August Legacy

Railroad Man, Pierre Gagnon

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 03:46:00 +0000

In a 2009 interview with Roland Albert, former owner of the Men's Shop, I asked him to tell me about the oldest relative he could recall. He remembered his grandfather, Pierre Gagnon (aka "Pepere Gagnon"), to be a track supervisor on the railroad, and that he was always well dressed at family functions. Roland's sister, Jeanne, also recalled Pierre as the oldest relative when she was interviewed in the same year, but she remembered him as an older man living out his retirement years at Kinney Shores in Saco. Her image of Pepere Gagnon was of him doing something he loved: walking along the beach picking up driftwood logs to later use in the fireplace.

Diana and Pierre Gagnon in their later years.

Pierre Gagnon was born in the municipality of L'Islet, Quebec, Canada in 1863. He married Diana St. Pierre also from Quebec. Like many families in 19th century rural Canada, the Gagnons wanted to immigrate to another land for a better life. He set his sights for such a move at the very early age of 16 when he first entered the United States. The career he chose for himself would propel him to be part of one of the great migration movements of the industrial age. He worked on the railroads for over forty years in Canada, Maine and New Hampshire. The story told here comes with the help of a genealogist's gem of a find: a naturalization record containing an affidavit written in Pierre's own words and signed by him in 1935.

Maine Central Railroad General Office Building in Portland Maine, c.1920

The naturalization record states that Pierre married in Westbrook in 1886 and resided there while he was employed in the "section gang" for the Portland and Rochester Railroad. Hearing of higher wages being offered at the Maine Central Railroad in North Stratford, New Hampshire, he transferred to that site to work as a foreman. Soon after, Maine Central acquired a railroad in St. Malo, Quebec, and he relocated back to Canada. Pierre's wife and two daughters (Marie and Exilia, both born in Westbrook) were living in Westbrook during these transitions, but she joined her husband when he moved to St. Malo for his new work assignment.

Image taken from the online ebook:

The Official Railway Guide: North American Freight Service Edition

The census records of Canada show the increasing size of the Gagnon family; by 1901, eight children are enumerated. The family needed larger living quarters than what could be provided by rented apartments so Pierre bought a piece of land and built a residence. As the children approached school age, Pierre and Diana desired for them to be educated in American schools. In 1905, Diana moved back to Westbrook, Maine to enroll her children in the fall term. Even though a request had been put in to change job locations, Pierre would have to wait another three years before the transfer came through. During this time, he continued to work for the Maine Central Railroad in St. Malo, and visited his family in Maine every two weeks.

Signature section from the 1935 document

When Pierre returned to Westbrook in 1908, he would remain a Maine resident the rest of his life. All of his offspring including the children born in Canada would later marry and vote as American citizens by virtue of Pierre's naturalization. Two sons joined the Maine National Guard; one of them enlisted in the Army and served overseas. From the statements provided by Pierre in the naturalization document, a clear picture of his means and motivation for moving to Westbrook became clear; he lived and grew his family in St. Malo because he needed to be there for work, but he and his wife's vision were to have their children be raised and schooled in Westbrook.

Willey Brook Bridge in New Hampshire, circa 1906

Working on the railroads was certainly not a glamorous career, but an important one nonetheless; maybe even an exciting one in the sense of being part of a revolution that paved the way for fast and reliable transportation from and between the remote areas of New England and Canada. Pierre Gagnon lived a long and fruitful life, and realized his dream of providing a better life for his family.

Postscript: Thanks to David Gagnon of Denmark, Maine for providing a copy of Pierre's naturalization papers. The Maine Central Railroad images (and the NH bridge image) are all sourced from wikipedia.org. Another post on Pierre Gagnon appeared earlier on this blog.

The Art of Good Business

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Thu, 31 May 2012 02:37:00 +0000

The following story won 2nd prize in the first annual history contest sponsored by the Westbrook Historical Society:

The mills represent a large part of Westbrook’s history, but another part comprises the legacies of local businesses making good for its citizens. During Westbrook’s earliest days, the businesses of lumbering and blacksmith helped to make the town more inhabitable. It was a time “everything was done by hand...here by honest and hard work, a competence was acquired”. Local made products contributed to successful businesses in Westbrook, but a connection to the community was always a necessary ingredient.

The above image, courtesy of Maine Historical Society, shows two of Westbrook's early Main Street buildings: the Presumpscot House and the Brigham Block. This image is from 1880 but later the The Brigham Block would house Porell's and The Men's Shop.

A story about such a connection can be told by hearing about one of Westbrook’s successful, long-term businesses of the twentieth century. In the 1926 Directory of Westbrook, Gorham and Windham, there amongst the residential listings is the name of a clothing business that was founded only a few years before: The Men’s Shop. The three proprietors of the business were named as Hormidas Vincent, Auguste Albert, and Emile Thuotte along with its address as 874 Main Street.

The business would later lose a partner but my grandfather, Auguste “Gus” Albert, would remain at its heart and soul until his death in 1982. Over the years, The Men’s Shop never lost its focus on quality products and personalized customer service. Certainly, these characteristics held true for other long-term Westbrook businesses as well, such as McLellan's Department Store, or A. H. Benoit Co., where my grandfather worked as a clerk when he was a young boy.

