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.