Sibling Saturday: The Children of Pierre Janvry dit Belair (1851-1941)

My paternal great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair was the father of sixteen children by his first two wives, Angélina Meunier (1855-1896) and Mathilde Cloutier (1861-1923). Pierre and his third wife Rosalie Lavictoire (1859-1927) did not have children.

By Angélina (my great-grandmother), Pierre had ten sons and six daughters. By Mathilde, he had two sons and three daughters.

The Belair children were born over the course of twenty-three years – 1883 to 1903. All were born in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham (now La Pêche), Gatineau County, Quebec and were baptised there. (I assume that Pierre’s eldest child, Pierre, was baptised in Masham, although his baptism record does not appear in Ste-Cécile’s sacramental register.)

Martineau – Belair wedding (1921)

Photos of Pierre are rare. Here is one that my late cousin Suzanne (who descends from Mathilde) sent me some years ago. Pierre is the second from left, his daughter Mathilde (in a hat) and her new husband Norbert are in the centre, while his wife Mathilde (in apron) is next to them. I wrote about this wedding in Wedding Wednesday: Martineau – Belair.

I prepared the following tables to show Pierre’s children with their birth, marriage(s), and death details. Most of this information is from sacramental records, but some is from death registrations, census records, and family information.

Table 1. Pierre and Angélina's children: 

Table 2. Pierre and Mathilde's children: 

Copyright © 2018, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Gauthier – Meunier

Sixty-seven years ago today, Cécile Meunier, my Dad’s cousin, married Ovila Gauthier on 14 October 1948 in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham (now La Pêche), Gatineau County, Quebec. Father Louis-Léon Binet, Ste-Cécile’s prêtre-curé, officiated at the ceremony.

Cécile was the daughter of my grandfather Fred’s half-sister Priscille Belair by her husband Aldoria Meunier. Born on 1 July 1924 in Masham, Cécile was the eldest of thirteen children. I’ve written about her mother Priscille in Church Record Sunday: Sisters Priscille and Domitille Belair.

I first saw this lovely black-and-white photograph when I visited my Aunt Joan last year. It looks like Cécile sent it to Joan’s parents, Fred and Julie (Vanasse) Belair, her uncle and aunt. Left to right are Aldoria, Cécile, Ovila, and Edmond, his father.

There are two handwritings on the back of the photo. The first one belongs to Cécile, who wrote: “Cela c’est mon père / et le père de mon / marie et moi et / mon marie”. (This one is my father / and the father of my / husband and me and / my husband.)

The second handwriting is Joan’s, who wrote: “Oncle AIdoria Meunier 1948 / Cecile Meunier’s Wedding / Ovila Gauthier son papa / Edmond Gauthier”. (Uncle Aldoria Meunier 1948 / Cecile Meunier’s Wedding / Ovila Gauthier his father / Edmond Gauthier.)

I don’t believe I ever met Cécile and her husband. She died in February 2009, while Ovila, who predeceased her, died in April 1985.

Copyright © 2015, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Sisters Priscille and Domitille Belair

My paternal grandfather Fred Belair’s half-sisters Priscille Belair (1900-1939) and Domitille Belair (1901-1973) both died in the month of April and were buried on the same day, 34 years apart.

I found these genealogical details when I travelled to the province of Quebec in the late 1980s and located their church burial records in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham in Gatineau County. If I wanted to see those same records today, I would view them in the “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967” database at Ancestry.ca.

Priscille Belair

Priscille Belair’s burial record, 1939 [1]

Priscille was the elder of the two sisters. She died relatively young on 24 April 1939. Her death at 39 years old must have been a devastating loss for her husband Aldoria Meunier, by whom she had 13 children, as well as their surviving 10 children, including the youngest, Marie Rose, who was only six weeks old.

Priscille’s burial record states that she died in Hôpital Sacré-Coeur of Hull (about 30 minutes from Masham), but does not give the cause of death; RC church records rarely do. I wonder if her death had something to do with her last pregnancy or the birth of her last child.

Domitille Belair

Mathilde Belair’s burial record, 1973 [2]

Domitille, also known as Mathilde, was a month short of her 72nd birthday when she died on 10 April 1973. She too died in hospital, but in the General Hospital of Kingston, Frontenac County, Ontario, according to her burial record.

By her first husband Norbert Martineau, Domitille had five children. (I’ve written about the couple’s wedding day in Wedding Wednesday: Martineau - Belair.) Domitille married André Renaud in June 1972, one year after Norbert’s death.

The Sisters' Funerals

Both sisters were interred in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, where they were born and raised.

Priscille’s funeral took place on 27 April 1939. Father Filiatreault, who performed the ceremony, noted in her burial record that Priscille was “munis des derniers Sacrements de l’Eglise”, meaning that she received the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. A priest, possibly Sacré-Coeur Hospital’s chaplain, administered the last Sacraments: Penance (confession), Anointing of the Sick, and Viaticum (communion), and offered prayers and readings for the dying. [3]

Domitille’s remains were transported from Kingston to Ste-Cécile-de-Masham. Her funeral took place there on 27 April 1973, with Father René Soucy of Masham as the celebrant.

Priscille died many years before I was born, so I never knew her. Although Domitille lived in Kingston when I was a young teen and lived a few hours north in Timmins, I don’t believe we ever met.

Sources:

1. Ste-Cécile Roman Catholic Church (Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Quebec), sacramental register, p. 255, entry no. S.9, burial of Priscille Bélair [sic], 27 April 1939; parish rectory, Ste-Cécile-de-Masham. (My husband and I made photocopies of selected baptism, marriage and burial records from the sacramental registers when we visited Ste-Cécile in the late 1980s, but we unfortunately didn’t note which volumes we used.)

2. Ste-Cécile Roman Catholic Church (Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, Quebec), sacramental register, p. 78, entry no. S.11, burial of Mathilde Bélair (Renaud) [sic], 27 April 1973; parish rectory, Ste-Cécile-de-Masham. (My husband and I made photocopies of selected baptism, marriage and burial records from the sacramental registers when we visited Ste-Cécile in the late 1980s, but we unfortunately didn’t note which volumes we used.)

3. Reverend Peter M. J. Stravinskas, editor, Our Sunday Visitor’s Catholic Encyclopedia (Huntingdon, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 1991), 572, “Last Sacraments”.

Copyright © 2014, Yvonne Demoskoff.