Sibling Saturday: The Children of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse are my paternal great-grandparents. Olivier was born on 4 February 1863 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec (then known as Canada East). He was the sixth and youngest child of Olivier and Elizabeth (Frappier) Vanasse. Elizabeth was born on 11 September 1862, also in Chapeau. She was the third of thirteen children of Joseph and Marie (Guérard) Vanasse.

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse (ca 1930s)

Olivier and Elizabeth were first cousins, their fathers being brothers. They married in the summer of 1889 and lived in Chapeau, where Olivier farmed. He and Elizabeth had nine children, who all survived to adulthood. Olivier died on 7 December 1944 at home. About 1946, my great-grandmother moved to Ottawa, Ontario to live with her daughter Mary. She died there on 1 September 1947.

Children of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse

1. Mary Vanasse
Mary was born on 1 April 1890 and died, unmarried, on 21 September 1951.

2. George Vanasse
George was born on 13 October 1891. On 15 June 1920, he married Louisa Potvin (1902-1996) in Bourget, Ontario. Louisa was the sister of Clément Potvin, who married George’s sister Celia. George and Louisa had seven children. George died on 22 March 1976 in Ottawa.

3. William (Willie) Vanasse
Willie was born on 23 February 1893 and died on 13 May 1955 in a veterans’ hospital in London, Ontario. He was unmarried. Willie served in World War I.

4. Cecilia (Celia) Vanasse
Celia was born on 6 January 1895. She married on 14 June 1921 in Ottawa Clément (Clem) Potvin (1895-1987). Clem was the brother of Louisa Potvin, who married Celia’s brother George. She and Clem had two children. Celia died on 3 September 1986 in Ottawa.

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse (centre, back) with their children
Mary (centre, left) and Joe (in uniform) and (front, left to right)
Celia, Aggie, and Dave (ca 1939)

5. Julia (Julie) Vanasse
Julie was born on 31 August 1896. She married on 28 October 1926 Fred Belair (1889-1991) in Ottawa. Julie and Fred had six children, including my father Maurice. She died on 19 March 1967 in Timmins, Ontario.

6. Joseph (Joe) Vanasse
Joe was born on 23 January 1898. He married on 19 August 1942 Stella (Shirley) Ranger (1920-2010) in Chapeau. Like his elder brother, Joe served in World War I. He and his wife Stella had two children. Joe died on 23 March 1973 in Ottawa.

7. Corinne (Cora) Vanasse
Cora was born on 20 August 1900. She married Francis (Frank) Milks (1900-1968) on 5 November 1921 In Ottawa. Cora and Frank had five children. She died on 11 April 1977 in Ottawa.

8. David (Dave) Vanasse (Venasse)
Dave was born on 3 May 1903. He married on 12 June 1929 Louise St-Martin (1911-1991) in Chapeau. They didn’t have children of their own, but adopted a boy. Dave died on 28 May 1979 in Pembroke, Ontario.

9. Agnes (Aggie) Vanasse
Aggie was born on 12 September 1905. She married on 2 September 1935 Frederick (Fred; Freddie) Burchill (ca 1907-1989) in Chapeau. Fred was a British home child. He and Aggie had three children. Aggie died on 28 June 2000 in Ottawa.

Celia, Julie, Cora, and Aggie Vanasse (1962)

My grandmother Julie lived a couple of houses from mine when I was a child, so I knew her very well. I never met great-aunt Mary and great-uncle Willie, who passed away before I was born. I don’t believe I ever met George, Joe and Dave, but might have the year my family went to Ottawa on vacation in 1969. When I was a teenager, I visited Celia, Cora, and Aggie on a few occasions at their homes in Ottawa. I loved those visits with my great-aunts, because they were a link to my beloved grandmother after she passed away.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: David Venasse

Great-uncle David was my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair’s youngest brother. Some of the family spelled their last name Vanasse, others spelled it Venasse.

David, the eighth of nine children of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse, was born on 3 May 1903 on Ile des Allumettes, Pontiac County, Quebec. He married Louise St-Martin in June 1929 and they adopted a son, Glen.

I don’t think I ever met David or Louise, but my Dad used to talk about his Uncle Dave to me.

A resident of Pembroke, Ontario, David passed away of cancer on 28 May 1979 in Queensway-Carleton Hospital in nearby Ottawa, Ontario. [1] His funeral took place three days later in Petawawa, just north of Pembroke, and he was interred in Chapeau on Ile des Allumettes. [2]

David’s death was a great blow to his wife Louise and to his surviving sisters Celia and Agnes, who were devoted to their brother.

Sources:

1. Agnes (Vanasse) Burchill (Ottawa, Ontario) to “Dear Joan”, letter, 1 June 1979; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2016. Yvonne received assorted family memorabilia, including this letter, from her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014. Joan was Agnes’ niece.

