Wedding Wednesday: Laronde – Kekijicakoe

One of the more interesting weddings among my ancestors is that of Toussaint Laronde, a voyageur, and his Native American (possibly Algonquin) wife Marie Kekijicakoe, from whom I descend patrilineally. [1]

Toussaint and Marie seem to have been a couple from about 1812 or 1813 when their first child (daughter Angélique) was born. There were thirteen more children born to them until about 1839. [2] I’ve written about two of those children in Sibling Saturday: Euphrosine and Elisabeth Laronde.

In 1837, Toussaint and Marie married in a Roman Catholic ceremony officiated by Father Pascal Brunet, a missionary priest from Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, now Montebello, Papineau County, Quebec. [3] Toussaint and Marie were granted a dispensation to marry because of their relationship of second degree of consanguinity (they were first cousins). [4]

I searched digitized images of the parish registers of Petite Nation and Buckingham (both in the province of Quebec) and Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario for 1836-1837, where some of Father Brunet’s sacramental records are conserved, but didn’t find an entry showing this Laronde marriage. [5]

Before they married, Toussaint baptised (specifically, “ondoyé”) Marie. [6] A spiritual affinity or relationship thus formed between the one who baptised (Toussaint) and the one who was baptised (Marie). [7] Father Brunet was not aware of this baptism and the resulting affinity, an impediment to the marriage.

It wasn’t until a year later that another missionary, Father Louis-Charles Lefebvre de Bellefeuille, a Sulpician priest from Montreal, discovered the impediment. [8] He accordingly granted two dispensations (spiritual affinity and consanguinity) and rehabilitated or ‘ratified’ Toussaint and Marie’s 1837 marriage, making their union canonically valid. [9] The rehabilitation took place on 28 August 1838 at Poste des Allumettes on Ile des Allumettes in Pontiac County, Quebec. [10]

Note that no mention is made in Toussaint and Marie’s 1838 marriage record that they were previously wed in a Native American ceremony or that they received an annulment for such a ceremony. [11]

Finally, here are images from the FHL microfilm showing the marriage rehabilitation record, followed by my English translation of the French text. I originally prepared the translation (Appendix C, further below) on 20 March 2011 when I put together my Laronde research in a 23-page document (“The Family of Toussaint Laronde and Marie Kekijicakoe”); it appears on my blog for the first time.

Marriage rehabilitation record of Toussaint and Marie Laronde (page 77 verso and page 78 recto)

Marriage rehabilitation record of Toussaint and Marie Laronde (page 78 verso)

English translation of the marriage rehabilitation record

Sources:

1. Marie’s surname is “Kekijicakoe” in her son François’ baptismal entry. (Her name appears to be spelled Kekiji[cakoe], although it is somewhat difficult to decipher.) To date, this is the only record I have found in which Marie’s Aboriginal surname is explicitly stated. St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze (Buckingham, Quebec), parish register, 1839-1854, p. 35 verso, entry no. B136 (1840), Francis Laronde baptism, 15 September 1840; St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 February 2011).

2. “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 77 verso, no entry no. (1838), Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1703968. Toussaint and Marie had fourteen children, according to their marriage rehabilitation record. By 1838, thirteen survived and they were all legitimated by Father de Bellefeuille when their parents married that year in August. (The deceased child is not identified in the record.) The children and their ages appear in the record in the following order: Denis (23), Angélique (25), Marie (22), Toussaint (19), Euphrosine (17), Anne (15), François (13½), Elizabeth (11), Charles (9½), Eustache (8), Louis (7), Paul (3) and Susanne (4 months). According to some online family trees, Toussaint and Marie were the parents of an elder son named Alexander. The marriage rehabilitation record does not mention Alexander, suggesting that he is not Toussaint and Marie’s son.

3. The marriage rehabilitation record of 1838 states that Father Brunet married the couple “l’année dernière” [last year]. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838.

4. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838.

5. Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours (Montebello, Quebec), parish register, 1815-1900, pages 118-130 (1837); Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 February 2011). Also, St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze (Buckingham, Quebec), parish register, 1836-1860, pages 1-22 (1836-1837); St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 20 March 2011). Also, Notre Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1829[-1948], unpaginated, entries no. 19–24 (1836); Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 March 2011).

6. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838.

7. “The Catholic Encyclopedia”, New Advent (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ : accessed 18 June 2015), “B: Baptism: Minister of the sacrament: Extraordinary minister”. See also Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, “ASK FATHER: Can a godparent marry a godchild? Confirmation sponsor a confirmand?”, Fr. Z's Blog, 28 October 2014 (http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/10/ask-father-can-a-godparent-marry-a-godchild-confirmation-sponsor-a-confirmand/ : accessed 18 June 2015).

8. Father de Bellefeuille led three missions from 1836 to 1838 to minister to the Christians and Native Americans who lived at Poste des Allumettes and the nearby region of Lake Timiskaming. It was during his last mission in August 1838 that he rehabilitated Toussaint and Marie’s marriage, before his death that October in Montreal. Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada (http://www.biographi.ca/en/index.php : accessed 18 June 2015), “Louis-Charles Lefebvre de Bellefeuille”.

9. A rehabilitated marriage is a non-canonically valid marriage that receives official church recognition. “The Catholic Encyclopedia”, New Advent (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/ : accessed 18 June 2015), “V: Validation of Marriage”.

10. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838. Poste des Allumettes, also known as Fort William, was a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post situated on the Ottawa River near Sheenboro in Pontiac County, Quebec.

11. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838.

Copyright © 2015, 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.

Sibling Saturday: Euphrosine and Elisabeth Laronde

My ancestor Euphrosine Laronde is sometimes confused with her younger sister Elisabeth in family trees at Ancestry.ca. Those muddled trees give her two husbands (Jean-Baptiste Guérard and François-Xavier Gaudette) and give 1878 as her year of death.

Based on my research, Euphrosine had one husband, Guérard, and she died before the 1861 census. It was her younger sister Elisabeth who was the wife of Gaudette, and who died in 1878.

Background Information

Euphrosine and Elisabeth were the daughters of Toussaint Laronde and his Aboriginal wife Marie Kekijicakoe. [1] The Laronde family lived on Ile aux Allumettes, an island located in the Ottawa River between the province of Quebec on the east and the province of Ontario on the west.

Euphrosine was born about 1820 or 1821 at Lake Nipissing. [2] Elisabeth was born between 1826 and 1831 in Ontario or Quebec. [3]

Euphrosine married Jean-Baptiste Guérard at an unknown date and place, but presumably before December 1840. [4] (I’ve written about how I haven’t been able to find their marriage record here.) The couple had three children.

Elisabeth and François-Xavier Gaudette’s date and place of marriage are also unknown, but the event took place before 30 April 1846. [5] They had seven children.

Separate Identities

I examined the sacramental records for the parish of St-Alphonse de Liguori on Ile des Allumettes and made a list of the different names under which the two sisters appeared. The results gave me a better understanding of the sisters’ identities at various times in their lives.

In Euphrosine’s case, she was known as ‘Euphrosine’ as early as 1824. [6] On other occasions, she was known by what appears to be shortened phonetic versions of that name: ‘Frisin’ and ‘Fisina’. [7] Interestingly, I found only one occasion where she was known as ‘Isabella’. [8]

Meanwhile, her sister Elisabeth was known as Elizabeth/Elisabeth, [9] Isabelle/Isabella, [10] or Eliza. [11]

Family Units

Now that Euphrosine and Elisabeth’s names and aliases were established, I turned to baptism records to recreate their family units.

Euphrosine and Jean-Baptiste had three known children:

• Marie (Mary), born December 1840 [12]
• Delina (Célina), born 4 August 1851 [13]
• Euphémie, born 24 October 1852 [14]

All three daughters were baptised at the parish church at Chapeau on Ile aux Allumettes, with the records stating they were the children of Jean Baptiste Guéra[rd] and Euphrosine Laronde (1840), John B. Gerrard and Fisina Laronde (1851), and J.B. Girrard and Felicita Laronde (1852).

