Part II: The Family of Delvina Demers and Joseph Bourassa

Delvina and Joseph's Married Life

On July 23, 1888, Delvina, 30, and Joseph, 28, were married in the church in Saint-Fortunat. Because her father had died years earlier, her brother-in-law Hilaire Aubin, the husband of her older sister Marie Euphrasie, represented her father at the wedding service, and her older brother Télesphore signed their marriage certificate as a witness.

During this time of the massive migration, “la grande sangnée,” from the rural villages of Québec to the United States and other parts of Canada, only a few members of the Demers and Bourassa family still lived in Saint-Fortunat. Except for Télesphore, all of Delvina’s brothers, Damase, Théodore, and Louis-Ferdinand, and their families had already emigrated to the United States and probably did not attend the wedding. And it was the same story for Joseph, all three of whose brothers, Édouard, Félix, and François, had by then emigrated to the United States, as had his sister Marie-Anne.

Delvina’s elderly mother, Euphrosine, however, would certainly have been at the service along with her brother Télesphore and sister-in-law Henriette and their children, all of whom would not move to Maine until 1890. Her older sister, Marie Euphrasie and her husband Hilaire had returned to Saint-Fortunat after living in Lewiston, Maine, for several years. Joseph’s widowed mother, Rose, was also still living in Saint-Fortunat and presumably was at the marriage, but it is possible she may have been the only Bourassa relative present at the service.

Even after their wedding, Joseph and Delvina weren’t quite ready to establish themselves on the farmland that he had received from his mother on the 7th rang south-east of the village center in 1884. Instead, they immediately left for Vermont, where Joseph worked in a sawmill at Crystal Lake in Barton to earn money to pay for farm equipment. After several years, most likely sometime before 1891, they returned to Saint-Fortunat to finally settle on their farm. Except for a short period of time at the end of Delvina’s life, they both would live on the farm for the remainder of their lives.

The farmhouse of Joseph and Delvina Demers Bourassa, on the 7th Range Road, now Route 263, south-east of the center of town. Circa 1900-1910. Joseph likely built the house after he acquired the property in 1884. The people in the photo are unknown, although the woman to the right appears to be Marie Euphrasie Demers Aubin, Delvina’s oldest sister, who lived on the same road several miles away near the church in the village center. The 7th Range Road, now Route 263 and the Rue Principale as it goes through the village, was and still is the main route to Disraeli and other villages to the south and east.

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Only after returning to Saint-Fortunat did they begin to have children. In July 1891, three years to the month after their marriage, Delvina, now almost 32, gave birth to their first child, Georges. (He was likely named after his grandfather Bourassa). Their daughter Angélina joked in a hand-written memoire that their first child arrived years after her parents’ marriage “even though the pill didn’t exist yet.” The timing of the birth of their first child, and the subsequent spacing of their other children seems to be another indicator of the deliberate and careful nature of the couple.  Their second child, Angélina (the mother of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc who have helped me so much in researching the history of the Demers family and writing the French version of the blog), was born in 1894, and Wilfred in 1896. An unnamed girl was born and died shortly after birth on August 12, 1898. Next, Félix was born in 1899, Ida four years later in 1903, and Éva in 1905.

Angélina, Wilfred, and Georges Bourassa, the first three

children of Joseph and Delvina Demers Bourassa. Circa 1897.

As Wilfred was born in October 1896, this photo was likely taken in late spring or summer 1897. In the following years, Delvina would have four more children: an unnamed girl who died on the same day of her birth in 1898; Félix, in 1899; Ida, in 1903, and Éva who lived for only about 11 months after her birth in November 1905.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc)

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The Bourassa family at their farm on the 7th range about a mile south of the village on the road to Disraeli, now the rue Principale and Route 263. It is likely that Joseph cleared the land and built the house and all the fences and farm buildings after he received the land from his mother in 1884. From left to right, Georges, Delvina, Wilfred, Angélina holding a doll, and Joseph. Circa 1897.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc)

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Ida and Félix Bourassa, the two youngest

children surviving childhood of Joseph and Delvina Demers Bourassa. Circa 1904.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc)

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Although never acquiring much wealth, the Bourassa family was able to live well, especially in the early years when their three sons, Georges, Wilfrid and Félix, and two daughters, Angélina and Ida, helped on the farm. During his four-month long trip to Québec in 1908, Télesphore Demers visited the Bourassas and noted that “[t]hey were all in good health and appear to live rather well. I went to visit their land. It is in good order, the grain is better than average[, and Joseph] raises pigs for the market.” Later he records another visit which gives an indication of the long days on the farm in which father and sons worked together: “At ten o’clock, we went to Joseph Bourassa’s. He was at the ninth range. He had gone to bring logs to the sawmill with his two boys. At five-thirty, it was clear and hot. At eight-thirty, Joseph arrives from the mill, and at nine-thirty we go to bed.”

