Friday Photo: Visiting Cousins

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.)

Belair siblings with Philippe cousins

Who:
Maurice Belair (centre) with (left to right) his sisters Darlene and Joan and his brother Ray. With them are their cousins Joan (facing Darlene) and Delia Philippe (far right).

What:
My Dad Maurice and his brother and sisters pose with their cousins.

When:
About 1941 or 1942, probably late spring or early autumn. (Dad looks like he’s wearing thick socks with his boots.)

Where:
At my grandparents Fred and Julie’s home in Fauquier, Cochrane District, Ontario.

Why:
The Philippe family, who lived in Timmins, Ontario was probably on a visit to my Dad’s family. Joan and Delia’s father Joseph was my grandfather Fred’s nephew, being the son of his late sister Angélina (Belair) Philippe.

I love this photo, despite its poor shape and left-side tear. It’s small, measuring about 7 cm x 9 cm (approximately 2¾” x 3½”). The picture is one of my favorites, because it shows my father Maurice and his siblings when they were young, happy and healthy. It’s also only one of a few photos taken during the time when the family lived in Fauquier in northeastern Ontario.

Copyright © 2013, 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.

Tuesday’s Tip: Beware the Same Name Trap

I know that in some families there are sometimes two living children with the same name. For example, my paternal ancestor Pierre Janvry dit Belair (born 1772) had an elder brother named Pierre Janvry dit Belair (born 1766). Both married twice, had large families, and lived long lives.

However, I didn’t expect to find four living siblings with the same or nearly-the-same-name in one family.

A few days ago, I was trying to sort out the children of my 7x great-grandparents Jacques Marcot and Isabelle Salé, who married in about 1670. They had fifteen children – 10 sons and 5 daughters.

Until now, I believed that their granddaughter Marguerite Marcot (my maternal ancestor) was the daughter of one of their sons and his wife née Morisset. But this was just an assumption on my part. It turns out I hadn’t sufficiently checked Marguerite's parents.

When I took a closer look at all those Marcot – Salé children, I realized that Jacques and Isabelle had four sons who had Jean or François in their names. They were:

• Jean-Baptiste (1676-1731), who married Marie Paquin,
• Jean-François (1691-after 1737), who married Geneviève Morisset,
• Jean aka Jean-François (ca 1693-1760), who married Marie-Anne Morisset,and
• François (ca 1693-1727), who married Marie Thérèse Desnoyers.

I was also surprised to learn that Jean-François (the one who married Geneviève Morisset) had a brother Jean aka Jean-François who also married a Morisset. (Geneviève and Marie-Anne were sisters.)

So I asked myself which one of these Marcot – Morisset couples were my ancestors?

After searching Dictionnaire généalogique des familles du Québec des origines à 1730, by René Jetté (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1983), Tanguay’s Dictionnaire généalogique des familles canadiennes, 7 vols (1871–1890, reprint, Montréal: Editions Elysée, 1991), and the database at PRDH (Programme de recherche en démographie historique), I discovered that I had confused Marguerite and her parents Jean-François and Geneviève with Marie Madeleine and her parents Jean aka Jean-François Marcot and Marie-Anne Morisset.

So after all these years, I wasn’t a descendant of Jean-François Marcot and Geneviève Morisset, I was a descendant of his brother Jean aka Jean-François Marcot and Marie-Anne Morisset.

My tip to you: beware the same name trap and check all the children in a family to make sure there aren’t multiple living siblings with the same or very similar first names.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sentimental Sunday: Eugène and Juliette Desgroseilliers

Desgroseilliers - Beauvais wedding, 1925

I’m feeling a touch sentimental today, as I think about the grandmother I never knew and the grandfather I knew only as a toddler.

You see, on this day – 18 August 1925 – my maternal grandparents Eugène and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers were married.

This is the only known photo of their wedding, celebrated in Moonbeam, Ontario, Canada.

Eugène was the eldest son of Albert and Clémentine (Léveillé) Desgroseilliers; he was two weeks’ shy of his 25th birthday. Juliette, the eldest daughter of Joseph and Olivine (Hotte) Beauvais, was just 24.

My grandfather was a very tall, slim man – 6’7”, while my grandmother was short and petite, only 5’2”.

Doesn’t Juliette look almost doll-like with her pretty, bobbed hair next to her towering, handsome husband?

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Beauvais – Hotte

Joseph and Olivine Beauvais, about 1897

This rather grainy picture is actually a recently scanned image of an approximately 25-year-old photocopy of a photograph.¹

It shows my maternal great-grandparents Joseph Beauvais (1877-1937) and Olivine Hotte (1877-1926). I think it was taken on their wedding day, because they look so young compared to other photos I have of them as adults.

Joseph and Olivine married on 16 August 1897 in St-Félix-de-Valois R.C. church in the rural community of Hartwell (now Chénéville), Papineau County, Quebec, Canada.² The newlyweds were distantly related: they were sixth cousins through their 5x great-grandparents Guillaume Labelle (d. 1710) and his wife Anne Charbonneau (d. 1729).

Beauvais - Hotte marriage record (partial image) [3]

Joseph was the second child and eldest son of Pierre and Arline (Deschatelets) Beauvais of Chénéville and nearby Ripon. Olivine was the seventh child and younger daughter of Louis and Marguerite (Lacasse) Hotte of St-André-Avellin (just south of Ripon) and Chénéville.

My great-grandparents had a large family of twelve sons and four daughters (including my grandmother Juliette), all of whom reached adulthood.

