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.

Photo Consultation Part III – Vanasse Family

This blog post is the third and final article of a three-part series in which I write about the help I received from photo detective Maureen Taylor during a recent photo consultation. For the two previous installments, see Photo Consultation with Maureen Taylor and Photo Consultation Part II – Pierre Janvry dit Belair.

This picture of my Vanasse great-aunts and uncles (my father’s maternal relatives) was sent to me as a digital image by my cousin Nancy in the spring of 2013.

Seated at the front (left to right) are George, his sister Corinne (Cora) and his brother William (Willie). At the back (left to right) are his sister Agnes (Aggie), his wife Louise, his brother David (Dave), his sister Cecilia (Celia), and his brother Joseph (Joe). Missing from the group are parents Olivier and Elisabeth, and sisters Mary and Julie (my grandmother).

Here are Maureen’s thoughts about this picture:

• A studio portrait (painted background, heavy furniture, carpet).
  
• It could be part of a series of photos taken at the same time.
  
• Presumably a wedding photo, since Louise is less likely to be included with the family while unmarried to George.
  
• The men all wear different collars and ties. Joe (back, far right) appears to be “a bit of a dandy”, judging by the style of his collar.
  
• Joe has a protective hand on Willie’s shoulder.
  
• Cora (centre, front) and Celia (back, right) are fashionably dressed. Maureen added that she’s never seen Cora’s style of necklace.
  
• Aggie (back, far left), who’s about 14 years old, is “dressing younger than her age”. Her hair (in banana curls) and dress reflect a “very youthful style”. She could be dressed by an older person instead of having the chance to make her own fashion choices.
  
• Louise’s “dress is way too big”. She seems to have borrowed it from someone “taller and much larger in the chest”.

My impressions:

I believe this photo was taken in June 1920, when George (born in 1891) married Louise Potvin in Bourget, Russell County, Ontario. Louise’s dress with its shiny, heavy fabric, so different from what her sisters-in-law are wearing, suggests the picture was taken on a special occasion. Until Maureen pointed out how big Louise’s dress is, I hadn’t noticed how much fabric appears on her left sleeve.

If I’m correct about the year, the Vanasse brothers and sisters gathered for this photo less than two years after the end of the Great War (1914-1918). Willie (born in 1893) and Joe (born in 1898) both served overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. Poor Willie came back home shell-shocked and spent a number of years in veterans hospitals. I get the feeling that Willie and Joe were particularly close, and that Joe feels protective of his elder brother. I also think that Celia (born in 1895) is close to her youngest brother Dave (born in 1903), since she’s holding onto his arm.

Dave’s skin is darker than any of his brothers and sisters. His skin tone might be due to genetics: both his parents are great-grandchildren of Aboriginal women.

I'm grateful that my cousin Nancy shared this wonderful Vanasse family photo with me. I dearly loved my grandmother Julie, who died when I was eight and half years old. After her death, I felt privileged to have known her sisters, particularly Celia, who I used to visit at her home in Ottawa when I was there at university.

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.

Wedding Wednesday: Vanasse - St Martin

David and Marie Louise Vanasse Wedding, 1929.


A lovely country wedding photo of my paternal great-uncle David Vanasse and his bride Marie Louise St-Martin. David, 26 years old, was the son of Olivier and Elisabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse. Marie Louise, who was just 18 years old, was the daughter of Charles and Emélie (Brunet) St-Martin.

The couple (seen on the far right in the photo) married on 12 June 1929 in St-Alphonse parish church in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. Their marriage record states that one bann was published and that a dispensation was granted for the other two banns. The witnesses were Leo St-Martin (Marie Louise's brother) and Agnes Vanasse (David's sister), who appear on the far left in the photo.

Some of David's family and relatives spelled their surname "Venasse", but my grandmother Julie (Julia) always spelled her surname "Vanasse".

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.