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CAUTION: This is a work in progress and may contain errors. --- |
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1 Jozef PIOTROWSKI b: Abt. 1835? Poland/Lithuania? (a merchant?) | |
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SOURCES: Family records, Sudbury church records, Ontario BMD, 1901 census etc. |
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by Renee Cecile (From: The Chapleau Sentinel May 7, 1987) [Note: For this web page some personal information has been deleted or modified to protect the privacy of living people] | |||
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John Anthony Petrosky was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in June 1867. When,he was nineteen he came to Canada and by November 1891, he was. working in Cartier for the C.P.R. He had only one relative left behind in Lithuania, a twin sister, Elizabeth. [note] As soon as he could, he sent for her. She met and married Alfred Bernier and they settled in Cartier. They had one child, a son, Alfred who eventually married Minetta Vezina of Chapleau. John married Mary Eva Argentine Brunet in Sudbury, April 1897. He could not speak French and she could not speak Lithuanian so they compromised and learned English. As their children grew up and went to school they learned from them and both were able to read and write quite well in English. Mary Argentine come from St. Placide, Quebec, the oldest of a family of five. Her mother died when she was nine so she had to leave school to care for the younger ones until her father re-married several years later. She never got back to school and she always reminded us how lucky we were to have the chance for an education. Her family moved from St. Placide to Michigan then to Sudbury where she met John Petrosky. Eva, their oldest child was born in May, 1898 in Cartier. In September of that year they moved to Chapleau. |
They had fourteen children, Eva (Mrs. Jack O'Brien), Patrick, Rosalie, Anna (Mrs. Ray Stonard), Aline (Mrs. Bob Roberts), Agnes (Mrs. Al Boisvert), John, Elizabeth, Joseph, Isadore, Reta (Mrs. Jimmy Winters), Berthe, Cecil and Irene (Mrs. Lawless Cecile). In 1912, John decided to build a house to fit his rapidly growing family. That house still stands and is owned by his granddaughter and her husband. It now houses five families, including two of John's grandchildren and their families. What a wonderful place in which to spend your childhood! We had a back stairway in the kitchen, another in the front hall, two more in the double cellar and one going up to large attic, two bathrooms, a large dance hall and to top it off, a trap door in the roof with a ladder so you could sit on the edge and see all over town. You could also study the stars. I still remember every constellation I learned up there. What exciting games of hide-and-seek and tag we played! My poor mother had more patience than any other person I've ever met. I can't remember her ever yelling at us or hitting us. When the older children began leaving home, we had bedrooms to spare. Sometimes they were let out to roomers, but when they were empty, we could choose any room we liked for a bedroom |
and move as often as we pleased. We could
paint our own rooms too, with a cheap powder paint which you mixed with water. I
think it was called muresco. What beautiful shades and blends of colours we ended
up splashing around! My brother Joe was the expert and usually kept the rest of us
from getting carried away.
Three of my sisters and two brothers died before I was born. Rosalie died in 1901, of whooping cough, John and Elizabeth died of diptheria in 1912 at ages four and three. Except for the help of an old man .whose name I don't know, my father had to bury these two himself. In those days fear of such a dreaded disease kept everyone away. Isadore and Barthe died, Isadore at three months in 1914, and Berthe at one day in 1917, causes undetermined. In 1917 my father left the C.P.R. to work in the town water pumphouse where the cadet headquarters are now located. We used to love to visit him when we brought his lunch over. He'd show us all the works including the trap door in the floor. When it was open you could see a holding tank of water with the occasional fish. I guess this was where it was treated before being pumped up to the water tank. Outside there was a neat little rail line and a trolley car on which wood, mostly slabs, was carried to the big stove |
that kept the steam engine running. Part of the
present bridge covers the shoreline of the lake where we also used to play.
My father died in 1932 after a long illness, my mother in 1955. Remaining children are Anne Stonard and Renee Cecile of Chapleau, Joseph and wife Ethel (Robinson) of Sudbury, Cecil and wife Caroline (Diaz) of North Bay, Agnes and husband Al of St. Catharines and Reta and husband Jim. In addition, there are sixteen grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren living in Canada and the United States. |
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My great-grandmother, Marie-Argentine Brunet, was a descendant of Mathieu Brunet who arrived in Canada (New France) in 1657 on a three year work contract at 60 livres per year. He originally came from Normandie, the son of Jaques Brunet and Jaqueline Rachine. While most of these workers returned to France after their contracts were finished, Mathieu stayed on, working in the Ville de Quebec area, and in 1667 married Marie Blanchard, a "Fille du Roi" also from Normandie.. Mathieu and Marie then worked their way up the St. Laurence River until they finally arrived at the new settlement of Lachine on Montreal Island. Many of Mathieu Brunet's descendants settled in the Pointe Claire area on the western part of Montreal Island. Some time before 1850, Hyacinthe Brunet, my gr-gr-gr-grandfather, moved to St. Placide on the Lac de Deux Montagnes (the wide part of the Ottawa River above Montreal) This is where my great-grandmother was born. Some of the information listed below was obtained from a Brunet family newsletter researched and published by my cousin Verna Brunet. CAUTION: This is a work in progress and may contain errors --- |
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1 Mathieu BRUNET dit LESTANG b: Abt. 1638 St. Jean de Re, (near L'Aigle) Normandie France d: 1708 Montreal, Que. | |
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SOURCES: Loiselle Marriage Index, Repertoire des Actes...du Quebec Ancien (U. de Montreal), BMD Ontario, |
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HOME | TOP of PAGE | PETROSKY | BRUNET | DROUIN |
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My great-great grandmother Caroline Drouin was a descendant of Robert Drouin who came to Canada before 1637. All Drouins and variations such as Derouin are descendants of Robert. Robert married twice and his two son who carried on the family name were both from the second marriage to Marie Chappelier. My ancestors are from his son Etienne Drouin. I have made a cursory survey of the Drouin family. My immediate ancestors lived in the St. Benoit area (on the mainland north of Montreal) since about 1800. (CAUTION: This is a work in progress and may contain errors) --- |
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SOURCES:Loiselle marriage index, family records, Laforet etc. | |
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