Odilon Romeo Proulx

Sorry for not posting much! This is a picture I recently acquired of my great-great-grandfather, Odilon Romeo Proulx. He was a stone mason in Rhode Island and doesn't he just look like the most dashing, up-standing man you ever did see? I like this picture because I think it shows a lot about who he was even though I never met him. I can see in his eyes that he had strong character and wanted to do the best he could to support his family. 

Here is a picture of him with his wife, Elise Aubin, and his three daughters, Yvonne on the left, Irene on the right, and Dorothy in the middle. I love his hat and bow tie in this picture. A family member told me that he would wear that hat all the time. He is another great person in my ancestry that I admire. 

He passed away in about 1940 from an abscess on his lung. Dorothy was only ten years old. I'm sure he was greatly missed.  

Weddings!

Here are the wedding photos for some of Lodoisca's children!

Emma Aubin and Simeon Contois were married on 23 November 1908 at St. Jean-Baptiste church in Warren, Rhode Island.

Mediana Aubin and Ovide Boucher were married 10 May 1911 at St. Jean-Baptiste church in Warren, Rhode Island.

Wilfred Aubin and Mary Costa were married 19 August 1922 at St. Jean-Baptiste church in Warren, Rhode Island.

Don't they all just look so happy to be married? Well, maybe not. But I'm sure they were happy even though the picture doesn't show it! I really love Mary Costa's flowers and her hat. She looks really classy. 

Happy Belated Anniversary to the Bentos!

February 10th was the wedding anniversary of my Gr-Grandma Yvonne Proulx and my Gr-Grandpa Manuel Bento. Yvonne is the Granddaughter of Lodoisca. Yvonne's mother is Elise Aubin and her father is Odilon Romeo Proulx. Here is a picture of Elise with Yvonne on the left and her other daughter Irene on the right.

Yvonne and Manuel were married in 1945 in Warren, Bristol, Rhode Island. There was a snow storm the day before and Yvonne lived on a dead-end street right next to the church. Yvonne's uncle Alonzo Rogers carried her from the house to the church because it was not even possible to drive that short distance!

Here is their wedding picture. I just love it. They look so happy. 

Podcast

This week I made a podcast for a class assignment and posted it to my blog. I recorded myself talking about what my Auntie Dot told me about my 3rd great grandmother Lodoisca. Lodoisca was for sure an active member of her community and her family. She served others every day and it seems like she went out of her way to make other peoples' lives easier. In the podcast I talked about her baking pies and bread and sewing clothes and hats for other people. She definitely did not have to do those things and I think she did them because she really cared about the people in her life. It also shows how close-knit her community was. From searching censuses I have found many of Lodoisca's family members living near her. Most of her children got married but only moved down the street from her. I like the idea of a close-knit small town where people talk to each other as they pass each other on the street and where people help each other when someone is sick or in need of anything. Lodoisca is definitely a great example to me.

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

The Dallaire House

Above is a picture of the house built by Lodoisca's father, Justinien Laurent Dallaire. Lodoisca's mother's name was Rosalie Blouin and she is the woman in the window on the left second story. This house is at the top of Metacom Ave. and Kickemuit Road in Warren, Rhode Island. There are four apartments in this house. One apartment was for Justinien Dallaire and his family. One was occupied by Malvina Dallaire and Basile Proulx (Lodoisca's sister and her husband). The third apartment was for Justinien's brother Joseph and his wife Eloise Heneault. Not sure who could have been in the other apartment but from this picture it looks like it was not occupied. We believe the house was built by 1880 because the 1910 census says Lodoisca immigrated in 1875 and the 1880 census has Justinien and his family living in Rhode Island. 

As for the rest of the people in the picture, the short man on the top step of the front stairs is Cleophas Aubin and the one to his right is Justinien Dallaire. The other men in the picture are Justinien's sons and the women are their wives. The younger people in the photo are the grandchildren and great-grantchildren. 

Here is a picture of what the house looks like today...

Pretty cool, huh? 

Lodoisca's House!

Here is a picture of Lodoisca's house that she had built after her husband, Cleophas, died in 1910. The house was built in 1916. What my Great Aunt Dorothy Proulx told me about the family and this house is really cool. I can't say it any better than my Auntie Dot who actually knew most of these people so I will share with you the e-mail she sent me. 

E-mail from Dorothy Proulx 22 JAN 2011

"She had the house built. There were carpenters in the Dallaire Family. No doubt her brothers must have helped out. Her daughter Emma's husband was a carpenter. He was the one who bought all the material, as women in our small town were not acknowledged in business. All her receipts are made out to her son-in-law.

It is a cottage with 3 rooms on the first floor, a large kitchen with a pantry for dishes and pots and pans.  From the kitchen, there was one door to enter the dining room, and one other door for the living room, which was at the front of the house. The bathroom was just a small room off the kitchen with a toilet and a tub. The house had central heat (steam with radiators). On the other wall opposite the kitchen was the entrance to the 3 upstairs bedrooms. Next to the stairs was a door to go into the cellar (Coal was used to heat the house.)

There was one bedroom for Lodoisca & Cleophas, one for the boys and one for the girls. There was a front porch running the length of the house.

At the rear of the house was a large barn for horses. Lodoisca had helped her 3 oldest sons to start a business, mostly moving furniture and even a house or two, with the help of several horses and wagons. Arthur was the son who kept the business going until he was drafted into the army during WWII. By then, he had trucks instead of horses. I remember the barn with one horse. My cousin and I would sit up in the wagons and pretend we were in the Wild West! That was way back in around 1936 to 1939.

Britt, you may not know it, but you have passed that house at least a few times passing through Warren.

My cousin's daughter lives there now with her family. She is a gr-granddaughter of Lodoisca & Cleophas."

Look at all that history! The house had central heat and coal was used to heat the house, one room for the boys and one room for the girls, starting their own business, getting drafted during WWII! I love reading about those who came before us and what they experienced. And all this information that I gained from just asking my Auntie Dot about the house can lead me to more records! I can now search for Arthur's WWII Draft Registration card. Also, my aunt has sent me lots of legal documents concerning the house. And the fact that the house is still in the family is so cool! I could potentially go visit and meet some distant relatives and see what they remember about our ancestors and see inside the house! I love the stories that I can learn from talking to my living relatives about their pasts and about our relatives that have passed on that they knew. I especially love the story my Auntie Dot wrote in the above e-mail about sitting on the wagons and pretending she was in the Wild West! I can just picture her having so much fun and laughing really hard. Love you Auntie Dot! :) 

So my Aunt sent me a whole lot of documents. I'm going to post here the "IOU" to Joseph W. Martin who lent Lodoisca money to build the house. 

It was made on 21 December 1916. As my Auntie told me on the next document, "when Martin died, the bank became the holder of Lodoisca's mortgage." I think Joseph Martin was a pretty generous guy and I think it's really cool that he Loaned money to my gr-gr-great grandmother Lodoisca so she could build the house she wanted and needed for her and her children. He may not have even realized that he'd be affecting generations!