Jean J Belliveau (1831 - 1916)

Born 20 Feb 1831 in Belliveau Village, Memramcook, Westmorland, New Brunswick

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Émilie (Lafrance) Belliveau — married 31 Jan 1858 in Memramcook, Westmorland, New Brunswick

Descendants

Died 8 Oct 1916 at age 85 in Moncton, Westmorland, New Brunswick, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Mike Belliveau [send private message]

Jean Belliveau is a descendant of an Acadian

Biography

Jean Belliveau is the descendant of a Huguenot emigrant.

Jean J. Belliveau was a teacher for many years and a merchant and farmer in Memramcook, and then a railway clerk for the Intercolonial Railway (ICR) in Moncton. ^[1]

Jean J. was born on February 20, 1831 ^[2] in Belliveau Village, the youngest son and seventh of nine children of Jean Belliveau and Anne Bourque.

Located on the eastern shore of the Petticodiac River, Belliveau Village was founded by Jean's great-grandfather Pierre dit Piau Belliveau who escaped Le Grand Dérangement with his family in 1755 and survived the Seven Years War (1756-1763). ^[3]

According to the Provincial Archives: "in 1866 Belliveau-Village was a farming and fishing settlement with approximately 91 resident families, including 24 Belliveau, 15 Bourgeois and 24 White (LeBlanc) families. In 1871 it had a population of 200. In 1898 Belliveau-Village had 1 post office (open from 1853 to 1953), 1 store and a population of 250. By 1904 the population had increased to 350."^[4] Belliveau Village eventually became part of the Town of Memramcook. ^[5]

On January 31, 1858, Jean and Marie Émilie Lafrance were married at Saint-Thomas-de-Memramcook Church by Father François-X-S Lafrance, her uncle. Jean was twenty-six years old and a merchant; she was seventeen. The wedding was witnessed by her father Charles Lafrance and Rebecca Weldon. ^[6]

They met sometime after October 1, 1854, when Émilie arrived in Memramcook with her brother and parents. Her father Charles, a professor, was the head teacher at Séminaire Saint Thomas, ^[7] , one of the first French-language colleges in Acadia, which was founded in 1852 by his brother, François-Xavier-Stanislas Hianveu dit Lafrance, the abbé of the Parish of Saint-Thomas. ^[8]

In 1855, Father Lafrance completed the interior of the magnificent stone church of Saint-Thomas-de-Memramcook, which stands on a hill in the village of Saint Joseph overlooking the eastern side of the Memramcook River valley, and presided over its consecration on August 15, 1856. ^[9]

The union of Jean and Émilie produced thirteen children over the next twenty-three years:

1. Eugénie Émilienne (1858-1936)
2. Marie Joséphine (1860-1864)
3. Marie Célina (1862-1863)
4. Charles Edmond (1864-1951)
5. Marie Joséphine (1866-aft 1911)
6. Camille H (1869-1935)
7. Arthur Joseph (1870-aft 1891)
8. Henri Joseph (1870-1952)
9. Marie Elvina (1873-1916)
10. Louis Joseph Oscar (1876-bef 1881)
11. Louis Stanislas (1878-1918)
12. Joseph Alfred (1881-bef 1891)
13. Marie Héloïse (1881-aft 1911)

In 1861, Jean worked as a trader and lived with his wife and two daughters, toddler Eugénie and baby Joséphine. ^[10] They probably lived in Belliveau Village, home to the family for nearly one hundred years.

Tragedy struck when they lost two daughters. Célina was less than two months old when she died in 1863. Joséphine (the first of two with that name) passed away before her fourth birthday in 1864.

Jean must have made frequent business use of the original Belliveau Village Wharf, which was destroyed in a spring freshet in 1869. The historic wooden wharf was rebuilt in 1888 and still stands today against some of the highest tides in the world. ^[11]

In 1871, Jean was a farmer. He could read and write as could his wife. They lived with their six kids, including toddler Camille and the twin babies, Henri and Arthur. Eugénie, Edmond and Joséphine (the second of that name) were all going to school. Émilie's parents also lived with them: Charles, born in Québec, was still a teacher. His wife, Pélagie Doucet, who was born on Prince Edward Island, was unable to read or write. ^[12]

