Sunday’s Obituary: Joe Saucier

Joseph Saucier obituary, 1993


Joseph Saucier was born on 6 March 1922 in the parish of St. Raphael, near South Glengarry in eastern Ontario, Canada. Joe, who served in World War II and in Korea, married my Dad’s first cousin Lucille (Lou) Potvin in 1946. I used to visit him and Lou at their home when I was a student at the University of Ottawa.

Joe died on 27 July 1993 in Ottawa and was buried there in Hope Cemetery. I will always remember him as very nice man, kind, soft-spoken, with a hint of mischievousness.

Source:

“Joseph Olier Saucier”, obituary, undated clipping (1993), from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2013.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Tombstone Tuesday: George Demoskoff

George Demoskoff gravemarker


This past Sunday, I posted my husband’s uncle George’s obituary. Today, I follow up that post with a scanned image of his gravemarker. George is interred in the U.S.C.C. Doukhobor Cemetery in Grand Forks, British Columbia.

George’s gravemarker reads:

LOVING HUSBAND [&] FATHER

GEORGE W. DEMOSKOFF

1911 – 1980

HE IS NOT DEAD BUT SLEEPETH

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sunday’s Obituary: George Demoskoff

George Demoskoff obituary, 1980

George Demoskoff, my husband’s paternal uncle, was a younger son of Russian Doukhobor immigrants Wasyl and Luchenia (Tomelin) Demosky.

George lived most of his life in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and for a short time in California, USA, where he sought relief for a heart condition. (I’ve written about his time at the Hidden Valley Health Ranch here.)

George died on 16 July 1980 in Grand Forks, British Columbia. He is buried there in the USCC (Sion) Cemetery.

Source: “George Demoskoff”, obituary, undated clipping (July 1980), from unidentified newspaper; Demoskoff Family Papers, privately held by Yvonne (Belair) Demoskoff, British Columbia, 2013. Yvonne acquired an assortment of family memorabilia (including George’s obituary) in January 2012 from her father-in-law William (Bill) Demoskoff.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wordless Wednesday: George Vanasse and His Sisters

George Vanasse with his sisters (left to right) Mary, Agnès and Celia (Cécile). They’re gathered for the wedding of George’s son Armand on 5 June 1950 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Proof Summary: Pierre Desgroseilliers’ Death Date

I recently came across an online article about organizing “your findings in a way so that readers can understand how you came to a logical conclusion”.¹ I’ve been working on trying to prove that an ancestor (my maternal great-great-grandfather) didn’t die on the date seen in a local history book. After reading Susan Jackman’s article, I decided to write my own proof summary about my findings and use her summary as a model.

Proof statements, proof summaries, and proof arguments are the "three options for presenting a conclusion as proved".² I'm still learning about all these new terms and how they are part of the GPS – the Genealogical Proof Standard.

Here’s how I did.

Proof Summary: Pierre Desgroseilliers’ Death Date

Date: 22 June 2013

Compiler: Yvonne Demoskoff

Subject: Pierre Desgroseilliers, born 1841, son of François and Elisabeth (Lemieux) Desgroseilliers

Project Definition: Prove that Pierre Desgroseilliers did not die on 28 March 1901.

Background: Two sources give three dates of death for Pierre Desgroseilliers. The first source, a local history book (Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles) was published in 1945, some forty years after Pierre’s demise. It contains two different dates of death: 28 March 1901 and 1904 (day and month unspecified).³ The second source is Pierre’s tombstone. The tombstone says 20 March 19[??], but the online image is not quite clear enough to distinguish the year of death.⁴

Proof Argument: Pierre did not die on 28 March 1901, as stated in the local history book, because at least three records show him as alive after this date.

Analysis of Findings:

- 1901: Pierre, his wife Flavie and their younger children are enumerated on the 1901 census of Canada in Casimir Township in the district of Nipissing in Ontario.⁵ The official census date was 31 March 1901; therefore, as long as Pierre was correctly reported as being alive on this date, he could not have died on 28 March 1901.

- 1903: Pierre was present as a witness at the funeral of a widow on 18 May 1903.⁶ Pierre, whose name is rendered as “Pierre Desgroseilier” in the burial record, was one of the two recorded witnesses at the burial of [–?–] Lauzon, whose age is not stated and whose deceased husband’s name is not stated.

- 1903: Pierre and his wife Flavie are named as godparents at the baptism of an infant child, Ernest Xavier Gagnon, on 6 December 1903.⁷

Conclusion: Pierre did not die on 28 March 1901 as reported in the local history book, because at least three records put him in a given place at a given time after this date.

Footnotes:

1. Susan Jackman, “Where Is Your Proof?”, Archives, 27 September 2011 (http://www.archives.com/experts/jackman-susan/where-is-your-proof.html : accessed 22 June 2013).

2. Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013), 84.

