a madawaska history: dubé-trudelle-vaillancourt …...jul 26, 2011 · dubé - trudelle -...

A MADAWASKA HISTORY: Dubé-Trudelle-Vaillancourt Families of Ste Luce J.R.Theriault, 28 July 2011

PREFACE... I prepared this short paper for a visit with some of my maternal aunts, uncles and cousins; all members of Marie Delina Vaillancourt's family of Dubé's and Trudelle's, which she lovingly considered a single family. The patriarch for the Dubés was Josephel, from 1905 until 1914 and Honoré, for the Trudelle's from 1918 until 1949. We take a brief look at the settling of the Madawaska Territory in 1785 by the Acadians and then focus on the French-Canadian settlers beginning in the 1840's with Pierre (II) Dubé, Fidel Trudel and Jéremie Vaillancourt. I am grateful to our 'Sainte Luce experts' Colonel Carroll Deschenes (USAF) from his home in Huntsville and Kenneth Roy from Dallas for their help in solving our genealogy puzzles, once again. Still encumbered by my work on the history of my Terriot family, I am pleased to have been able to begin work on Marie's family. My guilt for having delayed this work so long is a little diminished. Were she with us, she would say "J'ai toujours su que tu ferrais ça, mon Ralph".

Figure1.1840MapofPartofUpperCanada(A)andLowerCanada(B)andthemigrationroute(showninred)totheMadawaskaTerritory(C).

THE MADAWASKA TERRITORY.

Some time after the Treaty of Paris was enacted in 17831, the English and the Americans discovered that they did not agree on the location of the international boundary around the northern tip of present-day Maine2. England claimed that the boundary cut across to present-day Houlton while the United States claimed that the boundary was further north close to the St Lawrence River. The area between those two lines was called the "Madawaska Territory"3. The disagreement was resolved in 1842 when the Webster-Ashburton Treaty declared that the St-John River would form the international boundary.

Prior to 1785, the territory had been a 'no-man's land'. But the fact that the area was not under the jurisdiction of either country, attracted the Acadians to the area. By tradition, the Acadians had remained neutral to the incessant fighting between the English, the French and even the

1ThetreatyendedtheAmericanRevolutionaryWar.2Atthattime,MainewasapartofMassachusetts.Thestatewasfoundedin1820.3OnepossibleoriginofthenameistheMaliseetword"Matawaskiyak"‐whichmeans"whereoneriverrunsintoanotherwithwatergrass”.

Dubé - Trudelle - Vaillancourt Families: A History J.R.Theriault, 28 July 2011

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Figure2.Thisphotocapturesthetwoprincipalconstructionstylesinthevalleyatthattime:theCanadianstyleontheleftandtheAmericanStyleontheright.(PhotocourtesyoftheUniversityofMonctonatEd‐mundston.CEDEM.)

Americans. And, ever since their eviction by the English in 1755 from their homes in their native Acadia since the early 1600's4, the Acadians had been looking for a new homeland. So, looking to the Madawaska territory, they hoped that they would be left alone as they started their settlements in 1785 in present-day St-Basil, New Brunswick and St-David, Maine.

Learning about this new opportunity to break away from the European feudal system and an opportunity to own property, a few French-Canadians descended from Lower Canada after 1875 to join the Acadians. Later, French-Canadians continued to emigrate in the 1820's, 1840's and later.

The French Canadians who emigrated in the 1820's and 1840's from the colony of Québec to the Madawaska territory, originated mostly from the province of Lower Canada (south of the St Lawrence) between Islet and Kamouraska, east of Québec City. (Area 'B' in Figure 1 above.) The trek to the Madawaska territory (Area 'C' in Figure 1 above.) was about 150 miles long and consisted of some 50 miles of portaging overland and canoeing across the Temiscouata Lake and down the Madawaska River to the St-John River.

In 1791, the colony of Québec was divided into the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Can-ada. Upper Canada included present-day Québec that lies north of the St-Lawrence including present-day Ontario. Upper Canada was administered as an anglophone province and was pop-ulated largely by Protestant British loyalists while Lower Canada (Québec that lies south of the St-Lawrence) was francophone and Catholic. As a result of this division, the French Canadians who found themselves in Upper Canada (for example, the Trudels) were motivated to move to Lower Canada or to the new Madawaska territory. 4AcadiawascededtoBritainbyFranceinthe1713TreatyofUtrecht.Acadiawasrenamed"NovaScotia"byBritain.


