By reviewing the Census records of 1891 and 1901 and the parochial registers of St-Jacques, St-Hilaire, St-Basile and of Edmundston, M. Lévesque determined the birth dates and dates deceased for three of the children thus confirming their existence. Mr. Lévesque did confirm the accidental death by drowning of Dénis on 17 December, 1901 at the age of 10. In discussions with the family in New Brunswick, there is a story that has been passed down that Dénis died by drowning in the Iroquois River in St-Jacques. We believe that Joseph and Théogénie lived in the Moulin Morneault area of St-Jacques. The area is very picturesque with many hills. One of the hills was popular for sledding although unfortunately its slopes plunged steeply into the Iroquois River. On Tuesday, the 17 December 1901 probably after school, in the week before Christmas, young Dénis was sledding on that hill but failed to stop at the edge of the river at a time when the river was not quite frozen. He broke through the ice and was not able to surface. His body was recovered in May of 1902, about a month after his baby sister, Christine was born.
According to Georgette Theriault Cyr, Joachim's elder son, Denis was named after him. In a telephone conversation with Armand Leclerc (Christine, Joseph), Armand said that his mother spoke of two older brothers who died in their infancy. As to the daughter named 'Josephine' as listed in Linda Dubé's THERIAULT GENEALOGY, no records were found her.
We are grateful to Monsieur Lévesque for his generous assistance.
Here is a family timeline which presents the correct sequence of births, marriages and deaths according to the Canadian Cenuses of 1891, 1901 and the parochial registers of St-Jacques, St-Hilaire, St-Basile and of Edmundston:
One side question about this important photo above: this was obviously a special occasion or at least the family prepared for the photo since all are well-dressed. It is curious that Joachim was not in the photo. He was 19 years old when this photo was taken and presumably was still living at home working with his father. He is the only one missing. Almida (Sister Ste-Jeanne D'arc) was not born yet.
Mystery #2. Other questions about this photo:
The photo above was taken around the time that Joseph and Théogénie moved their family to St-Hilaire. Is this the family house of Joseph and Théogenie? Was it in St-Jacques, Moulin Morneault or St-Hilaire? Are there other photos which show this house? Does that house still exist today? Judging by the orientation of the photo, the house was located on a high slope with the front yard sloping down away from the house toward the road in front. I don't believe that the village of St-Jacques nor of St-Hilaire have any sloping areas like this but the Moulin Morneault settlement certainly has. We must remember also that by now, the house may have been remodeled or possibly even razed and replaced by a new one.
Mystery #3. Who was Mrs. David Rousseau shown in the photo above? What was her proper and maiden name?
Mystery #4. Speaking of houses, here's another photo which raises some questions. The location of the house is not known although the setting is not a country setting... it is a town or city setting. Judging by Théogénie's appearance and age (in her late 60's) and the horse-drawn 'carriole' in front, the period of this photo is the 1930's. At this time, Edith, Delphine, Flavie and Delia were married. Antoine and Christine were also married and raising their families in Nashua and in Berlin, respectively.
A close look at the photo (click on it to zoom) shows that there probably is a store in the house (at least there is a sign advertising 'smoking' tobacco... MASON?), Théogénie is standing in the entryway. I believe that the young lady in front, looking down is probably Flavie, and I also believe that the other young lady to the right of Théogénie could be Edith or Delphine but since she is not wearing glasses, then it must be Delphine. Later photos of Delphine compare favorably with this one. Also, it looks like Théogénie is at home and since I don't believe she ever stayed with Edith, I think we can eliminate the Roussel house as a possibility. So this is either the Bouchard house (Delphine), the Daigle house (Flavie) or the Martin house (Delia). Since it is Delphine who looks at home in her apron, I believe that this is the Bouchard house with Mon Oncle Liquori at the door waving his hat. And, the young lady who is furthest left is either Delia or Almida before she took her vows in 1935. I can't even begin to identify the other men although they look very much like they're at home here... But in order to fully identify this photo, we need to confirm first whose house this is and where it was located. Is it Delphine's house? ...Flavie's house? ...Delia's house? You may download this photo (right click on the photo and select SAVE AS, or SAVE TARGET AS), print it enlarged to the size of an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper to get the detail.
As to Théogénie, we really do not know her education and if she was educated whether she was a teacher. We do know that one of Joseph and Théogénie's priorities was to provide an education for their daughters. We know that when Joseph was no longer able to manage the mill, he offered the mill to Joachim. But in return, he asked Joachim to make sure that his younger sisters finish their school. Joachim accepted.
Of their seven daughters, we believe that at least Delphine, Delia and Flavie had time before getting married to complete a course of education in teaching. In fact, Delphine was 25 when her father, Joseph died. So if she did go to school, her schooling was complete when her father died. Also, we know that Almida's education was in nursing as a Sister of the Hospitalières de St-Joseph. Since Edith and Christine were 18 and 19 when they married, if they did finish their schooling, they were not able to teach for very long before they started their own families.
Of their six sons, only three survived beyond early childhood. In those difficult times, sons were expected to be earning their own living by the age of 16-17, either by working for their father, or away from home working for someone else. Unfortunately, of his remaining three sons, only the two elder sons were able to help Joseph with his mill. When Joseph's health began to fail in 1913, Antoine was 13, Joachim was 27 and married, and Regis was 28 and married. Regis and his new wife had gone to New Hampshire to earn their living, leaving only Joachim in position to help his father.
