Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Photographs Through the Generations

It’s Saturday night and Randy at Genea-Musings has issued his weekly challenge to his readers.

Tonight’s mission is to determine:

1) How many generations do you have photographs or portraits of your ancestors and descendants? It can be any line...it just can't be broken!
2) Tell us the line, or better yet, show us the unbroken line. Provide birth-death years, and the approximate date that the photograph or portrait was made.
3) Share your generation picture line in a blog post of your own, or in a Facebook post, or in a comment to this post.

Here is my 6-generation picture line:

1. My great-great-grandfather Pierre Desgroseilliers (1841-1904), born in Ste-Martine, Quebec and died in St. Charles, Ontario. Pierre looks rather young, so the photo might date to the time he married in 1865.

2. My great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers (1879-1957) in the mid-1950s.

3. My grandfather Eugène Desgroseilliers (1900-1960) in 1959.

4. My mother Jacqueline (Desgroseilliers) Belair in 2010.

5. Myself, Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff in 2017.

6. My descendant – my son Nicholas Demoskoff, in 2014.

Thanks for another great challenge, Randy!

Copyright © 2019, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sibling Saturday: The Children of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers

Today’s Sibling Saturday offering is the fourth part in an ongoing series about my ancestors’ families. Here are the previous articles in this series:

• Sibling Saturday: The Children of Jean-Baptiste Bouchard (1698-1755) 

• Sibling Saturday: The Children of Pierre Janvry dit Belair (1851-1941) 

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

My maternal great-grandparents Albert and Clémentine were born in Embrun, Russell County, Ontario. They married in April 1899 in nearby South Indian (now Limoges), but within a few months moved north to Nipissing (now Sudbury) District. They made their home in the village of St. Charles, where Albert’s parents lived. Albert, a farmer, and Clémentine were the parents of 14 children, 11 sons and 3 daughters. They suffered the loss of seven children during their lifetime, including my grandfather Eugène. Albert died in December 1957 and Clémentine passed away in October 1969.

Albert and Clémentine (seated) with some of their children, about 1955.
L to R: Flavie, Roméo, Ovide, Donat, Ovila, and Léon.

This photo shows them with six of their children. It might not be obvious from the picture, but the Desgroseilliers family had taller than average members. For example, Albert was about 6’5” and his son my grandfather Eugène (not in the photo) was 6’7”. Clémentine and her daughter Flavie were also tall.

Children of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers

1. Eugène Desgroseilliers
Eugène was born on 30 August 1900 in St. Charles, Ontario. On 18 August 1925, he married Juliette Beauvais in Moonbeam, Ontario. Juliette was the sister of Laurette (Lorette) Beauvais, who married Eugène’s brother Ovide. Eugène died on 20 September 1960 in Sarnia, Ontario. He was a chief of police in the 1920s-1930s and a carpenter in the 1940s-1950s. Eugène and Juliette are my maternal grandparents.

2. Arthur Desgroseilliers
Arthur was born on 11 July 1901 in St. Charles. When he was 21 years old, Arthur contracted typhoid fever and died about five days later on 10 May 1923 in Kapuskasing, Ontario. Arthur, a farmer, was unmarried. I’ve written about my great-uncle at Arthur Desgroseilliers (1901-1923). 

3. Alma Desgroseilliers
Alma was born on 14 January 1904 in St. Charles. She was only three and a half years old when she died from bronchitis on 7 July 1907 in Cobalt, Ontario, where her family lived. The story of Alma’s brief life can be read at Wednesday’s Child: Alma Desgroseilliers (1904-1907).

The three eldest: Eugène (left), Alma and Arthur, about 1906

4. Ovila Hormidas Desgroseilliers
Ovila Hormidas was born on 21 October 1905 in St. Charles. He appears to have died young, presumably before 11 December 1906, becase a brother of the same name was born on that date.

5. Hormidas Desgroseilliers
Hormidas was born on 11 December 1906 in South Indian (Limoges) where his family resided at the time. He died on 5 February 1934 in Cochrane, Ontario. The cause of death was a kidney and bowel infection that led to generalised peritonitis. Hormidas, who was 27 years old, was unmarried.

6. Roméo Desgroseilliers
Roméo was born on 26 May 1908 in St. Charles. He married on 11 October 1933 in Moonbeam, Marie-Claire Albert. Roméo died on 15 April 1995 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario.