The legacy of Auguste Albert’s salesmanship and personal connection to his customers was carried on through his son Roland, and later through his grandson Peter. Of course, there were other major players in the success of The Men’s Shop, but the Alberts may have been the key contributors for turning the business into a culture. The business acumen of Auguste and Roland were extended to the community with their involvement and leadership in the Westbrook Chamber of Commerce. Motivated by the pride I felt for my grandfather’s business and his standing in the community, I created a family history blog in his honor called August Legacy.

In May 2010, I was fortunate to sit down with Peter Albert at his home in Westbrook as he reflected on his twenty years of experience with the business. Three themes that emerged from that conversation could easily be themes that relate the stories of other businesses in Westbrook that proved the test of time. Quality products, knowing your customers, and adjusting to the changing local economy stood out as factors that led the Men's Shop to serve the residents of Westbrook for seventy-five years. In describing how the business thrived in the heyday, Peter gave a picture of Westbrook as "a close-knit town, everybody knew everyone, the shops on Main Street were busy, and people supported the downtown businesses".

Sources:

1. Karen Sherman Ketover (ed.), Fabius M. Ray's Story of Westbrook (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1998), p. 184-185.

2. Portland Directory Company. Directory of Westbrook, Gorham and Windham (Maine). (Portland, Maine: Portland Directory Company/Fred L Tower Companies, 1926), p. 172.

Clarifying the Albert Line

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 07:57:00 +0000

In an earlier post (Connecting Canada to France), the Albert's earliest ancestor was known to be Pierre Albert based on a genealogy book written by Gabriel Drouin. I have since discovered that information is apparently a mistake. As I trace the ancestry back from Ferdinand Albert (Auguste Albert's father), I see the line to be represented in the following graphic:

The Albert book written by Mr. Drouin did not include sources so I cannot confirm the lineage that he suggested. What I have confirmed is that Gabriel Albert did have a son named Pierre but the Drouin book references another Pierre Albert who came from Lucon area of France. I have seen no linkage of this Pierre Albert to our Ferdinand Albert. The Pierre Albert line described and highlighted in the Drouin book derived from the Kamouraska area of Canada, but we know that Ferdinand's ascendants (our correct lineage shown above) came from Normandy in France and Caraquet in Canada. What I believe is the spot in the Drouin book where the mistake begins is shown to the right.

Source: Acadiensis, Vol VII, 1907, David Russell Jack, ed.

Gabriel Albert's first son was Pierre and they both were among the founding families of Caraquet who received land grants from the British government. The image above shows an early map of Caraquet with the Albert names among the founding families of the town. The map also shows Caraquet Island where Gabriel moved his family to after the turmoil of the Acadian expulsion in 1755. Gabriel's second son was Jean Baptiste (see green arrow below) whose descendants included Ferdinand, Auguste, myself and the other Albert recipients of this blog.

A Life of Devotion and Education

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 04:35:00 +0000

Thanks to the documents provided by the Presentation of Mary Manchester Province Archives, we can know much more about the life of Rebecca Albert (1908-1996). As her grand nephew, I called her Aunt Rebecca but most people called her Sister Rebecca due to her chosen profession and service to the church. Her death and burial records recorded her name as "Sr. Rebecca Albert". She lived to the ripe old age of eighty-eight.

Rebecca Albert in 1930

Rebecca's childhood included a tragic life event - the loss of her mother to cancer. Like her siblings, she was raised by different relatives. In a recent conversation with her nephew, Roland Albert, he recalls that Rebecca lived with the family of an her aunt after the death of her mother. Upon graduating from grammar school at St. Hyacinths in Westbrook, she was sent to a girls boarding school in New Hampshire. The Diocese of Portland apparently provided financing for orphaned children to receive a Catholic education. Other Albert girls were sent to boarding schools in New Hampshire as well, including my mother, but only one went on to become a nun. In February 1933, Rebecca received her Profession of Vows and chose the religious name of "Sister Wilfrid-Marie" presumably to honor her brother-priest, Wilfrid Albert, whom she had a special affinity for. She took her final vows in the Order of the Presentation of Mary on August 15, 1938.

St. Marie Parish in Manchester, NH

The other lifelong passion of Rebecca's was teaching. Her teaching assignments detailed in the archive document shows she taught at nine different elementary and high schools from 1933 to 1987 which allays my concern of the numbers of schools I have taught at. Most years she taught at St. Marie High School in Manchester, NH. The subjects she taught were English, Writing and Art. She also taught writing skills to her fellow sisters in a college extension program.

In 1987, Rebecca retired to St. Marie Residence in Manchester, NH. She passed on March 23, 1996. Her life was devoted to God and education. Although I have not been able to confirm that she received a college degree, an obituary printed in the Portland Press Herald of March 26, 1996 reported that she obtained a bachelor of arts degree from the University of New Hampshire. In a call to the UNH Alumni office, she was not listed in the database.

Notes: Much of the information in this post was taken from a short biography written by Sister Gabrielle Messier, and the source of the Manchester picture came from Susan Bailey's website.

Westbrook Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:48:00 +0000

1912 Postcard of Bridge Street

What comes to mind when you think of the town that the Alberts and Gagnons decided to raise their families? Both these families were deeply rooted in the very traditions that shaped the city to what it is today - industry and businesses. The Alberts created one of Westbrooks longest and most successful businesses, the Men's Shop, Inc., of which I intend to write a longer story about. The Gagnons worked the mills and bettered their families in the process. Westbrook can also be remembered by its buildings. Remember the Star Theatre shown here and the old classic and westerns that were shown on its stage?

