Charlotte Lunegand’s 1754 Baptism Record

Today – July 10 – is the 264th anniversary of the birth and baptism of Charlotte Lunegand dite Beaurosier, my maternal 5x great-grandmother.

Charlotte was born on 10 July 1754 at Fort St-Frédéric, aka Fort Beauharnois, now Crown Point, Essex County, New York. A younger daughter of François Lunegand (var. Lunegent) dit Beaurosier by his wife Marie Louise Ouimet, she had two brothers and four sisters.

François, originally from Brittany, France, was an infantry soldier. He arrived in the colony of New France in 1745, married there three years later, and was posted to Fort St-Frédéric in about 1750. Three of his and Marie Louise’s children were born at the Fort, before the family returned to New France in about 1758.

Although Charlotte’s name appears as “Marie Charles” in the sidebar of her baptism record, she was baptised “Marie Charlotte”. Father Hippolyte Collet, a French-born Recollect priest, officiated at the Sacrament of Baptism on the morning of 10 July 1754. [1]

Charlotte Lunegand baptism record, p. 118 (Généalogie Québec)

Charlotte Lunegand baptism record, p. 118 (Généalogie Québec)

My transcription of Charlotte’s baptism record (original lineation indicated by / ):

L’an mil sept cent cinquante quatre, le 10 / de Juilliet [sic], à dix heures du matin, par / nous, Récolé, soussigné, aumonier du fort / St-Frédéric et missionnaire pour les habitans [sic] circonvoisins, a été Baptisée Marie / Charlotte Lunegand, née d’aujourd’hui, fille / de François Lunegand et de Marie Louise / Oymette, légitimes époux, habitans [sic] du dit lieu. / le Parain [sic] a été David Biguet, soldat du gar- / nison, dans le dit fort, la maraine [sic] Marie Char- / lotte Lafoi, fille de Jean Baptiste Lafoi, habitant du dit lieu, le père, le parain [sic] et la ma- / raine [sic] ont déclaré ne savoir signer, de ce requis / lecture faite, suivant l’ordonnance. [signé f. Hippolyte Cober. R.] 

My English translation of the record (original lineation indicated by / ):

Year one thousand seven hundred fifty four, the 10 / of July, at ten o’clock in the morning, by / us, [Recollect] undersigned, almoner of the fort / St-Frédéric and missionary for the surrounding inhabitants, was Baptised Marie / Charlotte Lunegand, born today, daughter / of François Lunegand and of Marie Louise / Oymette, legitimate spouses, inhabitants of the said place. / the Godfather was David Biguet, soldier of the garr- / ison, in the said fort, the godmother Marie Char- / lotte Lafoi, daughter of Jean Baptiste Lafoi, inhabitant of the said place, the father, the godfather and the god - / mother have declared not able to sign [their names], as required / reading done, according to the ordonnance. [signed f. Hippolyte Cober. R.] 

Source:

1. “Registres du Fonds Drouin”, digital images, Généalogie Québec (https://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 9 July 2018), “Registre du Fort Frédéric ou Beauharnois 1732-1760”, pages 118-119, no entry no. (1754), Marie Charlotte Lunegand baptism, 10 July 1754. To access this browsable-only image (subscription required), follow this path from the Généalogie Québec homepage: Outils > États-Unis > New York > Fort Frédéric ou Fort Beauharnois > 1732-1760 > image d1p_33161251.jpg.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sympathy Saturday: Joseph Grozell (1909-1917)

Joseph Grozell was just eight years old when he died on 4 July 1917, 100 years ago this year.

He was my maternal fourth cousin twice removed. We descend from Joseph Prosper and Charlotte (Lunegand) Desgroseilliers through their sons Ambroise (b. 1774) and François (b. 1783).

The eldest child of Charles, a laborer, later a tanner, and his wife Katherine, née O’Connor, Joseph had three younger brothers and two younger sisters. (A third sister was born a few years after he died.)

“Map of Bexley Township”, ca 1880 (red arrow indicates Coboconk) [1]

Joseph’s birth registration states that he was born at home on 15 March 1909 in Coboconk, Bexley Township, Victoria County, Ontario, Canada. Other registration details include when and where his parents married, that a physician was present at his birth, and that his father registered his birth a little over a month after the event. [2]

Joseph’s birth registration (Ancestry.ca)

By 1911, the Grozell family lived in Bracebridge, just north of Coboconk, when it appeared on that year’s federal census. The household consisted of Charles, his wife Kate, their sons Joseph (2 years old) and Lawrence (1 year old), and Charles’ brother and sister-in-law, newlyweds William and Sarah (O’Connor) Grozell. Charles worked as a labourer in a tannery, while William was a labourer at a sawmill. [3]

In the spring of 1916, Charles enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces (C.E.F.) during World War I. A private in an infantry battalion, Charles back home that December. He never saw overseas service due to rheumatism. [4]

“Sick Children's Hospital, Toronto, Ont.”*

* Photo credit: Canada. Dept. of Interior / Library and Archives Canada / PA-043827.

