Over the past couple of weeks I’ve shown the birth and baptismal records of the children of Charles Gédéon Patenaude and Osithe Gamache and the marriage record of the couple.
The next step in tracing the ancestry of this family is to find the birth and baptismal records of Charles Gédéon and Osithe. I wasn’t able to find the birth and baptismal record of Osithe Gamache, but my cousin, Chris, found it listed as record B.80 in the records of Ste. Marguerite de Blairfindie Parish in L’Acadie, St. Jean County, Lower Canada in 1838.
The Birth and Baptismal Record of Osite Gamache – 1838
SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Osite Gamache, Ste. Marguerite de Blairfindie, L’Acadie, St. Jean County, Lower Canada, 1838. Front of Folio 14, B.80.
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Osite Gamache – 1838. Translated from the French, the record states:
B.80.
[baptism #80]
Osite
GamacheToday, on the twenty-third of May, one thousand eight hundred thirty-eight, we, the undersigned priest, have baptized Osite, born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin. The Godfather was Louis Martin, and the Godmother was Marguerite Leblanc, wife of Franí§ois Gamache, who did not know how to sign.
of this parish [one word?] J.C.P.
[signed] Jos[eph] Crivier, Priest
My cousin Chris and I had been told that Osite was born on 05 Aug 1847. According to Osite’s death record, she died on 19 May 1899 at age 52, meaning that she was born in about 1846-1847. Osite’s gravestone states that she died on 19 May 1889, not 1899. If Osite died in 1889 at age 52, she would have been born in about 1836-1837.
Chris pointed out that, if Osite had been born on 05 Aug 1847 and married on 24 Jun 1862, she would have been 14 years old at the time of her marriage, an unlikely occurrence.
Chris also realized that Osite’s mother would likely give birth to her first child in her childhood parish, and he told me that Osite Gamache’s mother, Osite Martin, was raised in Ste. Marguerite de Blairfindie in L’Acadie.
With these observations, Chris searched the records from Ste. Marguerite de Blairfindie in L’Acadie starting with 1838, the year after Osite Gamache’s parents were married. He found Osite Gamache’s birth and baptismal record, shown here. According to this record, Osite Gamache was born on 22 May 1838 in L’Acadie, St. Jean County, Lower Canada, and baptized the next day.
The proper spelling of Osite’s given name is Osithe, although many records spell the name Osite, Ozite, or Ausite.
This record includes an annotation at the bottom that says “of this parish” and is initialed by the priest. Apparently, he neglected to include this phrase when he first wrote the record and added it later. There appears to be one additional word after “of this parish” and the initials, but I can’t make that word out.
This record may be found on Ancestry.com in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection 1621-1967) among the records for L’Acadie L’Acadie (Ste-Marguerite-de-Blairfindie) in 1838 as image 14 of 34.
