They live on through their records.

 As I mentioned in the last post, I came to genealogy somewhat inadvertently, so I did not approach the process of gathering information in any systematic way.  I just recently discovered the Family History Library Québec Research Outline, available for free in PDF format (also available as a complete PDF document here) and, and wish I’d found it sooner.  The guide offers examples of form letters in English and French, as well as translations of key words that appear frequently in genealogical research.  I must have been able to make myself understood in the poor French that I was able to put together, because I received responses to my queries, but it would have been nice to have had a guide.  The Family History Library also offers a Research Outline that includes all of Canada and one for the U.S.

            In the beginning, I was looking for any information I could find about my great-grandmother, Valérie Provost Catudal.  All I had was a name and a photograph, my great-grandfather’s name and the names of their three children.   The first record I found was an entry listing the death of a Valeria Catudal in North Attleboro in 1910 in the Massachusetts Vital Records Archives index online. The online index only provides a name, year, event type and page number on which the actual record is located.  In this case, the first name was slightly misspelled, but the rest of the information confirmed that I’d found the correct record.  Most ancestral records contain errors and misspellings, and English-speaking clerks often seriously butchered the spellings of French names.  Sometimes records are found under an anglicized version of a name or an “American” nickname, so the first and/or last names on records could be different from what is expected. The MA Vital Records Archives database stops at 1910, so Valérie’s death record was a fortunate find.  In the Vital Records database, I was also able to retrieve a birth record for her son, Alphonse Catudal, born in North Attleboro in 1908.  The next step I took was to request a copy of the death certificate from the North Attleboro town clerk’s office, because I had read that the local death record often provides more detailed information than the state record.  That didn’t turn out to be true in this case.  The town clerk did not send me a copy of the original handwritten record, and the transcript I received did not contain all of the information that is available on the death certificate filed with the state.  I did learn, however, the cause of death, which came as a shock.  My mother had assumed that her grandmother died in childbirth, probably because nobody ever mentioned her having been ill.  I think the secretiveness surrounding Valérie’s death is strange, considering that death by tuberculosis in 1910 was not a quick and painless end.  Later, I contacted Judy Schneider because she had written a book about the Catudal family and I thought she might have information aboutValérie Provost.  It turns out that both of our mothers are Catudals and we are fifth cousins.  Judy sent me some original documents, which included Valérie Provost Catudal’s Massachusetts state death certificate.  That document is also now available on Family Search.  From the state death certificate, I learned that Valérie had been ill for two years prior to her death, and that she had only sought medical treatment in the final seven months.  The physician’s signature is dated November 17 even though her official date of death it November 18.  I don’t know what the practices were in Massachusetts in 1910 for pronouncing a person dead, but I’ve concluded that two scenarios are possible.  Either the doctor entered the wrong date or, knowing that she was in the process of dying on the evening of Nov. 17, he signed the death certificate in advance so that the necessary paperwork would be ready for the body to be prepared for transportation to Canada as quickly as possible.  The official time of death, which could have been entered by the undertaker the next morning, is 8:00 a.m. on November 18. 

            Judy had also sent me a couple of other interesting documents; Charles and Valérie’s original marriage record, a baptismal record for Germaine, and a 1917 border crossing for Germaine.  The border crossing was of particular interest, because it indicated that Germaine’s residence was in Canada at the time and not in the U.S. with her father.  Judy also noted that Germaine appeared in the 1911 Canadian Census and in the 1910 North Attleboro census (all of these original documents are available on Ancestry.com).   The 1910 North Attleboro census was recorded before Valérie’s death and includes the names of all three children.  Following Valérie’s death, Germaine evidently returned to Canada to live with relatives for several years, which also came as a surprise to my mother and me.  Germaine never mentioned having grown up in Canada, and my grandfather never told his wife or children that he and his siblings had been separated when they were children.  We know that Charles Catudal remained in North Attleboro, presumably because he had a secure job with the jewelry manufacturing company, Baker and Paye.  He remarried in April 1912.   Who took care of Joseph, age 4, and Alphonse, age 2, from November 1910 to April 1912, and why did Germaine stay in Canada?  We will probably never know. 

            When looking for information on Canadian ancestors who worked and lived in the U.S., if you have exact or close approximate dates and the name of a town, and are able to travel to the local library, you may find some information in town directories and newspapers on microfilm or fiche.  The Richards Memorial Library in North Attleboro, MA is one of my favorite libraries.  The librarians there are both knowledgeable and helpful with local town history and genealogy.  It was there that I learned that Sacred Heart Parish was the French Catholic church and St. Mary was the Irish.  I also learned that once again, I lucked out when I found the obituary on microfilm for Valérie (Provost) Catudal (see previous post for image of the obituary) in the Evening Chronicle (eventually the Sun Chronicle and now the Attleboro Sun), because all copies of the newspaper prior to 1910 weredestroyed by fire.  The librarian at Richards Memorial even gave me some names and numbers of people she thought might have information about my great-grandmother singing in the church choir, but none of the leads were fruitful. 

            Several aspects of the death notice from the Sun Chronicle stood out to me.  It states that the funeral “took place yesterday afternoon at 3:45 with services at the Sacred Hearrt Church.”  The next paragraph reveals “The remains were sent on the 4:28 train to Canada, where the burial will take place at St. Pie on Tuesday afternoon.”  No personal information about the deceased is given, other than a name, address and date of death, and none of the surviving family members are mentioned.  The funeral must have been very short, probably just consisting of the necessary parts of the Catholic Mass, since there were only 43 minutes during which the funeral had to take place and the body transported to and loaded onto the train.  Why was it necessary to publish the train departure time?  There is no longer a train station in North Attleboro and there is certainly no direct route to Canada from the area, but evidently, one existed in 1910. 

            Another excellent resource for finding French-Canadian records in Massachusetts is the New Bedford Free Public Library.  It is recommended on the Irish genealogy research site, Southern New England Irish.  Of the New Bedford Free Public Library, the resource list reviewer says, “this is the place to go to get the most available info in one visit, and if your research time is limited, go there first.”  I can vouch for the accuracy of that statement.  The librarian in the genealogy department is an expert on French-Canadians in New England.  He suggested that I check Rhode Island for records because the Canadians moved around a lot and commuted back and forth between Massachusetts to Rhode Island for work.  Lo and behold, I found a listing for a Jerry Provost that matched Désiré Provost’s death date (as indicated on his St-Pie burial record) in the Rhode Island death index.  I sent for the record from the State archives and it turned out to be the correct one.  His father’s name is indicated on the record and his birthplace is Canada.  I still don’t know why his name was recorded as “Jerry.”  Maybe it was a nickname given to him by his coworkers or the records clerk thought “Désiré” sounded like “Jerry.”  At the New Bedford library I also found Désiré Provost listed in the Fall River directories for 1878, 80 and 82.   I checked the 1876 and 84 directories and he does not appear on them, so I have a fairly accurate idea of the time span that the Provosts lived in Fall River.  At this library, I was also able to find death dates for some Catudal ancestors on the Massachusetts death index. 

            I contacted the Provost-Prevost Family Association (site is in both French and English) and have exchanged some names and dates with Michel Provost (no relation).  I got a few names from my second cousin Nancy, and have found some additional records on ancestry.com and familysearch.org.  I have had plenty of fruitless searches and unproductive trips to libraries as well, but finding a long searched-for piece of information or stumbling upon an unexpected item makes it all worthwhile.  The most recent discovery I made on FamilySearch was the Chicopee, Massachusetts marriage record for Désiré Provost and Marceline Monast.  I also found, in Chicopee, what I am almost certain is Valérie’s birth record.  The date of birth is exact (22 August 1876) and the father’s name is Désiré Provost.   There are a couple of problems, though.  The mother’s name is listed as “Sarah.”  It could be a clerical error or a mishearing of “Marceline.”   The second issue is that the child’s name is Sophronia Provost.  By now, I know not to expect to find birth records under the name one would normally expect.  It is very common to find a different first name on a French-Canadian birth or baptismal record because they were customarily given three names.  The third name was usually the one they were known by.   I already know from Valérie’s marriage record that one of her names was Marie.   My mother had always heard that her middle name was Jeanne, but I suspect that may have been a Confirmation name, and have not found any evidence of it so far.  Once I figured out, from information on the Internet, which Catholic parishes existed in Chicopee in 1875, and determined which one the French-Canadians attended, I contacted the parish administrator where the archives are housed.  I am still waiting to find out if there is a sacrament of marriage record for Désiré and Marceline and a baptismal record for Valérie.  If we do find a baptismal record in Chicopee, I would wonder if Valérie even knew where she was born, because on Alphonse Catudal’s birth record, the mother’s place of birth is given as Fall River.  Although Désiré Provost doesn’t show up in the Fall River town directory unitl 1878, she probably remembered having lived there as a child.