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In addition, Lower Canada included a large population of Acadians who had fled Nova Scotia during the Great Eviction ("Grand Dérangement") of 1755-1759, for example, the Terriot's. They as well were motivated to move to the Madaska territory on hearing of the Acadian set-tlement of the territory in 1785. In addition to these motivations, there was also the fact that the culture in Québec was a feudal culture imported from France. The nobility owned the land and the peasants were given the privilege of renting the land for cultivation. The Acadian cul-ture on the other hand, was based on property ownership where the individual farmers sold or traded their surplus for profit. The Acadians were also accustomed to governing themselves us-ing a simple system of representation. So, the cultural difference attracted many French Cana-dians to the Madawaska territory which was first settled by the Acadians.

OUR DUBÉ FAMILY SETTLERS.

Pierre (II) Dubé5 was born in 1822 in the village of St. Roch des Aulnies on the St Lawrence River to a French-Canadian couple; Pierre Dubé (I) and Théotiste Pelletier. Pierre (I) was no doubt a tenant farmer like many others in the village. In their feudal culture of that time, the nobility were the land owners and the tenant farmers rented their farm land from their 'seigneur', or Lord. The quality of life was meager and at the whim of the nobility.

Figure3. St.RochdesAulniesvillageon theSt. LawrenceRiver.The churchwhere someofourancestorswerebaptized,marriedandburiedisshownatleft.

5ThehistoryoftheDubefamilybeginsinFrance.TheDubesurnameappearstobeGaelicinorigin,comingfromtheword“Be,”whichmeans“Tomb.”InFrench,“du”means“of”or“from.”NearthecommunityofMé‐néac, inBrittany, lies the small villageof LeBé, andnear the villagewasa forest called the “Forest of theTomb,”or inFrench“LaForestduBé.”The familydescends fromJohanduBé,Seigneur(Lord)deMénéac,around1200AD.

From1427to1513,manylordandnobilitylistingswereassociatedwiththeduBéname,includingPierrotduBé. In1514, JeanduBémarriedGilletteHangoumar, ladyofMorelais fromColinayeetLaLande,whohadmanylandholdings,mainlyinthedioceseofRennes.

In1671 theDubé familywasdeclaredasdescending fromnobility,havingexisted forsixgenerations.TheDubécoatofarmswasregisteredattheGeneralHeraldryintheRegisterofCottéinRennesin1698.(Ref:'MyDubéFamilyHistory'byAlanC.Dubé,http://alandube.net/Documents/Dube.htm)


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Figure4above.ca1870mapofthewesternhalfofUpperFrenchville showingfamilypropertiesinclud‐ing those of Félix Trudel ("F. Tindel"); Lazar Trudelle ("L. Trudale"); Pierre Dubé ("P. Debey") and JeanVaillancourt("J.V.Uncoue").Thefamilypropertiesarecolorcoded:GREENforTrudelle,PINKforVaillan‐courtandYELLOWfor‐Dubé.ThePURPLEistheCatholicChurch.Figure5.below.RecentsatellitephotorenditionoftheSMALLRECTANGULARHIGHLIGHTEDAREAinthelowerleftcornerofFigure4.Theownersforcertaintimesinthepastareparentheticallynoted.


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Figure6.RecentsatellitephotorenditionoftheplotsinUpperFrenchvillefortheTrudelle,DubéandVaillan‐courtfamilies.Thelegendforthenumberingonthe2ndRowhomesisgiveninFigure5above.


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Some time in the 1840's, Pierre (II) decided to emigrate to the Madawaska territory. Pierre6 was the first Dubé in our lineage to settle in the Madawaska territory and was one of many other Dubé's from the Kamouraska area to settle there. Since the Dube's have a single progenitor in North America, all Dube's are related although many are distant relationships, e.g. 9th-10th cous-ins.

To assure that they would have sufficient time to settle somewhere before the cold months of late fall and winter, the settlers typically would set out for Madawaska in late spring. At the time of Pierre (II)'s emigration, the common route from Kamouraska to Madawaska after 1830 was to travel the 'Chemin du Portage' from the Kamouraska villages on the St-Lawrence River along the Temiscouata Lake and the Madawaska River to present-day Edmundston.

We see no evidence of Pierre living in the Madawaska territory until we see his name on a cen-sus taken by Father Dionne of the parish of Ste. Luce in 1858 where he is listed along with his brother, Prudent as living in the 2nd Row settlements of Ste. Luce. So, he may have worked for several years as a farm laborer for someone where he was also living. We do know that in 1846, he married Marie Arthemise Hortense Roy (they called her 'Hortense'), daughter of Raph-ael Roy and Lucie Caron who had themselves recently emigrated from the Kamouraska area. At some point, he was able to acquire his plot in the 2nd Row settlement where he established his farm. Some of his neighbors included the Belangers, Castonguays, Blanchettes and Plourdes to the north, and the Trudelles, Vaillancourts, Langs, Pelletiers, Gauvins and Guimonds to the south. His brother Prudent, who was about ten years younger, later purchased a plot on the St-John River close to the Frenchville-Fort Kent townline. (See Figure 2, yellow "P. Dubouy" lot)