7. Anna Desgroseilliers
Anna was born on 10 December 1909 in St. Charles. She and her mother Clémentine were on a visit to South Indian (Limoges), when she died there on 7 August 1910 aged eight months old.

8. Léonidas Desgroseilliers
Léonidas was born on 21 July 1911 in St. Charles. On 1 August 1935, he married Thérèse Credger in Moonbeam. Léonidas died on 6 March 1999 in Labelle, Quebec. His nieces Madeleine and Jacqueline (Eugène’s daughters) knew him by his nicknames of Léo, Nida, and Oneida.

9. Flavie Desgroseilliers
Flavie was born on 16 May 1913 in St. Charles. She married on 27 September 1932 Georges Léonard in Moonbeam. Flavie died on 3 October 1991 in Sudbury.

9. Léandre (Léon) Desgroseilliers
Léandre was born on 15 March 1915 in St. Charles. On 22 December 1938, he married Annette Potvin in Rouyn, Quebec. Léandre, a carpenter, died on 28 May 1996 in Sturgeon Falls. Annette’s sister Lucille Potvin married Léandre’s brother Ovila.

10. Donat Desgroseilliers
Donat was born on 25 June 1916 in St. Charles. He died on 20 October 1979 in Sturgeon Falls. Donat, a farmer, never married.

11. Ovide Desgroseilliers
Ovide was born on 9 April 1918 in Moonbeam. He married Laurette (Lorette) Beauvais there on 9 September 1936. Ovila died on 9 June 1978 in Moonbeam. Laurette’s sister Juliette Beauvais married Ovide’s brother Eugène. My Mom was very fond of her aunt and uncle, because they reminded her of her parents.

12. Ovila Desgroseilliers
Ovila was born on 6 March 1920 in Moonbeam. He married Lucille Potvin there on 6 January 1943. Ovila died on 11 November 1997 in North Bay, Ontario. Lucille’s sister Annette Potvin married Ovila’s brother Léandre.

13. Joseph Desgroseilliers
Joseph was born on 8 March 1924 in Moonbeam. He married on 25 December 1946 in Cache Bay, Ontario, Florence Renaud. He died in a vehicle accident on 2 August 1957 in Sturgeon Falls. His widow remarried and died in 2017. Their son Albert visits Mom (his cousin) at our home whenever he travels to B.C.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Juliette Desgroseilliers and Baby Daughter Mariette

I love this black and white photograph.

It came to me from Aunt Madeleine, my Mom’s elder sister. I don’t know how she acquired it, but it must have been in her family (or that of a maternal aunt) before she became its owner.

On the back of the photo, in a handwriting that I don’t recognize, someone wrote:

Juliette Beauvais

followed by three lines in another unknown handwriting:

Mariette [bébé]

A Hearst

1930

The “1930” date isn’t correct. Mariette, born in December 1927, looks to be about 6 months old, so the year should be 1928. Also, it was probably July or August, based on the light clothing mother and baby are in.

Juliette wears a short-sleeved, checkered-patterned cotton dress, over which she donned a generous apron. She has a fine head of bobbed hair. When I enlarged the photo, I noticed that she’s wearing a plain band ring on each hand. Baby Mariette, in a cloth diaper, wears a dress and little socks.

I don’t know the photographer's identity. Was it Juliette’s husband Eugène, or perhaps her sister Marie Louise, who visited the young family that year? Or was it maybe a travelling photographer? Whoever took the photo, it was probably a spur-of-the-moment thing, because Juliette is dressed casually and wears an apron.

The picture was likely taken in Hearst, where Mariette was born and where her father worked as chief of police. The small mat by the door of the house on the right suggests it’s someone’s home – Juliette and Eugène’s?

I checked online images of baby carriages and found similar ones in the Eaton's Spring and Summer 1926 catalogue.* The 1926 models are described as Pullman Carriages and cost between $19.85 and $39.50. The body of Juliette’s baby carriage looks like wicker, but the Eaton’s ones are made of “fibre reed”.

A wonderful and precious photo of my grandmother and aunt taken 90 years ago.

* “Canadian Mail Order Catalogues”, database, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/postal-heritage-philately/canadian-mail-order-catalogues/Pages/canadian-mail-order-catalogues.aspx : accessed 1 July 2018), Postal Heritage and Philately, Eaton's Spring and Summer 1926, p. 388 (image 400).

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- How Did Your Parents Meet?

It’s Saturday (well, now it’s Sunday – I’m a day late) and Randy at Genea-Musings has issued his weekly challenge to his readers.