2. “Venasse”, obituary, undated clipping, 1979, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2016. Yvonne received assorted family memorabilia, including this obituary, from her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014. Joan, David’s niece, received it from his sister Agnes (Vanasse) Burchill in a letter to Joan dated 1 June 1979.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: François and Julia Gagnon and Family

Isn’t this a splendid family photograph? It features François and Julia (Vanasse) Gagnon and their young family in the summer of 1902. They lived in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. My grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair was named for her aunt Julia, who was 30 years old in this picture. [1]

The photo came in a letter that my Aunt Joan received from her cousin Gladys in the late 1990s. Joan then gave it to me when I visited her in May 2014. Gladys was the granddaughter of Julia (1872-1956), who married François (1859-1949) in Chapeau in June 1895.

Left to right: Julia holding Victor (b. 1901), Albertine (b. 1897), François holding Richard (b. 1900), and Mae (b. 1895).

Young Albertine (4½ years old in the picture) would later be my father Maurice’s godmother at his baptism in 1927. I’ve written about her and her sister Cora (not yet born when the photo was taken) in Sibling Saturday: Albertine and Cora Gagnon.

Source:

1. Gagnon family photograph, 1902; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Hope, British Columbia, 2016. Gladys (Holden) Santry sent the photograph of her maternal grandmother and her family in a letter to her second cousin Joan (Belair) Laneville between 1996 and 2002. (Gladys dated and identified the individuals by name and age on the back of the photo.) Joan then gave the letter and photograph to her niece Yvonne when she visited her aunt’s home in May 2014.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Vanasse – Frappier

Today is the 164th anniversary of the marriage of Olivier Vanasse and Elizabeth Frappier, my paternal great-great-grandparents.

Vanasse - Frappier marriage record (Ancestry)

Olivier, second son of Régis and Josephte (Messier) Vanasse, was born in 1832 in Yamaska, Yamaska County, Quebec. His wife Elizabeth is one of three children I’ve identified of Michel and Louise (Neveu) Frappier. She was born about 1832, based on her age at her baptism in 1836, probably on Ile des Allumettes in Pontiac County, Quebec.

Olivier and Elizabeth married on 20 April 1852 in St. Alphonsus church in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. [1] Irish-born Reverend James Christopher Lynch blessed their union. [2] The couple had six children: Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1854-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931), Elizabeth (aka Elmire) (1860-1953), and Olivier (1863-1944), my great-grandfather.

Here’s my transcription of the marriage record (above):

April 20th 1852 after the banns of Marriage / having been twice published at the / prone of Mass in this mission Between / Oliver Venace son of age of Regis Venace / and of [Joseth] Mar[i iere?] on the one part / and Anne Isabelle Frappier minor / daughter of Michael Frappier and of / Louissa Nevaux on the other part and / where as a dispensation of one of the banns / of Marriage have been given by us in vir- / tue of a power accorded to us by his lord- / ship the Right Rev. F. Guigues Bishop of / Bytown no impediment having been / discovered we the undersigned priest / of this mission have Received their mutual / Consent to mariage and have given / them the nuptial benediction at St / Liguoris Allumette Island in the presence / of Joseph [Laganef?] & [La reau?] [La Viven?] who have not signed[Signed Jas C Lynch Priest]

Olivier passed away in November 1914, having survived Elizabeth, who died in July 1909.
 
Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 152 verso, entry no. M.8 (1852), Oliver Venace – Anne Isabelle Frappier (written as Olivier Venace – Anne Isabelle Frappier, indexed as Olivin Verran – Anne Isabelle Frappier) marriage, 20 April 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital images, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2011).

2. Alexis de Barbezieux, Histoire de la province ecclésiastique d'Ottawa et de la colonisation dans la vallée de l'Ottawa (Ottawa, 1897: I: 253 and 399); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 13 March 2014). Father Lynch was appointed curate (assistant priest) of St. Alphonsus in 1845 and then its parish priest in 1846. He spent his entire priestly career there, and died in 1885.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sympathy Saturday: Accidental Death of William Brennan

It’s been 75 years since the accidental death of William Brennan in August 1939, and four years since I first learned about him while researching my grandmother Julie’s relatives.

William John Brennan was a younger son of James Brennan and Olivine Fleury. He was born on 4 January 1892 at Trout Lake, and baptized one month later in Sheenboro, Pontiac County, Quebec. [1]

William suffered a double tragedy when he was less than two years old: his parents died within months of each other in late 1893. He and his infant sister Rose Mary went to live with their maternal grandparents, while their elder brother went to live with a maternal uncle.

In April 1914, William married Mary (Minnie) Vanasse in Chapeau, Pontiac County, not long after his sister Rose Mary married Minnie’s brother Francis Guy Vanasse there in September 1912. [2]

Francis Guy and Minnie were first cousins of my paternal grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair, who was a bit younger than they were.