Elisabeth and François-Xavier had seven known children:

• Francis (Olivier), born 30 November 1846 [15]
• Michael, born 3 September 1848 [16]
• Mary Julie, born 2 October 1858 [17]
• Andrew (Denis), born 18 January 1861 [18]
• Toussaint, born 12 March 1863 [19]
• Susanne, born 9 June 1864 [20]
• Mederick (Edward), born 20 June 1867 [21]

Like their Guérard cousins, the Gaudette siblings were baptised at Chapeau. The records show they were the children of Francis Gaudette and Isabella Laronde (1846), Xavier Gaudet and Isabella Laronde (1848), Michel [sic] Gaudette and Elisabeth Laronde (1858), Francis [X.] Gaudette and Elizabeth Laronde (1861), Francis Xavier Gaudette and Isabella Le Rhonde (1863), Francis X. Gaudet and Elizabeth Leronde (1864), and Xavier Gaudet and Isabelle Leronde (1867).

More Clues

Two sets of godparents stood out among these baptism records. First, Michael Gaudette’s godparents at his 1848 baptism are recorded as “Michael Gaudet” and “Frisin Laronde”. [22] Although the relationship between the infant and his godparents isn’t stated in the parish register, Michel is likely his father’s brother, while Frisin is likely his mother’s sister. (In French, ‘Frisin’ sounds like a shortened version of ‘Euphrosine’: Euphrosine = Phrosine = Frisin.)

Second, at Delina Guérard’s baptism in 1851, her godparents are named “X. Gaudet” and “Isabell Laronde”. [23] Again, no relationship is stated, but they are likely her mother’s brother-in-law and her sister.

Sorting Death Dates

The exact date and place of Euphrosine’s death is a mystery to me. However, the event occurred between 24 October 1852 when her daughter Euphémie was baptised [24] and the 1861 census of Canada on which her husband is a widower. [25]

Unlike her sister, Elisabeth’s date and place of death are known. Her burial record states that she died on 11 October 1878 and that she was buried in Chapeau two days later. [26] Her widowed husband remarried in 1883. [27]

Conclusion

Sacramental and census records helped untangle fact from fiction and eliminated confusion between Euphrosine and Elisabeth Laronde. They showed that although the sisters both used the name Isabella, Euphrosine married Jean-Baptiste Guérard and died before the 1861 census, while Elisabeth was the wife of François-Xavier Gaudette and died in 1878.

Sources:

1. Marie's surname is "Kekijicakoe" or "Kekijicoköe" in her son François' baptism record. To date, this is the only record I have found in which her Aboriginal surname is stated. St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze (Buckingham, Quebec), parish register, 1839-1854, p. 35 verso, entry no. B136 (1840), Francis Laronde baptism, 15 September 1840; St-Grégoire-de-Nazianze parish; digital image, "Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967", Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 February 2011).

2. “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 77 verso, no entry no., Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1703968. Euphrosine’s age (17) is stated in her parents’ marriage record. Also, Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec), parish register, 1796-1846, p. 54 verso, no entry no. (1824), Euphroisine [sic] Laronde baptism, 28 July 1824; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 March 2011). Euphrosine was 3 years old. Her baptismal entry states she was born “au Lac Népiscingue” [at Lake Nipissing].

3. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde – Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838. Elisabeth was 11 years old. Also, “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 77 verso, entry no. B117 and B118, Marie and Elizabeth Laronde baptism, 28 August 1838; FHL microfilm 1703968. Elisabeth was about 11 years old. Also, 1871 census of Canada, Allumette Island, Pontiac South, Quebec, population schedule, division 01, subdistrict k, p. 20, dwelling 59, family 71, Elizabeth Gaudette; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 July 2009); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-10025. Elisabeth is 43 years old and her place of birth is Ontario. Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1876-1886, p. 56 recto, entry no. S15 (1878), Isabelle Laronde burial, 13 October 1878; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 April 2009). Elisabeth was 48 years old. Also, 1861 census of Canada, [Allumettes,] Pontiac, Canada East [Quebec], population schedule, p. 12, line 21, Eliza Gaudet [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 July 2009); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1305. Elizabeth was 30 years old and was born in Lower Canada [Quebec].

