Matrilineal Monday: Remembering Juliette

Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers, 1930s

Today – June 30th – is the 113th anniversary of my maternal grandmother Juliette’s birth.

Juliette, baptised “Julie Marie”, was born on 30 June 1901 in the village of Chénéville, Papineau County, Quebec. She was the third child and eldest daughter of Joseph Beauvais and his wife Olivine Hotte.

My aunt Madeleine (Mom’s sister) gave me this photo, which I saw for the first time when I visited her during my recent trip to Ontario.

The first thing I notice about this picture is how casual my grandmother Juliette is. I’m also struck by her youth and beauty. I see a strong resemblance between her and her youngest daughter Jeanne d’arc.

Juliette appears confident as she looks straight at the camera. She is young, probably in her 30s. She is dressed stylishly and wears white pumps. There’s a large floral decoration at her right shoulder. I think I see a barrette (hair clip) in her hair, as well as a necklace, and a ring (her wedding ring?) on her left hand.

If I’m right about her age, the photo was probably taken in Hearst, Ontario, between 1927 and 1936, but more likely 1931 to 1935. The house number “205” is seen above the door. Is this her home, where she lived with her husband Eugène and their children?

I wonder why this picture was taken – could it be her birthday?

So many questions, so few answers.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Mary Horkoff

Mary Horkoff obituary, 2000

Mary passed away fourteen years ago, on 27 June 2000, in Grand Forks, British Columbia. She had been my father-in-law Bill’s friend and companion in the years after his wife Ann’s death. Mary was a quiet and shy woman, and was more comfortable speaking Russian than English. She and Bill liked to travel by car around the province or with other seniors by bus. When Bill was hospitalized for most of the year when my husband Michael and I married, Mary attended our wedding in Bill’s place. It was a very nice gesture on her part.

Source:
“Horkoff”, obituary, undated clipping, from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2014. Yvonne received an assortment of family memorabilia (including Mary’s obituary) in January 2012 from her father-in-law William (Bill) Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #26 Anne Couvent, not Convent

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 26th week of this challenge, I chose Anne Couvent (ca 1601-1675).

Anne Couvent is my 10x great-grandmother and is number 5069 and 7569 in my ancestor list. This double number means that I have two lines of descent from her through my father and my mother.

Anne was born about 1601 (based on her age on the 1666 census of New France) or about 1607 (based on her age on the 1667 census of New France). [1]

She married Philippe Amiot, of an ancient and honorable French family, in about 1625. [2]

Ten years later in about 1635, Anne, her husband and their children, sons Jean and Mathieu, immigrated to Canada, known at this time as the colony of Nouvelle-France. [3]

A third child, son Charles, was born in August 1636. [4]

Philippe died between Charles’ birth and September 1639, when his widow Anne married Jacques Maheu in Quebec. By her second husband, also a French immigrant, Anne had two children. [5]

After Jacques’ death in July 1663, Anne married a third time in September 1666 in Quebec. Her new husband, Etienne Blanchon dit Larose, was a soldier and tailor, originally from Auvergne, France. She and Etienne did not have children. [6]

Anne was in her early 70s when she died on Christmas Day in 1675 in Quebec. [7] She had lived in the colony of New France for forty years.

Quebec (city)

After I prepared this background story, I checked past issues of Mémoires, the quarterly publication of the Société généalogique canadienne-française, of Montreal, to see what else I could find about Anne. I’m glad I did, because I found articles that updated or corrected certain facts about Anne that were once thought accurate. Here are some examples from one of those articles, published in 2007:

• Anne’s place of birth

Anne was born in Estrées in the diocese of Soissons in Picardie, France, according to some genealogical dictionaries like Tanguay. [8] Anne was indeed from that diocese, but from Espié (now Epieds), as seen in her 1639 marriage contract with her second husband. [9]

• Anne’s surname

Anne’s surname is Convent in Tanguay’s dictionary, but in more recent works like the PRDH (Programme de recherche en démographie historique), it is Convent or Couvent. [10] According to authors Gagné and Kokanosky, her surname is Couvent, which is how she is mentioned in her nephew Toussaint Ledran’s marriage contract in 1669. [11]

• Anne’s parents

Anne’s parents’ are named Guillaume Convent and Antoinette de Longval in older sources, but the spelling should be Couvent and de Longueval, respectively. [12]

If you are a descendant of Anne, I encourage you to seek out this well-researched article, filled with many interesting details about Anne, her husbands, her children, and her parentage. There’s even a 15-generation chart showing her line of descent from Louis VIII, King of France, through his son Robert, comte de France and his wife Mathilde de Brabant.

