Right: The old Desjardins house in Ste. Amelie some time after being abandonned.
History of Arthur and Adèle
Early Times
Adčle was born in Aubigny in southern Manitoba Her mother Celina Clairmont had died quite young, and grandmother was living in a convent with the nuns when she met her future husband to be. She married Arthur Desjardins from St. Pierre . Arthur was born in Eagle Lake Ontario on March 5, 1881 Arthur with his parents and some of his siblings had moved from Quebec to Ontario and later to Manitoba.
They were married in St. Pierre and later moved to Ste. Amelie later on where they raised a quite large family. Arthur used to work on the railroad getting on the train in Laurier, after driving to Laurier from Ste. Amelie with his horses.
According to mother ( on the phone: Jan. 23, 1999, Grandfather and grandmother previously had two house which burned down in Ste. Amele before the one they lived in where I went several times when small. The first house burned down around 1925, when mother was about 10 years old. The parents (with some of the kids/ or possibly not? had gone to church. Arthur the son, was baby sitting the other kids at home. It was in the afternoon. What happened in those days were that buckstoves used to heat the stove pipe going through the attic. The soot would accumulate in the pipe and fire would eventually catch in the pipe when enough of it accumulated. The pipe itself would get red hot, half melt or /and collapse and fall down and the attic? would catch fire. In those days the children used to go to school at Beaverdam. The house itself was located where the Durhoff farm or house is presently located. So grandfather and grandmother after church had gone visiting Josephat and Anysie Bonin who at that time lived where grandfather and grandmother lived when I was young. So the young Arthur, being used to rein? up the horses to the sleigh to go to school at Beaverdam, got the kids out of the house and put them in the large box that grandfather had built for the sleigh and left for the Bonin place? It was January, so it was cold. So it was important to place the kids where they would be warm. Or possibly, just waited in there at their place until grandfather and grandmother returned. The second time the grandparents and their kids moved into another house, the same place that the Bonins lived at, and the same place I used to go to when young. The second house was built of planks (boards) like the first one. It burned down in 1930 when mother was about 15 years old. The fire in the second house was caused by the same thing as in the first house. After the second house was burned, the municipality gave them or helped them built the third house, the log house where I used to go when young. The Bonins incidentally had moved to Prince Albert where their daughter Anysis (later Joubert) then lived.
(Arthur and Adele had a little corner grocery store in Aubigny. Adelard born in Ste. Amelie.
The first house was a little log cabin-Arthur built himself-axed to fit corner. A one room building about 14 x 20 ft. Adelard left the house when 8 years old . George Casavant took over the cabin from Ste. Amelie. Half mile East, 1 mile south, then one mile East from the place I (Andre) used to know, when we used to go to Grandpa’s.
When Adelard was 8 years old they moved to the second house, which was about one and-a-half miles East of the first place. They lived there for 4 years.
Third house-Then they moved two and one-half miles west and one mile south of the 2nd place. This house burned down around 1925.
Fourth house-Then the Boudreau place-straight East of Lecoque school –2 miles East of Lecoque. Lived there for 3 years.. Then moved a log house from East. Used to be Arsene Therrien’s house. Arsene Therrien used to live East of Grandpa’s place. Irene’s stepdad was a Boudreau. Irene’s dad was a Tourand, then her mother remarried a Boudreau. Ritchot’s-used to live there. Jos and Emond Richot –lived on the Ridge South of Ste. Amelie. The land NW quarter 32-22-14, was purchased from Anysie Pelland and Josephat Bonin. This house also burned down.
Fifth house was straight south-at Josephat Bonin & Anésie Pelland’s place. I.e. this was the same land as the fourth house, but the house was bought from Joseph Berthelete and taken apart log by log and the logs moved to the land and rebuilt there (Laurier/Ste. Amelie book) (Adelard says it was Arsene Therrien’s house, who used to live east of the place) (but it is possible that it was owned by Berthelette at the time? –my comments)
The family lived on sheep (wool), raising and selling cows-Pete Desjardins)
From what Adelard said (Oct-Nov. 1999-(Arthur Desjardins used to work for the Manitoba Telephone Company. Construction and erection of telephone poles and telephone lines.He did a lot of climbing. He had spurs for the job as well as insulators. He worked at this for awhile, i.e. for 4-6 years. He started when he lived in Aubigny. He then lived in Winnipeg before moving to Ste. Amelie. Uncle Alex stole a tricycle from a little kid (had borrowed it?) in the city of Winnipeg. Grandma Desjardins lost her mother and spent some time in a convent. She had lost her mother. She stayed there until she got married.
I remember the times when Dad would go with the horses. We were in the wagon, with clothes piled on top of us. One of my aunts said that they used to heat rocks and place them in the straw in the wagons to keep the kids warm. Sometimes it was very cold out there. Crisp and clear, but darn cold. One of my uncles used to pluck the guitar, singing some old Wilf Carter or Jimmie Rodgers tune or something else. There was the odd time I heard mother sing some old traditional French Canadian tune, such as "Les Petits Jailliens" or "Alouette, Je te plumerai", etc. Songs which were forgotten later on. In the North West corner of the house, was an old style grammophon, mainly with Wilf Carter songs. One had to periodically crank the grammophon, then it would play fast at first then slow down to a gradual drag when the spring wound down.
One event was the Saint Amelie picnics, with the cold water in the tank. People used to play baseball. In the evening it was time for the movie. Usually a Western, though this event took place more in Laurier, than Ste. Amelie.Jean Leon sometimes used to show up at home. They were from B.C. of course, a province where everyone would like to go.
Right: The old Desjardins house
in Ste. Amelie some time after being abandonned.
Notes on the Villages of Ste. Amelie and Laurier
Ste. Amelie is about 10 miles North East of Laurier. Beaver Dam is a small community (Hamlet) nearby.
Ste. Amelie is about 10 miles North East of Laurier. Beaver Dam is a small community (Hamlet) nearby.
Antoine Joseph