Table 1. Children of Pierre Dubé & Marie Arthemise Hortense Roy Married: 1846

Child Born Reference D-Hortense ca 1847 US Census 1870

S-Joseph 1849 US Census 1870

S-Pierre ca 1851 US Census 1870

D-Marie ca 1852 US Census 1870

S-Frederick 1858 US Census 1870

D-Flavie ca 1861 US Census 1870

S-Damas ca 1863 US Census 1870`

The censuses of that time record four sons and three daughters that were born to Pierre and Marie Arthemise; as listed in Table 1 above7. (In the genealogy tables that follow, the person who is in our family lineage is highlighted in LIGHT GREEN.)

Beginning around 1863 when Joseph was 14 years old, Pierre had the advantage of Joseph's help to do the cultivation work in the three growing months and to clear land in the winter 6Josephel,thefirsthusbandofourgrandmotherMarieDelinaVaillancourt,wasagrandsonofPierre(I)7 The compilation of the genealogy tables in this paper represents a first step in the research of our families. Much research has been successfully completed on the earlier generations (prior to 1750) of our families but not much research has been completed for our Dubé, Trudelle and Vaillancourt generations that span the years of the migra-tion to the Madawaska territory. PLEASE CONSIDER ANY DATA THAT IS NOT IN BOLD AS PROBABLY ERRONEOUS, AND CIRCA DATES AS APPROXIMATIONS.


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Figure7. Josephel Dubé atthe age of 19 in 1905. Thisphoto was given to ElsieDubé Theriault by her auntÉditheDubéBaron. (TerriotAcadian Family Society Ar‐chive.)

months. His second son, Frederick would not be able to provide much help because of his men-tal health.

In 1870, Pierre was working his farm with his wife, Hortense and all of their children at that point. Their elder daughter Hortense although 23 was at home; Joseph (21) and Pierre (19) were working with their father on the farm and Marie (18) was going to school. Pierre declared to the census-taker that his farm was worth $2008 and that he had about $225 in cash or other valuables. A brother, Baptiste, who was 20 years younger had emigrated from Lower Canada and had apparently also joined him. Baptiste was living next door with his wife, Léocadie and their children: Modest (9), Sophie (6), Isidore (4), Madeline (3) and Hilaire (1).

Table 2. Children of Joseph Dubé & Georgiana Marquis Married: 1871

Child Born Reference D-Fresne[sic] ca 1872 US Census 1880

D-Tosias[sic] ca 1873 US Census 1880

D-Georgiana ca 1876 US Census 1880

D-Alice ca 1878 US Census 1880

D-Edithe 1884 US Census 1880

S-Josephel 1886 US Census 1880

But it was not long before Joseph at the age of 22, decided in the spring of 1871 to marry Georgiana Marquis, the widow of Louis Plourde. She had had three children with Louis: Modeste, Seconde and Léandre. Georgiana was the daughter of Benoit Marquis and Julie St. Jarre, a local French Canadian family who themselves had been in Sainte Luce for at least one generation.

Pierre gave his farm to Joseph who continued to work it but as Jo-seph's family grew, it became clear that they would not be able to expand their small farm because of the six children, the only son was Josephel, his youngest child. (See Table 2 above.)

Not long after, Georgiana died in 1891 leaving Joseph with some very young children. So in 1894, he remarried to Josephine Bard who 'filled-in' to help with the young children. Their youngest was five years old. Two years later, Joseph also died of unknown caus-es at the age of 47. Fortunately, one of his daughters, Alice and her husband, Frederick Lausier moved in to care for the family. The US Census of 1900 shows Alice, her husband and their two children living in the Joseph Dubé house on 2nd Row along with

8 During our tour of the Trudelle land on 28 July 2011, Peter Trudelle, a 2nd great-grandson of Félix, wondered what would $200 of personal worth be in 2011 dollars. Félix's total personal net worth of $425 (including his cash) in 2011 dollars would be $130,000 using the nominal GDP per capita approach. 'MeasuringWorth' is an organization (www.measuringworth.com) whose objective is to "...make available to the public the highest quality and most reliable historical data on important economic aggregates, with particular emphasis on nominal measures."


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Georgiana's children which included Seconde Plourde (Georgiana's daughter with her first mar-riage), Edithe, Josephel and Joseph's brother, Frederick.

There is no doubt that life was difficult for Joseph and Georgiana's children after they were both gone. But with the help of their daughter, Alice and her husband, the family was able to man-age. In 1904, Edithe married and the year after in 1905, Josephel at the age of 19 married 'the girl next door', Marie Delina Vaillancourt who had just turned 18 four months before. They called her 'Marie'. Josephel inherited his father's farm which he would continue to work.

