January 2004 -- Vol 5, No. 1

In this month's COUSINS:

(To return to the top, click on the decorative bars)

WHAT'S NEW

It snowed.  Not just a light dusting but enough snow that the large parking lot on the north side of the house has become more entertaining than television.  Even more entertaining is figuring out what caused some of the more erratic tire tracks that appear over night.  Though your mileage may vary, the snow in our front yard is up to my knees–which is about 15 inches.  I’d be out playing in it but I am dealing with a wrenched back.

I got the coolest piece of snail mail.

Some years ago, I got a small piece of my Pepin line puzzle from a helpful fellow named Dwight Hebert, whose Hebert line is the same Hébert line that my gr’gr’granddad Etienne’s 1st cousin, Etienne-Pascal Pepin, married into (Etienne-Pascal Pépin married Luce Hébert on 27 Aug 1821 at St-Michel d’Yamaska, Québec).   I was doing handsprings across my living room.  Then there were a couple of nasty computer crashes, the kind that overly-curious and under-knowledgeable 1st time computer owners experience–frequently.

Not so long ago, I got an email from a fellow named Henry Hebert.  <insert big grin HERE>  Henry is Dwight’s father.  I had sent Henry a Christmas card, and had also asked about the info that his son had sent me some years ago.  Dwight and Henry are both very nice men.  The answer to my request arrived in a large manila envelope, containing a photocopied sheet of 1802 and 1821 marriages, and 1821 burials, with info on my great great grandfather Etienne Pépin aka Michel-Etienne May, his siblings and half-siblings.  There are also some bits on other Pépin relatives, like Etienne’s uncle Louis and Louis’ second wife Agathe Roque, as well as a burial record for a Julie Pepin, daughter of a Jean Pépin and M. Anne Parenteau.  This info comes from a two volume set of parish records from St. Michel d’Yamaska, Québec, all of which are handwritten.

I’m going to work of transcribing them.  When I’m done they’ll be going some place on the web site, I just don’t know where yet.

And the Monster Data Base now numbers 22,526 individuals.

THIS MONTH'S FEATURE:  Recap of the parents and siblings of Marie-Louise GRENIER

Last month, we looked at Marie-Louise GRENIER (1Robert, 2Jean, 3Marie-Marguerite) and her husband Jean-Baptiste LAUZON.

This month we do a recap of Marie-Louise’s folks and siblings.

II-Joseph GROINIER dit Bisêtre (b 27 Jan 1709) married Marie-Marguerite PEPIN (b 9 may 1697, Québec City ; s 29 March 1745, Beauport, Québec) on 20 Jan 1732 in Beauport, Québec.  It was Joe’s 1st marriage.

Together Joe and Marie-Marguerite had 7 children 

1. Marie-Charlotte GROINIER, b 28 oct. 1732 ; m Charles BONHOMME 3 aug 1753 in Lorette
2. Marie-Joseph GROINIER, b 18 nov. 1734 ; m Louis-Charles JÉRÉMIE dit Dauville 2 nov. 1761 in Québec
3. Marie-Charlotte, b 29 nov. 1736
4. Anonyme, GROINIER, b 17 April 1739 ; s 17 April 1739
5. Marie-Louise GROINIER, b 16 March 1741 ; m Jean-Baptiste LAUZON 18 Feb 1760, in Terrebonne
6. Geneviève GROINIER, b 8 May 1743
7. Marie-Catherine GROINIER, b 24 March 1745

After Marie-Marguerite PEPIN died, Joseph GROINIER dit Bisêtre married Elisabeth BALAN dit Lacombe on 16 August 1746.

Together Joe and Elisabeth had 9 children:

1. Catherine GROINIER, b … ; s 13 may 1747
2. Joseph GROINIER, b 9 June 1747; s 4 Jan 1753
3. Bonaventure GROINIER, b 2 July 1748; s 3 July 1748
4. Marie-Elisabeth GROINIER, 2 July 1748 ; s 15 march 1749
5. Marie-Joseph-Elisabeth GROINIER, b 2 aug 1752
6. Ursule GROINIER, b 22 oct 1754
7. Anonyme GROINIER, b 30 June 1756; s 30 June 1756
8. Alexis GROINIER, b 10 Jan 1759
9. Marie-Elisabeth GROINIER, 10 Jan 1759; s 27 Feb. 1759

Elisabeth BALAN dit Lacombe, b 1720, d/o Pierre BALAN dit Lacombe and Elizabeth PEPIN dit Lachance, is a great granddaughter of Antoine PEPIN dit Lachance and Marie TESTU.

If you can add/subtract/change any of this, send it on via email. 