...and before my time, the theater had another history:

The Star Theater was built on the corner of Main and Central Streets in 1912. It hosted stage and minstrel shows until the advent of motion pictures when a large screen was built over the stage and movies were shown. Many a Westbrook child spent his or her Saturday afternoons at the Theater. Hubert Prior Vallee, later known as Rudy Vallee, worked as an usher here before going on to star in the movies himself.

Photo and text courtesy of Westbrook Historical Society and Mike Sanphy.

If you ever wanted to know the stories of the people of Westbrook's past, pick up a copy of "Remembering Westbrook" by Andrea Vasquez. I purchased a copy on Amazon. The book's cover is shown here.

The stories comprise many of the names that bare locations and businesses in the city today. For example, the man who founded the Dana Warp Mill, Woodbury K. Dana (1840-1924), overcame learning disabilities to finish school and also served in the Civil War. This man could have served as a mentor to my grandfather who would become a successful businessman in his own right. A picture of the Dana Warp Mill and Falls is shown below. The first school I attended in Westbrook, the Warren School, was named after Cornelia L. Warren (1857-1921). A woman born into money, she became very educated and influenced Westbrook by her philanthropy. An advocate of recreation, she even financed tennis courts for the city maybe even the ones I played on as a youth.

Dana Warp Mill

Source: epodunk.com

Westbrook became its own town in 1814 after breaking away from the area that was called Falmouth. The name originated from an early settler, Thomas Westbrook, who was also a mill worker matching the lasting image that the mills would provide for the town over the years. In 1871, the town's size was reduced by the formation of Deering which later became part of Portland. Finally in 1891, Westbrook became incorporated as a city.

The city seal of Westbrook above shows a ship said to be a rough sketch of the boat Colonel Westbrook used to travel to Maine. The armored boot on the top is copied from the Westbrook family crest of England.

Source of Bridge Street postcard image: Wikipedia

"Pepere Gagnon" 1863-1961

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:50:00 +0000

His affectionate name was "Pepere Gagnon". His given name was Pierre or Peter. Like a number of Albert and Gagnon family members, he lived to a ripe old age. See a photo of Mr. Gagnon with one of his daughters in the May 31, 2010 post on this blog. It was my discovery of a newspaper article at the Walker Library in Westbrook this year that interested me in writing this post. The article printed in the Westbrook American (page 9) on July 1, 1953 was entitled "Peter Gagnon Honored On His 90th Birthday". There was a picture of Mr. Gagnon holding a pet but I am not showing it here because its photo clarity was so bad. The caption said "Peter Gagnon with Freidi". I am assuming Frieda was one of Aunt Jo's cats. Mr. Gagnon's birthday party in 1953 was described as an open house at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Auguste Albert, of Oceanside Drive in Kinney Shores. Other information given was he was born in Canada on June 28, 1863 and moved to Westbrook in 1878.

The town in Quebec where Pepere Gagnon was born is called L'Islet-sur-Mer, a tourist village according to a website entitled quebecvacances. They also decribe the village as having its "lands caressed by the tides". This map provided by Google shows its proximity to northern Maine. Shown to the right is an image of the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Church in the town as it looks today. Pepere Gagnon may well have attended this church as a child.

The article goes on to say that Mr. Gagnon worked on the railroad for nearly fifty years. In a taped recording from 1990, his daughter, Bernadette, recalled that he was gone so often that he was like a guest in the house. She remembered as a child that he would bring gifts home such as tubs of butter or bars of maple syrup. In the 1926 Westbrook City Directory (pg. 127), he was listed as a foreman for the Portland Terminal Company. On Wikipedia, the Portland Terminal Company is listed as a terminal railroad and was known for its control of switching activity for the Maine Central Railroad. PTM's activities were vital to Portland's role as a winter seaport receiving Canadian products for shipments to Europe.

In doing my research for this article, I found a really cool 1930 map (above) showing all the railroad lines in New England. Mr. Gagnon worked on the Rochester, NH to Portland segment for five years according to the Westbrook American article. In a recent conversation with his grandson, Roland Albert said that he held a pretty important well-paying position for someone without an education.

Roland described the position of "track foreman" as one which led a team of about twenty men. These men worked on the section of the Maine Central Railroad between Portland and Standish. Hand cars were used by his men to maintain the integrity of the rail line.The last twenty years of his life he lived with his daughter, Josephine, at Kinney Shores in Saco. He was remembered as always being dressed formally, but my mother tells of times when he must have looked very informal: "He liked walking along the beach picking up logs of driftwood. He would then cut and prepare them for use as logs on the fire," thus the reason I posted a driftwood scene to open the piece.

Other guests who attended Mr. Gagnon's 90th birthday party included four daughters and two sons: Mrs. Ovide Harvey, Mrs. Albert, Mrs. Rocheleau, Armand Gagnon all from Westbrook, Mrs. Leon Casey from Philadelphia, and Edward Gagnon from Lewiston. Also in attendence: 35 grandchildren and 29 great grandchildren!

Source of the map: http://trainguy.dyn.dhs.org/bmrrhs/archives/system_map_c1930.gif.
Source of the hand car image: http://www.hobbylinc.com/~hobbylinc/htm/idm/idm1008202.htm.

