Nicklous (Nick) Parent and Corinne Marie Lalonde

My grandparents were Nicklous (Nick) Parent and Corinne Marie Lalonde.

My grandfather was born in North Gwillimbury township, York county, Ontario on May 26, 1880.



North Gwillimbury is not far from Magna International, an automotive parts supplier in Aurora, Ontario. I used to pass by North Gwillimbury often when I was on company business. It is interesting that without knowing it, I was close to the birthplace of my grandfather. The question that I would ask is how did Nicklous Parent come to be born in North Gwillimbury, the Parent family originally settled in Beauport Quebec when the first arrived from France in the 17th century. There is definitely a story about how and why my branch of the Parent family arrived in North Gwillimbury. This is definitely a research topic that I will dig into.

My grandmother was born in Midland, Ontario on June 25, 1889. Midland is about 100 kilometers from North Gwillimbury using our modern road system like highway 400. I would imagine that using the roads of the 1880s that it would be considerable further. Today, you can drive to Midland from North Gwillimbury in about an hour, in the 1880s I think it could take a day or so. Fortunately for Nicklous and Corinne, Corinne was living in Simcoe East and Nicklous was living in Tiny, Ontario in 1909. These two communities are only 35 kilometers apart, a distance that could easily be travelled in less than a day. Still, I wonder what brought these two people together to be married. This definitely the subject of another research project.

Nicklous' parents (my great grandparents) were Francois (Frank) Parent (1842 - 1922) and Martine (Martha) St. Amand (1846 - 1934). You can see that my great grandparents given names were anglicized after moving to Ontario. Back in the late 1880 there was a thriving French-Canadian culture in Ontario, especially in the area where the Parent and Lalonde family lived.

Corinne's parents (also my great grandparents) were Joseph Theodore Lalonde (1855 - 1940) and Elisabeth Eloise Grenier (1861 - 1929). As far as I know Joseph and Elisabeth did not Anglicize their names but on the other hand, "Joseph" and "Elizabeth" and both names that can be easily used in French and in English depending on how you pronounce the names so their names could have been Anglicized through pronunciation. I guess I am trying to explore the gradual assimilation into the mainstream English culture and language of the Parent family. I know that Nicklous and Corinne spoke French, and my father spoke French. But my cousin Leonard does not speak French.

My Grandparents had ten children together over a period of twenty years. The first born was Joseph Eugene Raymond Parent (1909 - 1995). He was born one year after Nicklous and Corinne were married. Next came Albert Theodore Joseph Parent two years later (1911 - 1988). It looks the the middle name "Theodore " came from his grandfather, Joseph Theodore Lalonde. After Albert was Albin Roland Parent in 1916 (1916 - 1964), Jean Paul Parent (1919 - 2005). There was a still born child only known as Baby Girl Parent in 1921. In 1922 Ralph Parent was born (1922 - 1957). My father, Gildore Edward Parent was born in 1924 (1924 - 1984). He was followed by the first daughter, Deloria (Marie) Parent (1926 - 2016) and then the second daughter in 1927, Irene Parent (1927 - 2016). The youngest son in the family was Wilfred Xavier Parent born in 1929 (1929 - 1994).




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