Sunday’s Obituary: Lucille Saucier

Lucille (Potvin) Saucier passed away ten years ago on 15 November 2006. [1]

Born Doris Lucille Potvin, she was “Lou” to her family and “Cousin Lou” to my Dad and I. Actually, I was first cousin once removed to her, while she and Dad were first cousins.

Lou was the only daughter of Clement and Cecilia (Vanasse) Potvin. She was four years older than her cousin Maurice, but they were rather close as young children and spent vacations on their grandparents’ farm on Ile des Allumettes in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In later years, Dad always spoke fondly of Lou, probably because he knew her best of his Vanasse cousins.

When I was a student at the University of Ottawa, Lou would invite me to her home for meals (and much appreciated they were) or to just hang out when I got lonely living in my dorm. Lou and I corresponded fairly regularly after my family moved to British Columbia. She was a wonderful source of information about our relatives and ancestors.

Cousin Lou is still missed and remembered to this day.

Source:

1. “Doris “Lou” Saucier”, obituary, undated clipping, 2006, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Joan (Belair) Laneville, Timmins, Ontario, 2016. Yvonne scanned family memorabilia, including this obituary, when she visited her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville in May 2014. Joan and Lou were first cousins.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

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.

Sunday’s Obituary: David Venasse

Great-uncle David was my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair’s youngest brother. Some of the family spelled their last name Vanasse, others spelled it Venasse.

David, the eighth of nine children of Olivier and Elizabeth (Vanasse) Vanasse, was born on 3 May 1903 on Ile des Allumettes, Pontiac County, Quebec. He married Louise St-Martin in June 1929 and they adopted a son, Glen.

I don’t think I ever met David or Louise, but my Dad used to talk about his Uncle Dave to me.

A resident of Pembroke, Ontario, David passed away of cancer on 28 May 1979 in Queensway-Carleton Hospital in nearby Ottawa, Ontario. [1] His funeral took place three days later in Petawawa, just north of Pembroke, and he was interred in Chapeau on Ile des Allumettes. [2]

David’s death was a great blow to his wife Louise and to his surviving sisters Celia and Agnes, who were devoted to their brother.

Sources:

1. Agnes (Vanasse) Burchill (Ottawa, Ontario) to “Dear Joan”, letter, 1 June 1979; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2016. Yvonne received assorted family memorabilia, including this letter, from her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014. Joan was Agnes’ niece.

2. “Venasse”, obituary, undated clipping, 1979, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2016. Yvonne received assorted family memorabilia, including this obituary, from her aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014. Joan, David’s niece, received it from his sister Agnes (Vanasse) Burchill in a letter to Joan dated 1 June 1979.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: George Vanasse

George’s obituary is the second one that appears on my blog today. Earlier, I posted the obit of my paternal grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair.

George and Julie were the younger children of Olivier Vanasse and his wife (and first cousin) Elisabeth Vanasse. George, the eldest son, was born on 13 October 1891. He and his siblings – Mary, William, Cecilia, Joseph, Corinne, David and Agnes – grew up on their parents’ farm on Ile des Allumettes, Pontiac County, Quebec.

In June 1920, George married (Marie) Louise Potvin in her hometown of Bourget, Russell County, Ontario. They and their seven children (three sons and four daughters) lived most of their lives in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa.

George died on 22 March 1976 – forty years ago this Tuesday. His funeral was held two days later in St. Sebastian (Roman Catholic) church, with interment in Notre-Dame cemetery in Ottawa. [1]

I don’t believe I ever met my great-uncle George, but I had the opportunity to visit his eldest child Jeanne (Jean) at her home in the 1980s, while on vacation in Ottawa.

Source:

1. “Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 2 July 2013), Georges Vanasse [sic] death notice; citing The Ottawa Journal, 23 March 1976, p. 36, col. 7; City of Ottawa Archive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Célestin Desgroseilliers

Célestin Desgroseilliers passed away 58 years ago on 22 November 1957 in Ottawa, Ontario. [1] He was a younger brother of my maternal great-grandfather Albert Desgroseilliers. Célestin was born on 19 November 1881 in Embrun, Russell County, Ontario. He was the ninth child and sixth son of Pierre and Flavie (Lepage) Desgroseilliers.

In January 1904, Célestin married Fabiana Gauthier, by whom he had ten children. He and at least two of his brothers (Prospère and Albert) were tall men. He was a merchant in Sturgeon Falls and in Kapuskasing, Ontario before relocating to Ottawa in the mid-1950s.

