History of Felix Toupin & Josephine Bissonnette
Felix Toupin
Born on March 13, 1872 and was baptized on March 17th by Father Moreau at the church in St. Paul de Chester, Quebec. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Toupin, a farmer, and Celina Garneau, of Ste. Anges de Ham, Quebec. His godparents were his grandparents, Barthélemy Toupin, a farmer, and Sophie Comtois, also of Ste. Anges de Ham.
Felix was the seventh of ten children, seven boys and three girls. His godparents could not sign the register at his baptism; like many others of the time, they probably had not had the opportunity to go to school. To earn a living they had to depend on their hands, their backs and whatever skills could be acquired on their small farms. Their cash income was from the wages in the lumber camps and the spring “drive” of logs on the river to the sawmills.
It was a rugged life. According to Felix’s recollections, his father was something of an entrepreneur. He would get a team of horses and a sleigh and contract to haul logs for the spring drive. It had to be done before the break up. This would account for his absence at Felix’s christening on March 17th.
The work was hard but not always rewarding. Earnings were small; at times Felix’s father was happy to drive the horses back in the spring, but if his estimates had been out, the lumber company kept the team and he walked out of the woods.
Felix’s mother, Celina, died on January 7, 1879 in Chartierville, Quebec, when Felix was six and had two younger brothers in the house. About six years later, his older brother Arsène and his wife took Felix with them to live in Manchester, New Hampshire. Felix grew up there, and began work in the area of Manchester and Concord, N.H. He also learned the trade of a blacksmith.
The industrial centres of New England attracted many French Canadians from Quebec. They found jobs and provided the industrialists with a plentiful supply of cheap labour. The wages were low, mostly piece work, ten to twelve hours per day and six days a week. They lived in French-speaking communities and worked for English speaking bosses. Their language reflected this influence, adopting many English words or expressions: “boarding house,” “factories,” “tenement” and “sidewalk” became part of their vocabulary.
Josephine Bissonnette
Born on March 2, 1871. She was the daughter of Jean Baptiste Bissonnette and Marie Roy. She was baptized in Ham Nord, Quebec. Josephine was the youngest of a family of nine children and grew up on a small farm. Not much is known of her childhood, except that she attended the little local school “du rang.” Daughter Lucienne Toupin had a song book and a grammar book from school in her mother’s name dated “1878.”
Josephine and two of her sisters who still lived at home decided to imitate the many other Québécoises of that era, and “go down” (“descendre”) to the States (as was the popular expression of the time). They found work in the cotton and textile mills of New Hampshire.
There were rooming houses in Manchester maintained by French Canadians from Quebec. On Sundays, get-togethers of friends were organized, with dancing (“guiges” and “danses à quatres”). It was at such a reunion that Felix and Josephine met. Josephine was a lovely young woman, and she chose well.
On February 13, 1893, in St. Augustin’s church in Manchester, N.H., Father Chevalier blessed the union of Felix, almost 21, and Josephine, almost 22, in matrimony. These blessings did not delay in bearing fruit, as the new couple had their first child, Willie, on February 7, 1894 in Concord. They were happy in their little American home. They could have stayed there, as many relatives did, but for an economic depression and unemployment. The family moved back to Quebec, where five more children were born.
Their first daughter, Ernestine, was born on September 1, 1895 in Ham Nord, Quebec, followed by four sons born in Chartierville, Quebec: Eugène on April 9, 1897; Alphonse on June 28, 1899; Ernest on April 25, 1901; and Theodore on August 9, 1902. A house was built on a small farm in Chartierville, about five miles from the U.S. border. Felix worked hard on the land while Josephine cared for their six children and the household.
As remembered in stories, the farm was not the best. The land was poor, covered with heavy growth of hard woods, oak and maples, etc., except where large rocks and bedrock protruded through thin layers of soil. They had two cows, one horse, a few chickens and perhaps one pig for meat. Again, wages in lumber camps and from the spring drive of logs down the river to the sawmills, along with the proceeds from the sale of milk and cheese supplemented the food they grew for themselves. In 1955 one of their daughters visited the old farm, which then had 55 acres under cultivation.
The promise of good and plentiful land on the Western prairies caused the young family to decide to join friends already established in the parish of St. Antoine in Saskatchewan. However, the call “Go West, young man” met plenty of resistance from both friends and relatives. They said, “We will never see you again.” For many of them, it proved to be true. Grandmother (Marie Louise) Bissonnette tried to discourage the dreamers. She reminded them of the hardships encountered when they opened up the area; comparing it to their conditions in 1902, she said: “You live like gentlemen ‘la canne à la main’” (carrying a walking cane). Felix related the story to one of his daughters years later, saying: “That double-bladed axe that I swung all day clearing the land was a “maudite canne” (some damn cane).
Felix left Chartierville, harvested in the area of Storthoaks, Saskatchewan, in southeastern Saskatchewan (just west of the border with Manitoba), and took a homestead in 1902 in time for harvest. He filed a claim on the southeast quarter of section 4, township 6, range 31, west of the first meridian. In March 1903, the family of eight arrived, having travelled by train to Redvers, Saskatchewan, about twelve miles north of the homestead. Joseph Bourget and his family of about the same size, friends from Eastern Canada, generously shared their humble sod house with them until their own home was finished.