Ten years later, two more children had joined the family and in-laws, Elvina and Stanislas, and they had lost another, Louis Joseph Oscar, to an early death. Eugénie, the oldest, had left home after marrying Lucien Bourque in 1878 at age twenty. Seventeen-year-old Edmond was still attending school, as were four of the younger children, but not fourteen-year-old Josephine. Charles was still a professor at age 63. ^[13]

In June 1881, Jean must have attended the first National Acadian Convention held at nearby Collége Saint-Joseph where Charles likely taught. More than 5,000 attendees heard 100 speakers, and launched the Acadian renaissance. Resolved that week was the adoption of the Acadian flag, August 15th as a day of remembrance and celebration, and Our Lady of the Assumption as protector of all Acadians. ^[14]

In December of 1881, the last of their children, a second set of twins, Alfred and Héloïse, were born and baptized in Memramcook. In about 1885, Jean moved the family from the small rural homestead in Belliveau Village to the fast-growing urban environment of Moncton, ^[15] presumably attracted by a good salaried position as a railway clerk with the new Intercolonial Railway of Canada (ICR).

A provincial directory from 1889 listed a John Belliveau, Clerk I.C.R., with a home at 22 Robinson South, a location between historic Main Street and the Petticodiac River. He was one of six Belliveau's listed for Moncton, four of whom worked for ICR with five living near one another on Robinson Street. ^[16] Moncton, the "Hub City", had experienced an economic renaissance since the ICR located its headquarters and locomotive shops there in 1871. The railway boom spurred population growth that led to the incorporation of Moncton as a city in 1890. ^[17]

In April 1891, Jean and Émilie lived in Moncton with their eight children, including the widowed Eugénie and her five young ones aged four through twelve. Alfred had died before this tenth birthday. There were six wage earners in the family: Jean as a railway clerk, 27-year old Edmond as a brakeman, 22-year old Campbell (Camille) as a machinist, the 20-year old twins, Henri the barber and Arthur as a cotton spinner, and Eugénie as a school teacher. The entire family could read and write, except the two youngest grandchildren. ^[18]

By 1896, the provincial directory listed three Belliveau's at 22 Robinson Street, Moncton. John was still an I.C.R. clerk. His son Campbell H (Camille) was a machinist, and a Miss Marie Belliveau, a dressmaker, boarded there too. ^[19]

In 1898, Moncton "was a port of entry, a railway, commercial and manufacturing centre, and headquarters for the Intercolonial Railway and the Moncton and Buctouche Railway with several public buildings, an opera house, 1 post office, 1 foundry and machine company, 1 cotton mill, 1 machine shop, 1 grist and flour mill, 2 planing mills including sash and door factories, 2 steam sawmills, 1 shingle mill, 1 hay press factory, 3 carriage factories, 1 barrel factory, about 100 stores, 3 hotels, 10 churches and a population of 10,000." ^[20]

At age 70, Jean still worked full-time as a clerk for ICR, earning $660 in 1901, more than any of his immediate neighbors. Although French was his mother tongue, his English-speaking ability was undoubtedly an asset in his employment and engagement with the dominant culture of New Brunswick. He lived in Moncton with his wife Émilie, son Camille and their 19-year old daughter Louise (Héloïse), all of whom were also bilingual. ^[21]

Before 1911, Jean had bought a home at 30 Fleet Street in the Downtown neighborhood of Moncton. By age 80, he had retired from ICR. The previous year he was self-employed for more than 5 weeks, earning perhaps $365. He held a $1,000 life insurance policy and $21 in accident insurance, for which he paid $12. Jean lived with his wife Émilie, son Camille who worked as a clerk for ICR, daughter Elvina who was a music teacher and her two children - 14-year old Florence Roy and baby Jane Roy, and his daughter Louise (Héloïse). The family commonly spoke both French and English. ^[22]

They probably attended St. Bernard's Church, located about seven blocks away. Built between 1887 and 1891, this Gothic Revival freestone church served the first Roman Catholic parish in Moncton, and was the first masonry church to be constructed in the city. ^[23]

Jean J. Belliveau passed away on October 8, 1916 in Moncton, New Brunswick at the age of 85. ^[24] A beautiful headstone marks the burial site of Jean and Émilie (who died in 1922) in the Saint-Thomas de Memramcook Catholic Cemetery, behind the church where they were married nearly sixty years earlier. ^[25]

