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Ernest MEILLEUR	Thérèse LETEXIER
naissance 16 mai 1910 à Terrebonne MN, décès 12 septembre 1980 à Victoria Hospital, Winnipeg MB, âge : 70 ans, "of stomach cancer", funérailles 15 à St. Eugene Church, Winnipeg MB with Father A. Frechette officiating, sépulture au Glen Lawn Memorial Gardens, Winnipeg MB (nécrologie). Père :  Ovila MEILLEUR Mère : Zéphérine GAUTHIER	naissance 25 octobre 1918 à Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes MB, décès 4 février 2007 au Foyer Valade, Winnipeg MB, âge : 88 ans, funérailles 8 à St. Eugene Catholic Church, St. Vital, Winnipeg MB, sépulture au Glen Lawn Memorial Gardens, Winnipeg MB (nécrologie). Père :  Julien LETEXIER Mère : Marie-Clémence BÉGOU

1.6. Edmond Maurice MEILLEUR, naissance 21 mai 1947 à St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg MB, p/m Maurice & Amanda Meilleur. Marié(e) 22 juillet 1978 à Elliot Lake ON, Teresa Cecile Marie MULLINS, naissance 1 janvier 1948 à Kirkland Lake ON (fille de Lawrence MULLINS). 1.6.1. Désirée Natalie MEILLEUR, naissance 20 décembre 1978 à Elliot Lake ON, baptême "sectional birth".

1.7. Diane Alice MEILLEUR, naissance 2 août 1949 à St. Boniface General Hospital, Winnipeg MB, p/m Albert & Alice LeTexier. Marié(e) 28 août 1971 à Winnipeg MB, Bruce Alexander MacFARLANE, naissance 1 septembre 1949 à Winnipeg MB. 2 enfants (un fils, une fille).

1.8. Léona Marie Jeanne MEILLEUR, naissance 19 juillet 1953 à Fisher Branch MB, p/m Albert Meilleur & Jeanne Pépin, décès 28 mars 1994 à Winnipeg MB, âge : 40 ans "in a car accident", sépulture au Green Acres Memorial Gardens, Winnipeg MB. Marié(e) 3 août 1974 à Winnipeg MB, Robert Alexis ROUIRE, naissance 17 janvier 1954 à Winnipeg MB. 2 enfants (2 filles).

1.8.1. Nicole Marie ROUIRE, naissance 5 février 1977 à Winnipeg MB. 1.8.2. Danielle ROUIRE, naissance 7 novembre 1981.

In the hopes that this book (of records) will be kept in the family a very long time, I trust whoever has it will add to the records, I have tried my best to research, in order to make my descendants realize the hardship that was endured by our pioneers, is hard to visualize.

Looking over these documents, you will notice that it was very common for a man to marry two or three times in his lifetime. My great great-grandfather married five times, you may ask why? In those days there was very few doctors and a doctor 50 miles away was out of the question; no roads or modes of transportation, so there was only midwives if they were available. A good many fathers delivered their own children. So many mothers died of complications and as it took a man's whole time to eke a living for his family, he was not adept at housekeeping as some husbands are today, hence, they had to remarry as soon as possible.

Infant death was also very high and most pioneers had to resort to home remedies. Small pox, diphtheria, pneumonia, took its' toll. The weather was also quite harsh in Quebec, often seven to eight feet of snowfall in winter, so wood supply and forage for livestock had to be stored inside building. Grain was thresh by flail, which consisted of two hardwood sticks joined together by leather tongs or hinges, one end was held in band while the other end hit the spread out sheaf of grain, shelling in the process. Flax straw also had to be stored and was taken indoors in the winter, soaked in water and shredded by hand into a wool substance spun and weaved to make linen. Wool was washed and carded, spun and knitted to make mitts, scarves, socks, underwear, etc. So the whole house hold was kept busy all the time.

In order to have a little bit of social life, they would have work-bees, which every neighbor were invited and they would sing while working, tell jokes and gossip. Sometimes, wine was served and I imagine a few more potent drinks, but never in excess. Snowshoes were made for humans as well as for horses and strangely enough, horses learned to walk on snowshoes who were oval in shape, instead of the oblong ones for humans.

Table food were pea soup, buckwheat, venison, sometimes pork or beef, depending on what was available. Maple syrup and sugar was their only sweetener and had to be ration out carefully. I could go on and on, yet just touch the surface of all what these pioneer endured. As for myself, suffice it to say that, I ate at the table standing up until I was old enough to make myself a stool to sit on. I also went barefoot in summertime till I was old enough to stook grain on the farm at sixteen years of age. As soon as the snow was all gone, we would have to go to school barefoot, as our way to school was just a path hewn out of a spruce swamp with two feet of moss over water and almost permafrost beneath. Many a morning we broke ice with our bare feet, standing on stone, and of nobody was around, urinate on our toes to warm them up. Necessity is and was the root of inventions ....

Recherche et photos par Simonne Bernier Meilleur, de Fisher Branch MB   Mise à jour le 26 déc 2003 par Dollard Meilleur, de Winnipeg MB Mise à jour le 6 février 2007 par Simonne Bernier Meilleur, de Fisher Branch MB Mise à jour le 13 juin 2019 par Paul Meilleur, de Ste-Adèle QC Retour à la Généalogie des MEILLEUR