Sources:

Image credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. no. R9266-1938.

1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 12 and 114.

2. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 12. Also, Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français, 1608-1760, 3 vols. (Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1958), III: 1359.

3. Roland-Yves Gagné and Laurent Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot (Hameau), de son épouse Anne Couvent et de leur neveu Toussaint Ledran”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, 58 (printemps 2007): 17; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

4. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 12.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 752.

6. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 114.

7. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 114.

8. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols. (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), I: 6.

9. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot", 18-19.

10. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 20.

11. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 20.

12. Gagné and Kokanosky, “Les origines de Philippe Amiot”, 19.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Bozzer – Desgroseilliers

Jeanne d'arc and Leno

Mom’s youngest sister Jeanne d’arc Desgroseilliers married 47 years ago on 24 June 1967 in Timmins, Ontario. Her husband, Leno Bozzer, was a widower with two young children, Wayne and Suzanne, who became my step-cousins.

The ceremony took place at Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, our parish church that was a block away from our home and Aunt Joan’s home. (She lived in a basement apartment on the next street over from us.) Father Roland Yves (Cassien) Gauthier, o.f.m. cap., celebrated.

I was almost nine years old and it was the first wedding I attended.

Mom and Joan’s friend Donna (whose last name I don’t recall) were my aunt’s bridal attendants. They wore beautiful, long light pink dresses with sheer covers.

Before the wedding, Aunt Jeanne d'arc, Mom and I went to the home of the seamstress who was making Joan’s wedding gown. I don’t think we were there too long; Joan was probably checking up on how her dress was coming along.

L to R: Madeleine, Normande, Jeanne d'arc, Jacqueline and Simone

I don’t remember who came in from out of town, but from what Mom told me, and from photo evidence, her sisters Madeleine, Simone and Normande, including some of their children, were there. Mom also reminded me that her aunt Flavie, her father’s only surviving sister, stayed at our house that weekend. I guess my younger sister Marianne and I must have bunked together in one room (we each had our own bedroom and twin bed), but I don’t have any memories of that.

I don’t know who brought the confetti, but I made sure I got a hold of some. I had lots of fun covering my aunt and new uncle with those multi-coloured paper dots as they came out of the church.

Jeanne d'arc and Leno showered in confetti

The last memory I have of my aunt’s wedding is of the reception. It was held at the Empire Hotel (now an apartment complex) at the corner of Algonquin Boulevard and Spruce Street South, probably the best hotel in town at the time. The dinner and dance were in the large reception room on the ground floor facing the front street. During the meal, I heard cutlery clicking on the drinking glasses. I couldn’t figure out why that kept happening, but every time it did, my aunt and uncle kissed and the guests applauded. After the meal, Marianne and I and some of our cousins played in the elevator. We made it go up and down the 3 or 4 floors of the building. (It must have been the first time I’d been in an elevator.) No one seemed to mind or at least my partners-in-crime and I didn’t take any notice.

Sadly, Uncle Leno passed away in February 1985. Aunt Joan survived him and still lives in Timmins.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Update to 52 Ancestors #5 Julie Belair

Earlier this year in January, I profiled my grandmother Julie Belair in 52 Ancestors. In that article, I wrote how there were certain “unknowns” about my Mémère Julie – things like how did she and my grandfather Fred meet, where did she live before and after she married, and such.

One of my research goals during my recent trip to Ontario was to ask my aunts Joan and Darlene (Julie’s daughters) to help me fill in those blanks. They couldn’t answer all my questions, but I’m grateful they could help with some of them.

Julie (Vanasse) Belair, 1926

For example,

• Did Julie accompany my grandfather when he worked as a cook in lumber camps? If so, who took care of her younger children during these times?

