Sunday’s Obituary: Olivier Vanasse (1863-1944)

Olivier Vanasse obituary (The Evening Citizen)

My paternal great-grandfather Olivier Vanasse passed away seventy-one years ago on 7 December 1944. That’s the date according to his death registration and The Evening Citizen of 8 December 1944. [1] However, The Ottawa Journal of 9 December 1944 gives a different date: “yesterday”, that is, 8 December 1944. [2]

Both newspapers, though, agree that he died at home after an illness of two years.

Olivier was survived by his wife Elizabeth and their children, Mary, George, William, Cecilia (Celia), Julie (my grandmother), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David, and Agnes (Aggie).

Sources:

1. “Mariages et décès 1926-1997”, database, Généalogie Québec.com (https://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 3 September 2009), death entry for Olivier Vanasse, 7 December 1944. Also, “Olivier Vanasse”, obituary, The (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Evening Citizen, 8 December 1944, p. 14, col. 3; digital images, Google News (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 18 February 2014), News Archive Search.

2. “Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 2 July 2013), Olivier Vanasse obituary; citing The Ottawa Journal, 9 December 1944, p. 17, col. 4; City of Ottawa Archive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Imelda Desgroseilliers (1917-1935), A Young Death

Born on 14 September 1917 in St. Charles, south of Sudbury, Ontario, Imelda was the 14th of 16 children of Prospère and Emma (Beaulne) Desgroseilliers. [1] She was my maternal grandfather Eugène Desgroseilliers’ first cousin. 

Imelda Desgroseilliers baptism record (Ancestry.ca)

Eighty years ago today, on 1 December 1935, Imelda died in St. Paul’s Hospital in Hearst, in northeastern Ontario. [2]

Earlier that year in February, 17-year-old Imelda married Armand Lachance. [3] Almost immediately, she became pregnant.

Nine months later, Imelda gave birth to a son on 24 November 1935 in St. Paul’s Hospital; it was a “prolonged and difficult” delivery. [4] This serious situation led to “asphyxia neonatorum” for her child. [5] Newborn Joseph Armand did not get enough oxygen during the birth process; he lived only ten hours. [6]

Six days later, Imelda was dead; she was just 18 years old. The cause: pulmonary embolism due to puerperal infection. [7] One or more blood clots, presumably originating in her leg, dislodged and travelled up to Imelda’s lung(s). [8] The contributory cause, puerperal infection, is a “bacterial infection of the female reproductive tract following childbirth or miscarriage”. [9] Some symptoms are fever, chills, and lower abdominal pain. Puerperal infection “usually occurs after the first 24 hours and within the first ten days following delivery”. [10] Modern medical treatment and antibiotics might have saved Imelda’s life. [11]

Imelda Desgroseilliers death registration (Ancestry.ca)

Imelda was buried on 3 December 1935 in Hallewood (now Hallebourg), near Hearst. [12] Her memory lived on in her family when her brother Armand named his eldest daughter ‘Imelda’ when she was born in June 1939. [13]

Sources:

1. St-Charles (St. Charles, Ontario), parish register, 1902-1925, p. 321 stamped, entry no. 27 (1917), Marie Imelda Adrienne Désgroseillier (written as Marie Imelda Adrienne Désgroseillier, indexed as Marie Imelda Adrienne Desgroseillier) baptism, 16 September 1917; St-Charles parish; digital images, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 May 2013). Imelda’s baptism record gives her date of birth.

2. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 May 2013), entry for Emelda Lachance [sic], 1 December 1935; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 508.

3. St-Charles, parish register, 1902-1925, p. 321 stamped, Marie Imelda Adrienne Désgroseillier baptism, 16 September 1917. Imelda’s date and place of marriage appear as a notation in her baptism record.

4. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 November 2015), entry for Joseph Armand Lachance, 25 November 1935; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 507.

5. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Joseph Armand Lachance, 25 November 1935.

6. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Joseph Armand Lachance, 25 November 1935.

7. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Emelda Lachance, 1 December 1935.

8. “Diseases and Conditions”, database, Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pulmonary-embolism/multimedia/pulmonary-embolism/img-20006463 : accessed 30 November 2015), “pulmonary embolism”.

9. Wikipedia contributors, "Puerperal infections", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Puerperal_infections&oldid=681922803 : accessed 30 November 2015).

10. Wikipedia contributors, "Puerperal infections", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

11. Wikipedia contributors, "Puerperal infections", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

12. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Emelda Lachance, 1 December 1935.

13. St-Michel-Archange (Rouyn, Quebec), parish register, 1939, p. 41 verso, entry no. B.121, Imelda Anna Maria Desgroseillers [sic] baptism, 3 July 1939; St-Michel-Archange parish; digital images, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 November 2015).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Thriller Thursday: DesGroseilliers Family Held Hostage at Home

It was 60 years ago today – November 26, 1955 – that the "reign of terror" began for Victor DesGroseilliers (a distant cousin of my mother) of Cornwall, Ontario. He and his family were held hostage in their home for five hours during a robbery. [1]

"Five Hours of Terror" (Ancestry.ca)

Here’s a timeline of those events.

