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

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse are my paternal great-grandparents. Olivier was born on 4 February 1863 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec (then known as Canada East). He was the sixth and youngest child of Olivier and Elizabeth (Frappier) Vanasse. Elizabeth was born on 11 September 1862, also in Chapeau. She was the third of thirteen children of Joseph and Marie (Guérard) Vanasse.

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse (ca 1930s)

Olivier and Elizabeth were first cousins, their fathers being brothers. They married in the summer of 1889 and lived in Chapeau, where Olivier farmed. He and Elizabeth had nine children, who all survived to adulthood. Olivier died on 7 December 1944 at home. About 1946, my great-grandmother moved to Ottawa, Ontario to live with her daughter Mary. She died there on 1 September 1947.

Children of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse

1. Mary Vanasse
Mary was born on 1 April 1890 and died, unmarried, on 21 September 1951.

2. George Vanasse
George was born on 13 October 1891. On 15 June 1920, he married Louisa Potvin (1902-1996) in Bourget, Ontario. Louisa was the sister of Clément Potvin, who married George’s sister Celia. George and Louisa had seven children. George died on 22 March 1976 in Ottawa.

3. William (Willie) Vanasse
Willie was born on 23 February 1893 and died on 13 May 1955 in a veterans’ hospital in London, Ontario. He was unmarried. Willie served in World War I.

4. Cecilia (Celia) Vanasse
Celia was born on 6 January 1895. She married on 14 June 1921 in Ottawa Clément (Clem) Potvin (1895-1987). Clem was the brother of Louisa Potvin, who married Celia’s brother George. She and Clem had two children. Celia died on 3 September 1986 in Ottawa.

Olivier and Elizabeth Vanasse (centre, back) with their children
Mary (centre, left) and Joe (in uniform) and (front, left to right)
Celia, Aggie, and Dave (ca 1939)

5. Julia (Julie) Vanasse
Julie was born on 31 August 1896. She married on 28 October 1926 Fred Belair (1889-1991) in Ottawa. Julie and Fred had six children, including my father Maurice. She died on 19 March 1967 in Timmins, Ontario.

6. Joseph (Joe) Vanasse
Joe was born on 23 January 1898. He married on 19 August 1942 Stella (Shirley) Ranger (1920-2010) in Chapeau. Like his elder brother, Joe served in World War I. He and his wife Stella had two children. Joe died on 23 March 1973 in Ottawa.

7. Corinne (Cora) Vanasse
Cora was born on 20 August 1900. She married Francis (Frank) Milks (1900-1968) on 5 November 1921 In Ottawa. Cora and Frank had five children. She died on 11 April 1977 in Ottawa.

8. David (Dave) Vanasse (Venasse)
Dave was born on 3 May 1903. He married on 12 June 1929 Louise St-Martin (1911-1991) in Chapeau. They didn’t have children of their own, but adopted a boy. Dave died on 28 May 1979 in Pembroke, Ontario.

9. Agnes (Aggie) Vanasse
Aggie was born on 12 September 1905. She married on 2 September 1935 Frederick (Fred; Freddie) Burchill (ca 1907-1989) in Chapeau. Fred was a British home child. He and Aggie had three children. Aggie died on 28 June 2000 in Ottawa.

Celia, Julie, Cora, and Aggie Vanasse (1962)

My grandmother Julie lived a couple of houses from mine when I was a child, so I knew her very well. I never met great-aunt Mary and great-uncle Willie, who passed away before I was born. I don’t believe I ever met George, Joe and Dave, but might have the year my family went to Ottawa on vacation in 1969. When I was a teenager, I visited Celia, Cora, and Aggie on a few occasions at their homes in Ottawa. I loved those visits with my great-aunts, because they were a link to my beloved grandmother after she passed away.

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Vanasse – Frappier

Today is the 164th anniversary of the marriage of Olivier Vanasse and Elizabeth Frappier, my paternal great-great-grandparents.

Vanasse - Frappier marriage record (Ancestry)

Olivier, second son of Régis and Josephte (Messier) Vanasse, was born in 1832 in Yamaska, Yamaska County, Quebec. His wife Elizabeth is one of three children I’ve identified of Michel and Louise (Neveu) Frappier. She was born about 1832, based on her age at her baptism in 1836, probably on Ile des Allumettes in Pontiac County, Quebec.

Olivier and Elizabeth married on 20 April 1852 in St. Alphonsus church in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. [1] Irish-born Reverend James Christopher Lynch blessed their union. [2] The couple had six children: Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1854-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931), Elizabeth (aka Elmire) (1860-1953), and Olivier (1863-1944), my great-grandfather.

