Steve's Genealogy Blog

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.

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
Gamache

On 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.