52 Ancestors: Tale of 2 John Denis Christie's (b.1889 & 1891)

I'm back to my Mom's side of the family tree this week. My story this week is about two uncles with the same name! John Denis Christie and John Denis Christie are brothers and share the same parents, Alexander Christie and Margaret Ann Lagacy although they have probably never met.

My Great Uncle John Denis Christie (the first) was born October 8, 1889 and baptized October 13, 1889 at Ste. Famille Parish in West Bathurst, New Brunswick. His god-parents were William Christie (Alexander's brother?) and Mary Jane Daigle. It was difficult for an infant in the 1800's to make it to become a toddler let alone an adult. They had to be healthy with a strong immune system to be able to fight off all of the diseases that we are vaccinated against or treated with antibiotics to get rid of. I have not yet been able to find any record of his death but I can assume that he died prior to Jan 23, 1891 when his younger brother John Denis Christie was born.

John Denis Christie baptized October 13, 1889 - Ste. Famille Parish 

My other Great Uncle John Denis Christie (the second) was born Jan 23, 1891 and was baptized Jan 25, 1891 at Ste. Famille Parish in West Bathurst, New Brunswick. His god-parents were Joseph Christie and Mary Jane Daigle ( I wonder if this is a sibling of Margaret Ann? as she was also the other John Denis's god-mother). Was my 2nd John Denis born close to the death of his brother and he was given the same name to honor him? Did he grow up knowing that he was named the same as his older sibling? I wonder how he felt about that, was he proud to be able to carry on his name or was he sad that he did not get his own name?

John Denis Christie baptized Jan 25, 1891- Ste. Famille Parish

When John Denis Christie was first born they must have tried calling him John instead of Denis as the 1891 census lists a 2 month old John Christie as the son of Alexander & Margaret Christie. Not long after this they must have started calling him Denis as all other records refer to Denis Christie, in fact, he even signed his marriage certificate as Denis A. Christie not John Denis Christie. Maybe he thought his name was Denis Alexander Christie?

Denis lived with his parents and siblings until at least 1911 as he is listed on the 1891, 1901 and 1911 census as a member of his parents household.  He most likely continued to live with his parents until his marriage to Mary Malvina Hachey November 4, 1914 at the church of Magdeline, Bathurst, New Brunswick. At the time of his marriage he was identified as a workman, this could be any occupation! On the 1911 census he was listed as a labourer in the woods, so presumably he continued this occupation for a few years.

Denis and Malvina started their family immediately with their first child born December 1915. With the birth of their first child on the way Denis must have tried his hand at farming as he is listed as a farmer on his first child's birth record. By the time his 2nd and 3rd children are born in 1917 and 1918 he has returned to being a labourer. On the 1921 census Denis, Malvina and their 3 children are living in West Bathurst in a rented single family wooden structure with 4 rooms and Denis is earning a living through various labour jobs. This is the last record that I have found that I am confident is my Denis Christie. I did however find Denis Christie and Mrs. Denis Christie on voters lists for the Bathurst area from 1935 to 1968. Since the voters lists only contain a name, occupation and area currently living I can't be certain this is the correct Denis Christie. However, there is only one Denis Christie showing up on these list when I search sooooo it is probably him. From 1935 to 1968 Denis worked many various labour jobs such as a janitor, painter and garageman (garbageman? or working at a service station?) and moved around a quite a bit as well, except for about a 10 year period from approximately 1953 to 1962 when he live at 685 Queen Street, Bathurst, New Brunswick. In 1968 Denis was finally retired! When did Denis die? I have not yet been able to find out, I'm finding it more difficult to find recent records due to privacy rules, etc. I really need to book a day to go to the Library and Archives Canada and see if I can find an obituary in the Bathurst newspaper for Denis or Malvina.

The first born John Denis Christie may have had a short life but the second John Denis Christie sure had long life filled with many adventures.

52 Ancestors Germain Mazerolle (1819-1908) a lifelong farmer

This is my 10th 52 Ancestors post and the first post about a Mazerolle ancestor with the Mazerolle last name!

Germain is my Great Great Grandfather and the Grandfather of Ann Marie Christina Landry from my post two weeks ago. He was baptized August 15, 1819 at the Stella Maris parish, Escuminac, Northumberland County, New Brunswick. When Gloucester County was created in 1826 Escuminac became part of Gloucester County. Germain's baptism entry states that his parents were Joseph Mazerolle and Marie Vienneau and his godparents were David Mazerolle and ??? (I can't makeout the writing) Mazerolle. It also states that Germain was born March 24, 1819. This parish had a missionary priest that only came by about once every 6 months and stayed only a couple of weeks. The news must have spread to all the families as many baptisms were performed on the same day.