Célestin died in hospital after a short illness. He was survived by his wife, 8 children, 16 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

Source:

1. “Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 November 2015), Celestin Desgroseilliers death notice; citing The Ottawa Journal, 23 November 1957, p. 24, col. 1; City of Ottawa Archive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; database created from microfilm copies of the newspaper.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Clement Potvin

“Uncle Clem” was my father’s maternal uncle. He married Cecilia (Celia) Vanasse, an elder sister of Dad’s mother Julie, in June 1921.

A man of slight build, Clem was a quiet person. I remember my family's visits to Ottawa in the 1970s and how we'd always find him happy. Uncle Clem didn’t say much, but he always had a smile on his face.

He died on 20 August 1987, age 92, less than a year after Celia passed away. They are interred in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa.

Source:

“Clement Potvin”, obituary, undated clipping (1987), from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2014. Yvonne received the original clipping from her Aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Saucier – Potvin

My Dad’s first cousin Lucille (Lou) Potvin married Joseph (Joe) Saucier on 22 June 1946, sixty-nine years ago next week. Father Fernand Faucher, a Dominican priest, officiated at the ceremony in St-Jean-Baptiste church on Empress Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario.

In the photo, Clem and Celia (Vanasse) Potvin stand next to their daughter, while Madame Victor Saucier is beside her son. Joe, who served in WWII, is wearing his army uniform.

I don’t think that my Dad and his family (his parents and his three siblings) travelled from their home in northern Ontario to attend his cousin’s wedding. (None of them appear in other photos I have seen of the wedding.)

Lou sent this photo to her cousin, my Aunt Joan (Dad’s sister). When I visited my Aunt last year, she gave me the picture; it was the first time I saw it. On the back of the photo, Lou wrote (in English and in French) in her distinctive handwriting:

Mum, Dad, Myself

& Joe & his Mum

Juin [June] 46

I don’t know the story of how Lou and Joe met, but maybe they got to know each other during the War. The Potvin family lived in Ottawa, but Joe and his family were from Cornwall, a little over an hour south of Ottawa.

My family and I visited Lou and Joe a few times where they lived in Ottawa. (Later, I visited them on my own when I was a student at the University of Ottawa.) I remember just a little bit about my first visit to their home in the summer of 1969, when their sons Ron and Dennis took me and my sister Marianne to the annual Ottawa Exhibition at Lansdowne Park.

Joe passed away in 1993 and Lou passed away in 2006. They were such nice people and I have fond memories of them.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Fred Burchill

Fred Burchill was born about 1907 in England. He came to Canada as a home child in about 1916. Once here, he was taken in (adopted) by a couple named Thomas and Anna Nephin of Chichester, Pontiac County, Quebec. I’ve previously written about great-uncle Fred in Freddie Burchill, Home Child.

Fred married Agnes (Aggie) Vanasse, a Pontiac County girl (and my late father’s maternal aunt), in September 1935 at St. Alphonsus Church in Chapeau. The couple, who had three children, settled in Ottawa, Ontario.

I remember meeting my great-aunt and great-uncle only once, when I visited them at their apartment in Ottawa in the late 1970s. It’s a shame that I didn’t know them better, because they were a lovely couple.

Fred died on 8 November 1989 in Ottawa. Aunt Aggie and their children survived him.

Source:

“Fred Burchill”, obituary, undated clipping (1989), from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2014. Yvonne received the original clipping from her Aunt Joan (Belair) Laneville when she visited her home in May 2014.

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.

Wedding Wednesday: Four Sisters at a June Wedding

Sixty-five years ago today, my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair, seen here on the far left, attended the wedding of her niece Marvel Milks to Charles Cosenzo on 4 June 1949 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. With Julie are her sisters (left to right) Agnes (Mrs. Fred Burchill), Cecilia (Mrs. Clem Potvin) and Cora (Mrs. Frank Milks).

I didn't know this photo existed until I saw it for the first time at my Aunt Darlene's home when I visited her last month during my trip to Ontario. She gave it to me, along with other family memorabilia, for which I'm truly grateful, because I love seeing any and all photos of my beloved Mémère Julie.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

The Hull - Ottawa Fire of 1900

26 April 1900 promised to be a ‘fine’ day for Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, according to the weather report. [1]

By mid-morning on that spring day, fate decided differently.

