Church Record Sunday: Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers’ 1618 Baptism Record

Nearly 400 hundred years ago, my maternal ancestor Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, was born in Charly-sur-Marne, France.

Médard Chouart's baptism record [1]

I downloaded the record (above) a few years ago, but could only partially decipher the Latin text:

31 […] [die?] […] [x. […] [baptizatur?] [fuii?] Medardus filius Medar / Souar de Mariae Poirier [coningmy?] [C---iraxman?] fui Ant[onius / Chouar maxenna aubry Fllim […]

Basically, the words translate into English as Medar, son of Medar Chouar and Marie Poirier, was baptised on 31 July1618. The godfather was Antoine Chouart, presumably brother to the elder Médard. [2]

The officiating priest of St-Martin, a 12th century church, did not indicate when Médard was born, but it’s reasonable to think that he received the Sacrament the day he was born or the next day.

Few details are known about Médard’s early years due to the “obscurity that covers his youth”. [3]

Sources:

1. Saint-Martin parish (Charly-sur-Marne, France), Registres paroissiaux et d’état civil, Baptêmes 1600-1645, vue: 126/364, poste: 242; baptême, Medardus Souar [sic], 31 juillet 1618; digital image, Archives Départementales de l’Aisne (www.archives.aisne/fr : accessed 8 September 2012).

2. Grace Lee Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness: Médard Chouart, Sieur Des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit Radisson, 1618-1710 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, reprint, 1978), 2.

3. Nute, Caesars of the Wilderness, 5.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Dorothée Brassard, "la bonne femme"

'Good woman' Dorothée, my 9x maternal great-grandmother, and I share the same birthday: July 30. Born in 1656 in Quebec, she was baptized there two days later in Notre-Dame church. [1]

Dorothée Brassard baptism record (Généalogie Québec)

Dorothée’s father Antoine Brassard was a master mason. He was possibly from Normandy, France, while her mother Françoise Méry was possibly from the Perche region of France. They married on 14 January 1637 in Quebec, making them one of the first families in New France. [2]

The tenth and youngest child, Dorothée had six brothers, Alexandre, Antoine, Guillaume, Antoine, Jean-Baptiste, and Louis, and three sisters, Marie-Madeleine, Jeanne, and Marguerite. [3]

The Brassard family lived in Quebec when it was enumerated on the 1666 census, and then in nearby Sillery on the 1667 census. [4] Antoine did well for himself, for on this last census he had twenty-seven arpents of improved land and three farm animals. [5]

“Sillery Church and Cove from the Plains of Abraham”

Dorothée lost her parents when she was a young teenager. Her father Antoine died in 1668 or 1669, while mother Françoise died suddenly at her home in Quebec in July 1671. [6]

Between the deaths of her parents, Dorothée entered into a marriage contract in December 1670 that was later annulled. Her intended, Pierre Ménage, was a carpenter, who was about 8 to 14 years older than she was. Originally from Poitiers, France, Pierre eventually married fille du Roi Anne Leblanc, had children, and died in 1715 in Quebec. [7]

Within a few months of this marriage disappointment, Dorothée entered into another marriage contract, this time with Pierre Richer dit Laflèche, on 5 September 1671 in Quebec. [8] Pierre, originally from the province of Anjou in France, was a Carignan-Salières soldier, who chose to remain in Canada when his regiment returned to France in 1668. [9]

Dorothée was the mother of twelve Richer children born between 1673 and 1700. Two daughters, Etiennette and Christine, died young, but the other children, Catherine, Marie-Thérèse, Pierre, Michel, Jean-Baptiste, Marguerite, Marie-Josèphe, Marie-Thérèse, Antoine, and Marie-Anne, survived and most married. [10] I descend from the eldest surviving child, Catherine (1674-1746).

Pierre died in May 1722 in in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, a seigneurie on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River south of Quebec City, where he and his family had been established since about 1700. [11]

Dorothée survived her husband by sixteen years. She died at her home in Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, presumably in early November, although her burial record doesn’t state the day.

Dorothée Brassard burial record (Généalogie Québec) 

Dorothée was buried there in the parish cemetery on 7 November 1738. Described as “la bonne femme Dorothée Brossard [sic]”, the priest noted that she had received with piety all the Sacraments prior to her death. [12]

Sources:

Image credit: “Sillery Church and Cove from the Plains of Abraham”, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R9266-13 Peter Winkworth Collection of Canadiana.