William and Minnie had seven children: one son and six daughters, of whom four survived. A year after the birth of their fourth child, the Brennan family moved from rural Chapeau to the mining town of Cobalt, Timiskaming District, Ontario in 1922. [3]

Grand View Avenue, Cobalt. [Ont.] (1924)

One summer’s night in 1939, William was walking on a highway when he was struck by a “half ton panel truck owned by Pardon’s Service Station” on “the main road not far from the O’Brien Mill at Mileage 104”, a few miles north of Cobalt. [4] The accident occurred about 9:15 p.m. on Saturday, 19 August, 1939. William was taken to Cobalt Municipal Hospital, but did not regain consciousness. He died at 1:35 p.m. the following day. [5]

Unfortunately, it appears that William was under the influence of alchohol at the time of the accident. A witness “had seen Brennan ‘staggering’ about the middle of the road going toward Cobalt” and the attending doctor at the hospital attested that “there was ‘a strong odor’ of liquor on [Brennan’s] breath”. [6]

Later, a coroner’s inquiry “held the circumstances to have been accidental, ‘with no blame attached to the driver of the truck’ […]”. [7]

William’s funeral took place on 23 August 1939 at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. He is interred in Ste. Therese Cemetery, Cobalt. [8]

Photo credit: John Boyd / Library and Archives Canada /

Sources:

1. St. Paul the Hermit [St. Bridget] (Sheenboro, Quebec), parish register, 1873-1893, p. 335 (printed), entry no. B.3 (1892), William John Brennan baptism, 1 February 1892; St-Paul the Hermit [St. Bridget] parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 September 2010). William’s parents were residents of Sheen[boro] township at his baptism, suggesting that he was born there. Alternatively, William was born in “Trout Lake, Quebec”, according to the 1925 death registration of his daughter on which his wife Mary (Minnie) was the informant. (“Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1936 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : 15 September 2010), entry for Bernadette Brennan, 13 October 1925.)

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1914, p. 6 recto, entry no. M.3, William John Brennan – Minnie Venasse [sic] marriage, 20 April 1914; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 September 2010).

3. “Mrs. Brennan 90 years old and still going strong”, Temiskaming Speaker, 21 March 1979, p. 12a, col. 3; digital images, World Vital Records (http://wvr.paperofrecord.com : accessed 12 September 2010), Newspapers and Periodicals.

4. “Jury Exonerates Driver In Saturday Accident”, Temiskaming Speaker, 24 August 1939, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, World Vital Records (http://wvr.paperofrecord.com : accessed 12 September 2010), Newspapers and Periodicals.

5. “Jury Exonerates Driver In Saturday Accident”, Temiskaming Speaker, 24 August 1939.

6. “Jury Exonerates Driver In Saturday Accident”, Temiskaming Speaker, 24 August 1939.

7. “Jury Exonerates Driver In Saturday Accident”, Temiskaming Speaker, 24 August 1939.

8. “Jury Exonerates Driver In Saturday Accident”, Temiskaming Speaker, 24 August 1939. Also, Find A Grave, digital image (http://findagrave.com : accessed 15 August 2014), photograph, gravestone for William John Brennan (1892-1939), Find A Grave Memorial no. 72899549, Sainte Therese Cemetery, O'Brien, Timiskaming District, Ontario.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #30 Marie Guérard, baptized "sous condition"

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 30th week of this challenge, I chose Marie Guérard (1840-1917).

Marie is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 23 in my ancestor list.

According to her baptism record in February 1841, Marie was born in “le mois de décembre dernier” (the month of December last). [1]

She was baptized “sous condition” (on condition) in the mission of St-Alphonsus of Liguori in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. The phrase “sous condition” in a baptism record means that a child is baptized on the condition that he or she hasn’t already been baptized. This scenario occurs, for example, when a newborn is in danger of not surviving and is “ondoyé” (provisionally baptized) by someone present at the birth, for example the midwife, before the child can receive the sacrament of baptism by a priest. If the child survives, he or she is brought to the parish church to be baptized by the priest, who then adds “sous condition” to the child’s record. [2]

Marie was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Guérard and Euphrosine Laronde. Her father was originally from eastern Quebec, while her mother was a Métis from Ile aux Allumettes, where Chapeau is located. (I’ve written about Euphrosine’s Métis background in Euphrosine Laronde, My Metis Ancestor.)

The next time Marie appears in sacramental records is at her marriage to Joseph Vanasse on 10 January 1859 in St-Alphonsus church in Chapeau. [3]

Marie and Joseph had 13 children, seven sons and six daughters, including Elizabeth, my ancestor.

Marie died on 15 November 1917 in Chapeau. She was buried there two days later in the parish cemetery. [4] Her son Regis (aka Richard) Vanasse and her son-in-law Olivier Vanasse were present.

Sources:

1. St-Paul (Aylmer, Quebec), parish register, 1841-1851, p. 14 verso, no entry no., Marie Guérard baptism, 4 February 1841; St-Paul parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 June 2010).

2. Can. 869 §1 states: “If there is doubt as to whether a person was baptised or whether a baptism was conferred validly […] the person is to be baptised conditionally [“sous condition”]. The Code of Canon Law In English translation, The Canon Law Society Trust, London: Collins Liturgical Publications, 1983, 160.

3. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 3 recto, entry no. M2, Joseph Venance – Mary Siard [Guerard] marriage, 10 January 1859; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

4. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1917, p. 15 verso, entry no. S19, Moïse Girard [sic] burial, 17 November 1917; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #29 Joseph Vanasse - From Yamaska County to Pontiac County

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 29th week of this challenge, I chose Joseph Vanasse (1838-1897).

Joseph is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 22 in my ancestor list.

He is the younger brother of Olivier Vanasse (1832-1914), whose story I wrote for 52 Ancestors two weeks ago; you can read it here.

Joseph was born possibly in the parish of St-Michel in the town of Yamaska on 17 October 1838. I say possibly because his parents were residents of that parish when he was baptized in the parish of St-David in the nearby town of St-David. [1]

I don’t know when the Vanasse brothers left their home county of Yamaska or what motivated them to seek their fortune elsewhere in the province. Olivier was presumably the first to arrive in Pontiac County, because he married there in April 1852; he was 20 years old. I wonder if Joseph, who was only 13 years old, was with him. The earliest I can place Joseph in Pontiac is on 31 October 1857. That’s when he was present at the baptism of his godchild and nephew John Vanasse in Chapeau. [2]

When I record information about Joseph in Word documents or in my genealogy software program or in my family trees at Ancestry.ca, I standardize his surname as Vanasse. I rarely find his name spelled that way, though, so I add a note to explain the variant. For example, his surname was Vanasse in his baptism and his burial records, Venance in his marriage record and on the 1861 and 1871 censuses of Canada, Venasse in the baptism record of his godson in 1857, on the 1881 census of Canada and on his tombstone, and Venace on the 1891 census of Canada.

On 10 January 1859, Joseph married Marie Guérard in the little parish church of St-Alphonsus of Liguori in Chapeau. [3]

Joseph and Marie were blessed with thirteen children between 1859 and 1883: Dalmatius (aka Delmar, Delmond), Regis (aka Richard), Elizabeth (my ancestor, who married her first cousin Olivier Vanasse), Lucy, Pierre, Isidore, Alexander, Mary Julia, Josephine, Maria Jane, Delina (aka Delia), David, and Joseph.

The family lived in a one-story log house on a property that Joseph farmed in Chapeau on Ile des Allumettes. This island is situated in the Ottawa River on the Quebec side, across from the town of Pembroke in Renfrew County, Ontario.

Joseph died on 29 September 1897 in Chapeau. [4] He was survived by his wife Marie and all their children. Sons Isidore and Alexander were present at his funeral the next day at St-Alphonsus church, although they declared they could not sign their names in the sacramental register.

Sources:

1. St-David (St-David, Quebec), parish register, 1838, p. 17 verso, entry no. B63, Joseph Vanasse baptism, 18 October 1838; St-David parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 15 June 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 232 verso, entry no. B59, John Venasse baptism, 31 October 1857; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 17 July 2010).

3. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 3 recto, entry no. M2, Joseph Venance – Mary Siard [Guerard] marriage, 10 January 1859; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

4. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1895, p. 22 recto, entry no. S32, Joseph Vanasse burial, 30 September 1897; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #28 Elisabeth Frappier

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 28th week of this challenge, I chose Elisabeth Frappier (ca 1832-1909).

Elisabeth is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 21 in my ancestor list.

Her date and location of birth are unknown. She was baptised on 1 February 1836 as "Nancy Frappier", daughter of Michel Frappier and Lizette Neveu. [1]

Elisabeth was 4 years old in 1836, which means she was born about 1832. Her baptism took place during an expedition to Fort Coulonge and nearby communities by a missionary priest surnamed Brunet. This wilderness area didn't have a church or even a chapel where ecclesiastical records could be kept. Elisabeth’s baptism record (including those of the other baptisms that took place during this mission) was accordingly sent to Notre-Dame parish in Ottawa.

If you examine Notre-Dame's "index des baptêmes" (index of baptisms) for this time frame, you might conclude that Elisabeth's baptism took place in Ottawa. However, a careful reading of her baptism record reveals that it took place in or near Fort Coulonge, Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec) during the late winter of 1836. Fort Coulonge, located a little to the northeast of Ottawa, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post from 1827 to 1853.

In April 1852, Elisabeth, as “Anne Isabelle Frappier”, married Olivier Vanasse. [2] I wrote about him last week here. The couple had six children: Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1856-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931), Elizabeth (1860-1953) and Olivier (1863-1944), my great-grandfather.

Elisabeth died on 9 July 1900 in Chichester, Pontiac County, Quebec. In her burial record, she is referred to as “Nancie Frappier” [3], but on her tombstone she is “Elizabeth Vanasse”. [4]

Sources:

1. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, no p. no., entry no. B3 (1836), Nancy Frappier baptism, 1 February 1836; Basilique Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 May 2011).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 152 verso, no entry no. (1852), Oliver Vinace – Anne Isabelle Frappier [sic] marriage, 20 April 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2011).

3. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1909, no p. no., entry no. S22, Nancie Frappier burial, 11 July 1909; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 27 June 2014).

