52 Ancestors: #44 Pierre Drouin, from Catholic to Presbyterian, then back again

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”.

For the 44th week of this challenge, I chose Pierre Drouin (1805-1894).

Pierre is my paternal 3x great-grandfather and is number 38 in my ancestor list.

Background info

Pierre was born and baptized on 12 January 1805 in St-Benoît, northwest of Montreal. [1] He was the second child and eldest son of Pierre Drouin, a farmer, and his wife Agathe Brunet dite Létang. Pierre married Marie Reine Poirier, a widow with two young children, on 2 March 1829 in St-Benoît. [2] The couple had ten children, including first-born twins (a son and a daughter) and Louise (1835-1890), my ancestor. Pierre died on 28 January 1894 and was buried two days later in Quyon, Pontiac County, Quebec. [3]

A few questions

As I was preparing a profile about Pierre for 52 Ancestors, I found myself wondering about certain aspects of his life. That’s when I decided to compile a list of questions instead of Pierre’s biography for this blog post.

1. Why did Pierre leave St-Benoît about 1832, where he was a farmer, and move to Rigaud, in nearby Vaudreuil County?
2. Why did he leave Rigaud about 1834 for Cornwall, Upper Canada to work as a day laborer?
3. Why wasn’t he present at the baptism of his daughter Louise in St-Benoît in August 1836? Was it because he was still in Cornwall?
4. Why did he return to St-Benoît about 1838 when his son Camille was born there in July? (It was a dangerous time to be in this region due to the Patriots’ War or the 1837-1838 Rebellion.)
5. Where did he live in Lower Canada when his children Marie and Joseph were born about 1843 and 1845, respectively?
6. When did he arrive in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County? (He was present at his stepdaughter’s wedding there in 1848.)
7. Why was his son Moïse buried on 9 April 1862 when he died on 6 March of that year? (His burial record in Masham does not state the cause of death or why there was a delay between his death and his burial.)
8. When did Pierre leave Ste-Cécile-de-Masham for Onslow, a few miles away in Pontiac County?
9. Why did Pierre become Presbyterian? (He was Roman Catholic when his son Moïse was buried in 1862, but Presbyterian on the 1871 and 1881 censuses.)*
10. Why did Pierre and his wife return to their original faith? (On the 1891 census, he was Methodist, while she was RC, but both were RC when they were buried.)

* One reason that Pierre, his wife and their younger son François became Presbyterian was “likely due to sectarianism. In some cases it proved difficult for Catholics to find jobs and uncomfortable for Catholics to settle in certain areas where the population was primarily Irish or Scots protestant.” [4]

Sources:

1. St-Benoît (St-Benoît, Quebec), parish register, 1799-1805, p. 162 recto, entry no. B.7 (1805), Pierre Drouin baptism, 12 January 1805; St-Benoît parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 April 2008).

2. St-Benoît (St-Benoît, Quebec), parish register, 1829, p. 9 verso, entry no. M.16, Pierre Drouin – Marie Reine Poirier dite Déloge [sic] marriage, 2 March 1829; St-Benoît parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 April 2008).

3. Ste-Marie (Quyon, Quebec), parish register, 1894, p. 2 recto, entry no. S.2, Peter Deroine [sic] burial, 28 January 1894; Ste-Marie parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 25 October 2009).

4. RonaldDale100, “Re: From Catholic to Presbyterian”, Ancestry Message Boards – Pontiac, message board, 11 November 2009 (http://boards.ancestry.ca/localities.northam.canada.quebec.outaouais.pontiac/3424.1/mb.ashx : accessed 27 October 2014).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #43 Marie Louise Rochon of Deux-Montagnes County

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”.

For the 43rd week of this challenge, I chose Marie Louise Rochon (1781-1835).

Marie Louise is my paternal 4x great-grandmother and is number 79 in my ancestor list.

