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: Julie Belair

My dear grandmother Julie died on Sunday 19 March 1967. [1]

My sister and I were only 6½ and 8½ years old, respectively. We were told of Mémère’s death the next morning, while getting ready for school. Marianne and I were in the small living room of our apartment and could see Dad a few feet away in the kitchen. He looked so sad standing by the counter.

Mémère Julie suffered from asthma and sometimes needed an oxygen tent at home. I don’t remember the days leading up to her death, and don’t know if she had been poorly before going to the hospital one last time.

I have only a vague memory of being at the funeral home. I think it was evening, and I was there with my parents. I watched people come and go in the sombre and dimly lit room.

I don’t remember the funeral, which took place at our parish church, half a block away from our home, three days later. It was at 9 a.m., according to the obituary, so Mom must have arranged for my sister and I to miss school that morning. It was a cold, snowy day and we needed to wear our winter coats, hats and mitts. I remember being at the cemetery, though, because I can still see myself and others standing in a small building for the committal service. (It was winter time in Timmins, so the interment was postponed until better weather.)

Forty-nine years have passed since that day, but I still miss my grandmother Julie and keep her close to me in my heart.

Source:

1. “Belair”, obituary, The Daily Press (Timmins, Ontario), 21 March 1967, p. 9, col. 5.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Funeral Card Friday: Annie Philippe

Ann (also known as Annie) was a younger daughter of Joseph and Martha (Bloski) Prince, a Polish couple. She was born in 1916 in Barry’s Bay, Renfrew County, Ontario. When she was twenty years old, Ann married Joseph Philippe, a nephew of my grandfather Fred Belair. Joe and Ann had six children – one son and five daughters.

I don’t recall if I ever met Ann, but I visited her daughter Joan at her home in Timmins on one or two occasions to talk about our Belair relatives. After my family and I moved to British Columbia, I corresponded with Joan’s sister and brother.

Ann died on 13 March 1976; her husband Joe passed away two years later.

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Desgroseilliers – Nunegand

244 years ago today – on 17 February 1772 – my maternal 4x great-grandparents married. [1]

Joseph Prosper Dorval, later Desgroseiliers (var. Desgroseilliers) and Charlotte Lunegand (var. Nunegand, Beaurosier) were united in matrimony in St-Joachim Roman Catholic church in Châteauguay, southwest of Montreal. He was almost 29 years old and she 17½.

Father Joseph Huguet, a French-born Jesuit, celebrated the nuptial mass. He also served the spiritual needs of the local Iroquois and has the distinction of being “the last of New France’s Jesuit missionaries”. [2]

Joseph and Charlotte had thirteen children born between 1773 and 1795: six sons, six daughters, and one child of unrecorded gender. The family made its home first in Châteauguay, and then in Montreal and later in St-Martin (Laval), before finally returning to Châteauguay.

Joseph died between 1795 and 1800, while Charlotte survived until May 1835.

Desgroseilliers – Nunegand marriage record (p. 36),Généalogie Québec

Desgroseilliers – Nunegand marriage record (p. 37), Généalogie Québec

Transcription of Joseph and Charlotte’s marriage record:

L’an mil sept soixante et douze le seize [dix sept] février, après / la publication de trois bans de Mariage entre Joseph / Prosper Desgroseliers, fils de feu Jean baptiste Desgroseliers / dit Chochouart, et de feu Marie Josephe Lachevretiere, / de la paroisse de Deschampbau, depuis onze ans habitué / à Chateaugai, d’une part; et Charlotte Nunegand, fille / de feu Francois Nunegand, dit Beaurosier et de Louise / Huimete, de la pointe à la Chevelure, habituée depuis / deux ans à Chateaugai, d’autre part, ne s’etant trouvé / 

opposition, je soussigné desservant la dite Paroisse / ai reçu leur mutual consentement et leur ai donné la / Benediction nuptial en presence de Marie Louise / Desgroseliers, soeur de l’Epoux, de Jacques Doret, / de François [Metate?], Jean baptiste Doret fils, de Jean / Besse, beaupere de l’Epouse, de Claude Roland, Charlot / la Roche et de plusieurs autres parens et amis.

