Why Did They Move?

Lodoisca was born in St. Vallier, Quebec, Canada in 1864. According to the Bristol, Rhode Island 1910 census Lodoisca immigrated to the United States in 1875. So she was about 11 years old when she immigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings. Here is a picture of the 1880 US Federal Census for Warren, Bristol, Rhode Island that has the Dallaire family on it. Justinien is going by "Laurent" and Lodoisca is listed as "Josephine" on the census.

So why did they leave Canada? And why did they move to Warren, Rhode Island of all places?

The answer is that they came to United States because there was work here. Many people back in Canada had large families so all of the family farms had been divided up so many times for the sons of the families that there was not much land left to support anyone. People from the United States came to Quebec and advertised the work that was available in the United States, specifically the textile mills in New England. They needed work so they could enjoy a better life and they came to little old Rhode Island to find it. I'm glad they did and I'm grateful for all that they sacrificed for their families and for the generations that would come after them that they may or may not have even thought about at the time. It must have been difficult to leave a place that was so familiar and go somewhere they had never been before. I owe them a lot.

Here is a link to a site that talks about French immigration to the United States from 1840 to 1950. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/readings/leaving.htm