Funeral Card Friday: Agnes Burchill

Agnes Burchill was the youngest sister of my paternal grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair.

“Aunt Aggie”, as my late father knew her, lived in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada since the late-1930s. I think the only time I met her was when my family and I were there on vacation, probably in the 1980s. We visited her and her husband “Uncle Freddie” at their apartment in a multi-storied building one afternoon. It was a real pleasure to meet my great-aunt because she was a connection to my beloved Mémère Julie. I was researching my family tree at this time, so I came prepared with questions for Aggie and Freddie. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened to those notes and now remember very little about that visit.

Youngest child and youngest daughter of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse, Agnes was born on 12 September 1905 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. She had eight older siblings: Mary, George, William, Cecilia, Julie (my grandmother), Joseph, Corine and David.

Agnes died on 28 June 2000, Freddie having predeceased her in November 1989. They were both laid to rest at Capital Funeral Home & Cemetery in Ottawa.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Father Charles-Eugène Thériault

(Front of card)

This funeral card was printed to the “pious memory” of Reverend Charles-Eugène Thériault. It measures about 10.5 cm x 5.5 cm (4 ¼” x 2 ¼”). My Aunt Joan (Dad’s sister) gave the card to me when I visited her home in May 2014.

Father Thériault was ordained a priest in September 1910 and was immediately assigned to Cobalt, a mining town in Ontario. Two year later, the Bishop sent him further north, to Timmins, where he became that community’s first resident priest in October 1912. While here, Father Thériault was instrumental in building churches (like St. Anthony’s Cathedral) and schools (like my future elementary school St-Charles). In 1940, he was transferred to Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes church in another part of town. (I was baptised at Notre-Dame in 1958; it was my parish for ten years.)

Suffering from a kidney ailment in the mid-1950s, Father Thériault sought treatment at a Montreal hospital. Sadly, he died there on 1 May 1956.

(Back of Card)

Sixty years have passed since Father Thériault’s death. One place in particular keeps his memory alive in Timmins – my high school. Opened in 1972, the new building was named Ecole Secondaire Thériault (later, Ecole Secondaire Catholique Thériault) in his honour.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Annie Philippe

Ann (also known as Annie) was a younger daughter of Joseph and Martha (Bloski) Prince, a Polish couple. She was born in 1916 in Barry’s Bay, Renfrew County, Ontario. When she was twenty years old, Ann married Joseph Philippe, a nephew of my grandfather Fred Belair. Joe and Ann had six children – one son and five daughters.

I don’t recall if I ever met Ann, but I visited her daughter Joan at her home in Timmins on one or two occasions to talk about our Belair relatives. After my family and I moved to British Columbia, I corresponded with Joan’s sister and brother.

Ann died on 13 March 1976; her husband Joe passed away two years later.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Cecilia (Brazeau) Caron

Front of card

This funeral card is in memory of Cécilia Brazeau, épouse bien-aimée (beloved wife) of Michel Caron, who died on 25 December 1956. The card measures 10 cm x 5.5. cm (approximately 3¾” x 2¼”).

Back of card

I received this card with family memorabilia either from my Aunt Darlene or my Aunt Joan in the 1980s or 1990s.

I don’t know if or how Cécilia is related to my family, but from basic research I did, she might have been someone who knew my grandparents Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair when they lived in northeastern Ontario during the 1940s and 1950s.

Cécilia, born about 1881, was the daughter of Léon and Célina (Gauthier) Brazeau. She married on 22 June 1903 in Notre-Dame-du-Laüs, Labelle County, Quebec, Michel Caron, son of Paul and Zoe (Gauthier) Caron.

Cécilia and Michel had at least six children: three sons (Domina, Emilien and Gérard) and three daughters (Marie-Emilia, Sonia and Yvette). The family lived in the township of Montjoy and next door in Timmins, Ontario from about 1937 through the 1950s.

After Cécilia’s death, presumably in Timmins, Michel lived there with his daughter Yvette and her husband Aldéric Lafontaine.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Elizabeth Vanasse

Front and back of memorial record

This lovely memorial record was printed for the funeral of my paternal great-grandmother Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse. Folded, it measures 14 cm x 8 cm (approximately 5½“ x 3¼”). My aunt Joan (one of Elizabeth’s granddaughters) sent me the booklet with other family memorabilia in late 1987.

Inside text of memorial card

My great-grandparents Elizabeth and Olivier Vanasse, who married in July 1889 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec, were first cousins. They had nine children, including my grandmother Julie.

Elizabeth passed away on 1 September 1947 in Ottawa, where she lived after Olivier’s death. The funeral was held there two days later, followed by interment in the cemetery of St-Alphonsus of Liguori (Roman Catholic) church in Chapeau, where she lived most of her life.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Frank Milks



Front of card


This funeral card was printed in memory of Francis (Frank) Milks, a brother-in-law of my paternal grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair. The card measures about 10.5 cm x 6.5 cm. (approximately 4 ¼” x 2 ½”). It was included in the family memorabilia sent to me in 1987 by my aunt Joan, who was Julie’s daughter.