[signed] Jos. Huguet Jesuite
Louise [deisgrosilé?]
marie magdeleine doray

My translation of the text:

The year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two the sixteen [seventeen] February, after / the publication of three banns of Marriage between Joseph / Prosper Desgroseliers, son of the late Jean baptiste Desgroseliers / dit Chochouart, and of the late Marie Joseph Lachevretiere / of the parish of Deschampbau [Deschambault], residing since eleven years / at Chateaugai [Châteauguay], on the one part; and Charlotte Nunegand, daughter / of the late Francois Nunegand, dit Beaurosier and of Louise / Huimete, of the pointe à la Chevelure [aka Fort St-Frederic now Crown Point, NY], residing since / two years at Chateaugai [Châteauguay], on the other part, not having found / 

opposition, I undersigned serving the said Parish / have received their mutual consent and have given them the / nuptial Blessing in the presence of Marie Louise / Desgroseliers, sister of the Groom, of Jacques Doret, / of François [Metate?], Jean baptiste Doret son, of Jean / Besse, stepfather of the Bride, of Claude Roland, Charlot / la Roche and of several other relatives and friends.

[signed] Jos. Huguet Jesuit
Louise [deisgrosilé?]
marie magdeleine doray

Sources:

1. St-Joachim (Châteauguay, Quebec), parish register, 1768-1775, pp. 36-37, no entry no. (1772), Joseph Prosper Desgroseliers – Charlotte Nunegand [sic] marriage, 17 February 1772; St-Joachim parish; digital images, “Le LAFRANCE”, Généalogie Québec (http://www.genealogiequebec.com : accessed 30 June 2015).

2. Joseph Cossette, “Huguet, Joseph”, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 4, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003– (http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/huguet_joseph_4E.html : accessed 16 February 2016).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Frappier – Neveu Marriage

My 3x paternal great-grandparents Michel Frappier and Louise Neveu married on 31 January 1836. [1] Today marks the 180th anniversary of their union.

Michel and Louise were married by Pascal Brunet, the curé (curate) of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours church in Petite Nation seigneurie, Lower Canada. It was one of six marriages he performed that day. Father Brunet undertook a mission in early 1836 to serve the needs of Roman Catholics who lived in nearby counties that didn’t have resident priests. This particular mission took him to the remote settlements of Grand Calumet, la Passe, Fort Coulonge, and Ile aux Allumettes in what is now Pontiac County, Quebec. [2]

After the mission was completed, the baptism and marriage records were placed in the archives of Notre-Dame church in Ottawa, not in Father Brunet’s own parish.

It’s unfortunate that the Frappier – Neveu marriage record contains the minimum of information: names of the bride and groom and names of the witnesses. Additional details that were required by ecclesiastical law and civil law are missing: for instance, Michel and Louise’ ages, their parish or place of residence, their marital status, and most importantly, the names of their parents. [3]

Father Brunet also did not record if Michel and Louise were previously married and if such a marriage required to be rehabilitated. They appear to have lived as a couple, however, since about 1832, when their daughter Elizabeth (my 2x great-grandmother) was born. [4]

The marriage record (above) reads in French:

Michel Frappier et Louise Neveu, en présen / ce de Frs Leclerc, Hubert Neveu, Louis Lamarche.

In English:

Michel Frappier and Louise Neveu, in the presen / ce of Frs Leclerc, Hubert Neveu, Louis Lamarche.

Sources:

1. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, p. 301, entry no. 2 (1836), Michel Frappier – Louise Neveu marriage, 31 January 1836; Notre-Dame parish; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 30 January 2016).

2. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, p. 300 and p. 302; digital images, “Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 30 January 2016).

3. René Jetté, Traité de généalogie (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1991), 438, “Tableau 10.3: Evolution du contenu des actes de mariage d’après la réglementation ecclésiastique en vigueur au Québec” [Evolution of the contents of marriage records according to ecclesiastical regulation in force in Quebec].

4. Notre-Dame (Ottawa, Ontario), parish register, 1825-1836, no page no., entry no. B.3 (1836), Nancy Frappier [sic] baptism, 1 February 1836; Notre-Dame parish; digital images, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 28 May 2011).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Desgroseilliers – Lemieux

François Desgroseilliers - Elisabeth Lemieux marriage record (FamilySearch)

On 28 January 1828, a young couple presented themselves at the Roman Catholic church in La Prairie, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across from Montreal. It was a wintry Monday when François, 23 years old, and Elisabeth, 17 years old, stood in her parish of La Nativité de la Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie to be wed. [1]

Father J.B. Boucher officiated at the ceremony. Present in the congregation were François' father and his younger brothers Joseph and Michel, as well as Elisabeth’s older brothers Jean Baptiste, Pierre, and François. (Their father Jean Baptiste had died almost two years earlier in May 1826.)