OUR TRUDELLE FAMILY SETTLERS.

There were a few intrepid French Canadians like the Trudels who came from places almost twice as far as Kamouraska, like Portneuf9, east of Québec City (See Area 'A' in Figure 1) and in the area north of the St Lawrence then called Upper Canada.

No doubt, Félix Trudel10 saw his chance to become a property owner and so, he emigrated from Upper Canada to the Madawaska territory sometime before 1845. In that year, he married So-phie Caron on the wintry day of 20 January in the parish of Sainte Luce. Sophie was the daugh-ter of Joseph Caron and Françoise Couturier Messier, a French Canadian couple living in Sainte Luce. Félix was the son of French Canadians Ambroise and Marie Geneviève Dubuc from Pointes aux Trembles and Portneuf, Québec, respectively.

Soon after arriving, Félix acquired Lot #63 (see Fig 4 GREEN property) from Vincent Albert where he had a homestead (N47.279964° W68.437267°11) on the north side of the road (present-day US Route 1) by the river. We know from the Dean and Kavanaugh Survey of 1831 that Vin-cent Albert owned that lot since 1816 when he acquired it from Benjamin Boucher. Again ac-cording to the Survey, Vincent at the time had a house and a barn on the farm and had cleared some 20 acres for farming. So, Félix acquired a 'ready-made' property of about 100 acres that he was able to move into and continue the farming activities that Vincent Albert had been doing for over twenty years. And, given the mid-winter timing of his wedding, he probably was al-ready settled on his land when he married.

The river was the 'highway' of those times, so the houses were located close to the river for convenient access. He no doubt would have taken the time to establish a garden for himself and for feed crops for his livestock. Once settled, Félix would focus on cultivating his 20 acres of farm land and in the winter, clearing additional fields for crops, saving the lumber for his own use or to sell or trade locally. At that time, oxen were often preferred over horses because they

9'Portneuf'translatesto'portnine'.Thesignificanceormeaningofthisnameisnotknown.10 Jacques Trudel & Francine Revel sont les grands-parents de Jean Trudel et Marguerite Noyer. Jean Trudel et Marguerite Noyer sont les parents de JEAN TRUDEL qui est venu immigrer au CANADA. NAISSANCE : 1629 à Parfondeval(Mortagne-au-Perche,Orne,France) MARIAGE : Marguerite Thomas(Jean, Marguerite Fredry) le 19 nov. 1655 à Notre-Dame, Québec, Capitale-Nationale, Québec, Canada DÉCÈS : 25 nov.1699 à Ange-Gardien INHUMATION : 26 nov.1699 à Ange-Gardien PROFESSION : Tisserand SES POSSESSIONS : 2 fusils, 8 bêtes à cornes et 30 arpents de terre en valeur. 11CopyandpastethegeographiccoordinatesintobrowseraddressorGoogleEarthaddresstoseetheloca‐tion.


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were less expensive to own and feed. In 1850, farmers had to manually fabricate almost all of their tools. One of the most used tools by a farmer was the plow which was mostly fabricated out of wood but with an iron ploughshare that was fabricated by a local blacksmith.

According to the US Census of 1860, Félix's neighbors to the west (toward Fort Kent) were the families of Belonie Saucier, Michel Nadeau and Dédime Bouchard, and on the east side were the Firmin Chassé, Jos Ouellette and Edouard Guay families with the Sainte Luce Catholic Church east of the Guay property. Edouard Guay had been brought in by the Pastor of the Sainte Luce parish to design and oversee the construction of the parish's first church in 1843. After the church was finished, Guay decided to remain in the village.

As shown in Table 3, Félix and Sophie's family grew over the early 1840's and into the 1850's.

Table 3. Children of Félix Trudel & Sophie Caron Married: 1845

Child Born Reference D-Marie ca 1842 US Census 1860

S-Pierre ca 1844 US Census 1860

S-Baptiste ca 1846 US Census 1860

S-Lazar 1846 US Census 1860

S-Antoine ca 1848 US Census 1860

Axila [sic] ca 1848 US Census 1860

Zile [sic] ca 1850 US Census 1860

Tazie [sic] ca 1851 US Census 1860

On 3 December 1850, Sophie died of unknown causes and on 18 April 1853, Félix remarried to Élisabeth Marquis, a local girl. Together, they had five sons and two daughters as listed in Table 4.

Table 4. Children of Félix Trudel & Élisabeth Marquis Married: 1853

Child Born Reference S-Xavier 1854 Ste Luce Parish Census 1858

S-Bélonie 1856 Ste Luce Parish Census 1858

S-Magloire ca 1856 US Census 1880

S-Edouard 1858 Ste Luce Parish Census 1858

S-Isaiah 1859 Ste Luce Parish Census 1858

D-Mary ca 1858 US Census of 1870

D-Sophie ca 1863 US Census of 1870

The US Census of 1870 shows Félix and Élizabeth living with Lazar (23) and Felix's three chil-dren with Élizabeth: Magloire (17), Mary (12) and Sophie (7). Apparently, their sons Edouard and Isaiah died of unknown causes since the parish census of 1858.

