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NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

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gnstill
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NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by gnstill » Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:27 am

New Family Page: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Please post comments & queries about Napoleon and his family here.

These are the grandparents of the late Violet (nee BERCIER) who married our old friend Francis HALL of Petersfield, Manitoba.

W.A. & S. Brazeau
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by W.A. & S. Brazeau » Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:26 pm

Interesting website. Thanks for your hard work!

Napoleon Bercier is my husband's paternal great grandfather, through Napoleon's daughter, Georgina Bercier. Thanks to the person who added the genealogical information about Napoleon and for placing him in an historical perspective. It certainly brings the past more alive. I have carried out extensive research over the years but still have most of it on paper; so, your report is very much appreciated!

I am of the hopes someone can help me out:
If anyone has ANYTHING about Napoleon's daughter, Georgina, we'd appreciate it. We have only her birth records (N.D.), and census records to 1916 (Manitoba). She disappeared off the oral radar around 1924-25 when she left the Boggy Creek/San Clara, Manitoba area. She took her son, Arthur, with her and eventually went to Elphinstone, Manitoba for only a few days. She then left her son with his father and never returned. My husband's family knew nothing of Georgina except her name and where she came from. Last word is that Georgina may have died from pneumonia in Winnipeg around 1972.

Georgina's son, Arthur Bercier, is my husbands' father. Arthur was born in 1914, Shell River Municipality, Manitoba and took the surname of his biological father, Ambroise Brazeau, about 1924-25. That's when Arthur's birth was registered with Manitoba Vital Statistics. "Art" married Margaret Evelyn Plant in 1936 and lived in Elphinstone until enlisting in the military in WWII. He then disappeared after 1942 and stories of his whereabouts or death are confusing and conflicting. Thanks to anyone for any help on either Georgina or Arthur!

Thanks, once again!
S. Brazeau :)

gnstill
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by gnstill » Sat Aug 25, 2012 6:46 pm

Welcome to the Forum Mrs. Brazeau!

I (Gary Still) am the author of all of the pages on this website. As a first time visitor I recommend you check out the home page to find out more about me and how to navigate the Family Pages. Here’s the link: RED RIVER ANCESTRY HOME PAGE

I created the Napoleon BERCIER page for a friend of mine in Petersfield (Manitoba) who is also a descendant. I am currently still working on his lineage and it’s keeping me pretty busy lately. When I get a chance I will review all my files and see what I can find about your lineage. In that event, it would be helpful to have as much information as possible about Ambroise BRAZEAU (birth dates/places are especially important).

W.A. & S. Brazeau
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by W.A. & S. Brazeau » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:23 am

Hi Gary: Thanks for your response. I have now read the Home Page and find your story and your passion for starting this site quite interesting.

Thanks so much for offering to check out my husband's lineage; however, I have been highly successful over the years with the research for both the Brazeau and Bercier lines and have documented several past generations. I have SO much information and most of it is still in boxes, file folders and binders. I have been with ancestry.ca for about 5 years now and have put the direct line for Wayne on that site, but am slowly entering extended family.

Just so you know, Wayne's great grandparents [who were also Ambroise Brazeau's parents] were Bernard Brazeau and Emilie Houle (daughter of Antoine Houle and Madeleine Ledoux). Bernard's parents were Louis Brazeau and Marie Richard. All were in SFX and/or Poplar Point in the 19th Century and all received Scrip.

My challenge these days has not been the distant past. Instead, it is the recent past with Georgina Bercier, who essentially disappeared from Boggy Creek/San Clara after about 1925; and Wayne's father, Arthur Brazeau, for whom a story of his death in the 1940's has never been proven. We are now of the belief he did not die at that time. Several years ago, I was lucky to have met people who remembered both Georgina and Arthur; and, of course, Wayne's mom had some information, but nothing after 1942. Wayne's mom moved ay from Elphinstone MB to Winnipeg after that. Hence, my request for information from anyone who might have known, heard about, or perhaps met either Georgina or Arthur.

Thanks again to anyone reading this site who has any leads; and thanks again, Gary, for this site and for this forum.

Susan

gnstill
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by gnstill » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:51 pm

Susan: Wayne's "Keeping up with the Joneses" has his great grandmother as Marguerite Louise BRAZEAU b-1873, daughter of Marie DESCHENEAUX & George Washington BRAZEAU (1842-1880). Am I missing something?
Gary

W.A. & S. Brazeau
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by W.A. & S. Brazeau » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:36 pm

Hello Gary: Oops! YOu have somehow mixed up different Wayne Brazeau's. Over the years, I have come across a few of them :-).

I am not familiar with "Keeping Up With the Joneses" but I do know something of George Washington Brazeau and his ancestry. His father was Joseph Brazeau.

Joseph and and 'my' Wayne's great great grandfather, Louis Brazeau, are originallly of the St. Louis, Missouri/Kaskaskia, Illinois family. These Brazeau families were directly descended from the first Brazeau (Nicholas) who came to Quebec.

I have always called Joseph "the Alberta Brazeau" and Louis, "the Manitoba Brazeau" because it was these two men who basically started these two families in these areas in the 19th Century. Both were with the fur trade. Many places in Central Alberta (in the Rockies and foothills) are named in Joseph's honour.
Later...
Susan :-)

gnstill
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by gnstill » Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:57 pm

Sorry Susan: That should be my OOPS! I thought you were referring to Wayne JONES who has that website.
Gary

W.A. & S. Brazeau
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by W.A. & S. Brazeau » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:30 am

Thanks for the clarification.
Susan

gnstill
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Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by gnstill » Sat Sep 01, 2012 3:41 pm

Susan: Thanks to your information I have done another review of Napoleon BERCIER and have updated his family page to show Georgina’s marriage to Ambroise BRAZEAU. I also added some information that might be of interest to you regarding the census of 1916 wherein Georgina and her brother Israel were recorded that year with their grandparents. Check it out.

Do you have any idea as to when Georgina and Ambroise were united?

W.A. & S. Brazeau
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Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:04 pm

Re: NAPOLEON BERCIER (1859-1918)

Post by W.A. & S. Brazeau » Sun Sep 02, 2012 9:30 am

Hi Gary,
Yes, I have the census of 1916, but thanks for pointing this out to me. I was SO glad to see this census released because it just gave me one more important bit of information about both Georgina and Arthur, and, of course the other Bercier family members.

Regarding a marriage, we were told by the two people we met (in the early 1990's) who remembered them,that Georgina and Ambroise never married, and that Georgina never used the Brazeau name. They clearly had some later contact though, by the fact that Georgina brought Arthur to live with Ambroise in Elphinstone, ten to twelve years after Arthur was born. As a reminder, that was when Arthur took the Brazeau name. I have a copy of his Manitoba Birth Registration which was done after he went to live with Ambroise. He is recorded as Brazeau and not Bercier;and, both parents are listed as is his birth location of Shell River Municipality.

Just this past 2 weeks, I have made contact with descendants of another of Napoleon's children so there may be some oral history. They had heard of Georgina, so I remain hopeful!

Thanks, Gary, for your assistance and for you continued interest in these two lost souls! Georgina and Arthur have been two of my toughest research "projects" in all these years.
Susan

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