On Easter Monday, Lori (my sister), Elizabeth and Emily (my nieces) and I went to Point Pelee. I had told Emily and Elizabeth that there was a museum at the Point which was the original home of our great-great-great-great (?) grandparents, John Baptiste Delaurier and his wife Julia Hazel Delaurier.
I had not been there in many, many years. I can remember going there with my grandmother, Madeline Delaurier Wallace, to visit her great uncle Ed. I was six, great-great (?) Uncle Ed looked like he was 251. I can remember being just a little spooked by the place.
My grandmother had said in her memoirs that she tried to get Uncle Ed to leave the house to Park (as in Point Pelee National Park) when he was alive. No go, Uncle Ed said. Well, somebody changed their mind because the home is now a museum.
And it's still spooky. The museum wasn't open, but we looked in the windows. The house was as I remembered it -- really dark. It's still dark, only now they have mannequins of three of the Delaurier family in the living room. One is sitting on a rocking chair with a fiddle on his knee. The other has a sheet over him and is hunched over the stove (they were fishermen by trade, so he probably just got in from the Lake). And right beside the window, there was a person in bed.
Emily and Elizabeth though it was, on one hand, pretty scary. On the other hand, to have a museum named after someone from your family, and have other people come see it, is pretty neat.
Our trip inspired me to do some digging, to remind myself who all these people were. My grandmother has written many volumes, all typewritten, of the history of the area. Our own family tree has been well documented but I didn't remember much of it. Here's what I found out:
The Delaurier homestead was built in 1839, by John Baptiste Delaurier (it is interesting that all the history books refer to him as John, rather than Jean)
He and Julia had ten children. The girls were sent away to be educated in a convent in Amherstburg.
My great-great grandfather was their youngest son Gilbert. He moved to Leamington and had two wives. Seventeen children altogether. Most of them moved back to the U.S.
My great-grandfather, Fred, stayed in Leamington and was a fisherman. He married Euphemia Foster. My grandmother was their daughter, Madeline Delaurier Wallace.
I read an interview in the library that was done with my grandmother about ten years before she died. She says they didn't get out to the Point much because Leamington was ten miles away and you didn't go that far in those days.
I'm glad to be reading the information that my grandmother worked so hard putting together for forty years of her life. And it's been really good to be back here where our roots run so deep -- every branch of our family has been in this county since 1830.
In a sense, it's home even if I don't plan to put down any more roots here myself .. I guess I don't have to because my roots are already here.
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6 comments:
My Grandmother is Virginia Delaurier Ley. Ed Delaurier from the Point Pelee homestead was either her brother or uncle, something like that. She still lives in Leamington, as does my older brother, Matthew de Vries. She knows all the history.
Catherine
turnertorpedo@hotmail.com
Wow, we are related way back in time. Crazy. The Delaurier house on Pelee is my great-great-great-great (?) grandparents house, too. My mom, Virginia Gayle (1943-1995) was born in Leamington to Margorie Elaine Campbell (1924- ) of Leamington and Clifton Ralph Cates (1920-1988) of Wheatley. I was trying to find information on my gggg-mother. I understand she was Native American. What do you know?
Robin Eriksson
Another distant relative surfaces! My name is Elvin Fritz.
My great-great grandmother was Mary Adaline DeLaurier, Daughter of Charles DeLaurier. Charles was the first child of John Baptiste and Julia (Hazel).
In the 1861 Canadian census I find a record of Mary A. living in Leemington with her grandmother Julia. With them is Mary's brother, John James and an uncle, Gilbert.
Please feel free to contact me at elfritz@rcn.com
My line is as follows :
Me.
Dirk Pieter deVries & Shirley Ann Iola Ley.
Albert Ley & Virginia deLaurier.
George Roy deLaurier & Ethel Viola Godfrey.
Charles deLaurier & Elizabeth Chambers.
Oliver deLaurier & Esther Abbot.
Hyacine deLaurier & Florence Billiau Lesperance.
Francois deLaurier & Mary Matay.
George's brother, Ed deLaurier, my Great-Great-Uncle, was the last relative to live in the log cabin at Point Pelee. The land had been sold to Canadian Parks with the stipulation that he reside there till his death. After his death is when the log cabin became a museum. My Mom still remembers visiting Uncle Ed at the cabin frequently because she attended the school that used to be on the park grounds before it closed. There is a class photo at the Point in front of the old school. My Mom, her sister, and her brother, are all in it. They are listed as Shirley, Joanne, and Billy Ley if you ever get a chance to go there and see it.
You know, I keep hearing people say that there's a rumor about a late Granny being Native American/Indian. But Point Pelee did an extensive tree at one point yrs ago, and it was said to be just that, a rumor. However, my Granny swears to this day that it is true, and not just a rumor. so I'm not really that sure.
I am amazed and happy about the number of Delauriers who have found my blog. This was a really big family, wasn't it? (on a personal note .. I really miss my grandmother .. Madeline Delaurier Wallace)
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