Tonight’s challenge is to answer the following question: "How Did Your Parents Meet?”

My parents Maurice Belair and Jacqueline Desgroseilliers and their families lived in Blue Water, a village that no longer exists next to Sarnia, Ontario.

They first met in about 1951. Mom was about 17 years old and Dad was about 23.

Dad was unemployed, but Mom worked at Scripnick Deluxe Confectionery in Blue Water. He used to drop in there, but didn’t notice Mom. One day, though, he did and after that, he regularly visited the store. Dad would chat with Mom while she worked at the lunch counter.

Eventually he asked her out on a date. I don’t know how their courtship progressed, but I remember Mom telling me that Dad got along well with her family, especially with her father, Eugène.

After dating for a few years, Mom gave Dad an ultimatum. They married soon after on December 18, 1954 in a civil ceremony in Sarnia. They didn’t have much money, so didn’t really have a honeymoon. Instead, they drove to northeastern Ontario to tell her father (he lived with his elder daughter Madeleine in Kirkland Lake) and his parents (Dad’s family lived in Timmins).

Mom and Dad celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary in 1995. Dad passed away five months later, but Mom is still with us.

Copyright © 2017, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sibling Saturday: Juliette and Agathe Beauvais

Juliette and Agathe were my maternal grandmother and great-aunt, respectively. Their parents Joseph and Olivine (Hotte) Beauvais married in August 1897 in Hartwell (now Chénéville), Papineau County, Quebec.

Juliette, born on 30 June 1901 in Chénéville, was the third child and eldest daughter. Agathe, who was born on 3 March 1918 in nearby Montpellier, was the thirteenth child and second youngest daughter. They had twelve brothers and two sisters. Twenty-three years separated the oldest child Ovide from the youngest, fraternal twins Jean-Marie and Jean-Paul.

The Beauvais children were raised mostly in Montpellier, a village in the Laurentian Hills in Papineau County, in southwestern Quebec. Their father Joseph was a farmer and woodcutter. About 1922, the family moved to the quaintly named village of Moonbeam, in northern Ontario. Four years later, mother Olivine died in June 1926 of ‘cardiac asthenia’ (Da Costa’s syndrome).

A few months before her mother’s death, Juliette married Eugène Desgroseilliers on 18 August 1925 in Moonbeam. They were blessed with nine children: Noël (who died at birth), Mariette, Madeleine, Simone, Marianne (who died young), Jacqueline (my Mom), Gaston (he died when he was six years old), Normande, and Jeanne d’arc. After living in northern Ontario and northwestern Quebec for a few years, Eugène and Juliette settled in Blue Water, near Sarnia, Ontario in 1942.

Juliette (left) and Agathe (right) pose on a staircase in the above photo. The handwriting on the back of the picture says “à Hearst vers 1930” [in Hearst about 1930]. I doubt that the year is correct, because Agathe would have been only 12 years old. If the location is correct, though, the photo dates more likely to the mid-1930s, because Juliette, her husband and their children lived in Hearst, west of Moonbeam, until about 1936, when they moved to Rouyn, Quebec.

On 25 March 1940, Agathe married Lucien Larouche in Val d’Or, Abitibi District, Quebec. Their marriage registration gives their occupation as bonne (maid) for Agathe and mineur (miner) for Lucien. The couple had eight children: Renée, Gaston, Blandine, Gérard, Laurier, a son (who died soon after birth), Elisabeth, and Christian.

In 1948, Juliette became ill. She had advanced cancer of the pancreas. Within a few months of the diagnosis, she died in hospital in Sarnia on 14 August 1948, four days before her 23rd wedding anniversary.

Agathe survived her sister by eight years. She died suddenly from a blood clot after giving birth to a son on 30 December 1956. My Mom and Dad were visiting her sister Madeleine in Kirkland Lake at the time. Mom recalls that she was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom at Aunt Madeleine’s house when Dad woke her to break the news. Mom cried because Agathe, her godmother, was her favorite aunt.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Arthur Desgroseilliers (1901-1923)

Arthur (right) with his brother Eugène and sister Alma, about 1906

My maternal great-uncle Arthur Desgroseilliers was born on 11 July 1901 in St. Charles, Sudbury District, Ontario. [1] The second son of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers, Arthur had thirteen siblings: ten brothers (including my grandfather Eugène) and three sisters.