It is interesting to note that in the US Census of 1880, Félix and Élisabeth are living with their son, Magloire and a 22 year old school teacher named Mamie. At this time, Félix was 68 years old and had no doubt turned the farm over to Magloire. Later in the Census of 1900, Magloire is


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recorded as owning the farm and is living there with his wife, Modeste Cyr, originally from St. David, as well as a son and four daughters.

Some time prior to getting married in 1875, Lazar acquired (probably by grant) a small plot of land (about 40 acres) in the 2nd row of the back settlements of Sainte Luce parish shown in green in the lower left corner of Figure 4. As with his father, Lazar chose to marry in the winter months, so on Tuesday, 9 February, 1875, Lazar traveled across the St-John River to Saint Bas-il, New Brunswick to marry Méthaïde, the 19-year old daughter of Louis Ringuette and Julie Thériault from Rivière Verte. The wedding took place in St. Basil where they probably stayed before returning to Upper Frenchville. In doing so, Méthaïde emigrated to the United States.

Table 5. Children of Lazar Trudelle & Méthaïde Ringuette Married: 1875

Child Born Reference S-Maxime ca 1876 US Census 1880; Terriot Acadian Family Archive

D-Lathèque 1878 US Census 1880; Terriot Acadian Family Archive

D-Julie 1881 Terriot Acadian Family Archive (www.terriau.org)

D-Mattie 1883 Terriot Acadian Family Archive (www.terriau.org)

D-Marie Agnès 1886 Descendants of Jean Trudel, Col Carroll Deschenes, USAF Ret

S-Honoré 1888 Terriot Acadian Family Archive (www.terriau.org)

S-Louis Deschenes (foster)

1901 "Descendants of Firmin-Come Miville-Dit-Deschenes", Col Carroll Deschenes, USAF Retired

Surely, Lazar had already built his house and probably already had cleared several acres of land that could be cultivated. He had had some help from his brothers and family in prepar-ing for his bride. So, coming to the se-cond row back settlements of Sainte Luce was probably not a huge adjust-ment for Méthaïde since she came from a similar environment in Rivière Verte. She and Lazar started their family in the next year with a son, Maxime as shown in Table 5.

Lazar's first piece of land was small compared to most of the other plots in the village. Apparently, sometime around the turn of the century, Lazar was able to acquire the 60 acre Lau-sier farm which was across the road from his farm. As shown in Figure 4, the property abutted Pierre Debey’s (Dubé) lot #8 on the east. (See Fig-ure 5, Lazar Trudelle house #8a) This acquisition more than doubled his acreage to about 100 acres.

Figure8. A1919photoperhaps takenontheporchof theTrudel home after Honoré married Marie. Shown left toright: Elsie Dubé (6), Honoré(31), unknown couple, LouisDeschenes (18)with fiddle.PhotocourtesyofColonelCar‐rollDeschenes(USAFRetired)sonofLouis.


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The US Census of 1880 shows Lazar and Méthaïde having house guests Abraham Saucier, listed as a 32 year old farmer and his wife, Josephine and a 7 year old daughter, Mamie. Also living there as house guests was 13 year old Mamie Dubois. It was customary for new arrivals to the area like Abraham Saucier to arrange to work for someone until they were able to either acquire a grant or purchase land for themselves. Also, Lazar obviously needed help with his farm so the two men were able to help each other by actually merging their two families under one roof. Lazar and Méthaïde may have been asked by their pastor at Sainte Luce to take in the 13 year old who may have been an orphan. In those early days of the Madawaska territory, it was a matter of survival for people to help each other this way.

Actually, Lazar would not get much help until the 1890 when his elder son, Maxime would be old enough to help12. He would have to wait another 12 years for his younger son, Honoré. So, no

doubt, Lazar hired some help to support his farm and his crops.

Another child came to the Lazar Trudelle family in 1901 when their elder daughter Lathèque died follow-ing the birth of her first child, Louis. Lathèque was married to Joseph Deschenes in 1897. Louis was im-mediately taken in by Lazar and Méthaïde and raised as their own child.

Some time between 1875 when they married and the time that Honoré married in 1918, Lazar acquired the farm plot across the road to add acreage to his farm. In addition, as his family was growing, he apparent-ly needed additional space in his home, so he built a new house on the second plot. It was a modest house, but it was sufficiently large to accomodate his family and others

that he needed to help with his farm. Of course, he acquired livestock during this time that re-quired shelter in the winter so, he built the large barn on the first plot.

