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Gus (Gustavus) MEILLEUR
naissance 1er
mai 1878 � Meilleur's Bay ON,
d�c�s 13
f�vrier 1979 � Deep River Hospital ON, �ge : 100 ans,
s�pulture au
St.Narcissus RC Cemetery, Mackey, Renfrew Co. ON.
P�re: Joseph
MEILLEUR
M�re: Elmire MOORE
(1) Mari�(e)
1907 � Deep River ON, Laura Louise MANARY,
d�c�s 18 d�cembre 1909 � Deep River ON "in
childbirth". 2 enfants.
(2) Mari�(e)
16 juin 1913 � Mattawa ON, B�atrice
Margaret DURAND, d�c�s 5
juillet 1955 � Renfrew Co. ON, s�pulture �
St. Narcissus Roman Catholic, Mackey, Renfrew
Co. ON. 7 enfants.
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Beatrice
Durand
& Gus Meilleur
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9 enfants
:
2 enfants de
Laura Manary :
1.1. Anonyme MEILLEUR-female,
naissance 28 ao�t 1908 � Deep River ON, d�c�s 28 ao�t
1908 � Deep River ON, s�pulture
au cimeti�re local de Rapide-des-Joachims.
1.2. Joseph Alex MEILLEUR,
naissance 18 d�cembre 1909 � Deep River ON, d�c�s 18
d�cembre 1909 � Deep River ON, s�pulture "in-buried
same coffin as his mother".
7 enfants de
B�atrice Durand :
1.3. Percy
Joseph MEILLEUR,
naissance 24 novembre 1913, d�c�s 15 mai 1948,
�ge : 34 ans, s�pulture au St Narcissus RC
Cemetery, Mackey, Head Township ON.
C�libataire.
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1.4. Kenneth
James MEILLEUR,
naissance 23 d�cembre 1914, d�c�s 1984, �ge :
70 ans, s�pulture au St Narcissus RC Cemetery,
Mackey, Head Township ON. Conjoint(e) Evelyn
RICHES.
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1.5. Vincent L�onard MEILLEUR,
naissance 21 septembre 1919, d�c�s 17 avril 1920 � 7
mois.
1.6. Mary Louise MEILLEUR,
naissance 25 novembre 1922, d�c�s 22 juillet 1969.
Mari�(e) 15 f�vrier 1950 Marcellus "Tut"
PICKERING PEARSON.
1.6.1. Sharon PEARSON, naissance
29 novembre 1950.
1.7. Donalda
Marie MEILLEUR,
naissance 29 octobre 1923, d�c�s 24 novembre
2016 � 93 ans, s�pulture au St Narcissus RC
Cemetery, Mackey, Head Township ON.
Handicap�e.
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1.8. Ella Agn�s MEILLEUR, naissance
31 mars 1925, d�c�s 21 septembre 1925 � 6 mois.
1.9. Mary Theresa MEILLEUR,
naissance 13 janvier 1927. Mari�(e) 8 mai 1958, Oliver
SENNETT.
1.9.1. Melissa Anne SENNETT,
naissance 23 octobre 1962.
(1) Conjoint(e) Andr� BRABANT.
(2) Mari�(e) 13 septembre 1991, Douglas
Archer HUDSON.
(3) Mari�(e) 3 mars 2006 Darrel COLLEY.
1.9.1.1. Caden Douglas HUDSON,
naissance 16 septembre 1992.
1.9.2. M�lanie Margaret B�atrice SENNETT,
naissance 23 octobre 1962. Mari�(e) 19 mai 1990, Steve
Jean Joseph LEHOUX.
1.9.2.1. Derrin Richard Joseph LEHOUX,
naissance 14 octobre 1993.
1.9.2.2. Gregory Archer Joseph LEHOUX,
naissance 4 avril 1996.
Gus turns
100
There's an impish lad in the Valley
celebrating his 100th birthday today.
He'll kiss the girls, maybe hold a
few on his knee. Eat his cake and open his gifts
with boyish glee.
He'll not likely dance - "Me legs
are done" - but before he goes to bed he will kneel
and recite his rosary.
William Henry Augustus Meilleur,
known to all as Gus, was born at Meilleur's Bay,
some 55 kilometers west of Pembroke on Highway 17,
and has spent almost his entire lifetime in the
Upper Ottawa Valley - in farming, log-driving,
shanty-work, railroading and storekeeping.
