Fourth Generation
Family of Elie Joseph ROCHELEAU (4) & Marie Mathilde MORIN

6. Marie Elizabeth ROCHELEAU. Born on 19 Oct 1873 in River Canard, Ontario Canada.

On 22 Jan 1895 when Marie Elizabeth was 21, she married Donus GIGNAC, in River Canard, Ontario Canada.

They had the following children:
i. (Private)
ii. (Private)

7. Joseph Francois (Frank) ROCHELEAU. Born on 27 Jul 1879 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Joseph Francois (Frank) died bef 1957.

Children:
i. (Private)
13 ii. (Private)
iii. (Private)

8. Joseph Alphonse ROCHELEAU. Born on 25 Jul 1881 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Joseph Alphonse died in Dearborn, Michigan on 26 Nov 1969; he was 88. Buried in St. Hedwig Cemetery, Michigan.

Joseph Alphonse married Ethel. Ethel died on 7 Jun 1966.

They had the following children:
i. (Private)
ii. (Private)

9. Marie Adele ROCHELEAU. Born on 5 Nov 1883 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Marie Adele died bef 1957.

On 8 Jan 1906 when Marie Adele was 22, she married Samuel LAFRAMBOISE, son of LAFRAMBOISE, in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Samuel died abt Sep 1935 in Torquay Saskatchewan.

They had the following children:
i. (Private)
ii. (Private)
14 iii. (Private)
iv. (Private)
v. (Private)

10. Joseph Dolphis ROCHELEAU. Born on 4 Jan 1886 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Joseph Dolphis died in Windsor, Ontario on 7 Oct 1957; he was 71. Buried in St. Alphonsus Cemetery. Occupation: Lost Farm In Deppression Then Worked For Ontario Hydro.

Research: The Windor Star -- 8 Oct 1957
Obituary of Dophis Rocheleau

Former deputy reeve of Sandwich West Twp., Dolphis Rocheleau, 72, o 3402 Sandwich St. W., died Monday in Hotel Dieu, following a lengthy illness.
Mr. Rocheleau was born at River Canard, and had lived in Windsor for 22 years. He was deputy reeve of the township in 1918.
He was a retired maintenance worker with the Windsor Utilities Commission.
He is survived by his widow, Elizabeth (Casey); three daughters, Mrs. Clifton Engel (Cecilia), St. Clair Shores, Mich.; Mrs. Lionel Hotte (Madeline), River Canard, and Mrs. Rene Lauzon (Evelyn), LaSalle; two brothers, Joseph, Dearborn, Mich.; and Maurice, Anderdon Twp.; two sisters, Mrs. Tancred (Dan) Dicaire (Laura), Remington Park, and Mrs. Thomas renaud (Corine), Windsor; and nine grandchildren.
Funeral services will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Janisse Brothers Funeral Home, 1139 Oullette Ave., and at the Church of the Blessed Sacrement at 10:30 a.m.
Burial will be in St. Aphonsus Cemetary.
Prayers will be offered today at 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

abt 1910 Joseph Dolphis married Elizabeth (Lizzie) CASEY, daughter of Michael CASEY (1851-1930) & Katherine (Kate) O'BRIEN (1853-1954). Born on 26 Jul 1881 in Saginaw Michigan. Elizabeth (Lizzie) died in Windsor, Ontario on 26 Mar 1978; she was 96.

They had the following children:
15 i. Cecelia (1911-1985)
16 ii. Madeline (1913-1972)
17 iii. Evelyn (1914-1989)
iv. Mary (Died as Infant). Born abt 1915 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Mary died abt 1915 in River Canard, Ontario Canada.

11. Alma ROCHELEAU. Born abt 1888 in West Sandwich, Ontario Canada. Alma died on 18 Jun 1945 in Windsor, Ontario.

Research: Probably Windsor Star -- Jun 1945
Obituary of Alma (Rocheleau) Bergeron

Mrs. Alma Bergeron, 57, of LaSalle, died yesterday at Hotel Dieu Hospital after a short illness.
Seh was born in Sandwich West and lived in LaSalle all her life.
Mrs. Bergeron was a member of the Alter Society and the Happy Death Society of Sacred Heart Church, LaSalle.
She is survived by her husband, Archille, seven sons, Harvey of LaSalle, Norman, Roy, Aurel, Orvel and Louis of Windsor and Vincent with the Canadian Army in Labrador; 11 grandchildren; four brothers, Frank and Morris Rocheleau of River Canard, Joseph of Dearborn, Michigan, and Dolphis of WIndsor; four sisters, Mrs. Arthur Dallaire of River Rouge, Mrs Dan Dicaire of Windsor, Mrs. Fred Bondy of Amherstburn and Mrs. Adele Laframboise of Saskatchewan.

Alma married Archille BERGERON. Archille died aft 1945.

They had the following children:
18 i. Harvey
ii. Norman.
iii. Roy.
iv. Aurel (Or Aurele).
19 v. Orvel (Or Orval) (1928-1980)
vi. Louis (Leo).
vii. Vincent.

12. Maurice ROCHELEAU. Born on 18 Sep 1892 in River Canard, Ontario Canada. Maurice died in River Canard, Ontario Canada on 19 Jan 1984; he was 91. Occupation: Fisherman And Fish Seller On Front Road -- Windsor.

