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| Gravestone: Anna Bartha 1928 |
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| Calvary Cemetery - Section 8 |
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| Aunt Gail |
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| Violet, Helen, Lynn and Gail |
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| Morin-Soly Marriage Record |
On the parish registers, the priest records the baptismal certificate of a new parishioner in Latin: "Johannes filius Jacobi Guyon er Maria eus uxoris...". His father is a notable, his mother is Marie Huet.
Jean-Francois Guyon was born on September 18, 1592 at St. Aubin-de-Tourouve; the son of Jacques Guyon and Marie Huet. He grew up in Tourouvre.
On June 12, 1615, Jean married Mathurine Robin at St. Aubin. The same year that he and Mathurine were married, he constructed a thirty-step, stone staircase leading to the bell tower of the church at St. Aubin, where he had been christened. The staircase is still intact. (I hope to see that some day.)
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| Steps to Bell Tower at Saint-Aubin in Tourouvre |
Jean and Mathurine lived in Mortagne where Jean's skills as a master stone-cutter brought him to the attention of Robert Giffard when he was establishing his seigneury at Beauport, Quebec. He is persuaded to leave France and the family, including six of their children, sail to Quebec.
Guyon traveled aboard a convoy of four ships and arrived in Nouvelle France in 1634. Guyon was awarded land in newly established Beauport, one of the oldest European-founded communities in Canada (and now a borough of Quebec City). Under the seigneurial system, he received a rear fief (arrière fief) near Rivière du Buisson (river of bushes). He attached its name to his own, Guyon du Buisson.
Guyon lived there until he died in 1663. He built a small mill and helped build the parish church of Québec city and the governor's residence.
Jean Guyon was a well educated man and wanted the same opportunity for his children. The boys were sent to the Jesuit College and the girls were instructed by the Ursuline nuns, who later wrote; "There is no other family whose zeal for education has been more transmitted from generation to generation during the past hundred years than that of Jean Guyon".
Years after years, his children and descendants gave birth to generations of Guyon, renamed Guion or Dion. They are settled in Quebec, Canada and in USA. Celine Dion is also a descendant of this family.
Miss Ida Morin, prominent in social and business circles of Woonsocket, claims she is able to trace her ancestry back to a nephew of King Ferdinand VI, of Spain, who reigned from 1746 to 1750. "'There are many people claim to be of noble blood, but they have no documents to substantiate their contentions,' she declares."
According to documents in the possession of her father, Arthur N. Morin, a Woonsocket realtor, Laurent de Soly, nephew of King Ferdinand, was born in Spain in 1721, near the French border. He married Marie Deligni [Deligny] about the time of King Ferdinand's accession, but she died shortly afterward.
Laurent was banished from the country when he disagreed with the new policies of the King, one of the Bourbons, described as "anxious-minded and weakly." but who, nevertheless, instigated a period of reform in Spain and started the country on a career of prosperity.
Laurent went to Canada, settled at St. Charles du Richelieu, P.Q., where he married Marie Clemence Guiette [Guillet], a native. A son, Pierre, was born in 1783. Pierre married and had 14 children, among them Marguerite de Soly, mother of Mr. Morin. In 1760 the King died, and Laurent, who would have been welcomed by the new King, Charles III, was persuaded by his wife not to return.
Laurent's wife burned the deed to the baronial estate when he attempted to return, 20 years later at the instance of a French priest, to claim his lands.
In St. Charles du Richelieu, both Laurent and Pierre were known as "L'Espagnol," which means "The Spaniard." Laurent died Jan. 6, 1786, and Pierre March 10, 1900 [1860]. Mr. Morin believes there is now no hope of ever obtaining the lost Spanish estate.
"We don't believe in the monarch," he said "America is our country, and we are satisfied to remain here. One of my sons [George Arthur] was in the Spanish American War fighting against Spain, and I was proud to have him fight for America."
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| First car called "The Flint" in Virginia - 1925 |
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| George, Bob and Rosemary with cousins? |
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| George, Jr. and cousin Charlotte Greene- 1926 |
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| McConnel's Mills at Slippery Rock, PA - 1933 |
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| George, Sr. and Jr, Kathryn and Rosemary - 1933 |
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| George and Kathryn with Cora and Ralph Ferraro - 1933 |
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| George, Jr. on far right |
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| George Jr in Florida |
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| Basilica of St. Joseph completed in 1967 |
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| Crypt of Saint Andre |
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| "It's not my work; it's St. Joseph's." |
We left Trois-Rivieres taking the old two-lane Highway 40, which we were told would be scenic, and drove the hour plus ride to Quebec City. We passed through or near the ancestral towns of Point-aux-Trembles, L'Ancienne Lorette and Sainte Anne de la Parade. We made our way to the old part of Quebec City and found our small hotel in the backyard of the Chateau Frontenac. We put the car in the car park and spent the next three days walking and exploring. One day we walked through lower town to the old port and took the funicular back to upper town. Another day we walked the entire upper town area. I stopped to examine every bronze statute until I found the one I was looking for at Montmorency Park.
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| Old Boucher House |
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| Typical Home in Trois Rivieres |
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| River Yamaska with Notre Dame on left and Cathedral on right |
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| The Saint-Hyacinthe Market |
It was Saturday and the Library of the Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe would close early.We had lunch, took a quick drive around town and then found the library. The Seminary is a private secondary school founded in 1811. In that library is a special room for genealogical studies only open three days a week. There is also another historical library in the building open daily.
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| Found a great headstone |
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| Checking Canada City Directories |
Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph.
Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.
At 25, he applied for entrance into the Congregation of the Holy Cross. After a year’s novitiate, he was not admitted because of his weak health. But with an extension and the urging of Bishop Bourget (see Marie-Rose Durocher, October 6), he was finally received. He was given the humble job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in
Montreal, with additional duties as sacristan, laundry worker and messenger. “When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained 40 years,” he said.
In his little room near the door, he spent much of the night on his knees. On his windowsill, facing Mount Royal, was a small statue of St. Joseph, to whom he had been devoted since childhood. When asked about it he said, “Some day, St. Joseph is going to be honored in a very special way on Mount Royal!”
When he heard someone was ill, he visited to bring cheer and to pray with the sick person. He would rub the sick person lightly with oil taken from a lamp burning in the college chapel. Word of healing powers began to spread.
When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, André volunteered to nurse. Not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood. His superiors were uneasy; diocesan authorities were suspicious; doctors called him a quack. “I do not cure,” he said again and again. “St. Joseph cures.” In the end he needed four secretaries to handle the 80,000 letters he received each year.
For many years the Holy Cross authorities had tried to buy land on Mount Royal. Brother André and others climbed the steep hill and planted medals of St. Joseph. Suddenly, the owners yielded. André collected 200 dollars to build a small chapel and began receiving visitors there—smiling through long hours of listening, applying St. Joseph’s oil. Some were cured, some not. The pile of crutches, canes and braces grew.
The chapel also grew. By 1931 there were gleaming walls, but money ran out. “Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle. If he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.” The magnificent Oratory on Mount Royal took 50 years to build. The sickly boy who could not hold a job died at 92.
