Amanuensis Monday: First Belair Marriage in Canada

An Amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. Amanuensis Monday is a daily blogging theme which encourages the family historian to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts.

My first patrilineal ancestor who came to Canada was François Janvry dit Belair (ca 1736-1817). A French soldier with the Béarn regiment, he arrived in Quebec probably in 1755. His first recorded appearance in Nouvelle-France is as a patient of the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec on 17 June 1759.[1]

Within two years, he met and courted a young widow, Madame Pierre Boileau (var. Bouleau). François and Marie Elisabeth Martel married on 7 January 1761 in the parish church of Ste-Geneviève (now Pierrefonds), near Montreal.[2]



Marriage record of François Janvry dit Belair, 1761


The French-language text reads as follows:

Lan mil sept cent Soixante un le sept janvier je pretre soussigne […] après avoir publie trois bans de mariage pendant trois […] entre francois janvri dit belaïr fils de charles janvri et de marie lefebvre de la paroisse […] diocese de noyon en picardie d’une part et entre marie Elizabeth martel veuve de pierre boileau fille de louïs martel et de feu marie legaré d’autre part sans […] et apres avoir pris leur mutual Consentement par paroles de present leur ay [donné] benediction nuptialle en presence de nicolas houde louïs […] louï martel paul martel qui ont ainsi que les parties declaré ne savoir signer […].

The English translation of the text:

Year thousand seven hundred sixty one the seven january I priest undersigned […] after having published three bans of marriage during three […] between francois janvri dit belaïr son of charles janvri and marie lefebvre of the parish […] diocese of noyon in picardy of the one part and between marie Elizabeth martel widow of pierre boileau daughter of louïs martel and of late marie legaré of the other part without […] and after receiving their mutual Consentment by words of the present have [given] them nuptial blessing in the presence of nicolas houde louïs […] louï martel paul martel who along with the parties declared not being able to sign […].

Sources:

1. Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu (Quebec, Quebec), hospital register, 1752-1804, no page number (3rd page after the start of June 1759), francois zénéry dit Beller entry, 17 June 1759; Québec (Hôpitaux) (Québec Hôpital Hôtel-Dieu du Précieux-Sang de Québec); digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 21 January 2011).

2. Ste-Geneviève (Pierrefonds, Quebec), parish register, 1756-1775, p. 12 recto, no entry no. (1761), François Janvri – Marie Elizabeth Martel marriage, 7 January 1761; Ste-Geneviève parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 30 July 2007).

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday Photo: Clementine at a funeral

On the first two Fridays of each month, I showcase a family photo and answer the “who, what, when, where and why” of that picture. The first week’s Friday photo is taken from my side of the family and the second week’s Friday photo is chosen from my husband’s side of the family. (I got the idea for this column from Amy Coffin’s ebook The Big Genealogy Blog Book advertised on her The We Tree Genealogy Blog.)



Clémentine Desgroseilliers, Blue Water, Ontario, 1948

Who:
My maternal great-grandmother Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers (1878-1969).

What:
Clémentine Desgroseilliers posed for a photo at the time of the death and funeral of her daughter-in-law Juliette. Her eldest son Eugène Desgroseilliers was left a widower with seven children when Juliette died of cancer on 14 August 1948.

When:
The photo was taken on or about the day of Juliette’s funeral on 17 August 1948. Her obituary appeared in the local newspaper.

Where:
Presumably at Eugène’s house (not seen in the photo) in Blue Water, near Sarnia, Lambton County, Ontario. One of Sarnia’s many oil refineries can be seen in the background.

Why:
Family and friends gathered for the funeral of Juliette Desgroseilliers, my maternal grandmother.

This picture is an important one in my family’s photo collection. It is a favorite of mine; not only is it a visual record of a time of sadness, it is also a record of a mother’s love and devotion for her bereaved son and his children. (Clémentine travelled from her home in northeastern Ontario to be with her son Eugène, who lived in southwestern Ontario.)