Sister Rebecca Albert (1908-1996)

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 06:55:00 +0000

Pepere’s younger sister was a devout, educated and artistic person. In 1930, she was living with Pepere on Bridge Street in Westbrook as shown on the 1930 US Census. That same year in September, an article appeared in a local paper announcing she was to enter the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in St. Hyacinthe, Canada to continue her studies to become a nun. She was 22 at the time. Before living with Pepere, she lived with his sister, Mrs. Emmanuel Gallant (Antoinette Albert) on King Street in Westbrook.
Did you know there was a town in Quebec called St. Hyacinthe? It is located due northwest of Montreal. Below is an image of the town and its park taken from Wikipedia.

Sister Rebecca would later be transferred to Manchester, NH to continue her vows, teach and practice her art. She painted many pictures including a few images hanging over the piano at the home of Roland and Janet Albert in Westbrook. One of these paintings is shown in the Family Treasures post on this blog. The newspaper article goes on to say that she was trained in art at Coaticook High School in Canada where she graduated in 1929 as valedictorian. Later she attended the University of New Hampshire which was a real accomplishment considering that it was uncommon at that time for women to work on advanced degrees.

If you are an older Albert, what do you remember about Sister Rebecca? I remember visiting her with my family on regular visits to New Hampshire. For an older, seemingly sedentary person, she also had an animated quality about her. She was always asking me questions about my lessons and somehow she knew I’d become a teacher. Sometime around the age of ten, she gave me a book on Longfellow poems as a birthday present.
Note regarding source of the newspaper article:
The article was clipped and attached to a handwritten letter but did not include the date or the name of the paper. Since she was living in Westbrook at the time, I assumed it was a local paper - either the Westbrook American or the Portland Press Herald.

Family Visit to Maine - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:58:00 +0000

With the help of MaryAnn Albert, many pictures were taken during my recent trip to Maine of the former homes of the Albert and Gagnon ancestors in Westbrook.

These two families both moved to Westbrook from Canada in the early 1900's to work in the mills. Their residences were in close proximity to the mills for obvious reasons of having easy walking assess to their jobs.

Why did our ancestors emigrate to Maine? The best answer to this question would have come from our great grandparents of course, but we hardly remember what they look like let alone what they ever said about their lives. To get a sense why French Canadian families left their homeland, I studied a document from a website on Quebec history. There I found a paper called "French Canadian Emigration to the United States1840-1930" written by Claude Bélanger. He points out that many families left a traditional rural society and "entered an industrial world, alien to them by virtue of its way of life, language and religion".

What pulled people to move away from their traditional roots were the chances of more prosperity than what they currently had. Their traditional ways of life and religion were not left behind. Besides a strong work ethic, French Canadian culture of Westbrook centered around the St. Hyacinth Catholic Church and most of the children attended the Catholic school across the street until grade eight (shown above). Classes were held in French in the mornings and English in the afternoons.

According to Mr. Belanger, the population of Quebec surged in the time period from 1784 and 1844 creating a deficit of farmland. Even before the population growth, agricultural success was limited by other factors such as a short growing season and distant access to major markets. Surely working class families, like the Gagnons of St. Malo, also must have experienced the same economic downturn causing them to look to the growing industrialism in the states.

Genealogy involves research and even though it was not a priority on my trip, I did get to search for records, pictures and newspaper articles with Mary Ann at the Walker library and at the Cumberland County Courthouse land records office. Here she is locating a map in the Plats room of a Pine Point property that Auguste and Bernadette Albert transferred to Jeanne and Ray Lebel in 1959. Auguste Albert had so many properties bought and sold over the years that we grew tired from writing a list of the transactions.

Family Visit to Maine - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:45:00 +0000

This year I visited Maine in May which is a sweet time to go there - a little rain, a lot of sun and no muggy hot days! Besides spending time with family, I accomplished four 'family history' related tasks: hosting a picture party, interviewing two family members, taking pictures of ancestor's former residences and researching land records at the county courthouse.In this post, I will cover the first two accomplishments.

The picture party in which some of the Albert cousins were waiting to share family pictures -older than the 1980's- was a great success. They brought the family pictures to the home of Paul Albert in Westbrook, and here is where we hugged and laughed and reminisced about the fun times we all used to have together. Usually these experiences had a beach theme since our grandfather used to own two properties near Old Orchard Beach. If you go back farther to my mother's youth, many stories and memories center around properties my grandfather owned at another water location - Crescent Lake near Casco.The picture above is my mother Pauline as a young child sitting in front of the lake cottage.

The summers really stand out as special times for all the Alberts. Above is a comparison of the Pine Point cottage from yesteryear and the way it looks today. We are talking several renovations here.

Besides his family, there was nothing more important to my grandfather than his business, The Men's Shop. He started the store in 1923 with two other men (named in the caption below) and it lasted for nearly seventy-five years. This is a story I wanted to tell in more detail so I decided to do some research and interview his son, Roland, and his grandson, Peter, who both chose to carry on the business and together served some sixty years at its helm.

End note: Thanks to Claudia, Nancy and Pauline for providing numerous pictures for scanning and sharing with everyone.I highly recommend a picture party event for other historians and genealogists to try with their families.

Picture Party in Westbrook - an Albert Family Gathering

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:03:00 +0000

On May 8, 2010, more than a third of the Albert cousins gathered at the home of Paul Albert in Westbrook, Maine to celebrate family history and mingle in a comfortable setting with great refeshments provided by Janet Albert and the Bernie's girls. The cousins were well-represented from all families. Albert elders, Roland and Jeanne, were there to represent the oldest generation and Charles Albert (great grandson of Auguste Albert) was there to represent a younger generation. The picture below shows most everyone in attendance.

