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.

Military Monday: Ovide Desgroseilliers, WWI Sergeant

I read today in Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections that more World War I service files have been uploaded at Library and Archives Canada, so I decided to see if some of my distant Desgroseilliers relatives’ files were among them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ovide’s file was finally online. He was the youngest brother of my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers (1879-1957).

After a quick read, here are some highlights of my great-great-uncle Ovide’s file (34 images):

Name: Ovide Desgrosseilliers (index) / Ovide Desgrossiellier (his signature).

Birth date and place: 26 April 1884 Embrun, Ontario, Canada.

Height: 5’ 7”.

Marital status: Wife (Anna Maurice) and two young children (Carmel and Guy).

Enlistment date and place: 3 April 1916 Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, Canada.

Previous military service: 3 years, 97th Regiment.

Rank: Promoted from Private to Sergeant on 1 May 1916.

Battalion: 163rd Battalion (F.C.) C.E.F.

Theatre of war: Arrived in Bermuda on 29 May 1916. He remained there until his discharge a few months later, and was never sent to the Western Front (France).

Discharge: He was deemed “medically unfit for further service” and discharged on 22 November 1916 (presumably due to a condition known as orchitis).

For more information about Canadian WWI service files, read the introductory articles and then search the soldiers' database. Note that the digitisation of these files is an-ongoing project. LAC states on its website that: “As of today, 181,338 of 640,000 files are available in the database. Latest box digitized—box: #2490, name: Devos.”

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Clement Potvin

“Uncle Clem” was my father’s maternal uncle. He married Cecilia (Celia) Vanasse, an elder sister of Dad’s mother Julie, in June 1921.

A man of slight build, Clem was a quiet person. I remember my family's visits to Ottawa in the 1970s and how we'd always find him happy. Uncle Clem didn’t say much, but he always had a smile on his face.

He died on 20 August 1987, age 92, less than a year after Celia passed away. They are interred in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa.

Source:

“Clement Potvin”, obituary, undated clipping (1987), from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2014. Yvonne received the original clipping from her Aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors 2015: #32 – Pierre Janvry dit Belair, Father of 25 Children

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

For the 32nd week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (32) to write about one of my 32 3rd great-grandparents, Pierre Janvry dit Belair (1772-1848).

Pierre, my paternal great-great-grandfather and #32 in my ancestor list, had twenty-five children:

• fourteen (10 sons and 4 daughters) with first wife Marguerite Campeau (1773-1817) 
• eleven (7 sons and 4 daughters) with second wife Scholastique St-Michel (1797-1864).

The sixth and youngest child of François Janvry dit Belair and his wife Marie Elisabeth Martel, Pierre was born on 2 March 1772 in Ste-Geneviève (now Pierrefonds, Quebec). [1] Interestingly, he had an older brother named Pierre (1766-1860) who also married twice. [2] (I plan on writing a blog post about the elder Pierre one day.)

My ancestor, the younger Pierre, married Marguerite Campeau on 12 August 1793 in Ste-Geneviève. [3] The couple had fourteen children between April 1794 and September 1814. Five survived to adulthood, but only three married, while two died as young adults. A sixth child (Jean-Baptiste born in 1804) presumably died as an infant.

After Marguerite’s death in September 1817, Pierre married Scholastique on 27 September 1818 in Ste-Geneviève. [4] Their eleven children were born between May 1819 and July 1840. There was a 46 year gap between the birth of eldest sibling Pierre in 1794 and the birth of the youngest sibling Denis in 1840.

I’ve prepared a couple of charts to show Pierre’s children by each wife. Blank cells indicate that I haven’t found the information in question, while shaded cells indicate information that does not apply. Locations in italics indicate place of baptism or burial when place of birth or death is unknown or unspecified. Unless stated otherwise, all locations are in the province Quebec.

Sources:

1. Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1756-1775, no page no., no entry no. (1772), Pierre Janvri [sic] baptism, 2 March 1772; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 March 2008).

2. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 17 January 2009), Francois Janvry Belair – Marie Elisabeth Martel Lamontagne, Famille no. 37356.

3. “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 14 February 2015), Pierre Janvry Belair, Individu no. 234999. Also, Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1787-1795, p. 8 verso, no entry no. (1798), Pierre Dejanvry – Marguerite Campau [sic] marriage, 12 August 1793; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 August 2015).

4. Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1812-1825, p. 127 verso, no entry no. (1818), Pierre Janvry – Scholastique St-Michel (written as Pierre Janvry – Scholastique St-Michel, indexed as Pierre Jarry – Scholastique Michel) marriage, 27 September 1818; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 August 2015).

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Desgroseilliers Visitors

Lucille and Ovila Desgroseilliers

Mom’s relatives Ovila and Lucille (Potvin) Desgroseilliers and Florence (Renaud) (Desgroseilliers) Labelle visited our home in Hope, British Columbia in the summer of 1990. Ovila was a younger brother of Mom’s father Eugène Desgroseilliers, while Florence was the widow of Eugène’s youngest brother Joseph.

Florence Labelle

They spent two days with us before they went on to visit Florence’s son Albert in Vancouver.