Evening:
Victor, a Dominion supermarket manager, and his wife Thérèse are out at friends playing bridge. Eldest son Robert (16) is home, while his brother Roland (15) and his sister Louise (5) are sleeping. A man knocks at the front door of the modest bungalow on Bryden Avenue; he asks if Robert’s father is home. He replies that he is out, but that he will be back about midnight. The man says he’ll return at that time and leaves. Robert tries to telephone his father, but “the telephone wouldn’t work”, Robert later said. (The “thieves had carefully cut the wires”, according to the police.) [2]

About 12:15 a.m.:
The man is back at the house, but Robert’s parents still aren’t home. He asks if he can wait; Robert says yes and the man sits in the living room. Robert notices that the man is “very nervous and uneasy” and that he keeps his left hand in his overcoat pocket. [3]

A few minutes later:
The man says he hears someone at the door and gets up; he lets a man in. Robert sees that this second man has a white handkerchief around his face and carries what looks like a sawed-off shotgun. The first man removes his hand from his coat pocket and holds what appears to be a German Luger. The men tell Robert to go wake his brother.

As Victor and Thérèse drive up to their house, they notice a man entering their home. Concerned, Victor walks into his house and heads toward the kitchen saying, “What is going on here!” [4] Suddenly, the kitchen light goes on and Victor and Thérèse find guns pointed at them.

The family is told to sit on the kitchen floor. The gunmen make them face the wall and tie them up with cords they brought with them. When those aren’t enough to bind them, the gunmen cut more cords from the house’s Venetian blinds. They then tell Victor they want his keys to the grocery store and the combination of its safe.

A short while later:
The gunmen leave, but the family hears someone outside. Soon, the men return telling Victor they could not open the safe. They ask him to repeat the combination number and then one gunman leaves. The other gunman notices a bedroom and asks whose it is. He’s told that it’s Ghislaine’s room, but that she will not be home for a while.

About 3 a.m.:
Ghislaine (20) and her friend Laurent Langlois (23) arrive back home from a dance. As they open the front door, they hear her mother say in French, “Don’t let Laurent in … don’t let Laurent in.” At that moment, Laurent feels a gun at his back; someone tells him, “Shut up or I’ll blast you.” [5]

Laurent and Ghislaine are pulled into the kitchen. A gunman “[ties] a rope from [Laurent’s] neck to the cellar door knob”. [6] He if moves or twists, the rope gets tighter. A handkerchief is stuffed into his mouth and secured with adhesive tape.

The gunmen laugh at “the sight of the captives spread over the kitchen floor”. They talk about how “big a hole the bullets in the gun would make [in the hostages]”. [7]

Sometime later:
The gunmen blindfold Victor and take him to the grocery store, about two miles away from his home. The family is warned that “If anybody moves my friend [outside] will take care of you.” [8]

At the store, the gunmen force Victor to open the safe, which is located “just inside the well-lighted, all glass front” supermarket. The gunmen begin to put the safe’s money ($17,451.00) into carrying cases. [9] Suddenly, they hear the store’s door lock being tested. It is a Cornwall police officer who is on his night rounds. One of the men puts a gun to Victor’s back and threatens him to not make a sound. After the officer leaves, the gunmen re-tie Victor and place him behind a counter. The robbers leave the grocery store.

"Five Hours of Terror" (Ancestry.ca)

About 5:20 a.m.:
Victor manages to free an arm and calls the police. Road blocks are set up, but the thieves escape.

Postscript

Victor and his family could not identify the four gunmen when police showed them pictures of suspects. Laurent thought they sounded Italian when they spoke. He said some were about 5’11” and others over 6’ tall. They wore long overcoats, and white masks and caps over their eyes. Louise said they had “funny faces”. [10] Nevertheless, one of them, 30-year-old Irwin William Stata, was captured the next night in Brantford, west of Toronto. [11] He later pleaded guilty at his trial and was sentenced to ten years in penitentiary. Stata was on parole the night he committed the Cornwall armed robbery. He had served ten years of an 18 year sentence for manslaughter. [12]

Sources:

1. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 28 November 1955, p. 1; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 23 November 2015), Newspapers & Publications.

2. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 1.

3. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 1.

4. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 1.

5. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 3.

6. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 3.

7. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 3.

8. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 3.

9. “Admits $17,451 Cornwall Robbery”, The Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), 14 December 1955, p. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 23 November 2015).

10. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 3.

11. “Five Hours of Terror”, The Journal, 28 November 1955, p. 1.