Front row: Becky Albert, Nancy Albert, Janet Albert, Claudia Gallant, Jeanne Lebel, Roland Albert.
Back row: Diane Bell, Peter Albert, Paul Albert, Paul Lebel, Susan Lebel Young, Craig Siulinski, MaryAnn Albert. Jim Siulinski is taking the photo.

Besides the obvious benefit of keeping in touch with family, an event like this one underscores the point that family history is not just about telling about the ones who lived before us. Family history is also about sharing stories and spending time with any and all family members regardless of age. What better way to generate stories than to take out old family pictures. Many of the pictures shared at the party were not dated or notated with details. Even without any picture details, we can tell that this formal picture of Ferdinand Albert, August Albert's father, is surely the oldest photo shown at the party. Upon further study, I will provide information regarding dress and culture of the time period in which Ferdinand lived. He came to maturity in the mid 1880's.

Of all the pictures collected, I am particularly fascinated in images of Auguste Albert's generation and before. Nancy Albert offered this image of another fifth generation family member: Pierre Gagnon, the father of Bernadette Gagnon Albert, shown here with Bernadette's sister, Josephine Gagnon Rocheleau. The picture was taken at a 1960 wedding at St. Hyacinth's Church in Westbrook, Maine.

Other photos scanned at the party were of Pine Point in the 1950's and Florida folks during winter visits. The experience of having family members gather to share and scan old pictures has spurred me on to create more blog posts to highlight certain pictures collected during the trip this month. By doing so, an opportunity will be provided for any family to offer feedback on the pictures by adding a comment at the end of the post or by sending an email directly to me. I look forward to sharing these photos with you all. Finally, a fun way to close my post is to show Diane's brush with fame:

Connecting Canada to France

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 06:58:00 +0000

If you want to know where in France the Alberts came from, then this is the post for you.
The Albert Family Book is a genealogy on Wilfrid Albert, but it also contains information on the area of France where the first Alberts came from. The book was written by Gabriel Drouin and delivered to Wilfrid Albert in March 1948. Gabriel Drouin was the son of Joseph Drouin, who founded the Drouin Genealogical Insitute (Institut genealogique Drouin) in 1899. The institute was for a while the most important company performing genealogical researches in Quebec.
The book is now in the possession of Roland Albert and safely kept at his home in Westbrook, Maine. I took digital images of all the pages last summer. Then I traveled to Lincoln, Maine to the home of my friend, Margo Kelly, who kindly translated the book orally. Margo is a French teacher at Lee Academy. Many thanks go to Margo for taking the time to translate this material during her vacation.

The genealogy of Wilfrid Albert is represented in the hand-written marriage records of the Albert ancestors. The above record shows the marriage of Ferdinand Albert and Georgiana Hebert, the parents of Auguste and Wilfrid Albert. Each marriage record in the book also shows the names of the bridegroom's parents and the bride's parents.

As you can see from page 29 of the book (shown below), the genealogy has been traced back to Pierre Albert with his marriage to Louise Grondin in 1702. If you notice, the name Lucon has been underlined by Mr. Drouin because it represents the dioceses in France where Pierre comes from.

Upon a google search, I found numerous genealogical references to Pierre Albert including one that calls him the founder of the Albert family in New France. The Roy and Boucher Genealogy site gives his birth year as 1672 and his birth place as Poitou, an area in western France. Lucon is the parish and Poitou is the region. In my few years of genealogy research, this ancester is one of the earliest I have found - Pierre was born 132 years before Napolean became Emperor of France!

A map from the Albert book is shown above pointing out the exact location of Poitou in France. The family tree mentioned above tells about an even earlier ancestor, Rene Albert, born in the same town as Pierre in the year 1650.

The Gagnons of Saint Malo

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:14:00 +0000

The parents of Bernadette (Gagnon) Albert, Pierre and Diana Gagnon, brought many children into the world. In the 1910 United States Census in Westbrook, Maine, we see the whole gang. Families this size were very common for French Canadians.

Of course, they would never know that having this many children would provide a gold mine for a genealogist interested in tracking family history.
So far, I have located four birth records from the group including Bernadette’s (shown below). Hope you know French…but to help out, Jane Lindsey from the California Genealogical Society provides a loose translation below the image.

30 march 1902 We the undersigned priest of this parish have baptized Bernadette Alexandra born the twenty seventh of this month, legitimate daughter of Pierre Gagnon, day laborer and of Diana St Pierre of this parish.The god father is Wilfred Lemieux? and god mother Delia Gagnon also of this parish of Saint-Venant-de-Hereford and the father has declared he knows the signer. -L E Gendron Priest

Peter and Diana Gagnon were both born in Canada in the 1860’s. Can you imagine being around at the time of the American Civil War? Of course, the Gagnons did not move to the states until the 1900’s. Their last record in the Canadian Census was in 1901.
While the Gagnon’s hail from Saint Malo, Quebec, the more famous Saint Malo is the one in France. It is a walled port city on the gulf of Saint-Malo, an inlet of the English Channel. A couple of interesting facts from this area of France: the founder of Canada, Jacques Cartier, was born in Saint Malo, and Saint Malo was a base for French pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries.

