This week’s theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is Branching Out, which brings me back to Grampy Phil’s binders. In them, he tells the story of his mother, Bernadette Barr, and how she came to America. Talking about my great-grandmother isn’t exactly “branching out,” but his story covers some collateral relatives that he referred to as “distant cousins” or “her uncle” without further context. I’ve figured out who some of these people are, and how they’re related to Bernadette.
My great-grandmother, Bernadette Barr, was born on November 29, 1900 in Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies, L’Islet, Quebec. Like many French-Canadians at the time, Bernadette’s father, Charles, was a migrant worker. Work in French-Canada was scarce at the turn of the 20th century, and farming was difficult and didn’t always support a family. Charles worked part of the year in New England factories, and returned home part of the year to farm, while his wife, Camilla Dube, remained in Canada with their children. Tragically, Camilla died in 1904, leaving Charles not only devastated, but in a predicament. Who would care for his two young children, Wilfred and Bernadette, while he was working in New England?
Enter the “distant cousins” and “the uncle.” According to my grandfather, the children were separated. Wilfred moved in with the Francoeurs, relatives of Camilla, and Bernadette moved in with “her aunt and uncle, the Lord family.” Charles returned to New England and moved in with “relatives of his deceased wife, Camilla” in Salem, Massachusetts, where he worked for a gas company. He sent money back to Canada to help support his children. A few years later, in 1908, he married Emilia Thibeault, a “distant cousin of Camilla’s,” and they had a daughter, Alice, in 1909. Wilfred eventually joined them in Salem. Charlie lost everything in the "Great Salem Fire" in 1914, and moved to Westbrook, Maine, where he was later joined by Bernadette. A few of Charles' half-siblings, Joseph, Eva, and Lumina, eventually joined him in Westbrook.
And that’s all I knew.
I didn’t know how distantly-related Charles’ two wives, Camilla Dube and Emilia Thibeault were. I didn’t know how the Francoeurs were related to Camilla. I didn’t know how the Lords were related to any of them, nor did I know when Wilfred and Bernadette joined their father, stepmother, and new sister in America. Through census records, marriage records, and baptismal records, I was able to answer most of my questions.
The easiest place to start was figuring out how Camilla Dube and Emilia Thibeault were related. My grandfather already had Camilla’s roots traced back, so I traced Emilia’s ancestry and hit a common ancestor much sooner than I expected. They weren’t distant cousins at all – they were first cousins. Camilla’s mother, Valerie Thibault, and Emilia’s father, Bernard Thibault, were siblings. Camilla and Emilia shared a set of grandparents, Edouard Thibault and Appoline Vaillancourt. This means that Camilla’s children (Bernadette and Wilfred) and Emilia’s daughter (Alice) were not only half siblings, but second cousins as well. My grandfather has fond memories of Emilia, who adored her step-grandson and treated him no differently than she treated the little granddaughters Alice gave her.
Tracing the Francoeurs and the Lords was more difficult. In fact, I still haven’t cracked the Francoeur connection. Wilfred Barr likely did live with the Francoeurs (my grandfather has a picture labeled “The Francoeur Farm”), but he lived with them between census records. He is listed on the 1901 Canada census with his parents, Bernadette, and a sibling who died a few months before his mother's 1904 death. We don’t see him again until the 1910 United States census where 12-year-old Wilfred is listed as living with Charles, Emilia, and baby Alice on Peabody Street in Salem, Massachusetts. His sister, Bernadette, is not with them. The 1910 census also lists his arrival date as 1910, so he had been in the US for months at most. Someday I hope to discover the identity of the Francouers. There is a studio portrait of Wilfred with a man I can’t identify. Perhaps he is a Francouer relative?
Bernadette was still in Canada when the 1911 census was taken, and she was listed as a niece of the head of the household, Joseph Lord, a 60-year-old widower. Other household members included his 31-year-old son, also named Joseph Lord, and 52- year-old Virginie Barr, his sister-in-law. This proved that Bernadette was staying with the Lord family, that it was an uncle, and that the Lords were related to the Barrs….but how was Virginie Barr related to Bernadette’s father, Charles?
Charles Barr had 4 half-sisters, none of whom were named Virginie. He was the eldest child in his family and was 37 in 1911. Virginie was 52. Joseph Lord was 60, so while it wasn’t impossible he was the uncle of 11-year-old Bernadette, it seemed more likely he was her granduncle. Was Virginie Barr Charles’ aunt? Was another one of his aunts married to Joseph Lord?
I found my answer by jumping back to Charles’ grandparents, Remi Bard and Marie Hudon dit Beaulieu. They had a several children, among them Charles’ father who was also Charles, Virginie (who would have been 52 in 1911) and Marie Onzime, who married Joseph Lord in 1875. Joseph Lord was Bernadette’s granduncle through marriage, the deceased Marie Onzime and Virginie her grandaunts by blood.
Bernadette arrived in the United States in 1916. Why Wilfred returned to his father in 1910 while Bernadette remained in Canada for another six years is a mystery. Maybe something happened to his Francoeur relatives. Maybe Charles, in a better financial position, was able to bring his children home, and what 12-year-old boy doesn't want to be with his dad? Though it’s unlikely I’ll ever know for certain why Bernadette didn’t join them in 1910, it’s possible that she didn’t want to leave the only home she remembered. She had lived with her Uncle Joe and Aunt Virginie since she was four, after all. I image she was doted on by her single, childless grandaunt and by her widowed granduncle. Pictures from her childhood show a little girl who is well-dressed and looks healthy. She likely had many friends, if pictures of her in her late teens and early 20s are any indication. There is nothing that makes me think she had a less than happy childhood. Perhaps it was Virginie’s death in October of 1914 that caused her to return to her father. Maybe Joseph felt he could no longer care for her, or maybe Charles felt caring for a grandniece through marriage was too much of a burden for his 66-year-old uncle and his 37-year-old bachelor cousin. However it happened, Bernadette reunited with her father and brother when she was 16. From what I know, she had a wonderful relationship with both, and she developed a close relationship with her stepmother and little half-sister, whom she adored. The 1920 census shows her living on Myrtle Street in Westbrook, Maine with Charles, Emilia, and Alice. Her naturalization paperwork indicates that she arrived in the United States in September of 1921, not in 1916, though my grandfather’s binders may offer an explanation. She went back to Canada to visit her Uncle Joe in 1921. My grandfather notes on the pictures that it was her first time back since she left. Sadly, that was the last time she saw her Uncle Joe, who died in 1922.
What fabulous photos of Bernadette! I loved the first photo and the one of her at school. You have done some excellent sleuthing here to find out all the connections. Great work!