MAIL BAG

From the web site’s guestbook we have this from Lisa Sloot:

My Pepin line comes from Guillaume Pepin Tranchemontagne and Jeanne Mechin.
Pierre Pepin dit Laforce and Louise Lemire.
Jean Baptiste Pepin dit Laforce and Francoise Chicot (Sicot).
Marie Joseph Pepin Laforce and Joseph Aubertin.....
I dont have much info or dates and would love to hear from anyone who would like to share info with me

Her contact info can be found in the guestbook at http://www.fortlangley.ca/pepin/cousins.html; just click on the VIEW MY GUEST BOOK at the bottom of the page.  Lisa’s query is on page 1

Also from the guestbook, from Yvon Pepin:

My Pépin Genealogy is done. My ancestor is Robert Pépin and Marie Creste and goes to Louis, Louis-Michel, Louis, Charles, Olivier, Vital, Joseph, Napoléon and Yvon. I need information on the marriage of Joseph Pépin to Joséphine Roy in Waterville, Maine on June 19, 1900. Why they married in Waterville since they raised their family at St-Martin, Beauce. Who is Joséphine Roy? It's a mystery for me.

As with Lisa, Yvon’s contact info can be found in the guestbook at http://www.fortlangley.ca/pepin/cousins.html; just click on the VIEW MY GUEST BOOK at the bottom of the page. Yvon’s query is on page 2

TANGUAY SAYS WHAT . . . ?

There are several pages of COTÉs in Tome 3–17 to be precise; 137 through 154–so as I was playing connect-the-families, I fond myself with some stray COTÉs. 

Tome 3, p 152, shows three Jean-Baptiste COTÉs, who are each listed as the Seigneur of l'Ile-Verte:

1. VI--Jean-Baptiste COTÉ, son of V--Joseph-Claude, husband of Marie-Louise COTÉ (no date), father of Barthélemi born 1782 at l'Ile-Vert & baptized 10 Jan 1783, and Amable, baptized 24 Feb. 1784, and Anicet, baptized 30 may 1786

2. (no generation number) Jean-Baptiste COTÉ, (no father listed) husband of Madeleine-Elisabeth LEPAGE (no date), and Marie LEVASSEUR (16 Aug 1784), the latter of which is the widow of Pierre COTÉ

and finally

3. (no generation number) Jean-Baptiste COTÉ, (no father listed) husband of Scholastique LEVASSEUR (she is the widow of Jean GAUDIN), father of Benoit, baptized 16 may & buried 9 Dec 1786, at l'Ile-Vert and Zacharie, baptized 30 Dec 1788

None of the wives have fathers listed.

Bearing in mind I may have missed one, looking at the LEVASSEUR line, the only Levasseur girl who marries a Coté is Marie-Scholastique, daughter of IV—Pierre LEVASSEUR and wife Geneviève PHOCAS.   Marie-Scholastique is listed with two husbands Jean GAUDIN dit Cathalogne (26 Oct 1767) and Jean-Baptiste COTÉ

Looking up the marriage of IV--Jean GAUDIN and Marie-Scholastique, I am further intrigued.  Jean and Marie-Scholastique had 1 child: Marie-Joseph, baptism date unknown, who marries Joseph COTÉ, on 17 Jan 1785, in l’Ile-Verte.  That Jean and Marie-Scholastique appear to have had only one child *suggests* that another marriage –possibly to a Pierre COTÉ– could have been possible.

I feel there exists a very real possibility that Jean-Baptiste 1 through 3 are all the same guy, and that Marie-Louise COTÉ, Marie LEVASSEUR, and Marie-Scholastique LEVASSEUR are all the same woman.  At the very least, I believe that 2 & 3 are the same guy, and that Marie LEVASSEUR and Marie-Scholastique LEVASSEUR are the same woman.  HOWEVER, as I can find no proof for this hunch in the Tanguay, I can not in good conscience combine them . . .  for now.

Any one have these folks in their direct line?

 RAMBLINGS FROM THE EDITOR

The snow makes people do funny things . . . which is kinda cool right now.  I wrenched my back pretty good helping friends move and have been taking it REAL easy.  It has Snowed on the lower mainland of British Columbia, and it’s Colder than a Br—um, it’s really really cold.  And icy.  And because of my bunged up back, I’m taking no chances on doing a Real Number on it by going outdoors, nor do I wish to be someone’s entertainment du jour.

Just north of the house here is a large building with a parking lot behind it.  The majority of the parking lot is visible from the kitchen window, a fact many people miss.  This last summer, an eager young couple parked themselves as far from the road as possible–directly under the kitchen window–and proceeded to steam up the windows.  It was like the house didn’t exist . . . until Laurie turned on the kitchen light.  <chuckle>  Had I been able to find large enough paper, we would have then held up signs with number written on them, kinda like judges at the Olympics, but my guess is that they wouldn’t have seen them.  They were in too much of a hurry to untangle and leave.

It’s crazy.

Right now, yes, even as I type, there is at least a foot of snow blanketing the ice-slick blacktop, with a cat-toy-yarn-ball-tangle of tire tracks leading in and out of the parking lot.  The lot itself is not level.  It may have been when it was first cleared and paved, but it has settled over time, like any bit build over soggy land, being higher around the edges and lower in toward the building.