While he has vivid memories of the
past, he is much in tune with today. His avid
interest in people, politics and parties accounts in
part for his longevity. He reasons: "God must like
me. He won't let me die."
Gus makes his home with his
daughter, Mary, who runs the local general store,
another daughter, Donalda, and two grand-daughters.
A son, Kenneth, a CP Rail forman soon to retire,
lives nearby.
Gus went to school at Meilleur's
Bay. "I was in Reades, third book, when I left
school. But I kept books for 25 men on the drive
and I kept stock for my own store, didn't I?"
As a boy growing up, he relates the
family had a "dawn good farm". Grain was cut
with a cradie, tied by hand and treshed with a
one-horse tramper. Homemade wooden benches provided
seats in the home.
On one of his jaunts back home, Gus
met his first wife Laura Menary. This marriage was
short- lived as one year later he burried his wife
and newborn babe. "Pretty damn tough."
On a holiday to Mattawa he met his
second wife, Beatrice Durand. "I got in with her
at a dance. Oh, she was a great dancer."
About 30 years ago Gus gave up his
farm and bought the general store in Mackey. He has
remained there ever since and up until a few years
ago was active in its opreration. His old red truck,
which he quit driving at age 95, as a familiar sight
delivering groceries.
Gus still enjoys life. He laughs a
lot. Scarcely a day goes by that he doesn't sit down
to a family game of euchre. He no longer goes out to
church because of difficulty in climbing the steep
steps, but he prays many times during the day.
Gus says he has voted Liberal for
82 years.
The townships of head, Clara and
Maria will honnor this most senior citizen Friday.
No one will refuse when they hear that familiar deep
chuckle and "Give us a little drink, dammit to
hell."
The Meilleur homestead was a
stopping place for the farmers who travelled with
supplies of oats and hay from Cobden, Sheenboro and
Pembroke to the Hawkesbury and Eddy lumber camps. It
made for busy and exciting times. "And damn good
money".
The passenger boats that plied the
Ottawa River at that time made stopovers at Des
Joachims. Gus recalls that the trip from Des
Joachims to Pembroke took about four or five hours.
"Ah, that Captain Murphy was a great lad."
Gus left the farming life and
decided to try his hand at log-driving, but he alwas
returned to his homestead between his log-driving
stints. With his brother, George, he undertook the
log-drive on the treacherous Petawawa.
________________________
Mary Ellen Boudreau
Citizen special correspondent
A birthday of birthdays
by Mary Ellen Boudreau
September 27, 1978
The birthday was two days before, but last
Friday night they all come out to the Stonecliffe
Township Hall to celebrate and honour the
keen-minded, twinkle-eyed gentleman, centenarian Gus
Meilleur of Mackey.
There was champagne and cake, flowers and fiddle
music and it was an evening in the township to
remember.
Gus celebrated his 100th Birthday on Wednesday,
September 20, at his home with his immediate family
and friends, including a couple of lively lasses,
Mrs Hector Meilleur, 98 and Mrs Roy Stewart, 87.
Mass was celebrated in the living room by Reverend
John Levesque, glasses clinked in toasts to Gus and
then all sat down to a fine family dinner. Gus went
to bed early on his birthday, but got up next
morning ready to play cards before breakfast. He is
almost completely recovered from a flu bug he had a
week ago.
Friday evening's festivities in the Township Hall
were for everyone. Gus loved every minute of it :
the kinfolk and friends from far and near, the fine
fiddling of Jimmie Hickey, aided by Ty Kinlock on
the piano and Bob Adam with his guitar, the
step-dancing skills of the swift-footed Meilleur
family and neighbours, the birthday cake, the cards
and gifts. After three hours of celebrating, Gus
went home.
A local band, Driftwood Mac, then provided more
dancing music for the many guests who stayed around
to visit and party.
Reeve Grant Horricks, who emceed the evening's
events, presented a plaque to Gus on behalf of the
Townships. Two other congratulatory plaques were
presented : one by Len Hopkins, MP, from Prime
Minister Trudeau and one by Sean Conway, MPP from
Premier Bill Davis.
Gus's favourite colour is blue. He was delighted to
receive a blue and white homemade quilt, with a
large 100 in the centre, from Sue Elliot chairman of
the Municipal Recreation Committee on behalf on the
Townships of Head, Clara & Maria.