She was born on 24 December 1781 and baptized that day “sous condition” in St-Eustache, north of Montreal, in York, later Deux-Montagnes, county. [1] Her baptism record mentions the name of her godfather (Augustin Rochon, presumably her grandfather), but there’s a blank space where her godmother’s name ought to be.

Marie Louise was the eldest child of Augustin Rochon and his wife Marie Louise Cadieux. She had nine brothers and four sisters, including two sets of fraternal twins.

On the morning of 6 January 1800, eighteen year old Marie Louise and twenty-two year old Joseph Poirier dit Desloges and family members arrived at the study of notary Pierre-Rémi Gagnier in St-Eustache. [2] The young couple, who declared they could not sign their names, entered into a marriage contract. One week later, on 13 January, they married in the parish church of St-Benoît, near St-Eustache. [3]

"Carte du comté des Deux-Montagnes dans la province du Québec" [1888]
(Library and Archives Canada)

On the above map of the county of Deux-Montagnes, St-Eustache, lined in blue, lies in the southeast corner, while St- Benoît, lined in red, appears in the centre left of the county.

Marie Louise started married life on her husband’s property in St- Benoît – “une terre de trois arpens de front sur environ trente quatre arpens de profondeur sise au dît lieu du grand Brulé” (a land of three arpents wide by about thirty-four arpents deep located at said site of grand Brulé). [4]

Nine months later, she was blessed with the birth of her first child, a daughter who was named Marie Louise like her mother, her maternal grandmother and her maternal great-grandmother. Over the next sixteen years, Marie Louise had a further six sons and three daughters: Joseph, Hyacinthe, Reine (my ancestor), Jean Baptiste, Marc Alexandre, François, Marie Françoise, Antoine, and Marie Henriette.

Life in St-Benoît must have suited Marie Louise and her family, because not only were all her children born in this rural village, but they (other than three children who died young) also married there.

Marie Louise died on 27 October 1835 in St-Benoît; she was almost 54 years old. Father Chartier noted in her burial record that she had received the ‘sacraments and comfort of the Church’. [5] Her funeral was held two days later there in the presence of family and friends.

Sources:

1. St-Eustache (St-Eustache, Quebec), parish register, 1779-1786, p. 49, entry no. B.300 (1781), Louise Rochon baptism, 24 December 1781; St-Eustache parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 March 2010).

2. Archives des notaires du Québec, database and digital images, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/notaires/ : accessed 21 October 2014), actes de notaire, Pierre-Rémi Gagnier, 6 January 1800, no. 2980, Contrat de mariage de Joseph Poirier et Marie Louise Rochon.

3. St-Benoît (St-Benoît, Quebec), parish register, 1799-1805, p. 2 verso, entry no. M.2 (1800), Joseph Poirier – Marie Louise Rochon marriage, 13 January 1800; St-Benoît parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 7 March 2008).

4. Archives des notaires du Québec, database and digital images, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/notaires/ : accessed 21 October 2014), Contrat de mariage de Joseph Poirier et Marie Louise Rochon. Joseph’s property was about 2.5 acres wide by 28.7 acres long, according to an online conversion calculator. (Convert arpent to acres - Conversion of Measurement Units (http://www.convertunits.com/from/arpent/to/acres : accessed 22 October 2014).)

5. St-Benoît (St-Benoît, Quebec), parish register, 1835, p. 54 recto, entry no. S.116, Louise Rochon burial, 29 October 1835; St-Benoît parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 March 2010).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Photo Consultation Part III – Vanasse Family

This blog post is the third and final article of a three-part series in which I write about the help I received from photo detective Maureen Taylor during a recent photo consultation. For the two previous installments, see Photo Consultation with Maureen Taylor and Photo Consultation Part II – Pierre Janvry dit Belair.

This picture of my Vanasse great-aunts and uncles (my father’s maternal relatives) was sent to me as a digital image by my cousin Nancy in the spring of 2013.

