Walking in the Steps of my Ancestors - Part Three - Ancienne école de la côte des Pères
We arrive at the 'école de la côte des Pères', the old schoolhouse at 3425 chemin Royal, a short walk just west of the Maison Alexis - Parent at 3525 - 3527 chemin Royal. The 'école de la côte des Pères' is a private residence now but it was once a schoolhouse.
In 1844, Queen Victoria awarded a commision to George Louis Lemoine, a priest, and Captain Alexis Georgeville in Beauport. The location bordered on the lands that belonged to the Jesuits at that time, Domaine Notre-Dame-des Anges. Within the year George Louis Lemoine and Captain Alexis Georgeville began construction on the first school in Giffard (Beauport), the school that was to be known as 'école de la côte des Pères'.
I should clarify that up to the middle of the twentieth century the Catholic Church controlled and was deeply involved in education, especially at the primary school level. It makes perfect sense that the Jesuits would provide the land for the school commissioned by Queen Victoria. Because of the close relationship that the Parent family had with the Jesuits it also makes sense that a member of the Parent family, Rosalie Parent, would be chosen to be the teacher at this school.
This school involves the Parent family in two ways. The first way is that Rosalie Parent was the school teacher at the côte des Pères for over fifty plus years and the school and the land was owned, briefly, by George Elzéar Parent.
It took some digging to track down Rosalie Parent, all I had to start with was her name and the fact that the school was built in 1844. After a lot of research I found a reference to a Rosalie Parent who was a teacher in Beauport during the period when the school has just been built. Since it was the only school in Beauport (Giffard) at the time, it was a pretty safe bet that I had the right person.
Rosalie Parent was born on January 30, 1820 in Beauport. Her father was Pierre Parent, stone mason (1790 - 1847) and her mother was Rosalie Filiau (1795 - 1871). It was through her mother that I was able to trace Rosalie's ancestry back through the Parent family. Rosalie was descended from Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau through the line of Joseph Parent (1674 - 1727). Rosalie Parent and François Parent were married on January 29, 1839 in Beauport. Since Rosalie and François share the same 'Parent' surname you might ask if they were closely related. They were related but not closely. I had to go all the way back to Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau to find the connection. François was descended from Jacques Parent (1657 - 1744) and Genevieve- Louise Chevalier. What is even more interesting is that one Rosalie and François' sons, François, was the father of Marguerite Marie Parent, the very one who lived in the house that has become the Buddhist centre in part one. So the son of a school teacher and a farmer became the mayor and a successful building contractor. It is interesting to note that Rosalie's father was a stonemason and her son François became a stonemason. It does not take a great stretch of imagination to figure out how Rosalie's son became a stonemason. As they say, it runs in the family!
Rosalie was married in 1839 to François Parent. The school, école de la côte des Pères', was built in 1844. Although I do not have proof (not yet) when Rosalie started teaching at the school, I will assume that She was probably the first teacher at the school and maybe the only teacher at the school. This will take more research and I can see that this would be a little project in itself to track down all the details regarding the teaching career of Rosalie Parent.
Although George Elzéar Parent is only tangentially related to this story in that he owned the property for a short period of time, he is interesting for an entirely different reason. In 1925, there was a land swap. The Giffard (Beauport) School Board swapped land with the Séminaire de Québec. less than a year later the Séminaire de Québec sold their swapped land to George Elzéar Parent. George was a carpenter. It is not clear why he purchased the land with the school on the property. In 1925 it may no longer have been used as a school.
Here is the interesting thing about George Elzéar Parent, when I was trying to place him in the Parent family tree, which I have, so far, been unable to do, I found his Attestation papers. George Elzéar Parent was part of the Expeditionary Force in Canada during World War I, at least for a while. when you onto the Library Archives Canada website for the Expeditionary Force you can look up anyone who was in the Expeditionary force.the nice thing is that the file contains everything that would have been in their army file. There was a physical description of George Elzéar Parent in his file. At the age of 24 years and seven months he was 5 feet 6 inches tall. His chest measured 38 inches which he could expand three inches, no problems with his breath. His complexion was dark, his eyes were blue and his hair was black. According to the medical examiner, George Elzéar Parent, was fit for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. He was assigned to the 90th Infantry Battalion, "Winnipeg Rifles". His regiment number was 187217. He had the rank of private.
I was more than a little surprised to read that George Elzéar Parent was discharged for being a "deserter". At first glance I thought that he had deserted from the field of battle but when I looked more closely I saw that the dates did not add up. The Battalion embarked for Great Britain on May 31, 1916. George Elzéar Parent was discharged on January 1, 1916 for being illegally absent in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It appears that he left camp and never returned. When I looked into this issue more broadly I found that there was a phenomena where French-Canadian men would sign up for the Expeditionary Force and then desert as a form of political protest, apparently there were more than 60 men who did this. In Quebec, these men were considered to be heroes. This is a project that I will want to look into further as some time. I found that there were over 240 Parent men who signed up for the Expeditionary Force, and yes a few more of them were discharged as 'Deserters.'
