- IX -

Mathilde MEILLEUR

Joseph Gauthier et Mathilde Meilleur

naissance 1884 à Red Lake Falls MN,
décès 27 juin 1971 à Fisher Branch MB, âge : 87 ans,
funérailles 30 à Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Fisher Branch MB, Rev. H. Gagne officiating,
sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB.
(voir la carte mortuaire).

Père :  Thaddée II MEILLEUR
Mère : Mathildée VAILLANCOURT

Note : Homestead NW 13-24-1W Fisher Branch, MB

Elle a épousé Joseph I GAUTHIER, naissance 19 août 1881 à Holyoke MA, (fils de Odilon GAUTHIER et Marie HOUDE) décès 10 juin 1953 à Fisher Branch MB, 71 ans, "of a stoke", sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB,

11 enfants (11 fils) :

1.1. Joseph II GAUTHIER, naissance 8 décembre 1903 à MN, décès 11 juin 1992 à Winnipeg MB, 88 ans, sépulture à Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB. Marié(e) 19 juin 1935 à St-Georges MB, Yvonne Marie CHÈVREFILS, naissance 16 septembre 1914 à St-Georges MB, (fille de Zotique Zéphirin CHÈVREFILS et Cordélia VINCENT) décès 29 mai 1975 à Fisher Branch MB, 60 ans, sépulture à Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB, 19 enfants.

1.2. George GAUTHIER, naissance 16 décembre 1904 à Red Lake Falls, MN, décès 31 janvier 1997 à 92 ans, sépulture à Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch, MB, "of Alzeimer and strokes". Marié(e) 13 février 1943 à Immaculate ConceptionChurch, Fisher Branch MB, Jane CANERS, naissance 6 février 1906, (fille de Aloysius CANERS et Johanna BORST) 4 enfants (2 fils, 2 filles).

1.3. Aldéric GAUTHIER, naissance 1907 à MN, décès 10 avril 1983 à Percy E. Moore Hospital, Hodgson MB, 76 ans, funérailles 13 à Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, Fisher Branch, sépulture au Parish cemetery, Fisher Branch MB (nécrologie), célibataire.

1.4. Lawrence (Laurent) GAUTHIER, naissance 25 octobre 1907 à Bovey MN, décès 5 octobre 1991 à Fisher Branch MB, 83 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB. Marié(e) 1932 à Fisher Branch MB, par rév. François-Xavier Leroux, Marie-Anne CÔTÉ, naissance 24 juillet 1910 à Fitchburg MA USA, décès 5 avril 1997 à Fisher Branch MB, 86 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cem. Fisher Branch MB, 9 enfants.

1.5. Leo (Léon) GAUTHIER, naissance 1909 à Fisher Branch MB, décès 6 mars 1976 à 67 ans. Marié(e) 7 février 1944, Della VINCENT, naissance 6 janvier 1927 à la maison familiale, St-Georges MB, (fille de Sylva VINCENT et Emma DUPONT) 10 enfants.

1.6. Eugène GAUTHIER, naissance 27 septembre 1910, décès 25 aoû 1991 à Fisher Branch MB, 80 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB, célibataire.

1.9. Rosaire GAUTHIER, naissance 14 mars 1916 à Fisher Branch (probable), p/m Julien Payment & Valérie Meilleur, décès 28 novembre 2001 à Health Sciences Centre MB, 85 ans, sépulture 5 décembre au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB (nécrologie). Il a épousé Julie WOLFE, 3 filles.

1.10. Arthur GAUTHIER, naissance 1er juin 1918 à Fisher Branch MB, décès 4 octobre 1981 à Fisher Branch MB, 63 ans, sépulture au Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Fisher Branch MB, "of cancer". Marié(e) 18 juin 1945, Aurore Marie TOUGAS, naissance 6 juillet 1920 à Fisher Branch, MB, (fille de Éliodore Pierre TOUGAS et Almizéam BRUNEAU).

Joseph and Mathilde Gauthier

by George and Jane Gauthier

My parents, Mr and Mrs. Joseph Gauthier, came to Canada from USA, with their family, in the fall of 1910. They had formerly resided in Minnesota and decided to file for a homestead about six miles east of Fisher Branch, which was non-existent then.