The Grozell family unit remained intact for only a few more months. In the early summer of 1917, Joseph died suddenly on July 4th at “Hosp Sick Children” (now The Hospital for Sick Children) in Toronto, Ontario. [5]

Joseph's death registration (Ancestry.ca)

The attending physician Dr. Strachan wrote “Pul: Embolus” as the cause of death. According to MedlinePlus, a pulmonary embolus is “a blockage of an artery in the lungs. The most common cause of the blockage is a blood clot”. [6] Childhood embolism or pediatric thrombosis (when a blood clot forms inside a blood vessel) is a rare condition. [7]

Unfortunately, the death registration does not provide enough information to give us a better understanding of the circumstances of Joseph’s death. For example, there are no sections on the DR form as to whether an autopsy was performed or if surgery preceded death. Did Joseph have an underlying condition, illness or disorder (genetic or acquired) that might have contributed to his death?

I noticed that a certain “A W Miles” was the informant on the death registration. Curious about his identity, I did a Google search for Miles’ address, “396 College Street”. One of the results featured an image of an old three-storied building (dated circa 1913) with a caption that read: “Front elevation. Arthur W. Miles’ new undertaking parlors, Toronto”. [8] I now knew that the informant was the undertaker.

Joseph's gravemarker [9]

Joseph was laid to rest in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic cemetery in Bracebridge. [10]

I searched online for a possible obituary for young Joseph, but didn’t find one. However, I came across a small article in The Muskoka Herald, a Bracebridge newspaper. [11]

“The Muskoka Herald” (July 5, 1917)

Did this devastating fire have anything to do with Joseph’s death? The report doesn’t mention how the fire affected the Grozell family and so far, I haven’t found other articles about it.

Sources:

1. “Search: Maps”, database and digital images, In Search of Your Canadian Past: The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project (http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php : accessed 14 May 2017), “Township of Bexley”.

2. “Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1913”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 September 2016), entry for Joseph Alphonse Grozell (written as Joseph Alphons[e] Grozell, indexed as Joseph Alphons Grozell), 15 March 1909; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS929, reel 23.

3. 1911 census of Canada, Muskoka, Muskoka, Ontario, population schedule, no enumeration district (ED), subdistrict 12, pages 12-13, dwelling 119, family 119, Charles Grozell household; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2017); citing Census of Canada, 1911; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2007; Series RG31-C-1; Statistics Canada Fonds; Microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460.

4. “Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918”, digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx : accessed 13 January 2016), Charles Alphonso Grozell, regimental no. 763431, digitized service file.

5. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938, 1943, and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 September 2016), entry for Joseph Grozell, 4 July 1917; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 228.

6. MedlinePlus, database (https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000132.htm : accessed 10 May 2017), “Pulmonary embolus”.

7. Thrombosis Canada / Thrombose Canada, database (http://thrombosiscanada.ca/?page_id=18# : accessed 12 May 2017), “Pediatric Thrombosis”. For more information about pulmonary embolism in children, see AJR – American Journal of Roentgenology (June 2015, Volume 204, Number 6).

8. urbantoronto.ca, digital images (http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2011/09/then-and-now-396-college : accessed 10 May 2017), “Then and Now: 396 College”.

9. Northern Ontario Gravemarker Gallery, digital images (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~murrayp/muskoka/bracebri/stjoes/page0003.htm : accessed 12 May 2017), photograph, gravestone for Joe Grozell, Bracebridge, Ontario. Used with permission.

10. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938, 1943, and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca, entry for Joseph Grozell, 4 July 1917.

11. “Dwelling Burned”, The Muskoka Herald (Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada), 5 July 1917, p. 4; digital images, Canadian Community Digital Archives (http://communitydigitalarchives.com/ : accessed 10 May 2017).

Copyright © 2017, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tombstone Tuesday: Gilbert Grozelle

Gilbert Grozelle is my maternal third cousin three times removed. We descend from Joseph Prosper Desgroseilliers by his wife Charlotte Nunegand dite Beaurosier: Gilbert through eldest son Ambroise (b. 1774) and me through younger son François (b. 1783).