Sometime between 1819 and 1847 Germain moved to the Inkerman area 150 km away. This must have been a huge move, it would have taken oven 30 hours to travel by horse and buggy going at 5km/hr. Why did he move such a great distance away? Was this a move that Germain made by himself or did he move with other family members? Did they stay in some places along the way and some of the family settle along the route to Inkerman?

In 1847 Germain was living in Pokemouche where he would have met his future wife Christine who also lived there. Not long after Germain's 28th birthday he married Christine Hache on April 13, 1847 in Tracadie at the parish of St.Jean BTE. & St. Joseph. This parish was also served by a missionary priest and Germain and Christine would have waited for the return of a priest to have their banns announced and have their marriage ceremony performed. The witnesses to their marriage were William Thompson and Angele Hache. Angele may be a relative of Christine's although I have not confirmed this.  Who is William Thompson? I have not been able to find any information about how he might be related to Germain or lived in the same area, yet.

Sometime after Germain and Christine were married they bought a farm and moved from Pokemouche to Inkerman a distance of 5 km. In 1861 Germain lived in the Upper Parish of Inkerman with his family on his 40 acres of farmland (10 acres of which was deemed improved). His farm was valued at 50 pounds with equipment valued at 2 pounds (remember we were still under British control). At 40 acres with 1 milk cow and 3 pigs, Germain's farm was one of the smallest of the 77 farms within Upper Inkerman. Even though it was small compared to his neighbours it was big enough for his family of wife, 4 sons and 3 daughters to live off of.

In 1871 Germain was still living and farming in Inkerman with his growing family that now consisted of 5 sons and 5 daughters with some of the older children attending school learning to read and write. In 1881, 8 of his 10 children were still living at home on the farm with Gemain and his wife. By 1891, all of their children had left the farm to start their own lives with the exception of their son Romain who along with his wife was living in the same household with Germain and Christine. Living in the next households to Germain were 3 of his other sons (Oliver, Jeremie and Urbain). I am assuming they built their houses on a piece of their father's farm. By 1901 Germain and Christine were listed as living with Romain and his wife (the opposite from 1891) with his 3 sons and their families still living next door all continuing to farm the family land. Germain may have moved a great distance when he was younger but once it was settled with his family he never moved again.

Germain was ill for the 2 months preceding his death on October 3, 1908 from old age.  Although his death certificate indicates that he was 94 years old at the time of this death (consistent from his reported age on the 1891 census) if you do the math from his baptism certificate he was actually 89 years old. Still a very old age to live to even by today's standards. Germain lived to see many things in his life, the birth of Canada as a country, the first french prime minister and the introduction of the automobile to name a few.

52 Ancestors: Marcelline (Marie) Roy (1845-1916)

Marcelline a.k.a. Marie Roy is my Great Great Grandmother from my Mom's side of my tree.  Marie was born, raised, married, widowed, re-married, raised her children and died all within 10 km (Petit Rocher - Beresford, New Brunswick). What a small area she lived her whole life in, I travel further than that just to get to and from work everyday.

Marie was born December 16, 1845 in Petit Rocher, New Brunswick (based upon information pieced together from various census records and her death certificate). She must have married young, by the time she was 25 in 1871 Marie had 5 children aged 9,7,4,3 & 1 and was already a widower! Her first marriage was sometime before 1862 when her oldest child was born, she became a widow less than 10 years later, some time between 1869 (one year before her youngest child) and 1871 (the year of the census). Her first husbands last name was Pitre, maybe I'm related to Pitre's by more than one branch, see my previous post on Victor Pitre. So far I have been unable to find Marie's marriage or baptism certificates which has hindered me in determining her husband's first name or her parents names.

Sometime between 1871 and 1874 Marie met and married Joseph Godin and they started their family together. It must have been a difficult several years for her to raise such a young family all by herself. Joseph must have welcomed Maries children as the two youngest lived with them into their 20's.

Marie and Joseph had at least 10 additional children (7 girls and 3 boys). Several of them ended up living only a few households away.  By 1911 all 15 children had moved on (died or married), they were now empty nester's. I'm sure they were not lonely as they lived next door to their youngest son and his family and with that many children they must have had many grandchildren.

Marie is one of the few women in my family who have not outlived their husbands. She was 70 years old when she died Feb 15, 1916 in Petit Rocher from heart disease (possibly a heart attack as her death is listed as sudden).