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Martineau - Belair



Norbert and Mathilde Martineau Wedding, 1921.


This photo, sent to me over 20 years ago by one of my Dad’s cousins, was taken on Norbert and Mathilde Martineau’s wedding day, 4 January 1921.

The couple, who had known each other all their lives, married in the Roman Catholic church in the village of Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, in Gatineau County, Quebec. Theirs was the first marriage entered in the parish’s register for 1921. The record states that a dispensation for one of the three marriage banns was granted and that there were no impediments to the union. The couple received the nuptial blessing in the presence of Pierre Belair (Mathilde’s father), Isaïe Brazeau (Mathilde’s brother-in-law) and others. Last, Norbert and Mathilde signed their names in the parish register in a clear, legible hand.

Norbert was 24 years old (he had just celebrated his birthday the previous November) and Mathilde was five months shy of her 20th birthday. A younger half-sister of my paternal grandfather Fred Belair, Mathilde was one of five children of Pierre Belair and his second wife Mathilde Cloutier.

I don’t know who took the photograph, but I assume it was either a family member or a friend and neighbor. I also assume that the picture was taken at the Belair family property. (Mathilde in her apron suggests that she just stepped away from her kitchen to go outside for a few moments and be part of the wedding photo.) Norbert and Mathilde (in the centre) are surrounded by their family. Mathilde’s father Pierre is on her right and her mother Mathilde stands on Norbert’s left. Isaïe Brazeau, one of the witnesses, can be seen at the back on the far right of the photo.

Norbert and Mathilde were married for 50 years. He died in June 1971, while Mathilde, who remarried, passed away in April 1973.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

In Memoriam: Fred Belair

Today – December 18 – marks the 123rd anniversary of my paternal grandfather Fred Belair’s birth. Although his baptismal record states that he was born on 26 November 1889, my Pépère Fred once told me that he didn’t believe he was born in November and that someone at the church must have written an incorrect day and month of birth on his baptismal record. Years later, December 18th would be a very special day for my family for three reasons: it was my grandfather's birthday, my parents' wedding anniversary (they married on December 18, 1954) and my younger sister's birthday (born on December 18, 1960).

Born and baptised in Sainte-Cécile-de-Masham, Gatineau County, Quebec, Canada, Fred was the seventh child and fifth son of his parents Pierre and Angélina (Meunier) Belair. He received the names “Jean-Baptiste Ménésippe” at his baptism in the local parish church. Although he used either of his baptismal names as a child and young adult, he preferred to be known as Fred as an adult.

In the summer of 1896, Fred suffered a tragedy when his mother died a few days after giving birth to her eleventh child, a son Joseph who lived two days. His mother Angélina was only 41 years old. With seven surviving children, widower Pierre remarried within a year of his wife’s passing. Fred’s father and new stepmother Mathilde had five children, two sons and three daughters. (After Mathilde died in 1923, Pierre married a third time, to widow Rosalie Lavictoire.)

About 1911, Fred left home to seek work as a labourer in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, USA. During World War I, Fred worked in a munitions factory. During the 1910s and 1920s, Fred also worked in the shipyards of Wisconsin and Minnesota and on the railroad in Canada. He was employed as an ironworker for the Dominion Bridge Company in Montreal in the late 1920s-early 1930s. Later, in the 1940s, Fred was a cook in lumber camps in northern Ontario, Canada.



Fred and Julie Belair on their wedding day, 1926.

In October 1926, Fred married Julie Vanasse in Ottawa. They met through his half-sister Almina Belair, who was one of Julie’s friends. After their wedding, Fred and Julie settled in a part of Ottawa known as LeBreton Flats, which was a poor working area west of the city centre. While here, their first child, Maurice, was born in August 1927. Later, another son and two daughters completed the family unit.