The fourth child of Alphonse Grozelle (né Desgroseilliers) and Annie McAlpine, Gilbert was born on 20 May 1884 in Bexley Township, Victoria County, Ontario. [1] He had nine brothers and sisters: Jennie, Peter, Charles, William, Joseph, Mary, Mabel, John, and Archibald.

A labourer, then farmer, Gilbert married Mary O’Connor on 2 June 1905. [2] Daughters Ruth and Carmen were born in Ontario before the family moved west to the prairie province of Saskatchewan in about 1910. The family moved once more, to Alberta, about 1912. Four more children (Thelma, Sylvia, Melvin, and Murray) were born between 1915 and 1923.

About 1945, Gilbert and Mary relocated to British Columbia. Gilbert, who had suffered from chronic coronary sclerosis for five years, died on 12 June 1953 in Kelowna, British Columbia. [3] He was buried four days later in Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery in Kelowna. [4]

Gravemarker of Gilbert Grozelle

His gravemarker reads:

Grozelle Gilbert

In Loving Memory

1884 – 1953

Gilbert and Mary, who died in 1971, are interred next to each other. Their son Murray, who died in 1981, shares his mother’s plot.

Graves of Gilbert (left), Mary (right) and Murray (right, bottom), foregound

My husband and I took these photographs during our recent visit to Kelowna, when we attended the Kelowna & District Genealogical Society’s conference in September 2016.

Entrance to Memorial Park Cemetery, Kelowna, BC

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 September 2015), entry for Gilbert E. Groselle – Mary O’Connor, 2 June 1905; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928, 1933-1934; Toronto, Ontario Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS932, reel 119. 1901 census of Canada, Township Dalton, Victoria (North), Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 119, subdistrict D-1, p. 5, dwelling 33, family 33, Gillbert Grozelle [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 September 2016); citing Census of Canada, 1901, microfilm reels T-6428 to T-6556, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Library and Archives Canada, 2004.

2. “Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 3 September 2015), entry for Gilbert E. Groselle – Mary O’Connor, 2 June 1905.

3. “Genealogy – General Search”, digital images, BC Archives (http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy : accessed 6 July 2016), entry for Gilbert Eric Grozelle, 12 June 1953, death registration no. 1953-09-006570.

4. Memorial Park Cemetery, City of Kelowna, database (http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page270.aspx : accessed 21 September 2016), entry for Gilbert Eric Grozelle, death 12 June 1953, plot B 6 62 82.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Charlotte Beaurosier’s 1835 Burial Record

One hundred and eighty-one years ago today, 9 May 1835, my maternal 5x great-grandmother, Charlotte Nunegand dite Beaurosier, died.

Charlotte Beaurosier burial record (FamilySearch)

Born in July 1754, Charlotte was one of six children of François Lunegent (aka Lunegant, Nunegand) dit Beaurosier and his wife Marie Louise Ouimet. In February 1772, Charlotte married Joseph Prosper Desgroseilliers, by whom she had thirteen children, including younger son François (born in 1783), my ancestor.

Joseph Prosper died at an unknown location and unknown date between 1795 and 1800. Charlotte, who survived him, died on 9 May 1835. [1] Their eldest son Ambroise (1774-1860) was present at her burial the next day in the cemetery of St-Joachim parish in Châteauguay, Quebec.

The burial record (above) reads in French:

Le dix mai mil huit cent trente-cinq / par nous Pretre soussigné a été inhumée dans le cime- / tière Charlotte Beaurosier veuve de Joseph Desgros- / eillers de cette paroisse, décédé la veille, agée d’environ / quatre-vingt-deux ans. Présents Ambroise Desgroseil- / lers, Louis Giroux, Augustin Plante et plusieurs / autres qui n’ont su signer.[signed JB Labelle Ptre]

My English translation:

The ten May one thousand thirty five / by us undersigned Priest was interred in the ceme- / tery Charlotte Beaurosier widow of Joseph Desgros- / eillers of this parish, died the previous [day], aged about / eighty-two years. Present Ambroise Desgroseil- / lers, Louis Giroux, Augustin Plante and several / others who knew not how to sign [their names].[signed JB Labelle Prst]

Source:

1. St-Joachim (Châteauguay, Quebec), parish register, p. 13 recto, entry no. S. 29, Charlotte Beaurosier burial, 10 May 1835; St-Joachim parish; digital images, "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 3 May 2016). Note: To access this browsable-only image, follow this path from the FamilySearch homepage: Search > Records > Canada > Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979 > [Browse] > Châteauguay > Saint-Joachim-de-Châteauguay > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1829-1839 > image 342 of 535.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.