WATCH OUT MCDONALDS

Did you ever have an Auntie Mame? You know what I mean. The wild, madcap Aunt. The fun Aunt. 
I did. 
My darling Aunt Gertie. I hadn't seen her in many, many years but it seems like just last week she had me laughing my head off. 
She would make you put on wigs and act silly. She would drive like a maniac down the highway yelling at the top of her lungs "Watch out McDonalds" (taken from an old tv commercial) 
She would dress in the most....interesting ways and we always wondered what she would have on when she was coming over. 
Her sense of humour was quick and saucy. I can't even repeat here some of the stuff she said on here but I will tell those stories for years to come. 

So with a sad heart I say goodbye to my mother's sister more commonly known with love in our family as Dirty Gertie...rest in peace Widow Brown. 
Gertrude Champagne - March 24, 1928 to December 24, 2011  

ZEPHIRIN CHAMPAGNE

My grandfather, Zephirin Champagne, Metis. I find this to be such an odd photo and I don’t know why.

It would have been taken in Manitoba most likely but they did spend time in North Dakota.

HOW WOULD YOU SOURCE THIS?

I have this newspaper clipping for my Grandmother’s obituary. I don’t know where it came from although I would imagine it was from Windsor, Ontario where she lived and died.

So how would you experienced genealogists site this source? I can say it is a newspaper clipping but what else?

Octavie Carriere Champagne was widowed 14 years before she died.

Here she is with her eldest daughter, Denise. Denise went on to marry Pierre Lavoie but they had no children. Denise was widowed in middle age and never remarried.

MANITOBA RECORDS

I came across this site last night and it just goes to show you that you need to revisit your research over and over again. You never know what will show up. (http://www.shsb.mb.ca/paysriel/outils/frs-outlnk-voyageurs.html)

The site is in French but I read enough French to know that I have to get written permission to use the pictures on my site. You can copy them for personal use without permission however. 
I saved about a dozen photos of my ancestors starting with my grandfather Ziphirin Champagne. This is a different photo that I already had.

There were other photos of my great grand aunts and uncles. Many slightly distant cousins a few times removed. And also a group photo with the Metis Council. There were 4 or 5 of my family in that picture but the quality of the complete picture is very poor so I really can't see their faces. 
If you have family from Manitoba you should have a look on this site to see what they have in their archives. The following is the translation from that site:

This project was carried out thanks to l' financial aid of the government of Canada, by l' intermediary of the Public records of Canada and the Canadian Council of the files and l' Association manitobaine of the files like l' financial aid of Culture, Inheritance and Manitoba Tourism

MY GRANDPARENTS

I have always said it is easier to get information on my family members back in the 1700's than it has been for the 1900's.

My grandfather, Ziphirin Champagne was born July 28, 1876 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He married Octavie Carriere on May 21, 1907. He was 30 years old and she was 18, having been born February 12, 1889 in DeSalaberry, Manitoba. I have his date of death as September 11, 1944 in Ontario. This was before I was born. I cannot find a death date for her.

I have no recollection of my grandmother but I have a vague recollection of my mom and my aunt cleaning out her suite in an old house. I could be mistaken about that. I would have been about 4 or 5 years old. I recall hardwood floors and a bunch of 78 rpm records in an empty closet.

I have few stories about them. My grandfather worked on the railway for a time. He was known for his big hands and was a bit of a security guard on the trains tossing people off. Though not an educated man Ziphirin could speak English, French and Cree being of Metis heritage. My grandmother was apparently a rather unhappy woman but with 12 children that lived, at least for a while, and many more who didn't I think I would be miserable too. Too many mouths and too little food. It was a very hard life. One that was shared with many others.

My grandparents family lines crossed in many areas. They were first cousins once removed through Emmanuel Beaugrand dit Champagne, grandfather to Ziphirin and great grandfather to Octavie. They were also second cousins through two different lines. In total they are related 16 different ways that I won't go into here. It is a wonder that my entire family doesn't have two heads or something. 

LOUIS STORY

Image via Wikiped

My mother had 11 brothers and sisters that survived past infancy. There were several more that sadly did not.

One of her brothers, my Uncle Louis told me a story once about when he was just a little boy. Now I won't tell it the way he would have because as people have said to him "do we have to pack a lunch for this story".

The way I remember it was that back in his youth, around 1928 maybe, he was walking down the street in their home town in Manitoba. It was near Winnipeg, perhaps Transcona.
Uncle Louis looked down at the ground and found a nickel. That was more money than he could ever hope to have.

Oh my goodness what would he do with this fortune. He thought about it and thought about it. After all he has so many brothers and sisters. He went to the store and spent his nickel. He bought a can of sardines. Not candy. No. Simply a can of oily sardines. And do you know what he did with his treasure? Wrong. He went and hid in the attic and ate the whole can himself. You know what. I can't blame him. They lived in such poverty and this was his one selfish act to have the prize all to himself. To not have to share every waking and sleeping moment with the others.

