia (now in Turkey). His exact date of birth is unknown, but based on his age on census records and on his death registration, he was born about 1883. 

Wasyl, his father Mikhail and other family members left Russia for Canada in the spring of 1899. (His mother, whose name is unknown, died in Russia.) They were part of a large group of Doukhobors fleeing persecution for their pacifist and religious beliefs. The Demosky family settled in Moiseyevo, a village near Buchanan, Saskatchewan. They lived a traditional, agricultural and communal lifestyle, similar to what they had known in Russia. 



Wasyl Demosky, about 1927.


In about 1902, Wasyl married Lukeria (Lucy) Tomelin, a young Doukhobor immigrant, possibly in Moiseyevo village, where they appear with their respective families on the 1901 census. They had four children (a daughter and three sons) before relocating to British Columbia, where their son William (Bill) was born in 1914. After some years of hardship, the family returned to Saskatchewan and farmed land as independents, first near Buchanan, then later near Pelly. 

On 12 September 1933, Wasyl passed away at home at NE 1-35-32 W1 in Livingston rural municipality; he was only 50 years old. He was buried two days later in Tolstoy Cemetery near Veregin, Saskatchewan. 

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Travel Tuesday: Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Quebec

In the 1970s and 1980s, my parents and siblings visited Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, where my paternal grandfather Fred Belair was born and raised. Also known as La Pêche, Masham is located a little to the northwest of Hull, in the province of Quebec, across the river from Ottawa, our nation’s capital. 

What I remember most about these visits (besides meeting some of Dad’s relatives) was the imposing Roman Catholic stone church, the winding road through the village, the houses built closely to the main street, and the Belair family home. 

Belair Family Home, 1986.

I don’t know who originally built the Belair house or how old it was when I last visited it in 1986, but it was a simple, wooden two-story structure on a good-sized plot of land. My grandfather Fred’s sister-in-law Corinne (the widow of his half-brother Joseph) lived in the house. The kitchen had, I think, a wood stove and a somewhat steep staircase that lead to the upstairs floor where ‘Tante Corinne’ kept a large quilt frame. 

During our last visit, my brother Raymond was particularly impressed with the house and said (he must have been all of 7 or 8 years old at the time) that one day he would come back to Masham and buy the house. I’m not sure if the house is still owned by Corinne’s descendants, but my brother and his wife now live in a condo in British Columbia. 

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Matrilineal Monday: My Matrilineal Line

Scientists have “calculated that all living humans are related to a single woman who lived roughly 150,000 years ago in Africa, a ‘mitochondrial Eve’ […].” (Source: James Shreeve, “The Greatest Journey”, National Geographic, March 2006, p. 62.)

I have been fascinated for years by mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA), in which a person’s maternal ancestry (from a daughter to her mother to her mother’s mother and so on) is traced. I can follow my matrilineal line for seven generations – from myself (no. 1) to my great-great-great-great-grandmother (no. 7).  I can’t go further, though, because I haven’t been able to find any information about Marie Marguerite’s parents.

My Matrilineal Line:

1. Yvonne Belair

2. Jacqueline Desgroseilliers

3. Juliette Beauvais (1901-1948)

4. Olivine Hotte (1879-1926)

5. Marguerite Lacasse (1839-1907)

6. Thérèse Durgey dite Doyer (1810-1900)

 7. Marie Marguerite Carpentier (ca 1782-1874)

For those who are curious, the longest proven matrilineal descent is an amazing 37 generations, from the wife of Henry I, Count of Limburg (who died in 1119) through Empress Maria Theresia of Austria to the granddaughters of Michael, the exiled King of Romania (born in 1921). The interested reader will find this line and 100s of other ones in Matrilineal Descents of the European Royalty (5th edition, 1997) by William Addams Reitwiesner. This monumental work is the largest collection of matrilineal genealogies ever assembled. It was compiled by William (who passed away in 2010) and is available in book format at the Library of Congress and on microfiche in larger libraries around the world. 

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday's Obituary: Eugène Desgroseilliers

Last Tuesday, I posted a photo of my Desgroseilliers grandparents’ gravemarker. Today, I’m following up that post with a scanned image of my grandfather Eugène’s obituary.

Eugène Desgroseilliers obituary, 1960.