After their wedding, François and Elisabeth went to live in his home parish of Ste-Martine, in nearby Châteauguay county. Most of their eleven children (six sons and five daughters) were born here, including younger son Pierre, who is my 2x maternal great-grandfather.

François died in August 1853. Elisabeth survived him by thirty-eight years, and died in July 1891 in Embrun, Russell County, Ontario.

Their marriage record (above) reads in French:

L’an mil huit-cent vingt-huit le vingt-huit Janvier / après trois publications de promesse de mariage faites par / trois Dimanches consécutifs aux prônes des messes paroissiales / tant de cette Paroisse que de celle de Ste Martine ainsi qu’il m’est apparu par le certificat de [Messire] Mereuve même / curé en la ditte Paroisse entre Francois Desgroseilliers / laboureur, de la Paroisse de Ste Martine fils majeur de Fran- / cois Desgroseilliers et de Louise Roi ses pere et mere de la / ditte Paroisse de Ste Martine d’une part, et Elizabeth Lemieux / de cette Paroisse fille mineure de feu Jean Baptiste Lemieux / et de Marie Anne Séguin ses pere et mere de cette Paroisse / d’une autre part, ne s’étant découvert aucun empêchement, ni / formée aucune opposition au dit Mariage, Nous Prêtre soussigné / curé en cette Paroisse, leur avons, du consentement des parens / requis par le droit donné la benediction nuptial après / avoir reçu leur consentement mutual par paroles de presents, / et ce en présence de Francois Desgroseilliers pere de l’Epoux / Joseph Desgroseilliers et Michel Desgroseilliers ses freres et Jean / Baptiste Lemieux, Pierre Lemieux et Francois Lemieux freres / de l’épouse, et Pascal Lussier qui ainsi que les epoux ont déclaré / ne savoir signer de ce enquis lecture faite

In English:

The year 1828 the 28 January / after three publications of promise of marriage made by / three consecutive Sundays at [the] sermons of the parish masses / as much in this Parish as in the one of Ste Martine as well as it has appeared to me by the certificate of [Messire] Mereuve same / curate in the said Parish between Francois Desgroseilliers laborer, of the Parish of Ste Martine son of age of Fran- / cois Desgroseilliers and Louise Roi his father and mother of the / said Parish of Ste Martine on the one part, and Elizabeth Lemieux / of this Parish minor daughter of the late Jean Baptiste Lemieux / and of Marie Anne Séguin her father and mother of this Parish / of the other part, not discovering any impediment, nor / formed any opposition to said Marriage, We Priest undersigned / curate in this Parish, having given, of the consent of the parents / required by law given the nuptial blessing after / having received their spoken mutual consent of those present / and this in presence of Francois Desgroseilliers father of the Groom / Joseph Desgroseilliers and Michel Desgroseilliers his brothers and Jean / Baptiste Lemieux, Pierre Lemieux and Francois Lemieux brothers / of the bride, and Pascal Lussier who as well as the [bride and groom] have declared not knowing how to sign [their names] [have inquired] [reading done]

Source:

1. "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979", digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-28006-26428-80?cc=1321742 : accessed 21 January 2016), La Prairie > Nativité-de-la-Prairie-de-la-Magdeleine > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1821-1835 > image 300 of 734; nos paroisses de Église Catholique, Quebec (Catholic Church parishes, Quebec).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Pierre Janvry dit Belair’s 1852 Baptism Record

Today – 24 January – marks the 164th anniversary of the baptism of my paternal great-grandfather Pierre Janvry dit Belair. [1]

Pierre Janvry dit Belair baptism record (FamilySearch)

I recently downloaded the above image from FamilySearch, but I first saw Pierre’s baptism record about 30 years ago. I was on vacation in Ottawa at the time, and decided to visit the Archives nationales du Québec (Centre de l’Outaouais) across the river in Hull (now Gatineau), Quebec.

I chose a microfilm reel of baptism, marriage and burial records and hoped to find Pierre’s baptism, thinking he should appear under either “Janvry” or his dit name “Belair”. I knew that he was born in December 1851, so I concentrated on that month. I was puzzled when I couldn’t find him, so tried a second time and included January 1852. As I viewed that month, something caught my eye. The name in the sidebar on the microfilm was challenging to read, but it looked like “Peter Geanvrier”. I wondered if this person could be my Pierre Janvry, so I read the text and realized it was my ancestor. Pleased with my find, I immediately made a paper copy of the page.

