Euphemie Sophronie (Moisan) Lepage (1845 - 1929)

Born 31 Aug 1845 in Saint-Jacques, Quebec, Canada

Ancestors

Wife of Israel Lepage — married 6 Feb 1866 in Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan, Montreal, Quebec

Descendants

Died 12 Sep 1929 at age 84 in Verner, West Nipissing, Nipissing, Ontario, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Irene LaPrairie [send private message] and Gilberte Renaud [send private message]

Biography

Euphemie Sophronie Moisan was born 30 Aug 1845 in Saint-Jacques, Lanaudiere Region, Quebec. She was the daughter of Louis Moisan & Eulalie nee Racette. ^[1][2]

Marriage

Euphemie married Israel Lepage February 06, 1866, in Saint Jacques L'Archigan. ^[3]

Children

Known children include 8 daughters and 2 sons - one of the sons died as infant in Massachusetts, name unknown.

1. Celina Lepage 1866-1951- spouse Pierre Fortin
2. Delia Lepage 1869-1948 - spouse Georges Bouchard
3. Louisia Lepage 1870 - spouse Francois Turgeon M-1900
4. Parmena Lepage 1871-1954 - spouse David Gauthier
5. Olivina Lepage 1873 - spouse Jean Baptiste Couturier
6. Delvina Lepage 1876-1957 - spouse Joseph Miron
7. Lumena Lepage 1878-1956 - spouse Edmond Miron
8. Alexina Lepage 1885-1976 - Spouse January Miron
9. Hormidas Lepage 1888- spouse Rhea Grandchamps

DEATH of Spouse, Israel Lepage, May 25, 1925, age 78, Verner, Ontario, Canada

Death

Euphemie died September 12, 1929, age 84, Verner, Ontario, Canada. The cause of her death was a cerebral haemorrhage. Both Euphemie and her husband are interred in Verner Cemetery, Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada.

Research Notes: "The Travelling Mothers: Euphemie Moisan and her Daughter Celina Lepage" Written by Robert Beruby, Genealogy of and their Stories^[4]
"Around 1877, Euphémie Moisan and Israël Lepage, accompanied by their daughters, had left Saint-Jacques like many Quebecers of the time and ventured to Massachusetts in order to survive. They were economic refugees and life in the United States for this family was no easier than it had been in Quebec. The Moisan-Lepage family lived in the United States for ten years. The living conditions were very difficult and in the factories the work was even more dangerous. In addition, one of the mills had burned down and several people had perished. The lack of financial and physical security, isolation, pressure from the clergy to repatriate the exiles were the main reasons that motivated their return to Canada. A monumental odyssey awaited them, as the family returned to Canada, but not to Quebec. They were becoming pioneers of a new colony in northern Ontario. They were leaving a modern American city, in the midst of the industrial revolution, to live in a country where there was only a small population. In a way, they became the first inhabitants in a vast and remote territory with a profusion of lakes, little cultivable land, immense forests and mosquitoes the size of rats. Everything was to be discovered. Everything had to be built. A future was dawning.

The American census of 1880, revealed to me that the Moisan-Lepage family lived in Chicopee Hampden in the State of Massachusetts. Israel (33) and her daughters Célina (16) and Délia (15) worked in a 'cotton mill', a cotton weaving factory. The sisters Louisia (11 years old), Parmélia (9 years old) and Wivina (Ouivina) (7 years old) attended school and the two youngest Malvina (4 years old) and Lumena (2 years old) lived at home. A final daughter Alexina was born in Massachusetts after the census. A son was born and he died shortly after birth. In the document Israel's wife is named “Molzer” (34 years old) and her role was “keeping house” so she was the homemaker. This first name was foreign to me and it fascinated me. I saw no phonetic connection between Euphémie and Molzer. It was only by leafing through the document further that I noticed that almost all the wives from French Canada bore the name Molzer. A mother in English is “mother”. Admittedly, the census taker misunderstood the French accent and all the "mothers" inherited the first name Molzer. Our good Euphémie Moisan had been Americanized and was statistically transformed into “Molzer Lepage”.

A second document found was a compendium of history produced by the Société historique du Nouvel-Ontario entitled "Verner and Lafontaine". It says there:
“Great commotion in the colony. MI Lepage arrived with her eight daughters. Eight girls in a settler parish. So many marriages in perspective…” The columnist forgets to mention the fact that Mr. I. Lepage and his eight daughters were also accompanied by his wife and their mother Euphémie Moisan. Having experienced the transformation of her name, the poor woman was now relegated to oblivion. Such is the fate of many of our pioneers on North American soil. History is unfair to our mothers! The arrival of the Moisan-Lepages in colonization territory took place in 1887. No one has described the precise route and the challenges faced by this family when they left Chicopee Hamden, Massachusetts to go to Verner, Ontario. . I suspect that from Chicopee Hamden they went to Montreal and then they got on a train on the Trans Canada line to North Bay, then Meadowside. What is said however is that they arrived during the night and that there was no hotel, no house, no family waiting for them. The train stopped about twenty kilometers from their final destination at a place now called Meadowside located on Lake Nipissing near North Bay. The last part of their journey is almost unbelievable. The ten members of the family had to transport themselves, using two manual velocipedes on the tracks. (which explains my choice of photo as a frontispiece). The writer specifies that a neighbor “could only offer them the kitchen floor, which the Lepage family accepted with pleasure”. Every time I relink this passage I am very moved. The challenges they overcame show the harshness of a life of colonization and an inhospitable land,

In 1888, Euphémie Moisan gave birth to a son, Hormidas Lepage. A few years later, the eight Lepage girls found spouses and alone are the ancestors of a good part of the population of New Ontario. Hormidas also found a spouse!

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Moisan_Euphemie&pid=1682238&lng=en
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171078772/euphemie-sophronie-lepage
3. ↑ https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Moisan_Euphemie&pid=1682238&lng=en
4. ↑ Family Information - [1]

See also:

• [2]