Seated at the front (left to right) are George, his sister Corinne (Cora) and his brother William (Willie). At the back (left to right) are his sister Agnes (Aggie), his wife Louise, his brother David (Dave), his sister Cecilia (Celia), and his brother Joseph (Joe). Missing from the group are parents Olivier and Elisabeth, and sisters Mary and Julie (my grandmother).

Here are Maureen’s thoughts about this picture:

• A studio portrait (painted background, heavy furniture, carpet).
  
• It could be part of a series of photos taken at the same time.
  
• Presumably a wedding photo, since Louise is less likely to be included with the family while unmarried to George.
  
• The men all wear different collars and ties. Joe (back, far right) appears to be “a bit of a dandy”, judging by the style of his collar.
  
• Joe has a protective hand on Willie’s shoulder.
  
• Cora (centre, front) and Celia (back, right) are fashionably dressed. Maureen added that she’s never seen Cora’s style of necklace.
  
• Aggie (back, far left), who’s about 14 years old, is “dressing younger than her age”. Her hair (in banana curls) and dress reflect a “very youthful style”. She could be dressed by an older person instead of having the chance to make her own fashion choices.
  
• Louise’s “dress is way too big”. She seems to have borrowed it from someone “taller and much larger in the chest”.

My impressions:

I believe this photo was taken in June 1920, when George (born in 1891) married Louise Potvin in Bourget, Russell County, Ontario. Louise’s dress with its shiny, heavy fabric, so different from what her sisters-in-law are wearing, suggests the picture was taken on a special occasion. Until Maureen pointed out how big Louise’s dress is, I hadn’t noticed how much fabric appears on her left sleeve.

If I’m correct about the year, the Vanasse brothers and sisters gathered for this photo less than two years after the end of the Great War (1914-1918). Willie (born in 1893) and Joe (born in 1898) both served overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. Poor Willie came back home shell-shocked and spent a number of years in veterans hospitals. I get the feeling that Willie and Joe were particularly close, and that Joe feels protective of his elder brother. I also think that Celia (born in 1895) is close to her youngest brother Dave (born in 1903), since she’s holding onto his arm.

Dave’s skin is darker than any of his brothers and sisters. His skin tone might be due to genetics: both his parents are great-grandchildren of Aboriginal women.

I'm grateful that my cousin Nancy shared this wonderful Vanasse family photo with me. I dearly loved my grandmother Julie, who died when I was eight and half years old. After her death, I felt privileged to have known her sisters, particularly Celia, who I used to visit at her home in Ottawa when I was there at university.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #42 Valentin Cole, Catholic convert

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”.

For the 42nd week of this challenge, I chose Valentin Cole (ca 1728-1794).

Valentin is my maternal 6x great-grandfather and is number 466 in my ancestor list.

Born about 1728 in Boston, colonial Massachusetts, he was the son of Jean Cole and Elisabeth Xque. [1]

I haven’t done much research into Valentin’s background or the circumstances of how he came to immigrate to Canada.

His first appearance in Canadian records seems to be in 1753 when, as “Valentin Colle, Anglais”, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. On 21 April of that year, Valentin renounced the ‘heresies of the faith in which he was raised’ and was baptized under the name Jean Baptiste by Father J.C. Noël in the parish church of St-Antoine-de-Tilly, near Quebec, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. [2]

Valentin's baptism record (part 1), Ancestry.ca

Valentin's baptism record (part 2), Ancestry.ca

Valentin’s conversion was likely in preparation for his marriage that took place four months later, on 24 September 1753 in Ste-Croix (located a little to the west of St-Antoine-de-Tilly), to Marie Joseph Martel. [3] Twenty-two year old Marie Joseph, who was from Ste-Croix, was a younger daughter of Paul Martel and his wife Marie Geneviève Houde.

Now known as Jean Baptiste, he and Marie Joseph had five children between 1754 and 1765: Marie Anne, Marie Josephe (who died young), Marie Louise (my ancestor), Jean Baptiste, and Marie Josephe. [4]

Jean Baptiste died on 28 July 1794, and was buried the next day at St-Paul-de-Lavaltrie, east of Montreal. [5]

Sources:

1. Ste-Croix (Ste-Croix, Quebec), parish register, 1727-1796, p. 13 recto, no entry no. (1753), Jean Baptiste Cole – Marie Joseph Martel [sic] marriage, 24 September 1753; Ste-Croix parish; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 October 2014). Valentin’s place of origin and the names of his parents are stated in his marriage record. His date of birth is estimated from his age (66) at his burial. "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-28022-16926-74?cc=1321742&wc=9RLF-BZW:22176801,22176802,23163803 : accessed 16 October 2014), Saint-Paul > Saint-Paul > Index 1786-1832, 1786-1877 Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1786-1812 > image 267 of 601, Jean Baptiste Coll [sic] burial.

2. St-Antoine (St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec), parish register, 1751-1754, p. 16 recto, entry no. B.13 (1753), Valentin Colle [sic] abjuration and baptism, 21 April 1753; St-Antoine parish; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 29 October 2011).

3. Ste-Croix, parish register, 1727-1796, p. 13 recto, Jean Baptiste Cole – Marie Joseph Martel [sic] marriage, 24 September 1753. Tanguay states the couple married on 21 August 1753. Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), III: 109.

4. “Dictionnaire généalogique des familles 1621-1799”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/fr/ : accessed 29 October 2011), Jean Baptiste Col – Marie Josephe Martel [sic] family, record no. 30735.

5. "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," Jean Baptiste Coll [sic] burial.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Photo Consultation Part II – Pierre Janvry dit Belair

Last week, I wrote about a photo consultation I had with Maureen Taylor by telephone and how she helped me better understand three family photos I had submitted to her by email.

I thought that article would be the only one I’d post on my blog about that conversation. I planned on transcribing the rest of the notes I made during our phone call and then file them for future reference. It occurred to me, however, that if I put those notes away, who would see them and get to know about the people and the extra details that Maureen found in the pictures except maybe only me?

That’s when I decided to share with my readers what Maureen had to say about the other two photographs. After all, that’s the point of my having a genealogy blog – to share my ancestors with others.

Therefore, I’m focusing on the second of the three photos this week, and the third photo and its information will appear next week.

This photo of my paternal great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair (1851-1941) was given to me many years ago by a cousin. All I knew about it was that it was a picture of Pierre. I speculated that he was perhaps photographed before he married in September 1879, because of his youthful appearance. I don't know when or where it was taken (possibly not too far from his hometown of Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, near Hull, Quebec) and I don't know what led him to want to be photographed.

These are Maureen’s thoughts about Pierre and the picture:

• The original photo is a tintype. (Maureen explained how she knew that, but I didn’t write it down, and I’ve already forgotten what she told me.)

• Pierre is wearing 1870s attire, judging by the wide lapels of his jacket and his shawl-collared vest. The piping or twisted braiding on his vest is also a feature of 1870s men clothing.

• He has two different eyes: his right eye seems to be normally lidded, but his left eye has a droopy upper lid. Maureen didn’t give any opinions as to the reason for Pierre’s droopy eyelid (like a medical condition). She wondered, though, if it could be due to the photographic process.

• Pierre has a strong jaw and an advancing hairline.

• He appears to be wearing a pinkie ring on this left hand, which rests on a thick book, perhaps the Bible.

If Pierre really has a droopy eyelid, I wonder if he could have had something called ptosis – drooping of the eyelid. [1] Ptosis can be caused by “a variety of conditions include aging, diabetes, stroke, Horner syndrome, myasthenia gravis, or a brain tumor or other cancer that affects nerve or muscle reactions”. Other causes could be a growth (like a stye), nerve damage, or normal variation. [2] Pierre was 89½ years old when he passed away, so I don’t think he had diabetes, tumor or cancer when he was younger (he was about 20 to 27 years old in the photograph). The only other photo I have of my great-grandfather is the one taken of him at his daughter Mathilde’s wedding in 1921, but that picture isn’t clear enough for me to tell in what condition his eyelids were.