I must have got it wrong many years ago, because I always believed that my grandfather Fred was the cook in lumber camps. Aunt Joan told me that it was my grandmother Julie who was the cook and that my Pépère Fred was a bushworker.

• Was there an obituary for Julie? (I have one for my grandfather Fred, but I’ve never seen one for my grandmother.)

Yes, there was, and it appeared in the Timmins Daily Press. I located it when I went to the Timmins library during my visit there in May and made a photocopy from the microfilmed edition. A couple of days later, Aunt Joan found her copy (an original) and I scanned it for my records.

• I have Julie’s death certificate, but I’d like to see her death registration, because it potentially contains more useful information.

When I visited Aunt Joan, I helped her fill out the online death registration forms for her parents. Within a couple of weeks or so, she received their respective “Statement of Death”. Aunt Joan made copies for herself, and then sent the originals to me. (Thanks, Aunt Joan!) Unfortunately, one of the “more useful [pieces] of information” I was hoping to see on the documents (cause of death) doesn’t appear on the statements.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Elisabeth Vanasse’s Baptism Record

Baptism record of Elizabeth Vanasse [1]

My great-grandmother Elisabeth Vanasse was born on 11 September 1862 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Marie (Guérard) Vanasse.

I find it interesting and a bit puzzling that she wasn’t baptized until she was nearly three months old, on 7 December 1862. Roman Catholic parents were urged to have their infants baptized without delay, lest they die before receiving the Sacrament.

What could have caused the delay? Here are some ideas that I’ve considered.

• Remote location?
The Vanasse family lived on rural Ile des Allumettes, near the village of Chapeau, where St. Alphonsus church was located.

• Bad weather?
Unless there was unseasonable weather when Elisabeth was born in September, it doesn’t make sense to wait until almost the end of the year when there’s a chance of snowstorms.

• No church or clergy?
Two Irish-born resident priests served Chapeau’s faithful, Father James Lynch and his assistant Father Bartholomew Casey. [2]

• Priest too busy?
With risk of infant mortality a real concern, parents sought to baptize their children as soon as possible, and were indeed instructed to. [3] Therefore, other events (generally) did not take precedence over baptism.

• Objection of clergy?
Since Joseph and Marie were both baptized, married canonically, and practicing Catholics, there shouldn’t be any objection, unless perhaps one or both parents were in a state of grave or mortal sin in 1862.

• Parental objection?
Joseph and Marie’s first two children (sons Dalmatius and Regis) were baptized, so unless they had serious doubts about their faith when Elisabeth was born, they wouldn’t object to their daughter being received into the Church.

• Father absent?
A father’s absence (for example, if he was working away from home) did not prevent or delay his child’s baptism. In such a case, the priest would simply note his absence in the baptism record with the phrase “le père absent”.

• Sick baby?
If Elisabeth were sick, she could have had an emergency baptism, and indeed, should if in imminent danger of dying. [4]

• Sick mother?
At this time, it was common for only the father, the godparents and the newborn to be present at a baptism ceremony.

There could be other reasons, like choosing the baby’s name, finding godparents, or baby’s gender, but I think they are less likely to be the ones.

Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 96 verso, entry no. B.109 (1862), Elizabeth Venance [sic] baptism, 7 December 1862; Ste-Cécile-de-Masham parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 15 June 2010).

2. Alexis de Barbezieux, Histoire de la province ecclésiastique d'Ottawa et de la colonisation dans la vallée de l'Ottawa (Ottawa, 1897: I: 253 and 563); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 13 March 2014). Father Lynch was appointed curé of St. Alphonsus in 1844, the year after he was ordained. He spent his entire priestly career there, and died in 1885. Father Casey arrived in Chapeau in May 1862 as assistant priest. He remained there until September 1863, when he was transferred to St. Bridget in nearby Onslow.

3. The Canon Law Society Trust, The Code of Canon Law In English translation (London: Collins Liturgical Publications, 1983), 160, Can. 867.1, which states “Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptised within the first few weeks”.

4. The Canon Law Society Trust, The Code of Canon Law In English translation, 160, Can. 867.2.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #25 Etienne Bray

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 25th week of this challenge, I chose Etienne Bray (1694-1774).