One of the neat things about writing a blog is choosing pictures to attach to text. In my writing, I like to relate time and place and try to connect the family context to the context of the larger society (family history to general history). One of the most fascinating achievements of Gothic architecture in Europe is located on the Gulf of Saint Malo - the Benedictine Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel - founded in 708.
The location of Saint Malo in Canada is one of the eastern townships of Quebec province. The website called Eastern Townships describes local residents living in an “environment of forests, farms, and waterways that supply their livelihood”. At 2100 feet it is the highest municipality in Quebec. The parish of Saint Malo was established in 1863, the same year that Pierre Gagnon was born, and incorporated as a municipality in 1910.

Here is a map of this town’s location and its proximity to New Hampshire. If you are interested in visiting Saint Malo, they have a harvest festival every August.
Sources for some text and pictures in this blog entry: answers.com, easterntownships.org, encyclopedia.com
The birth and census records come from ancestry.com.

Introducing the Ancestors - Ferdinand Albert (1864-1929)

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:58:00 +0000

Ferdinand Albert was the father of August ("Gus") Albert. He was born in Caraquet, New Brunswick (more information on Caraquet) and made his way to Westbrook to work in the mills like so many of our ancestors. In 1900, he was thirty-five living on Winslow Lane, and listed as a silk weaver on the federal census record. He worked at the Haskell Silk Mill, one of the foremost silk manufacturers in New England.

The Falls located next to the Haskell Silk Mill

"The business began in a wooden building on the west side of Bridge St., very near the falls as this photograph shows. The Haskell Silk Mill was the only silk mill in Maine and one of the oldest in New England. This was one of the industries that carried the name of Westbrook throughout the entire country and attracted an industrious population to the town." Quoted text and photo courtesy of Westbrook Historical Society.

Ferdinand emigrated from

Canada

in 1887 and married a Hebert in 1895. On the Albert gravestone, she is listed as "Georgienne H".

In a taped interview in 1990, Memere reported that Georgienne died of breast cancer at the age of 42 when Pepere was just 11 years old. Many years later, Mr. Albert suffered a stroke. Memere and Pepere became his caretakers. They were living on a second floor apartment on Cole Street in Westbrook at the time. It had four little rooms and was located across the street from St. Hyacinth Church. As the family got larger, Memere and Pepere decided they needed more living space so they bought a lot nearby to have a house built. In December 1927, they moved into the new house on Bridge Street, and had a bathroom installed on the bottom level to accommodate Mr. Albert.

Soon after the move to their new residence, Memere and Pepere made arrangements for Mr. Albert to live at the Marcotte Home in Lewiston, Maine, because it got to be too much to take care of him with four young children - Pauline, their last child, was born in September 1928. Mr. Albert enjoyed going to chapel and chatting with the other residents. He died a few months later of a heart attack having resided at Marcotte for six months. I am hoping some other pictures of Mr. Albert will eventually surface.
Pictured above: The Albert family headstone at St Hyacinth Cemetary in Westbrook, Maine.

Family Treasures

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Three family treasures have already been mentioned in earlier posts: the Wilfrid Genealogy Book from 1948, the Brookfield Clothing Award (a gold statue) won by Pepere around 1960, and the 1990 audio recording of Memere and Aunt Jo. By family members responding to this post, we can create an inventory of other valued family possessions. Two books in my own library were signed by Wilfrid Albert and passed on to me by Sister Rebecca:
The Poems of Longfellow, signed by Wilfrid on July 16. 1959, and
The Reader's Digest of Books by Helen Rex Keller, signed by Wilfrid in 1941.

Here are some additional family heirlooms:

1. A vase given to Memere as a gift from Wilfrid in the 1940's.

2. Painting by Sister Rebecca

3. A boudoir bench to hold dolls from Pauline's youth.

4. These hand carved statues were owned by Wilfrid Albert. Paul Albert provides some information about them:

One was sculpted in Switzerland from a famous school of sculpture and depicts a farmer representing one of his grandfathers. The other was carved in a famous carving school in Quebec and depicts a fisherman representing his other grandfather.

For family history purposes, the two items of most value by far are the Genealogy book of Wilfrid Albert and the audio recording done by Becky in 1990. Thank goodness we have a librarian in the family who took an early interest to preserve something like the voices of our elders. What else do we have out there to enrich our family's legacy!?

Reunions and Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:47:00 +0000

Besides the traditional Christian holidays, it seems the most special days for the Alberts were the Valle reunions. We would all meet at Valle's Steak House near the turnpike in Westbrook but I don't remember how often we used to gather. These get-togethers were always fun. Besides good food, we got to see all the cousins together in one place, and everyone seemed to be in good moods!

Today it seems we only get together when someone marries or dies with the exception of the Bernie Girls. Sue explains how the Bernie's Girls got formed (sounds almost like a singing group~!):

When Memere was dying--and in that nursing home at the very end, I told her I would make her a premise that I would keep the Albert cousins together---THEN, I backed up a bit after thinking that might be a bit much, so I said, "Well, at least the girl cousins. We'll meet every now and then and remember how we all grew up together. We'll call ourselves Bernie's Girls."
She laughed and said, "That'll be fun. I wish I could be there with you."
I said, "You will be!"