4. Euphrosine and Jean-Baptiste’s marriage date is deduced from when their presumed eldest daughter Marie was born – “dans le mois de décembre dernier” [in the month of last December]. St-Paul (Aylmer, Quebec), parish register, 1841-1851, p. 14 verso, no entry no. (1841), 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 11 March 2008). Marie’s baptism took place in the “mission de St Alphonse de Liguori des Allumettes”, but the priest recorded the event in St-Paul’s sacramental register.

5. Elisabeth and François-Xavier married before 30 April 1846, because they are described as a married couple who witnessed the marriage of François-Xavier’s brother Michel Gaudet [sic] to Vitaline Généreux on that date. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 20 verso, entry no. M20 (1846), Gaudet – Généreux marriage, 30 April 1846; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 9 February 2011).

6. Ste-Anne, parish register, 1796-1846, p. 54 verso, Euphroisine [sic] Laronde baptism, 28 July 1824.

7. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 78 recto, entry no. B76 (1848), Michael Gaudet [sic] baptism, 10 September 1848; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011). Euphrosine’s name is rendered as “Frisin Laronde” in her godchild’s baptism record. Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 137 recto, entry no. B77 (1851), Delina Gerrard [sic] baptism, 5 August 1851; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 March 2008). Euphrosine appears as “Fisina Laronde” at her daughter’s baptism.

8. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1859-1876, p. 278 recto, entry no. M16 (1870), Foisy – Guérard marriage, 10 October 1870; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 March 2009). Euphrosine’s name is given as “Isabella Laronde” in her daughter’s marriage record.

9. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Marie and Elizabeth Laronde baptism, 28 August 1838. Elisabeth’s name is spelled “Elizabeth” at her baptism. Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856 [sic], p. 232 verso, entry no. B55 (1858), Mary Julie Gaudette baptism, 10 October 1858; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011). Elisabeth’s name is spelled “Elisabeth” in her daughter’s baptism record.

10. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 20 verso, Gaudet – Généreux marriage, 30 April 1846. Elisabeth’s name is rendered as “Isabelle” on this occasion. Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 39 recto, entry no. B186 (1846), Francis Gaudette baptism, 1 December 1846; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011). Elisabeth appears as “Isabella Laronde” in her son’s baptism record.

11. 1861 census of Canada, [Allumettes,] Pontiac, Canada East [Quebec], pop. sched., p. 12, line 21, Eliza Gaudet [sic].

12. St-Paul, parish register, 1841-1851, p. 14 verso, Marie Guérard baptism, 4 February 1841.

13. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 137 recto, Delina Gerrard [sic] baptism, 5 August 1851.

14. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 164 verso, entry no. B95 (1852), Euph[émie] Guérard baptism, 24 October 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 March 2008).

15. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 39 recto, entry no. B186 (1846), Francis Gaudette baptism, 1 December 1846; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011).

16. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 78 recto, Michael Gaudet [sic] baptism, 10 September 1848.

17. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 232 verso, entry no. B55 (1858), Mary Julie Gaudette baptism, 10 October 1858; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011).

18. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 44 recto, entry no. B22 (1861), Andrew Gaudette baptism, 2 February 1861; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 22 June 2010).

19. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 107 verso, entry no. B22 (1863), Toussaint Gaudette baptism, 13 March 1863; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011).

20. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 141 recto, entry no. B49 (1864), Susanne Gaudet [sic] baptism, 14 June 1864; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011).

21. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1857-1876, p. 208 verso, entry no. B52 (1867), Mederick Gaudet [sic] baptism, 24 June 1867; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 March 2011).

22. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 78 recto, Michael Gaudet [sic] baptism, 10 September 1848.

23. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 137 recto, Delina Gerrard [sic] baptism, 5 August 1851.

24. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1846-1856, p. 164 verso, Euph[émie] Guérard baptism, 24 October 1852.