Neighbouring Reeve Guy du Manoir, who noted that Gus
got off to a good start by being born in Rolph
Township, briefly outlined the life of the man known
to so many as "Uncle Guy". "For" he said, � you
know, if all the descendants of the Meilleur family
were here tonight, Stonecliffe wold be like another
Chicago �.
Guy wound up his entertaining remarks by stating
that he was only a 35 year "newcomer" t o the
community, but he had had the pleasure of knowing
for many years not only Gus but his two brothers and
three sisters as well.
� And they were all lovely people. Honest people.
Kind people. I think the reason that they all lived
to such very ripe old ages is because they enjoyed
the contentment of doing right by their fellow
people. I believe this has got to be a tribute to
the Meilleur family �.
With many a misty eye, the packed hall rose and sang
Happy Birthday Gus. And the fiddlin' and
step-dancin' began.
Gus Meilleur � 100 years in the
Ottawa Valley
by Judy McAlpine
William Henry Augustus Meilleur, known to
everyone as Gus, will celebrate a century of life
on September 20. Except for a few brief years near
Lake Timiskiming, he has spent all of those 100
years in the Upper Ottawa Valley, first at
Meilleur's Bay, then settling in Mackey.
Gus now lives a quiet life with his two
daughters, Mary and Donalda, next to the
family-owned grocery store which he helped to run
until his "retirement" 10 years ago. He prides
himself on his good health which he attributes to a
life of "hard work, loving and drinking". It has
been half a century since he's smoked a cigarette,
but he still enjoys a daily shot of whiskey, � Never
done a man no harm �, says Gus with a twinkle in his
eye
Longevity may be a trait in Gus's family � his
mother lived to be almost 100 years. He drove his
own truck until he was 94 and still plays a good
game of cards. � I can still beat my granddaughter
at euchre � Gus claims with pride as his teenage
granddaughter Melanie nods in agreement.
Gus has had the good fortune of living through
the terms of office of all 15 of Canada's prime
ministers. He vividly remembers MacKenzie King and
WC Bennett as � good men who boosted up wages when
times were damn bad �.
Born at Meilleur's Bay, one of 12 children of
Joseph and Almira Moore Meilleur, Gus has seen m
any changes in the area during a life time of
logging, railroad work, farming, camp cooking and
store keeping.
He can still remember helping out at the stopover
place his parents ran almost a century ago.
Teamsters from Pembroke en route with supplies for
nearby lumber camps patronized the stopover. The
25� fee per team of horses was good money in those
days and with room for 40 or more teams it brought
in a living for the busy Meilleur family.
Those travelling teamsters also provided the
family with a valuable link to the outside world.
Their stories of local people and events help the
Meilleurs informed of happenings outside of their
isolated homestead.
There were also no local churches in those days ;
priests came up once a year to "da Swisha" to
baptize the newest crop of babies and to marry
anxiously waiting couples.
Gus started logging on the Hawkesbury River at
age 15. Later on, he and his brother George logged
on the Ottawa and Petawawa Rivers. Log driving was
tough work, and risky too � log drivers' graves
dotted the rivers for miles up and down shore.
Drives could last for three or four months but at
a dollar a day it was a living. Gus recalls the
Petawawa River as � the roughest river I ever
drove. The river couldn't drown me � I could stand
on any log �.
As a new century was dawning, Gus married his
first wife Laura Menary. � She was a beauty �, Gus
remembers. The marriage was short lived, however.
Laura died in childbirth a year later and was
buried in her bridal dress with the still born
baby alongside her.
Gus "rambled around". He went up to Lake
Timiskiming and worked as a boat foreman towing
logs to the sawmill. It wasn't long, however,
before Gus came back home. At a local dance. Gus
met Beatrice Durand. � Oh, she was a great dancer.
She could dance betterin' anyone �, Gus fondly
recalls.
Gus's godchild, Netti Dufresne, remembers the
night Gus first saw Beatrice. � He turned to me
and said "see that pretty girl over t her ; I'm
going to make her my wife" �.
Beatrice didn't like the "north" so Gus quit his
foreman's job and became a cook in his
father-in-law's lumber camp. Shanty work was hard
and unhealthy � smoke from the central fireplace
filled the room and drifted out through a hole in
the roof. Gus used a cross-cut saw to cut
firewood.