Albert reunions of the far past included summer trips to Limerick to visit Memere's sister, Marie. I retell the story from talking to Pauline: "We used to go have family reunions at the farm with all my mother’s family and all my cousins. They had a big field where all the food was laid out. Some of the guys played ball, and one time somebody threw an egg at Pepere as a joke but it wasn't received as such."

Christmas was a big holiday growing up. It was certainly more materialistic than it was religious for me. This holiday was the busiest time of year for visitors both family and friends. What about Christmas Eve - always fun huh? Here's an early Albert Christmas Eve story: Memere and Pepere went to midnight mass. Pauline spoke to Lorraine, “Has Santa Claus come yet?” She said, “Well, I don't know, let’s go down and peek.” So they all went downstairs and found all the presents were there. When Memere and Pepere came home, they found the kids playing with all the unwrapped gifts! Pauline remembers getting a doll carriage that year.

Sacred Ground

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 07:58:00 +0000

Last summer, Uncle Roland and I met to talk about family history of the Alberts. The topic of Pepere's business came up, I became very interested in the information that he was sharing with me. That meeting motivated me to want to write a larger piece about "The Men's Shop". Next time I am in Maine, I am hoping I can capture Roland's attention again to get a fuller picture and history of this once great family business.

The image below was taken from the 1924-25 edition of the "Directory of Westbrook" (page 204). It lists the clothing businesses operating at that time. Benoit's is the business where Pepere started working as a fourteen year old boy.

I remember when my brothers and sisters used to visit Pepere at the Men's Shop. It was like we were entering sacred ground. Even though we were kids, he'd always greet us like we were VIP's, and was always happy to see us! There was a time I worked in the backroom folding clothes but I hated it just like Pepere did when he first started working at Benoits. Like him, I preferred to be interacting with people.

When I asked some of my students the other day what their earliest memory was, one girl said she remembered ushering as a little girl at her church. She must have viewed going to church as a special place because of the importance her family placed on its role. We viewed the Men's Shop in the same way - a special place where the magic of selling and cultivating customers was going on.
Pepere was president of the Westbrook Chamber of Commerce for a time and around 1960, he received one of the most distinguished recognitions in the clothing industry - the Brookfield Clothing Award. The article shown here came from one of my mother's scrapbooks. The source is most likely the Westbrook American.

Centenarian Memere

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Photo collage by Bruce Siulinski.
Thanks to Becky who had Memere and Aunt Jo sit down in 1990, an extended conversation was recorded for posterity. This recording has allowed me to learn a lot about the early histories of both the Alberts and the Gagnons. Bernadette Alexandra Gagnon was born on March 27, 1902 in St. Malo, Quebec, just over the border of Vermont. She became an Albert on February 11, 1924 when she married Auguste Albert. For a perspective of something else happening in the year of Memere's birth: one of the coolest buildings in New York City, the Flatiron, was completed. The picture below is from Ardent Editions Historic Photographs and was photographed by August Loeffler.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Pepere stopped going to school at an early age and started selling clothes before he became an adult. The same is true of Memere...she stopped going to school at age 13 and began working at the mill when she was 15. She later changed jobs working the counter at a women's clothing store right next door to where Pepere was working and the rest is history!

Memere's parents were both born in Quebec but they met in Westbrook. Families like the Gagnon's and St. Pierre's came to Westbrook to work in the mills. Many underage offspring would go to work at these sites and their paychecks would directly support their families-as was the case with Memere. Osias Gagnon, one of Memere's brothers, actually died at the age of 16 from an accident at the mill.

I remember Memere as being sharp and stout. She had a kind of toughness about her. This quality of resiliency must have contributed to her becoming an a centenarian. She always showed intense care and love for her familly - nothing else was more important to her.
By the example of Memere's long life, it seems the longevity gene exists in the Albert blood. How many of you know that Pepere's sister, Antoinette Gallant, lived to 101 also? So...what contributes to a long life? Besides genetic predisposition, one's health habits certainly make a difference. What are your thoughts on what factors influence a long life? Please answer the poll on the upper right of the blog. Also, it would be great to hear of your stories and thoughts about Memere.

Pauline, Memere and Roland

100th Birthday Party and Reunion in Portland, ME in 2002.

Wilfrid - Brother and Priest

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:48:00 +0000

Last summer I visited and joined the Westbrook Historical Society located on the 2nd floor of the American Legion Hall on Dunn Street. I only spent a few hours in the society room but surely there are other family finds I have yet to discover there. Diane and Byron Dyer helped me search the files for any records from my family lines who lived in Westbrook: Albert and Gagnon. About a month ago, I decided to check out the WHS web site and was amazed to find an early picture of Pepere's brother, Wilfrid. I immediately recognized that Albert face. It was the society's highlighted photo of the month-a graduation picture of the 8th grade class from St. Hyacinth School circa 1918. Check out the photo archives on the Westbrook's Historical Society's web site and you will see other neat pictures from Westbrook's past. The pictures come with explanations on such institutions as the Haskell Silk Mill, the Westbrook Fire Department in the 1800's, a comprehensive look at the Westbrook School buildings and how many of you remember the Star Movie Theater on Main Street!? Feel free to share what you remember about growing up in Westbrook. The archive photos may stir up some memories.

This picture of the class of 1918 is in the photo album ‘Graduations, St. Hyacinth School, 1899 – 1963’ courtesy of Westbrook Historical Society, Westbrook, Maine. Pictured: Wilfrid Albert, Agnés Moreau, Marie-Antoinette Giboin, Léo Fortin, Albanie Carignan, Eva Bergeron.

