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Lucie FAUBERT	Barthélemi MEILLEUR
naissance 4 jan 1886 à Grand Forks MN, décès 20 déc 1918 à Fisher Branch MB, âge : 32 ans, de la grippe espagnole, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB. Père :  Eusèbe FAUBERT Mère : Joséphine RAYMOND	naissance 25 oct 1876 à Menominee MI, décès 25 oct 1970 à Fisher Branch MB, âge : 94 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB,   Père :  Thaddée II MEILLEUR Mère : Mathildée VAILLANCOURT   Note : homestead NE 25-24-1W, Fisher Branch MB

Marié(e) 1901 à Grand Forks MN,

 7 enfants (3 fils, 4 filles) :

1.1. Bert (Albert) MEILLEUR, naissance 18 avr 1903 à Grande Fourche MN, décès du cancer. Conjoint(e) Elizabeth ZEIG. 6 enfants (1 fils, 5 filles).

1.1.1. Dolores MEILLEUR.

1.1.2. Lorraine MEILLEUR.

1.1.3. Betty MEILLEUR.

1.1.4. Beatrice MEILLEUR.

1.1.5. Beverly MEILLEUR.

1.1.6. David MEILLEUR.

BARTHÉLÉMI MEILLEUR & LUCIE FAUBERT

Barthélémi was born on Wednesday, October 25, 1876 in Menominee, Michigan. He was the second oldest son of Thaddée Meilleur 2nd and Mathildée Vaillancourt. His parents moved to Minnesota around 1880 and settled along the Clearwater River, approximately 15 miles from Red Lake Falls. He had eight brothers and four sisters.

In the fall of 1901, he married Lucie Faubert (Eusèbe and Joséphine, born January 4, 1886 in Grand Forks, Minnesota) on ? in Grand Forks, Minnesota. Barthélémi and Lucie settled on a dairy farm at Leramore, North Dakota, for ten years. There, he cut cordwood for a living. In 1912, they moved to Fisher Branch with a team of oxen. When they arrived on their homestead located on NE of Section 36-Township 25-Range 1 W, the log cabin was not yet ready, so he and his family had to live for three or four days, under a canvas tent. During the nights, they had to keep an outside fire burning to keep the bears away.

When the harvest was ready that year, Barthélémi left his family in Fisher Branch and went to Fannystelle, Manitoba, to earn money harvesting. Threshing being over, he came back with a team of horses and a buggy which he bought on his way home. During the winter, he got busy cutting cordwood in the morning, and in the afternoon, went to the town of Fisher Branch to sell his wood.

Around 1915, the Meilleur brothers, Ovila, Louis, Julien, Barthélémi and also Alcide Gamache, Eusèbe Faubert, Honora Bruneau, Ben Payment and Mike Piette had a hardball team which they named the "Meridian Team". They wore homemade uniforms and played against Arborg teams. The women showed no interest and preferred chatting away all afternoon.

Barthélémi and Lucie raised a family of seven children, of whom three were boys and four were girls, also one baby which was stillborn.

Barthélémi became a widower early in his married life. It was during the flu epidemic after the First World War in 1918, that his wife died, leaving seven children. She was buried on December 20, 1918. He also lost two brothers, Julien and Ozias, and two sisters, Alma and Mélina from that same flu. Alma was married to Honora Bruneau and she left two little girls orphaned, which Zéphérina, Ovila Meilleur's wife, took in and cared for them for two years. All five had died within two weeks of each other. It was an extremely sad Christmas. Thaddée said, "They might as well have dug a hole and buried us, too." And Mathildée added, "If only the Good Lord had spared our baby." They were all buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Fisher Branch, Manitoba.

Henceforth, Barthélémi lived with his children, cutting wood and doing the odd jobs to support them. After his children were all married, he lived alone in his own little house in the town of Fisher Branch. Once in Fisher Branch, from 1912, he did not travel much, except in 1928, he went to Camduff, Saskatchewan, to spend the winter with his son-in-law, John Vandersteen Sr. and Joséphine.

The family of Thaddée Meilleur were all good singers. Especially Ovila, at a party, he could sing all night, (cause that's how long those family get together lasted) and never sing the same song twice. These were all French "Chansons à répondre" brought back from their native Québec, and it got the whole group involved. Barthélémi was no exception, he had his favourite songs and everyone knew which ones they were. One would never steal someone else's song, they all had their specialties. Especially on New Year's Day, which was almost always celebrated at Moïse and Délia's house, (probably because this was where Thaddée and Mathildée lived). After an elaborate meal, the young people gathered in one room to dance, and the older folks in another to sing.

Moïse would make his usual batch of "moonshine", which he colored with caramelized sugar..... with much sampling, as there were no liquor stores, in those days. It was tradition that Barthélémi was entrusted with the bottle and shot glass (there were no Pepsi in those days) and the grave responsibility of ensuring that everyone remained in high spirits, but no more! Barthélémi was also a good square dance caller, which was a must to have a good time.

At the age of ninety, he could not live alone anymore, so he went to live with his daughter, Béatrice Ponchon, until the day he had to be hospitalized in the St. Benedict Home, in Arborg, Manitoba. Barthélémi was very sharp of mind in his later years. When meeting him, if you complimented him on how good he looked, (Mon oncle Bert, vous paraissez vraiment bien!), his reply came out just as fast, "I always looked good!" (J'ai toujours bien paru!).

He died on October 25, 1970, at St. Benedict's Home in Arborg, MB. He was ninety-four years old. At the time of his death, he had sixty-four grandchildren, two-hundred-and-five great-grandchildren, and nine great-great-grandchildren. He was buried in the Immaculate Conception Cemetery of Fisher Branch, Manitoba.

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February 1, 1997