Sources:

1. MedlinePlus, database, National Institutes of Health (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1111.htm: accessed 9 October 2014), “Ptosis, drooping of the eyelid”.

2. MedlinePlus, database, National Institutes of Health (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003035.htm : accessed 9 October 2014), “Eyelid drooping”.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sympathy Saturday: René Legault

Four years ago today, on 11 October 2010, my Aunt Madeleine and my cousins lost their beloved husband and father, René. He was 86 years old.

Uncle René was a tall, good looking man, with wavy hair. He was always happy and smiled a lot. Mom loved dancing with him at family events like weddings, and he and Dad shared a similar sense of humor and got along well.

These are two of my favorite photos of Uncle René. They are wonderful reminders of how I most remember him: the working man (a police officer in a small northeastern Ontario town) and the family man with lots of humor.

When uncle René was dressed in his uniform, he seemed serious, but still approachable. When he was home, off work, he was lots of fun and loved teasing his children and us, his nieces (my younger sister Marianne and I), when we visited him and Aunt Madeleine and their eight children – my cousins Richard, Michel, Raymond, Robert, Jean-Paul, Lise, Patrick and Gérard – at their home with the big yard.

In the above photo, there’s my cousin Robert (far left), my Mom holding me, Aunt Madeleine holding her son Patrick, and Uncle René hanging on to daughter Lise’s pigtail. He wasn’t being mean (Uncle René was the most fair and upright man I ever knew), but just being playful with his only daughter.

Still missing you, mon oncle René.

Copyright © 2104, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #41 Joseph Caillé’s 1814 Marriage

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”.

For the 41st week of this challenge, I chose Joseph Caillé (1798-1865).

Joseph is my maternal 4x great-grandfather and is number 118 in my ancestor list.

A younger son of Joseph Caillé by his first wife Marie Françoise Renaud dite Dumoulin, Joseph was born on 27 February 1798 and was baptized that day in the village of Ste-Rose on Ile Jésus, just north of Montreal. [1]

Today – 10 October 2014 – is the two hundredth anniversary of the marriage of Joseph and Angélique Houle [Houde] dite Gervais. The couple, who were distantly related, married on 10 October 1814 in the parish church in Ste-Thérèse, Terrebonne County. [2]

Until I prepared this post for my blog, I hadn’t considered my ancestors’ ages when they wed. I was surprised to learn that Joseph was only 16 years old, while Angélique was one week away from 21 at their marriage.

Caillé - Houle marriage record (1814) [3]

Below is my transcription of their marriage record. (I’ve kept the original spelling, punctuation and capitalization, as well as the original lineation.)

Transcribed  Caillé - Houle marriage record

What information appears in Joseph and Angélique’s marriage record? [4] I found the following 26 details:

1. Date of marriage (10 October 1814)

2. Publication of the banns (three banns announced during the Mass on three consecutive Sundays)

3. Place of marriage (our parish masses)*

4. Groom’s name (Joseph Câyer [sic])

5. Groom’s occupation (farmer)

6. Groom’s place of residence (this parish, Ste-Thérèse)

7. Groom’s age (minor, under 21 years old)

8. Groom’s matrimonial status (single, never married)†

9. Groom’s parents (Joseph Câyer [sic] and Marie Françoise Renault dite Dumoulins [sic])

10. Groom’s parents’ place of residence (also of this parish)

11. Bride’s name (Marie Angélique Houle)

12. Bride’s place of residence (also of this parish)

13. Bride’s age (major, 21 years or older)

14. Bride’s matrimonial status (single, never married)‡

15. Bride’s parents (the late Joseph Houle and Marie Louise Fournier)

16. Bride’s parents’ place of residence (also of this parish)

17. Bride’s father’s occupation (farmer, while living)

18. Canonical impediments to the marriage (none)

19. Parents’ consent to marriage (given)

20. Groom and bride’s consent to marriage (received by both parties)

21. Nuptial blessing (given by celebrant)

22. Witnesses (groom’s father Joseph Câyer [sic], groom’s uncle Charles Dubois, bride’s brother Jean Baptiste Houle, bride’s friend Joseph Logué, and many other relatives and friends)