Felix built a wooden house in the middle of the prairie, while many others still lived in sod houses. They were fortunate to obtain enough lumber to build the small home. The life of a pioneer was difficult. They had to fetch wood to heat their home by horse drawn wagon from Moose Mountain some 60 miles away. Long, cold stormy winters made the task very challenging. The nearest village of Redvers was 12 miles away. In the summer, the fleas greatly distracted the poor settlers. Nevertheless, despite the obstacles, they succeeded in cultivating and enlarging their farm, with the help of their sons as they grew to manhood.
The grandfather, Jean Baptiste Toupin, was able to file an application for the northeast quarter of the same section (4) of land, after the required three years, and later sold it to Felix and returned to Quebec. The farm was now half a section, 320 acres in size. The settlers cooperated to build roads, a school and a church in the community. The children attended school at St. Edmond.
Six more children were born in Storthoaks: Alice on June 3, 1904; Yvonne on October 18, 1905; Anna on April 14, 1908; Regina on November 30, 1909; Abel on March 30, 1911; and Lucienne on November 22, 1915. One child, Delina, born April 12, 1907, died in infancy after 12 days.
By 1913, they were able to acquire the southwest quarter of section 16, as well as a quarter on section 31. A new house was built, along with other buildings, a half mile from the village near the new C.P.R. railroad line (closed in 1976), grain elevators and school. It was there that the family was able to enjoy the benefits of their labour, learned to pray as one, and formed bonds that only death could dissolve.
In 1915 the settlers enjoyed their first good crop. It permitted Felix and Josephine, along with Willie, to travel back to Quebec and enjoy Christmas with old friends and family. Jean Baptiste Toupin died on January 16, 1916. He was 84 years of age. Ernestine cared for three week old Lucienne; she had helped to raise most of the children, working faithfully at her mother’s side until her own marriage. She was the only one of the children to have a traditional, large French Canadian family.
In Storthoaks, Felix served as school trustee, municipal councillor and on the church board. He and his sons were founders of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1923-1924. Josephine was busy with the family, serving meals for fourteen, caring for the sick during the smallpox epidemic, and still finding time to help the community and serve as a midwife for family and friends.
They continued to farm and live in Storthoaks until November 1924, when the couple decided to leave farming to the sons, and move to their new house in St. Boniface, Manitoba (the “city”), so that the younger children could enjoy a better education and attend high school. By this time, Willie was well established in implement sales and his general store in Storthoaks, purchased from the Joe Chicoine family. Eugène married and in 1926 moved to Cadillac, Saskatchewan to operate his own implement agency; at age 17, he had cared for the farm while his parents were in Quebec.
Ernest farmed the land until the family returned in 1929. Anna trained as a teacher in Regina, taught in various towns in Saskatchewan, and married and settled in Gravelbourg. Ernestine had married in 1917 and moved to Ponteix, Saskatchewan, where she and her husband had thirteen children.
The difficulties of the depression in 1929 caused the family to move back to the homestead in Storthoaks. Good times did not return until the Second World War. Only two children remained in the household: Lucienne and Ernest.
Alice took teacher training, joined an order of nuns, and later taught out East and in Gravelbourg. Yvonne married in 1929, and lived in both Quebec and Saskatchewan. Theodore also worked as a teacher for a few years. Alphonse farmed the original homestead, was a Wheat Pool delegate, married and later (1937) left Storthoaks to work for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Regina also trained as a nurse and later worked as a nurse in New York, returning to Canada in 1939.
Ernest continued to farm his land, and later also farmed the parents’ land after their death. Later, he left Storthoaks and moved to Montmartre, Saskatchewan, where he and Alphonse purchased the hotel. Abel took teacher’s training in Brandon, Manitoba, returned to Storthoaks to work in the family store in 1935, and in 1939 married and later worked for the Wheat Pool. Lucienne completed her schooling in Storthoaks, Fertile and Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan. Later, she moved to St. Boniface and worked for the telephone system.
By the 1940’s, the land was reinvigorated and once again became fertile. The preceding years had been hard, but Felix and Josephine had preserved their spirit of endurance and pioneer courage, which allowed them to withstand the lean years.
In 1942, some 40 years after their migration west, Felix and Josephine celebrated their Golden Wedding Jubilee. On July 8th, a wonderful 50th anniversary celebration was held, attended by all twelve children and numerous grandchildren and friends.
Here is an extract of the address given at the party, written by Abel (as translated from the original French):
“It took a lot of courage, in 1903, to leave “la belle province” for the vast plains of the western prairie, and venture to the homestead to build a house in the middle of nowhere. You were able to overcome the many obstacles. You enlarged the farm, built a new home in a more convenient location, and lent us your support in choosing and pursuing our careers. It was with this in mind that you purchased the St. Boniface residence in 1924. It permitted us to obtain more education. We the younger ones retain happy memories of those five years. It is regrettable that the years since your return to Storthoaks have not been more prosperous. The old spirit and determination of the pioneers have permitted you to survive these hard times.
It is a great satisfaction to know that you are always ready and eager to welcome us, and prepared to offer sound advice. The example you have set for us has been the best, and it is our hope that we will be able to raise our families as you did yours.”
Unfortunately, Josephine had a stroke the following morning. The following year, both of our ancestors died: Felix on April 3rd, and Josephine on August 18th, 1943. Yet their legacy lives on, and we honour them by remembering their sacrifices, their struggles and their love and devotion for family.
Les fermiers ont toujours été les rois de la terre et de la Liberté. Investir dans la vie c’est s’assurer l’avenir. (Farmers have always been the kings of the land and of Liberty. To put in the effort now is to secure one’s future.)
Written by Regina (Toupin) Sala, Abel Toupin and Lucienne Toupin following interviews with their parents, Felix Toupin & Josephine Bissonnette.