Now Uncle Lou could have told this story much better than I could but then we would have had to pack a lunch and all the sardines were gone.

EMMANUEL BEAUGRAND DIT CHAMPAGNE

This isn't the usual type of photo one has of their relatives. My Great Grand Uncle, Emmanuel Beaugrand dit Champagne was one of Louis Riel's councilors during the North West Rebellion 1885.
(L-R):IgnacePoitras, Pierre Parenteau, Baptiste Parenteau, Pierre Gariepy, Ignace Poitras Jr., Albert Monkman, Pierre Vandal, Baptiste Vandal, Joseph arcand, Maxime Dubois, James Short, Pierre Henry, Baptiste Tourond, Emmanuel Champagne, Kit-a-wa-how (Alex Cagen-ex chief of the Muskeg Lake Indians) Taken Aug 1885, Regina, Saskatchewan by O.B. Buell. Taken from the Canadian National Archives.

The rebellion was a culmination of discontent of the Metis, Aboriginal and White settlers which had gone on for some time.In 1866 the government started the surveying of lands in and around the Red River Settlement. This of course became a source of tension. This was the Metis and Indians land and the government was coming in and drawing lines on it. Louis Riel spoke in August of 1869 to call the Metis to organize themselves against this.

The problems continued for some years with Louis Riel eventually suffering mental exhaustion which in 1876 saw him admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Quebec. He then went to the US where he became an American citizen in 1883.

There were several battles through the years. Duck Lake saw a skirmish between the Metis and the RCMP. Duck Lake was the only clear victory for the Metis. The Frog Lake Massacre saw whites and Metis in the community killed or taken hostage as sympathizers with the Cree led by Big Bear. Fish Creek, Cut Knife Hill, Frenchman's Butte were also unsuccessful for the Metis although the death tolls were thwarted by the ability of the Metis to retreat through the muskeg where the militia could not pursue them.

The Battle of Batoche was the end. For four days- May 9-12, 1885 less than 300 Metis and First Nations people led be a returning Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont sought to defend themselves from the troops.

On the first day the troops sought to attack by coming across the river on a steamer ferry. The Metis simply lowered a ferry cable across the river cutting off the smokestacks of the steamer and it floated downstream without power. They then defended their postitions with gunfire until daybreak. Over the next couple of days the gunfire was returned by the troops with bigger weaponry. The ammunition stores of the Metis were running low by this time.

On May 12 some of the troops attacked from the north drawing the Metis out of their rifle pits signalling to the remaining men to attack from their position. The winds were loud and on the side of the Metis and the remaining troops did not hear the attack signal and failed to attack on time. This was not enough of a setback for the troops however. A third contingent came in from the side and broke through the lines. The battle was over in minutes. The Metis ammunition was gone and they were firing nails and stones from their rifles. Louis Riel escaped with Dumont. Riel gave himself up and was later hanged. Dumont fled to the US.

This is how my Great Grand Uncle, Emmanuel Beaugrande dit Champagne ended up in the photograph above, in handcuffs and leg irons. He is I believe the second man from the right in the front row. He was one of the twelve counselors or exovede (latin: flock) of the Riel government during the North West Rebellion in 1885

Emmanuel and his family were enumerated in the 1850 census of the Minnesota Territory, in which Emmanuel declared that he was a hunter.He was born about 1823 in Pembina, North Dakota and died in Batoche, Saskatchewan September 29, 1904.He was married to Marie Letendre dit Batoche
In the 1854 treaty list of Chippewa Indians of Lake Superior and the Mississippi, he is listed as a mixed blood of the Pembina band who had lived at Saint Joseph (Walhalla, N. D.) for over ten years.

Emmanuel fought for his rights and the rights of the other Metis and it could have cost him his life and his freedom.

CARNIVAL OF GENEALOGY: Smile For The Camera

This post for the Carnival of Genealogy Smile For the Camera edition is a wedding photo of my grandparents Ziphirin Champagne and Marie Octavie Carriere. They were married May 21, 1907 in Manitoba. She was 18 at the time and he was 30, almost twice her age.

I was amazed at how many children they had. I know of 12 children that lived but was told by my mother of many more that did not. She stated that her mother was pregnant almost every year of her married fertile life with stillbirths and infant deaths mixed in amongst the living children. I doubt that on this wedding day she expected such a life but maybe I am wrong. Perhaps in those days that was all she expected.
We were at a wedding a couple of weeks ago. The happy couple are now off in Europe on a honeymoon. The differences between then and now are so staggering. 100 years and we can't even wrap our heads around the lives our ancestors led.
There were few honeymoons, no gift registries or openings that lasted half a day, no albums full of pictures of all the family in attendance, no videos.
If you were lucky there was a photo taken and if we are lucky it has survived the years and we have a copy to enjoy. Oh yes, and we have birth control.