12 We do not know much about Maxime. We have been unable to find any record of his marriage or death. He may have died as an infant or child.

Figure4. Dubé‐Trudelle‐VaillancourtFarmssuperim‐posedonasatellitephotoofthepresentarea.

6:Vaillancourtfarm(1840)8a:1stLazarTrudellehouse8b:2ndLazarTrudellehouse9:Trudellebarn10:HonoréTrudellehouse11:GrantSchoolHouse12:JoeBelangerhouse13:PierreDubéhouse


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OUR VAILLANCOURT FAMILY SETTLERS.

Jéremie Vaillancourt, who was born in 1822, emigrat-ed from Kamouraska in Lower Canada to the Mada-waska territory sometime before 1848. Before his par-ents joined him, Jeremie (as he was called) acquired his land, built a house and began the process of clear-ing and cultivating his small 40-acre plot. The location of Jean Vaillancourt's property in Upper Frenchville, Maine was in the Second Row (See "J. V. Uncoue"[sic] property shown in PINK in Figure 4 above and Figure 5, #6 Vaillancourt house). Later, his parents Jean-Baptiste and Julie Labbé joined Jean from Kamour-aska. In the Fall of 1848 on 30 October, he married Démerise Henriette Albert from Saint Basile. Démerise was the 28 year old daughter of Vincent and Reine Boucher, whose families had also emigrated from Lower Canada and who were the previous owners of the property acquired by Félix Trudel in the village.

Jéremie and Démerise raised a fairly large family of 9 children, 4 boys and 5 girls as shown in Table 6 be-low. We have some history and photos of Damase and Jean. Damase married Philomene Gendreau in 1871 and had a family of all girls: Marie, Agnes and Edithe. In 187013 Jéremie and Démerise were living with their 7 children: Damase, Jean, Leocadie, Xavi-er, Suzanne, Marie and Marcelle. Damase (19) and Jean (17) were working on the farm with their father.

Table 6. Children of Jéremie Vaillancourt & Démerise Henriette Albert Married: 1848

Child Born Reference S-Damase 1851 US Census 1880

S-Jean 1853 US Census 1880

D-Georgiana 1856 US Census 1880

S-Xavier 1857

D-Léocadie 1859 US Census 1880

D-Suzanne 1860 US Census 1880

D-Mamie 1863 US Census 1880

S-Marcelle 1865 US Census 1880

D-Marie

Jean married Flavie Methalde Devost in 1878 and over the next decade, had a family of seven children, four boys and three girls in Table 7 below. During the 1890's however, disaster struck

13 Ref: US Census of 1870

Figure 9. ca 1951. (L‐R) Agnes Vaillan‐court, Aunt Marie (Vaillancourt) Ouel‐lette,MarieDelina Vaillancourt Trudelle.ThelocationisAuntMarie'shome,asen‐iorhomeinCambridge,MA..'AuntMarie'isMarieVaillancourt'sauntandsisterofJeanVaillancourt.AgnesisMarieDelina'ssister‐in‐law and wife of Joseph, MarieDelina'sbrother.


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the family; Jean died on November 25, 1893 of unknown causes14. According to research by Carroll Deschaines, Flavie remarried in 1895 to Alexis Guimond but died soon after of unknown causes. By 1900, their children were living with Jean's father, Jéremie. The youngest, Hilaire was under seven years of age. Again according to Carroll's research, Hilaire was soon after tak-en in by Dosithe (aka Docise) Gauvin and his wife, Mattie Vaillancourt, Hilaire's oldest sister.

Table 7. Children of Jean Vaillancourt & Flavie Devost Married: 1878

Child Born Reference D-Mattie 1879 US Census 1880

S-Maxime 1881 US Census 1900

S-Denie 1883 US Census 1900

S-Joseph 1885 US Census 1900

D-Marie Delina 1887 US Census 1900

D-Modeste 1891 US Census 1900

S-Hilaire 1893

With some guidance from their grandfather, Jeremie, the family was able to continue cultivating their crops and the other chores necessary to support a farm. Mattie, their oldest no doubt was the surrogate mother for the family while the three older brothers, Maxime (19), Denie (17) and Joseph (15) worked the farm.

After the turn of the century, the family life no doubt continued as before. But in 1904-1905 time period, the three older sons married. As each married, some left the Vaillancourt house-hold. But those that left were not far and were available if help was needed.

In August 1905, 18-year old Marie married 19-year old Josephel Dubé down the road. They cer-tainly knew each other well because they had been friends throughout their childhood and no doubt had worked to support each other.

JOSEPHEL DUBÉ AND MARIE DELINA VAILLANCOURT FAMILY.