Joseph and Olivine’s marriage lasted until her death in June 1926, two months short of their 29th wedding anniversary.⁴

Sources:

1. Joseph and Olivine (Hotte) Beauvais photograph, ca 1897; digital image ca 1988, privately held by Madeleine (Desgroseilliers) Legault, London, Ontario, 2013. Madeleine allowed her niece Yvonne to photocopy the photograph during one of her visits to her aunt. (Madeleine and Jacqueline (Yvonne’s mother) are maternal granddaughters of Joseph and Olivine.)

2. St-Félix-de-Valois (Chénéville, Quebec), parish register, 1887-1899, p. 240 recto, entry no. M.11, Joseph Beauvais – Olivine Hott [sic] marriage, 16 August 1897; St-Félix-de-Valois parish; digital image, “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 13 August 2013).

3. St-Félix-de-Valois, parish register, 1887-1899, p. 240 recto, Joseph Beauvais – Olivine Hott [sic] marriage, 16 August 1897.

4. “Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1936 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947”, digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 December 2008); entry for Olivine Hotte, 4 June 1926.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: Alex S. Demosky

Today marks the 36th anniversary of the passing of Alex S. Demosky, a first cousin once removed of my father-in-law Bill Demoskoff.

Alex was the eldest child of Sam and Pearl (Popoff) Demosky, Doukhobor immigrants from Russia. He was born in September 1912 in Buchanan, Saskatchewan, where he lived before moving to British Columbia in the late 1940s.

Alex S. Demosky obituary, 1977.

Source:
Alex S. Demosky, obituary, 24 August 1977, from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2013. Yvonne acquired an assortment of family memorabilia (including Alex’s obituary) in January 2012 from her father-in-law William (Bill) Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

In Memoriam: Maurice Belair

Maurice Belair, my Dad (or Pa, as I used to call him in French) would have been 86 years old today.

Dad was born on 2 August 1927 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He was his parents Fred and Julie’s first child. Dad was baptized at St-Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic church on Empress Avenue in Ottawa, where his parents married the previous October.

Maurice Belair (about 3 or 4 years old), 1930-1931

Dad grew up in Ottawa and Montreal, where his father Fred worked as an iron worker for the Dominion Bridge Company. Dad’s sister Jeanne (Joan) and brother Ray were born in Montreal. The family lived for a time in Chapeau, in Pontiac County, Quebec (where Julie was from), and then moved back to Ottawa, and soon after to nearby South March and Corkery.

In about 1934, the family moved to Fauquier in northeastern Ontario. While here, Dad received the sacrament of Confirmation at Ste-Agnès RC church in September 1935. Four years later in May 1939, he made his profession of faith at Ste-Agnès. (The certificate he received to commemorate the event is still in our possession. You can see it in Family History Through the Alphabet – R is for…) It was probably on one of these two occasions that he received a large, wood crucifix, which I wrote about in Treasure Chest Thursday: The Crucifix.

In the early 1940s, Dad and his family moved to Timmins, where his brother Ray and younger sister Darlene went to school. Later, they moved to Blue Water, near Sarnia, Ontario. By the mid-1950s, Dad’s parents Fred and Julie were back in Timmins, but he remained in southern Ontario where he worked as a welder.

In about 1952, Dad met my mom Jacqueline when she worked as a counter girl at a family-owned corner store in Blue Water. They courted for some time, and then married in Sarnia on 18 December 1954. After they married, Dad went wherever there was welding work for him in southern Ontario and Quebec. (I wrote about how Dad started out as a welder in Workday Wednesday: Maurice Belair, Welder.) When Mom was expecting their first child in 1958, they decided to settle down in Timmins. Dad’s parents and sister Joan lived there, so choosing that town seemed a logical choice.

One autumn day in 1979, Dad was injured while working in Bracebridge, Ontario. (See Workday Wednesday: The Pipeline Accident.) He spent a few months recovering, and then decided to give up being a full-time welder. He, Mom and us three children (my sister Marianne, brother Raymond and myself) moved to British Columbia. Here Dad and his brother Ray started a road-building business.

Dad spent the remainder of his life in Hope, where he passed away on 6 May 1996. He had suffered from coronary heart disease for a few years and died of a heart attack. I’ve written about his obituary (Sunday’s Obituary: My Father, Maurice Belair) and his gravemarker (Tombstone Tuesday: Maurice Belair.)

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Friday Photo: Jacqueline and Her Sisters

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.)


Jacqueline and her sisters, 1971

Who:
My Mom Jacqueline (far right) and her sisters (left to right) Mariette, Madeleine, Normande and Simone.

What:
Five sisters gathered together. (Jeanne d'arc, the youngest, is not here.)

When:
Summer of 1971.

Where:
Simone’s home in Corunna, Ontario.

Why:
I don’t know why Mom and her sisters posed for this photo. My parents didn’t travel much from our home in northeastern Ontario to southwestern Ontario where my aunts Mariette, Simone and Normande lived, so I’m not sure why Mom is in Corunna. (Maybe Dad didn’t go, and Mom travelled south with Madeleine, who also lived in northeastern Ontario.) There are four other photos in this series, but none of them seem to offer clues as to the reason for this picture. Maybe my Ontario cousins will see this photo and will let me know why the Desgroseilliers sisters were photographed in the summer of 1971.

I love this photo, because it shows my Mom with her sisters. I loved my aunts, but I didn’t often see them. (It was about an 8 hour car journey from our home in Timmins to their homes in Sarnia and Corunna.) Whenever the sisters got together, someone always took a photo or two of them, so at least I got the benefit of ‘seeing’ them in pictures if not in person.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.