Arthur Desgroseilliers baptism record (Ancestry)

He was baptised “Ovide-Arthur” on 14 July 1901 by Father G.A. Picotte of St-Thomas Apôtre Church in Warren, Sudbury District, Ontario. [2] I’m not sure if three-day-old Arthur was taken to Warren to be baptised or if Father Picotte travelled to St. Charles to perform the ceremony. It seems more likely that the priest went to St. Charles and then recorded the details in his church’s sacramental register once back in Warren. Arthur’s godparents were Arthur Gervais (husband of his aunt Emma Desgroseilliers) and Euphémie Desgroseilliers (Emma’s younger sister).

The Desgroseilliers family lived in St. Charles from 1900 to about 1917, but spent one or two years (1906-1908) in Cobalt, a mining community northeast of St. Charles, near the Ontario-Quebec border. It was here that Arthur’s little sister Alma died from bronchitis in July 1907. [3] (See her story in Wednesday’s Child: Alma Desgroseilliers (1904-1907).)

In June 1911, Arthur was enumerated on that year’s federal census as a 10-year-old boy in his parents’ household. [4] The family lived on concession 2 in Appleby Township in Nipissing District. His father Albert was a farmer, while Arthur and his brother Eugène were school students. The two boys and their parents could read and write and they all spoke French.

About 1917, Arthur and his family moved north to the village of Moonbeam in Cochrane District. His three youngest brothers, Ovide, Ovila and Joseph, were born there.

When searching for Arthur on the 1921 census, I found him in two locations. First, he and the Desgroseilliers family were enumerated in one household on lot 12, concession 1 in Fauquier Township, except for Arthur, who’s on lot 14, concession 2. He was a farmer. [5] Second, he was enumerated in his own household in Jackson Bay in nearby Kendrey Township. [6] His home, which he rented, was a one-room wood structure. According to the census, Arthur could not read nor write. He earned $600 as a laborer in the past twelve months.

In the early years when I was researching my great-grandparents and their family, I didn’t know when Arthur died. I had the chance to ask his brother Ovila when he visited my parents in August 1990. Great-uncle Ovila told me that Arthur was 18 years old when he died in Kapuskasing of typhoid fever. A few years later, I found a mention of his death in a local history book stating that Arthur died on 10 May 1922. [7]

Arthur Desgroseilliers death registration, top portion (Ancestry)

Arthur Desgroseilliers death registration, bottom portion (Ancestry)

I recently found Arthur’s death registration at Ancestry.ca. It gave his date and place of death as 10 May 1923 in Spruce Falls (Power and Paper) Company Hospital in Kapuskasing, Cochrane District, Ontario. [8] The cause of death was typhoid fever with broncho-pneumonia as a contributory factor. [9] He was ill for at least five days before he succumbed to the disease.

What is typhoid fever? Typhoid fever is an infectious disease that “spreads through contaminated food and water or through close contact with someone who's infected. Signs and symptoms usually include high fever, headache, abdominal pain, and either constipation or diarrhea.” [10]

In early 1923, a typhoid epidemic was raging in northern Ontario, particularly in the town of Cochrane. Arthur might have become ill by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Cochrane’s water was compromised that year when “sewage [… was] drawn into the city’s water system”. [11] Alternatively, Arthur might have come into contact with someone affected with the disease in Cochrane or closer to his home.

In early April 1923, other cases of typhoid appeared in communities northwest of Cochrane like Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing and Hearst in the province of Ontario and east in Amos in the province of Quebec. [12]

The epidemic lasted until the end of May. In all, “over 953 cases [of typhoid fever] from Cochrane and adjoining municipalities with some 84 deaths” were reported. [13] Children and adults, male and female alike, between the ages of 5 and 25 were “particularly affected”. [14]

Arthur was buried on 11 May 1923 in Moonbeam. [15] He was only 21 years old (he would turn 22 that July) and unmarried. His death must have been a great loss for his family.

Sources:

1. St-Thomas Apôtre (Warren, Ontario), parish register, 1901-1967, no page no., entry no. 31 (1901), Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers (written as Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers, indexed as Ovide Arthur Desgroseillers) baptism, 14 July 1901; St-Thomas Apôtre parish; digital images, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 February 2016). Also, “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers (written as Arthur DesGroseilliers, indexed as Arthur Desgroselliers), 10 May 1923; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1938; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 999.

