LOUIS LUCIEN PATTENAUDE, (Albert, Etienne, Jean-Baptiste, Jean-Francis, Jean, Nicolas) b 1846-05-06, St. Valentin, St. Jean, Quebec; d 1929-01-20, Detroit, MI, USA; m 1870-05-23, St-Joseph, River Canard (Riviere aux Canards) ONTARIO, DELIMA DROUILLARD, b 1856-01-16; d 1927-04-30.
12 Enfants (12 children)
***
The following is borrowed from Marge Emery's book, "Descendants of Louis Pattenaude and Delima Drouillard".
"The town of St. Valentine is located just south of Montreal in the province of Quebec. Like so many early "New France" towns, the church is built, given a name and the town adopts the same name.
The records for the church begin in 1830 when it was a mission and attended first, by the priests from St. Luc, then by the priests from St. Cyprian in Napierville. The parish was established in 1832. The original church burned in 1971, so only the new church is standing.
We [Marge and her husband Dennis Emery, Sr.] had the pleasure of visiting St. Valentine this summer (1992). We walked around the church and visited the old cemetery "out back" and noticed a lot of tombstones with Pattenaude engraved on them.
It was in this little town that Louis was born. he was baptized on the same day as his birth, 6 May 1846 at St. Valentine's Church, Quebec. I had often heard the story that he ran away from home at sixteen to join the Union Army in the United States because conditions were too crowded at home. I checked with the Archives in Washington, but there was no Louis Pattenaude. It seemed like another family story had gone amiss. When I decided to print this genealogy, I corresponded with many family members and when I wrote to a descendant of Frederick, (Frederick is a son of Louis) I was given a great gift, a part of the pension record of Louis from the Civil War. Louis had been rejected when he tried to enlist the first time because he was too young, (I estimate he tried to enlist at age thirteen or fourteen instead of sixteen). He enlisted the second time under the alias of Joseph Trombley in the 7th New Hampshire Infantry. I can now write to the National Archives for Louis Pattenaud alias Joseph Trombley's record.
The census, the city directories and church records are the only way that I have been able to reconstruct the lives of Louis and Delima after he left the army. It is sad, but it is a fact, that after three generations, there is no one left to tell a story or remember a face.
Louis was still very young when he came to the Detroit River Region. He had fought in a war, traveled a great distance to a strange place, found a bride, courted her and was married at the age of twenty one. Louis married Delima Drouillard, age fourteen, the 23rd of May, 1870, at St. Joseph's Church on the River Canard, Anderdon Township, Essex County, Ontario. Delima was born and baptized at St. Joseph's Church in Trenton, Michigan, 15 January 1856, the daughter of John Baptiste Drouillard and Adelaide Autin. At the time of her birth, her parents lived in Trenton, and they later moved back to the River Canard (canard is the French word for duck) in Essex County, Canada, during the Civil War.
Before St. Joseph's Church was founded, the parishioners traveled to Assumption Church in Sandwich or St. John the Baptiste in Amherstburg. The journeys were difficult because of the distance involved and more often than not, inclement weather made the small roads impassable. The treks were made by foot or by canoe and the more fortunate ones had a horse buggy or a sleigh. The priest occasionally visited the area to baptize, to marry, and to bury the dead.
The 1871 census of Anderdon showed that Louis and Delima have established their own residence next door to her parents. Their first five children are baptized at St. Joseph's, River Canard, the sixth child is baptized at Assumption and the next four children are baptized at the new Church of St.Clement in McGregor, which is also in Anderdon Township. Why did he transfer his loyalties so many times. Perhaps it was a status thing. He liked the idea of a new church. He also could have had a few disputes with the local priest. Frenchmen have been long noted for their volatile ways.
The 1900 census of River Rouge, Michigan, revealed that Louis and his family had moved to the United States in 1891. Their eleventh child Hilary Clement (Clem) was baptized in the new white frame church on Coolidge, Our Lady of Lourdes, on the 9th of March, 1896. One more baby was born and he also was baptized at Lourdes. George Harry was born 22 July and was baptized 24 July 1898. Unfortunately he died two years later.
Louis became a citizen on the 24th of July, 1896. His tour of duty in the army made him automatically eligible for citizenship. He lived at 19 Riopelle Street in the Rouge, which is now Pleasant Street. It was probably just a a few houses from Jefferson. My mother [Dorothy May Pattenaude Kukich] had been told he was a foreman in the salt mines and the 1926 city directory said he was a teamster. Louis executed his will after the death of his wife on 26 May 1927. He was unable to sign his name and formalized it with his mark.
Delima died at their home on 533 N. Sixth Street in Wyandotte, on 30 April, 1927. She was buried from Lourdes. Louis died a short time later at the home of his son Calixte in Melvindale, Wayne County, Michigan, 20 January, 1929. He was also buried from Lourdes and both of them are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Detroit after a long and fruitful life. |