1. Notre-Dame (Quebec, Quebec), parish register, 1621-1671, p. 35 verso, no entry no. (1656), Dorothée Brassard baptism, 1 August 1656; Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 23 January 2015).

2. Denise Gravel, “Les premières familles de Québec”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 58 (automne 2007): 231-256, specifically p. 232; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

3. René Jetté, Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec des origines à 1730 (Montréal: Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1983), 164 and “Dictionnaire”, database, Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) (http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca : accessed 23 January 2015), Antoine Brassard – Françoise Merry [sic], Famille no. 267.

4. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 164.

5. Roland-J. Auger, “Etat général des habitants du Canada en 1667”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 18 (janvier-avril 1967): 1-116, specifically p. 28; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013).

6. Gravel, “Les premières familles de Québec”, 240.

7. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 793.

8. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

9. Michael H. Ryan, “De Richer à Rishea: Une famille québécoise à Peterborough”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française 61 (hiver 2010): 311-318, specifically 311.

10. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

11. Jetté, Dictionnaire, 984.

12. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Quebec), parish register, 1738-1739, p. 8 recto, no entry no. (1738), Dorothée Brossard [sic] burial, 7 November 1738; parish; digital image, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 23 January 2015). According to her burial record, Dorothée was about 86 years old, but she was actually four years younger.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Angélina Meunier’s 1896 Burial Record

Two years ago, I wrote about my great-grandmother Angélina Meunier; see 52 Ancestors: #7 Angélina Meunier – My great-grandmother. Today, I focus on her burial record on the 120th anniversary of her death.

Angélina died on 26 July 1896, four days after giving birth to her 11th child, a son, who did not survive. Her funeral took place two days later in Sainte-Cécile parish church in Masham (now La Pêche), Quebec.[1]

Angélina Meunier burial record (Ancestry)

Here’s a close-up version:

Angélina Meunier burial record, cropped (Ancestry)

The burial record (above) reads in French:

Le vingt-huit Juillet, mil huit cent quatre vingt-seize, nous / soussigné, Curé de cette paroisse, avons inhumé, dans le cime / tière paroissial, le corps d’Angélina Meunier, décédée / l’avant-veille, en cette paroisse, à l’âge de quarante et / un ans, épouse de Pierre Bélair, cultivateur, de cette parois / se. Étaient presents Pierre Bélair, époux de la Défunte, Jo- / seph Pinsonneault, cultivateur, qui n’ont pas su signer; / plusieurs Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, dont la / Défunte faisait partie, qui ont signé avec nous. Lec / ture faite. [Signatures of twenty-four women belonging to the Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, followed by the officiating priest.]

My English translation:

The twenty-eight July, one thousand one hundred ninety-six, we / undersigned, [parish priest] of this parish, have interred, in the parochial ceme / tery, the body of Angélina Meunier, deceased / the previous day, in this parish, at the age of forty / one years, spouse of Pierre Bélair, farmer, of the pari / sh. Were present Pierre Bélair, spouse of the Deceased, Jo- / seph Pinsonneault, farmer, [neither of] who knew how to sign [their names]; / several Ladies of the Congregation of Ste. Anne, of which the / Deceased belonged, who signed with us. Reading [of this record] done. [Signatures of twenty-four women belonging to the Dames de la Congrégation de Ste. Anne, followed by the officiating priest.]

Source:

1. Ste-Cécile (Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Quebec), parish register, 1887-1898, p. 209 verso, entry no. S.20 (1896), Angélina Meunier burial, 28 July 1896; Ste-Cécile-de-Masham parish; digital images, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2012).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Arthur Desgroseilliers (1901-1923)

Arthur (right) with his brother Eugène and sister Alma, about 1906

My maternal great-uncle Arthur Desgroseilliers was born on 11 July 1901 in St. Charles, Sudbury District, Ontario. [1] The second son of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers, Arthur had thirteen siblings: ten brothers (including my grandfather Eugène) and three sisters.

Arthur Desgroseilliers baptism record (Ancestry)

He was baptised “Ovide-Arthur” on 14 July 1901 by Father G.A. Picotte of St-Thomas Apôtre Church in Warren, Sudbury District, Ontario. [2] I’m not sure if three-day-old Arthur was taken to Warren to be baptised or if Father Picotte travelled to St. Charles to perform the ceremony. It seems more likely that the priest went to St. Charles and then recorded the details in his church’s sacramental register once back in Warren. Arthur’s godparents were Arthur Gervais (husband of his aunt Emma Desgroseilliers) and Euphémie Desgroseilliers (Emma’s younger sister).