About 11:00 a.m., 114 years ago today, a fire broke out in Hull, opposite Ottawa. The origin: a burning chimney in the house of A. Kirouac on Chaudière Street. [2] The fire spread quickly throughout Hull, and by 1:00 p.m., “it is thought that the whole city […] will be destroyed”. [3]

View of Queen Street looking west during the Hull - Ottawa Fire of 1900.

(Library and Archives Canada / PA-120334)

The fire destroyed almost everything in its path as it accelerated beyond Hull to nearby islands in the Ottawa River where lumber companies stored their stacked lumber. From there, the fire reached the city of Ottawa. Fierce winds swept “sparks and flaming shingles in many directions and frequently caught in sections a considerable distance remote”. [4]

Hull Fire showing bridge on Ottawa side looking toward McKay's Mill.

(Horatio Needham Topley (1847-1910) / Library and Archives Canada)

By late afternoon, the great fire was consuming Ottawa’s working-class residential neighborhood of LeBreton Flats, located west of the federal parliament buildings. The fire might have continued through the city if it hadn’t been for “the sudden shifting of the wind from the north-east to the east”, which saved the rest of Ottawa. [5]

View of LeBreton Flats looking north after the Hull - Ottawa Fire of 1900.

(Library and Archives Canada / PA-121784)

Twelve hours after the fire began half of Hull and 20% of Ottawa were reduced to ashes. [6] Over 15,000 were left homeless, about 8,000 were destitute; there were 7 fatalities. [7]

Plan Showing Extent of Ottawa – Hull Conflagration, Thursday, April 26^th, 1900 [8]

Some of my paternal grandfather Fred Belair’s relatives lived in Ottawa during the 1880s to 1910s, like his great-uncle Denis Belair and his family. I checked the list of fatalities as reported in the Evening Citizen, but I didn’t recognize any of the names. [9]

For more information about the Great Fire, see the following online resources:

• Great Hull Fire of 1900 at Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine 

• 1900 Hull–Ottawa fire at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 

Sources:

1. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 26 April 1900, p. 7; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 24 April 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

2. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 26 April 1900, p. 1. The fire broke out at about 11:00 a.m., according to the Evening Journal, but other sources like Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine  say it began at about 10:00 a.m.

3. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 26 April 1900, p. 1.

4. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 26 April 1900, p. 1.

5. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 27 April 1900, p. 1; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 24 April 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

6. “Great Hull Fire of 1900”, Outaouais Heritage WebMagazine (http://outaouais.quebecheritageweb.com/article/great-hull-fire-1900 : accessed 24 April 2014).

 7. The Ottawa Evening Journal, 27 April 1900, p. 1. Also, The Evening Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario), 27 April 1900, p. 1; digital images, Google News (http://news.google.com/newspapers : accessed 24 April 2014), News Archive Search.

8. Wikipedia contributors, "1900 Hull–Ottawa fire", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Hull%E2%80%93Ottawa_fire : accessed 24 April 2014).

9. The Evening Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario), 27 April 1900, p. 1.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

A Day in My Ancestor’s Life – Julie (Vanasse) Belair

I got the idea for this blog article when I read the tip of the day for 18 November 2013 at Genealogy Tip of the Day.

The object of the exercise is to:

“Pick a day in your ancestor's life. Try and answer the following questions as of that date:

• Where was my ancestor living?
• Who was in his (her) household?
• What was the ancestor's occupation?
• What was the ancestor's age?
• What was going on nationally on this date (at this point in time)?
• What was going on locally/regionally?
• Were my ancestor's parents alive?
• Were my ancestor's siblings alive?
• Where would he (she) have gone to church the previous Sunday?
• Who were my ancestor's neighbors?”

I picked 2 August 1927, the day my grandmother Julie gave birth to my father. It was a Tuesday. [1] The forecast was mostly fine, with moderate winds. [2] The average temperature was 15.6 C, with a low of 9.4C and a high of 21.7C. [3]

Julie (right), who was expecting my father, with her sister-in-law Almina (1927)

• Where was my ancestor living?

Julie and husband Fred lived in Ottawa, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada. Their home was located at 62 Lloyd Street. [4] My grandfather never made big wages, so he and Julie likely lived in an apartment. Lloyd Street was in the working-class neighborhood known as LeBreton Flats, located near the downtown core, west of the Parliament Buildings and south of the Ottawa River.

