52 Ancestors: Pierre Pitre 1856 - 1938

Pierre Pitre is my Great Great Uncle. He was the 8th child of Hilaire Pitre and Tarsille Boudreau and was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada sometime around 1856. When Pierre was 3 or 4 months old he moved with his family to Beresford, New Brunswick, Canada (according to a typed written note at the bottom of his death certificate). This might be incorrect as Pierre's younger brother Victor was baptized in Feb/61 in Bathurst and is recorded on the 1861 census (taken in April) as living in Beresford. I think who provided the information may have confused who was a few months old when the family moved to Beresford.

Pierre was raised in Beresford where he attended school with his siblings and learned to read and write and speak both English and French. In 1881, Pierre was farming with his father and living at home with his older widowed sister (Jane), younger brother (Victor), older brother (Joseph) and his wife (Helene) and their young son (Alphonse).

Sometime between the 1881 Census; when he was single and living with his parents; and 1885; the birth of his first child; Pierre married Elizabeth Doucet. I have not been able to find their marriage recorded in the county register or parish registry. I'm going to have to expand my parish records search to Petit Rocher and West Bathurst and be on the look out for alternate spellings.

Pierre provided for his family by farming and working as a labourer. He and Elizabeth raised 8 of their 9 children, from their marriage date until at least 1901, on the farm not far from where Pierre's parents and 3 of his 4 brothers lived. Pierre's children were sent to school and learned to read and write and spoke English and French. When his sons were older (15-16) they began helping out on the farm and working odd jobs or at the sawmill. Sometime between 1901 and 1911 Pierre moved his family off of the family land and 60 houses/farms way towards the middle of Beresford. Why did Pierre move his family away from where he had lived almost his entire life? Did it have something to do with the death of his parents in 1902? Was he not given any of his father's land? For whatever reason he moved his family, he returned to the family land and was living next door to his brother Victor in 1921 with his wife Elizabeth, his grandson, daughter-in-law and son Joseph.

Pierre died December 26, 1938 at approximately 83 years old. It must have been a sad Christmas that year.

Death Certificate Pierre Pitre via NB Archives