Dans un Petit Village

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 Vi...

The Alexis Parent House is not as magnificent as the Marguerite Marie Parent house but it is not any less interesting. For the Marguerite Marie Parent house there was a lot of information that was not that difficult to find with a little work. For the Alexis Parent house all I had was a name, an address and an old picture from 1920 of the house. Using the information that we had, my wife and I found the house. I took pictures of the house and the historical plaque above that was attached to the outside wall of the house. Alexis Parent was born on July 17, 1840. He was the eleventh of thirteen children of Joseph Parent (1807) and Marguerite Belanger (1797). It is interesting to note that Marguerite was ten years older than Joseph, there is another story here to be explored. Alexis married Adele Paquet (1852) on August 2, 1869. Alex was twenty - nine years old and Adele was only seventeen years which was not all that unusual in those days. Alexis and Adele had five children Ledia, ...

I barely know where to begin. Last week, my wife and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend in Beauport , Quebec. We arrived Friday evening and had time to settle into our hotel room for the evening. We purposely chose a hotel near the historic area of Beauport. It was not a great hotel but the location was perfect for our purposes. Our goal was to visit all of the sites related to the Parent family and visit the graveyard that was most closely associated with the Parent family. On Saturday morning we had a quick breakfast of coffee from McDonalds and pastries purchased from Premiere Moisson in Montreal before we drove to Beauport the day before. Fortunately, Saturday was a perfect day for a historical/genealogical walking tour of Beauport; it was sunny and warm. There were many sites and buildings that we visited last Saturday, June 1st. I will write about only one or two of them in each post to keep the post reasonably short. We also visited the two oldest cemeteries in Beaupo...

Sam Steele by R.C. Macleod The biography of Sam Steele was much more than the life story of a great Canadian; it was also a history of the opening of western Canada, the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway , The rebellion in the Red River Valley , the KlondikeGold Rush , the Boer War and World War I. Sam Steele was remarkably involved to some degree in all of these events that significantly affected Canada.  Macleod wrote an engaging book that draws you into the life of Sam Steele without descending into hagiography. Macleod is just as likely to point our Sam Steele’s faults as well as his virtues. On the whole, I would say that Sam Steele had more virtues than faults; he was an ambitious man but he always tried to do what was right and treat people fairly. He always followed the path that would further his career but he also tried to always do what was best for his family as well. Sam Steele wanted to rise as high as he could in his life and he rose to great ...

Simon Parent was my last direct Parent ancestor to be born in Quebec. He was born on L'ile Perrot on July 26, 1794. L'ile Perrot is an island just west of the main island of Montreal. The island was granted by Intendant Jean Talon to Francois - Marie Perrot on October 28, 1672 who was governor of Montreal at that time.  I wondered why Simon was born on L'ile Perrot, the best answer that I can give at this time is that his parents, Pierre Parent and  Genevieve Lalonde lived there. Simon was baptised the next day on July 27, 1794. I found Simon's baptismal record but it was barely legible. I used the fact that most baptismal records are written according to the same template to decipher the record. It stated that Simon was baptised on July 27, 1794. He was the legitimate child of Pierre Parent and Genevieve Lalonde. The godfather was Joseph Marie Lalonde (Genevieve's father) and the godmother was a female Parent. I could not make out the first name so it could hav...

I just finished reading, “The True Face of Sir Isaac Brock” , by Guy St. Denis published by University of Calgary Press , 2018. It was a really enjoyable read. As it turns out, the book was much more than I thought it would be. It is not so much a biography of Sir Isaac Brock, although it is that, it is a book that is part art history, part historiographical analysis , part military history, and part detective story. Guy St. Denis has thoroughly researched and impeccably analyzed his subject, never accepting anything at face value and always digging deeper into every situation. He questions and verifies every “fact” that was presented to him in the course of his research. This was the detective story that Guy St. Denis unfolds in the underlying narrative of his book. I have to say that I read this book as if it were a detective page turner anxious to find out what happens next. In this time of fake news and “alternative facts” otherwise known as bald-faced lies, this book is...

Napoleon did not waste time in finding a new wife, in just over a year after Marie Anne's demise he married Marie Rose Delima Dion, my great great Grandmother on August 14,1882 in Saint Joseph de Beauce. I can hardly blame Napoleon for remarrying so quickly, he had four young children, ages, eight, six, five, and three in 1882. It was common practice and I would say that it was expected. Napoleon and Marie Rose Delima had seven children together; Marie Anne Aurelie Voyer (1885 - 1976), Louis Napoleon Zephirin Voyer (1887 - 1944) Marie Pomela Ernestine Voyer (1888 - 1972), Joseph Alfred Albert Voyer (1890 - 1890), Joseph Joachim Ulric Voyer (1892 - 1935), Marie Alphonsine Noella Gerardine Voyer (1897 - 1898), Marie Rosilda Delia Graziella Voyer (1899 - 1990). Along with the four children that Napoleon had with Marie Anne Bonin that made a total of eleven children although only five of Napoleon and Marie Rose Delima's children survived until adulthood. Still, that was a fa...