Life was not easy for Josephel and Marie but they were surrounded by family and friends. Somehow, they were always able to cope. Ten months after their wedding, they were blessed with their first child, a daughter that they named Mamie. The next child, a son they named Jo-seph Hurbey (but everyone called him 'Pit'), came without delay in 1907. Following a three year delay, they received another son who died soon after delivery. One year later, a boy they named Ned arrived and another two years later, Elsie was born in September 1913.

The customary cycle for farming in the Madawaska region is to do the crop cultivation activities in late spring to early fall. The winter months are taken up with clearing new land and cutting the lumber, sending some to market and keeping some for construction on the farm or for fire wood. The Saturday following Easter which was the 18th of April, Josephel was working behind Dosithe Gauvin's house (To locate the Gauvin house, see Figure 5 map above.) perhaps using his steam or gasoline-powered saw to cut the wood that had been stacked up on end behind 14 Ref: Sainte Luce Parish Burials, 1891-1943, pg. 5


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Figure10. TheDubéhomeandneighborhood,asseenfromtheTrudellefarm.TheGrantSchoolhousewhichwaslocatedontheTrudellelandisinthecenterandtheDubéhouse("...Lamaisonenbas.")ishighlighted.(Acompositephoto.)

Table 8. Children of Josephel & Marie Delina Vaillancourt

Married: 1905

Child Born Reference D-Mamie 1906 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Joseph Hurbey 'Pit' 1907 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Willard 1910 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Ned 1911 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

D-Elsie 1913 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

Dosithe's house. At some point, the stacked up logs came loose and fell on Josephel as he was in the process of cutting a log. The falling logs pushed him on to the saw, killing him immedi-ately.

It was of course a tragic disaster to all in the 2nd Row neighborhood. All were shocked to hear the news. In that brief moment, Marie and her four children lost the head of the household, their provider and their support. Marie's oldest, Mamie was 7 years old and the youngest (Elsie) was 7 months old. At the funeral at the Sainte Luce Church on Monday, Father Thomas Ber-geron noted in his record (in French):

"On 20 April 1914, I buried the body of Joseph L. Dubé15, son of Joseph Dubé, who was killed accidentally on 18 April 1914 at the age of 30. Father Thomas Bergeron"

15 His name as recorded on his birth record is 'Josephel'. His daughter, Elsie, always knew his name as 'Josephel'. However his name on his burial stone is 'Joseph L.'. There is no record of a middle name in any of his vital records, or of the meaning of 'L.'.


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The families in the neighborhood rallied to support Marie and her small children. No doubt her brothers came to her help to keep the farm operating. She had the resources of having land that she could rent to her neigh-bors and thus derive some income to support her family. She continued to grieve her loss and to carry on as best she could.

She managed to provide a home, food and clothing for her children over the next four years while she prayed for help.

The Dubé children were raised on prayer and hope during the interim period. When their father was killed in the accident, Mamie was 8 years old and had begun to help her mother with the house work. 'Pit' was 7 and was doing farm chores. There was an opportunity for 'Pit' to live with the Joseph Gaudreau and Seconde Plourde family who initially lived in the neighbor-hood but later moved to New Sweden, taking 'Pit' with them. It was a traumatic though necessary move to make, because it was one fewer mouth to feed.

'Pit' returned to the family after Marie married Honoré in 1918. Now four years older, 'Pit' was able to help Honoré with the farm work. Ned now 7, took care of the farm chores like feeding the livestock.

At the age of six, the children attended the Grant School next door. None of them however went to school at the Holy Rosary convent. Child labor and educa-tion laws existed but were not strictly en-forced until the 1930's. Also, during and after the Great Depression when the na-tional economy was at its worst, everyone on a farm had to work.

Mamie was the first the leave the family to work as a house maid for a family either locally or in Fort Kent. Later, she married Adelard Corriveau around 1930 and after-ward, they established their home in Fort Kent where they started their family.

Elsie did essentially the same in 1929, the year of the 'Crash'. She started at the age of 16 by working as a house maid for families locally but later went to work for the Hector Daigle family in Millinocket.

The men, 'Pit' and Ned stayed home to help Honoré with the farm. As young men, they would also hire out as lumberjacks to work in the woods in the winter to bring in some extra income.

Figure 11. 'Pit' plowing the family fields in 1932aftertheGreatDepression.

Figure12. 1932. Ned, Elsie,Mamie, Alphena and AdelardCorriveauon the front stepsoftheTrudellehome.

Figure13. 1941.Girl friendGeorgetteThériaultand'Pit'Dubé,ElsieandTheoduleTheriault,AlphenaandNedDubéonthenorthsideoftheTrudellehome.


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Figure 11. Honoré and MarieTrudelleinanofficialposearoundthetimeof theirweddingon1April1918atSainteLuceChurch.

