My grandfather Jean Claude Hébert was just 51 when he passed away forty one years ago today. Weaken by TB which he contracted while fighting in the trenches in WWII, he suffered a number of heart attacks before he finally succumbed to heart disease on February 5, 1971. Claude was born in 1919 in Brownsburg Quebec, the second of seventeen children born to Emile Hébert and Marie-Rose Drouin. Two sisters died at birth but the remaining 15 all grew up to have families of their own- my mother has 52 first cousins on the Hébert side alone!
Keeping track of such a large family must have had its challenges but if there's one thing the Héberts were good at, it was family. In the 1930's, Emil bought land on Lac Louisa in the Laurentian Mountains and built a large log cabin that became the camp where the family gathered as often as possible. As the siblings grew up and married, each got to have the camp for a week in the summer but on Sundays, everyone was welcome. As families grew even larger and more dispersed the 'shares' were sold off one by one until the camp is now owned only by one of the siblings, the youngest brother. However the family as a whole is still very close and to this day there's at family reunion every summer, and every five years a 'big" reunion is held, including other Hébert descendants of Emile's siblings.
To keep the multiple generations abreast of each other, there's even a numbering system that goes back 4 generations from mine, and books listing all the family members are updated every few years. My number as the first child (1) of the second child, my mom (2), of the second child, my grandpa Claude(2) of the third child Emile,(3) of Augustin Hébert and Rose-Anna Meyer . Numbers are listed in descending order so my number is 3.2.2.1. I also have 'no de filiation' - I am the 129th descendent of Augustin and Rose-Anna and I have a certificate to prove it!
Compiling this side of the family won't be much of a challenge for me - my great uncle Yvon Hébert has already traced the families back ten generations, to the 1600's in what was then called New France! That is one of the many blessing of being part of a large French Canadian family- the Catholics sure know how to keep good records!
Hi Callie,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through Cold Antler's. It's funny because I was in the Brownsburg-Lachute area for most of September 2011 because my son and his family moved there for job reasons. You have an interesting family history; I guess if we all made researches, we would surely find some secrets too in our family! Your post made me regret for not asking questions before almost everyone is gone that could have told me about the stories...
When I go back there this year, maybe I'll go and visit your ancestors at the cemetery...
Do you speak French?
Very little, sadly. Because my mom spent most of her earlier years with the English speaking side of her family, she never became fluent and once she married my dad and moved to Ontario she never spoke it at all. I have tried to learn more as an adult but with little success. I can read French and understand spoken when I concentrate but can barely converse with my relatives. Thankfully they are fluently bilingual.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because you are the contrary of me. For me, it's my mother that is Irish, raised in Northern Ontario (Tri-Town area) that married a French Canadian raised too in Ontario (Field). They met in Rouyn-Noranda and married and lived there all their life. My mother spoke to us in English and my father in French and we went to French schools. So, I can read and write in English (but I imagine that I have faults) but as I don't speak very often, I have a hard time to have a conversation with people because I search for my words. My mother died in the seventies and with her not there anymore, we didn't visit her side of the family as much. It's the mothers that keep family ties alive, mostly, I think.
DeleteMon français écrit est aussi très pauvre , mais j'essaie, avec un peu d'aide de traducteurs en ligne. Votre blog est beau! Je vais essayer de le lire, mais lentement! It will be good practice for me. Thank you for your kind offer to visit the cemetery on my behalf. I'm still searching for the resting place of many of my family. Êtes vous habitez près de Lachute?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words for my blog. I find it's not easy to work with Blogger or maybe I'm not a computer pro! It's more like a diary for me, so maybe it's not interesting for everybody to read and that is OK with me. I'm always amazed to see English speaking persons comment on my blog and it doesn't matter if they do it in English. I imagine that they find me because I comment sometimes on Jenna's blog and they must be surprised when they find that it is in French. Probably, I could of made it bilingual, I thought of it, but it would have been a lot of trouble. And I don't want to spend that much time on the computer. I find that I spend a lot of time already. I live in Montbeillard (Rouyn-Noranda area). I is a small rural community. So, I live 8 hours from Lachute. It is a day's drive! I don't know when I'll go back there, not before summer, I think. I'll contact you before I go so that, if you wish, I can do some research for you. I looked on Google map where Lac Louisa is and it is in the same area where my son lives (Carlin) near Brownsburg. Special!
Delete52 first cousins blows my mind! Isn't it great the Uncle did all that research?! Love the 2005 reunion photo.
ReplyDelete- Brenda