Aerial view of Ottawa (1927)

• Who was in his (her) household?

There were at least two people in the household, Julie and Fred. I don’t know if they lived by themselves or shared accommodations.

• What was the ancestor’s occupation?

My grandmother didn't work outside of the home at the time of my father’s birth. If she worked at “other than household duties”, it would have been noted on the birth registration form. [5]

• What was the ancestor's age?

Julie was 30 years old. (She turned 31 at the end of the month.)

• What was going on nationally on this date (at this point in time)?

Canada was celebrating the diamond anniversary of its Confederation (1867-1927).

• What was going on locally/regionally?

HRH the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor) and his younger brother HRH Prince George, were visiting Canada. “Thousands of citizens” gathered on Parliament Hill and gave them an “exceedingly cordial welcome” on their arrival in Ottawa on Tuesday, 2 August 1927. [6]

Also, the third World’s Poultry Congress was on its second-to-last day. The well-attended event at Lansdowne Park showcased poultry and educational exhibits, and featured international speakers from countries like Canada, USA, Italy, Germany and Egypt. [7]

• Were my ancestor's parents alive?

Both my Dad’s parents were alive.

• Were my ancestor's siblings alive?

Dad was his parents’ first-born child, so, he didn’t yet have siblings.

• Where would he (she) have gone to church the previous Sunday?

Julie probably attended Sunday mass at St-Jean-Baptiste church, located at the corner of Empress and Primrose streets. It was probably her local parish, because that’s where she married the previous October, and where my father was baptised a week after he was born. St-Jean-Baptiste had served the French-Canadian community of the LeBreton neighborhood since 1872. Sunday mass might have been said by curé Bernard Doucet, O.P. [8]

• Who were my ancestor's neighbors?

I don’t know who my grandmother’s neighbors were. (I don’t have access to a 1927 city directory to Ottawa, but I hope to find one some day.) Based on where she lived in LeBreton Flats, though, many were probably from the same background: working folk, French-Canadian, and Roman Catholic.

Some Thoughts

I wonder how my grandmother Julie spent the last few days before my father’s birth? Did she spend some of her time viewing the poultry exhibits at Lansdowne Park (all that walking might not have been a good idea during her last trimester)? Would she have preferred listening to the band of the Governor-General’s Foot Guards who performed on Parliament Hill that Sunday afternoon? [9] Or, did she spend her time quietly at home, making sure she had all she needed for her baby’s layette and her hospital stay? [10]

Sources:

Image of Ottawa: Canada. Dept. of Mines and Technical Surveys / Library and Archives Canada / PA-015557.

1. “Perpetual Calendar”, infoplease (http://www.infoplease.com/calendar.php : accessed 31 January 2014).

2. “Record and Forecast of the Weather”, The Ottawa Evening Journal, 2 August 1927, p. 1; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 January 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

3. “Historical Climate Data”, Climate – Government of Canada (http://climate.weather.gc.ca/ : accessed 31 January 2014), “Ottawa”.

4. Ontario, birth registration, no. 1927-05-020795 (1927), Maurice Melvin Belair; Office of the Registrar General, Thunder Bay.

5. Ontario, birth registration, no. 1927-05-020795 (1927), Maurice Melvin Belair.

6. “Great Throngs Loudly Acclaim Notable Guests”, The Ottawa Evening Journal, 2 August 1927, p. 1; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 January 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

7. “Women Speak to Poultry Men Today’s Session”, The Ottawa Evening Journal, 2 August 1927, p. 1; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 January 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

8. “Historique”, Paroisse St-Jean-Baptiste (http://www.stjeanbaptiste.ca/ : accessed 31 January 2014).

9. “Guards’ Concert Greatly Enjoyed”, The Ottawa Evening Journal, 1 August 1927, p. 4; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 31 January 2014), Newspapers & Publications Records.

10. Ontario, birth registration, no. 1927-05-020795 (1927), Maurice Melvin Belair. The physician in attendance was J. M. Laframboise, MD, so my grandmother presumably had her baby in a hospital. (The hospital’s name does not appear on the registration form.)

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sibling Saturday: Albertine and Cora Gagnon

Albertine and Cora Gagnon, 1920s

This lovely picture is a copy I’ve had in my photo collection since the 1980s or 1990s. I think it was given to me by one of my paternal relatives, a Vanasse cousin of my Dad’s. The photo was probably taken in the early 1920s, and judging by the background, it must have been a studio portrait.