Our family, at the time, consisted of six children. They were: Joe, George, Alderic, Lawrence, Leo, and Eugene. Eventually, six more boys were born to them: Zenophile, Hormidas, Rosaire, Arthur, Paul and one boy who died at birth. Three of the boys have since died: Hormidas, Leo, and quite recently, Arthur.

When our family came to Canada, we lived in Arborg for one year. There, Pa made his living by cutting cordwood with the help of his oldest son, Joe, who cut one cord of wood a day even though he was only eight years old at the time. In the summer, Pa loaded cars with some help from Joe and myself. I was seven years old.

In the spring of 1912, Pa built a log house on the homestead during which time we all stayed with our grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thaddee Meilleur. With the help of our uncles, and Grandpère, who used a broad-axe to hew the logs, Pa had our home ready in a few weeks. Later, we bought a frame house from Mr. Foubert, which still stands there today - a relic of the past. In the early years, Pa drove his team of horses to Fannystelle for the harvest. He was a separator man and he was making pretty good money for that time. He was usually gone for a couple months. The harvest and cutting cord wood was how we made our living.

Ma worked very hard too. When Pa was working away from home during the harvest, or when he was hauling water for the steam engine at Flringle's mill, Ma looked after the cattle with the help of Joe and myself, as we were the two oldest boys. She always made all our clothes and spun wool which she used to knit socks and mitts. She was a very good cook and was at her best making cakes and pies. As well, she was always able to prepare any kind of meat in a most appetizing way. On one special occasion I took Jane, my wife, over to my parents' home for dinner. Ma prepared a goose and Jane said she had never tasted anything so delicious and she remembers that to this day.

During the summer we cut cordwood north of our place. One winter Joe and I went out each day to cut cordwood, two miles from our place. We were only eleven and twelve years old then and we were cutting a cord and a half each day. Pa would take a load of cordwood from north and haul it into town. He'd have lunch there and then he'd come back and load up the wood that Joe and I had cut that day. We kept him hauling all winter.

I remember that we had a camp, ten years later, that was fourteen miles east of Hodgson. Uncle Moise, Uncle Theophile, Uncle Ovide, and Uncle Joe and his sons, Napoleon and Eldege, were there too. There was a bunch of us. We stayed there, cutting and hauling it to Hodgson, for about three dollars a cord, until spring.

Another year, we had a camp ten miles east of Hodgson and I remember Pa used to get up about 4:30 in the morning to make pancakes. While his pancakes were cooking, he was whistling and keeping time with his knife on the bench. I remember that just like it was yesterday.

In those early days, we had to rely on old remedies to take care of injuries. At the age of' ten, I accidentally chopped tiny little toe with an axe. It was hanging by just a small piece of skin. Pa placed my toe back in its place and wrapped it with a white cloth on which he put a good bit of lard. Next morning, Ma wrapped it and placed my foot in warm water in which she had added a few drops of carbolic acid. She wrapped it up again with a clean white rag with lard on it. She did this everyday for a week or so. On the ninth day, I was walking on that foot, wearing a big moccasin.

In 1918, the Spanish flu broke out and certainly took its toll in our neighborhood. None of us got it. We ate lots of onions and maybe that helped. Uncles Julien and Osias Meilleur, Aunties Melina and Lucy Meilleur, and Auntie Alma Bruneau all died of it in one week. I remember that Auntie Alma had driven, with a team of horses, to see Uncle Julien, her brother, who was sick with the flu. She was expecting a baby in a very short time. When Ma saw her coming she went out to plead with her not to go on. Auntie Alma said that she was not afraid, that Uncle Honora (her husband) had had it and was getting over it and that she was sure that she was safe from it. She was bound to go on and Ma could not talk her out of it. She did get the flu and, just before she died, gave birth to a baby girl who survived. Auntie Alma was buried on December 12, 1918.

Looking back, I wouldn't like to live through all that hardship again.

Pa died on June 10th, 1953 of a stroke, at the age of seventy-two. Ma died on June 27th, 1971 at the age of eighty-seven.