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You said:
>I can e-mail you a picture of my G-Mother. If i had your e-mail address.
When you read a message, it says posted by and the name. If you click on it you can see the email addrees of the poster.
>Who are your parents and are they still living?
My parents were Joseph Octave Lefebvre and Carmela Beaudet who got married in Montreal in the summer of 1936. Mom died in 1979 after an operation to attempt to clear some atherosclerosis to her carotides. Dad died in 1984 after a long bout with some type of multiple sclerosis that started in 1952. I have gathered quite a bit of info on my ancestors but it is a never ending hobby when one wants all the possible information on them such as birthdate, who the god parents were and who they were, where they lived, what they did, why they did what they did, what they went through, their health and money problems and what happened in their time. Of course this leads to History of the kind we were not taught much at school...
The first important Quebec migration occured around the end of 1837 when Quebec patriots revolted against the English power for similar reasons that led to the American independence. That revolt was squashed by the British army and the people behind it had to go over the US border as they were wanted and would have been hanged or deported. Most went to Northern Vermont and New York states. While many Americans, close to the Quebec border, were sympathetic to their cause, the American government opted for neutrality as it is stated in the original Constitution. There are other reasons I am not all too familiar with such as a certain balance of power between the North and the South and the fact the US economy was doing bad with many banks that had gone bankrupt. The president Van Buren was more concerned about these matters than about some political problems occuring up North... Some of those patriots came back but others had somewhat established themselves in the USA such as doctor Robert Nelson who had proclaimed the independance of Lower Canada with a bunch of ill trained and nearly unarmed farmers who had flown to the US and had tried to get back to their home. They had to run back across the border.
The second wave occurred during the civil war as I mentioned in my previous message.
Two factors contributed to the continuance of the massive Quebec migration up to 1910: the railroad and the poor economic conditions in Quebec. The railroad (it really started in the 1860's) made it easier to travel and there were lots of jobs in the U.S. Northern states. While Montreal and Quebec city were rather thriving, the rural population of Quebec was growing much too fast for these two cities to offer enough jobs for those young people. It was not rare to see families of 10 to 20 children in those days. My Lefebvre grandfather had 13 brothers and sisters born between 1856 and 1874 and it was rather common. My parents, born in Montreal are both from families with 9 surviving brothers and sisters.
While the Boston industrial belt attracted many Quebecers, I know Michigan also attracted quite a few with entire little cities with French speaking schools and Catholic schurches. A book, in French, has been written on this specific subject but have yet to find it in the bookstore. I also recently learned my Lefebvre grandfather's father in law (Octave Baptiste Bourgon) used to go to lumber camps situated in Michigan by train for the Winter season while having a farm in St-Télesphore, Quebec. This was happening in the 1870s, 80s. I recently learned this from my dad's 97 year old cousin who is still very lucid and showed me my GGP's homes from the Lefebvre and Bourgon sides. I'm still extracting information from him that proves invaluable as there are not many remaining who can remember such things...
Sorry for my English as it still is a second language for me.
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Gilbert Lefebvre
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