12. “Cornwall Robber Gets 10 Years”, The Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Evening Journal, 21 December 1955, p. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 23 November 2015).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Célestin Desgroseilliers

Célestin Desgroseilliers passed away 58 years ago on 22 November 1957 in Ottawa, Ontario. [1] He was a younger brother of my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers. Célestin was born on 19 November 1881 in Embrun, Russell County, Ontario. He was the ninth child and sixth son of Pierre and Flavie (Lepage) Desgroseilliers.

In January 1904, Célestin married Fabiana Gauthier, by whom he had ten children. He and at least two of his brothers (Prospère and Albert) were tall men. He was a merchant in Sturgeon Falls and in Kapuskasing, Ontario before relocating to Ottawa in the mid-1950s.

Célestin died in hospital after a short illness. He was survived by his wife, 8 children, 16 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

Source:

1. “Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 November 2015), Celestin Desgroseilliers death notice; citing The Ottawa Journal, 23 November 1957, p. 24, col. 1; City of Ottawa Archive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wednesday’s Child: Lina Desgroseilliers (1905-1915)

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Lina Desgroseilliers, my first cousin twice removed. I meant to have this article appear on my blog in April, but didn’t get around to it.

Lina was born on 20 April 1905 in St. Charles, Ontario. [1] She was the sixth child and fifth daughter of Joseph and Azéline (Lemieux) Desgroseilliers. Joseph was the eldest brother of my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers.

Lina Desgroseilliers' birth registration (Ancestry.ca)

At her baptism on 23 April, Lina received three names: Marie Marguerite Lina. Her godparents were her father’s brother Célestin and his wife Fabiana (Gauthier) Desgroseilliers. [2]

A few years earlier, Lina’s parents and their elder children left Russell County in southeastern Ontario for an area in northeastern Ontario that had recently opened up to colonisation. This settlement, Grand Brûlé, located south of Sudbury, would soon be known as St. Charles. Here, Joseph earned his living as a merchant, one of the first in the region. [3] He and Azéline had nine children: Liliane, Alice, Corinne, Florence, Hormidas, Lina, Léo, Alphège, and Lionel.

Tragedy struck the family in the spring of 1915 when Lina died suddenly a few days after her 10th birthday. [4] She was buried on 29 April 1915 in St. Charles. [5]

Lina Desgroseilliers' burial record (Ancestry.ca)

Neither Lina’s burial record nor her death registration gives a cause of death. Instead, I found that information in her family’s entry in the history of St. Charles published in 1945. According to that source, Lina died accidently “à la suite d’absorption de chlore” (after swallowing chlorine). [6]

A heart-breaking end to a short life. Rest in peace, my cousin.

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1913”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 April 2015), entry for Marie Desgrosillier [sic], 20 April 1905; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS929, reel 180.

2. St-Charles (St-Charles, Ontario), parish register, 1902-1925, p. 8 stamped, no entry no. (1905), Marie Marguerite Lina Desgroseilliers baptism, 23 April 1905; St-Charles parish; digital images, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 April 2015).

3. Lionel Séguin, Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles (Saint-Charles, Ont., 1945), 231; digital images; Our Roots / Nos Racines (http://www.ourroots.ca : accessed 22 July 2014).

4. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 April 2015), entry for Lina Desgross[ei]lliers (written as Lina Desgross[ei]lliers, indexed as Lina Desgrawcelliers), 29 April 1915; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 213.

5. St-Charles (St-Charles, Ontario), parish register, 1909-1967, p. 55 stamped, entry no. 4 (1915), Lina Desgroselliers [sic] burial, 29 April 1915; St-Charles parish; digital images, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 April 2015).

6. Séguin, Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles, 231.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tombstone Tuesday: William Guy Holden

William Guy Holden, known as William, was born on 2 June 1893 in North Bay, Ontario. Son of Anastasia Holden, he was recruited during World War I in 1917.

William married Cora Gagnon, a first cousin of my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair, on 26 February 1927 in Ottawa, Ontario. (I wrote about Cora’s burial last month in Tombstone Tuesday: Cora Holden.) Later, William and Cora moved north to Timmins, where he worked as a miner.

William died in 1968. He was interred next to his wife in Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, near Timmins. My husband photographed their gravemarkers during our visit to my old hometown in May 2014.

William’s gravemarker reads:

WILLIAM 

Beloved Husband of Cora 

1893 – 1968 

Rest in Peace

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tombstone Tuesday: Cora Holden

Cora was a younger daughter of François and Julia (Vanasse) Gagnon. She was born on 19 December 1902 in Chapeau (or Chichester), Quebec. She and my paternal grandmother, Julie (Vanasse) Belair, were first cousins.

Like her sisters Mary and Albertine, Cora left their home village in the 1920s to seek work in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. (I’ve written about Albertine and Cora in Sibling Saturday: Albertine and Cora Gagnon.) Here, she married William Guy Holden in February 1927. They couple eventually moved to Timmins in northern Ontario, where Cora’s cousin Julie lived.