25. 1861 census of Canada, [Township of Chichester,] Pontiac, Canada East [Quebec], population schedule, p. 132, line 11, Bte Gerard [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 June 2010); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1305. The official enumeration date was 14 January 1861.

26. St-Alphonse, parish register, 1876-1886, p. 56 recto, Isabelle Laronde burial, 13 October 1878.

27. François-Xavier married widow Maria Pack on 16 October 1883 in Chapeau. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1876-1886, p. 139 recto, entry no. M13 (1883), Gaudette – Pack marriage, 16 October 1883; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 April 2009).

Copyright (c) 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Mystery Monday: Guérard – Laronde Marriage

The marriage record for my paternal ancestors Jean-Baptiste Guérard (ca 1814-after 10 Oct 1870) and Euphrosine Laronde (ca 1820-before 1861 census) does not seem to exist.

I started looking for this couple’s marriage over twenty years ago. I used published resources like Tanguay’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes and microfilmed ones like Loiselle Marriage Index.

Later, I searched a number of online resources when they became available on the Internet, including:

• “Drouin Collection” at Ancestry.ca
• BMS2000 [baptism, marriage, burial] database
• Généalogie du Québec et française d'Amérique 
• Le Centre de généalogie francophone d'Amérique [Gedcom files]
• Mes aieux

I also turned to a firm of Montreal-based professional genealogists for help. Unfortunately, they didn’t succeed in locating a marriage record, but they sent me a report of the types of sources they consulted without success; for example, Fichier Fabien, the Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, and various Répertoires des mariages.¹

Lake Allumette on the Ottawa River in Ontario (ca 1870)

I might not know exactly when and where Jean-Baptiste and Euphrosine married, but I have it estimated to presumably before December 1840. That’s when their daughter Marie was born, according to her baptism, which took place in February 1841 on Ile des Allumettes.²

Thinking they might have married where their daughter was baptized, I searched the 1841-1851 mission register of St-Paul’s church in Aylmer, Quebec, which is available in the "Drouin Collection" at Ancestry.ca. (St-Paul’s was established in 1841 and started keeping records that year.) I didn’t find a marriage entry for them.

I looked at the register of nearby parish of St-Grégoire-de-Naziance in Buckingham, searching page-by-page from January 1839 through to March 1841. I didn’t find the marriage record.

I extended my search to parishes further afield, like the Pembroke, Ontario missions register for 1839-1842, but was unsuccessful. (Pembroke, which lies across the Ottawa River on the Ontario side, faces Ile des Allumettes.)

I was also not successful when I looked at Ottawa’s Notre-Dame Basilica for January 1835 to July 1841. (I didn’t search earlier than 1835, because Euphrosine, who was born about 1820, probably wouldn’t be younger than 15 years old at her wedding.)

I can think of three reasons why Jean-Baptiste and Euphrosine’s marriage is impossible to find.

#1 – The family lived on Ile des Allumettes in Pontiac County, a sparsely populated and more or less wilderness area in the 1850s. The island didn’t have a resident priest at this time and was served instead by missionary priests. Jean-Baptiste and Euphrosine's marriage record may never have made it into the sacramental register in the travelling priest’s home parish. If it did, it’s in a parish that I haven’t searched or considered.

#2 – Since Euphrosine was born in the Lake Nipissing region of present-day Ontario, she might have married there.³ If she was married by a missionary priest, he might have lost or mislaid the record before he reached his usual parish.

#3 – Euphrosine and Jean-Baptiste might have wed in a Native Indian ceremony with the event going unrecorded.⁴

So, after 20 years of looking, this is where I’m at – the same place as I was at the beginning of my quest.

Could it be that I’ve overlooked a particular parish? Could it be that my Guérard – Laronde ancestors’ marriage record doesn’t exist?

What about you, dear readers? How would you proceed?

Sources:

1. Institut généalogique J.L. & associés inc., “Rapport de recherche en généalogie concernant le couple Guérard-Laronde”, prepared by Micheline Lécuyer, prés., Montreal, Quebec, for Yvonne Demoskoff, 10 September 1991; copy privately held by Yvonne Demoskoff, Hope, British Columbia, 2013.