Here’s my transcription of the marriage record (above):

April 20th 1852 after the banns of Marriage / having been twice published at the / prone of Mass in this mission Between / Oliver Venace son of age of Regis Venace / and of [Joseth] Mar[i iere?] on the one part / and Anne Isabelle Frappier minor / daughter of Michael Frappier and of / Louissa Nevaux on the other part and / where as a dispensation of one of the banns / of Marriage have been given by us in vir- / tue of a power accorded to us by his lord- / ship the Right Rev. F. Guigues Bishop of / Bytown no impediment having been / discovered we the undersigned priest / of this mission have Received their mutual / Consent to mariage and have given / them the nuptial benediction at St / Liguoris Allumette Island in the presence / of Joseph [Laganef?] & [La reau?] [La Viven?] who have not signed[Signed Jas C Lynch Priest]

Olivier passed away in November 1914, having survived Elizabeth, who died in July 1909.
 
Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 152 verso, entry no. M.8 (1852), Oliver Venace – Anne Isabelle Frappier (written as Olivier Venace – Anne Isabelle Frappier, indexed as Olivin Verran – Anne Isabelle Frappier) marriage, 20 April 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital images, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2011).

2. Alexis de Barbezieux, Histoire de la province ecclésiastique d'Ottawa et de la colonisation dans la vallée de l'Ottawa (Ottawa, 1897: I: 253 and 399); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 13 March 2014). Father Lynch was appointed curate (assistant priest) of St. Alphonsus in 1845 and then its parish priest in 1846. He spent his entire priestly career there, and died in 1885.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Olivier Vanasse (1863-1944)

Olivier Vanasse obituary (The Evening Citizen)

My paternal great-grandfather Olivier Vanasse passed away seventy-one years ago on 7 December 1944. That’s the date according to his death registration and The Evening Citizen of 8 December 1944. [1] However, The Ottawa Journal of 9 December 1944 gives a different date: “yesterday”, that is, 8 December 1944. [2]

Both newspapers, though, agree that he died at home after an illness of two years.

Olivier was survived by his wife Elizabeth and their children, Mary, George, William, Cecilia (Celia), Julie (my grandmother), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David, and Agnes (Aggie).

Sources:

1. “Mariages et décès 1926-1997”, database, Généalogie Québec.com (https://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 3 September 2009), death entry for Olivier Vanasse, 7 December 1944. Also, “Olivier Vanasse”, obituary, The (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Evening Citizen, 8 December 1944, p. 14, col. 3; digital images, Google News (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 18 February 2014), News Archive Search.

2. “Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 2 July 2013), Olivier Vanasse obituary; citing The Ottawa Journal, 9 December 1944, p. 17, col. 4; City of Ottawa Archive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Census Sunday: The Vanasse Family and the 1921 Census

1921 census of Canada (Chichester Township, Quebec) [1]

My paternal grandmother Julie Vanasse was enumerated on the 1921 census of Canada. [2] She, her parents and some of her siblings lived in rural Chichester, Pontiac County, Quebec.

Julie was born on 31 August 1896, so her presence on the 1921 census marks her third appearance on a federal Canadian census.

Cropped version of 1921  Chichester Township census

The family’s surname is spelled Venasse on the above images, but is indexed Vinson in the census database at Ancestry.ca.

There were eight members in the household: head of family Oliver (54), wife Elizabeth (54), and children Mary Ann (31), Willie (28), my grandmother Julia (24), Joseph (23), David (18) and Agnes (15). Three other children, eldest son George, and younger daughters Celia and Cora, lived in their own homes or in other communities.

Although the census form is bilingual (French and English), the responses are in English. I don’t see a date on this return, but the official census date was 1 June 1911. [3]

Oliver is a farmer. He owns his house, which is constructed of wood and has four occupied rooms. [4] The family is Roman Catholic, all its members were born in the province of Quebec, Oliver cannot read or write, his wife Elizabeth can write, and all their children can read and write. The family speaks French and English.

The thing that strikes me the most interesting about my Vanasse great-grandparents’ family on this census is that almost all of their unmarried children lived at home. I would expect to see teenager Agnes and perhaps her 18-year-old brother David still at home, but the others are between 23 and 31 years old and of an age to be living in their own homes or working out of town. I like to think that this nearly complete household means that they were a particularly close and united family.

Sources:

1. 1921 census of Canada, Chichester Township, Pontiac-Témiscamingue-Abitibi, Quebec, population schedule, subdistrict 7, p. 7, dwelling 49, family 49, Oliver Venasse [sic] household; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 8 August 2013); citing Library and Archives Canada, Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013. Series RG31. Statistics Canada Fonds.

2. 1921 census of Canada, Chichester Township, Pontiac-Témiscamingue-Abitibi, Quebec, pop. sched., subdist. 7, p. 1, dwel. 49, fam. 49, Oliver Venasse [sic] household.