Cora died in 1973 and was interred next to her husband William in Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, near Timmins. My husband photographed their gravemarkers during our visit to my old hometown in May 2014.

Cora’s gravemarker reads:

CORA 

Beloved Wife of William 

1902 – 1973 

Rest in Peace

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Joseph Vanasse’s 1838 Baptism Record

For today’s CRS, I’m featuring a baptism record, since I wrote about burial records for the past two Sundays.

Joseph Vanasse, no. 22 in my ancestor list, is my 2x paternal great-grandfather. A younger son of (Jean François) Régis Vanasse, a cultivateur (farmer), and his wife Josephte Messier, Joseph had eleven siblings – six brothers and five sisters. His older brother Olivier (1832-1914) is also my ancestor (he's no. 20), because his son, Olivier, married Joseph’s daughter Elisabeth.

Joseph was born on 17 October 1838, presumably in the parish of St-Michel in Yamaska, where his parents resided at the time of his baptism. He was baptized the next day (October 18) in nearby St-David, Yamaska County, Quebec. [1] Alternatively, the attending priest travelled to Yamaska where he baptized Joseph in St-Michel church, but recorded the event in St-David’s sacramental register.

Joseph Vanasse baptism record (FamilySearch)

The baptism record (above) reads in French:

“Le dix huit octobre mil huit cent trente / huit nous Pretre curé soussigné avons / baptisé Joseph né la veille du légitime / mariage de Regis Vanasse cultivateur / et de Josephte Mainsier [sic] de la paroisse de St- / Michel dYamaska, parrain Antoine / Vanasse marraine Marguerite Vanasse / qui ont déclaré ne savoir signer.”

In English:

“The 18 October 1838 / we undersigned priest curate have / baptized Joseph born the previous evening of the / legitimate marriage of Regis Vanasse farmer / and of Josephte Mainsier of the parish of St- / Michel of Yamaska, godfather Antoine / Vanasse godmother Marguerite Vanasse / who have declared not able to sign [their names].”

The priest, J. Boucher, curé (curate) of St-David, recorded only the basic details. I wish he had added the relationship between newly-baptized Joseph and his godparents. His father Régis had a younger brother named Antoine, so he might be the godfather. As for Marguerite, she might be his father’s cousin, because Régis didn’t have a sister or an aunt by that name.

Source:

1. St-David (St-David, Quebec), parish register, 1835-1846, p. 65 verso, no entry no. (1838), Joseph Vanasse baptism, 18 October 1838; St-David parish; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 September 2015). Note: To access this browsable-only image, follow this path from the FamilySearch homepage: Search > Records > Canada > Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979 > [Browse] > Saint-David > Saint-David > Index 1835-1876 Baptêmes,...ges, sépultures 1835-1846 > image 170 of 515.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Gauthier – Meunier

Sixty-seven years ago today, Cécile Meunier, my Dad’s cousin, married Ovila Gauthier on 14 October 1948 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham (now La Pêche), Gatineau County, Quebec. Father Louis-Léon Binet, Ste-Cécile’s prêtre-curé, officiated at the ceremony.

Cécile was the daughter of my grandfather Fred’s half-sister Priscille Belair by her husband Aldoria Meunier. Born on 1 July 1924 in Masham, Cécile was the eldest of thirteen children. I’ve written about her mother Priscille in Church Record Sunday: Sisters Priscille and Domitille Belair.

I first saw this lovely black-and-white photograph when I visited my Aunt Joan last year. It looks like Cécile sent it to Joan’s parents, Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair, her uncle and aunt. Left to right are Aldoria, Cécile, Ovila, and Edmond, his father.

There are two handwritings on the back of the photo. The first one belongs to Cécile, who wrote: “Cela c’est mon père / et le père de mon / marie et moi et / mon marie”. (This one is my father / and the father of my / husband and me and / my husband.)

The second handwriting is Joan’s, who wrote: “Oncle AIdoria Meunier 1948 / Cecile Meunier’s Wedding / Ovila Gauthier son papa / Edmond Gauthier”. (Uncle Aldoria Meunier 1948 / Cecile Meunier’s Wedding / Ovila Gauthier his father / Edmond Gauthier.)

I don’t believe I ever met Cécile and her husband. She died in February 2009, while Ovila, who predeceased her, died in April 1985.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sympathy Saturday: New France Epidemic of 1687

On 25 March 1687, Paul Daveluy dit Larose presented himself at St-Enfant-Jésus church in Pointe-aux-Trembles, east of Montreal. He and godparents Jean Roy and Anne Archambault were there on this late winter’s day for the baptism of his newborn son Jean Paul. [1]

Plan de l’Île de Montréal, 1744. BM5-C-26-050 (extrait).

