Leblanc Family History

Quebec (Cont'd)

To ensure that the needs of his family are always met, Avila next begins to buy and sell potatoes. He also opens an agency to sell rolls of wire fencing. These he displays along the road. During the great depression of ‘29, Avila also takes in boarders who are willing to work for their room and board only. Nevertheless he makes sure that they are given at least a minimum wage.

1929 to 1931, Avila serves as mayor. Avila is a man who is quite appreciative of his religion. He is also quite proud of his name – Langlois dit Lachapelle – even though he will sometimes sign only Avila Lachapelle. For her part, Adélina has quite a head for business. Extremely self-reliant, patient and gentle; she is a hard worker. She is the kind of person born to her era. She always finds the time to help her neighbours. Between the ages of 40 and 65 she serves as midwife to Dr. Joyal. He goes so far as to entrust her with some chloroform for the deliveries she performs. Yet she is not quite 66 when on a hot July afternoon, as she is tending her beloved garden, she is felled by a bout of angina. On the evening of July 15, 1936 she is taken from us.

Here are jounrals from the 1900's about Avila and Adelina;

"Avila’s parents and Adélina’s mother, widowed at the age of 39, live with them as one happy family. Every year or so, there is another addition to the family; eleven in all. Sadly two girls die quite young; one at the age of 9, the other at merely 5 months old. With so many grown-ups to care for the children, all being family, Avila and Adélina can leave for the market without worry, as it is a journey which takes two full days. Before too long Adélina establishes a large, beautiful and very productive garden which she dutifully tends. At dusk she can be seen at the lake fishing for carp (suckers), on the dock her husband built for her.

At the outset of the second decade of the new century –1910– Avila and Adélina begin their weekly trek to Haileybury and Cobalt to go to the farmers market. Avila occupies himself with the task of butcher, preparing the meat. The animals are slaughtered and quartered at home and butchered at the market for his customers. Adélina makes, prepares and sells her blood sausage, pork sausages and head cheese. There are eggs, homemade pumpkin pies and a large selection of vegetables from her great garden. Offered for sale are large ears of salted, boiled corn for five cents each and, in the spring, an assortment of kittens.

It soon becomes obvious that some form of refrigeration is required. Avila builds a hangar in which an icehouse is divided and insulated. The hangar is cooled by large blocks of ice cut from the frozen river. These are covered with sawdust and voila; a homemade refrigerator. This now also permits them to make homemade ice cream on Sundays and for the holidays.

Quebec (Cont'd)

Gaspard and Germaine Lachapelle

Quebec

Quebec is also connected to my grandpa. His great-grandparents, Gaspard Lachapelle (born on April 9th, 1895 in Sainte-Mélanie, QC) and Germaine Benoit (born on May 2nd, 1901 in Labelle, QC) both stayed in Quebec for most of their lives. From a date book; "Gaspard and his brother Joe loved to mercilessly tease the young Germaine when they work on the farm for Mr. Joseph Benoit (Germaine's father) to help thresh the grain crops. The farm is about three miles north of the homestead on the way to Notre-Dame-du-Nord". Also, this one describing their wedding, "Their wedding on August 24, 1921, is regarded as the most beautiful ever seen in the parish, more than 30 carriages form the procession. Gaspard and Germaine ride in a brand new buggy pulled by a team of beautiful black horses decorated with bows on their ears and tassels on the harness. As for Mr. Joseph Benoit, he drives a pair of roan horses." Gaspard passed away on March 12th, 1987 in Welland, ON, and Germaine passed on December 3rd, 2000 in Welland as well.

Gaspard's parents lived in Quebec for their whole lives. His father, Avila Langlois dit Lachapelle was born on September 23rd, 1871 in Sainte-Mélanie, QC, and his mother, Adelina Rivet was born on November 19th, 1870 in Sainte-Mélanie.