The fashionably dressed young women are sisters Albertine and Cora Gagnon. (I’m not certain which sister is on the left, but I think it's Albertine.) They were the younger daughters of François (Frank) and Julie (Vanasse) Gagnon, who married in the early summer of 1895 in Chapeau, Pontiac County, Quebec. [1] Julie was the maternal aunt of my grandmother Julie (Vanasse) Belair.

Albertine, baptised “Mary Abby”, was born on Christmas Day 1897, while Cora, baptised “Anna Cora Josephine”, was born on 19 December 1902, both in Chapeau. [2]

The girls had seven brothers and sisters: Mary (b. 1896), François Richard (1900-1955), Victor (1901-1923), Mary Albina (b. 1904), Robert (1906-1991), Bridget (b. 1909), and Jeanette (b. 1911).

The eldest of the Gagnon children, Mary, was probably the first one to leave the family home for nearby Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, because she married James H. Brown there in 1918. [3] Her younger sisters Albertine and Cora soon followed her to Ottawa.

In October 1926, Albertine was a witness at my grandmother Julie’s wedding to Fred Belair at St-Jean-Baptiste church on Empress Street in Ottawa. [4]

A few months later, in February 1927, Cora married William Guy Holden at Notre-Dame Basilica on Sussex Drive in Lower Town, Ottawa. Her sister Albertine was one of the witnesses. [5]

Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica exterior [6]

A close bond existed between my grandmother Julie and Albertine, because Julie asked her cousin to be part of another important event in her life – the christening of her first-born child, Maurice, my father. Albertine and Julie’s brother David Vanasse, as godfather, were present at my Dad’s baptism on 9 August 1927 at St-Jean-Baptiste church. [7]

In early 1937, Albertine (who had just turned 39 years old) married Dosithé Mainville on 20 January in Christ Roi church, at Argyle Avenue and Bank Street, Ottawa. [8]

I don’t think I ever met either Albertine or Cora, although Cora (and some of her other sisters) lived in Timmins, Ontario (where I’m from) for quite a few years. It’s possible that I met her when I was little, but have forgotten the occasion(s).

Of the two sisters, Albertine died first, in 1968. She is interred in St. Alphonse de Ligouri Cemetery in Chapeau. [9] Cora died five years later in 1973, and is interred in Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, Cochrane District, Ontario. [10]

Sources:

1. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1895, p. 16 recto, entry no. M9, François Gagnon–Julie Vanasse marriage, 26 June 1895; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 June 2010).

2. St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1902, p. 24 verso, entry no. B.91, Anna Cora Josephine Gagnon baptism, 21 December 1902; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014). Also, St-Alphonse (Chapeau, Quebec), parish register, 1897, p. 27 verso, entry no. B.83, Mary Abby Gagnon baptism, 26 December 1897; St-Alphonse parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014).

3. Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1913-1930, p. 89 (stamped), entry no. M.15 (1918), James Brown–May Gagnon [sic] marriage, 10 September 1918; Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 January 2014).

4. St-Jean-Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1909-1968, p. 136, entry no. 28 (1926), Jean Baptiste Belair–Julie Venance [sic] marriage, 28 October 1926; St-Jean-Baptiste parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

5. Basilique Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1926-1933, no page number, entry no. M.9 (1927), William Guy Holden–Anna Cora Josephine Gagnon marriage, 26 February 1927; Basilique Notre-Dame parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 19 January 2014).

6. Wikipedia contributors, "Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Ottawa," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Notre-Dame_Cathedral_Basilica,_Ottawa&oldid=592169804 : accessed January 27, 2014).

7. St-Jean-Baptiste (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1909-1968, p. 802, entry no. 93 (1927), Maurice-Melvin Bélair [sic] baptism, 9 August 1927; St-Jean-Baptiste parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

8. Christ Roi (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1930-1953, p. 87 (stamped), entry no. M.1 (1937), Dosithé Mainville–Mary Albertine Gagnon marriage, 20 January 1937; Christ Roi parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http//www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 January 2014). Christ Roi, founded in 1930, closed down as a parish church in 2001. (Source: “Région pastorale – Ottawa”, Diocèse d’Ottawa (http://www.missa.org : accessed 27 January 2014), Christ Roi.)