The Desgroseilliers family lived in St. Charles from 1900 to about 1917, but spent one or two years (1906-1908) in Cobalt, a mining community northeast of St. Charles, near the Ontario-Quebec border. It was here that Arthur’s little sister Alma died from bronchitis in July 1907. [3] (See her story in Wednesday’s Child: Alma Desgroseilliers (1904-1907).)

In June 1911, Arthur was enumerated on that year’s federal census as a 10-year-old boy in his parents’ household. [4] The family lived on concession 2 in Appleby Township in Nipissing District. His father Albert was a farmer, while Arthur and his brother Eugène were school students. The two boys and their parents could read and write and they all spoke French.

About 1917, Arthur and his family moved north to the village of Moonbeam in Cochrane District. His three youngest brothers, Ovide, Ovila and Joseph, were born there.

When searching for Arthur on the 1921 census, I found him in two locations. First, he and the Desgroseilliers family were enumerated in one household on lot 12, concession 1 in Fauquier Township, except for Arthur, who’s on lot 14, concession 2. He was a farmer. [5] Second, he was enumerated in his own household in Jackson Bay in nearby Kendrey Township. [6] His home, which he rented, was a one-room wood structure. According to the census, Arthur could not read nor write. He earned $600 as a laborer in the past twelve months.

In the early years when I was researching my great-grandparents and their family, I didn’t know when Arthur died. I had the chance to ask his brother Ovila when he visited my parents in August 1990. Great-uncle Ovila told me that Arthur was 18 years old when he died in Kapuskasing of typhoid fever. A few years later, I found a mention of his death in a local history book stating that Arthur died on 10 May 1922. [7]

Arthur Desgroseilliers death registration, top portion (Ancestry)

Arthur Desgroseilliers death registration, bottom portion (Ancestry)

I recently found Arthur’s death registration at Ancestry.ca. It gave his date and place of death as 10 May 1923 in Spruce Falls (Power and Paper) Company Hospital in Kapuskasing, Cochrane District, Ontario. [8] The cause of death was typhoid fever with broncho-pneumonia as a contributory factor. [9] He was ill for at least five days before he succumbed to the disease.

What is typhoid fever? Typhoid fever is an infectious disease that “spreads through contaminated food and water or through close contact with someone who's infected. Signs and symptoms usually include high fever, headache, abdominal pain, and either constipation or diarrhea.” [10]

In early 1923, a typhoid epidemic was raging in northern Ontario, particularly in the town of Cochrane. Arthur might have become ill by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Cochrane’s water was compromised that year when “sewage [… was] drawn into the city’s water system”. [11] Alternatively, Arthur might have come into contact with someone affected with the disease in Cochrane or closer to his home.

In early April 1923, other cases of typhoid appeared in communities northwest of Cochrane like Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing and Hearst in the province of Ontario and east in Amos in the province of Quebec. [12]

The epidemic lasted until the end of May. In all, “over 953 cases [of typhoid fever] from Cochrane and adjoining municipalities with some 84 deaths” were reported. [13] Children and adults, male and female alike, between the ages of 5 and 25 were “particularly affected”. [14]

Arthur was buried on 11 May 1923 in Moonbeam. [15] He was only 21 years old (he would turn 22 that July) and unmarried. His death must have been a great loss for his family.

Sources:

1. St-Thomas Apôtre (Warren, Ontario), parish register, 1901-1967, no page no., entry no. 31 (1901), Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers (written as Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers, indexed as Ovide Arthur Desgroseillers) baptism, 14 July 1901; St-Thomas Apôtre parish; digital images, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 February 2016). Also, “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers (written as Arthur DesGroseilliers, indexed as Arthur Desgroselliers), 10 May 1923; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 999.

2. St-Thomas Apôtre, parish register, 1901-1967, no page no., Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers baptism, 14 July 1901.

3. “Ontario, Canada Deaths, 1869-1932”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 January 2012), entry for Alma Degrossalier [sic], 6 July 1907; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1932; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 131.

4. 1911 census of Canada, Appleby, Hawley [Townships], Nipissing, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district 3, p. 1, dwelling 8, family 8, Albert Deapeniallin (written as Desgros[iallier?], indexed as Deapeniallin) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Census of Canada, 1911, microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

5. 1921 census of Canada, Fauquier Township, Temiskaming, Ontario, population schedule, subdistrict 75, p. 15, dwelling 123, family 123, Albert Desgrosellier (written as Albert Desgrosellier, indexed as Albert Desgroseillier) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31; Statistics Canada Fonds.