Etienne Bray (Bret) is my 5x paternal great-grandfather and is number 140 in my ancestor list.

He was born on 2 April 1694 and baptised nine days later on 11 April in St-Etienne church of Montagne, in the old province of Dauphiné, located in southeastern France. [1]

Map of France showing province of Dauphiné in pink [2]

Etienne was one of at least three children born to Etienne Bray and his wife Hélène Ergon (Argoud). His father died in May 1696 in Montagne, when Etienne was only two years old. [3] Note that Tanguay’s Dictionnaire is incorrect when it says that Etienne was the son of Léger Bray dit Labonté by his first wife Marguerite Colin. [4]

Previous research estimated Etienne’s arrival in Canada in 1721 as an immigrant. [5] Recent research, however, places his arrival as early as 1717, when he is described as a recrue in the patient register of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Quebec City. [6] Etienne was an infantry recruit with the troupes de la Marine. [7] Also known as Compagnies franches de la Marine, these troops were part of “land forces under the control of the navy”, founded in 1622, “notably for operations in French Canada”. [8] I’ve searched various sources, but I haven’t found Etienne’s regiment or company.

Following his first appearance in Canadian records, Etienne next appears in September 1721 when he serves as godfather to the infant daughter of Pierre Thibault dit Léveillé, and then in August 1722 as godfather to the day-old son of Jean Baptiste Glinel. In June 1723, Etienne is one of twelve witnesses at the marriage of Pierre Lahaise and Elisabeth Poitras. [9]

Troupes de la Marine recruits enlisted for a period of six years, after which time they had the option to return to France or to remain in the colony. [10] Etienne’s enlistment presumably ended in late 1723, because he chose to live in Canada when he married here soon after his term of service ended.

In early 1724, Etienne entered into a marriage contract with 21-year-old Barbe Dazé on 20 February of that year. The following day, the couple married in St-François-de-Sales on Ile Jésus, just north of Montreal, where Barbe was born and where her family still lived. [11]

The couple’s first children were twins, whose gender was not recorded, and who died in January 1726. The younger children born between 1727 and 1744 – Dominique, Marie Charlotte, Etienne, Marie Josèphe, Marie Angélique, Marie Barbe, François (my ancestor) and André – all survived and married in due course. [12]

Etienne died on 29 January 1774 and was buried on 31 January 1774 in Les Cèdres, Soulanges County, Quebec. [13] He was predeceased by his wife Barbe, who died in November 1770. [14]

Sources:

1. Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 16 June 2014), entry for Etienne Bray/Bret, no. 240585.

2. Wikipedia contributors, “Dauphiné”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dauphin%C3%A9&oldid=612874259 : accessed 16 June 2014).

3. Fichier Origine, Etienne Bray/Bret.

4. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols. (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), II: 455.

5. Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 12 September 2009), entry for Etienne Bray, no. 240585.

6. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bray, individu no. 7572. The note in Etienne’s entry states: Cité le 25-09-1717 dans le registre des malades de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec: “recrue”. Ancestry.ca has records for Quebec’s Hôtel-Dieu, but it is a registre mortuaire, a register of deaths. This register is part of the “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”) database of the Drouin Collection.

7. Fichier Origine, Etienne Bray/Bret.

8. Wikipedia contributors, “Troupes de marine”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Troupes_de_marine&oldid=603885072 : accessed 16 June 2014).

9. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Marie Francoise Thibault, baptême no. 10018. Also, “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Glinel, baptême no. 45763. Also, “Répertoire des actes d’état civil 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Pierre Lahayze [sic] – Elisabeth Poitras, mariage no. 12882.

10. Luc Lépine, “L’impact des noms de guerre des militaires française sur la patronymie québécoise”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, 52 (printemps 2001): 56; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

11. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 166. Also, “Répertoire des actes d’état civil 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bré [sic] – Barbe Dazé, mariage no. 22400.

12. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Etienne Bray – Marie Barbe Dazé, famille no. 14665.