52 Ancestors: Sister St. Christina Landry (1897 - 1956) - Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph

My ancestor this week is my 1st cousin 2x removed, Anne Mary Christina Landry. She is the only daughter of Marie Christine Mazerolle and Joseph Didace Landry. She was born September 29, 1897 in Inkerman, Gloucester County, New Brunswick and died November 23, 1956 in Chatham, Northumberland County, New Brunswick. Christina was raised along with her only brother Francis in the Inkerman area until at least 1911 (the year her father died). Sometime between 1911 and 1921 Christina left Inkerman and traveled almost 100 km along the coast to Chatham to join the Catholic religious order, the Religious Hospitaliers of St. Joseph (RHSJ).

http://saintmichaelsmuseum.com/history/rhsj.html (accessed March 8, 2014)

When did she decide to join this religious order and how did she end up 100km away from home? I can only speculate that she might have gone to the convent school run by RHSJ in Tracadie, Gloucester County, New Brunswick, only 20 km away, when her mother remarried in 1912. She must have decided to join the order and was sent to Chatham RHSJ had established the Hotel Dieu and nursing home, as well as the large elementary/secondary school (St. Michael's Academy).  On the 1921 Canadian census for Northumberland County, Chatham there is a Mary Landry, 22 years old with occupation Religious living at the Hotel Dieu Hospital and Convent. I think this is Christina, however Mary Landry was a popular name so there is some doubt that this is my Anne Mary Christina Landry. Christina must have been part of the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the RHSJ that was held in 1929, I wonder if she is in the picture above or knew any of the Nuns in the picture below that was taken in 1946 (10 years before she died).

http://saintmichaelsmuseum.com/history/rhsj.html#cemeteries (accessed March 8, 2014)

What pointed me to look for Christina in Chatham on the 1921 census was her death certificate. Christina died of a bowel obstruction on November 23, 1956 at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Chatham where she served as a Nun of the RHSJ. Her death certificate states she was a Nun for 35 years (which brought me to the 1921 census for Chatham). She was in ill health for over a year as Christina had surgery for an ovarian cyst October 1955. A quick Google search on my part found that ovarian cysts and bowl obstructions commonly are seen together.

http://saintmichaelsmuseum.com/history/rhsj.html#cemeteries (accessed March 8, 2014)

http://saintmichaelsmuseum.com/history/rhsj.html#cemeteries (accessed March 8, 2014)

Christina was buried in the Sister's Cemetery in Chatham November 26, 1956. It is sad that I did not become interested in genealogy sooner as we always visited this area when I was younger. Maybe someday I will get to visit there again and search out her final burial spot.

52 Ancestors: Edith Christie - Born 10 years to early

This is my latest post in the 52 Ancestors challenge to write about an ancestor once a week for 52 weeks. I am starting to forget how many weeks I have written so far (I need to go back and count) but I do know that since I started, I have not missed a week! I want to thank everyone for all the encouragement, kind words and sharing of my posts, this has really helped to motivate me to write the next entry each week.

On Wednesdays of each week www.nostorytosmall.com posts a weekly recap of everyone who has signed up for the 52 Ancestors challenge. This recap includes the titles and links to the posts. I have started checking this recap weekly not only to see my link there :-) but to skim all the other entries looking for possible links to my family tree. So far no connections but I have been treated to many interesting and inspiring stories. One of those stories, wish I had saved the link, stuck with me and inspired me to write about this weeks ancestor.

This weeks ancestor is my aunt, my Mom's older sister, Mary Edith Christie. I have never seen a picture or heard a story about Edith, as she was probably called (all the girls had Mary as their first name). All I knew was that my Mom had another sibling that died before she was born (turns out there was more than one other sibling that died before she was born, but that story is for another day).

On the 1921 Canadian census Frank and Laura (Delores) Christie have three children listed: Irene, Clifford and Edith. I knew my Aunt Irene and Uncle Clifford so Edith must be the unknown sibling that my Mother was referring to. In the 1921 census Edith is listed as being 10 months old, that puts her birth in 1920. So far I have been unable to find a record of her birth or baptism, more work has to be done here.

1921 Canadian Census, Gloucester County, Edith Christie (Library and Archives Canada, accessed ancestry.ca March 1, 2014)

The rest of my knowledge of Edith comes from her death certificate. She was born July 17, 1920 in West Bathurst. She died in West Bathurst when she was just 4 years and 9 months old on April 1, 1925 at 1:00am from Diphtheria. Her parents had her seen by a doctor on March 31st, at which time she would most likely have been to sick for any medicine to help. Frank, Laura and the doctor must have all been at Edith's side when she took her last breath. The doctor last saw her alive on April 1st and is able to state an exact time of death. It must have been difficult for her parents to see her so ill and be unable to make her better. The grief they must have been suffering and the worry they must have had for their other children, would they contract this contagious disease and die as well? What about their unborn child, my mom, who was due in 4 months, was she at risk too? I don't know if anyone else also became ill, if they did they recovered as Irene, Clifford and my mom all survived into adulthood.

Had Edith been born 10 years later she would have most likely not died from Diphtheria as vaccinations against Diphtheria became widely practiced in Canada in 1930, see Diphtheria in Canada .

Rest in Peace Edith, your story like you was not too small to be told.