52 Ancestors: Elizabeth Legace (1861-1940)

Elizabeth Legace is my 2nd great aunt (on my Mom's side).

Elizabeth Legacy funeral card photo
obtained from Ancestry member Campbdr1

Elizabeth was born Sept 1, 1867 in Bathurst, New Brunswick; two months to the day that New Brunswick became part of the Dominion of Canada. She is the third daughter and last child of Isaac Legace and Thersile Daigle. Although she lost her mother before she was 3 years old she still had plenty of siblings to grow up with as her father remarried and had an additional eight children.

Elizabeth was 5'2" with a medium complexion, brown hair and eyes. She was able to speak French and English but never learned to read or write. Her inability to read or write did not stop her from venturing to Moncton, New Brunswick for a job as a domestic servant sometime between the ages of 12 and 19. She is recorded as being a domestic servant on the April 1891 Canadian census for New Brunswick, working for a Scotish General Freight Agent; this will be the last time she will be recorded as single. In a little over a month, on May 18, 1891, she will marry Jacques Leblanc at St. Bernard parish in Moncton, New Brunswick. Elizabeth will settle into Jacques farm home with his mother and sister Helen, in Fox Creek, Westmorland county, New Brunswick.

Elizabeth and Jacques would start their family right away with their first child born in November 1892; a son named Isaac, named after Elizabeth's father. Helen's help was probably greatly appreciated as they would continue to grow their family by 10 more; 6 daughters and 4 more sons; between 1884 and 1914. Jacques supported their growing family at first as a farmer then also as a plummer/pipefitter working in a factory.

Sometime between 1915 and 1921 Elizabeth's father came to live her family. It was during this time that the First World War was in full swing. Elizabeth's family was not left untouched by the war. Her oldest living son, Emanuel, was enlisted and fought overseas between 1916 -1919. The fall of 1919 was a happy time for Elizabeth's family, it brought 3 marriages to her family, two on the same day at different churches! This reduced the size of her family living at home to 10 (herself, Jacques, her father Isaac and 7 children). 1920 brought not only the arrival of the first of Elizabeth's many grandchildren it ended with the death of her husband Jacques on Christmas day. Just a short 14 months later, Feb. 1922, Elizabeth will mourn the death of her father.

In November 1923 Elizabeth, two daughters and a son travel to Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts, USA; following two other daughters who went before her in Jan 1923; to stay with her sons, Emanual who settled there in June 1921 and Arcade who settled there in Oct. 1922. Elizabeth is still living in Lynn in 1930 with three of her 11 children and possibly their spouses and some boarders.

Sometime between 1930 and 1935 Elizabeth returned to Fox Creek, Westmorland county, New Brunswick. At 68 years old she found herself in love again and married widower Camille Richard on the 20th of October 1935 at St. Anselme parish in Fox Creek. They resided on the Main road of Fox Creek for 14 years until her death on May 9, 1949 at 81 years old.

52 Ancestors: Tarsille Boudreau (about 1819 - 1902)

In honour of the upcoming family reunion of the descendants of Hilaire Pitre and Tarsille Boudreau July 29 - August 1, 2016 I am going to write about my Great Great Grand Mother Tarsille Boudreau.

Tarsille (Tharsille or Theresa) was the 8th of 11 children born to Thimothe Boudreau and Verande Doucet. She was born about 1819 ( I have been unable to find her baptism records). She likely was raised in Petit Rocher New Brunswick as the baptism records that I was able to find for her siblings born before and after her state they are from Petit Rocher.

When Tarsille was about 16 years old she married 17 1/2 year old Hilaire Pitre at St. Polycarpe parish in Petit Rocher September 1, 1835. Together they had 11 children; 6 girls and 5 boys. Their first child a girl, arrived two years after they were married and their last child was born when Tarsille was about 44 years old.

Tarsille died September 1, 1902 in Petit Rocher on her 67th wedding anniversary when she was about 83 years old. She must have been in ill health during her final years as her death certificate states the cause of her death was age and the duration of her illness was four years.

52 Ancestors: Ann (Annie) Godin (1874 - 1948)

Ann (Annie) Godin is my Great Grandmother on my Mom's side of the family. She was born May 31, 1874 in Petit Rocher, Gloucester county, New Brunswick. Annie was the 7th child of Marcelline Roy and the 2nd child of Joseph Godin.