Back to the Albert family...
did you know that Pepere was named after his uncle (his father's brother was named Auguste) and that he was the middle child of five kids? Wilfrid was a couple of years younger than Pepere and became a priest at a young age. He actually married my parents on June 16, 1952. One of the Albert family treasures is a genealogy book, "Genealogy of Joseph-Wilfrid Albert - Priest", written in 1948 by Gabriel Drouin of the Drouin Institute in Montreal. The book is held in the special care of his nephew, Roland Albert, in Westbrook, Maine. On a later date, I will provide a detailed look at this book. What memories either real or told-about do you have of Wilfrid?

Beach Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Most every Albert family member has distinct beach memories from many Sunday visits to Kinney Shores, Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Vicki described some of her memories when she commented on my last post: "The slightly damp musty smell of the garage under the house with it's shower, workbench and shelves of pickles. The smell of the petunias over flowing the front window boxes by the stairs. The smell of the salt. Also the gritty feel of the sand as you descended the stairs to the beach". I do not currently have a picture of the beach house but I did find two pictures of Memere and Pepere on the beach shown below. The black and white picture may have been taken before they started their family. Here's a lesson: always date your pictures. Unfortunately, most of the pictures I have already collected for family history are undated.

Memere and Pepere ran a tight ship at the beach. Their primarily traditional roles were clearly defined. Memere took care of the cleaning and cooking and Pepere did the handy work mostly outside and in the cellar. Who can forget Memere's warm tomato soup on a chilly day by the ocean? Another tight memory is Pepere's stash: a ready supply of bottled sodas in racks stored in the basement much to the delight of his constantly visiting grand kids. It's hard to imagine Memere and Pepere ever spending time alone because they so much loved their extended family.
What are your beach stories from days gone by at Kinney Shores?

NOTE: If you have any pictures taken outside on the lawn from our many Sunday afternoon family get-togethers, please send them to me. Also, I am still looking for any pictures of Pepere's parents. This blog is a great way to share memories but it's also a way to gather missing pictures. If I get enough pictures related to specific blog posts, I will post a link so they can be viewed from the blog. Pictures can be sent (preferably in JPG format) directly to my email which is shown on my complete profile. Thanks to Diane for sharing her beach pictures.

The Meaning of Grandfathers

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:27:00 +0000

Pepere and Family at the beach

Talking about one's grandfather can be a fun exercise. What did Pepere mean to you? To me, he was the kind of person who I greatly admired as the patriarch of the family but I most liked him because he had a down-to-earth quality. I remember he took his work very seriously and always looked and acted professional yet at home on the weekends, he was as casual as the average Joe. I have this image of him walking around the beachhouse in shorts and a tee shirt snacking on peanuts with the Red Sox playing in the background. In both personas (business and personal), the quality I admired the most about him was he'd always make the people around him feel important. He was never self-absorbed. Maybe this one quality most explains why he attained the high level of success and respect that he did. I couldn't end this post without sharing a letter he wrote to me when I was around the age of twelve. I kept it all these years as sort of a testament of his personality and as a great example of how important he made me feel. The scan quality is low so I have translated it below.

Hi Craig,

You must be pretty special for Pepere to write to you because Memere usually does all the writing. But you had  such a good report card that I just had to congratulate you and also to send you $1.00. If you keep on getting good ranks all the time, you will probably be President of the United States when you get out of college. Pepere and Memere are very proud of you - keep up the good work. 

Pepere

PS I'm also enclosing $1.00 for Paula. She had a very good report card too.

-Pepere and Memere

Auguste 'Gus' Albert (1900-1982)

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:09:00 +0000

There has been no figure as respected and loved in my family than my grandfather, affectionately known as "Pepere". He was not only loved by his family but also by the community he created as the owner of a clothing store in Westbrook, Maine. He seems to have been born as a natural business man. Soon after his mother died at the age of eleven, he was knocking on the doors of local businesses on Main Street asking them if they needed any help. His mother's death forged a sense of independence and probably spurned a desire for connections with other people. During these early interactions with local businesses, he must have presented himself in a kind, genuine manner with an intense sociability which certainly carried into his adult life. He was hired as a child to work as a clerk at Benoits which was a large clothing store at the time. About ten years later in 1923, he and two other friends opened up their own store called The Men's Shop.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Siulinski) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Adam and Ouida Siulinski
My name is Craig Adam Siulinski. I am named after my paternal grandfather whose parents emigrated from Poland around 1900. I have a lot of work to do in order to locate the Polish town where Adam’s parents (Albert and Bessie) came from. It will most likely require a visit to upstate New York to search the repositories in the area of Schenectady which is the town where my grandfather grew up. Adam moved to Portland, Maine in the late 20’s and met the woman to be his wife named Ouida Dykeman recently transplanted from New Brunswick, Canada. It was here they raised their family and this is the area I am from. My birthplace was Westbrook, Maine located ten miles from Portland.

Today I live in Oakland, California – a much diversified suburban area of San Francisco. I am lucky enough to live down the street from a great resource for genealogy, the California Genealogical Society. Besides research and education, this organization is invaluable for the networking that occurs with other members. My genealogical research began in 2007 when I attended a monthly genealogy meeting in the complex where my brother lives in Brevard, North Carolina. Thanks to Carl, Ann, Ken and Richard for sparking my initial excitement in genealogy!