In 1933, Ned married Alphena Lang, a local girl and they established their home on US Route 1 in Fort Kent to start their family in 1934. In 1936, while she was working in Millinocket, Elsie came home to help the family during the potato picking season. In that time, she met Theodule Theriault from Baker Brook, NB who was also working the potato fields. They married in 1936 in the Sainte Luce Church and started their family in 1938.

IN THE INTERIM.

Knowing that she could not raise her five children single-handedly, Ma-rie, who was now 27 years old, surely was hoping for an opportunity to remarry so that she could assure a livelihood for her children. She was courted for some time by Marcelle Guimond who lived at the foot of 'Glass Hill' (Cote Vitrée). (See Figure 5 map for location of #1: Guimond home.) Some time later, another fellow in the neighborhood made a more compelling case and on a happier April, four years after losing Jo-sephel in 1918, Marie married Honoré Trudelle, the youngest son of Laz-ar and Méthaïde, living just next door.

HONORÉ TRUDELLE AND MARIE DELINA VAILLANCOURT DUBÉ FAMILY.

Almost exactly two years later, Honoré and Marie started their family as shown in Table 9 below. Lazar was 68 years old when Honoré married. Honoré acquired the Trudelle farm and with this marriage, the Dubé and Trudelle farms were merged into a single and very substantial

farm which included 3 grant lots. This was the farm that

would support Honoré and Marie.

Honoré managed his farm through the 20's and 30's as his children grew and progressed through school. Around 1927, Honoré and Marie decided to build a larger home for

their family. The home was completed in time for their next child, Gilman to be born in their new home in 1928, just before the Great Depression. Honoré's father and mother continued to live with them until November, 1927 when Lazar died. Just a few years later in 1934, Méthaïde, his wife for 52 years, joined him.

Figure12. CA1948.HonoréandMa‐riearoundtheir30thanniversary infrontoftheirretirementhomeon11thAvenueinMadawaska,Maine.


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Figure13. ca1940. IreneTrudelle,20leavinghomefor a job at the Portlandshipyardsbeforethewar.

Figure14.ca1942.ClaudeTrudelle, 21, home fromhisworkasaclerkwiththeCCC.

In the early 1940's, Honoré and Marie decided to sell their farm to the Sylvio Belanger family and move to the town of Madawaska. They built a new home on 11th Avenue where they lived out their retirement years. Honoré was deceased in 1949 and Marie lived her life in retirement until 1971. They were both buried in their native Sainte Luce.

Table 9. Children of Honoré Trudelle & Marie Delina Vaillancourt

Child Born Reference D-Irene 1920 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Claude 1921 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

D-Lucille 1925 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Camille 1927 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

S-Gilman 1928 Terriot Acadian Family Society Archive

The Trudelle children were raised during an 'awakening' in the state of Maine on the importance of laws pertaining to child labor and to education. They were able to take advantage of this change. While they all attended the one-room schoolhouse next door for some period of time, they later completed their elementary school at the Convent of the Holy Rosary taught by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Upper Frenchville. Most of them, also at-tended high school which was also con-ducted at the convent for a few years. Lat-er, high schools were built in the surround-ing communities like Fort Kent, Sainte Agathe and Madawaska where the French-

ville students were bussed.

Irene left home to work in Portland, Maine. After the war, she returned to Madawaska to start a family with her husband, Emile Blanchette where they built a home close to the Trudelle home. They started their family in the late 1940's.

Claude left around the same time to work in the Civilian Conservation Corps and later was drafted into the US Army where he served in Europe during World War II. He saw action in the ferocious Battle of the

Bulge in January of 1945 which started bringing an end to the war. After the war, Claude headed to California to take advantage of the new GI Bill and begin a career in education. Early in that time, he met his future bride, Carole Moore. They started their family in the

Figure 15. ca1944. Lu‐cille Trudelle, 19, now ateacher,onthefrontporchof her parents' home justfinishingconstruction.


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late 1950's.

Lucille decided to attended the Madawaska Training School in Fort Kent. Its name was later changed to Fort Kent Normal School and later yet, the Fort Kent State Teachers College. While living with her parents in Madawaska, she met her future husband,

Louis Cyr. They started their family in the late 1940's.

Later, both Camille and Gilman followed their brother into the US Army and afterward spent some time working downstate. Camille eventual-ly followed his brother Claude to California. After

returning to Madawaska, Gilman married Her-mine Desjardins from Grande Isle and they start-ed their family in the mid-1950's.

Figure16. 1955.Camille Trudelle,28, now a Cali‐fornian,relaxingonhislawninHermosaBeach.Lifeisgood!

Figure17.1953.GilmanTrudelle,25,withhisbride,HermineDésjardinsfromGrandIsle,Maine,hereintheirweddingdayphoto.