2. St-Thomas Apôtre, parish register, 1901-1967, no page no., Ovide-Arthur Desgroseillers baptism, 14 July 1901.

3. “Ontario, Canada Deaths, 1869-1932”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 January 2012), entry for Alma Degrossalier [sic], 6 July 1907; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1932; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 131.

4. 1911 census of Canada, Appleby, Hawley [Townships], Nipissing, Ontario, population schedule, enumeration district 3, p. 1, dwelling 8, family 8, Albert Deapeniallin (written as Desgros[iallier?], indexed as Deapeniallin) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Census of Canada, 1911, microfilm reels T-20326 to T-20460; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

5. 1921 census of Canada, Fauquier Township, Temiskaming, Ontario, population schedule, subdistrict 75, p. 15, dwelling 123, family 123, Albert Desgrosellier (written as Albert Desgrosellier, indexed as Albert Desgroseillier) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31; Statistics Canada Fonds.

6. 1921 census of Canada, Bradhurn, Syders, Haggart, Kendry, Alexandra (Townships), Temiskaming, Ontario, population schedule, subdistrict 73, p. 2, dwelling 123, family 123, Art DesGroseilliers (written as Art DesGroseilliers, indexed as Art Desgroseillers) household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 May 2016); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013; Series RG31; Statistics Canada Fonds.

7. Lionel Séguin, Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles (Saint-Charles, Ont., 1945: 228); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 18 June 2013).

8. FICHES DE DÉCÈS/SÉPULTURES Kapuskasing DEATH/BURIAL RECORDS 1915 – 2010, database (http://kapuskasingdeathrecords.com/default.htm : accessed 4 February 2016), death entry for Arthur Desgroseilliers, 10 May 1923) and “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923.

9. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923.

10. “Typhoid Fever”, database, Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/typhoid-fever/basics/definition/CON-20028553 : accessed 9 May 2016).

11. “Cochrane Has Now 500 Sick; Epidemic Grows”, The Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Evening Journal, 31 March 1923, p. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 May 2016).

12. “Death List Growing Cochrane Epidemic”, The Ottawa (Ontario, Canada) Evening Journal, 4 April 1923, p. 13; digital images, Newspapers.com (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed 9 May 2016).

13. Forty-second Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, Canada for the year 1923 (Toronto: Clarkson W. James, 1924, 280 and 54); digital images, University of Toronto (http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/4/39/ontariodepthealth1923ontauoft/ontariodepthealth1923ontauoft.pdf : accessed 9 May 2016).

14. Forty-second Annual Report of the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, Canada, 34.

15. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 May 2013), entry for Arthur DesGroseilliers, 10 May 1923. Also, Moonbeam Cemetery, database and digital images (http://cimetiere.moonbeam.ca/dEn.html : accessed 12 September 2013), entry for Arthur Desgroseillers [sic], Moonbeam, Ontario. However, another source states that Arthur was buried on 11 May 1923 in Immaculée-Conception Cemetery in Kapuskasing. (FICHES DE DÉCÈS/SÉPULTURES Kapuskasing DEATH/BURIAL RECORDS 1915 – 2010, database (http://kapuskasingdeathrecords.com/default.htm : accessed 4 February 2016), death entry for Arthur Desgroseilliers, 10 May 1923.)

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Workday Wednesday: Eugene Desgroseilliers, Chief of Police

My maternal grandfather Eugène Desgroseilliers (1900-1960) was Chief of Police in Hearst, a small northern Ontario community. I’ve always wondered how he got this position. He was a farmer when he married in August 1925 [1], but soon changed occupations and moved to law enforcement. I asked my mother if she knew how this happened (what qualifications did he have, what training did he receive), but she could only speculate that he was hired because he was so tall – Eugène was 6’ 7”.

Eugène Desgroseilliers, centre, with unidentified men (ca 1927)

Based on photographic evidence, Eugène probably became chief of police around the time his daughter Mariette was born in December 1927.

Eugène Desgroseilliers and his daughter Mariette (1928)

Eugène served as chief of police in Hearst from about 1927 to about 1936. He appears on a voters list for that community in 1935; his occupation is “town police”. [2]

Eugène Desgroseilliers (entry no. 102) on the 1935 list of electors for Hearst, Ontario (Ancestry.ca)

In 1936, Eugène and his family moved to Rouyn, in northwestern Quebec. He continued with his police duties there and later in the nearby villages of Duparquet and Cadillac. In about 1940, Eugène became ill with double pneumonia and lost his job as police chief.