Annie and her 14 siblings were raised in Beresford, Gloucester county, New Brunswick; just down the road from Petit Rocher. She was raised next door to her future husband and probably had many interactions with his family.

Annie's father earned a living as a labourer and farmer. The farm must have been used to help feed the family. Annie was lucky enough to have been born after the Common School Act which allowed her to attend primary school for free; where she learned to read and write. She would have most likely helped her mother with her 8 younger siblings and did farm chores before and after school.

On June 21, 1892, just after Annie's 18th birthday, she married her recently widowed (6 months) neighbour, Victor Pitre, who was 13 years older than her. I wonder if she helped Victor look after his 4 young children after the death of his wife and maybe even before. Did a romance blossom or was it a marriage of need for Victor? Which ever it was they went on to have 16 more children!

Annie and Victor raised their family of 21 children in Beresford right next door to Victor's family and several household away from Annie's family, until at least 1921. They always had a large number of children at home from just 4 when they were first married to 10  children still living at home in 1921 ranging in age from 3-24 years old.

Annie and Victor continued to live in Beresford until at least 1930 when Victor died. It is quite possible that Annie continued to live there until 1945. Her death certificate states that she lived in West Bathurst for 3 years, prior to that I am guessing that she continued to live in Beresford. Her death was reported by her daughter Delores Pitre (my grandmother). I wonder if she lived her last 3 years with my grandparents? Annie was under a doctors care from May 10 to 24th 1948. She was just shy of her 74th birthday when she died May 24, 1948 from  heart problems.

52 Ancestors: Celeste Young (about 1814 - after 1856) daughter of a Micmac

Celeste Young is my Great-Great-Great Grandmother on my Dad's side. She was born to Etienne Young and Marie Lavigne sometime in late 1814 or early 1815, the writing on the baptism records is to faded to made out the date she was born. Celeste was baptised at Ste. Famille parish in Bathurst, New Brunswick on March 30, 1815 when she was a few months old.

Celeste had at least 2 brothers also baptised at Ste. Famille parish. It was on one of these brothers baptism records that Celeste's father was recorded as being a Micmac. A little further research determined that Etienne's mother was recorded as a sauvagesse. She was most likely was a full Micmac.

It is unknown how or where Celeste grew up. Did she grow up on a farm or did she travel around while her father hunted? Sometime between when she was born and when she was married she moved from the Bathurst area to Caraquet, approximately 75km away.

When Celeste was about 20 years old she married widower Benjamin Theriault on May 27, 1834 in Caraquet, New Brunswick at St. Pierre-aux-Liens parish. How did she meet Benjamin? Probably through the church or maybe as a domestic.

Celeste and Benjamin had at least 4 children (3 girls and 1 boy) born several years apart. It was unusually to have such a large gap between children, I wonder if she lost some children in between these births. Her last child that I was able to find was my Great-Great Grandmother Marie Theriault.

The birth of Marie Theriault on Nov 6, 1856 is the last time I was able to find any records for Celeste. I was unable to find any record of Celeste and Benjamin on the 1861 New Brunswick census, they both may have died between Marie's birth and 1861. This leaves more questions unanswered about where Marie was raised.

52 Ancestors: Francois Xavier Christie (1866 - 1922)

Well, here is my next ancestor post.  I was relectant to write it as I feel they are all starting to sound the same and don't provide much information or interesting facts. So far most of my ancestors have the same story; they are born, raised, marry, earn a living as a farmer or marry a farmer, have children and die all in the same area.

This week I am writing about my Great Great Uncle Francois Xavier Christie. Francois was the last child of William Christie and Tarsiel Arseneau and the brother of my Great Grandfather Alexander Christie. He was born about Dec 8, 1864 in Peter's River, between Bathurst and Beresford, New Brunswick, Canada. I have not been able to find baptism or birth records to verify his birth date; this  birth date was taken from census records. I'm pretty confident that this is the correct year and month, as his age has been consistently reported since 1871 and there were several times December was listed as his birth month.