Antoine said that he has the same picture in his house. If we look at our Archive, we see that Roland Daigle is the son of Claude Daigle and Flavie Thériault. Flavie was the eleventh child (fifth daughter) of Joseph and Théogenie. Now, I recently discussed this photo with Ma Tante Georgette (Joachim, Joseph) a few months ago. She said that this picture was taken during Pepere's last days in 1947 when his health was beginning to fail. She explained that Grandmère Théogénie lived with Flavie until she (Flavie) died in February 1952. Grandmére then went to live with Delphine on Rue L'Nott(?) until Grandmére died in July of that same year.
So, given what Mon Oncle George told Antoine, Pepére had just come out of the hospital (which would have been the Sanitorium in St-Basile) and had stopped for a short visit with his mother before returning home in their little red house in Baker-Brook. So this was the summer of 1947. Pepére Joachim died on 30 September 1947 at the Sanitorium in St-Basile of an aneurysm of the brain which caused a brain hemorrhage.This then may have been the last photo ever taken of Grand Pére Joachim.
Thanks for helping solve this one, Antoine!
Transcription de l’acte de baptême de Théogénie Ouellet : « Le vingt sept mars mil huit cent soixante quatre nous soussigné curé de cette paroisse avons baptisé Marie Théogénie Ouellet, née la veille du légitime mariage de Benoit Ouellet, cultivateur du lieu, et de Elisabeth Thériault. Parrain Paul Ouellet, marraine Xantippe Demers qui n’ont pu signer. Le père absent. Signé : G. Nadeau, ptre. » (Protonotaire de Rimouski, registres d’état civil, paroisse de Sainte-Luce, QC, microfilm M 178/42, p. 0783, Archives nationales du Québec, Québec, QC. Transcription de l’acte de mariage de Joseph Thériault et Théogone Ouellet : Le 5 février 1882 « Après la publication de 2 bancs de mariage entre Joseph Thériault et Théogone Ouelletnous soussigné avons reçu leur consentement mutuel de mariage en présence de Dolphis Thériault et Pierre Plourde. Signé : L.C. D’Amours, ptre. » (Registres paroissiaux de Saint-Jacques, microfilm A4520 (F15720), Archives provinciales du Nouveau-Brunswick, Fredericton, NB.)
Transcription de l’acte de mariage de Joseph Thériault et Théogone Ouellet : Le 5 février 1882 « Après la publication de 2 bancs de mariage entre Joseph Thériault et Théogone Ouelletnous soussigné avons reçu leur consentement mutuel de mariage en présence de Dolphis Thériault et Pierre Plourde. Signé : L.C. D’Amours, ptre. » (Registres paroissiaux de Saint-Jacques, microfilm A4520 (F15720), Archives provinciales du Nouveau-Brunswick, Fredericton, NB.)
18 December 2000: Received a note from the other genealogist in my family, my dear paternal cousin Claude Thériault... the guy that I mention as one of my inspirations on our home page. Claude tells me that according to Adrien Bergeron in his book "LE GRAND ARRANGEMENT DES ACADIEN AU QUEBEC", the parents of Elizabeth Thériault were Abraham and Marie-Reine Gagnon, who were married in St-Jean Port-Joli, PQ on 25 Aug 1811. Claude adds that Benoit Ouellet and Elizabeth married in Cacouna, PQ on 1 April 1845. By identifying Elizabeth's parents, I was able to determine Elizabeth's lineage in the Theriault family from Linda Dubé's THERIAULT GENEALOGY book. It turns out that Théogénie's 2nd great-grandparents, Joseph Theriault and Marie-Agnes Cormier are also her husband, Joseph's 2nd great-grandparents. In other words, Joseph and Théogénie were 3rd cousins. Thank you Claude! I've added the details to our Archive. It will be posted as part of Revision 2001.1 later this winter. Another mystery solved!
Mystery #9. Going further backwards in our family history, let me begin by reviewing our Great-Branch ancestors from Joseph and Théogénie, whose father was Dolphis Théophile. Although some records identify him as Adolphe, he should not be confused with his younger brother whose name was Adolphe and who was born in December of 1823. Dolphis was born in 1822 in St-Basile. He married Christine Sophie Soucy from St-Basile in 1854 and later moved to St-Jacques as one of the first settlers in St-Jacques.
Dolphis' father was Charles. We believe (although we have not yet found any records of his birth) that Charles was born in Ste-Anne de la Pocatière. We do have records that he married Marie Léocadie Gagnon in Ste-Anne de la Pocatière in 1821 and moved to St-Basile where in 1822, his first child, a son, Dolphis was born. So Charles was the first in our Great-Branch to migrate to the St-John Valley... this was 50 years after Joseph R Theriault, Jr. moved to St-Basile to form several different Great-Branches of Theriault's. (Read about the migration of the three Great-Branches (so far documented) that descended from Joseph R in the 'Migration' section of our Jehan & Perrine Theriot Family website.
Our existing records show that Charle's wife died six years after they married and was buried in St-Basile in April 1827. We do not know whether Charles remarried. Nor do we know when Charles died nor where he was buried. So, the mystery is: where did Charles die and where was he buried? Did he remarry? Can we find Léocadie's burial place in St-Basile? If so, is there a headstone? Any hints as to Charle's life after Léocadie died?
Click on my address to send me your solution: joseph-theogenie@terriau.org