The pictures were taken in our living room on 4 August 1990.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Belair – Murphy

On a summer’s day sixty-three years ago, my uncle Ray married Emily Murphy. Their marriage took place on 8 August 1952 at the Anglican church in Chilliwack, British Columbia.

Ray was the younger son of my grandparents Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair, while Emily was a daughter of William and Emily (Grisenthwaite) Murphy. Emily was born and raised in B.C., but Ray was originally from Ontario, although born in Montreal. My uncle came west in the early 1950s and settled near the village (now town) of Hope, about two hours east of Vancouver.

I don’t have a picture of Ray and Emily’s wedding, but the above photo is part of a series of the earliest photos of them as a couple in my parents’ old albums. Ray and Emily are on the right and pose with his parents. The picture was taken in December 1957 when they visited his parents Fred and Julie at their home in Timmins, Ontario.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors 2015: #31 – Wasyl Cazakoff, From Russia to Canada

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

For the 31st week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (Easy) to write about my husband’s maternal great-grandfather, Wasyl W. Cazakoff.

Wasyl W. Cazakoff

As my husband’s ancestors go, Wasyl has been pretty easy to research, even though I don’t have all the documentary evidence I’d like for him. Wasyl, like others who belonged to the Doukhobor pacifist sect, avoided “bureaucratic intervention in their lives by refusing to register births, deaths, marriages, and in particular, by steadfastly opposing military service”. [1] For this reason, a certain amount of potential records don’t exist.

Despite a lack of records, I know the following information about Wasyl:

• Name: Wasyl (aka Wasilii) W. Cazakoff.

• Parents: Wasyl A. Cazakoff and Anastasia Horkoff. [2]

• Birth: 25 April 1848 in the village of Orlovka in the Akhalkalaki district of Tiflis province in southern Russian Empire. [3] Orlovka is now in the republic of Georgia.

• Spouse: Married Fedosia N. Savinkoff in 1875. [4] (I wrote about her in 52 Ancestors 2015: #5 Fedosia Savinkoff, possibly a plough woman.)

• Children: Mikhail (Michael), Gregorii (George), Nicholai (Nicholas), and Pologea (Polly), born in Orlovka between 1877 and 1891.

• Immigration: Wasyl and his family, along with other Doukhobors, sailed on the chartered Canadian freighter S.S. Lake Huron from Batum, a port on the Black Sea, on 22 December 1898. [5] They arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada at noon on 20 January 1899. [6] Most of the passenger list for the Lake Huron is missing or lost. An incomplete list exists, but unfortunately, there is no one on it by the name of Cazakoff. [7] Family tradition, however, maintains that the Cazakoff family sailed on this ship.

Lake Huron

• Residence: Upon arrival, in temporary accommodations in Brandon, Manitoba until the spring thaw. Later, in various Doukhobor-established villages like Petrovka, Simeonovka, and Vera in the future province of Saskatchewan. Eventually, Wasyl left his farm to live with younger son George when he acquired a homestead near Nadezhda, northwest of Kamsack. [8]

• Occupation: Communal farmer for the first few years after his arrival, then an independent farmer. [9]

• Death: 15 November 1926 at the home of his son George. Although no marker exists, Wasyl is buried in Nadezhda Cemetery, near Veregin, Saskatchewan. [10]

Sources:

1. “Folk Furniture of Canada’s Doukhobors”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Antiques.html : accessed 2 August 2015). Once established in Canada, Wasyl, like many of his fellow Doukhobors, relaxed his objection to some governmental authority. For example, he was enumerated on federal and territorial censuses beginning in 1901.

2. St. Philips/Pelly History Book Committee, History Coming Alive: R.M. of St. Philips, Pelly and District, 2 vols. (Regina, Saskatchewan: FOCUS Publishing, 1988), I, 382.

3. Family tradition and History Coming Alive, I, 382. Alternate dates of birth for Wasyl are about 1846 or about 1849, based on his age on Canadian censuses.

4. History Coming Alive, I, 382.

5. Steve Lapshinoff & Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928 (Crescent Valley: self-published, 2001), 2. Photo of S/S Lake Huron (built 1881), digital image, Norway – Heritage (http://www.norwayheritage.com : accessed 18 January 2014).

6. “Doukhobors at Halifax”, The Globe, 21 January 1899, p. 13, cols. 6-7; digital images, The Globe and Mail (http://heritage.theglobeandmail.com : accessed 10 April 2009).

7. Lapshinoff, Doukhobor Ship Passenger Lists 1898-1928, 2.

8. History Coming Alive, I, 383.

9. History Coming Alive, I, 383. Also, Jonathan J. Kalmakoff, 1918 Census of Independent Doukhobors: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia (Regina: Jonathan J. Kalmakoff, 2002), 66.

10. History Coming Alive, Vol. 1, p. 383. Also, “Nadezhda Cemetery – Veregin District, Saskatchewan”, database, Doukhobor Genealogy Website (http://www.doukhobor.org/Cemetery-Nadezhda.htm : accessed 5 April 2009), entry for Wasilii Cazakoff.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.