4. St. Alphonse de Ligouri RC Cemetery, digital images, The Canadian Gravemarker Gallery (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cangmg/quebec/pontiac/allumett/stalplig/index.htm : accessed 10 July 2014), photograph, grave marker of Elizabeth Vanasse, Chapeau, Quebec.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #27 Olivier Vanasse and the shaky leaf hint

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

I’m back to focusing on more recent ancestors, and so, for the 27th week of this challenge I chose Olivier Vanasse (1832-1914).

Olivier is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 20 in my ancestor list.

Born on 18 February 1832 in the parish of St-Michel of Yamaska, Yamaska County, Quebec, Olivier was the second of the twelve children of Régis Vanasse and his wife Josephte Messier. [1]

On 20 April 1852, Olivier married Anne Isabelle (aka Elisabeth) Frappier in Chapeau, in present-day Pontiac County, Quebec. [2] Thinking I’d find him on the 1851 census, which occurred in January 1852, I was disappointed that I didn’t locate Olivier despite a page-by-page search for the Township of Chichester. [3] I couldn’t search in Chapeau itself, because it didn’t exist as a sub-district at this time. The other possibility was that Olivier lived in sub-district Allumettes (Chapeau and Chichester are located on Ile aux Allumettes in Pontiac County), but unfortunately those census records have not survived. Last, I couldn’t verify if Olivier still lived at home in Yamaska with his parents, because the returns for that sub-district are also lost or missing. [4]

One day while I was updating my ancestral tree at Ancestry.ca, I noticed there was an “Historical Records” shaky leaf hint for Olivier. The hint was for an Olivier Viens on the 1851 census. I checked out the image (I never just look at the summary) and found a 20-year-old Olivier Viens in the household of Emmanuel Viens. [5] Exact familial relationships aren’t stated, but there are columns for family members and columns for those who aren’t. Olivier’s entry indicates that he is a “membre de la famille” (member of the family).

Could this Olivier Viens be my ancestor Olivier Vanasse?

Although I’ve only done a quick bit of searching, I don’t think he is.

For example, I found Olivier Viens' baptism record. It shows that he is the son of Emmanuel Vient [sic] by his wife Josephte L’homme, and that he was born and baptised on 9 November 1832 in St-Jean-Baptiste, Rouville County, Quebec. [6].

I then located Olivier Viens’ marriage record in which he married Marie Célina Beaudriau on 25 January 1859 in St-Mathias, Rouville County, Quebec. The record states that he is single and the of age son of Emmanuel Vient [sic] and Marie L’Homme dite Artois. [7]

Some hints from Ancestry.ca work out, but in this case, it didn’t. Olivier Viens, as seen on the 1851 census, is not Olivier Vanasse.

Sources:

1. St-Michel (Yamaska, Quebec), parish register, 1832, p. 11 verso, no entry no., Jean Olivier Vanas [sic] baptism, 18 February 1832; St-Michel parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 15 June 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 152 verso, no entry no., Oliver Vinace – Anne Isabelle Frappier [sic] marriage, 20 April 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2011). Note that Olivier is indexed as Olivin Verran.

3. Dave Obee, Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census (Victoria, BC: Dave Obee, 2012), 88. The 1851 census of the Canadas (East and West), now the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, was taken “on the second Monday of January 1852”.

4. Censuses, database, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1851/Pages/about-census.aspx : accessed 26 June 2014), “Census of 1851: 1851 Census Districts and Sub-districts: Canada East”.

5. 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, St Jean Baptiste, Rouville, Canada East (Quebec), population schedule A, p. 31 (stamped), line 34, Olivier Viens; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 June 2014); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1137.

6. St-Jean-Baptiste (St-Jean-Baptiste, Quebec), parish register, 1832, p. 7 recto, entry no. B125, Olivier Vient [sic] baptism, 9 November 1832; St-Jean-Baptiste parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 June 2014).

7. St-Mathias (St-Mathias, Quebec), parish register, 1859, p. 2 recto, no entry no., Olivier Vient – Marie Célina Beaudriau [sic] marriage, 25 January 1859; St-Mathias parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 June 2014).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Elisabeth Vanasse’s Baptism Record

Baptism record of Elizabeth Vanasse [1]

My great-grandmother Elisabeth Vanasse was born on 11 September 1862 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Marie (Guérard) Vanasse.

I find it interesting and a bit puzzling that she wasn’t baptized until she was nearly three months old, on 7 December 1862. Roman Catholic parents were urged to have their infants baptized without delay, lest they die before receiving the Sacrament.

What could have caused the delay? Here are some ideas that I’ve considered.

• Remote location?
The Vanasse family lived on rural Ile des Allumettes, near the village of Chapeau, where St. Alphonsus church was located.

• Bad weather?
Unless there was unseasonable weather when Elisabeth was born in September, it doesn’t make sense to wait until almost the end of the year when there’s a chance of snowstorms.