9. RootsWeb.com, St. Alphonse de Ligouri RC Cemetery, digital images (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cangmg/quebec/pontiac/allumett/stalplig/index.htm : accessed 19 January 2014), photograph, grave marker of Albertina Mainville [sic] (1897-1968), Chapeau, Quebec.

10. RootsWeb.com, Whitney Cemetery, Porcupine, digital images (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~murrayp/cochrane/porcupin/whitney/index.htm : accessed 19 January 2014), photograph, grave marker of Cora Holden (1902-1973), Porcupine, Ontario.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Ottawa's Parliament Hill – Who Owned It?

View of Barrack Hill and the Ottawa River at Bytown (Ottawa)

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours going through some old genealogy file folders I created about 30 years ago. (I was young when I started genealogy ☺) I looked over each folder, filled with mostly general topics. I kept what I wanted, re-filed some material under more appropriate headings, and put the rest in a discard/recycle pile.

One file that got my interest was the one about the city of Ottawa. Back when I started being interested in my family’s history and genealogy, my grandfather Fred used to tell me the story about how his paternal ancestors once owned the land on which the federal parliament buildings are now located in Canada's capital.

The story went something like this: my grandfather’s father Pierre Belair (1851-1941) or his grandfather Paul Belair (1822-1902) owned property in what was later downtown Ottawa. His ancestor sold his land for a pair of oxen. In time, Canada’s federal government was built here and this area called Barrack Hill became known as Parliament Hill.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was pretty fantastic. But, I also thought that my grandfather’s tale might be too fantastic and wondered if he was pulling my leg.

About a decade later, I visited my sister and her young family in Ottawa. While there, I went to the land registry office to see if I could find any evidence that my Belair ancestors owned land in Ottawa. I told the clerk what I knew and asked if there were any documents that showed early 1800s Ottawa land owners. She couldn’t go that far back, she said. I then asked if there were any documents showing who owned the land before it became Crown property. She showed me some early documents or maps. I forget how old they were, but they weren’t helpful, and I couldn’t find my Belair ancestors on them.

After thanking the clerk, I visited the City of Ottawa Archives. I found a government publication that gave me some information, but not what I was hoping for. I read in a book that the Parliament Hill land “originally formed part of a 600-acre lot granted by the Crown, in 1802, to Jacob Carman, the son of a United Empire Loyalist” and that later, the current owner Hugh Fraser sold the land to Governor Dalhousie in 1823.¹

So, it turned that someone did own the land that later became Parliament Hill, but it wasn’t my ancestor. I don’t really think my Pépère Fred deliberately told me a tall tale. I believe there might be a grain a truth in the story, but that I just haven’t found it. Maybe one day I will.

Source:
1. Parliament Hill / La Colline parlementaire, by Dr. Lucien Brault (Ottawa: National Capital Commission), ‘Introduction’.

Image credit:

“View of Barrack Hill and the Ottawa River at Bytown (Ottawa)”, by Edmund Willoughby Sewell (1800-1890). Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1991-120-3.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Ottawa City Directories

About a year ago, I viewed the 1926 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada city directory at WorldVitalRecords.

I searched for my grandfather Fed Belair, thinking he ought to be listed in it since he married in Ottawa in October 1926. Unfortunately, there was no Fred or the other names he used when younger (like Ménésippe and Jean-Baptiste) under “Belair” or "Belaire".¹

So then I searched for my grandmother Julie, his soon-to-be wife.

I think I found her as “Juliet Vanasse”, living at 370 Cooper Street, a centretown-downtown street in Ottawa that runs east-west between Bank and O’Connor.²



1926 Ottawa city directory (cropped image of p. 646)


My grandmother was Julie, Julia or Juliette, never “Juliet”, as far as I know. That particular spelling could be due to how the directory canvasser chose to spell her name. Or, maybe someone (perhaps the landlord) spoke on my grandmother Julie’s behalf and guessed at how she spelled her name.

I don't know when my grandfather moved to Ottawa, but I know he worked there at the time of his marriage. My grandmother Julie lived and worked there before she married, but I'm not sure just when she left her home in the province of Quebec for Ottawa. With that thought in mind, I looked at the 1923 Ottawa city directory, but neither of them seem to appear in that edition.³

So far, I haven’t located other 1920s Ottawa city directories on the Internet. I’d love to travel to Ottawa in the next couple of years and find these books at a library or an archive so that I can have a good look for my grandparents.