2. St-Paul (Aylmer, Quebec), parish register, 1841-1851, p. 14 verso, no entry no. (1841), Marie Guéra[r]d baptism, 4 February 1841; St-Paul parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : 11 March 2008). Marie’s date of birth “dans le mois de décembre dernier” (in the month of December last) is stated in her baptism record. The baptism took place in the mission of St-Alphonse de Liguori on Ile des Allumettes, but recorded in St-Paul’s sacramental register.

3. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue (aka Ste-Anne-du-Bout-de-l’Isle), Quebec), parish register, 1796-1846, p. 54 verso, no entry no. (1824), Euphroisine [sic] Laronde baptism, 28 July 1824; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : 4 March 2011). Euphrosine was 3 years old. Her baptism entry states she was born “au Lac Népiscingue” [Lake Nipissing].

4. Euphrosine’s father Toussaint Laronde appears to be the son of a French-Canadian father and an Aboriginal mother. Her mother Marie Kekijicoköe [Kekijicakoe], described as “une sau[va]gesse” in her daughter’s baptism record, was probably Ojibwa (Chippewa, Algonquin).

Image credit: 

“Lake Allumette on the Ottawa River in Ontario” (ca 1870), by Alfred Worsley Holdstock (1820-1901), W.H. Coverdale Collection of Canadiana, Library and Archives Canada.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Euphrosine Laronde, My Metis Ancestor

A few years ago, I discovered I had Métis and Aboriginal heritage through my father’s maternal Vanasse ancestors. It's a little known part of my ancestry that I’m still researching.

Metis

According to The Métis Nation of Ontario website, Métis are a “distinct Aboriginal people” whose “initial offspring of these unions were of mixed ancestry” – that is, a child born to a European (Canadian) father and an Indian woman. [1]

I used to think that if I had Aboriginal ancestors I would find them in the 1600s or 1700s when Canada (New France at that time) was still young. But it was really interesting to find them in my more recent ancestry with my great-great-great-grandmother Euphrosine Laronde.*

* Euphrosine is my father’s matrilineal ancestor; see Matrilineal Monday: My Father’s Matrilineal Line.

Euphrosine’s birth

Although a birth record probably doesn’t exist for Euphrosine, a record of her baptism does. According to the sacramental registers of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, a town located about 35 kilometres (about 22 miles) west of Montreal, Euphrosine was agée de trois ans [aged three years] at her baptism on 28 July 1824. [2] She and her siblings Toussaint and Marie were baptised on the same day. Each of their baptismal records states that these Laronde children were born au Lac Népiscingue [at Lake Nipissing], now in the province of Ontario.

Her parents

Euphrosine’s parents, Toussaint Laronde and Marie Kekijicakoe, were first cousins. [3] They had lived as a couple since about 1813, when the first of their 14 children were born. [4] Originally married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1837, their union was rehabilitated in August 1838 after an impediment was discovered. [5]

Toussaint was the son of a French-Canadian (possibly Métis) father and an Aboriginal mother. Marie was also Aboriginal, presumably Ojibwa (Chippewa, Algonquin). She is described as sauvagesse [savage, that is Indian] in her children’s baptismal records. Marie became a Christian when she was baptised in 1838. [6]

Toussaint worked in the fur trade as an interpreter for the North West Company in 1804, and later managed the joint operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company at Lake Nipissing from 1821 to 1824. [7]

Marriage and children

In about 1839, Euphrosine married Jean-Baptiste Guérard, almost certainly on Ile des Allumettes in Pontiac County. [8] The couple had at least three children: my ancestor Marie (1840-1917), Célina (born in 1851), and Euphémie (born in 1852). Nothing else is known of their married life.