            Census records provide a wealth of information.  It was from census records that I discovered that the Catudals and the Dumonts shared a house in North Attleboro, I learned the names of the Dumonts’ children and the fact that one child had died.  Knowing that, I went to FamilySearch and found the birth and death records for their deceased child.   Why did I do that?   I wanted to get a more complete story about the lives of people who interacted so closely with my ancestors, and I suppose I just wanted to see if I could find the records.  When searching for census records online, it is important to find an image of the original handwritten form in addition to or instead of a transcription.  Transcriptions often do not include every detail from the original form, and each transcription presents another opportunity for error.  Digitized original census records for the U.S. and Canada are usually available on ancestry.com.  FamilySearch and other free census search sites, such as http://automatedgenealogy.com/, have transcribed information from census records online as well, but an image of the original document is not usually available.  Family Search also has information about how to read census forms, years the census was taken and for which records are available.  Information about Canadian census records is available at the Library and Archives of Canada.     Bear in mind that census records are not always 100% accurate, but they are still a valuable source of information and clues and should not be overlooked.
           I am adding this as an edit because I realized it is important to mention the "dead ends," how they can provide information about other places to search or at the very least, they can be crossed off the list of places to look.  I wrote to the church in St-Pie and even included a donation, but did not receive a reply.  I eventually traced the international money order and discovered that it hadn't been cashed for three months.  Things evidently move more slowly in St-Pie than I had imagined.  One year later,  I decided to contact the St-Pie library via e-mail regarding archival/historical material about the town, and received a response from the librarian.  She referred me to the Centre d'histoire de Saint-Hyacinthe, where the Saint-Pie archives are now housed.   I then wrote to the director there, Monseur Luc Cordeau, and he responded that the St-Pie archives were collected in 2002 and he did not find my great-grandmother's name on his inventory lists.   That was last summer and the collection has not been processed.  I was advised by a church archivist here in NYC to go there in person, and hope to do so within the next year.  Before I pack my bags and get on the train, I will check to see whether patrons are allowed to search unprocessed collections.   Incidentally, I also received a reply from the church after contacting the library and telling the librarian that I had previously contacted the church.   The church did not have any additional information, but at least I know my request was received.
            I will be posting updates as information comes in, so stay tuned!

           

Some useful websites for French-Canadian Genealogy (I am also posting these in the permanent links section)

University of Montreal

http://www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/main.htm

Can perform first level search for free.  Subscription after that.

Denomination in Old Quebec – explains dit names, interactive database of nicknames associated with surnames.  Other features include information about parish registers in Quebec, Canadian census records and links to other relevant sites.

http://mail.nosorigines.qc.ca/

Searchable database of names.   Not an “official” site, but useful as a starting point for finding names of ancestors.  Anyone can add photos, family histories and there is a discussion forum. 

http://www.cyndislist.com/  Cyndi’s List of genealogy on the Internet

All kinds of genealogocial resources and information.   Many links to census sources and explanations.  Alphabetical index.  Click on Canada for a wealth of information.

Massachusetts Vital Records Archives  (1841-1910) http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/VitalRecordsSearchContents.html

Library and Archives of Canada

http://www.collectionscanada/

They say she sang.

         Nobody in the family ever spoke about what my great-grandmother, Valérie Provost Catudal, was like as a person, or even how she died.  We only knew that she died when her children were very young.  Valérie’s eldest daughter, my great-aunt Germaine, used to say that her mother sang in church with a voice so beautiful that parishoners would turn around to see who was singing.  My mother named me Valerie (minus the accent) because she had always thought it was a pretty name and wished she had been named after her grandmother.  I am the only professional singer in a family of non-musicians, but my mother tells me that her father (Valérie’s second child, Joseph Arthur Désiré) sang in a barbershop quartet before he was married.   I never knew my grandfather because he died when my mother was 15. 