His wife Elisabeth (née Haguin), my 9x maternal great-grandmother, was home recovering from the birth of her seventh child. With her were her five surviving children, Jeanne, François, Marie Madeleine, Jean Baptiste, and Marguerite. [2] Elisabeth also had four older children, three daughters and one son (Antoine, my ancestor), by her late first husband Antoine Courtemanche dit Jolicoeur.

Within a few months, life changed dramatically for Elisabeth. A trio of illnesses – pleurisy, measles, and malignant fever – soon appeared in the colony. [3] In July, measles broke out among the day-students at the Ursuline convent in Quebec (city) and spread to the boarding students and the teaching nuns. [4] It reached epidemic proportions in Lachine, near Montreal, where deaths were recorded from August to late December. [5]

Rénald Lessard in his Au temps de la petite vérole was aware of the problem of correctly identifying the epidemic. He notes that it was also a concern for the colonial authorities like the Marquis de Denonville (Governor General of New France) and de Champigny (Intendant of New France), who wrote, “Ces maladies ont commencé par la rougeolle Il y a du pourpre et ensuite des fluctions Sur la poitrine”. (These illnesses began with measles, there is typhus and then [presumably dysentery].) [6]

Author and demographer Hubert Charbonneau wrote an article in the mid-1990s about the “grandes mortalités épidémiques” (great epidemic mortalities) in New France prior to 1760. He identified the 1687 epidemic as typhus. [7]

Four members of the Daveluy family succumbed to the epidemic in late 1687. In the span of twelve weeks, Elisabeth lost three children and her husband. [8] First, eldest daughter Jeanne (13) died on 3 October and was buried that day. Then, son François (11) died; he was buried on 9 November. Daughter Marie Madeleine (9) was buried on 25 November. Four weeks later, husband Paul was buried on 21 December. (The burial records of the last three do not indicate a date of death, but it’s likely that they were buried the day they died.) [9]

Elisabeth and her three youngest children were spared. She never remarried, and died in April 1718, thirty years after the fateful year of 1687. [10]

Image Credit:

“Vie montréalaise”, database and digital images, Archives Montreal (http://archivesdemontreal.com/2014/02/03/incendie-a-pointe-aux-trembles-en-1912/ : accessed 8 October 2015), Plan de l’Île de Montréal, 1744. BM5-C-26-050 (extrait).

Sources:

1. St-Enfant-Jésus (Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec), parish register, 1674-1700, p. 78 recto, entry no. B.4 (1687), Jean Paul Daveluy baptism, 25 March 1687; St-Enfant-Jésus parish; digital images, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 8 October 2015).

2. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 8 October 2015), Paul Daveluy Larose DePicardie – Elisabeth Aquin [sic], Famille no. 3965. The list of children in PRDH is different from the one in Jetté, which shows eight children. It appears that the eighth child (Jean Paul) is the same person as the fourth child (Jean). René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), 311. The same eight children also appear in Elisabeth’s entry in Peter J. Gagné, Before the King’s Daughters: The Filles à Marier; 1634-1662 (Orange Park, Florida: Quintin Publications, 2008), 167-168.

3. Rénald Lessard, Au temps de la petite vérole: La médecine au Canada aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (Québec: Septentrion, 2012), 44, note 138, citing Jeanne-Françoise Juchereau de Saint-Ignace et Marie-Andrée Duplessis de Saint-Hélène (éditées par Dom Albert Jamet), Les Annales de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec 1636-1716 (1939; reprint, Québec, L’Hôtel-dieu de Québec, 1984), 232.

4. Lessard, Au temps de la petite vérole, 44, citing Archives des Ursulines de Québec, 1/E9, 1, Vieux récits, 1687, 50.

5. Lessard, Au temps de la petite vérole, 44.

6. Lessard, Au temps de la petite vérole, 77, note 285, citing Lettre de Denonville et Champigny au ministre, 6 novembre 1687, ANOM, Fonds des Colonies, série C11A, vol. 9, f. 5r.

7. Hubert Charbonneau, “Les grandes mortalités épidémiques avant 1760”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 46 (été 1995): 129.

8. Youngest child Jean Paul, who was baptised on 25 March 1687, died in 1761, not on 20 December 1687, as seen in Jetté, Dictionnaire, 311.

9. “Dictionnaire”, Paul Daveluy Larose DePicardie – Elisabeth Aquin [sic], Famille no. 3965.

10. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 311.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors 2015: #40 – Joseph Adam and Angélique Bissonnette, 240th wedding anniversary

I’m participating in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition” by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story too Small.

For the 40th week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (October) to write about my paternal ancestors Joseph and Angélique (Bissonnette) Adam, who have a wedding anniversary in October.

Adam - Bissonnette marriage record (Ancestry.ca)

Here a few facts about Joseph and Angélique:

• They are my double ancestors, nos. 166/182 and 167/183, respectively.

• Joseph was a fraternal twin with his sister Marie Charlotte. [1]

• Joseph and Angélique married on 9 October 1775 in St-Michel-de-la-Durantaye (now St-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Quebec), 240 years ago this week. [2] They were married for 49 years.

• They had previously entered into a marriage contract ten days earlier (September 30) in the notarial office of Joseph Riverin. [3]

• They received a dispensation to marry, because Angélique was Joseph’s second cousin once removed. [4]

• Joseph was almost 20 years old and Angélique was 18. [4]

• They were the parents of eleven children, three sons and seven (or eight) daughters, born between 1777 and 1799. [6]

• They have only female-line descendants, because their sons (Joseph, Louis, and Pierre) died as infants. [7]

• Joseph’s occupation: journalier (day laborer). [8]

• Joseph died on 27 December 1824 and was buried in Beloeil, east of Montreal. [9]

• Angélique survived her husband by ten years. She died on 26 December 1834 in Marieville, near Beloeil, where she was buried. [10]

Sources:

1. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 1 July 2014), Ignace Adam – Marie Ursule Lefebvre Boulanger, Famille no. 31064.

2. St-Michel (La Durantaye, Quebec), parish register, 1755-1789, p. 132 recto, entry no. 382, Joseph Adam – Marie Angelique Bissonnet marriage, 9 October 1775; St-Michel parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 October 2014).

3. “Archives des notaires”, digital images, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) (http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/notaires/index.html : accessed 4 October 2015), notary Joseph Riverin, Répertoire chronologique, 1773-1777, entry 30 September 1775, Mariage de Joseph Adam et Marie Angelique Bissonnette.

4. St-Michel, parish register, 1755-1789, p. 132 recto, Joseph Adam – Marie Angelique Bissonnet marriage, 9 October 1775. The couple received a dispensation of du troisième degré de parenté au quatre (the third degree of relationship to the fourth).

5. St-Etienne (Beaumont, Quebec), parish register, 1692-1796, page no. illegible, entry no. 1384 (1755), Joseph Adam baptism, 15 August 1855; St-Etienne parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 July 2014), and, St-Michel (La Durantaye, Quebec), parish register, 1755-1789, p. 61 verso, entry no. 1151, Marie Angelique Bissonnet baptism, 12 May 1757; St-Michel parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 August 2015).

6. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 14 February 2015), Joseph Adam – Marie Angelique Bissonnet, Famille no. 51923.

7. “Dictionnaire”, Joseph Adam – Marie Angelique Bissonnet, Famille no. 51923.

8. St-Mathieu (Beloeil, Quebec), parish register, 1801-1810, p. 4 recto, entry no. M.2 (1805), Charles Messier – Marie Josette Adam (written as Charles Messier – Marie Josette Adam, indexed as Charles Mettier – Marie S?? Adam) marriage, 6 May 1805; St-Mathieu parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 April 2008).

9. St-Mathieu (Beloeil, Quebec), parish register, 1816-1834, p. 177 recto, no entry no. (1824), Joseph Adam burial, 29 December 1824; St-Mathieu parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 29 July 2015).

10. St-Nom-de-Marie (Marieville, Quebec), parish register, 1834, p. 61 verso, entry no. S.97, Angélique Bissonet (written as Angélique Bissonet, indexed as Angelique Bissouel Adam) burial, 28 December 1834; St-Nom-de-Marie parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 29 July 2015).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Catherine Carre’s 1861 Burial Record

Catherine Carré burial record (Ancestry.ca)

Catherine Carré is my maternal 4x great-grandmother. One of sixteen children of François Carré by his wife Marie Louise Martin dite Ladouceur, Catherine was born on 5 December 1795 in Ste-Rose, a village that is now part of Laval, just north of Montreal. [1]

On 12 February 1816, Catherine married Pierre Sigouin, a local man, in their town’s parish church, Ste-Rose-de-Lima. [2] She was twenty years old, while he was nearly twenty-nine. The couple had twelve children, including Archange (1823-1885), my ancestor.

Catherine died on 2 October 1861 in Ripon, Papineau County. Two days later, she was buried in nearby St-André-Avellin. [3]

The burial record (above) reads in French:

“Le quatre octobre mil huit cent soixante et / un nous curé soussigné avons inhumé dans [le] cimetière de cette paroisse le corps de Catherine / décédée à Ripon le deux du courant à l’âge de / soixante et onze ans environ étaient presents Eloi / Champagne et Moïse Chartrand cultivateurs qui ont / déclaré ne savoir signer.”

In English:

“The four October 1861 / we the undersigned priest have interred in the cemetery of this parish the body of Catherine / died in Ripon the second of the current [month] at the age of seventy-one approximately were present Eloi / Champagne and Moïse Chartrand farmers who / declared they could not sign [their names].”