• No church or clergy?
Two Irish-born resident priests served Chapeau’s faithful, Father James Lynch and his assistant Father Bartholomew Casey. [2]

• Priest too busy?
With risk of infant mortality a real concern, parents sought to baptize their children as soon as possible, and were indeed instructed to. [3] Therefore, other events (generally) did not take precedence over baptism.

• Objection of clergy?
Since Joseph and Marie were both baptized, married canonically, and practicing Catholics, there shouldn’t be any objection, unless perhaps one or both parents were in a state of grave or mortal sin in 1862.

• Parental objection?
Joseph and Marie’s first two children (sons Dalmatius and Regis) were baptized, so unless they had serious doubts about their faith when Elisabeth was born, they wouldn’t object to their daughter being received into the Church.

• Father absent?
A father’s absence (for example, if he was working away from home) did not prevent or delay his child’s baptism. In such a case, the priest would simply note his absence in the baptism record with the phrase “le père absent”.

• Sick baby?
If Elisabeth were sick, she could have had an emergency baptism, and indeed, should if in imminent danger of dying. [4]

• Sick mother?
At this time, it was common for only the father, the godparents and the newborn to be present at a baptism ceremony.

There could be other reasons, like choosing the baby’s name, finding godparents, or baby’s gender, but I think they are less likely to be the ones.

Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 96 verso, entry no. B.109 (1862), Elizabeth Venance [sic] baptism, 7 December 1862; Ste-Cécile-de-Masham parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 15 June 2010).

2. Alexis de Barbezieux, Histoire de la province ecclésiastique d'Ottawa et de la colonisation dans la vallée de l'Ottawa (Ottawa, 1897: I: 253 and 563); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 13 March 2014). Father Lynch was appointed curé of St. Alphonsus in 1844, the year after he was ordained. He spent his entire priestly career there, and died in 1885. Father Casey arrived in Chapeau in May 1862 as assistant priest. He remained there until September 1863, when he was transferred to St. Bridget in nearby Onslow.

3. The Canon Law Society Trust, The Code of Canon Law In English translation (London: Collins Liturgical Publications, 1983), 160, Can. 867.1, which states “Parents are obliged to see that their infants are baptised within the first few weeks”.

4. The Canon Law Society Trust, The Code of Canon Law In English translation, 160, Can. 867.2.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Mystery Monday: The Death in 1900 – or Not – of Mary Gertrude Vanasse

In the summer of 1891, a little girl was born to John and Dinasse (Ranger) Vanasse in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. She was the couple’s first of seven children; three sons and three more daughters were born between 1891 and 1912. She was also a first cousin of my paternal grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair.

At her baptism two days later, on 23 August 1891 in Chapeau’s church, she received the names Mary Gertrude. Her godparents were her maternal uncle Evangéliste Ranger and her paternal grandmother Elizabeth Frappier. They could not sign their names in the parish register, unlike the father, who wrote his name in a clear and legible hand. [1]

John and Dinasse suffered a tragedy on 11 April 1900 when one of their children died. According to St-Alphonse’s sacramental register, the child who died was “Mary Gertrude Vanasse”. The burial record adds that she was 8 years old and the daughter of John Vanasse and Dinna [sic] Ranger. (“Dinna” is a variation of Dinasse.) [2]

Burial record of Mary Gertrude Vanasse (cropped image) [3]

Based on this information, there’s no reason to doubt who died that April day – or is there?

I believe there is room for doubt, especially because a marriage record exists for Mary Gertrude. On 8 August 1911, Mary Gertrude, “daughter under age of John Venasse [sic] and Dinasse Ranger” married Hector Marchildon in Chapeau’s St-Alphonse church. [4]

The daughter who married was under age, according to her marriage record. Since matrimonial majority was 21 years at this time in the province of Quebec, Mary Gertrude would have been born after 8 August 1890. [5] All of John and Dinasse’s daughters were born after this date, but only one of them was named Mary Gertrude, the eldest. The other daughters were Anna (b. 1897), Mabel (b. 1899) and Clara (b. 1907). I don’t think it’s a case of mistaken identity, say, for example Anna who married instead of Gertrude. Even though Anna was old enough to marry at 14 years old, it’s not her, since she married for the first time in July 1917. [6] As for Mabel and Clara, they were only 12 and 3 ½ years old, respectively.

So, if Mary Gertrude didn’t die in 1900, who did?

I have a theory that the child who died in 1900 was Mary Gertrude’s younger brother Michael John, who was born on 10 December 1895. [7]

Although I haven’t found a burial record for him in St-Alphonse’s registers, at least not one that explicitly states his name, it seems more likely that it was Michael John and not Mary Gertrude who died on 11 April 1900. I've located the death or burial dates for the other siblings (Isaac, Anna and Mabel) who were born before 1900, so it isn't one of them. Also, Michael John, who would have been 5 ½ years old, does not appear in his parents’ household on the 1901 census [8], suggesting he is not alive.

The fact that Michael John wasn’t enumerated with his parents on the 1901 census schedule doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s the child who died in 1900, but the fact that his sister Mary Gertrude married in 1911 means that she couldn’t be the one who died in 1900 and whose name appears in that burial record.