I’ve tried to find more details about my grandfather’s time as police chief in Hearst, but I’ve not been successful. For example, I corresponded with the Town of Hearst, who transferred my request to the local police force. In turn, the Hearst police department forwarded my request to the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police). Unfortunately, my grandfather was not in their “various OPP alpha-listings which go back to the 1920s”. [3]

I also hoped to find what happened to the medal Eugène was awarded for being “the youngest chief of police”, according to his daughters. They remember this medal, but they can’t recall what it looked like, when their father received it, or what became of it.

For now, the only sources I have about my grandfather Eugène’s years as chief of police are the above photos, an entry in a 1935 “list of electors”, and the memories of my Mom and her sisters. I’m not giving up hope, though, that one day I’ll find documentary evidence of his work and of his having received a medal for it.

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1930”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 16 March 2010), entry for Eugene Desgroseilliers – Juliette Beauvais (written as Eugene Desgroseilliers – Juliette Beauvais, indexed as Eugene Desg Desgroseillien – Juliette Beauvais), 18 August 1925; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Toronto, Ontario Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS932, reel 740.

2. “Canada, Voters Lists, 1935-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 March 2016), entry for Eugene Desgroseillier (written as Eugene Desgroseillier, indexed as Kugene Desgroseillier), page 817 (stamped), entry no. 102; citing Voters Lists, Federal Elections, 1935–1980; R1003-6-3-E (RG113-B); Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

3. Claudine Locqueville, Adjointe Administrative Assistant, Ville de/Town of Hearst to Yvonne Demoskoff, email, 24 March 2010, “FW: Police force of Hearst”; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, Hope, British Columbia, 2016. Claudine forwarded the exchange of emails between the James Bay Detachments of the OPP and the OPP Museum in Orillia, Ontario to Yvonne regarding the possibility that her grandfather Eugene served with that police force.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sentimental Sunday: Remembering Eugene

Today is the 115th anniversary of the birth of my maternal grandfather, Eugène Desgroseilliers. The eldest child of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers, he was born in St. Charles, a village south of Sudbury, Ontario on 30 August 1900.

I don’t have a picture of my Pépère and I, so I chose one of him with some of his daughters. From left to right are Jeanne d’arc, Jacqueline (my Mom), Eugène, and Madeleine. The photo was taken in Blue Water, outside of Sarnia, Ontario, in the summer of 1959.

I don’t have memories of my grandfather, because he died when I was two years old. Mom used to tell me how, when we’d visit him, he rock me on his knee and call me his “p’tite poule noire” (little black chicken), because of my dark hair and eyes.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: Eugene and Juliette

Eugene and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers on their wedding day – 90 years ago – on 18 August 1925 in Moonbeam, Ontario, Canada. This photo might be the only extant picture of that occasion.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Desgroseilliers Visitors

Lucille and Ovila Desgroseilliers

Mom’s relatives Ovila and Lucille (Potvin) Desgroseilliers and Florence (Renaud) (Desgroseilliers) Labelle visited our home in Hope, British Columbia in the summer of 1990. Ovila was a younger brother of Mom’s father Eugène Desgroseilliers, while Florence was the widow of Eugène’s youngest brother Joseph.

Florence Labelle

They spent two days with us before they went on to visit Florence’s son Albert in Vancouver.

The pictures were taken in our living room on 4 August 1990.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors 2015: #28 – From Rouyn, Quebec to Nobel, Ontario

I’m participating in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition” by Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small.

For the 28th week of this challenge, I used the optional weekly theme (Road Trip) to describe the journey my mother and her family made when they moved from Quebec to Ontario when she was a young child. Mom doesn’t have any memories of this trip, but her sister Madeleine does. A few years ago, Aunt Madeleine wrote her recollections for me and I quote from them in this article.

In the spring of 1940, my Desgroseilliers grandparents, Eugène and Juliette, lived in Rouyn, a mining community in the boreal forest of northwestern Quebec. Eugène, who was 39 years old, was unemployed after working as a chief of police for a number of years.

Rouyn-Noranda, 1937 (fr.wikipedia.org)

Canadian Industries Ltd. (CIL) had recently opened a new plant on the site of a former WWI explosives factory in Nobel, a village located just north of Parry Sound, Ontario. Eugène decided to try his luck with CIL, which manufactured explosives and munitions. He was soon hired as a guard with the company. Before returning to Rouyn, Eugène bought some property outside of Parry Sound. With the help of friends, he built a two-story home for his family. His elder daughter Madeleine described it as a “shell of a house”.