The building next door has been empty for a while, but recently appears to have been sold/leased to folks who gather there on Saturdays for most of the day.  Last Saturday and this, it’s been most amusing.

Some folk park where, under the snow and ice, the pavement is marked for such things.  Others created their own parking, backing up to the side of the house.  And still other creative folks, park where their cars stop sliding.  It the case of the latter, there is almost always *just* enough room to let a car more sensibly parked out or get a car through.  The sensible folks exercise obvious caution when backing out, often at their own expense.

The first rule of snow driving is that Mr. Brake is not your friend.

So, here are a half dozen men, most of whom are almost appropriately dressed for the weather, helping their fellows maneuver their cars in the parking lot; there’s a George Carlin phrase that’s MOST appropriate for the mess they made but having been raised properly, I can’t use That Phrase here.  Let’s just say I laughed until I cried as young men, and not-so-young men, pushed and pulled cars in every direction but the correct one, some times all on the same vehicle.  But, wait, it gets better.

Those folks I can excuse.  They are, after all, John Q. Citizen and I’ve been told it’s been five years since that last snow like this one, so I laugh and try to stay invisible.

However…

The local Fed Ex delivery guys hold their morning coffee-klatch in this very same parking lot.  They chat, drink coffee, munch on assorted pastries, and go over their daily routing, sometimes moving packages from one vehicle to another.  To be fair, most of them have had no trouble of any sort getting in and out of the parking lot, except for one young buck.

See, there were 5 Fed Ex delivery vehicles clustered in the parking lot, under the kitchen window.  They did their hot drinks, chunked a couple of snow balls, and did a quick run down on the clipboards, while the youngest looking one of the bunch spent about 25 minutes getting himself so thoroughly stuck that a couple drivers found chains and applied them, while the rest gave him those half-grin head-shakes that indicate wry amusement as they shifted packages between a van and a larger truck.  It is quite likely that the young buck didn’t have a driver’s license the last time it snowed like this here.  Either that or he grew up in a warmer climate.

Why do I say this . . . ?

First of all, his associates were offering advice, shouting and gesturing to be heard over the noise of the wet whirring rasp of tires as he tried to dig to bedrock through compound-snow-and-ice-covered asphalt with mere mortal rubber.  He stoically ignored them.

Then once he got stuck to the point the back end remained stationary regardless of whether he spun the tires in forward or reverse, a couple of the other drivers fetched tire chains from somewhere.  Yong Buck cheerfully remained in his van.  Then, when by his reckoning, enough time had elapsed for the chains to be applied, he fired his van up and hammered the gas.  It is fortunate that he had shut the van off; starting it gave the fellows applying the tire chains time to jump clear.  Unfortunately, one of the fellows jumped the wrong way and was completely covered with tire-chain-shaved ice. 

I started to breathe again when Frosty the Fed Ex Man stepped/slid back into view, spitting shaved ice and knuckling it out of his eyes.  He then scooped up a mid-stride handful of snow, packed a softball-sized snowball, and sauntered up to the young buck’s driver’s widow, wearing a truly evil grin.  Seconds later, he danced away from the van, minus the snowball, slipping and sliding and laughing, as the van lurched forward.  A tire had found momentary traction on the tire chain that broken because it had presumably not been completely fastened.

Everyone cheered.

The van stopped.

A broken tire chain was plucked from the snow and laid to rest in its place of unseen origin.

In the end, it took the concerted efforts of all the Fed Ex drivers, plus another pair of tire chains, to get Young Buck out of the parking lot, and he drove away wearing a look of complete and utter satisfaction.  I still wonder how the rest of Young Buck’s work week went.

I took a couple pictures of the front yard last night and a few more of the mountains that are visible over the parking lot.  The weather report says it’s going to warm and rain soon, but for now, I’m staying indoors, sipping hot cocoa, and enjoying the show.

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

     If you are reading this online because you no longer receive it via email, and you would like to receive via email again, drop me an email.

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     If you have family you want to share this with but they don't have a computer, please feel free to print it out and share it with them.  If you have family with a computer and/or Internet access who you think might be interested in the newsletter, drop'em an e-mail and let'em know about it; feel free to pass along my e-mail address.

     Back issues of COUSINS can be found at:
http://www.fortlangley.ca/pepin/cousins.html

     This URL will take you to the COUSINS Front Desk.  Or, you can click on any of the red lions that appear on the Pepin pages and Site Directory.

      For a hard copy of the newsletter, send an email to lisa@fortlangley.ca, and if for any reason you wish to change the way you receive the newsletter -- or if you no longer wish to receive COUSINS -- drop me an e-mail at lisa@fortlangley.ca and tell me.  If you just wanted to chat, drop me an email.

COUSINS
comes out once a month -- more or less

This month's was finished
4 January 2004, 9:20 P.M. PDST