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.

In Memoriam: Mariette White

Today – 17 February 2014 – marks the sixth anniversary of my Aunt Mariette’s passing. She was 80 years old, a widow, and survived by her seven children, and many grand- and great-grandchildren.

Mariette, my mother’s eldest sister, was born on 18 December 1927 at home in Hearst, Ontario, Canada. She was the second, but eldest surviving, child of her parents, Eugène and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers.

Mariette, about 1936

During her early years, her father Eugène worked as chief of police in Hearst. He made a comfortable living, and was able to buy such luxuries as a piano for his children. He was also able to afford to send his elder daughters Mariette, Madeleine and Simone to the Académie Sainte-Marie, in Haileybury, Ontario, to be educated as boarding students by the Soeurs de l'Assomption de la Sainte Vierge.

About 1935, the family moved to northeastern Quebec. Life was good until about 1938 or 1939, when my grandfather Eugène became seriously ill with double pneumonia. He was unable to work for months, and ultimately lost his position as chief of police. Faced with unemployment, he moved his family to Ontario and found work as a guard in Nobel, just outside Parry Sound.

In the summer of 1942, the family relocated again, this time to Blue Water, a tiny community next to Sarnia, Ontario. It was here, in the mid-1940s, that Mariette met John (Jack) White, whom she married. They had three sons and four daughters.

I met my Aunt when I was very little, because my parents travelled to Sarnia at least twice when I was a toddler. But, I don’t remember anything of those visits. The next time I saw Aunt Mariette, I was a teenager. My parents and I (I don’t remember if my sister and brother were with us) were in Sarnia and visited her home. We walked into the living room where she and my cousins had gathered. As soon as I saw my Aunt, I was amazed at how much she and my Mom looked alike. I had, of course, seen photos of her over the years, but I had never really noticed this striking resemblance. Seeing her in person made such a difference, too. Mariette was a very beautiful woman, and with her dark looks, reminded me of actress Loretta Young.

Mariette (left) with her sister Jacqueline, 1974

I wish I had a better chance to know my Aunt and my cousins (actually all of my Sarnia relatives), but we lived so far apart from each other, and visits were, unfortunately, infrequent.

You are still loved and missed today, Aunt Mariette.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday’s Faces from the Past: Eugene and his daughter

Eugene Desgroseilliers and his daughter Mariette, 1928

Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the passing of my maternal grandfather Eugène Desgroseilliers, who died on 20 September 1960 in Sarnia, Lambton County, Ontario.

I wanted to honour his memory by posting this wonderful photo of him and his little girl Mariette.

My aunt (who passed away in 2008) appears to be about six or seven months old, while my grandfather was 27 years old (or 28, if the picture was taken on or after his birthday on 30 August).

Eugene, his wife Juliette and their infant daughter lived in Hearst, Cochrane District, Ontario, so that lake behind him is possibly Lac Ste-Thérèse, located just north of town.

Isn’t my grandfather handsome in his police uniform and my Aunt Mariette adorable with her little black patent leather shoes?

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.