13. St-Joseph-de-Soulanges (Les Cèdres, Quebec), parish register, 1759-1791, no page no., no entry no. (1774), Etienne Bray burial, 31 January 1774; St-Joseph-de-Soulanges parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection, 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 June 2014). Also, “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, Etienne Bray, individu no. 7572.

14. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 16 June 2014), Marie Barbe Dazé, individu no. 23649.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Pop’s 100th Birthday

Today, we celebrated Pop’s 100th birthday!

Pop on his 100th birthday

Pop is William (Bill) Demoskoff, and he’s my husband Michael’s father. He’s lived at Menno Hospital, a seniors’ residential care facility in the lower mainland of British Columbia for the past two years.

Menno reserved the private dining room for us and even set the table and decorated the room; such a nice gesture!

Just before the meal, Michael wheeled Pop into the main dining room for the staff and residents to sing him “Happy Birthday”. Pop was very touched and thanked everyone.

Nine of us were gathered: Michael, myself, our son Nicholas, my mother Jacqueline, Margaret (my husband’s only sibling), her husband Sid, their sons Ted and Sid and Ted’s wife Nasim.

Margaret and Sid prepared homemade borscht (Doukhobor style) and bread, while Michael and I were in charge of the meat and cheese tray and the birthday cake.

Pop with his birthday cake

After lunch, we toasted Pop with Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and then presented him with gifts. There were also congratulatory messages from The Queen, the Governor-General, the local MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly, BC’s provincial government), and the city mayor.

Michael set up our video camera, and we took lots of photographs.

Back: Sid, Yvonne, Michael, Margaret, Ted and Nasim
Front: Nicholas and Pop

After nearly three hours of partying, it was time to say our goodbyes to Pop, and let him have a well-deserved nap and quiet time.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces From the Past: Cousin Albert and the Photo

A couple of days ago, my Mom’s cousin Albert Desgroseilliers dropped in on us on his way back to eastern Canada. He was in British Columbia visiting family and to do some fishing.

Albert, who is a few years younger than Mom, is one of the sons of Joseph Desgroseilliers, the youngest brother of Mom’s father Eugène.

I took advantage of Albert’s unexpected visit to ask him some questions about the Desgroseilliers family, and show him some family photos to see if he could identify people, places and events.

Here’s one of the photos he identified for me:

Front, left to right:
Ovide, Donat and Léon Desgroseilliers

Centre, left to right:
Ovila Desgroseilliers, Bob Burdan and Eugène Desgroseilliers

Back:
Armand Desgroseilliers

Albert recognized the location as his uncle Léon’s home on Cache Bay Road in Sturgeon Falls. He added that the man at the back, Armand Desgroseilliers (sporting a brush cut), was a cousin, but couldn’t remember the specifics. I checked my notes on the Desgroseilliers descendants and found that he’s the son of Prosper Desgroseilliers (1877-1925), who was Eugène’s uncle.

The picture was taken in 1957.* Brothers Eugène, Léon, Donat, Ovide and Ovila (in birth order), their cousin Armand, and Eugène’s son-in-law Bob – were probably photographed at the funeral of Albert’s father Joseph, who died on 2 August that year.

* I have another photo with some of the same people in it and that picture is dated 1957. The date, which appears on the outside four corners of the image, was placed there during the printing process.

I suspect that Eugène is present because of Bob. Mom explained that her father didn’t own a car in those days and wouldn’t have been able to afford the trip, so Bob probably offered to drive his father-in-law to Sturgeon Falls from Sarnia (where they lived) so that he could attend the funeral of his youngest brother.

All the men in the photo are deceased, and Bob’s wife, my aunt Simone, passed away last year. Albert’s help with this photo is probably the best we can do in identifying the people and the circumstances.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #24 Olivier Charbonneau

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

During the month of June, I’m focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 24th week of this challenge, I chose Olivier Charbonneau (ca 1607-1687).

Olivier is my 7x great-grandfather, and is number 1212 in my ancestor list. Interestingly, I have a total of 7 lines of descent from Olivier, which makes him my 7x, 8x, 9x and 10x great-grandfather. Through his daughter Anne (born 1657), I descend four times from him, through his son Joseph (born 1660), I descend two times, and from his daughter Elisabeth (born 1664), I descend one time.