Fred and his family lived in many places in the 1930s and 1940s, including Timmins, Ontario and Blue Water, near Sarnia, Ontario. After they returned to Timmins in the 1950s, Fred retired and he and Julie settled in a small apartment. After Julie passed away in March 1967, Fred continued to live in their one-bedroom home. It wasn’t until advanced old age that he moved to Peterborough, Ontario to live with his daughter Darlene.

In October 1989, Fred’s family and friends gathered in Timmins to celebrate his 100th birthday.


Fred with his children on his 100th birthday, 1989.


Fred died in Peterborough in January 1991; he was 101 years old. His funeral took place in Timmins, and he was interred next to his beloved Julie.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: Three Young Doukhobor Women

Three young Doukhobor women, dressed in traditional clothing.

Left to right: Mary and Mabel Tomelin and Mabel Demoskoff, about 1918-1920,
probably in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Follow Friday: Voyageurs Contracts Database

While doing background research for a post I’m preparing about my Métis ancestry, I came across a very interesting website. It’s the Voyageurs Contracts Database, which is part of the Centre du patrimoine [Heritage Centre] located in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, Canada.

If you have Métis or French-Canadian ancestors who were involved in the fur trade (for example, a voyageur*), you’ll find this database really useful. The main page of the Voyageurs Contracts Database explains that its database “includes data from approximately 35,900 fur trade contracts signed in front of Montreal notaries between 1714 and 1830. […] The information collected from the contracts includes: family names, parishes of origin, hiring company, length of contract, destination(s) […]” and more.

* A “voyageur” is a French term that means ‘traveler’. “Voyageurs were the canoe transportation workers in organized, licensed long distance transportation of furs and trade goods in the interior of the continent. [They] were highly valued employees of trading companies, such as the North West Company […] and the Hudson's Bay Company […]”. (Source: Wikipedia contributors, "Voyageurs," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voyageurs&oldid=418895640 : accessed March 16, 2011).)



Shooting the Rapids (1879)

 (Image source: Frances Anne Hopkins, Library and Archives Canada, acc. no. 1989-401-2, c002774.)

I searched for my ancestor “Toussaint Laronde” using the Database’s Quick Search page. I put “toussaint” in the keywords field and “laronde” in the names field. There were two results; both were my Toussaint. I then clicked ‘Details’ for the results and found items like date, place and length of his contracts, his functions, his wages, and his destinations. (The contracts are dated 13 April 1803 and 28 July 1821.) Next, I clicked ‘Select’, and then ‘View Selections’, where I requested copies of Toussaint’s contracts. In my email, I also asked for the total cost and how I could pay. The archivist promptly answered my questions and said I could pay with PayPal, cheque or money order.

I’m now waiting anxiously for the mail to arrive with paper copies of the microfilmed version of Toussaint’s voyageur contracts!

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tombstone Tuesday: Clara Strukoff

Two days ago on Sunday, I posted Clara's obituary. Today, I’m following up that post with a scanned image of her gravemarker. Clara is interred in the U.S.C.C. Doukhobor Cemetery in Grand Forks, British Columbia.


Clara Strukoff gravemarker.


Clara's gravemarker reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

CLARA R STRUKOFF

1955 – 1981

BUDDED ON EARTH TO BLOOM IN HEAVEN

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday's Obituary: Clara Strukoff

Clara, my husband’s cousin, was the youngest daughter of George and Marie (Jmieff) Demoskoff. She died of cancer on 18 November 1981 in Trail, British Columbia, 31 years ago today. Clara was only 26 years old and the mother of a little girl Tracey. She was interred in the U.S.C.C. Doukhobor Cemetery in Grand Forks, British Columbia.



Clara Strukoff obituary, 1981.


Source: “Strukoff”, obituary, undated clipping [November 1981], from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2012. Yvonne acquired an assortment of family memorabilia (including Clara’s obituary) in January 2012 from her father-in-law William (Bill) Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2012, Yvonne Demoskoff.