World War I was looming large and Gus started
working on the railroad. � I worked 10 year
on the track for the CPR � laying tracks, driving
spikes, taking out ti4es. It was backbreaking work
� 10 hours a day at 50� an hour �. Those were the
heydays of the railroads ; Gus remembers 15 or 20
trains going by in a single day. The site of his
labours, the old Mackey railroad, went under water
in 1945 when the Hydro Dam was built.
Gus bought a farm in Mackey and he and Beatrice
settled down to raise their family � 10 children
were born but only five survived infancy. � Life
on the farm was good �, Gus states. � There
was always good food to eat � fresh eggs and
vegetables and homemade butter. I got up every day
at 5 am and made my own breakfast. I could make
the best homemade beans you've ever eat �.
Gus bought a store in 1948 which serves visiting
campers, hunters, and fishermen as well as local
residents. Gus still loves parties although he
admits he can't dance any more. In just a few
weeks Gus will celebrate his 100th
birthday at a large party given by the townships
of Head, Clara and Maria. Along with his daughters
Mary and Donalda, and son Kenneth, the party will
be attended by a couple of hundred of his
relatives and friends from as far away as Sudbury
and New York.
On the wall in his living room hangs a plaque from
the Prime Minister which reads : On the occasion
of your 99th birthday. It is our hope
that you will enjoy the year to come in good
health and much happiness.
The same hope still remains on the occasion of his
100th birthday.
Friends "danced for Uncle Gus" on his
100th birthday
by Pat Smith, Monday, September 25, 1978
Journal Correspondent
DEEP RIVER - A fiddle played the opening bars of Happy
Birthday, and the crowd gathered in the hall
and sang with gusto.
This wasn't just any birthday celebration, this
was a party honouring William Henry Augustus (Gus)
Meilleur, of Mackey, Ontario, on his 100th
birthday.
There were a lot of friends and relations here on
Friday in the Township Hall to raise their glasses
in a toast to Gus.
But what pleased Gus most was the step-dancing
and the fiddle music. In impromptu, joyful bursts,
the Meilleurs and their friends got up and "danced
for Uncle Gus", and he loved it.
Gus Meilleur, at 100 years
old, says he � feels good", and he looks good
- laughing over old times and quaffing his glass
of rye. When asked why he's lived so long , Gus
says modestly, � God must 'a likes me �.
Raised on his father's farm at Meilleur's Bay,
Rolph Township, Ontario, Gus was one of 12
children born to Joseph and Elvira Moore Meilleur.
His father ran a depot for teams coming up from
the farming communities of Pembroke, Cobden and
Sheenboro, carrying food for the lumber camps.
Christmas was a "big time" for the Meilleurs, who
are all keen step dancers, and Gus too could step
a lively jig. � I could swing the girls
good �, he says with a twinkle in his eye.
Around the turn of the century, Laura Menary,
� the prettiest girl he'd ever seen �,
caught Gus's eye, and they were married.
Tragically, Laura died in childbirth a year later.
Gus left the area, and went north where he got a
job logging on Lake Timiskaming.
On a trip home from New Liskeard, he met Beatrice
Durand at a dance in Mattawa. They were married in
1913, and went back to Temiscaming. It was a
lonely life for the wife of a logger far from here
family, so eventually they moved down to Pembroke.
� She wanted a home �, says Gus.
In 1924, Gus and Beatrice bought a 600-acre farm
at Mackey, where they raised five of the 10
children born to them.
When he was 70, Gus gave up farming and bought
the general store at Mackey. He was active in the
business, which supplies campers and fishermen,
until a few years ago, although his daughters made
him quit driving his truck when he was 94. His
daughter Mary Sennet, now runs the store and Gus
lives quietly with her, his grand-daughters and
his daughter Donelda Meilleur.
On Friday night, the crowd stood and roared out,
For He's a jolly Good Fellow, and Gus
Meilleur laughed and clapped in time to the music.
For he is a jolly good fellow and has been for 100
years.
Recherches, textes et photos par Michael
& Cynthia Carey, de Peterborough ON
Updated and
picture February 27, 2006 by John
Levesque, of North Bay ON
Mise � jour le 28 avril 2010 par Paul
Meilleur, de Ste-Ad�le QC
Mise � jour le 13 avril 2017 par Michael
Carey, de Peterborough ON
Retour � la G�n�alogie des MEILLEUR
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