3. Dave Obee, Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census (Victoria, BC: Dave Obee, 2012), 160.

4. “1921 Canada Census Enumerator Instructions”, Ontario (Upper Canada) Genealogy and History - 1921 Canada Census Information (http://www.ontariogenealogy.com/1921canadacensusinformation.html : accessed 2 August 2014), entries no. 73, 77 and 78.

Copyright © 2014, 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.

52 Ancestors: #29 Joseph Vanasse - From Yamaska County to Pontiac County

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 29th week of this challenge, I chose Joseph Vanasse (1838-1897).

Joseph is my paternal great-great-grandfather and is number 22 in my ancestor list.

He is the younger brother of Olivier Vanasse (1832-1914), whose story I wrote for 52 Ancestors two weeks ago; you can read it here.

Joseph was born possibly in the parish of St-Michel in the town of Yamaska on 17 October 1838. I say possibly because his parents were residents of that parish when he was baptized in the parish of St-David in the nearby town of St-David. [1]

I don’t know when the Vanasse brothers left their home county of Yamaska or what motivated them to seek their fortune elsewhere in the province. Olivier was presumably the first to arrive in Pontiac County, because he married there in April 1852; he was 20 years old. I wonder if Joseph, who was only 13 years old, was with him. The earliest I can place Joseph in Pontiac is on 31 October 1857. That’s when he was present at the baptism of his godchild and nephew John Vanasse in Chapeau. [2]

When I record information about Joseph in Word documents or in my genealogy software program or in my family trees at Ancestry.ca, I standardize his surname as Vanasse. I rarely find his name spelled that way, though, so I add a note to explain the variant. For example, his surname was Vanasse in his baptism and his burial records, Venance in his marriage record and on the 1861 and 1871 censuses of Canada, Venasse in the baptism record of his godson in 1857, on the 1881 census of Canada and on his tombstone, and Venace on the 1891 census of Canada.

On 10 January 1859, Joseph married Marie Guérard in the little parish church of St-Alphonsus of Liguori in Chapeau. [3]

Joseph and Marie were blessed with thirteen children between 1859 and 1883: Dalmatius (aka Delmar, Delmond), Regis (aka Richard), Elizabeth (my ancestor, who married her first cousin Olivier Vanasse), Lucy, Pierre, Isidore, Alexander, Mary Julia, Josephine, Maria Jane, Delina (aka Delia), David, and Joseph.

The family lived in a one-story log house on a property that Joseph farmed in Chapeau on Ile des Allumettes. This island is situated in the Ottawa River on the Quebec side, across from the town of Pembroke in Renfrew County, Ontario.

Joseph died on 29 September 1897 in Chapeau. [4] He was survived by his wife Marie and all their children. Sons Isidore and Alexander were present at his funeral the next day at St-Alphonsus church, although they declared they could not sign their names in the sacramental register.

Sources:

1. St-David (St-David, Quebec), parish register, 1838, p. 17 verso, entry no. B63, Joseph Vanasse baptism, 18 October 1838; St-David parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 15 June 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 232 verso, entry no. B59, John Venasse baptism, 31 October 1857; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 17 July 2010).

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, 1895, p. 22 recto, entry no. S32, Joseph Vanasse burial, 30 September 1897; 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.

52 Ancestors: #28 Elisabeth Frappier

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has issued herself and her readers a challenge for 2014. It’s called “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”, and as Amy explains, the challenge is to “have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor”.

For the 28th week of this challenge, I chose Elisabeth Frappier (ca 1832-1909).

Elisabeth is my paternal great-great-grandmother and is number 21 in my ancestor list.

Her date and location of birth are unknown. She was baptised on 1 February 1836 as "Nancy Frappier", daughter of Michel Frappier and Lizette Neveu. [1]

Elisabeth was 4 years old in 1836, which means she was born about 1832. Her baptism took place during an expedition to Fort Coulonge and nearby communities by a missionary priest surnamed Brunet. This wilderness area didn't have a church or even a chapel where ecclesiastical records could be kept. Elisabeth’s baptism record (including those of the other baptisms that took place during this mission) was accordingly sent to Notre-Dame parish in Ottawa.

If you examine Notre-Dame's "index des baptêmes" (index of baptisms) for this time frame, you might conclude that Elisabeth's baptism took place in Ottawa. However, a careful reading of her baptism record reveals that it took place in or near Fort Coulonge, Lower Canada (now the province of Quebec) during the late winter of 1836. Fort Coulonge, located a little to the northeast of Ottawa, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post from 1827 to 1853.