Sources

1. ↑ Placide Gaudet (1905). Acadian Genealogy and Notes, Famille Belliveau, Appendix III-A, Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the year 1905, Volume II.
2. ↑ 1901 Census of Canada. Census Place: Moncton, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Page: 7; Family No: 51. Ancestry.com [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2004. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.
3. ↑ Placide Gaudet, Acadian History, Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, July 18, 1922. Source: La Societé Historique Acadienne, le 30iéme Cahier, Vol. III, No. 10, January, February, March 1971.
4. ↑ New Brunswick, Canada. Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Belliveau-Village. (Accessed April 30, 2021).
5. ↑ Acadie. New Brunswick > Memramcook - the cradle of New Acadia. (Accessed October 15, 2023.)
6. ↑ Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. New Brunswick, Canada, Marriages, 1789-1950. [online database]. Ancestry.com. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry Operations Inc. 2017.
7. ↑ Ph.-F Bourgeois (1913) Vie de l'abbé François-Xavier Lafrance. Librairie Beauchemin, Limitée: Montréal, Canada. (Accessed October 16, 2023.)
8. ↑ University of Toronto/Université Laval, Canadian Dictionary of Biography, LAFRANCE (Hianveu. dit Lafrance), FRANÇOIS-XAVIER-STANISLAS, Volume IX (1861-1870). (Accessed October 16, 2023.)
9. ↑ Parks Canada, Canada's Historic Places, Saint-Thomas-de-Memramcook Church. (Accessed October 15, 2023.)
10. ↑ Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1006. [online database]. 1861 Census of Canada. Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2009.
11. ↑ Parks Canada, Canada's Historic Places, Belliveau Village Wharf (Accessed October 16, 2023.)
12. ↑ 1871 Census of Canada. Year: 1871; Census Place: Dorchester, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Roll: C-10392; Page: 32; Family No: 94. [online database.] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2009.
13. ↑ 1881 Census of Canada. Year: 1881; Census Place: Dorchester, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Roll: C_13183; Page: 26; Family No: 107. [online database.] Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2009.
14. ↑ Groundspeak, Inc. Waymarking.com. First National Acadian Convention - Memramcook, NB (Accessed October 17, 2023.)
15. ↑ Death certificate for Émilie Lafrance Belliveau.
16. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. McAlpine's New Brunswick Dierctory for 1889-1896. St. John, N.B., Halifax, N.S.: D. McAlpine & Son. (Accessed October 17, 2023.)
17. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. Moncton. Wikipedia Foundation. (Accessed May 1, 2021.)
18. ↑ 1891 Census of Canada. Year: 1891; Census Place: Moncton, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Roll: T-6306; Family No: 49. [online database.] Ancestry.com. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2008.
19. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. McAlpine's New Brunswick Directory for 1896. St. John, N.B., Halifax, N.S.: D. McAlpine & Son. (Accessed October 17, 2023.)
20. ↑ Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Place Names of New Brunswick: Where is Home? New Brunswick Communities Past and Present, Moncton. (Accessed October 17, 2023.)
21. ↑ 1901 Census of Canada. Year: 1901; Census Place: Moncton, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Page: 7; Family No: 51. [online database.] Ancestry.com. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2006.
22. ↑ 1911 Census of Canada. Year: 1911; Census Place: 45 - Moncton, Westmorland, New Brunswick; Page: 11; Family No: 103. [online database.] Ancestry.com. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2006.
23. ↑ Parks Canada, Canada's Historic Places, St. Bernard's Chuch and Rectory. (Accessed October 18, 2023.)
24. ↑ Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada. [online database.] Ancestry.com. New Brunswick, Canada, Deaths, 1888-1938. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.
25. ↑ Find A Grave, Jean J Belliveau, Saint-Thomas de Memramcook Catholic Cemetery. Memorial ID 259138500.

• Baptism : A digitized image of the register entry is available online at : https://www.ancestry.ca/discoveryui-content/view/282442:1110?tid=&pid=&queryId=b421c71d-00e8-4a8f-a149-12830045ed9d&_phsrc=lcd669&_phstart=successSource (accessed December 2023)
• Union : A digitized image of the register entry is available online at : https://www.genealogiequebec.com/membership/LAFRANCE/img/Tag/d1p_31081247.jpg (accessed January 2024)