52 Ancestors: Nicolas Godin (1886-1958)

Nicolas Godin is my Great Great Uncle from my Dad's side of the family.  He is my Grandmother's uncle. He was the 4th of 10 children born to Aime Godin and Marie Theriault. Although I have been unable to find a baptism or birth record for Nicolas his age and birthday are consistently recorded to support a birth date of May 17, 1886 in Paquetville, New Brunswick, Canada.

Nicolas, like his father before him and his male siblings was also a farmer. He must have became a full time farmer around 15-16 years old (school must have stopped at this age) as he was able to read, write and speak French and all siblings younger than 16 were attending school and those 16 and older were farmers or listed with no occupation.

On Thanksgiving day October 14, 1907, Nicolas Godin married Marie Antoinette Godin (10 years his senior) in Paquetville at St. Augustin of Paquetville Parish. They were both from this parish and must have met there originally. After their marriage Nicolas and Antoinette quite possibly lived in the same dwelling as Antoinette's parents. The 1911 census records Nicolas, Antoinette and their 4 month old son Dosithee living in an "appartment" with Antoinette's parents and 3 of her siblings. My guess is that they lived in the same house but had separate living quarters. In 1911, Nicolas was supplementing his farming income with carpentry work to support his growing family. Unfortunately, this son like their daughter, Nelida, 2 years previous would die before his 1st birthday. Such sadness to have lost two children back to back at such a young age when they were just starting their family.

In 1921, Nicolas and Antoinette are still living in Paquetville as a farming family but now have 3 children, 2 girls and a boy! They continue to live in Paquetville until Sept 1939 when they moved about 10km away to the community of Notre-Dames-des-Erables with their son Armand as reported in the September 7, 1939 edition of the La Voix d'Evangeline. Nicolas lived in Notre-Dames-des-Erables until his death August 15, 1958. According to is death certificate he spent the last 5 days of his life in the Hotel-Dieu St. Joseph (hospital) and died of a stomach ulcer. Nicolas is buried in the cemetry at Paroisse De Notre Dame De Auxiliatrice Roman Catholic, Gloucester County.