When I began looking at those microfilmed records, it hadn’t occurred to me to keep in mind that Pierre’s name might be spelled differently from what I was used to. I imagine it must have been difficult for the officiating Irish-born Oblate priest Thomas O’Boyle to understand my French great-great-grandfather pronounce his surname. [2] Father O’Boyle might have figured that “Geanvrier” was close enough to “Janvry”.

The baptism record (above) reads in English:

On the twenty fourth day of January in / the year one thousand eight hundred and / fifty two, we the undersigned Priest / have baptized Pierre born the first / of December last of the lawful marriage / of Paul Geanvrier & Angèle Lalonde. / The Godfather was Joseph Clemens & / the Godmother Scholastique St Michel, who / as well as the parents cannot write. [signed] Thomas O’Boyle o.m.i.

One last note: although Pierre’s baptism record does not mention his parents’ place of residence, he was presumably baptized where he was born in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham (now La Pêche), with the event registered in the sacramental registers of St-Camillus church in nearby Farrellton, Quebec.

Sources:

1. "Québec, registres paroissiaux catholiques, 1621-1979," digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28000-2281-98?cc=1321742 : accessed 21 January 2016), Farrellton > Saint-Camille > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1850-1876 > image 26 of 246; nos paroisses de Église Catholique, Quebec (Catholic Church parishes, Quebec).

2. Anne-Marie Ibell, “[Q-R] Father Thomas Boyle1820-1866”, QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L Archives, message board, 6 August 2003 (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/QUEBEC-RESEARCH : accessed 21 January 2016).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Church Record Sunday: Marguerite Bertrand’s 1846 Burial Record

Marguerite Bertrand, no. 203 in my ancestor list, is my 5x maternal great-grandmother. She is a younger daughter of Pierre Bertrand, a former soldier from the province of Languedoc in France, by his wife Marie Joseph Gauthier. Marguerite, born on 22 November 1771 in St-Constant, Laprairie County, Quebec, had four brothers and nine sisters. [1]

The day after she turned 24 years old, Marguerite married Louis Charles Longtin on 23 November 1795. [2] Louis Charles, who was also born in St-Constant, was a cultivateur (farmer). The couple had a small family: one son and three daughters, born between 1797 and 1804 in St-Constant.

Louis Charles died in June 1813. Marguerite survived him by three decades, dying on 14 January 1846. Although her burial record gives her age as 80, she was only 74 years old. Marguerite was buried two days later in St-Constant, in the presence of her son-in-law, Toussaint Page (Lepage), my ancestor. [3]

Marguerite Bertrand burial record, part 1 (Ancestry)

Marguerite Bertrand burial record, part 2 (Ancestry)

The burial record (above) reads in French:

“Le Seize Janvier Mil huit cent quarante six / Nous Prêtre soussigné avons Inhumée dans le Cime[tière] / de cette Paroisse le Corps de Margueritte Bertrand / Agée de Quatre-vingt ans Décédée du Quartorze Courant [Epouse] / De feu Charles Longtin de cette paroisse. Présens, Tou[ssaint] / Page, Michel Gagné, Antoine Emare et Pierre Emard, qui / n’ont su signer.”

In English:

“The Sixteen January 1846 / We the undersigned Priest have Interred in the cemetery / of this parish the body of Margueritte Bertrand / Aged of 80 years Died the Fourteenth [of the] current [month] [Wife] / of the late Charles Longtin of this parish. Present, Tou[ssaint] / Page, Michel Gagné, Antoine Emare et Pierre Emard, who / could not sign [their names].”

Sources:

1. St-Constant (St-Constant, Quebec), parish register, 1767-1772, p. 8 recto, no entry no. (1771), Marie Margueritte Bertrand (written as Marie Margueritte Bertrand, indexed as Marie Marguerite Bertran) baptism, 22 November 1771; St-Constant parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 7 January 2016).

2. St-Constant (St-Constant, Quebec), parish register, 1795-1800, p. 15 verso, no entry no. (1795), Louis Charles Longtin – Margueritte Bertrand (written as Louis Charles Longtin – Margueritte Bertrand, indexed as Louis Charles Longtin – Marguerite Bertrand) marriage, 23 November 1795; St-Constant parish; digital images, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 7 January 2016).

3. St-Constant (St-Constant, Quebec), parish register, 1846, p. 2 recto, entry no. S.5, Margueritte Bertrand (written as Margueritte Bertrand, indexed as Marguerite Bertrand Agee de Quatre) burial, 16 January 1846; St-Constant parish; digital image, “Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 7 January 2016).

Copyright © 2016, Yvonne Demoskoff.