England Pictures

England (Cont'd)

The most recent family member who were in england were my great-great-grandparents, Joseph William Wintersgill and Mary Louise Spalding. Joseph was born on April 25th, 1889 in Bowling, Bradford, England and moved to Dryden, ON to look for more work so he could provide for his family. He worked at the paper mill until he passed on June 28th, 1965. Mary Louise Spalding was born on July 9th, 1898 in Darlaston, Staffordshire, England. Once she was married to Joseph, she lived out her days as a housewife and passed away on May 15th, 1990 in Dryden, ON.

England

Agnes Leblanc

Shortly after this picture was taken he was up on the barn roof and he fell off. he had passed away

James and Mary Louisa Spalding

on their wedding day

James and Mary Louisa Spalding many years later

Left: William Wintersgill taken before 1919

Center: Elizabeth Cooke taken before 1942

Right: Joseph & Louise Wintersgill taken around 1949

Manitoba

Quebec (along with England) has a lot of old family history. I had to do some digging to find some of this information. I went through 20 boxes or so in my grandma's basement filled with old newspapers and certificates.

The last person to be in Quebec from my family was Marcel Roland Angers (my grandma's father). Marcel was born on June 3rd, 1924, in Montreal, Quebec. He moved to Dryden, ON where he met his wife, Phylis Elizabeth Wintersgill (born on November 13th, 1922 in Dryden, ON) and they got married on September 21st, 1946. Marcel worked as a consultant at the pulp and paper mill. He moved to Winnipeg, MB along with Phylis when he was 70 (approx.) and they both passed away in Winnipeg, Marcel on March 18th, 2000 and Phylis on August 1st, 2015. Marcel's parents are from Quebec as well, Joseph Alphonse Anger (Born July 29th, 1901 in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC) and Maria Alma Berthe East (born April 7th, 1903 in Barachois, QC). Joseph was the Bailiff of the Supreme Court for a portion of his life, but then passed away on January 22nd, 1972 in Montreal, QC. Maria passed away on January 7th, 1982 in Longueuil, Quebec. Joseph's parents were also in Quebec. His father, Adolphe Angers was born on April 6th, 1879 in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC and passed on May 11th, 1944 in Montreal, QC. Josephs mother, Rosilda Gaudette was born on April 5th, 1881 in Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, QC as well. She passed away on February 16th, 1959 in Montreal, QC.

Ontario (Cont'd)

Manitoba is the province where both my mom's and dad's side connected. They both moved here relatively at the same time and a lot of close family (grandparents and great-grandparents) were born here. This is a very important point in my family's (most recent) history.

In 1984, my mother, Crystal Lee Ayers moved to Selkirk with her mom (my grandma), Deborah Ann Sitka, and in 1985, My father, Leonard Roland Leblanc moved to Lockport with Marabeth and Robert (and other siblings). My mother and father met in Selkirk in 1995 and had me on July 10th, 2000 in Winnipeg, MB. They got married in September 2004 and through that my mother changed her last name to Leblanc. They divorced on July 28th, 2013 and my mother kept the name Leblanc. My great-grandma, Adeline Violet Ivaniski, Born on July 3rd, 1942 in Gypsumville, MB and moved to Selkirk when she was 15 to go school to become a psychiatric nurse. Her husband (My great-grandpa), Ronald Walter Sitka was born on June 7th, 1940 and moved to Selkirk in because the mine he was working at shut down so he went to Selkirk to look for a job. They met in 1959 and got married in 1960 and have been married ever since.

England is a place with a lot of old history. which meant a lot of digging and listening to everyone reminise about the old days.

I have family from england dating back to my great-great-great-grandparents, James Spalding and Mary Louise James. James Spalding was born on October 24th, 1877 in Bottisham, Yorkshire, England. He worked as a bricklayer. He passed away in an unusual way. On March 30th, 1961 (he was living in Ontario), James complained of poor bowel movements and since they didn't have the proper medicine, they put him on a train, in the baggage car because he had to be laying down, and sent him to Winnipeg, MB, specifically Deer Lodge hopital. He sadly passed there. Mary Louise James was born on January 7th, 1874 in Wales, England. She moved to Welland, ON with her husband. Before he passed away, Mary louise also had an unusual demise. On June 1st, 1942, she was running to catch a bus when she had a heart attack and passed away in the middle of the street. I have another set of 3rd great-grandparents form england, William Wintersgill and Elizabeth Cooke. I dont have as much information on them as I do James and May louises, however, William was born in 1843 (no exact date found) in Marsden, Yorkshire, England and passed on Marh 16th, 1919 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. Elizabeth Cooke was born in 1866 in Bradford and passed away in November of 1946 in Bradford. They got married on August 4th 1888 and stayed married.