Source: “Eugene Desgroseilliers”, obituary, 21 September 1960, Sarnia Observer (Sarnia, Ontario); Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2012. A volunteer from RAOGK [Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness] supplied the photocopy of Eugène’s obituary to Yvonne in November 2010 at her request.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Famous Relatives: The Dionne Quintuplets

This article is the first in an occasional series about some of the famous relatives I’ve uncovered in my family tree.



The Dionne quintuplets, accompanied by Mrs Olive Dionne and Frère Gustave Sauvé, take part in a program of religious music at Lansdowne Park, during the five day Marian Congress which prayed for peace and celebrated the centenary of the Ottawa archdiocese. 18 – 22 June 1947, Ottawa, Ont.

(Photo source: National Film Board of Canada / Library and Archives Canada / PA-155518. Online MIKAN no. 3192103.)

Born on a spring day in May 1934 in Corbeil, a village near Callander, Ontario, the Dionne quintuplets were the first quintuplets to survive their infancy. The identical girls, born two months prematurely, were the younger children of Oliva (father) and Elzire (mother) Dionne.

Growing up in northern Ontario in the 1960s and 1970s, I was aware of the famous Dionne quintuplets, but knew very little about them except that they I was born somewhat near where they were born, that my first name was the same as one of theirs, and that they were about the same age as my Mom.

I had been researching my family tree for many years and knew that, as a French-Canadian, it was likely I’d be related to some famous French-Canadians, but I didn’t know who they were. Then one day I came across the ancestry of the Dionne quintuplets on the Internet and saw a name that looked familiar: Geneviève Lalonde. I thought, “Could she be related to my ancestor Angélique Lalonde?”

It didn’t take me too long to find the names of Geneviève’s parents. That's when I realized they were my great-great-great-grandparents, Jean-Baptiste and Angélique (Bray) Lalonde, who married on 24 October 1796 in Les Cèdres, Soulanges County, Quebec.

The Dionne quintuplets descend from their daughter Geneviève (who married Joseph Legros in 1831), while I descend from their younger daughter Angélique (who married Paul Janvry dit Belair in 1845). 

And that’s how I discovered that Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Emilie and Marie Dionne and I are fourth cousins. So cool…

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff

Follow Friday: Confirmation Records

About a year ago, I was searching for baptism records of my grandfather’s cousins, but wasn’t getting very far in locating them in the parish where I thought they might be. I decided to look elsewhere in the diocese, that is, at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Hull, Quebec, but was disappointed to see that its parish registers for 1871 to 1886 were lost in a fire.

These ecclesiastical records were lost not only once, but twice. The original registers perished in June 1888, when the church and its rectory and numerous other buildings in Hull were reduced to ashes. The duplicate registers, which had been placed at the courthouse (civil archives), were destroyed in April 1900 in a conflagration that was known as the Grand Feu [the Great Fire] that raged through most of Hull and part of Ottawa, which lay on the opposite side of the Outaouais River.



Court House and Jail, Hull - Ottawa Fire of 1900.

(Photo source: Library and Archives Canada / PA-023233. Online MIKAN no. 3193233.)

I thought the situation was hopeless and that I’d never be able to find information about these families. That is, until one day when I came across a genealogy resource that I didn’t realize existed: “Les confirmés de la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Hull (Gatineau) 1888-1895” [The Confirmed of the Parish Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Hull (Gatineau) 1888-1895], compiled by Nathalie and Raymond Ouimet. (The Confirmation registers escaped both fires.) With this newly found information, I was able to determine the names and ages of some of the children I was looking for.

This genealogy resource is important to those who wish to “reconstituer une partie de la population hulloise des années 1870” [reconstitute a part of the Hull population of the 1870s]. There are lists from 1888 through 1895. Each of these yearly lists features the names and ages of the individuals receiving the sacrament of Confirmation, the names of their parents, the names of the godparents, and the godparents’ relationship to the confirmed. Most of the confirmed are children (they tend to be about 10 or 11 years old), but there are some adults. As well, most of the surnames are French-Canadian, with occasional English surnames.

For more information, see the Centre régional d’archives de l’Outaouais. Click on the tab “Expositions/Bases de données”, then on “Les confirmés de la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Hull (Gatineau) 1888-1895”.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 36: Ancestors Photos

For which ancestral photograph are you most grateful? Who is in the photo and how did you acquire it? Why does the photo hold a special place in your heart?