Because of the location of their farm on the main road to Disraeli, Joseph and Marie were able to provide help to and enjoyed the company of people traveling by. Their daughter Angélina would write that:

“[My parents] welcomed and provided services to people who were passing by from Disraeli.  The horses were rested and their thirst quenched. If it was mealtime, my father, Joseph, invited them to the table, and the visitors would reply, ‘Good, we are going to eat Delvina’s homemade bread!' In fact, my mother, Delvina, excelled in the culinary arts." [Translated by Dennis Doiron]

As was customary in the countryside during this time when money was scarce and neighbors helped each other out, any services provided to travelers at the Bourassa farm were without cost.

Delvina and Joseph, perhaps even more so than others in this traditionally Catholic community, were very religious. A prized wedding gift to Delvina from Joseph was a deluxe edition of a popular book of prayer, Le Livre d’Or Des Ames Pieuses (ou cinq livres en un seul), ed. A. Roger & F. Chernoviz (1888). (Not only does the book demonstrate the importance of religion to them, but of Delvina’s literacy.) And the two made sure their children were brought up in the faith. For example, after supper each evening while the children were growing up, the family knelt together in prayer to recite the rosary, and any child who missed the rosary without a good reason would be severely reprimanded.

Except for the early deaths of two children, an unnamed child who died the same day she was born in 1898 and Éva who died at 11 months from a brain tumor in 1905, Joseph and Delvina and their children appear to have remained generally healthy during the 30 years that followed their marriage. But then in August 1918, the world-wide Spanish flu epidemic hit the province of Québec and shortly thereafter reached even the isolated village of Saint-Fortunat. The worst of the epidemic struck there during a three-week period in October.

At this time, their daughter Angélina, 22 and still unmarried and living at home, was a school teacher at the small country school on the 8th Range Road. One day in October, a student from the school arrived unexpectedly at the farm to tell her parents that their daughter was severely ill. Joseph went back to the school, presumably with a wagon, and brought her home. At the same time, their son Wilfred, 20, was also stricken. Both children, severely ill, were cared for at night by their father and during the day by their mother. Fearing that both children would die, a priest was soon called to perform the last rites of the church. Happily, both survived with the help, as Angélina would later write, of  médicine traditionnelle (meaning the use of medicinal plants and herbs as there was no resident doctor or pharmacy in Saint-Fortunat) and secours divin (divine help). Angélina made a quick and full recovery from the ordeal, but Wilfred recovered more slowly and would suffer from severe asthma attacks and generally poor health for the remainder of his life. Perhaps for this reason, he remained single and until the end of his life lived with his parents on their farm.

Many more were taken sick during the weeks of the epidemic, so many and so severely that at many farms the animals could only be cared for by neighbors, friends or relatives who had remained healthy or were less ill. A total of 17 people in Saint-Fortunat died during the epidemic, or 1.9 % of its population of 908; most died from October 16th to the 23d.

As fate would have it, among the dead was Lucie Laistre, 24, the young wife of Elzéar Leblanc. A few months later, in May 1919, Angélina, the daughter of Joseph and Delvina, married Elzéar; together they would have nine children who they raised on their farm on the 8th rang in Saint-Fortunat.

Angélina Leblanc, 21, standing the second from the right on the second to last row, 
with other graduates of the teaching school run by the Sisters of Charity, also known as theSœurs Grises, 
in Saint-Ferdinand, Québec. June 1915.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc.)

In an email to me on November 11, 2018, Cécile Leblanc wrote:

“When she was 15, [my mother, Angélina] taught at Garthby and then at St-Norbert for a few years. In 1914, in September, she did not teach but studied at home, then in January she went to St-Ferdinand to the school of the Sisters of Charity (the Gray Nuns). The photo shows students who graduated in June 1915. It was a school for girls only. Her studies lasted six months and in June she graduated and was then certified to teach.

“After graduation, she taught two years at the country school on the 7th range, and then at the 8th range, which was next to my Leblanc grandparents. She did not teach after those years until 1947, when she agreed to teach at our school on the 8th range. My sister Marie-Blanche and I went to her school. " [Translated from the original French by Dennis Doiron.]

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Elzéar Leblanc, about 17 years old, the husband of Angélina Leblanc. He was the widower of Lucie Laistre, who died from the Spanish flu in October 1918, when he married Angélina. Circa 1907.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc.)

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After their other children left the farm, Delvina and Joseph, with the help of their son Wilfred, were able to continue to stay and work on their farm into their old age. In 1929, when they were about 70 years old, they were even built a large new home.

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Joseph Bourassa and his brother Félix. Wilfred, Joseph’s son, is behind and to the left next to the new house, built around 1929. Behind Félix, is another of Joseph’s sons, also named Félix. Only part of his head and right arm are showing.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc.)

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When he was 78 years old in 1938, Joseph’s good health ended when he suffered a leg injury that resulted in gangrene. He was hospitalized in Thetford Mines, where his leg was amputated above the knee. The following excerpt from a letter to his daughter Angélina gives a good sense of his religious beliefs, his close connections with his family, and his discouragement at being in the hospital for so long.

"My dear Angélina -

I received your letter yesterday afternoon. I had my rosary in hand and I was saying it for Ida. She told me that when I prayed for her, I was to say a dozen rosaries. Very quickly, I began to pray for you, and this morning all my actions were for you. I'm sorry for what happened to you because you were ready to take care of the baby, not to mention the effect it has had on your health. [Note: Angelina had just had a stillborn child]. For me, I'm not suffering, but am healing faster.

At this moment, I'm planning to leave the hospital on Sunday. The doctor doesn’t want it to happen or he doesn’t believe it is going to happen. I don’t think that it will be dangerous, and if I can’t find anybody to change the bandages, I will go to Georges [Joseph’s son], who has invited me. There must be doctors there, if not in Laurierville, there must be one in Ste-Julie, two or three miles away. Here, I am paying $2.00 a day, I don’t earn anything, and I get terribly bored. It's been three weeks since Ernest Bilodeau came to see me. From time to time, I receive a visit from St-Fortunat. The doctor from Disraeli [Dr Plante] came Monday and he asked me for news or messages, but Wilfrid and you had come the day before. I will write to Ida and Wilfrid at the same time. Wilfred will consult the doctor and he will do what he wants, we have a poor pension. They do not to bring the bedpan, though I am not able to walk with one foot. I’ll end by giving you a kiss and ask that you be strong.

Your loving father."

Unfortunately, a year later Joseph’s left leg also became gangrenous. This time, however, the leg was not amputated. Instead, after suffering terribly, he died on June 13, 1940. Conscious to the very end, he asked his son Wilfrid to stay with him until he died, which, of course, Wilfrid did.

When Joseph’s body, dressed in his Sunday best, was laid out in his home before burial, a very fine, white shroud covered his face and rosary beads were placed on his crossed hands. At least one person, but usually several, stayed with the body day and night, with frequent prayers being said. The body was placed in the casket only on the day of his burial.

At the church funeral service, Joseph had four pallbearers: his three sons, Georges, Wilfrid, and Félix, and his son-in-law, Angélina’s husband, Elzéar Leblanc. The family used the undertaking services of Eusèbe and Gédéon Lamontagne, and it was Eusèbe, one of Joseph’s closest neighbors, who drove the hearse to the vieux cemetery in the village center where Joseph was buried in the family plot.

After her husband’s death, Delvina continued to live with Wilfrid on the family farm, which had already been transferred to him. Like Joseph’s, her last years were also difficult as she suffered from d’arthrite faciale, probably facial neuralgia. The condition did not respond to treatment and on many days she was unable to eat. Soon her daughter Angelina, and Angélina’s daughters, Éliane, Émérentienne, Laura, Jeanne d’Arc and Thérèse, took turns going to the farm to provide care.

Delvina’s health and spirits could certainly not have been helped by the early death in 1943 of her daughter Ida, 40. Ida had been a converse nun at the Redemptorist convent in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré beginning in 1921. In 1928 she took her final vows, assuming the name Martha. Shortly thereafter, she began to suffer from a serious stomach disease which lasted for 15 years. Ida had a lingering, painful death, but her mother and other family members were able to visit her at the convent two weeks before her death. In a lengthy article written about Ida in a publication of the convent, one reads:

"Two weeks before her death, her family who loved her so much came to pay a farewell visit. The patient was taken to the parlor on a bed placed in front of the gate. Who can describe the emotion of her family, especially that of her dear mother, aged eighty-four, as she met her child who she would see for the last time? Despite her extreme weakness, Sister Martha showed an expansive joy. To all the questions, she had only this one answer: 'I am so happy to die, do not cry, I am going to heaven. Oh ! If you knew the happiness of dying at a convent!' " [Translated by Dennis Doiron].

Angélina Leblanc and Ida Bourassa, a redemptorist nun. Circa 1942.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc)

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Because of Delvina’s deteriorating health, she went to live with Angélina and Elzéar on their farm on the 8th rang in June 1944. She would die there on January 13, 1945 from pneumonia. Before her death, she received the last rites of the church in the presence of son-in-law Elzéar, her children Wilfrid, Félix, and Angélina, and her grandchildren. Her wake was held in Angelina’s home and the funeral at the church in Saint-Fortunat, where, like her husband, the pallbearers were her three sons and her son-in-law. One of her grandson’s, Gérard Leblanc, carried the cross before the casket. She was buried next to her husband and her mother in the old cemetery.

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Epilogue

The Golden Wedding Anniversary of Elzéar and Angélina Bourassa Leblanc 
before the church in Saint-Fortunat, June 29, 1969.