            My genealogical journey began two years ago when I was about to make a CD of 19th c. American songs.   I was inspired to use a photo of my great-grandparents, Charles Catudal and Valérie Provost, on the cover, because the time period of the photo was appropriate for the music. It also seemed fitting to use Valérie’s photo, since (we think) she was also a singer.  Just to satisfy my curiosity, I decided to do some research to see if I could find any evidence in print that Valérie had indeed been a soloist and/or chorister in church.  I thought there might be lists of church choir members or soloists, newspaper clippings, an obituary, or some documentation somewhere to confirm the family legend.  So far, nothing has turned up.  Nevertheless, I have made many very surprising discoveries about the Provost family, including the fact that Valérie and two of her siblings were born in the U.S.  We had always thought that Valérie and Charles were the first generation to come to the U.S. from Canada. Following is the story of the Provost family that I have pieced together, beginning with the marriage of Valérie’s parents.  In my next post, I will write about the search process and explain how and where I found the documents.  

            Désiré Provost and Marceline Monast were married on 14 October 1875 in Chicopee, Massachusetts.  Désiré, a carpenter, was among the many French Canadians who sought employment in the U.S. throughout the 19^th century.  A little over a year later, their first child, Valérie (Marie Valerie) was born, and in two years’ time a second child, Wilfrid (Joseph Jean-Baptiste Wilfrid), was born.  Fall River, Massachusetts town directories list a Désiré Provost, carpenter, living on Chestnut Street from 1878 to 1882 and we know that their third child, Auguste (Augustin Edouard) was born in Fall River and baptized at Saint Anne.  The family appears to have moved back to St-Pie after 1882, but it seems that Désiré returned to New England on his own when work was available, because he died in Rhode Island while the rest of the family was living in St-Pie.  A fourth child, Exavérine (Marie Exavérine Alba Blanche) was born and baptized in St-Pie in 1883.  On July 3, 1886, Désiré died of sunstroke in Lincoln, RI, just a year after a fifth child, Désiré (Raphael Louis Désiré), was born.  Désiré’s body was sent back to St-Pie for burial and the young widow Marceline was left to care for five children.  By the time of the 1901 Quebec census, four of the children were working adults.  Marceline,Valérie and Exavérine were all earning a living as seamstresses, and Wilfred and Auguste were employed as domestics (I think - abbreviation on census form is Dom.). 

            On 21 October 1902, Valérie married Charles Catudal in St-Pie, Bagot, Quebec, and their first two children were born there.  Germaine (Exavérine Germaine), was born on July 4, 1904 and two years later, on 27 March 1906, Désiré (Joseph Arthur Désiré) (my grandfather) arrived.  He was always known to his family as Joseph, but according to the 1910 North Attleboro census, Valérie had called him Désiré.  Shortly after Désiré’s birth, Charles and Valérie moved the family to North Attleboro, Massachusetts.  The Catudals lived on the second floor of a two-story house on Washington Street that they shared with another Canadian family, Agnes (O’Brien) and August Dumont, a painter, and the Dumont’s two young daughters, Margaret and Leonia.  The Dumonts had lost one child, Rose Blanche (25 July 1904 – 22 August 1906), who had been born hydrocephalic.  

Evening Chronicle (Attleborough, MA), 20 Nov. 1910

Valérie was just 34 years old at the time of her death in 1910, when tuberculosis (phtysis pulmonalis) took her life.  She had fallen ill two years prior, just after the birth of the Catudals’ third child, Alphonse, on 27 July 1908.  She died at home on 18 November 1910 and her body was sent back to Canada for burial following a funeral Mass at Sacred Heart Church in North Attleboro.

What happened to the children at this juncture in the story is not completely clear, but we do know from the 1911 census of Canada that Germaine went to live with relatives.  Charles remarried in April of 1912, but so far I have found no clues about who took care of the two boys in the interim. Germaine appears on a Canada to U.S. border crossing list in 1917, with her residence listed as St-Pie, Quebec and her destination Massachusetts, so it appears that she had lived in Canada from 1910 to 1917, and possibly even beyond that date.  When I knew Aunt Germaine, she was living in North Attleboro, had married, raised two children and owned an apartment building in which her father had lived with his second wife.  She never mentioned having grown up in Canada, and neither my grandfather nor Uncle Al had mentioned anything to their children about that period of their lives.  I found out recently that Uncle Al had kept in touch and visited with Auguste Provost until Auguste’s death in 1969.

So, I have uncovered a lot of family history, but did Valérie sing?   I still don’t know for sure, but I have hope that somewhere out there, a document, photo or object exists that will provide the answer I seek.