Pierre Belair (1851-1941)

I am most grateful for this ancestral photo of my great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair.

Pierre was the eldest child of Paul and Angélique (Lalonde) Janvry dit Belair. He was born in December 1851 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County, Quebec. He lived to a great age, married three times, and had 15 children. Pierre died in May 1941 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham.

The photo (which is a copy) was sent to me over twenty years ago by my Dad’s cousin Suzanne. My parents and I visited her and her mother (my father’s aunt Almina) in the summer of 1986. After our vacation, Suzanne and I corresponded and she sent me family information and photos.

Pierre’s photo holds a special place in my heart, because it’s the oldest image I have of my patrilineal Belair ancestors and it’s (possibly) the earliest known image of Pierre. (I don’t know when or where the photo was taken, but it appears to be a studio portrait done in the 1870s when Pierre was in his early 20s.)

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff

Wordless Wednesday: Belair family on a summer day

Fred and Julie Belair with their younger children Ray and Darlene,
ca 1939, Fauquier, Ontario.

Tombstone Tuesday: Eugène and Juliette Desgroseilliers

Eugène and Juliette Desgroseilliers gravemarker.

My maternal grandparents, Eugène and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers, rest in Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Cemetery in Sarnia, Lambton County, Ontario. Eugene, the eldest of 14 children, was born in August 1900 in St Charles, Nipissing District, Ontario. Juliette was born in June 1901 in Chénéville, Papineau County, Quebec, the eldest daughter among 16 children. Eugène and Juliette married in Moonbeam, Cochrane District, Ontario in August 1925. My grandfather Eugène died in September 1960 in Sarnia, while my grandmother predeceased him in August 1948, also in Sarnia.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff

Sunday's Obituary: Ann Demoskoff

Last Tuesday, I posted a photo of my mother-in-law's gravemarker. Today, I'm following up that post with a scanned image of her obituary.


Ann Demoskoff obituary, 1980.

Source: "Ann Demoskoff", undated clipping, 1980, from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2012. Yvonne acquired an assortment of family memorabilia in January 2012 from her father-in-law Mr. William (Bill) Demoskoff, including the obituary of his wife Ann, who died on July 27, 1980.

Note: Ann's place of birth is incorrectly shown as "Kamsack, Sask.". She was born at home on her parents' farm near Pelly, in Lily Vale District, Saskatchewan.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff

Surname Saturday: Demoskoff

At first glance, “Demoskoff” appears to be a Russian surname, but it didn’t start out that way. My husband Michael knew that his father was born “Demosky” and that he changed his name to “Demoskoff” during World War II. (Bill and his elder brother George changed their surname at the time of the 1940 National Registration in Canada, because as he explained, “We weren’t Polish.”)

That was all Michael knew of his name until his father paid us a visit in the 1990s. Bill liked to reminisce about his past, his childhood and his family, and he didn’t fail to do so on this trip. After supper one evening, he told us the story of his family name.

Some years previously, Bill’s brother Pete met a man who had the same name as he did – Peter Demosky. This Peter Demosky said that Pete’s surname “Demosky” was previously “Konkin”. It seemed that while in Russia, Pete’s grandfather Mikhail met an officer who told him he could avoid military conscription by changing his Russian name Konkin to that man’s Polish name Dymovsky. Being a Doukhobor and a pacifist, Mikhail took his advice.

Bill didn’t know any other details, such as the soldier’s identity, when and where the name change took place, or how this other Peter Demosky knew Mikhail. It might be difficult to prove the elements of this story, but they seem based on precedent. It was not uncommon for Doukhobors in 19th century Russia to change their surnames. For example, Doukhobor leader Savely Kapustin’s son, Vasily, was deliberately declared illegitimate at his birth and given his mother’s surname Kalmykov in order to protect him from being “automatically liable for conscription” because his father (Kapustin) had served in the army. (For more information, see “Guide to Doukhobor Names and Naming Practices” at Doukhobor Genealogy Website.)

In 1899, Mikhail and his family left Russia along with other Doukhobors who sought religious freedom in Canada. Once here, Mikhail’s surname became Demofsky, and later Demosky. Some of his descendants are Demosky, while others like his grandsons Bill and George (and their families) are Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff