Steve's Genealogy Blog

The first child born to Franí§ois Gamache and Marguerite Duteau was born on 12 May 1854 in Napierville and was named Franí§ois Céade Gamache. His birth and baptism was recorded as entry B.59.

The Birth and Baptism of Franí§ois Céade Gamache – 1854

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Franí§ois Céade Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada East, Province of Canada, 1854. Back of Folio 17, B.59.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptism of Franí§ois Céade Gamache – 1854. Translated from the French, the record states:

B.59 [baptism 59]
Franí§ois
Céade
Gamache

On the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred fifty-four, by us, the undersigned priest, was baptized Franí§ois Céade, born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and of Marguerite Duteau of this parish. The Godfather was Franí§ois Fradette, and the Godmother was Anastasie Mailloux, who, as well as the father, did not know how to sign.

[signed] Fr. Morrison, Priest

This image can be found as image 18 of 41 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 in Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1854. The record is on the back of folio 17.

The Godmother of the child was Anastasie Mailloux. From the Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache and Marguerite Duteau, I learned that Marguerite’s mother was Anastasia Mailloux. Since women in Québec kept their maiden names, the Godmother of Franí§ois Céade Gamache may have been his grandmother.

The last child of Franí§ois Gamache and Osithe Martin was born in 1847. In 1852, Franí§ois Gamache married Marguerite Duteau. The marriage was recorded as entry M.15 in the records of the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville.

The Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache and Marguerite Duteau – 1852

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache & Marguerite Duteau, Parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville Co., Lower Canada, Province of Canada, 1852. Back of Folio 23, M.15.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache and Marguerite Duteau – 1852. Translated from the French, the record states:

M.15 [Marriage #15]
Franí§ois Gamache
and
Marguerite Duteau

On the seventh of September, one thousand eight hundred fifty-two, after the publication of three banns of marriage made at the homilies of our parish masses for three consecutive Sundays, between Franí§ois Gamache, farmer of this parish, of legal age, widower of Ausite Martin, of the first part, and Marguerite Duteau, daughter, under the legal age, of Jean Duteau, laborer, and Anastasia Mailloux of this parish of the second part; not finding any impediment to said marriage and with the notice of the parents of the underage party, we, the undersigned priest have received their mutual consent of marriage and have given them the nuptial benediction in the presence of Jean Duteau, father of the bride, Joseph Roy, friend of the bride, and the undersigned David Leblanc, and many other people who, as well as the groom, do not know how to sign.

[signed] David-Leblanc
[signed] DA Marechal priest

This record can be found as image 23 of 37 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 in Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1852 on Ancestry.com. The record is number M.51 on the back of folio 23.

Because the last child of Franí§ois Gamache and Osithe Martin was born in 1847, and Franí§ois married Marguerite Duteau in 1852, Osithe Martin must have died between 1847 and 1852. I have not yet found Osithe’s death and burial record.

I’ve found the records of seven children born to Franí§ois Gamache and Osithe Martin. Tracing the records back further in time, I found the marriage record for the couple in the records of the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville, Napierville Co., Lower Canada, Province of Canada in 1837.

The Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache and Osythe Martin – 1837

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache & Osythe Martin, Parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville Co., Lower Canada, Province of Canada, 1837. Back of Folio 38, M.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Marriage Record of Franí§ois Gamache and Osythe Martin – 1837. Translated from the French, the record states:

M[arriage]
Franí§ois
Gamache
and
Osythe
Martin

On the twenty-sixth of September, one thousand eight hundred thirty-seven, after the publication of three banns of marriage made at the homilies of our parish masses, between Franí§ois Gamache, laborer of legal age, son of Franí§ois Gamache and Marguerite Leblanc, the father and mother, of this parish, of the first part, and Osythe Martin of this parish, of legal age, daughter of Nicolas Martin and the deceased Marie Giroux, the father and mother, also of this parish of the second part; not finding any impediment to said marriage, we, the undersigned priest of this parish, ”’ have received their mutual consent of marriage and have given them the nuptial benediction in the presence of Daniel Firsterer and Magloire Lemmelin, witnesses of the groom, and Etienne Bonnel and Joseph Trahan, witnesses of the bride, who have signed with us, the others of the groom are not able to sign.

D[aniel] Finsterer Fran cois magloir lemlain
Etienne Bonnelle
Ousite Martin Nicolas Martin
NL Amiot, Priest

”’the Consent
of the parents
of the underage parties
NLA.priest.

The priest left out a phrase in the marriage record, which he added in the margin to the left of the record. The place where the phrase was inserted in the text is marked by three strokes ”’.

Oddly enough, the text states that the bride and groom were of legal age, but the annotation in the left margin states that they had the consent of the parents of the underage parties. Perhaps I haven’t translated this correctly.

The spelling of the names in the text often differs from the spelling of the same names in the signatures at the bottom of the record. This record presents two new spellings of the bride’s given name, Osithe, where it is spelled Osythe in the text and Ousite in the signature.

One of the witnesses is named Magloire Lemmelin in the text and Francois Magloir Lemlain in the signature section. In the signature, the witness left a distinct space in his first name and failed to capitalize his middle and last names.

This record can be found on Ancestry.com on image 41 of 64 in the records for Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1837. The record appears on the back of folio 38.

On 21 May 1847, the seventh child of Franí§ois Gamache and Osite Martin, Adeline Gamache, was born. Her birth and baptism was recorded as entry B97 in the registers of the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Adeline Gamache – 1847

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Adeline Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada East, Province of Canada, 1847. Front of Folio 15, B.97.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Adeline Gamache – 1847. Translated from the French, the record states:

B97 [baptism 97]
Adeline
Gamache

On the twenty-second of May, one thousand eight hundred forty-seven, by us, the undersigned priest, was baptized Adeline, born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was Pierre Palin, and the Godmother was Catherine Martin, who did not know how to sign.

[signed] A. Morin, Priest

This record can be found as image 14 of 74 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 in the records for Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1847. The record appears on the front of folio 15.

Usually, the front of a folio matches the image number, so that image 14 should be the front of folio 14. This relationship does not always hold true, and I’ve found that sometimes an image is reproduced twice, or extra pages are inserted into the folio set. I have not previously seen a situation where the image number is lower than the folio number, however. I checked out the situation here, and I found that the back of folio 2 and the front of folio 3 are missing from this set. I’m just grateful that the record for Adeline was not on the missing pages . 

Franí§ois Gamache and his wife, Osite Martin, were having children with quite some regularity. Their seven children, up to this point, were born in 1838, 1839, 1841, 1843, 1845, 1846, and 1847. You have to wonder how they kept up with all these children!

Marie Domitille Gamache was born on 07 Jun 1846 and died on 10 Jun 1846, when she was just a few days old. Her death and burial are recorded as entry S45, a couple of entries below her birth and baptismal record.

The Death and Burial Record of Marie Domitille Gamache -1846

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Death and Burial Record of Marie Domitille Gamache, Parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville Co., Lower Canada, 1846. Back of Folio 18, S.45.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Death and Burial Record of Marie Domitille Gamache -1846. Translated from the French, the record states:

S45 [Burial #45]
M. Domitille
Gamache

On the tenth of June, one thousand eight hundred forty-six, by us, the undersigned priest, was baptized buried Marie, who died yesterday at the age of four days, the daughter of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer of this parish, and Osite Martin. Witnesses were Isaac __ Pinsonneault and Elie Hébert who did not know how to sign
One word stuck out __

[signed] A Morin, Priest

This record can be found as image 19 of 46 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 in Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1846 on Ancestry.com. The record is found on the back of folio 18 . 

The burial record states that Marie Domitille was four days old, so the priest apparently counted both the day she was born and the day she died when he calculated this number.

In the death and burial record, the priest inadvertently wrote baptized instead of buried. He struck out the word baptized and indicated at the end of the record that one word was stuck out.

Marie Domitille Gamache was born to Franí§ois Gamache and Osite Martin on 07 Jun 1846. her birth and baptism are recorded as entry B.108 in the register of the parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Domitille Gamache -1846

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Domitille Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada East, Province of Canada, 1846. Back of Folio 18, B.108.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Domitille Gamache -1846. Translated from the French, the record states:

B.108 [baptism 108]
M. Domitille
Gamache

On the seventh of June, one thousand eight hundred forty-six, by us, the undersigned priest, was baptized Marie Domitille, born today of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was Jacob Pinsonneault, and the Godmother was Domitille Bonin, who did not know how to sign.

[signed] A. Morin, Priest

This record can be found as image 19 of 46 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967, for Napierville St-Cyprien in 1846. The record is located on the back of folio 18 . 

This record was apparently signed by the same priest, A. Morin, who signed many of the other records for the Gamache children. Oddly enough, the way the priest phrased the document was a bit different from the way he phrased earlier documents, and even his handwriting looks different on this document from the way it looked previously.

Perhaps someone else prepared this entry. Perhaps Father Morin was just getting older.

Franí§ois Gamache and Osite Martin gave birth to their second son, David, on 29 Mar 1845. His birth and baptism is recorded as entry B.51 in the records for St. Cyprien in Napierville.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of David Gamache – 1845

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of David Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada East, Province of Canada, 1845. Front of Folio 9, B.51.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of David Gamache – 1845. Translated from the French, the record states:

B.51. [baptism 51]
David
Gamache

On the thirtieth of March, one thousand eight hundred forty-five, I, the undersigned priest, have baptized David, born yesterday of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was David Dropin dit Leblanc, and the Godmother was Olive Fortin, who did not know how to sign.