Although Catherine is not described as Pierre’s wife or widow at her burial, I believe that this is her record.

Sources:

1. Ste-Rose-de-Lima (Ste-Rose [Laval], Quebec), parish register, 1785-1799, p. 16 verso, no entry no. (1795), Catherine Carré (written as Catherine Carré, indexed as Catherine Carre) baptism, 5 December 1795; Ste-Rose-de-Lima parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 November 2014).

2. Ste-Rose-de-Lima (Ste-Rose [Laval], Quebec), parish register, 1814-1818, p. 13 recto, entry no. M.2 (1816), Pierre Sigouin – Catherine Carré (written as Pierre Sigouin – Catherine Carré, indexed as Pierre Sigouin – Catherine Carre) marriage, 12 February 1816; Ste-Rose-de-Lima parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 November 2014).

3. St-André-Avellin (St-André-Avellin, Quebec), parish register, 1861, p. 81 recto, entry no. S.19, Catherine Carée (written as Catherine Carée, indexed as Catherine Carce) burial, 4 October 1861; St-André-Avellin parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 November 2014).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Birth of François Desgroseilliers in 1804

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the anniversary of the birth of my maternal 4x great-grandfather, François Desgroseilliers (See François Desgroseilliers’ 1783 Baptism Record.) Today I’m writing about the 211th anniversary of the birth of his eldest son François.

François fils is my maternal 3x great-grandfather. He was born on 22 September 1804 and baptised that day in St-Joachim parish church in Châteauguay, Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec). [1]

François Desgroseilliers’ baptism record (FamilySearch.org)

His baptism record, seen above, reads:

“Le vingt deu[x]ieme de Septembre l’an mil huit cent quatre par / nous a été baptisé françois né de ce jour du legitime Marriage / de françois degrossellier laboureur et de Louïse roi. le parrain / ambroise degrossellier et la marraine Catherine merlot qui / n’ont Su Signer de ce requis.”

In English:

“The twenty second of September of [1804] by / us was baptised françois born of this day of the legitimate marriage / of françois degrossellier laborer and of Louïse roi. the godfather / ambroise degrossellier and the godmother Catherine merlot / [no one] knew how to sign [their names] [as requested].”

François had five brothers (Joseph, Michel, Charles, Jean-Baptiste, Jean-Baptiste, and Gabriel) and four sisters (Marie, Louise, Marie, and Sophie). When he was 23 years old, François married Elisabeth (Isabelle) Lemieux in January 1828. They had eleven children, born between 1829 and 1852, before François died in August 1853.

Source:

1. St-Joachim (Châteauguay, Quebec), parish register, 1797-1818, p. 150 recto, entry no. 108, François Degrossellier [sic] baptism, 22 September 1804; St-Joachim parish; digital image, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 September 2015). To access these browsable-only images, follow this path from the FamilySearch homepage: Search > Records > Canada > Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979 > [Browse] > Châteauguay > Saint-Joachim-de-Châteauguay > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1797-1818 > image 175 of 659.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: A Desgroseilliers Cousin’s Wedding

This early 1970s photo of my mother Jacqueline shows her and her sisters at their cousin’s wedding. Mom thinks it might be Nicole Desgroseilliers, who married in September 1974. If she’s correct, then Nicole is the youngest child of Joseph Desgroseilliers, who passed away suddenly when she was three weeks old. (Joseph was the youngest sibling of Mom’s father, Eugène.)

From left to right are Normande, Jacqueline, Simone, the bride, Mariette, Madeleine, and Jeanne d’arc. It was rare for Mom and her sisters to be all gathered in one place as adults, so it's wonderful that the photo not only celebrates Nicole’s wedding, but also records that the six Desgroseilliers sisters were at the event.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Peter F. Plotnikoff

Peter F. Plotnikoff obituary (1998)

Peter Fred Plotnikoff passed away on 5 September 1998 in Grand Forks, British Columbia. I never asked Pop about this particular obituary, but I suspect that he saved it, because he and Peter were friends going back to their days when they picked fruit in the Okanagan orchards of BC in the 1940s. My husband Michael remembers working with a man named Pete Plotnikoff at the Grand Forks’ division of Pope & Talbot, a lumber company, in the 1970s, so that’s probably another connection.

The text appears to have continued in the next column, so Bill wrote the remaining few words at the end of the obituary. (I recognize his handwriting.)

Source:

“Peter Fred Plotnikoff”, obituary, undated clipping, from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2015. Yvonne received an assortment of family memorabilia (including Peter’s obituary) in January 2012 from her father-in-law William (Bill) Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sentimental Sunday: Remembering Eugene

Today is the 115th anniversary of the birth of my maternal grandfather, Eugène Desgroseilliers. The eldest child of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers, he was born in St. Charles, a village south of Sudbury, Ontario on 30 August 1900.

