- IX -

Valérie MEILLEUR

naissance 1885 à Red Lake Falls MN,
décès 12 déc 1929 à Fisher Branch MB, 44 ans,
funérailles 14 par rev. François-Xavier Leroux,
sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery Fisher Branch MB,
cause du décès suite à l'accouchement de son neuvième enfant.

Père :  Thaddée II MEILLEUR
Mère : Mathildée VAILLANCOURT

Elle a épousé Julien PAYMENT, naissance 25 mai 1878 à Cohasset MN, (fils de Anton PAYMENT et Olympia PILON) décès 1 sep 1968 à Fisher Branch MB, 90 ans.

9 enfants :

1.1. Joseph PAYMENT, naissance 31 déc 1903 à Cohasset MN USA, décès 20 mar 1982 à Fisher Branch MB, 78 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB, cause du décès "of severe stroke". Marié(e) 6 oct 1932 à Fisher Branch MB, par rév. François-Xavier Leroux, Mary Johanna CANERS, naissance 24 déc 1904 à Zoltbommel, Hollande (Europe), (fille de Aloysius CANERS et Johanna BORST) décès 2 fév 1994 à Fisher Branch MB, 89 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB, 9 enfants.

Julien PAYMENT

He had a dream, like the dreams of so many other people who longed to obtain homesteads that could be bought in Canada for the modest sum of ten dollars. Julien Payment packed up his belongings and brought his young family to Manitoba in the year 1910, making his journey from the town of Cohasset, Minnesota, where he had worked as a day labourer. In the district of Fisher Branch, some twenty miles from Arborg, he purchased a parcel of land consisting of one hundred and sixty acres.

Until he could erect a log cabin in which to live with his family, they were housed in Arborg in a small dwelling that belonged to Mr. Napoleon Gagne. Mr. Payment bought a team of oxen which he, himself, trained for the hard work that lay ahead ... such as the hauling of cordwood and railway ties in winter, and to bring the loads of heavy sheaves of grain and hay for the stock in summer. Many winters were spent in bush and lumber camps and in jobs at sawmills.

Mr. Payment, being a good hunter, kept his family well supplied with meat from wild game such as moose, elk, deer, and rabbits, of which there was a plentiful supply. Besides this, there were the game birds such as geese, ducks, and prairie chickens which inhabited the woods and fields in great numbers. In summer, fish was also available.

With the oxen he opened up and broke the sod from which he harvested the winter supply of fodder for the few cattle he acquired in those early years.

Mrs. Payment grew a good garden with which to supply the needs of the family. In summer, berries were picked and preserved for their family of seven.

In the years that followed, and when sheep were kept, beautiful wool yarn was made with the spinning wheel which was used for mitts, scarves, sweaters and toques. The wool was carded for the making of warm light blankets. Some of the longest and best wool of the fleece was dyed, carded, and then knitted into beautiful garments in a delightful array of colors; a tribute to the ingenuity of the pioneer woman.

At the age of sixty-five, the family grown and away, (his wife had predeceased him years earlier) Mr. Payment left his homestead to make his home in the town of Fisher Branch, where he set up a shoemaker's shop where he worked for over twenty years. At this task he toiled faithfully and with pleasure, serving the needs of many people who came to get their binder canvases repaired or their shoes fixed. Many were the pairs of leather mitts and gloves he sewed and patched which did double service for the owners. When Mr. Payment died at the age of ninety- three, he could truthfully be called one of Fisher Branch's oldest pioneers, a man who had braved the tortuous trails in winter blizzards in the spirit of the true early settlers. Julien and his wife, Valerie, had eight children. Joseph - married Mary Caners and had nine children: Leona, Eva, Leonard, Lorraine, Ina, Denise, Henry, Clara, and Danny. Despite being plagued by poor health for much of his life, Joseph remained active and continued farming until illness forced him to sell his cattle and retire in 1978. He died on March 20, 1982, at the age of seventy-eight.