I have to admit that I particularly like the next house.
In 1844, Queen Victoria awarded a commision to George Louis Lemoine, a priest, and Captain Alexis Georgeville in Beauport. The location bordered on the lands that belonged to the Jesuits at that time, Domaine Notre-Dame-des Anges. Within the year George Louis Lemoine and Captain Alexis Georgeville began construction on the first school in Giffard (Beauport), the school that was to be known as 'école de la côte des Pères'.
I should clarify that up to the middle of the twentieth century the Catholic Church controlled and was deeply involved in education, especially at the primary school level. It makes perfect sense that the Jesuits would provide the land for the school commissioned by Queen Victoria. Because of the close relationship that the Parent family had with the Jesuits it also makes sense that a member of the Parent family, Rosalie Parent, would be chosen to be the teacher at this school.
This school involves the Parent family in two ways. The first way is that Rosalie Parent was the school teacher at the côte des Pères for over fifty plus years and the school and the land was owned, briefly, by George Elzéar Parent.
It took some digging to track down Rosalie Parent, all I had to start with was her name and the fact that the school was built in 1844. After a lot of research I found a reference to a Rosalie Parent who was a teacher in Beauport during the period when the school has just been built. Since it was the only school in Beauport (Giffard) at the time, it was a pretty safe bet that I had the right person.
Rosalie Parent was born on January 30, 1820 in Beauport. Her father was Pierre Parent, stone mason (1790 - 1847) and her mother was Rosalie Filiau (1795 - 1871). It was through her mother that I was able to trace Rosalie's ancestry back through the Parent family. Rosalie was descended from Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau through the line of Joseph Parent (1674 - 1727). Rosalie Parent and François Parent were married on January 29, 1839 in Beauport. Since Rosalie and François share the same 'Parent' surname you might ask if they were closely related. They were related but not closely. I had to go all the way back to Pierre Parent and Jeanne Badeau to find the connection. François was descended from Jacques Parent (1657 - 1744) and Genevieve- Louise Chevalier. What is even more interesting is that one Rosalie and François' sons, François, was the father of Marguerite Marie Parent, the very one who lived in the house that has become the Buddhist centre in part one. So the son of a school teacher and a farmer became the mayor and a successful building contractor. It is interesting to note that Rosalie's father was a stonemason and her son François became a stonemason. It does not take a great stretch of imagination to figure out how Rosalie's son became a stonemason. As they say, it runs in the family!
Rosalie was married in 1839 to François Parent. The school, école de la côte des Pères', was built in 1844. Although I do not have proof (not yet) when Rosalie started teaching at the school, I will assume that She was probably the first teacher at the school and maybe the only teacher at the school. This will take more research and I can see that this would be a little project in itself to track down all the details regarding the teaching career of Rosalie Parent.
Although George Elzéar Parent is only tangentially related to this story in that he owned the property for a short period of time, he is interesting for an entirely different reason. In 1925, there was a land swap. The Giffard (Beauport) School Board swapped land with the Séminaire de Québec. less than a year later the Séminaire de Québec sold their swapped land to George Elzéar Parent. George was a carpenter. It is not clear why he purchased the land with the school on the property. In 1925 it may no longer have been used as a school.
Here is the interesting thing about George Elzéar Parent, when I was trying to place him in the Parent family tree, which I have, so far, been unable to do, I found his Attestation papers. George Elzéar Parent was part of the Expeditionary Force in Canada during World War I, at least for a while. when you onto the Library Archives Canada website for the Expeditionary Force you can look up anyone who was in the Expeditionary force.the nice thing is that the file contains everything that would have been in their army file. There was a physical description of George Elzéar Parent in his file. At the age of 24 years and seven months he was 5 feet 6 inches tall. His chest measured 38 inches which he could expand three inches, no problems with his breath. His complexion was dark, his eyes were blue and his hair was black. According to the medical examiner, George Elzéar Parent, was fit for the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. He was assigned to the 90th Infantry Battalion, "Winnipeg Rifles". His regiment number was 187217. He had the rank of private.
I was more than a little surprised to read that George Elzéar Parent was discharged for being a "deserter". At first glance I thought that he had deserted from the field of battle but when I looked more closely I saw that the dates did not add up. The Battalion embarked for Great Britain on May 31, 1916. George Elzéar Parent was discharged on January 1, 1916 for being illegally absent in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It appears that he left camp and never returned. When I looked into this issue more broadly I found that there was a phenomena where French-Canadian men would sign up for the Expeditionary Force and then desert as a form of political protest, apparently there were more than 60 men who did this. In Quebec, these men were considered to be heroes. This is a project that I will want to look into further as some time. I found that there were over 240 Parent men who signed up for the Expeditionary Force, and yes a few more of them were discharged as 'Deserters.'
I have to admit that I particularly like the next house.
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