6. 1921 census of Canada, Bradhurn, Syders, Haggart, Kendry, Alexandra (Townships), Temiskaming, Ontario, population schedule, subdistrict 73, p. 2, dwelling 123, family 123, Art DesGroseilliers (written as Art DesGroseilliers, indexed as Art Desgroseillers) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31; Statistics Canada Fonds.

7. Lionel Séguin, Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles (Saint-Charles, Ont., 1945: 228); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 18 June 2013).

8. FICHES DE DÉCÈS/SÉPULTURES Kapuskasing DEATH/BURIAL RECORDS 1915 – 2010, database (http://kapuskasingdeathrecords.com/default.htm : accessed 4 February 2016), death entry for Arthur Desgroseilliers, 10 May 1923) and “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923.

9. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923.

10. “Typhoid Fever”, database, Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/typhoid-fever/basics/definition/CON-20028553 : accessed 9 May 2016).

11. “Cochrane Has Now 500 Sick; Epidemic Grows”, The Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Evening Journal, 31 March 1923, p. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 May 2016).

12. “Death List Growing Cochrane Epidemic”, The Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Evening Journal, 4 April 1923, p. 13; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 May 2016).

13. Forty-second Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, Canada for the year 1923 (Toronto: Clarkson W. James, 1924, 280 and 54); digital images, University of Toronto (http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/4/39/ontariodepthealth1923ontauoft/ontariodepthealth1923ontauoft.pdf : accessed 9 May 2016).

14. Forty-second Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, Canada, 34.

15. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923. Also, Moonbeam Cemetery, database and digital images (http://cimetiere.moonbeam.ca/dEn.html : accessed 12 September 2013), entry for Arthur Desgroseillers [sic], Moonbeam, Ontario. However, another source states that Arthur was buried on 11 May 1923 in Immaculée-Conception Cemetery in Kapuskasing. (FICHES DE DÉCÈS/SÉPULTURES Kapuskasing DEATH/BURIAL RECORDS 1915 – 2010, database (http://kapuskasingdeathrecords.com/default.htm : accessed 4 February 2016), death entry for Arthur Desgroseilliers, 10 May 1923.)

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Marie-Antoinette Chouart’s 1731 Burial Record

July 5, 2016 marks the 285th anniversary of the death of my 7x maternal great-grandmother, Marie-Antoinette Chouart.

A daughter of intrepid explorer Médard Chouart, sieur des Groseilliers, Marie-Antoinette was born in June 1661 in Trois-Rivières.

In November 1677, Marie-Antoinette entered into a marriage contract with Jean Jalot, originally from Picardie, France, by whom she had eight children. Jean was killed by the Iroquois in July 1690. Five years later, Marie-Antoinette married Jean-Baptiste Bouchard dit Dorval in Montreal on 19 December 1695. The couple had six children, including son Jean-Baptiste (1698-1755), my ancestor.

Marie-Antoinette Chouart's burial record (Généalogie Québec.com)

Marie-Antoinette died on 5 July 1731. The officiating priest, Cheze, recorded that she died at ten or two o’clock (the handwriting is difficult to read) in the morning. She was buried the next day in Montreal’s Notre-Dame cemetery. [1]

Her burial record (above) reads in French:

Le Sixieme Jour du mois de Juillet de L’annee / mil sept cent trente et un a ete inhumée dans le / cimetière [pres de] l’eglise le corps de marie antoinette / chouar agée de soixante et dix ans veuve de Jean / baptiste bouchart dit dorval, decedee le Jour precedent / vers les dix [deux?] heures du matin. ont ete present [?] Deat prêtre et talbot ecclesiatique qui ont Signé / avec nous[signed Deat / Talbot / Cheze]

My English translation:

The Sixth Day of the month of July of the year / one thousand thirty one was buried in the / cemetery [near the] church the body of marie antoinette / chouar aged seventy years widow of Jean / baptiste bouchart dit dorval, died the previous day / about ten [two?] hours of the morning. were present Deat priest and talbot ecclesiastic who have Signed [their names] with us[signed Deat / Talbot / Cheze]

Source:

1. Notre-Dame (Montreal, Quebec), parish register, 1726-1733, p. 133 recto, no entry no. (1731), Marie Antoinette Chouar [sic] burial, 6 July 1731; Notre-Dame parish; digital images, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 18 December 2014).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.