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Archiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2009-04 > 1239377092


From: Mona Andrée Rainville <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Death of Jean Baptiste Loiselle
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:24:52 -0400
References: <d04.5271e494.3710a552@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <d04.5271e494.3710a552@aol.com>


Thank you very much Pat and Don,

Good catch, Pat. I had not noticed the space after the "soixante". I
agree with you that the priest - or whoever wrote up the register - knew
that Jean Baptiste was sixty "something", but did not know his precise
age. As the usual formula of "soixante ans ou environ" was not used,
the writer might have expected the witnesses to supply the information,
which obviously they didn't.

And I agree, Don, that it was commonplace for witnesses at a funeral not
to be related at all to the deceased. In fact, members of the family
only exceptionally signed the burial records at that time, because of
the civil requirement that the burial be witnessed by at least one
unrelated third party.

In this parish, the usual stand-in witness would have been Jacques
Robitaille. But Mr. Robitaille was himself in mourning, on that day,
having just lost his baby son, buried the day before. So perhaps these
two fellows, Louis Lemoine and Joseph LeBoeuf, were simply standing in
for him.

Looking through the register for that year and the next, I find that
both Louis Lemoine and Joseph LeBoeuf appear as a witnesses at other
funerals, one or twice a year. Don is probably right in stating these
men might be have been doing church service somehow. They also could
have been the carters who brought the corpses to church. Who knows... I
still have to look this up.

But there is no other Jean-Baptiste Loisel that I can find was born in
the 1720-1730 range. So, it is a reasonable assumption that this is, in
fact, his death certificate.

Cheers and many thanks to all,

Mona







wrote:
> Pat
> you realize that many times the witnesses to burials were the Church
> sexton or verger "bedeau" and maybe a cemetery worker for the Church
> and not a relative of the deceased .....didn't mean they weren't there
> ...............if you look at other burials around the same time,
> you'll see its often the same witnesses at each burial
> Don
>
> In a message dated 4/10/2009 8:23:40 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> writes:
>
> Hi Mona,
>
> I just read the parish record at ancestry.com and I think what
> happened
> was, the priest wrote his age as soixante, or 60, then left a blank
> space so he could fill in the exact age, but never did. He was 66.
> The
> witnesses were Louis Lemoine and Joseph LeBoeuf, who did not sign,
> the
> priest was F. (?) Martel, who did sign. He was buried on 8 Jun
> 1788 in
> the parish cemetery.
>
> I hope this clears up a little mystery, if adding another. Where
> WAS the
> family.
>
> Patricia LeBeau
>
>
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