Research: Windsor Star -- about 1981
Selling fish and watching life drive by
by Doug Firby (Star staff reporter)


Dead most of them.
His friends, his two sons, his wife.
After 88 years, Maurice Rocheleau has been left to fill his long, lonely days by himself.
Life creeps by as the sole survivor of a family of nine stares out the living room window of his River Canard home. Two or three times a day the tedium in interupted when one of the cars whizzing by on Highway 18 spots the sign out front, and turns in. They stop after spotting the old blackboard that says:
FRESH FISH DAILY
WHITEFISH CATFISH
Inside Maurice sits in a torn easy-chair by the window waiting for someone to take the bait. From his window-side outpost he can see the customers pull into his drive.
The back door opens before the engine stops. The stooped figure, slowed by rheumatoid arthritis, eases down the rotting wooden steps towards the car. He's hard of hearing; you have to shout.
He pauses with a suspicious gaze, wondering what is expected of him. Finally, he works his way back up the steps, vaguely gesturing you can come too -- if you insist.
His home is his sanctuary. In it are the discoloring momentoes from his life, and those who were dearest to him.
On the living room wall is the yellowed photograph of a man who looks to be in his 30s.
"Ernest. He's gone." Died when he was 49.
On the opposite wall of the living room rests the photgraph of another man in a military uniform.
"That's my boy. Edward. He's gone too." He was only 35. "They're all gone."
On another wall is his wife Regina; dead 25 years this January.
The fish are out back in an old unpainted barn. It's leaning so badly three two-by-fours have been enlisted to keep it from falling right over. A pipe keeps the door from falling open.
Inside, an old black freezer is chugging away, keeping the fish cool. An old carpet sits on top to keep the cool in.
From the cooler the fish are taken to the pantry for cleaning. The open door lets out a gush of musty air, the inside is dark. A trail of pages from yesterdays newspaper covers the slanting floors all the way into the living room.
An iron wood stove occupies the middle of the pantry, a sink with a chipped enamel top is where he washes the fish.
How many fish does he sell in a day?
"You never know."
What buys them?
"The state. Black people."
Where does he get the fish?
"Hys."
Hy Goldberg, owner of Hy's Fish Market, has been selling fish to Maurice Rocheleau for 30 years now. These days he doesn't sell him much.
"I stop in once a week, on Saturdays. He buys a couple of (60-pound) boxes. And that lasts him for a week."
Hy trusts the old man of River Canard. And, in a way, he admires him.
"He's a very honest man. A very nice, honest old man. If the world had nothing buy people like that Mr. Rocheleau, it wouldn't have any trouble."
Selling fish used to be a business for Maurice. Now it's jut a passtime.
"I keeps him going," says Hy. "He just does it to fill in the time."
Neighbor Johnny Meloche, in fact, is convinced Maurice sells his fish at the price he pays for them, just to keep busy.
Meloche, who lives across the road, has the protective reticence many share when approached by Rocheleau. They are suspicious of strangers, because strangers -- after all -- have not always been kind to the old man.
Meloche recalls, for example, a series of break-ins two years ago. He says area youths -- he knows who they are -- were walking into Rocheleau's home and beating him up.
"He'd come across the road and tell me about it the next day," Meloche says. "I asked him, 'Why didn't you call me or the police?' and he'd say, 'When I noticed them, they're right on me." He can't hear very well, you know."
Meloche says he offered to bring his dog over to keep watch, but Rocheleau refused the offer saying the dog would cost too much to feed.
Finally, Meloche caught the youths about to break into the house one night, and let go with a couple of shotgun blasts over their heads.
"They've never came back after that," he chuckles.
Rocheleau was born in river Canard and fished on the Detroit River in his youth until commercial fishing was banned. He worked as a watchman for several years says daughter, Eva Rabideau. But after the depression he bought the farm upon which his house sits and began market gardening.
"We used to sell vegetables on a roadside stand," she says. "We grew corn, beans, potatoes. He never owned a tractor, he always used horses."
Meloche says his neighbor is fiercely independent, and not willing to accept favors from anyone.
"He's tough that old bugger. Most of the time he takes the bus to Amherstburg to get his groceries."
That independence is a bit of an embarassment to Rocheleau's two daughters, who visit him weekly and do the wash.
Eva admits it's too late to try to change her father's lifestyle. "I wouln't want to put him in a home," she says. "That would kill him. He's got his own way of living."
Dora Beaudoin, the other daughter, says she's never suggested he move into a home. "He can take care of himself. Why should he go sit in a home?"
Maurice concurs. He has no intension of changing his lifestyle now. He is asked when he'll quit selling his fish.
"When I'm dead," he says, with a direct, almost stubborn gaze." As long as I can move around I won't stop.

Maurice married Regina ROUSSEAU, daughter of ROUSSEAU. Born abt 1891. Regina died abt 1957.

They had the following children:
i. Ernest J. (Big). Born on 17 Oct 1917. Ernest J. (Big) died in Canada on 21 May 1967; he was 49.
ii. (Private)
iii. (Private)
iv. (Private)

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