It's difficult to image that St-Alphonse's parish priest would get a child's name, age and gender wrong in its burial record, but it seems to be the case in this situation.

Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1890-1893, p. 57 (stamped), entry no. B.50 (1891), Mary Gertrude Vanasse baptism, 23 August 1891; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 July 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1900, p. 10 recto, entry no. S.17, Mary Gertrude Vanasse burial, 12 April 1900; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 17 July 2010).

3. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1900, p. 10 recto, Mary Gertrude Vanasse burial, 12 April 1900.

4. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1911, p. 13 recto, entry no. M.10, Hector Marchildon – Mary Gertrude Venasse [sic] marriage, 8 August 1911; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 17 July 2010).

5. Hélène Lamarche and Guy Desjardins, “Majorité matrimoniale et majorité civile”, Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française, 56 (printemps 2005): 31; DVD edition (Montreal, QC: SGCF, 2013). The “Code civil du Bas-Canada 1866 (art. 115)” fixed the age of majority, that is, the legal age at which parental consent was no longer required for marriage, at 21 for boys and girls.

6. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1917, p. 11 verso, entry no. M.13, Adolphe Chassé – Anna Vanasse marriage, 28 July 1917; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 17 July 2010). Anna is described as “daughter under age” of her parents, which indicates a first marriage. Had she been a widow and married subsequently to a previous marriage, custom dictates that the name of her late husband is stated in the record instead of the names of her parents.

7. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1895, p. 26 recto, entry no. B.86, Michael John Vanasse baptism, 10 December 1895; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 July 2010).

8. 1901 census of Canada, Chichester, Pontiac, Quebec, population schedule, sub-district I-1, p. 6, dwelling 50, family 50, John Venance [sic] household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 May 2011). Only four children are listed in this family: Gerty (10), Isaac (7), Annie (4) and Mabel (2).

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #9 Elisabeth Vanasse – One of thirteen children

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 9th week of this challenge, I chose my paternal great-grandmother Elisabeth Vanasse (1862-1947).

Last week, I wrote about Elisabeth’s husband Olivier Vanasse; you can read about him here.

My great-grandmother Elisabeth was born on 11 September 1862 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec.

Elisabeth Vanasse (in the 1930s or 1940s)

She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph Vanasse and his wife Marie Guérard, who married in January 1859 in Chapeau.

Elisabeth had two elder brothers, Dalmatius (Delmond) and Regis (Richard) and ten younger brothers and sisters, Lucy, Pierre, Isidore, Alexander, Mary Julia, Josephine, Maria Jane, Delina (Delia), David and Joseph.

With so many people in the household, I imagine that Elisabeth’s mother Marie must have relied on her daughter from an early age. In fact, Elisabeth had just turned 21 when her youngest sibling, Joseph, was born in 1883. I wonder if being part of a large family had anything to do with her marrying at the rather advanced age of nearly 27?

Elisabeth married Olivier Vanasse on 16 July 1889. Their marriage record states that “a dispensation […] of the second degree of consanguinity had been granted by [… the] Vicar Apostolic of Pontiac, on the eighth instant […]”.

The couple were first cousins and had known each other from childhood, because they were born and raised in Chapeau. Her father Joseph was the younger brother of Olivier’s father, also named Olivier.

Elisabeth was the mother of nine children: Mary, George, William, Cecilia (Celia), Julia (my paternal grandmother), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David and Agnes (Aggie).

In about 1946, Elisabeth moved to Ottawa, where some of her children lived. She died there in hospital after a short illness on 1 September 1947. She is buried in the parish cemetery in Chapeau, where she lived most of her life.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #8 Olivier Vanasse – Husband, Father, Farmer

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 8th week of this challenge, I chose my paternal great-grandfather Olivier Vanasse (1863-1944).

Olivier Vanasse

I never knew this great-grandfather (he died quite a few years before I was born), but my father Maurice and his sister Joan knew him. I remember just a couple of things of what they told me about Olivier. For example, when they were very young (less than 5 years old), they visited his property, a farm, at Chapeau. Then, a few years later, Dad and Aunt Joan and their parents Fred and Julie (one of Olivier’s daughters) lived at Chapeau, when Fred ran a gas station there. One day, I'd like to take a trip to eastern Canada and visit Chapeau in Pontiac County, Quebec and see the Vanasse farm for myself. I'll have to first contact a cousin, though, to get its exact location and find out if it's still in the family.

My great-grandfather Olivier was born on 4 February 1863 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. He was the youngest child of his parents Olivier and Elisabeth (Frappier) Vanasse. Olivier’s older siblings were Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1854-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931) and Elizabeth (1860-1953).

Olivier didn’t look too far to find a bride when he married in July 1889. He chose his first cousin, Elisabeth Vanasse (1862-1947), who like him, was born and raised in Chapeau.

The couple’s first child, Mary, was born the following spring in April 1890. A son, George, soon followed in October 1891, and then seven more children between 1893 and 1905: William, Cecilia (Celia), Julia (Julie), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David and Agnes (Aggie). My grandmother Julie was their fifth child.