(Photo courtesy of Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile Leblanc)

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What better epilogue for Delvina and Joseph, a couple of whom it can be said to have focused their lives to raise their family in the Catholic faith and in Canada, than this photograph of their daughter Angélina’s golden wedding anniversary taken on the steps of Saint-Fortunat Church surrounded by their family?

The photo also provides graphic proof that although Joseph and Delvina were almost the only ones in their immediate families who did not immigrate permanently to the United States, many descendants of her parents, Damase and Marie Euphrasie Demers, and of his, Rose and Georges Bourassa, will continue to live in Québec. Likely more than half the people shown here are Demers and Bourassa descendants, with the others being friends of the family or the children and grandchildren of Elzéar Leblanc’s siblings.

The children of Delvina and Joseph in the photo are:

• Wilfrid Bourassa, standing with the cane at the far left (next to his nephew Robert Frechette, the son of Laura Leblanc and grandson of Elzéar and Angélina);
• Georges Bourassa, standing next to his wife Alice, the fourth from the left in the row behind Wilfrid; and
• Angélina Bourassa Leblanc, standing wearing a hat to the left of the parish priest Joseph Quirion and holding the arm of her husband, Elzéar. Delvina and Joseph’s other children, Ida and Félix, had died by this time.

The grandchildren of Delvina and Joseph are:

• Jeanne d’Arc Leblanc, standing behind and to the left of her father, Elzéar;
• Laura Leblanc, the wife of Henri Fréchette, standing behind and to Elzéar’s right;
• Cécile Leblanc, who stands two rows back from the boy in the left front row with the light-colored suit coat and tie.
• Gérard Leblanc, with is wife Gilberte, standing to the right of Angélina.
• Eliane Leblanc, with her husband Camille Gagnon, second from the right in the third row, next to Sister Marie-Blanche Leblanc, a nun.
• Gilberte Bourassa, daughter of Georges Bourassa, and her husband Léo Lapointe, standing before the open door in the last row on the right.
• Édesse Leblanc, next to her father, Elzéar Leblanc, and her husband, Gérard Alain.
• Marie-Reine Fréchette, daughter of Laura Leblanc, the first woman to the left of the third row. (Her friend Michel Constant is behind her to the left.)
• Rose Leblanc, the daughter of Elzéar et Angélina Leblanc, and her husband, Paul-Yvon Fortier, the second from the right, fifth row. Paul-Yvon is standing to the left of Rose, holding their son Normand.

Other relatives, including the great-grandchildren of Delvian and Joseph Bourassa :

• François  Gagnon
• Léo, Marc-Aurèle, Laurent, Guy, et Carole Fortier (et en arrière, Normand Fortier dans  les bras de son père, Paul-Yvon)
• Jean-Pierre Alain, arrière petit-fils
• Martin et Pierre Gagnon
• Jacinthe Bégin
• Guylaine Bouffard
• Sylvie Bouffard
• Monique Gagnon
• Marguerite Fréchette
• Françoise Gagnon
• Benoit et Irène Alain
• Gaétan et Françoise Alain
• Marie Blanche Leblanc, religieuse
• Rose Leblanc fille de Elzéar et Angélina son mari (enlever e) Paul-Yvon Fortier
• Henri Fréchette (à côté à gauche Laura Leblanc)
• Marguerite Fréchette et son ami
• Gabriel Fréchette
• Armande Fréchette
• Gilberte Bourassa et son marie Léo Lapointe, and
• Father Eugène Hudon

The following are the brothers and sisters of Elzéar Leblanc or friends of the family in the photo:

• Alida Leblanc and her husband, Désiré Fréchette
• Flore Leblanc and her husband, Maurice Houde
• Nazaire Leblanc from Saco, Maine, and his wife, Rose Angers
• Angéline Leblanc and her husband, Richard Beaudet
• Laurette Laroche, a nun, next to her mother Maria Leblanc and her husband, Éméric Laroche
• Aurèle Bouffard and her husband
• Pauline Leblanc and her husband, Ludger Boucher, and
• And some Leblanc cousins from Sorel

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Genealogical Information

Delvina Demers

Born: 26 November 1858 in Saint-Gilles-de-Beaurivage (later, Saint-Agapit), Province of Canada (later, the Province of Québec), daughter of Euphrosine Lamontagne and Damase Demers. Baptized: 28 November 1858 in Saint-Gilles. Godfather: Fabien Lemay, unknown relationship. Godmother: Esther Langlois, unknown relationship.

Married: 23 July 1888 to Joseph Bourassa in Saint-Fortunat-de-Wolfestown, Province of Quebec.

Died: 13 January 1945 in Saint-Fortunat. Buried: 16 January 1945 in the old cemetery in Saint-Fortunat.

(Louis) Joseph Bourassa

Born: 22 January 1860 in Saint-Nicolas-de-Lauzon, Province of Canada (later, the Province of Québec), son of Rose Olivier (b. 27 February 1827 in Saint-Nicolas-de-Lauzon, Québec) and Georges Bourassa (b. 13 August 1831, in Saint-Joseph-de-Levis). Baptized: 23 January 1860 in Saint-Nicolas. Godfather: Augustin Gingras, uncle. Godmother: Marguerite Olivier, aunt.

Married: 23 July 1888 to Delvina Demers in Saint-Fortunat, Quebec.

Died: 13 June 1940 in Saint-Fortunat. Buried: 15 June 1940 in the old cemetery in Saint-Fortunat.

Their Children

Georges Alcide

Born: 26 July 1891 in Saint-Fortunat. Baptized: 26 July 1891 in Saint Fortunat. Godparents: Joseph Lambert and Délienne Aubin Lambert, cousins, from Berlin Falls, N.H.

1st Marriage: 13 June 1916 to Marie Adélia Marcoux, daughter of Célina or Adélia Nolette and Alfred Marcoux, in Saint-Ferdinand-de-Halifax, Québec. She died on 17 February 1918 of meningitis and is buried in Saint-Fortunat on 7 March.

Their Children ( Saint-Fortunat): Rolland (1917-2006); bapt. 04 August 2017, godfather, Joseph Bourassa, godmother Delvina Demers; married Annette Lemay 26 August 1942 in St-Joseph-de-Coleraine.

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2d Marriage: 26 November 1918 in Saint-Jacques-de-Majeur, Québec to Marie Alice Dubois, daughter of Élise Elizabeth Parent and Israël Dubois.

Their children: Laurette (born 11 August 1919 and deceased the next day); Simone (1923-1997; born on 05 November 1923 in St-Fortunat; married to Adrien Boucher on August 26, 1949 in St-Isidore-d’Auckland); Bertrand (bapt. 06 June 1925, died 15 November 1925); Origen (born 01 January 1928 in St-Fortunat; died on 29 October 1994); Gilberte (1929 - ; born on 18 May 1929 and bapt. on 19 May 1929 in St-Fortunat; married to Léonidas Lapointe on 08 July 1950 in St-Isidore-d’Auckland); Anita (1930-2007; born on 26 July 1930 and bapt. on 27 July 1930; married to Léo-Paul Beauregard on 04 September 1954 in St-Isidore-d’Auckland); Hervé (1932-1988; born on 29 October 1932 and bapt. on 30 October 1932 in St-Fortunat; married to Madeleine Dodier on 17 August 1957 in St-Isidore-d’Auckland); Marcel (1935-  ; baptized on 14 August 1935 in St-Fortunat, married to Monique Auger on 27 July 1974). Lisette (1945-   ); baptized in Montreal on 11 February 1945, married to Michel Comtois).

Died: 17 June 1976 in Saint-Isidore-d’Auckland, Province of Québec. Buried: date unknown In Saint-Isidore.

Angélina Emma Euphrasie

Born: 23 December 1894 in Saint Fortunat; the baptismal record says her birth was on December 24, but Angélina always told her children she was born on the 23d. Baptized: 24 December 1894 in Saint-Fortunat as “Marie Emma Euphrasie.” Godfather: Édouard Bourassa, uncle. Godmother: Emma Laitres Bourassa, aunt.

Married: 12 May 1919 to Elzéar Leblanc (b. 06 January 1892 in Ashland, Wisconsin); d. 11 February 1983 in Saint-Ferdinand-d’Halifax and buried in Saint-Fortunat.

Their children : Éliane (born on 12 April 1920; married Camille Gagnon on 24 August 1946 in St-Fortunat; died in 2014); Gérard (born on 14 February 1922;  married Gilberte Payeur on 25 June 1955 in St-Joseph-de-Coleraine); Émérentienne (born on 17 June 1924;  married Henri Goudreau on 22 June 1946 in St-Fortunat); Laura (born on 07 October 1925; married Henri Fréchette on 07 June 1947 in St-Fortunat; died 2014); Jeanne d'Arc (born 25 on August 1927); Thérèse (born 02 March 1929; married Fernand Bouffard on 12 August 1950 in St-Fortunat); Anne-Rose (born on 09 June 1931, married Paul-Yvon Fortier on 30 July 1954 in St-Fortunat); Marie-Blanche (born 1933, Sister of St-Joseph (served as a nurse)); and Cécile (born 1935; Oblate Sister).

Died: 29 March 1989 in Victoriaville, Quebec. Buried: 1 April 1989 in Saint-Fortunat.

(Joseph) Wilfred

Born: 1 October 1896 in Saint-Fortunat. Baptized: 3 October 1896 in Saint-Fortunat. Godfather: Hilaire Aubin, either an uncle or a cousin. Godmother: Lumina Aubin, cousin, daughter of Nazaire Aubin.

Never Married.

Died: 3 March 1970 at the Sacré-Coeur Hospital in Plessisville, Québec. Buried : 5 March 1970 in Saint-Fortunat.

Unnamed

Born and died shortly after birth on 12 August 1898 and buried the next day in Saint-Fortunat. The new-born was baptized by a neighbor, Aurelie Tardiff, who was perhaps there help with the birth as a mid-wife (sage-femme), and buried in the new cemetery, now the Vieux Cimetière. (From the parish records: « Le treize août mil huit cent quatre vingt-dix-huit, nous soussigné curé de cette paroisse avons inhumé le corps d’un enfant anonyme issu du légitime mariage de Joseph Bourassa, cultivateur, et de Delvina Demers de cette paroisse décédé la veille quelques instant après sa naissance. Après avoir été ondoyé par Aurélie Tardif de cette paroisse. Étaient présents à l’inhumation le père de l’enfant et Ephrem St-Pierre, fossoyeur, qui ont déclaré ne savoir signer. E.O.Plante, ptre curé. »).

(Joseph) Félix

Born: 19 October 1899 in Saint-Fortunat. Baptized: 20 October 1899 in Saint-Fortunat. Godfather: Xavier Guay, neighbor. Godmother: Alvina Demers (wife of Xavier Guay), neighbor.

Never married.

Died: 1 January 1964 at his home on the 5th rang in Saint-Fortunat. Buried: 4 January 1964.

(Marie) Ida

Born: 4 April 1903 in Saint-Fortunat. Baptized: 4 April 1903 in Saint-Fortunat. Godfather: Arthur Gosselin, unknown relationship. Godmother: Alice Alain Gosselin (his wife), unknown relationship.

Never Married. She was a nun in the Order of the Redemptorists, which she entered in 1921. She took the name of Sister Martha de Marie, Joseph, Jesus.

Died: 15 June 1943 in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. Buried: in Saint-Fortunat.

(Marie) Éva

Born: 1 November 1905 in Saint-Fortunat. Baptized: 2 November 1905 in Saint-Fortunat. Godfather: Georges Bourassa, uncle. Godmother: Laure Couture, aunt.

Died: 21 September 1906 in Saint-Fortunat. Buried: 22 September In Saint-Fortunat.

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Acknowledgements and Notes on the Text

Almost all of the genealogical information for this post comes from my cousins Cécile Leblanc, Jeanne d’Arc Leblanc, and Anita Demers Olko. In addition, Cécile and Jeanne d'Arc reviewed and offered suggestions to improve the French-text, as did Anita with the English-language text. I thank them for all their help and advice. Any genealogical and grammatical errors that remain in the text, of course, are all mine.

Many of the family photographs in the post, as is the case throughout the blog, come from the collection of Anita Demers Olko, who has been collecting them in both the United States and Québec for decades. Though she continues to collect photos, she found many of the photos on field trips to Québec and in Maine with Claire Demers Rivard, the sister of Edmund Demers, in the 1990s. Several of the photos in this blog, however, came from the private collection of Cécile and Jeanne d’Arc Leblanc. My thanks to them all for sharing the photos with me.

Much of the detailed information on the family life of Joseph and Delvina derives from a book written by Jeanne d’Arc, Cécile and their mother, Angélina. Angélina Bourassa-Leblanc, Jeanne d’Arc Leblanc, et Cécile Leblanc, Notes Généalogiques sur une Branche des Familles Leblanc, Bourrassa, Bouffard, et Demers, (Unpublished, in French, second ed. 2008. Victoriaville, Québec), or from email exchanges with Jeanne d’Arc and Cécile. In particular, their book contains:

• Bourassa family history and genealogical information generally, p. 280-350
• Family of Jean Bourasseau/Bourassa (b. 1629) and Perrette Valley (b. 1645), p. 291
• Family of Jean Bourasseau/Bourassa (b. 1629) and Catherine Poitevin, p. 292
• Family of Georges Bourassa (b. 1831) and Rose Olivier, p. 305-310
• Land transfer or donation (transcript in French) in 1884 from Rose Bourassa to her son Joseph of farmland on the 7th range south of the village (p. 308-309)
• Marriage record (transcript in French) of Rose Olivier Bourassa (Georges Bourassa’s widow) of second marriage, to F.X. David, in October 1888, p. 310
• Family of Joseph Bourassa (b. 1860) and Delvina Bourassa, p. 311-327
• Marriage record (transcript in French) of Joseph Bourassa and Delvina in July 1889, p. 311
• Angélina Bourassa-Leblanc’s memoire (p. 317-327) 
• Ida Bourassa, Soeur Martha Rédemptoristine, article on her life and death with by the convent of the Congregation of the Rédemporistimes (transcript in French), (p. 320-325),
• letter written by Joseph Bourassa from the Thetford Mines hospital to his daughter Angélina, August 19, 1938 (transcript in French), (p.326)
• Deaths of Joseph Bourassa and Delvina Demers, (p. 326-327)
• Angélina Bourassa as a student at the teaching school in Saint-Ferdinand and as a teacher, (p. 319)

• Demers family history and genealogical information generally, p. 388-456
• History of early years of Jean Demers (b. 1632) and Jeanne Vedié, p. 394-400
• Marriage record (transcript in French) of Jean Demers and Jeanne Vedié in Montréal 1654, p. 403
• Family of Jean Demers and Jeanne Vedié, p. 403-404
• Family of Damase Demers (b. 1812) and Euphrosine Baquet dite Lamontagne, p. 422-424
• Family of Delvina Demers and Joseph Bourassa, p. 425-426

Éric Vaillancourt’s book, Histoire de Saint-Fortunat (2013) (French) (ISBN : 978-2-9814128-0-5), has been invaluable to me throughout my research and writing for the blog. Unfortunately, the book is out of print, but with the help of the Sociéte de Généalogie et Histoire de Victoriaville in Québec, I was able to purchase a used copy. The book is available only in French. As I write posts for the blog, I have been developing a “running” index of the book. The following is the latest iteration if the index, which includes new entries related to this post. 

• Aubain, Hilaire: as signatory with his “mark” in lieu of a signature on petition dated November 2, 1871 to archbishop of Québec to establish the parish of Saint-Fortunat, p. 60; elected on July 28, 1872 as marguiller, or member, of the first parish counsel, p. 70; elected on February 12, 1872 to the syndic, or committee, for the construction of the church building, p. 86; named as one of the parraines, or godfathers, and his wife, Marie Euphrasie Demers, as a marraine, or godmother, to the first church bell at ceremony on December 13, 1876, p. 95; on making his own coffin for assembly after his death, p. 199; appointment in 1873 as the second marguiller en charge of the parish council, p. 309; his son Nazaire elected mayor in 1894, p. 313; his brother Barthélemy elected to town council 1873, p. 314; Hilaire’s election to town council from 1877 to 1879, p. 14.
• Demers, Louis-Benjamin, parish priest in Saint-Fortunat, 1879-1882, with photo, p. 115-116;
• Demers, Télesphore, elected as first mayor of the newly established town of St-Fortunat in February 1873, pp. 74 - 77.
• elementary schools: formation of school commission, p. 72;
• flu epidemic of 1918, 207-209;
• Health care, generally, p. 205-207
• Saint-Fortunat, the parish of: early years, generally, p. 51-81; photo of church, circa 1890, p. 103; separation from the parish of St-Julien in 1871, p. 51-62; Télesphore Demers, and 87 other heads of families, as signatories to the petition to the Archbishop of Québec requesting the establishment of the Parish of Saint-Fortunat in 1871, pp. 56-62; construction of the church, p. 83-110; the parish priests (Lucien-Napaléon Leclerc-Francoeur, Paul Coté, Louis-Benjamin Demers, Émile Olivier Plante), p. 111-118; early cemeteries, p. 122-125; parish life, generally, p. 125-131;
• Saint-Fortunat, Town of: sketch of roads, 1860-70, p. 54; description of first inhabitants, their lands, and farming and other activities, p. 63-65; early years, p. 73-74, 202; early businesses, p. 131-137; businesses after 1900, p. 216-225;
• Saint-Julien-de-Wolfestown, the parish of: its first full-time resident priest at the chapel, Father Pelisson, who served Wolfestown, Ham-Nord, Coleraine, beginning in 1863;  beginning in the summer of 1871, Father Francoeur from Saint-Ferdinand gives masses in the home of Damase St-Pierre on the 7th range road in the village center, p. 56.
• Wolfestown, Township of: before the formation of the town and parish of Saint-Fortunat, p. 27-50; the beginnings of the town, p. 74-79; election of town council and mayor, p. 75-77.

The first Bourassa ancestor in Canada, Jean Bourassa (originally spelled Bourasseau), and the first Demers ancestor, Jean Demers (spelled in many different ways, e.g., Dumay, Demetz) both settled not far from each other in the seigneurie de Lauzon around 1666. A map from 1709 shows the property of Jean Demers, Junior, (listed as Jean Dumay) who had inherited or bought the land from his father (the lot next to the “veuve de Bissot”, which is to the east (right) of the Chaudière River), and the property of “J[ean]. Bourassa, le père.” You can view the map at this link: Carte du gouvernement de Québec : levée en l'année 1709 par les ordres de Monseigneur le comte de Ponchartrain, commandeur des ordres du roy, ministre et secrétaire d'estat par le S. Catalogne, lieutenant des troupes, et dressée par Jean Bt. Decouagne; http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2244521. You can also see the land of Delvina’s first Lamontagne ancestor, François Baquet dit Lamontagne, to the west of the  “Riv[ière] de la Durantaye” on the south shore of the St Lawrence River across from Île d’Orleans. The lot is listed as belonging to “F. Baquet.”

On the early years of the Bourassa and Demers families in the seigneurie de Lauzon, see Roy, Joseph, Histoire de la Seigneurie de Lauzon. (Lévis, Québec 1897). An electronic version of the book can be read (in French) at: http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/numtxt/195702-1.pdf. The following is a partial index of the book related to the two families:

• Jean Demers (Dumays, Dumetz, or other variants): 1666 arrival in Lauzon, p. 143-145, 161; 1667 census and brief history before arriving in Canada, p. 164; 
• various spellings of family name, 165; 
• family comes from Normandy, p. 167; 
• part of a group of settlers between the Etchemin and Chaudiere Rivers, p. 181; 
• included in 1669 legal complaint about maintenance of public road on his property, p. 185;
• 1670 confirmation of prior concession of land near the Etchemin River, p. 292; 
• 1672 concession of 12 arpents of land, p. 293; 
• between 1668 and 1681 concessions of land to members of the Demers family west of the Chaudière River in what is now St-Nicolas, p. 300; 
• 1681 controversy of the delay in baptism of Jean Demers’ youngest child, threat of excommunication, p, 304-305; 
• after 1681 and before the establishment of a parish, missionary priest used Jean Demers’ house to baptize most children in the western part of the siegneurie de Lauzon, p. 314; 
• 1681 census report on Dumets family, p. 320 and appendix  p. XLII-III; 
• Demers family listed as one of 12 families that formed the “base” of the population of Lauzon by 1681 and from which their children would eventually branch out throughout the seigneurie, p. 374.

• Jean Bourassa (Bourasseau): arrival in Lauzon, p. 161; 
• mistakenly not included in 1667 census, p. 167; 
• family comes from the Poitou region of France, p. 170; 
• marriage record of Jean Bourassa and Catherine Poitiers 05 nov 1676, p. 284; 
• 1672 concession of land, p. 293; 1681 census of Bourassa family, p. 319; 
• 1667 census of Lauzon did not include Jean Bourassa although he was living there at the time, p. 327; 
• Bourassa family listed as one of 12 families that formed the “base” of the population of Lauzon by 1681 and from which their children would eventually branch out throughout the seigneurie, p. 374; and
• notes on the census of 1681 related to the Jean Bourassa family, p. appendix  XXXVIII.

General information about the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 in the Province of Québec and the Eastern Townships, including statistics on many towns, can be found in an excellent article written by Monique Giroux, La grippe espagnole, centimes et plats, published in the newsletter of the Sociéte généalogique et historique de Victoriaville, Québec. The article can be read in French on the society’s web page at: https://www.shgv.ca/. 

Information on the location of the farm of Georges and Rose Bourassa at 1190 Chemin Vire-Crêpes in Saint-Nicolas, comes from Cécile and Jeanne d’Arc after they visited the site with Odette Demers, the president of the Saint-Nicolas Historical Society in autumn of 2018. The only building remaining on the property today from the Bourassa farm is the old summer kitchen, which is now used as a shed. 

I am still in the process of determining the locations, however approximate, of the farms owned by various members of the extended Demers and Lamontagne family members in Wolfestown and Saint-Fortunat in the latter half of the 19th century.  The information in this post on the locations is my best understanding at this time of sites of the farms. The sources used include: the Canadian censuses of 1861, 1871 and 1881; the Map of the District of St. Francis, Canada East of 1863 (http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayEcopies&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4014607&rec_nbr_list=4014607,4014626,4014597&title=Map+of+the+district+of+St.+Francis%2C+Canada+East+%5Bcartographic+material%5D+%3A+from+surveys+of+British+%26+American+Boundary+Commissioners%2C+British+American+Land+Co.%2C+Crown+Land+Department+and+special+surveys+%26+observations+%2F&ecopy=e011061776_a1); and property tax assessment rolls, beginning in the year 1874, of the municipality of Saint-Fortunat.

Finally, for those interested in funeral rites, I found a passage in a book written by the historian Marcel Trudel that sheds light on the description written by Angélina Leblanc about services for her father, Joseph Bourassa. Trudel describes how French-Canadiens maintained the funeral rites of the old French regime for a longtime: embalming was a privilege of “des grands,”; in the summer, the deceased were buried the day following death, in winter, burial could be delayed; before burial, the body was dressed in new clothes, including a new pair a boots, and was laid out on planks placed over trestles; a veil covered the face because only priests and nuns had the right to be seen uncovered; and the room was decorated in black. Trudel, Marcel, Mémoires d’un autre siècle 27-28. (Les Éditions du Boréal Express. Montréal, 1987.)]

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(copyright 2019 Dennis M. Doiron)