Here are some highlights of Olivier’s life.

About 1611:
Olivier is born in Marans, Aunis, France. [1] Other possible dates are about 1607, about 1615, and about 1631. [2]

Unknown date (pre-1654):
Oliver married first Marguerite Roy in France, by whom he was predeceased. [3]

1654:
Olivier married second Marie Garnier in La Rochelle, Aunis, France [4] or about 1656 in Marans, Aunis, France. [5]

5 June 1569:
Olivier and other heads of families from Marans appear in a notary’s office in the port city of La Rochelle to sign up as colonists for New France. [6]

2 July 1659:
Olivier, his wife Marie and their young daughter Anne, along with a group of about 200 others (including individuals, families, and nursing sisters), set sail for the colony of New France on board the 300-ton Saint-André. [7]

29 September 1659:
Olivier and his family arrive in Montreal (known as Ville-Marie), after having landed in Quebec city three weeks earlier. [8]

L'île de Montreal et ses environs.

[The island of Montreal, including “Isle de Jésus” just to the north of it.]

25 August 1662:
Olivier acquires some land. [9]

11 May 1664:
Olivier receives the Sacrament of Confirmation in Montreal. [10]

1666 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated in Montreal. [11]

1667 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated again in Montreal. [12]

10 November 1669:
Olivier received a quittance for the sum of 175 livres transacted in the office of notary Basset in Montreal. It took him 10 years to be discharged from his debt of the cost of his transportation to New France. [13]

23 November 1671:
Olivier’s daughter Anne marries Guillaume Labelle; she is the first of his children to marry. [14]

20 November 1674:
Olivier’s first grandchild Antoine Labelle (son of daughter Anne) is baptized in Montreal. [15]

1681 census:
Olivier and his family are enumerated in l’Ile Jésus, north of Montreal. [16]

20 November 1687:
Olivier died in Pointe-aux-Trembles, near Montreal. [17]

Sources:

Image credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-4045.

1. Archange Godbout, Les passagers du Saint-André. La recrue de 1659 (Montréal: Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française, publication no 5, 1964), 72.

2. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 225. Olivier was born about 1607 (he was 80 years old at his burial), about 1611 (he was 70 on the 1681 census), about 1615 (he was 52 on the 1667 census) or about 1631 (he was 35 on the 1666 census).

3. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

4. Godbout, Passagers, 72.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

6. Godbout, Passagers, 20.

7. Dictionnaire National des Canadiens Français, 1608-1760, 3 vols. (Montreal: Institut généalogique Drouin, 1958), III: 1359. Also, Marcel Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants 1632-1662 (Montréal: Editions Hurtubise HMH, Limitée, 1983), 419.

8. Godbout, Passagers, 4, and Dictionnaire National, III: 1474.

9. Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants, 419.

10. Godbout, Passagers, 21.

11. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

12. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

13. Godbout, Passagers, 20.

14. Godbout, Passagers, 21.

15. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 619.

16. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

17. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 225.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Surname Saturday: Tomelin

Luchenia (Tomelin) Demosky, centre, holding her son George, with her parents 

Nick and Maria (Terichow) Tomelin, sitting, about 1912.

My husband’s paternal grandmother was Luchenia Tomelin (1885-1960).

Luchenia, sometimes known as Lukeria or Lucy, was born in 1885 in the Russian Empire. As a young teenager, she, her parents, siblings and close relatives immigrated to Canada from Russia in 1899, travelling on the S.S. Lake Huron. [1] I recently wrote about this experience here.

The standard spelling for Tomelin is Tomilin. English spelling variations include Tamelin, Tameelin, Tamilin, Tomelin, and Tomlin. [2]

Tomilin is a patronymic surname, derived from Tomila, a man’s name. [3]

According to the Doukhobor Genealogy Website, Doukhobors surnamed Tomilin “originated from the province of Tambov, Russia in the 18th century”. [4]

By 1905 in Canada, Tomilin families lived in Doukhobor villages in the South Colony in Kamsack District, the Good Spirit Lake Annex in Buchanan District, and the Blaine Lake District in Saskatchewan District, all in the province of Saskatchewan. [5]

Sources:

1. “Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City, 1865-1900”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/passenger-lists-quebec-port-1865-1900/Pages/introduction.aspx : accessed 28 March 2014), manifest, S.S. Lake Huron, 21 June 1899, p. 24 (penned), entry no. 1445, Lukeria Tomilin [sic], age 13.

2. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Surnames.htm : accessed 2 June 2014), entry for Tomilin.

3. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website, entry for Tomilin.

4. “Origin and Meaning of Doukhobor Surnames”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website, entry for Tomilin.

5. “Village-Surname Index for the 1905 Doukhobor Census”, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/SK-Villages-Families.htm : accessed 2 June 2014).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #23 Jacques Leblanc

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

I’m changing directions for the month of June by focusing on distant, immigrant ancestors. And so, for the 23rd week of this challenge, I chose Jacques Leblanc (ca 1636-1710).

Jacques Leblanc is my maternal 8x great-grandfather and is number 1852 in my ancestor list.

He was born between 1636 and 1644, based on his age at various events in his life. For example, he was 22 years old on the 1666 census of New France (now Canada) (giving him a year of birth of 1644), 45 years old on the 1681 census (giving him a year of birth of 1636), and 55 years old in 1695 and 70 years old at his burial (giving him a year of birth of 1640). [1]

Son of Antoine and Madeleine (Boucher) Leblanc, Jacques was originally from the parish of St-Pierre in Pont-L’Evêque in the province of Normandie, in northwestern France. The region is known for its soft cheese (Pont-L’Evêque) and its apple brandy (calvados).

Jacques left his native country for the colony of New France, probably in the mid-1660s. One source states that he immigrated in 1659 as a maçon engagé (mason under contract), [2] but when this information is compared to another source, it appears that it’s a different man with a similar name who ultimately did not make the journey. [3]

“Le séminaire de Saint-Sulpice à Montréal” (1880)

Vieux manoirs, vieilles maisons / Library and Archives Canada / PA-036721

In the late winter of 1666, Jacques was enumerated on that year’s census as a resident of Montreal. [4] He was unmarried and worked as a domestique engagé (domestic under contract) for the Sulpician priests, one of 28 similarly employed men at their Seminary. [5]

That spring, Jacques married Suzanne Rousselin on 6 June 1666 – 348 years ago today – in Montreal. [6] Suzanne, from the province of Bretagne in France, was a fille du Roi, who arrived in 1665. [7]

“In the Village of Charlesbourg” (about 1830), by James Pattison Cockburn, 1779-1847

Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1989-262-21

Jacques and Suzanne eventually settled in St-Claude village in Charlesbourg, now part of Quebec City, where they were enumerated on the 1681 census. Jacques was an habitant, a farmer settler. [8] In time, the couple welcomed nine children: six sons, the youngest of whom is my ancestor Charles, and three daughters.

Jacques died on 14 April 1710 in St-Claude village. He was buried the next day in Charlesbourg. Two days later, his widow Suzanne died. [9]

Sources:

1. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 671.

2. Marcel Trudel, Catalogue des immigrants 1632-1662 (Montréal: Editions Hurtubise HMH, Limitée, 1983), 423. Trudel gives Jacques the name of Jean, dit Jacques, Leblanc, but has him originating in Anjou, France.

3. Archange Godbout, Les passagers du Saint-André. La recrue de 1659 (Montréal: Société Généalogique Canadienne-Française, publication no 5, 1964), 35. Godbout states that Jacques is Jean Leblanc, born in la Flèche [in Anjou, France], but that the name of this aspiring colonist was struck from the role of immigrants of 1659.

4. Hubert Charbonneau and Jacques Légaré, eds., Répertoire des actes de baptême mariage sépulture et des recensements du Québec ancien, 1621–1799 [Table of baptisms, marriages, and burials in old Québec], 47 vols. (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, ca. 1980–1991), 6: 19, Recensement de 1666: Jacques Lebland [sic].

5. The First Census of New France (Québec) – 1666 (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbc/HughLArmstrong/qc1666/qc1666.htm : accessed 1 June 2014), Montreal: Jacques leBland [sic].

6. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 671.

7. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, 2 vols. (Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Quintin Publications, 2001), 2: 504.

8. Charbonneau and Légaré, Répertoire … du Québec ancien, 6: 255, Recensement de 1681: Jacques Leblanc. 

9. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 671.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Four Sisters at a June Wedding

Sixty-five years ago today, my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair, seen here on the far left, attended the wedding of her niece Marvel Milks to Charles Cosenzo on 4 June 1949 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. With Julie are her sisters (left to right) Agnes (Mrs. Fred Burchill), Cecilia (Mrs. Clem Potvin) and Cora (Mrs. Frank Milks).

I didn't know this photo existed until I saw it for the first time at my Aunt Darlene's home when I visited her last month during my trip to Ontario. She gave it to me, along with other family memorabilia, for which I'm truly grateful, because I love seeing any and all photos of my beloved Mémère Julie.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Maritime Monday: S/S Lake Huron and the Dimovsky Families

S/S Lake Huron [1]

A few months ago, I wrote about a Dimovsky family that sailed on the Lake Superior in January 1899 for Canada; you can read about it here. Today’s post is about two other Dimovsky families who sailed on the Lake Huron in May 1899.

This Friday – June 6 – marks the 115th anniversary of the Lake Huron’s arrival. The ship’s manifest shows two groups of individuals surnamed Dimovsky (a spelling variation of Demofsky). The first group is headed by Savely Dimovksy [2] and the second group is headed by Feodor Dimovky. [3]

Like the same-surnamed family that sailed in January 1899, I don’t know if or how these Dimovksy families are related to my husband. They are the only families by this name on the manifest, which is complete, unlike that of the Lake Superior of January 1899.

The Lake Huron departed on 12 May 1899 “from the Russian port of Batum on the Black Sea. It carried 2,286 Doukhobors from Kars province”. [4] The ship arrived at the port of Quebec on 6 June 1899, and after nearly one month in quarantine, its passengers disembarked in early July.

Sources:

1. Photo of S/S Lake Huron (built 1881), digital image, Norway – Heritage (http://www.norwayheritage.com : accessed 18 January 2014).

2. Steve Lapshinoff & Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928 (Crescent Valley: self-published, 2001), 67.

3. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 75.

4. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 49.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Census Sunday: The Beauvais Family and the 1911 Census

1911 census of Canada (Hartwell Township, Quebec) [1]

My great-grandfather Joseph Beauvais and his family were enumerated on the 1911 census of Canada. [2] They lived in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-la-Consolation situated in Montpellier in Hartwell Township.

Joseph’s eldest daughter, Juliette, my grandmother, was born on 30 June 1901, so this enumeration is her first appearance on a federal Canadian census.

Cropped version of 1911 Hartwell Township census

The Beauvais family, as seen in the above cropped image version of the 1911 Hartwell Township census, consisted of head of family Joseph (33), his wife Olivine (33), and their children Ovide (12), Oscar (11), Juliette (9), Marie-Louise (8), Uldège (5), Léger (4), Romuald (3) and Emile (1).

The enumerator Antoine Leduc signed his name at the top of the form and wrote the responses in French. Although he dated the return Juin 17 [June 17], the official census date was 1 June 1911, making it the “first Dominion census taken in June”. [3]

Joseph’s main occupation is being a farmer (cultivateur), but he works additionally as a woodsman (bûcheron), for which he declared that he earned $150 in 1910. Other details include the family’s religion (Roman Catholic), its members’ place of birth (the province of Quebec, except second son Oscar was actually born in New York State, USA), and that the only ones who can read and write are the five eldest children, presumably because they spent 10 months in school during the previous year. The family commonly speaks French.

Sources:

1. 1911 census of Canada, Hartwell Township, Labelle, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict 15, p. 17, dwelling 126, family 134, Joseph Beauvais household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 May 2014); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460.

2. 1911 census of Canada, Hartwell Township, Labelle, Quebec, pop. sched., subdist. 15, p. 17, dwel. 126, fam. 134, Joseph Beauvais household.

3. Dave Obee, Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census (Victoria, BC: Dave Obee, 2012), 148.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.