23. Relationship of witnesses to groom and bride (see previous entry)

24. Signatures of couple and witnesses (none)

25. Ability of couple and witnesses to sign (no one could sign their name)

26. Celebrant’s signature (JB Lajus, priest curate)

Notes:

* Although the name of the parish is not mentioned in the text, the marriage took place in Ste-Thérèse’s parish church, as stated on the first page of its sacramental register for 1814.

† The groom’s single status is implied because his parents’ names are stated. If a groom is a widower, his parents’ names are omitted and instead the name of his late wife is mentioned. There are rare exceptions to this rule, however, where the celebrant did not follow this formula.

‡ The bride’s single status is implied. (See note above.)

Joseph and Angélique were married for nearly 51 years. (See them in Wedding Wednesday: Longest Ancestral Marriages.) They were the parents of fourteen children – eight sons (including twins), five daughters (including my ancestor Marie Angélique), and one child of unknown gender who did not survive.

Joseph died on 8 June 1865 in St-André-Avellin, Papineau County, while Angélique survived him by two years, dying on 30 May 1867, also in St-André-Avellin. [5]

Sources:

1. Ste-Rose (Laval, Quebec), parish register, 1785-1799, p. 6 recto, no entry no. (1798), Joseph Cahié [sic] baptism, 27 February 1798; Ste-Rose parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 3 October 2014).

2. Ste-Thérèse (Ste-Thérèse, Quebec), parish register, 1814, p. 29 verso, entry no. M.19, Joseph Câyer [sic] – Marie Angélique Houle marriage, 10 October 1814; Ste-Thérèse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 November 2010).

3. Ste-Thérèse, parish register, 1814, p. 29 verso, Joseph Câyer [sic] – Marie Angélique Houle marriage, 10 October 1814.

4. To learn more about the required contents of ecclesiastical marriage records in the province of Quebec from its origins to the present day, see, for example, Gérard Bouchard et André LaRose, “La réglementation du contenu des actes de baptême, mariage, sépulture, au Québec, des origines à nos jours”, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 30 (1976); online archives, érudit (http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/301535ar : accessed 20 August 2009), 67-84, particularly p. 80.

5. St-André-Avellin (St-André-Avellin, Quebec), parish register, 1865, p. 168 (stamped), entry no. S.6, Joseph Cahier [sic] burial, 10 June 1865; St-André-Avellin parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 October 2010). Also, St-André-Avellin (St-André-Avellin, Quebec), parish register, 1867, p. 291 (stamped), entry no. S.23 Angélique Gervais (dit Oulle) [sic] burial, 1 June 1867; St-André-Avellin parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 October 2010). Note: Angélique appears as Angelique Gervais Dit Aulle in Ancestry’s burial index.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: By the lake

My Mom Jacqueline (in the brown sweater) poses with her sisters and brother-in-law (Jeanne d’arc, Normande, Howard, Madeleine and (in front) Simone) near Moonbeam, Ontario, in the summer of 1974.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Photo Consultation with Maureen Taylor

I spent yesterday afternoon with Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective.

Well, actually, it was part of an afternoon and we spoke on the phone – she at home in Rhode Island and me at home in British Columbia. I should also add that Maureen had been scheduled to speak last weekend at the Kelowna and District Genealogical Society’s conference (in Kelowna, British Columbia), as well as do photo consultations during that time. (See Off to Kelowna for a Genealogy Conference.) Unfortunately, she had to cancel her appearance almost at the last minute. Instead, she offered to do phone sessions for those who had pre-booked with her. I still wanted my photos looked at, so I emailed her and we picked a day and time for us to meet on the telephone.