Francois like his older siblings went to school at a young age (6) and continued until he was at least 16 years old learning to read, write and speak English. On Nov 10, 1890 when Francois was just shy of his 26th birthday he married Margaret Comeau. His brother William was one of his witnesses;who two weeks later married Margaret's sister Marie Anne. Francois and William lived, in the parish of Beresford, village of Robertville, next door to each other and raised their families side by side until at least 1901. When he was first married Francois earned a living as a labourer, by the time of the 1901 census he was earning a living as a farmer and had three children (2 sons and a daughter). In 1911, he was still living and farming in Robertville however his family had grown by another 2 sons. In 1918 Francois would become a widower and would raise his last two sons alone.

On Dec 12, 1922 in Saint Therese parish, Robertville, New Brunswick, Francois would die. The death certificate states that the cause of death is no medicine. His burial is listed as the catholic cemetery at St. Therese, NB.

52 Ancestors: Isaac Legace/Legacy/Lagassy/Legassey/.... about 1840 - 1922

Ancestor number 31 that I am writing about this time is my Great-great Grandfather Isaac Legace from my Mom's side of my family tree.

I can not find any record of Isaac's birth or baptism in the church records in Bathurst or Petit Rocher, New Brunswick, Canada. Some of the records are very faded and hard to read so he might be there but I have not been able to decipher it. I think his parents might be Francis Legassey and Matilda Boudreau. They were married in Petit Rocher in 1830 so they would be a good match age wise to be Isaac's parents. There were not many Legace (or the various spellings) in the church records of the early 1800's so the chance that they are his parents are good. The 1851 census records for Gloucester county New Brunswick would have been an excellent place to confirm my suspicions; Isaac would have been young enough to still be home. Unfortunately these particular census records did not survive.

Isaac married Tharsile (Theresa) Daigle on August 7, 1860 in Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada at the Ste. Famille Parish; unfortunately there is no mention of who their parents were. The 1861 census records for Gloucester county New Brunswick list Isaac and Theresa living in the Northern Section of the parish of Bathurst and Isaac earning a living as a Lumberer. Three households away lived Francis and Matilda Legassey with their 7 children and it is noted that their was a marriage in the previous year (possibly Isaac and Theresa).

Isaac and Theresa started their family right way with the birth of their first child, my Great Grandmother Margaret Ann Legace on September 17, 1861. They had at least 2 other children (both girls) before Isaac was widowed sometime between 1868 - 1871. In 1871 Isaac was unable to read or write, was widowed and earning a living as a Farmer while raising his 3 young girls aged 9, 5 and 3 in the parish of Bathurst.

Sometime between 1871 and 1873 Isaac married Nora Daly. Isaac continued to farm in the Bathurst area while caring for his growing family. By 1881 Isaac had living in his household: his wife Nora, his three daughters from his first marriage and four sons from his marriage to Nora. The McAlpine's New Brunswick Directory 1889-1896, lists an Isaac Legacy as a farmer in Tete-a-Gouche River S.S. of the Bathurst area. Isaac continued to farm and raise his ever growing family in the Bathurst area. In 1991 Isaac and Nora had an additional son and three more daughters. At this time all of Isaac's children were living at home except for this first three daughters. Isaac must have been a successful farmer of a pretty big farm as he employed a farm hand to help him out at the farm. I don't think this was any of his sons as they are not listed as having a profession or occupation.

The 1900's have Isaac continuing to farm but this time each year the family he supports is shrinking. In 1911, he is still farming in South Tetagouche, Bathurst with only his wife Nora and youngest son William still at home. After the death of Nora in 1915 Isaac moved to Fox Creek, Moncton, New Brunswick to live with his daughter Elizabeth who was recently widowed. I wonder why he moved so far away from Bathurst when many of this other children still lived in the area. Did his family convince him to move in with Elizabeth to help her because she was recently widowed?  It is here in Fox Creek where Isaac died on February 13, 1922, at approximately 82 years old, and is buried at the St. Anselme Parish.

L'Acadien - Feb 17, 1922,  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bXkDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FCoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5569%2C5901032, Accessed November 2, 2014

Isaac's death was reported by his 22 year old grandson. It is interesting to note that his death certificate lists his year of birth as 1826; 4 years before his suspected parents married. The death notice published in L'Acadien February 17, 1922 lists Isaac's age as 96 years old, probably using the information from the death certificate. This information is suspect as all of the census records point to a year of birth around 1840.