After borrowing a car, Eugène returned home. His elder daughters had just finished school in June. Madeleine remembered how her father “loaded us all with only our personal belongings for the long drive back to Parry Sound”. Eugène, wife Juliette (39), and children Mariette (12½), Madeleine (11), Simone (9½), Jacqueline (6½), Gaston (5), Normande (3), and Jeanne d’arc (2) were “jammed in a car plus boxes”.

Route from Rouyn, Quebec to Nobel, Ontario 

The journey of about 426 kilometres (about 265 miles) took a few days. Madeleine recalls that the car had “a couple of flat tires on the [way]”. One of them happened “just on the outskirts of North Bay” in Ontario. She and her sister Mariette “walked to [the] nearest garage” to fetch an attendant to repair the tire. The family finally arrived at their new home late in the evening of “a real hot day in July”.

It must have been a great relief for my grandfather Eugène to find a job after being out of work. A regular paycheck was a blessing, but the change in environment was a culture shock. The family exchanged Rouyn, a largely Roman Catholic Francophone community, for Nobel, a mainly Protestant English-speaking village. My aunts and uncle had known only parochial schools, Juliette spoke no English, and she and Eugène were separated from family (they both had brothers who lived near them).

Nobel turned out to be an unhappy place of residence. Less than a year later, six year old Gaston died following a car accident after a day of fishing with his father.* I’ve always wondered if the tragic loss of his only surviving son had something to do with my grandfather moving away from Nobel and relocating his family to another town within a few weeks of Gaston’s death.

* I’ve written twice about Gaston on my blog: Wednesday’s Child: Gaston Desgroseilliers, A Brief Life and Mystery Monday: Gaston Desgroseilliers’ Cause of Death.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Eugene Desgroseilliers with his brother and niece

Eugène Desgroseilliers (centre) with his brother Donat and their niece Lina, 

about 1955-1957

I love finding photographs that shows my maternal grandfather Eugène Desgroseilliers. I first saw this picture when my Mom’s older sister Madeleine gave it to me in October 2011. Aunt Madeleine was on vacation in British Columbia that year and brought with her an envelope filled with pictures and other memorabilia that she gathered for me.

Two people are identified in the photo, because someone (it’s not Aunt Madeleine’s handwriting, which I recognize) wrote on the back of it:

Oncle Donat & Oncle Ovila’s daughter “Lina”

Whoever wrote these names forgot to add Eugène’s. There are no other details on the back or front of the picture like when and where it was taken. I think it dates to 1955 or 1956, since Lina looks about 3 or 4 years old. Donat and Ovila (not shown in the picture) are Eugène’s younger brothers, while Lina is his niece. The trio presumably posed at a relative’s home in Sturgeon Falls or Bonfield, near North Bay, Ontario. Alternatively, the picture was taken in August 1957, when Eugène travelled from Sarnia to Sturgeon Falls for his brother Joseph’s funeral.

Can any of my Desgroseilliers cousins fill in the blanks for this photo?

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sympathy Saturday: Gathered for a Funeral

Jacqueline (left) with her sisters and their paternal aunt Flavie (centre, back), 1960

My grandfather Eugène died 54 years ago today on 20 September 1960. He had recently turned 60, and had been unwell for some time. When his younger daughter Jacqueline (my mother) visited him earlier that summer, he told her that it wasn’t the same ‘unwell’ feeling he had when drinking (“C’est pas la boisson”, he said), but something different.

One day that September, Mom got a phone call from her sister Madeleine. She “just about broke down” when Madeleine told her their father was very ill, in hospital with cancer.

After leaving me in the care of my paternal grandparents at home in Timmins (I was only two years old and Dad was working), Mom, Madeleine and a few of their Desgroseilliers relatives who also lived in northeastern Ontario left for Sarnia. They drove all night, a journey of about 963 km (about 597 miles), that Mom still remembers as “a really bad night”. The next day, they were met by Mom’s sisters Mariette, Simone, Normande and Jeanne d’arc, who lived near their father.

Arriving at Sarnia General Hospital, Mom and Madeleine realized just how ill their father was when he didn’t recognize his daughters, even though Madeleine gently told him “Poppa, c’est Jacqueline…”.

A few days later, while Mom was resting at her sister Simone’s home, Eugène passed away.