In April 1852, Elisabeth, as “Anne Isabelle Frappier”, married Olivier Vanasse. [2] I wrote about him last week here. The couple had six children: Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1856-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931), Elizabeth (1860-1953) and Olivier (1863-1944), my great-grandfather.

Elisabeth died on 9 July 1900 in Chichester, Pontiac County, Quebec. In her burial record, she is referred to as “Nancie Frappier” [3], but on her tombstone she is “Elizabeth Vanasse”. [4]

Sources:

1. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, no p. no., entry no. B3 (1836), Nancy Frappier baptism, 1 February 1836; Basilique Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 May 2011).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1846-1856, p. 152 verso, no entry no. (1852), Oliver Vinace – Anne Isabelle Frappier [sic] marriage, 20 April 1852; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 1 March 2011).

3. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1909, no p. no., entry no. S22, Nancie Frappier burial, 11 July 1909; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 27 June 2014).

4. St. Alphonse de Ligouri RC Cemetery, digital images, The Canadian Gravemarker Gallery (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cangmg/quebec/pontiac/allumett/stalplig/index.htm : accessed 10 July 2014), photograph, grave marker of Elizabeth Vanasse, Chapeau, Quebec.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #9 Elisabeth Vanasse – One of thirteen children

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 9th week of this challenge, I chose my paternal great-grandmother Elisabeth Vanasse (1862-1947).

Last week, I wrote about Elisabeth’s husband Olivier Vanasse; you can read about him here.

My great-grandmother Elisabeth was born on 11 September 1862 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec.

Elisabeth Vanasse (in the 1930s or 1940s)

She was the third child and first daughter of Joseph Vanasse and his wife Marie Guérard, who married in January 1859 in Chapeau.

Elisabeth had two elder brothers, Dalmatius (Delmond) and Regis (Richard) and ten younger brothers and sisters, Lucy, Pierre, Isidore, Alexander, Mary Julia, Josephine, Maria Jane, Delina (Delia), David and Joseph.

With so many people in the household, I imagine that Elisabeth’s mother Marie must have relied on her daughter from an early age. In fact, Elisabeth had just turned 21 when her youngest sibling, Joseph, was born in 1883. I wonder if being part of a large family had anything to do with her marrying at the rather advanced age of nearly 27?

Elisabeth married Olivier Vanasse on 16 July 1889. Their marriage record states that “a dispensation […] of the second degree of consanguinity had been granted by [… the] Vicar Apostolic of Pontiac, on the eighth instant […]”.

The couple were first cousins and had known each other from childhood, because they were born and raised in Chapeau. Her father Joseph was the younger brother of Olivier’s father, also named Olivier.

Elisabeth was the mother of nine children: Mary, George, William, Cecilia (Celia), Julia (my paternal grandmother), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David and Agnes (Aggie).

In about 1946, Elisabeth moved to Ottawa, where some of her children lived. She died there in hospital after a short illness on 1 September 1947. She is buried in the parish cemetery in Chapeau, where she lived most of her life.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

52 Ancestors: #8 Olivier Vanasse – Husband, Father, Farmer

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 8th week of this challenge, I chose my paternal great-grandfather Olivier Vanasse (1863-1944).

Olivier Vanasse

I never knew this great-grandfather (he died quite a few years before I was born), but my father Maurice and his sister Joan knew him. I remember just a couple of things of what they told me about Olivier. For example, when they were very young (less than 5 years old), they visited his property, a farm, at Chapeau. Then, a few years later, Dad and Aunt Joan and their parents Fred and Julie (one of Olivier’s daughters) lived at Chapeau, when Fred ran a gas station there. One day, I'd like to take a trip to eastern Canada and visit Chapeau in Pontiac County, Quebec and see the Vanasse farm for myself. I'll have to first contact a cousin, though, to get its exact location and find out if it's still in the family.

My great-grandfather Olivier was born on 4 February 1863 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. He was the youngest child of his parents Olivier and Elisabeth (Frappier) Vanasse. Olivier’s older siblings were Michael (1853-1933), Julia (1854-1895), Henriette (1856-1883), John (1858-1931) and Elizabeth (1860-1953).

Olivier didn’t look too far to find a bride when he married in July 1889. He chose his first cousin, Elisabeth Vanasse (1862-1947), who like him, was born and raised in Chapeau.

The couple’s first child, Mary, was born the following spring in April 1890. A son, George, soon followed in October 1891, and then seven more children between 1893 and 1905: William, Cecilia (Celia), Julia (Julie), Joseph, Corinne (Cora), David and Agnes (Aggie). My grandmother Julie was their fifth child.

According to his obituary, Olivier retired from farming in 1919. He and his family continued to live on their property, where he died on 7 December 1944; he had been ill for two years.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.