Arteau, Guerin, LaPierre, Paradis
This information is taken from and e-mail from Bev. I am posting this information in case anyone has additional information.
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Here is the info from St Joseph du Corbeau of Coopersville on children of Narcisse Guerin & Celeste Arteau:
1.Celeste, born 27, bapt. 29 Sep 1850, Godparents: Francois
Guerin & Henriette Lapierre
2.Narcisse, born 27, bapt. 29 Sep 1850, Godparents: Jean
Baptiste Bonenfant & Marie Gagnier
Now this tells us two things - the first is that obviously they had twins. But the 2nd is that this is the first birth after marriage and her parents are not one of the sets of Godparents. Francois & Henriette are Narcisse’s parents and if Jacques & Marguerite had been in the area and alive - they would also have been Godparents.
There are no other children born to Narcisse & Celeste at Coopersville, {where did they go?} nor are there any Arteau/Harteau/etc. entries. But there is a death entry as follows:
Narcisse Guerin, ae 3 mois, died 17, buried 18 Dec 1850 at
Perisseville
S/o Narcisse Guerin & Celeste Arteau
Witnesses: Joseph Pratte & Pierre Dumoulin
So back to St Mary of Champlain parish book:
Alexandre Harteau/Carteau (Protestant) & Virginie Phaneuf
All other info is the same as in Pontbriand - apparently the transcriber for this volume had difficulty reading the original record.
So that also tells us that unless the family became Catholic, many of the records won’t be found in these volumes. But usually, once someone married into a devout Catholic family, the children were baptized in the faith, so we won’t give up on these yet......okay?
Then there are these 2 birth entries for Alexandre and Virginie:
Clara Harto, born 15 Jul 1878, at Perry Mills, bapt. 22 Jan
1882 - Godparents: Henri Chenevert & Virginia Paradis
Marie Harto, born 13 Jul 1880, bapt. 22 Jan 1882 - Godparents:
Francis Paradis & Marie Ouellet.
So it looks like they either weren’t terribly devout, or living so remote, the missionaries might not have gotten to their area often.
I checked for the Guerins in Champlain, but nothing there. But there was this burial entry:
Louise Hartaux, spouse of Joseph Lafontaine, buried 24 Jan 1874, age 81 years.
Now I’ll look at the other names your father mentioned from gravestones. Jean Baptiste Monette and w/Sophie Carto...... There is a JB, but he married in 1888 to Celina Patrie. There are nearly 100 Monette entries and the only other John/Jean had a wife Adelaide Dominy/Dominic. No other men had wives with names that could have been a version of Sophie Carto. I also looked at all the Godparents and none were possibles.
Also mentioned as being in the cemetery is Margaret Carto (1801-1878) and James Carto (1820-1880). Might the James be a son of Margaret? Or do you suspect she was that much older? Or there could be exaggerations of ages one way or another - it often happened. Another thing that was not uncommon was that if the stonemason’s cutter slipped, he often simply finished whatever number with some odd shapes to it.
Also mentioned was the lead name of Rose Henry. Did the dates indicate that she might have been mother or grandmother of some of the others listed on the stone? There is only one Henry burial in this reference:
Emile, s/o Francis Henry & Melina Lafontaine, age 12 years, buried 1 Jun 1890.
No Henry births at all in St Mary’s. One marriage:
Cordelia Henry & Wilfred Robert, 26 Dec 1889, witnesses:
Ignatius Robert & Ludger Lafontaine. They were also Godparents to a child of Ludger Lafontaine & Eliza Robert in 1892 and again for a child of Peter Adolphe Lafontaine & Dulcina Robert in 1890.
Seems like these same names show up over and over in conjunction with one another.
As to the fire in Champlain’s town hall - sadly, that has happened in many towns. The upside is that the early church records were not ever recorded or stored there. A copy was always sent to the Diocesan headquarters - and for that area and time, there are several possibilities - St Joseph’s in Burlington, Ogdensburgh, but most likely - Chambly PQ.
- so here goes what Father Tanguay had to say:
Artaut = De la Tour, Latour or St Pierre, Hertaut, Harteau,
Hertaux
Only one Latour - 1862 to Martin & Julie Peltier
One one St Pierre couple with a whole bunch of kids baptized, but none of the Godparents’ names were familiar.
I scanned all through Robert, Fontaine and Lafontaine to see if any Artaut/etc. showed as Godparents, but came up empty