A requiem high mass was held three days later at St. Thomas Aquinas church on 23 September 1960. Mom, her sisters, as well as their father’s surviving brothers and sister and various relatives, were present.

A blurry photo of sisters in mourning; left to right:

Simone, Mariette, Jacqueline, Madeleine, Jeanne d’arc and Normande, 1960

Eugène was laid to rest next to his Juliette, who predeceased him in 1948, at Our Lady of Mercy cemetery in Sarnia.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wednesday’s Child: Alma Desgroseilliers (1904-1907)

Little Alma Desgroseilliers was only three years and six months old when she died. [1]
 

Alma with her brothers Eugène (left) and Arthur (right), about 1906.

She was the third child and eldest daughter of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers.

Born on 14 January 1904 in St-Charles, Ontario, Alma was baptised “Alma Fabiana” three days later in St-Thomas Apôtre church in nearby Warren. [2] Actually, I’m not sure if her godparents brought her to Warren (taking a newborn out in winter doesn’t seem prudent), or if Father Nayl travelled to St-Charles to baptise Alma, and then once back in Warren recorded the details in his church’s sacramental register.

In about 1906 or early 1907, Alma’s parents and her elder brothers (Eugène, my maternal grandfather, and Arthur) moved to Cobalt, northeast of St-Charles, near the Ontario-Quebec border. I don’t know what prompted my great-grandfather Albert to relocate his young family there, but perhaps it had something to do with silver being discovered in Cobalt in 1903. [3] Neither his daughter's death registration nor her burial record indicate what kind of work Albert did at this time. (He had been a farmer in St-Charles.)

Alma, who had been ill with bronchitis for one week, died on 6 July 1907 in Cobalt. [4] She was buried there in the cemetery the next day; her father was present. [5]

How sad it must have been for Albert, Clémentine and their sons when they returned to live in St-Charles in the spring of 1908.

Sources:

1. “Ontario, Canada Deaths, 1869-1932”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 January 2012), entry for Alma Degrossalier [sic], 6 July 1907; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Deaths - 1869-1932; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS935, reel 131.

2. “Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1907”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : 20 January 2012), entry for Alma Fabi[ana] Desgrosellier [sic] (written as Desgrosellier, indexed as Desgrciellier), 14 January 1904; citing Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Birth and Stillbirths – 1869-1904; Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario; microfilm series MS929, reel 174. Also, St-Thomas Apôtre (Warren, Ontario), parish register, 1901-1967, p. 12 verso, entry no. 6 (1904), Alma Fabiana Desgroseilliers baptism, 17 January 1904; St-Thomas Apôtre parish; digital image, “Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : 20 January 2012).

3. Wikipedia contributors, "Cobalt, Ontario", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cobalt,_Ontario&oldid=611476989 : accessed 16 September 2014).

4. “Ontario, Canada Deaths, 1869-1932”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 January 2012), entry for Alma Degrossalier [sic], 6 July 1907.

5. "Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-24489-8758-36?cc=1927566&wc=M6VR-DTP:220997601,220997602,220997603,221004101 : accessed 20 January 2012), Timiskaming > Cobalt > St Hilarion > Baptisms, marriages, burials 1906-1910 > image 26 of 113, entry for Alma DesGroselliers [sic].

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Matrilineal Monday: Remembering Juliette

Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers, 1930s

Today – June 30th – is the 113th anniversary of my maternal grandmother Juliette’s birth.

Juliette, baptised “Julie Marie”, was born on 30 June 1901 in the village of Chénéville, Papineau County, Quebec. She was the third child and eldest daughter of Joseph Beauvais and his wife Olivine Hotte.

My aunt Madeleine (Mom’s sister) gave me this photo, which I saw for the first time when I visited her during my recent trip to Ontario.

The first thing I notice about this picture is how casual my grandmother Juliette is. I’m also struck by her youth and beauty. I see a strong resemblance between her and her youngest daughter Jeanne d’arc.

Juliette appears confident as she looks straight at the camera. She is young, probably in her 30s. She is dressed stylishly and wears white pumps. There’s a large floral decoration at her right shoulder. I think I see a barrette (hair clip) in her hair, as well as a necklace, and a ring (her wedding ring?) on her left hand.

If I’m right about her age, the photo was probably taken in Hearst, Ontario, between 1927 and 1936, but more likely 1931 to 1935. The house number “205” is seen above the door. Is this her home, where she lived with her husband Eugène and their children?

I wonder why this picture was taken – could it be her birthday?

So many questions, so few answers.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.