[signed] A. Morin, Priest

This record may be found in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 as image 9 of 31 on Ancestry.com. The record is designated as entry B.51 on the front of folio 9 in Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1845 . 

This is the first record in which I’ve seen a name that has a unique French-Canadian flair: a dit name.

Briefly, a dit name, or dite name for women, is an alternate name. Literally, dit means called. Thus, David Dropin dit Leblanc is David Dropin called Leblanc. The dit name could have been adopted for a number of reasons:

• The individual wanted to distinguish himself from other family members,
• The individual wanted to specify his origin in France,
• The individual wanted to identify himself with the place where he relocated,
• The individual wanted to identify himself with a family that adopted him.

The exact reason someone assumed a dit name may never be known. To make matters more confusing for genealogists, a dit name wasn’t always used consistently, and it may not have been used by successive generations.

I had previously shown the death record of Marie Gamache. On the very same day that Franí§ois Gamache and Osite Martin buried their daughter Marie, their son Franí§ois was born and baptized. His record is listed as number B.95 for the year 1843 in the parish of St. Cyprien.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Franí§ois Gamache – 1843

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Franí§ois Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada East, Province of Canada, 1843. Back of Folio 17, B.95.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Franí§ois Gamache – 1843. Translated from the French, the record states:

B.95. [baptism 95]
Franí§ois
Gamache

On the twenty-fourth of May, one thousand eight hundred forty-three, I, the undersigned priest, have baptized Franí§ois, born today of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was Edouard Cyre, the undersigned, and the Godmother was Désanges Martin, who did not know how to sign.

[signed] Edouard Cyre, A. Morin, Priest

 

The Death and Burial Record of Marie Gamache immediately follows the Birth and Baptismal Record for Franí§ois Gamache in the record book.

This record can be found as image 25 of 59 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 for Napierville St-Cyprien for the year 1843. The record is located on the back of folio 17 as record number B.95.

Marie Celine Gamache was born in the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville in 1841. Her birth and baptismal record is listed as record B.133 in the parish records for the year 1841.

The Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Celine Gamache – 1841

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Celine Gamache, St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville County, Canada, East 1841. Back of Folio 39, B.163.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Birth and Baptismal Record of Marie Celine Gamache – 1841. Translated from the French, the record states:

B.163. [baptism 163]
Marie
Celine
Gamache….

On the fifteenth of August, one thousand eight hundred forty-one, we, the undersigned priest, have baptized Marie Celine, born today of the legitimate marriage of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer, and Osite Martin of this parish. The Godfather was Aubin Gamache, and the Godmother was Elisabeth Martin, who, as well as the father, did not know how to sign.

[signed] N. L. Amiot, Priest

This record can be found in Ancestry.com’s Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 as image 40 of 62 for Napierville  St-Cyprien in the year 1841. The record is number B.163 located on the back of folio 39.

By the time Marie Celine was born, the Act of Union (1840) had been proclaimed. The area of Lower Canada became Canada East and the area of Upper Canada became Canada West, both in the Province of Canada.

Marie Gamache, born on 25 Dec 1839, died on 22 May 1843. Her death and burial are recorded as entry S.33 in the registers of the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville, Lower Canada.

The Death and Burial Record of Marie Gamache – 1843

SOURCE: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montréal, Québec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin. Death and Burial Record of Marie Gamache, Parish of St. Cyprien, Napierville, Napierville Co., Lower Canada, 1843. Back of Folio 18, S.33.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Death and Burial Record of Marie Gamache – 1843. Translated from the French, the record states:

S.33 [Burial #33]
Marie
Gamache

On the twenty-fourth of May, one thousand eight hundred forty-three, I, the undersigned priest, have buried Marie, who died the day before yesterday at the age of three years and six months, the daughter of Franí§ois Gamache, farmer of this parish, and Osite Martin – Witnesses were Pierre Lyret and Jean Baptiste Remillard, who did not know how to sign.

[signed] A Morin, Priest

In the short time I’ve been looking at these records from the Drouin collection, I’ve noticed two things:

1. The families tended to move from parish to parish and county to county quite a bit. Usually, most of the children would be born in the same parish, but when the children were grown, they moved to a different parish. The children, did not, however, move far from their birthplaces. They usually just moved to a nearby parish or nearby county.
2. Several given names were very common. Marie and Joseph, of course are common honorific names, and many children given these names at baptism were also given a second name, and they used their second name as a given name throughout their lives.

This record may be found on the back of folio 18 as record number S.33 in the records of the parish of St. Cyprien in Napierville for the year 1843. The record may also be found as image 25 of 59 in the Québec Vital Records (Drouin Collection) on Ancestry.com in the records for 1843 in Napierville St-Cyprien.