3. Lionel Séguin, Historique de la paroisse Saint-Charles (Saint-Charles, Ont., 1945: 232 and 233); digital images, Our Roots (http://www.ourroots.ca/ : accessed 18 June 2013). The author, Father Séguin, explains in the book’s foreword, that he visited each family and gathered all the details and information, which he adds was often contradictory, to compile his history of St-Charles.

4. “St Charles (Dunnet Township) Gravemarker Cemetery Gallery”, digital images, Northern Ontario Canada Gravemarker Gallery (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~murrayp/sudbury/st_char/public/index.htm : accessed 17 June 2013), photograph, grave marker of Pierre Desgrosseilliers [sic], St. Charles, Ontario.

5. 1901 Census of Canada, Casimir Township, Nipissing, Ontario, population schedule, subdistrict F1-2, p. 2, dwelling 15, family 15, Piere Desgrossillier [sic]; digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 24 August 2007); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6428 to T-6556 [T-6483]. The official enumeration date for this census was 31 March 1901.

6. St Thomas the Apostle (Warren, Ontario), parish register, 1901-1910, no page number (but digital image 4 of 25), entry no. 3 (left hand side of booklet) (1903), [–?–] Lauzon burial, 18 May 1903; St Thomas the Apostle parish; digital image, “Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923”, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : 15 May 2013).

7. St-Thomas Apôtre (Warren, Ontario), parish register, 1901-1967, p. 13, entry no. 88 (1903), Ernest Xavier Gagnon baptism, 6 December 1903; St-Thomas Apôtre parish; digital image, “Ontario, Canada, Catholic Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1747-1967”, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 18 June 2013). Ernest Xavier Gagnon was the infant son of Augustin and Marie (Couvrette) Gagnon.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Workday Wednesday: Fred Belair, Michigan Bound

As an unmarried young man in his 20s, my grandfather Fred Belair worked in the USA. I found three records at Ancestry.ca that place him in Michigan during the second decade of the 20th century.

Many years ago, my grandfather told me that he worked in the shipyards of Wisconsin and Minnesota in the 1910s or 1920s, or even possibly during World War I (I’ve forgotten that detail). So far, I haven’t found any border crossing manifests or other documents that confirm his recollections.

Record No. 1


Fred Belair's record of arrival in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA, 1910


On 27 October 1910, Fred arrived in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. He was 19 years old (he was actually 20, and about to turn 21 within two months) and a laborer. His last residence was “Cash Bay [Cache Bay], Ontario”, he had never previously been in the USA, and he planned to “Seek work” in the Soo [Sault Sainte Marie], Michigan. He paid his own passage. Personal characteristics include height (5’6”), complexion (fair), hair (red) and eyes (grey).¹

I remember my Pépère Fred telling me that he had worked in the US, but I don’t recall him ever telling me that he worked in Michigan. I also didn’t know that he had been in Cache Bay, near North Bay, Ontario. If he was a laborer here, he might have worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway, or perhaps in the lumber and pulp and paper industries.

Record No. 2


Fred Belair's record of arrival in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, USA, 1912


On 17 June 1912, Fred arrived in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. He declared he was 22 years old, a laborer, and that his last residence was Ruel, Ontario. He was previously in the USA from 1911 to February 1912 in “Soo [Sault Ste Marie], Michigan”. His destination was the American Hotel in Sault Sainte Marie, and he was there “To visit; may remain & look for work”. Again, he paid his own passage. Personal characteristics include height (5’6”), complexion (fair), hair (brown) and eyes (blue).²

Curious about this “American Hotel”, I turned to the 1911-1912 Sault Sainte Marie city directory at Ancestry.ca.³ I found that the hotel is located at 306 Magazine Street and the proprietor was a certain Achille Corriveau. At this point, I wondered if my grandfather chose this particular hotel because he knew it was run by someone with a French name, and/or if someone back home (maybe a work buddy) told him that the American was a good place for French-speaking workers from Canada to get a room.

I knew that my grandfather worked on the railroad in Ontario (possibly in Ramore, east of Timmins) in the 1920s, but it’s looking like he worked for the railroad even earlier than that, from details found in the records no. 1 and 2. For example, Fred declared that his last place of residence was “Ruel, Ont.” Even though I’m originally from Ontario, I’ve never heard of Ruel. After a bit of checking around on the Internet, I found that Ruel is located more or less in the forest east of Highway 144 about half way between Sudbury and Timmins. Ruel has been around since at least 1911 when it was a subdivision and a siding with the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway.⁴ I suppose that since Fred was in Ruel, he presumably worked for the CNOR.

Record No. 3

The third record is a manifest for the Port of Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. It’s dated 24 June 1912, but states the same information found in the previous record.⁵

What have I learned from these records?

I knew some things about my grandfather, like his name, his age, his place of birth, his personal characteristics (he was always red-haired, never brown), and his father’s name.