Back of card


Frank was a younger son of David and Catherine (Lacharité) Milks. He was born on 9 July 1900 in the rural community of Cantley, Gatineau County, Quebec. Frank worked as a railway labourer when he married Corinne (Cora) Vanasse, my grandmother’s younger sister, on 5 November 1921 in Ottawa. The couple had five children: Doreen, Marvel, Lorraine (Peggy), Donald and Lynda.

Frank died on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1968, in Ottawa. He was interred in the cemetery of St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic church in Cantley.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Yvonne Fournier

Front of card

This funeral card is in memory of Yvonne (Belair) Fournier, my Dad’s cousin. The card measures 11.5 cm x 6.5 cm (approximately 4 ½” x 2 ½”). It was sent to my parents in March 1989, who weren’t able to attend Yvonne’s funeral.


Back of card


Yvonne was born on 24 December 1926 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County, Quebec. She was baptised there the following day, with her maternal grandparents present as her godparents. Yvonne was the third, but eldest surviving child of Joseph and Corinne (Gingras) Belair, having four younger sisters (one of whom died young) and one brother. Her father Joseph was my grandfather Fred’s younger half-brother.

A few months before turning 22, Yvonne married Aldoria Fournier on 26 August 1948 at the parish church in Masham. They were the parents of seven children, six boys and one girl.

Yvonne died on 11 February 1989 in Hull (Gatineau), about 34 km (about 21 miles) south-east of Masham.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Darcy Philippe

This funeral card is in memory of Darcy Philippe, a nephew of my paternal grandfather Fred Belair. The card measures 10.5 cm long by 5.5 cm (about 4" x 2"). It was one of the items I received from my Aunt Darlene Belair when she sent me a box of family memorabilia some years ago.

Darcy was the sixth son and seventh child of Alexis and Angélina (Belair) Philippe. He was born on 17 February 1914 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County, Quebec. He was baptised “Darcide Didace Philippe” three days later in the local parish church.

Tragically, Darcy lost his parents when he was only two years old. His young mother Angélina (she was only 32 years old) died in July 1916 in Masham, while his father Alexis died of typhoid fever a few weeks later that August. After their parents’ deaths, he and his siblings were sent to live with various family members. The youngest child, one-year-old Lorenzo (Lawrence) was adopted by family friends and took their surname. His only sister Délia later became a nun. As Sister Ste. Philippe de Neri of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Conception, Délia was a teacher in Rome and Cuba.

I don’t believe I ever met Darcy, but I knew some of his nieces, because they and their parents lived in Timmins, where I was from.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Albert Desgroseilliers

This funeral card is dedicated to the “douce mémoire” (dear memory) of Albert Desgroseilliers, my maternal great-grandfather. The card measures 10 cm long by 5.5 cm wide (approximately 4” x 2”). I don’t remember how I came to own it, but my mother had it for many years before she gave it to me.

I never met Albert, because he died a few months before I was born. He was a tall man, about 6’5” (his eldest son Eugène was even taller – 6’7”), and was a farmer most of his life. Albert was born in February 1879 in Embrun in Russell County, Ontario, and married Clémentine Léveillé in April 1899 in nearby Limoges. Soon after their wedding, they relocated north to St-Charles in Nipissing District, where their son Eugène was born in the summer of 1900.

When I first started researching my mother’s side of the family many years ago, I was told that Albert died in Sturgeon Falls, close to St-Charles, where he and Clémentine settled on a small property. Years later, when I found his burial record in the “Drouin Collection” at Ancestry.ca, I read that he died on December 16, 1957 and that his funeral took place three days later on December 19 in La Résurrection parish in Sturgeon Falls. I was told he died in Sturgeon Falls by my mother and her sister Madeleine, I knew he was buried in that town, and I was satisfied with this information. About three years ago, I ordered a certified copy of Albert’s “Statement of Death” (death registration) from the Office of the Registrar General in Ontario. Was I ever surprised and confused to read that my great-grandfather died not in Sturgeon Falls as I had always believed, but miles away in Ottawa General Hospital in our country’s capital city! (I knew I had the correct Albert Desgroseilliers, because all the other bits of info on the form matched what was verified about him, like his date and place of birth, the names of his parents, and the name of his wife.) I asked Mom if she could clear up this mystery, but she assured me that Sturgeon Falls was where her grandfather died. She suggested I call her elder sister, Madeleine, who would surely confirm that “fact”. So, I call my Aunt Madeleine, and she was just as sure as Mom was about where Albert died. She couldn’t explain why his death registration gave a different, and until now, unheard of place of death. At this point in time (2009), all of Albert’s 14 children were deceased, so I couldn’t ask any of them for their help. I looked at the document one more time hoping to see if I had missed important clues. I believe I found two. First, according to “Length Deceased Resided” were the death occurred, it says that Albert lived in Ottawa for “2 mois” (2 months), indicating that he was there since October. I wondered what would have brought him to Ottawa? I checked my files on his family, and saw that his younger brother Célestin had recently died on November 22 in Vanier. (Vanier used to be a municipality next door to Ottawa, but is now part of that city.) Second, the name of the informant was Laurent DesGroseilliers, Albert’s nephew, and Célestin’s son. It now seemed reasonable to think that Albert travelled from his home in Sturgeon Falls to visit his ailing brother in Vanier. While there, he became ill, was taken to the hospital where he subsequently died. (The death registration does not have a section for cause of death.)

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff