My 3x paternal great-grandparents Michel Frappier and Louise Neveu married on 31 January 1836. [1] Today marks the 180th anniversary of their union.
Michel and Louise were married by Pascal Brunet, the curé (curate) of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours church in Petite Nation seigneurie, Lower Canada. It was one of six marriages he performed that day. Father Brunet undertook a mission in early 1836 to serve the needs of Roman Catholics who lived in nearby counties that didn’t have resident priests. This particular mission took him to the remote settlements of Grand Calumet, la Passe, Fort Coulonge, and Ile aux Allumettes in what is now Pontiac County, Quebec. [2]
After the mission was completed, the baptism and marriage records were placed in the archives of Notre-Dame church in Ottawa, not in Father Brunet’s own parish.
It’s unfortunate that the Frappier – Neveu marriage record contains the minimum of information: names of the bride and groom and names of the witnesses. Additional details that were required by ecclesiastical law and civil law are missing: for instance, Michel and Louise’ ages, their parish or place of residence, their marital status, and most importantly, the names of their parents. [3]
Father Brunet also did not record if Michel and Louise were previously married and if such a marriage required to be rehabilitated. They appear to have lived as a couple, however, since about 1832, when their daughter Elizabeth (my 2x great-grandmother) was born. [4]
The marriage record (above) reads in French:
Michel Frappier et Louise Neveu, en présen / ce de Frs Leclerc, Hubert Neveu, Louis Lamarche.
In English:
Michel Frappier and Louise Neveu, in the presen / ce of Frs Leclerc, Hubert Neveu, Louis Lamarche.
Sources:
1. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, p. 301, entry no. 2 (1836), Michel Frappier – Louise Neveu marriage, 31 January 1836; Notre-Dame parish; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 30 January 2016).
2. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, p. 300 and p. 302; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 30 January 2016).
3. René Jetté, Traité de généalogie (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1991), 438, “Tableau 10.3: Evolution du contenu des actes de mariage d’après la réglementation ecclésiastique en vigueur au Québec” [Evolution of the contents of marriage records according to ecclesiastical regulation in force in Quebec].
4. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, no page no., entry no. B.3 (1836), Nancy Frappier [sic] baptism, 1 February 1836; Notre-Dame parish; digital images, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 May 2011).
Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.
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.