I chose three family photographs and emailed digital copies to Maureen ahead of time. There were a picture of my grandfather Fred Belair (possibly in the 1920s), one of his father Pierre (possibly in the 1870s), and one of my grandmother Julie’s siblings (about 1920).

Maureen started with the photo of my Pépère Fred. (I’ve already featured this particular photo on my blog about two years ago; see Sepia Saturday: 3 November 2012.) I gave her some background information about when and where he worked during his early years, and told her that the picture was a photo of a rather small photo.

Fred Belair (centre, in light overcoat and hat)

Maureen explained that the men in it were of various ages, that they were well dressed, and that although the flat caps some of them wore stayed in fashion for a long time, the fact that they were oversized and “big floppy hats [made them] common in 1918”. She felt that these were average people who had possibly “been out and about” when they were photographed. It was difficult to say if the picture was taken in Canada or in the USA. (I told her that Fred had once told me that he had worked in Wisconsin and Minnesota shipyards during World War I.) As for why they might have posed among logs, she said that people were photographed in all kinds of places.

Maureen then spent a good amount of time analyzing the next two photos. I loved how she pointed out bits of details that were obvious to her but that I had missed whenever I had looked at them.

I don’t know if Maureen could tell that I had big smile on my face as she spoke and that I found everything she shared with me so fascinating and helpful!

I really got my money’s worth during the consultation. I highly recommend Maureen Taylor and her photo expertise!

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Emily Belair

My aunt Emily Belair passed away 34 years ago on 8 October 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Emily was a daughter of William and Emily (Grisenthwaite) Murphy. Born on 2 November 1934 in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Emily grew up east of there in the small settlement of Laidlaw, on the outskirts of the town of Hope.

In August 1952, Emily married Ray Belair, my father’s younger brother. The couple made their home on a property in Laidlaw, and had two children, Janet Rae (Jenny) and Leo. My cousin Leo is still with us, but Jenny died in 2011 (her obituary can be read here) and Uncle Ray passed away just last month.

Emily’s funeral service took place six days later in Chilliwack, and she was laid to rest there in the Anglican Cemetery.

Source:

“Mrs. Belair Laid to Rest Tuesday”, funeral notice, 15 October 1980, The Hope Standard (Hope, British Columbia); p. 1, cols. 7-8.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #40 Marthe Quitel, a Calvinist fille du roi

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”.

For the 40th week of this challenge, I chose Marthe Quitel (ca 1637-1722).

Marthe is my maternal 7x great-grandmother and is number 1831 in my ancestor list.

Daughter of Denis Quitel and his wife Louise Bénard, Marthe was born about 1637, 1638 or 1651, depending on her age on New France censuses. [1] She was from the parish of St-Maclou in Rouen, Normandy, France. [2]

As one of the 59 or so filles du roi (King’s daughters) destined for Quebec City, Marthe arrived in New France in the summer of 1665. [3] It is not known what prompted her to leave her home, but it was perhaps because one or both of her parents had passed away, as was sometimes the case with filles du roi. Also unknown is what kind of dowry and gifts she might have received. Author Silvio Dumas explains that filles du roi usually received at least “un modest trousseau” and that in some of their marriage contracts, there is mention of these items. [4] Marthe’s marriage contract, however, is silent on this point.

Marthe was not only a fille du roi, she was also a Calvinist. Almost immediately after her arrival at Quebec (other filles du roi went to Montreal and Trois-Rivières), Marthe renounced her Calvinist faith and converted to Roman Catholicism on 17 July 1665 at Notre-Dame church in Quebec. [5]

One month later, Marthe and a fellow immigrant, Barthélemi Verreau dit Le Bourguignon, entered into a marriage contract on 31 August 1665. [6] They both knew how to write, because they signed their names on the contrat in the presence of notary Pierre Duquet. [7] The couple married three weeks later on 22 September 1665 in Château-Richer. [8] Located east of present-day Quebec City, Château-Richer was at that time part of the seigneurie of Beaupré, but is now in Montmorency County, Quebec.