Ontario

There are a lot of journal entries from Roland that helps give insight as to what life was like back in the 1930's; " I remember, when I was 12 years old, going sliding in a field with a huge hill, passed the tracks in Field, Ontario. My brothers and I would bring our dog (Collie) sliding with us. We used a wooden sleigh and we would take our mother’s wash tub for the dog. Collie would slide down the hill in the wash tub and then bring the sleigh back up. The next day our mom took the wash tub out to do laundry and Collie jumped in it and wouldn’t get out". There's also another journal entry from September 1950 "I had an accident at work and I lost three fingers on my left hand. It was 100% manufacturers fault. I was brought to the old Hospital where Dr. Harvey operated on my fingers. I was then transferred to the new Hospital. I took the settlement the paper mill offered me. I received $1455.00". Roland Anatole Leblanc passed away on January 26th, 1993 in Elliot Lake, ON, but his story will definitely live on.

One final interesting story about my grandfather's great-grandpa, Regis Leblanc. He was born in June of 1832 in Quebec. He was a stone mason and he passed away when he was 69 (on May 9th, 1901) in Ottawa, ON. He was in Ottawa with his son, Agnas Leblanc (Born May 15th, 1873, Passed away on April 17th, 1935 in Field, ON) for a job the city wanted him to do. Regis and his son were saying at a hotel and one night it caught fire. Regis passed away helping people out of the building. There's a newspaper article about him in a 1901 newspaper.

My father was born on October 25th, 1981 in Red Lake, ON. His mother and father, Marabeth Ruth Angers (Born January 21st, 1952 in Dryden, ON) And Robert Roland Leblanc (Born June 4th, 1950 in Espanola, ON) got married on January 24th, 1970 in Dryden, ON and as a result, Marabeth changed her last name to Leblanc. The three of them moved, along with Marabeth and Bobs' three other kids (Elizabeth Leblanc, Robert Leblanc, and Jean Paul Leblanc), to Ear Falls, ON in 1980, then to Lockport in July 1985.

My Great-Grandfather, Roland Anatole Leblanc (Robert's father), was born in Field, ON on September 15th, 1918. He got married to Rita Adelina Lachapelle on May 16th, 1942, then divorced in 1972, but not before they had my grandpa, Robert. His ex-wife, Rita Adelina Lachapelle was born on June 2nd, 1925 in Quebec and is still alive. In 1947, Roland moved to Espanola, ON and got a job working in the Espanola paper mill. In a journal entry, Roland wrote (originally in french) "1947- Our family is now moved to Espanola, Ontario. I am now twenty-nine years old and have started working at the paper mill. I worked on the chipper/pulp grind department and the forklift. Now I can afford my first car." His first car ended up being a 1938 Ford.

Minnesota, USA

This is an important part of my family history because it's where my mother comes from and I have some family (cousins, aunts and uncles) that live in the states. My father's side doesn't connect to the states in any way that I could find, yet, this is still a part of my history because it does lead to me through my mother.

My mother was born on December 2nd, 1980 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA. Her mother and father, Deborah Ann Sitka (born September 2nd, 1960 in Selkirk, MB) and Rick Dake Ayers, (born July 25th, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) got married on September 6th, 1980 and the divorced in 1984. The same year, Crystal and Deborah moved to Selkirk, MB, where Deborah got re-married to Burt Pomeransky (Born December 29th, 1960 in Winnipeg, MB) on August 15th, 1998 and changed her last name to Pomeransky, they are still married.

Leblanc Family History

Amora Leblanc