I don’t have a picture of my Pépère and I, so I chose one of him with some of his daughters. From left to right are Jeanne d’arc, Jacqueline (my Mom), Eugène, and Madeleine. The photo was taken in Blue Water, outside of Sarnia, Ontario, in the summer of 1959.

I don’t have memories of my grandfather, because he died when I was two years old. Mom used to tell me how, when we’d visit him, he rock me on his knee and call me his “p’tite poule noire” (little black chicken), because of my dark hair and eyes.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: Eugene and Juliette

Eugene and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers on their wedding day – 90 years ago – on 18 August 1925 in Moonbeam, Ontario, Canada. This photo might be the only extant picture of that occasion.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors 2015: #33 – Philorome Desgroseilliers, asylum patient

I’m participating in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition” by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story too Small.

For the 33rd week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (Defective, Dependent, & Delinquent) to feature a distant cousin of mine, Philorome Desgroseilliers.

The terms defective, dependent, and delinquent are classifications found on a special schedule of the 1880 U.S. census. They refer to people who were blind, prisoners, insane, and such. (For more information, see Amy’s post, Do You Have a Defective Ancestor?)

I don’t think there was an equivalent special schedule on Canadian censuses, but similar terms appear on our censuses.

Philorome was born on 25 August 1873 in the province of Quebec. [1] Son of Michel and Odile (Marchand) Desgroseilliers, he had at least seven brothers and seven sisters. Philorome and my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers (who I don’t believe knew each other) were second cousins.

On the 1881, 1891, and 1901 censuses, Philorome is enumerated with his parents and siblings. On the first census, he is 8 years old and does not attend school, unlike his 11-year-old sister Mélina. [2] On the second census, on which he is 18 years old, he does not have an occupation, but can read and write. [3] On the third census, he is 27 years old, unmarried, works as a day labourer, and can read and write. [4]

I noticed that no infirmities are reported for Philorome on these three censuses; he was not “Deaf and Dumb”, “Blind”, or “Unsound of Mind”. However, something happened between 1901 and 1904, because on 30 June 1904, he entered or was admitted to St-Jean de Dieu, a large psychiatric care hospital, in Longue-Pointe, in east Montreal. [5] He was almost 31 years old.

St-Jean de Dieu in 1875

The hospital, known in English as St-Jean de Dieu Lunatic Asylum, was founded in 1873 under the care of the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence. (The hospital was renamed Hôpital Louis-Hippolyte-Lafontaine in 1976.)

Philorome appears as a patient of St-Jean de Dieu on the 1911 and 1921 censuses. On the first census, he is 38 years old, single, and has no occupation. [6] On the second census, he is 48 years old, single, speaks French, but not English, can read and write, and his occupation is “journalier” (day labourer). [7]

I lose track of Philorome after the 1921 census. I don’t know when or where he died.

Sources:

Image source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal. Asile Saint-jean-de-Dieu, 1875. VM006, S10.

1. 1901 Census of Canada, Beauharnois, Beauharnois, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict A-3, p. 10, family 98, Philor[ome] Desgroselliers (written as Philor[ome] Desgroselliers, indexed as Philomin Dosporelliae); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 18 August 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1901, no microfilm no. cited.

2. 1881 Census of Canada, St Louis de Gonzague, Beauharnois, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict E, p. 15, family 65, Philorum Desgroseillers [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 18 August 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1881, microfilm C-13207.

3. 1891 Census of Canada, St Louis de Gonzague, Beauharnois, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict 139, p. 7, family 31, Philorome Desgrosellier (written as Philorome Desgrosellier, indexed as Fhilorowe Desgroseiller); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 18 August 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1891, microfilm T-6387.

4. 1901 Census of Canada, Beauharnois, Beauharnois, Quebec, pop. sch., subd. A-3, p. 10, fam. 98, Philor[ome] Desgroselliers.

5. 1911 Census of Canada, Longue Pointe, Laval, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict 22, p. 25, Philoriom Desgrosseilliers (written as Philoriom Desgrosseilliers, indexed as Phelorum Desgrossulliers); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 18 August 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada, 1911, no microfilm no. cited. The enumerator did not record anyone’s date of birth (month and year) in columns 8 and 9. Also, the date on which a patient was admitted is entered in columns 11 and 12 (year of birth and year of immigration).

6. 1911 Census of Canada, Longue Pointe, Laval, Quebec, pop. sch., subd. 22, p. 25, Philoriom Desgrosseilliers.

7. 1921 Census of Canada, Mercier and Maisonneuve Ward, Montreal (Maisonneuve), Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict 16, p. 15 Philor[ome] Desgroseilliers (written as Philor[ome] Desgroseilliers, indexed as Philomon Desgroseilliers); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://ancestry.ca : accessed 18 August 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921, no microfilm no. cited.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.