View at Chateau Richer (1804)*

* Image: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-270. Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana.

Barthélemi was about six years older than Marthe. Originally from Dijon, Burgundy, France, he arrived in Montreal in 1662. [9] Barthélemi worked as a blacksmith and later as an edge-tool maker. [10] Just before he married, he purchased some land in Château-Richer in June 1665, where he relocated. [11] I wonder if his being a skilled worker and having some land is what prompted Marthe to consider Barthélemi as a suitable spouse.

Over the next seventeen years, Marthe gave birth to nine children: five sons and four daughters, including my ancestress Marguerite (Verreau) Boutillet (1674-1749). [12] Barthélemi and Marthe were able to provide well for their children, because their eldest surviving son Barthélemi, a blacksmith like his father, became a clerk of the Beaupré seigneurial court and a notary. [13]

In December 1700, Barthélemi père died. He was buried in Château-Richer, where he and Marthe had lived all their married life. [14] A few years later, Marthe’s surviving children gave up their rights to the paternal home. [15] In a contract known as “donation entre vifs” drawn up on 5 November 1706 by Quebec notary Etienne Jacob, Marthe gave up her house and its land to her youngest son François in exchange for his lodging and caring for her until her death. [16]

Marthe survived her husband by twenty-two years. She died suddenly, according to her burial record, which added that she had “donnée durant sa vie des marques de Catholicité” (demonstrated her Catholicism during her life). [17] This detail tells me that Marthe took seriously her conversion to Catholicism. She was buried on 26 December 1722 in Château-Richer. [18]

Although I haven’t seen it, a book about the Verreau family has been recently published: Barthélemy Verreau, premier Verreau en Nouvelle-France, by Jean-Marie Verreault (Québec, Québec: Jean-Marie Verreault, 2013). I came across it yesterday in a June 2014 post at the Library and Archives Canada blog.

Sources:

1. Marthe was 28 years old on the 1666 census, 30 on the 1667 census, and 30 on the 1681 census. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 1121. All the sources I used for this article name Marthe’s father Denis. However, he is named Daniel Quitel (Guittel) in Cyprien Tanguay, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), I: 585.

2. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121.

3. Peter J. Gagné, King’s Daughters and Founding Mothers: The Filles du Roi, 1663-1673, 2 vols. (Pawtucket, Rhode Island: Quintin Publications, 2001), 2: 476. Also, Silvio Dumas, Les filles du Roi en Nouvelle-France: étude historique avec répertoire biographique (Québec, Québec: Société historique de Québec, 1972, 43); digital images; Our Roots / Nos Racines (http://www.ourroots.ca : accessed 2 October 2014).

4. Dumas, Les filles du Roi, 319.

5. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121, Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476, and Roland-J. Auger, “Registre des abjurations (1662-1757)”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française [Vol. V – No. 4] (juin 1953): 243-246, particularly p. 246; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

6. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

7. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

8. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

9. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476. Another source gives a different place of origin for Barthélemi: the parish of St-Agnan in Ahuy, Bourgogne, France. (Fichier Origine, database (http://www.fichierorigine.com : accessed 2 October 2014), entry for Barthélemy Verreau / Bourguignon, no. 380065.) Ahuy is located 6 km north of Dijon. (Wikipedia contributors, "Ahuy", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ahuy&oldid=620507581 : accessed October 3, 2014).)

10. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

11. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

12. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121.

13. Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada (http://www.biographi.ca/en/index.php : accessed 2 October 2014), “Barthélemi Verreau”.

14. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

15. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

16. Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

17. “Le LAFRANCE”, digital images, GénéalogieQuébec (www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 2 October 2014); entry for Marthe Quintel [sic] burial, 26 December 1722. Unfortunately, Marthe’s burial record does not state the date or place of her death, nor her age.

18. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 1121 and Gagné, King’s Daughters, 2: 476.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.