Sources:

1. “The Ottawa City Directory, 1926, Part 1”; digital image, World Vital Records (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com : accessed 27 April 2012), 83, “Belair” and “Belaire”.

2. “The Ottawa City Directory, 1926, Part 1”, 646, “Juliet Vanasse”.

3. “The Ottawa City Directory 1923"; digital image, Internet Archive (http://archive.org/ : accessed 20 February 2013), 234, “Belair”, 235, “Belaire”, 812, “Vanasse”, 813, “Venance”, and 813, “Venasse”.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sentimental Sunday: Fred and Julie Belair

Fred and Julie Belair, 1926.

This is one of those pictures in my family photo albums that I get sentimental whenever I see it. It is a beautiful studio portrait of my paternal grandparents Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair, taken on their wedding day on 28 October 1926 – 86 years ago today.

I don't know anything about their courtship, other than they met through Fred's half-sister Almina (Belair) Lapierre, who was a good friend of Julie's. (Almina and Julie worked as domestics in private homes in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in the 1920s.)

My grandfather and grandmother were almost 37 years old and 30 years old, respectively, when they married. Their wedding took place at St-Jean-Baptiste RC church in Ottawa. I don't even know if they had a honeymoon.

The original photograph was set in a lightweight easel-style cardboard picture frame that measures 22 cm x 15 cm (approximately 8 1/2" x 6").

Fred appears to be sitting on a stool or low bench, while Julie looks comfortable in a fabric-lined wicker chair. They look relaxed and confident. They are well-dressed: Fred is sporting a three-piece suit and Julie is fashionable in a drop-waist, long-sleeved dress. A pearl ring can be seen on Julie's left hand. Fred has wavy red hair, but the colour does not show up in the photo. Julie, who had dark hair, wears typical 1920s bobbed hair and round eyeglasses. A painted background adds atmosphere to the portrait.

My grandparents were married for 40 years. Julie died in March 1967; Fred passed away in January 1991. I miss you, Mémère and Pépère.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Julie Belair, my Mémère

My grandmother (Mémère) Julie Vanasse was born on August 31, 1896. Her birth wasn't registered (it wasn’t a requirement with the civil authorities at this time in the province of Quebec), but she was baptised the day she was born in the local parish church in Chapeau, Quebec. Chapeau, in Pontiac County, is a village on Allumette Island, located in the Ottawa (Outaouais) river across from Pembroke, Ontario.

Julie’s baptismal certificate records her name as “Julia”, but she was known by variations of that name throughout her life. For example, my Dad told me that he knew her as “Julie” and that his father Fred called her by that name. But, to her daughter Joan and some of her nieces, she was “Juliette”. I’m not certain for whom she was named, because her godmother was Amelia Catherine Tayière (the wife of her mother’s cousin Michael Vanasse), but Julie/Julia was a popular name in her family and she had a number of great-aunts, aunts and cousins by that name.

Julie was the fifth of nine children of Olivier Vanasse and Elisabeth Vanasse, who were first cousins that married in 1889. Julie had four brothers, George, William, Joseph and David, and four sisters, Mary, Cecilia (known as Celia), Corinne (known as Cora) and Agnes (known as Aggie). Julie’s childhood years are a bit of a mystery to me. I know only a handful of details like when she was born and baptised, when she appeared on federal census records, who her relatives were, and such. Her early life was essentially rural and agricultural. She was educated at the local elementary school and attended Mass at the Roman Catholic church of St-Alphonse.

When Julie was a young adult, she left home for the city of Ottawa, where she worked as a domestic in private homes. While here, she met Fred Belair, a young man originally from Gatineau County, Quebec. They married at St-Jean-Baptiste church in Ottawa in October 1926. Their first child (my father Maurice), was born the next summer. The family lived in various cities and villages in Quebec and Ontario, until they settled in Timmins, Ontario in the early 1950s.

Julie Belair, 1949

What do I remember about my grandmother? I remember her white hair, how soft-spoken she was, that she liked the colour purple or mauve (she once told me that those muted shades were best for her age), that she used to serve me prunes as a snack, and that she’d let me look at the trinkets and talcum powders she kept on her bedroom dresser. (I have a vague memory that one of those powders was Yardley English Lavender Perfumed Talc.) When she died in March 1967, I was given one of her wristwatches as a memento. I loved my Mémère Julie very much and still miss her today. 

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