I also learned new facts, like:

- Prior to 27 October 1910, he resided in Cache Bay, Ontario.
- Prior to this date, he had never been in the U.S.
- On this date, he was able to pay his own passage, and had $20.00 to his name.
- On this date, he was a laborer, heading to Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan to “seek work”.

- Prior to 17 June 1912, he resided in Ruel, Ontario.
- Prior to this date, he had previously been in the U.S. from 1911 to February 1912.
- On this date, he was able to pay his own passage, and had $22.00 to his name.
- On this date, he was a laborer, heading once again to Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan to “visit; may remain & look for work”. While there, he planned on staying at the American Hotel.

Sources:

1. “Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists, 1903-1965”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 5 March 2012), entry for Menosipe Bellair [sic], age 19, arrived Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1910; citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.: Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Algonac, Marine City, Roberts Landing, Saint Clair, and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1903-1955; Record Group: 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Microfilm Serial: A3429; Microfilm Roll: 2.

2. “Michigan Passenger and Crew Lists, 1903-1965”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 February 2012), entry for Menesippe Belair, age 22, arrived Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1912; citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.: Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Algonac, Marine City, Roberts Landing, Saint Clair, and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1903-1955; Record Group: 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Microfilm Serial: A3429; Microfilm Roll: 2.

3. “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989”, digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 14 June 2013), R.L. Polk, compiler, 1911-1912 Sault Ste. Marie City Directory (Detroit, Michigan: R.L. Polk & Co., Publishers and Compilers, 1911), X: 49.

4. “C.N.Rys. Ontario Subdivisions”, database, CNR in Ontario (http://cnr-in-ontario.com/Subdivisions/index.html : accessed 14 June 2013), entry for “Ruel”.

5. “Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956”; digital images, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 6 February 2012), entry for Menesippe Belair, age 22, arrived Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, 1912; citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.: Manifests of Passengers Arriving at St. Albans, VT, District through Canadian Pacific and Atlantic Ports, 1895-1954; Record Group: 85, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; Microfilm Serial: M1464; Microfilm Roll: 184; Line: 12.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Wedding Wednesday: Demoskoff – Cazakoff

Bill and Ann Demoskoff Wedding, 1952

Bill and Ann (Cazakoff) Demoskoff, my husband’s parents, married on 1 June 1952 at her father George’s property in the Lily Vale School District, a few miles northwest of Kamsack, Saskatchewan.

The couple had known each other for a few months. They met through Ann’s brother John who told Bill, “I have a sister you may want to meet”. Bill agreed to meet Ann at a restaurant in Kamsack. They got along right away and found they were compatible. Soon, Bill began to drop in on Ann at her parents’ home. After a brief courtship, they decided to marry.

Bill, nearly 38 years old, and Ann, 26, were Doukhobors. They chose to marry in the simple and traditional ceremony of their faith. (Doukhobor marriages were recognized by the province of Saskatchewan since 1909.)

After receiving her father’s blessing, the newlyweds and their guests travelled a short distance (about 20 miles) to where the second part of the festivities took place. Here, Bill’s mother Luchenia and his married sister Mable, who were waiting for them with other guests, had prepared a meal – borscht, vegetables, and roasted meat.

Bill and Ann were blessed with two children, son Michael and daughter Margaret. (Maggie would later wear her mother’s off-white satin dress at her own wedding 28 years later.)

Ann passed away in 1980, but Bill is still with us. He will be 99 years old tomorrow. Michael and Margaret are giving him a small, family luncheon this Sunday.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.

Sentimental Sunday: Aunt Simone

Two deaths in less than one month.

On May 5th, my mother’s younger sister Normande passed away.

This past week, on May 29th, Mom’s elder sister Simone passed away in Sarnia, Ontario, after battling emphysema and cancer for a number of years.

Mom spoke with Simone about two weeks ago. She could tell how ill Simone was, so didn’t keep her long on the telephone. It was the last time the two sisters spoke.

Simone was born in 1930 in Hearst, a small northern Ontario town. She was the fourth child and third daughter of Eugène and Juliette (Beauvais) Desgroseilliers. She, my Mom and their father shared the same birthdate: 30 August.


Simone (right) with her eldest sister Mariette, about 1936

In the spring of 1949, Simone married Bob Burdan. They were the parents of five children: Chuck, Janet, David, Nancy and Bobby. My cousin Bobby died in an accident in 1982 and Uncle Bob passed away in 1998.

In the mid-1980s, Aunt Simone visited my family not long after we moved to British Columbia from our home province of Ontario. Mom and Simone were getting ready to go out one afternoon. Aunt Simone was just about finished when she suddenly asked if I would like any of her jewellery. She told me to take whatever I liked – earrings, necklaces or rings. I chose a pair of blue drop earrings. I was deeply touched by her generosity and have never forgotten that moment.

Rest in peace, Aunt Simone.

Copyright © 2013, Yvonne Demoskoff.