Her death

Euphrosine died young, when about 31 to 40 years old. Her exact date and location of death and burial are a mystery to me, but she died probably on Ile des Allumettes between October 1852 (when her daughter Euphémie was baptised) and January 1861 (when her husband appears as a widower on that year's census). [9]

My line of descent from Euphrosine and her parents:

Toussaint Laronde (ca 1783-?)

m. 1837 Marie Kekijicakoe

Euphrosine Laronde (ca 1821-1852/1861)

m. ca 1839 Jean-Baptiste Guérard

Marie Guérard (1840-1917)

m. 1859 Joseph Vanasse

Elisabeth Vanasse (1862-1947)

m. 1889 (her first cousin) Olivier Vanasse

Julie Vanasse (1896-1967)

m. 1926 Fred Belair

Maurice Belair (1927-1996)

m. 1954 Jacqueline Desgroseilliers

Yvonne Belair

Sources:

1. “Culture and Heritage: Who are the Métis”, The Métis Nation of Ontario (http://www.metisnation.org/culture--heritage/who-are-the-metis : accessed 17 January 2013).

2. Ste-Anne (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue [aka Ste-Anne-du-Bout-de-l’Isle], Quebec), parish register, 1796-1846, p. 54 verso, no entry no. (1824), Euphroisine [sic] Laronde baptism, 28 July 1824; Ste-Anne parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 4 March 2011).

3. “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 77 verso, no entry no., Laronde-Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838; Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1703968. The text states that the couple received a dispensation of consanguinité au 2e dégré [consanguinity to the 2nd degree].

4. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde-Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838. Toussaint and Marie’s marriage rehabilitation states they had 14 children before their present marriage, 13 of which were living. Their eldest mentioned child was daughter Angélique, who at 25 years old, would have been born about 1813.

5. A spiritual affinity existed between the couple, because Toussaint provisionally baptised (specifically, ondoyé) Marie before their (original, 1837) marriage. This undeclared impediment rendered their union null, hence the need to have their marriage rehabilitated or ratified in 1838 in order for it to be canonically valid. “Registres paroissiaux”, p. 77 verso, Laronde-Laronde marriage rehabilitation, 28 August 1838.

6. Marie was described as ondoyée in August 1836, when her younger sons Eustache, Paul and Louis were baptised. She was later baptised sous condition [conditionally] by a priest in August 1838. (A baptism sous condition is when the officiating priest baptises a child (or an adult) on condition that he or she has not been previously baptised.) “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 21 recto, entry no. B125, B126, B127, Eustache, Paul, and Louis Laronde baptism, 5 August 1836; FHL microfilm 1703968. Also, “Registres paroissiaux” [Régistres des missions de 19 juillet 1836 au 27 may [sic] 1839], p. 77 verso, entry no. B117 and B118, Marie and Elizabeth Laronde baptism, 28 August 1838; FHL microfilm 1703968.

7. “North West Company Men’s Names at the Athabasca River Dept. 1805”, database and images, Bouvette Family Website (http://www.bouvette.com/family/DAVID_Basile_1780/Athabasca.html : accessed 25 June 2011), entry for Toussaint Laronde. Also, David A. Robertson, Eva M. MacDonald, and Martin S. Cooper, “Among Marshes and Gneiss Mounds: The Archaeology of La Vase Island”, Ontario Archaeology, No. 64 (1997); online archives, The Ontario Archaeological Society (http://www.ontarioarchaeology.on.ca/publications/search.php : accessed 7 March 2011), pages 11-12.

8. Euphrosine and Jean-Baptiste’s marriage date is deduced from when their presumed eldest daughter Marie was born: dans le mois de décembre dernier [in the month of last December]. St-Paul (Aylmer, Quebec), parish register, 1841-1851, p. 14 verso, no entry no. (1841), 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 11 March 2008). Marie’s baptism took place in the “mission de St Alphonse de Liguori des Allumettes”, but the missionary priest recorded the event in St-Paul’s sacramental register.

9. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 164 verso, entry no. B95 (1852), [Euphemie] Guérard baptism, 24 October 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 11 March 2008). Also, 1861 census of Canada, [Township of Chichester,] Pontiac, Canada East [Quebec], population schedule, p. 132, line 11, Bte Gerard [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 June 2010); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1305.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.