Osithe Gamache was baptized in 1838 in the parish of Ste. Marguerite de Blairfinde in L’Acadie, St. Jean County, Lower Canada. He sister, Marie Gamache, was baptized a year later, but in a different place: the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville, Napierville County, Lower Canada.
The Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Gamache – 1839
SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Lower Canada, 1839. Front of Folio 42, B.222.
Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Gamache – 1839. Translated from the French, the record states:
B.222. [baptism #222]
Marie
GamacheOn the twenty-sixth of December, one thousand eight hundred thirty-nine, we, the undersigned priest, have baptized Marie, born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was Etienne Martin, and the Godmother was Marie Gamache, who, as well as the father, did not know how to sign.
[signed] N. L. Amiot, Priest
The Godparents, Etienne Martin and Marie Gamache, were most likely relatives. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the records of their births.
The reason Marie was baptized in a different parish (and different county, for that matter) from Osithe was that their mother probably traveled back to her home village of L’Acadie to give birth to her first-born child Osithe in the house of her parents, but gave birth to her later children in her own home in Napierville.
This record may be found on the front of folio 42 (image 42 of 50 on Ancestry.com) of the records for St. Cyprien in Napierville for the year 1839.
Hi Steve,
Since you know French, do you know what Bas Canada stands for? In many of the early censuses that is what written for where where they were born. I have been seeing it for years, and now I am finally asking. Thanks, I knew you would know!
Hi Barbara,
I don’t know French, but I have books and genealogical words lists to help me! I do, however, know that “bas” means “low” or “lower”.
Bas Canada means Lower Canada, the name by which the area was known until 1840. After 1840, Lower Canada became Canada East in the Province of Canada, and after confederation in 1867 the area became the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada.
In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and Canada’s Parliament gradually added portions of Rupert’s Land to the province of Quebec, so that the area of Quebec today is about three times the size it was in 1867.
Steve