According to his obituary, Olivier retired from farming in 1919. He and his family continued to live on their property, where he died on 7 December 1944; he had been ill for two years.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sibling Saturday: Albertine and Cora Gagnon

Albertine and Cora Gagnon, 1920s

This lovely picture is a copy I’ve had in my photo collection since the 1980s or 1990s. I think it was given to me by one of my paternal relatives, a Vanasse cousin of my Dad’s. The photo was probably taken in the early 1920s, and judging by the background, it must have been a studio portrait.

The fashionably dressed young women are sisters Albertine and Cora Gagnon. (I’m not certain which sister is on the left, but I think it's Albertine.) They were the younger daughters of François (Frank) and Julie (Vanasse) Gagnon, who married in the early summer of 1895 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. [1] Julie was the maternal aunt of my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair.

Albertine, baptised “Mary Abby”, was born on Christmas Day 1897, while Cora, baptised “Anna Cora Josephine”, was born on 19 December 1902, both in Chapeau. [2]

The girls had seven brothers and sisters: Mary (b. 1896), François Richard (1900-1955), Victor (1901-1923), Mary Albina (b. 1904), Robert (1906-1991), Bridget (b. 1909), and Jeanette (b. 1911).

The eldest of the Gagnon children, Mary, was probably the first one to leave the family home for nearby Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, because she married James H. Brown there in 1918. [3] Her younger sisters Albertine and Cora soon followed her to Ottawa.

In October 1926, Albertine was a witness at my grandmother Julie’s wedding to Fred Belair at St-Jean-Baptiste church on Empress Street in Ottawa. [4]

A few months later, in February 1927, Cora married William Guy Holden at Notre-Dame Basilica on Sussex Drive in Lower Town, Ottawa. Her sister Albertine was one of the witnesses. [5]

Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica exterior [6]

A close bond existed between my grandmother Julie and Albertine, because Julie asked her cousin to be part of another important event in her life – the christening of her first-born child, Maurice, my father. Albertine and Julie’s brother David Vanasse, as godfather, were present at my Dad’s baptism on 9 August 1927 at St-Jean-Baptiste church. [7]

In early 1937, Albertine (who had just turned 39 years old) married Dosithé Mainville on 20 January in Christ Roi church, at Argyle Avenue and Bank Street, Ottawa. [8]

I don’t think I ever met either Albertine or Cora, although Cora (and some of her other sisters) lived in Timmins, Ontario (where I’m from) for quite a few years. It’s possible that I met her when I was little, but have forgotten the occasion(s).

Of the two sisters, Albertine died first, in 1968. She is interred in St. Alphonse de Ligouri Cemetery in Chapeau. [9] Cora died five years later in 1973, and is interred in Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, Cochrane District, Ontario. [10]

Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1895, p. 16 recto, entry no. M9, François Gagnon–Julie Vanasse marriage, 26 June 1895; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 June 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1902, p. 24 verso, entry no. B.91, Anna Cora Josephine Gagnon baptism, 21 December 1902; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014). Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1897, p. 27 verso, entry no. B.83, Mary Abby Gagnon baptism, 26 December 1897; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014).

3. Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1913-1930, p. 89 (stamped), entry no. M.15 (1918), James Brown–May Gagnon [sic] marriage, 10 September 1918; Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 January 2014).

4. St-Jean-Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1909-1968, p. 136, entry no. 28 (1926), Jean Baptiste Belair–Julie Venance [sic] marriage, 28 October 1926; St-Jean-Baptiste parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

5. Basilique Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1926-1933, no page number, entry no. M.9 (1927), William Guy Holden–Anna Cora Josephine Gagnon marriage, 26 February 1927; Basilique Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 January 2014).

6. Wikipedia contributors, "Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Notre-Dame_Cathedral_Basilica,_Ottawa&oldid=592169804 : accessed January 27, 2014).

7. St-Jean-Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1909-1968, p. 802, entry no. 93 (1927), Maurice-Melvin Bélair [sic] baptism, 9 August 1927; St-Jean-Baptiste parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

8. Christ Roi (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1930-1953, p. 87 (stamped), entry no. M.1 (1937), Dosithé Mainville–Mary Albertine Gagnon marriage, 20 January 1937; Christ Roi parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014). Christ Roi, founded in 1930, closed down as a parish church in 2001. (Source: “Région pastorale – Ottawa”, Diocèse d’Ottawa (http://www.missa.org : accessed 27 January 2014), Christ Roi.)

9. RootsWeb.com, St. Alphonse de Ligouri RC Cemetery, digital images (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cangmg/quebec/pontiac/allumett/stalplig/index.htm : accessed 19 January 2014), photograph, grave marker of Albertina Mainville [sic] (1897-1968), Chapeau, Quebec.

10. RootsWeb.com, Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, digital images (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~murrayp/cochrane/porcupin/whitney/index.htm : accessed 19 January 2014), photograph, grave marker of Cora Holden (1902-1973), Porcupine, Ontario.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.