For which ancestral photograph are you most grateful? Who is in the photo and how did you acquire it? Why does the photo hold a special place in your heart?
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| Pierre Belair (1851-1941) |
I am most grateful for this ancestral photo of my great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair.
Pierre was the eldest child of Paul and Angélique (Lalonde) Janvry dit Belair. He was born in December 1851 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County, Quebec. He lived to a great age, married three times, and had 15 children. Pierre died in May 1941 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham.
The photo (which is a copy) was sent to me over twenty years ago by my Dad’s cousin Suzanne. My parents and I visited her and her mother (my father’s aunt Almina) in the summer of 1986. After our vacation, Suzanne and I corresponded and she sent me family information and photos.
Pierre’s photo holds a special place in my heart, because it’s the oldest image I have of my patrilineal Belair ancestors and it’s (possibly) the earliest known image of Pierre. (I don’t know when or where the photo was taken, but it appears to be a studio portrait done in the 1870s when Pierre was in his early 20s.)
Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff
