Reply from Eileen (Mike) Brudwick: Fargo, ND

From Sharron Gottbreth Shen (59):

Thank you Gary for the great RICHARD chart. Well done. Leah Richard Bergeron passed her one page Richard tree to me during a visit in Bottineau [about 10 generations!]. Of couse I never travel to Dakota without some family data quest. On that particular visit I had just finished the ascending generations of her grandparents, Adolphe BOISVERT and Elzire DUFRESNE, parents of Aglee BOISVERT wife of Hyacinthe RICHARD, her grandparents. Leah was very pleased and the smile and hug received was sweet reward. It was a joy to see the enduring home of that dynasty. Little wonder Hyacinthe advertised a shoe repair service in the Dunseith Herald! Perhaps Allen knows where the stone was obtained? Great pictures.

Sharron

Also from Sharren Gottbreht Shen:

Attached is the brief story of the BOISVERT/GREENWOOD ancestor/settler to Canada from France. He appears in my family tree a few times! The format just sent is that used by the American-Canadien Geneological Society. The notes may be a bit long for the blog but your site should make easy access for the hundreds Allen mentioned.

Sharron

Attachment

Etienne de Nevers was another of our ancestors who came from Champagne. Champagne has a fine chalky soil mainly devoted to vineyards. The relatively unproductive soil supported a sparse population, therefore the phrase, “lousy” Champagne. The pride of Champagne is probably the cathedral of Reims; begun in 1211 and finished a century later, built of blocks of chalk from deep deposits left by a prehistoric inland sea.

Before, during and after the time of Etienne’s departure, incessant wars made living in Champagne most difficult. The destruction of harvests, the burning of villages, the epidemics, the shortages of everything made rural people flee to the cities. The instability in France led several to take advantage the opportunities available in New France.

It may be that Etienne de Nevers contracted to work for Michel Leneuf du Herisson at Trois-Rivieres about 1647. He is mentioned in a baptismal certificate at Trois-Rivieres, January 1650. Etienne and Jehan Creste, who worked for Leneuf, left Trois-Rivieres sometime in 1650; Jehan went to Beauport and Etienne joined the settlement at Sillery.

His marriage contract was prepared by Roland Godet, 1 October 1652, and the marriage was blessed at the church of Sillery, 28 October 1652. His witnesses were Rene Mezeray, Jacques Archambault and Charles Gauthier. His parents were Etienne Tennever of Piney near l’Espinay in Basse Champagne and Agnes Luosbisec of Brantigny, a small hamlet near Piney. The bride was Anne Hayot/Ayotte, child of Thomas and Jeanne Boucher, born 26 July 1640. Jeanne Boucher was a sister of Marin Boucher and both were relatives of Gaspard Boucher.

It seems that the Denevers couple stayed in the Sillery area throughout their married life. In December of 1653, the Jesuit fathers divvied up a forty-five arpent area into eighteen parcels; a five arpent area was reserved for a defensive enclosure. The increasing menace of the Iroquois in 1653, made such arrangements a necessity. Etienne received a portion on which he was to plant a garden and build a barn and stables. Etienne and the other recipients built their lodging within the fort. The families probably dwelt within this fort until 1661, when they were permitted to dispose of their real estate.

Etienne bought various parcels of land: two arpents from Julien Quentin in 1654, sold in 1667; three arpents of frontage in 1660, plus another three on the same day. Etienne not only farmed, he also worked as a fisherman, probably in the employ of Nicolas Marion. In July 1677, Etienne leased a piece of land for five years from the Ursulines in the Ste-Croix region, he was going to work the land and had fishing rights in the St-Lawrence. This plan was not realized; Etienne was suddenly taken sometime in the summer of 1678.

The census of New France taken in 1667 indicates that our ancestor was forty years old, living at Cap-Rouge with his wife and children: Guillaume, Daniel-Jean, Elisabeth-Ursule and Etienne dit Boisvert. Their youngest, Simon-Jean would be born in that same year. It seems that the children received an education above the average; Guillaume was a farmer and notary, Simon a surgeon. Elisabeth-Ursule would marry Jacques Gauthier, and Delima Casavant descends from a branch of this family. The Bouchers are both great grandchildren of this couple and great grandnieces and nephews of the wife.

Anne Hayot accepted a marriage proposal from Leonard Debord, 7 December 1678. Leonard Debord dit Lajeunesse was from the French province of Berry. He had arrived in New France 30 June 1665, a soldier in the company of Monteil of the Carignan Regiment. Debord requested a property inventory of the late Etienne de Nevers in the name of Anne Hayot, guardian of her minor children: Daniel, Etienne and Simon-Jean. A committee of estimators was composed of Jean Dumais, Benoit Boucher and Andre Bergeron. They found about five-and-a-half cleared arpents with shed, hut and a few animals. Inside the house they found a few utensils and pieces of furniture. All this was within the seigneury of Lauzon. In 1681, Leonard Debord and his adopted family were included in the census of the seigneury of Lotbiniere, with their gun, three head of cattle and twelve arpents under cultivation.

Anne Hayot/Ayotte and Leonard Debord had no children. Anne Hayot died 27 November 1694 at the Hotel Dieu of Quebec. The five children of Etienne Denevers and Anne Hayot thrived and all married; Anne had at least 10 grandchildren and three great granddaughters at the time of her death.

From Lotbiniere, more precisely Ste-Croix, all of the descendants of Etienne de Nevers dit Brantigny, better known as Boisvert, began to spread out in the second generation. Other families used the “dit” name Boisvert, that of Jean Joubin and Louis Boisverd-Dupre of Becancour. The Boisvert or Greenwoods of Bottineau County descend from the oldest son, Guillaume. Aglee Boisvert, daughter of Adolphe and Elzire Dufresne, married Hyacinthe Richard, son of George and Marie Laprise at Willow City, ND. The many Richards of Rolette and Bottineau Counties descend from this marriage.

Our French-Canadian Ancestors, Chap 7, Thomas J. La Forest Vol VI pp 84-90

Folks, Speaking of Leah Richard Bergeron. She made a special trip to my folks house the day after dad’s 80th birthday celebration to get a copy of his history that I read at his celebration. Since we are sharing the histories of our ancestors, I’d like to share a bit of my Dad’s/folks history that I prepared for his 80th birthday celebration. This day was a very special day in my dad’s life. It was his day and he enjoyed every minute of it. As I was reading this, there was standing room only and not much of that left either in the back of the Bottineau Senior Citizen hall.

ROBERT STOKES’ HISTORY

By Gary W Stokes

July 16, 1995

READ AT DAD’S 80^TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Bottineau Senior Citizen Hall

Dad was born Sept. 2, 1915 to Carl and Bertha Petterson on a farm in the foot hills of the turtle mountains, in BottineauCounty.His mother died shortly after his and his twin sister’s birth.His twin, Margaret, was a little stronger than he and was sent to Canada to live with relatives.Dad was then adopted by the stokes family, who lived in the Ackworth community, inWillow lake township in the TurtleMountains, in RoletteCounty.It is in this community that Dad has spent the majority of his life..

In 1937, Dad ventured to Texas.I’m not sure why he chose Texas, but that is where he went.It was there that he learned the bakery trade.From there he went to Pembina, North Dakota.There, He answered an add in the paper for a job as a baker and he got the job.His new Boss’ were his future father and mother-in-law’s.He met their daughter, my mother Elaine, and in June of 1941 they got married.

After their there marriage, my folks moved back to the Ackworth community, in the turtle mountains.

One year later, 1942, Dad was called by his country, into the United States Army and served more that 30 month overseas fighting for his county.During this time, he saw a lot of combat and saw a lot of his fellow soldiers and friends killed in battle.Those were some very stressful times for all of the fighting soldiers.Dad can tell many different stories about his service years, both good and bad.From all of this, he has developed great respect for his county and the flag that he fought his life for.He is a very proud and devout American Veteran.In parades; in the past, in the present, and I know in the future, Dad, has, does, and will properly carry; straight and tall, “Old Glory”, the American Flag.He also makes sure, first and foremost, that the American Flag is displayed, and displayed properly in its appropriate place.For him that is number one priority.He will fight, tooth and nail, for the American Flag to be displayed and be displayed properly.

After the War, Dad and Mom went back to their farm in theTurtleMountains. The Farm, being only one Quarter section, wasn’t enough to provide for the family, so Dad; part of the time would work at other jobs.Both in the spring and in the fall, for many years, He worked for Ed Melbroth on his farm in Gardena.For many springs, He worked for the Bottineau county soil conservation district, planting trees and then in 1959 He worked at the Minot Are Force Base when they were building it.When Dad was working out, Mom and we boys would milk the cows and do all the chores.

One job that Dad did have, when I was in my teens, was hauling cream, from the farmers in the hills, to the Bottineau Creamery.Dad picked up his cream route from Leonard Lund in the early 60’s and kept it for probably about eight years or so.That is one job that I think he really enjoyed.He likes people and this job gave him the opportunity to work and do some socializing together.His customers liked for him to come in for a cup of coffee, and for him, turning down a cup of coffee is hard to do.By the time he got to Bottineau, after about 15 to 20 cups of coffee, he was pretty well coffee logged, but he really enjoyed it.

Following his Cream Route job, He got a job at San Haven in 1970.He worked there for almost 10 years, retiring at age 65, in 1980.This is the job that has helped him enjoy his golden years a little more fruitfully.With this job he was able to build up his SS and he gets a very small state retirement.When he first started working there, he still had the milk cows.He was milking cows, putting up hay, and farming while working at San Haven.This lasted about a year or so.Then he sold the cattle and rented the farm to Elwood Fauske.Elwood is still farming it today.With his big equipment, He covers a lot more acres in a halfhour than Dad did in one day with his little ford tractor. Elwood’s equipment is so large, that some of Dad’s fields must not allow him to make a complete round without overlapping.

Looking back, I can still remember that old log barn.The folks couldn’t afford anything else.This barn had a poplar tree roof covered with straw that was not at all water proof.When the snow melted in the spring and when it rained in the summer it leaked like a sieve.What a joy (not) it was to milk cows, in this barn, with water running down your back.The floor in this log barn, as you probably can guess, was poplar logs.They got kind of slippery to walk on in the spring of the year and when it rained.At times it was a little tricky to balance the milk stool and milk bucket on these logs, milking a Holstein cow that had gone through a barb wire fence cutting up her utter pretty bad; kicking and slapping you in the face with a dirty wet tail. To top everything off, in the spring of the year after the snow melted or when it rained hard, the mud would be over a foot deep in front of the barn.At times the mud would be deeper than the knee high boots that I had to wear to get into the barn.After chores each day, we would hose our selves off with very cold water, from the well.

In 1960, Dad got an FHA loan and was able to build a bran new barn with a roof that didn’t leak and a cement floor.That I can remember very well. I was just going into high school.It was such a pleasure to use this new barn.I still remember that the cows kept their same order in the stanchions from the old log barn to the new barn.They knew exactly what order to be in.

Dad went to the Ackworth country school and in the 7th grade, he had to, like many other kids of those times, quit school to work at home.This is the same school that all three of us boys attended.I was the last person to graduate from Ackworth, going though all eight grades, before it was redistricted, in 1961 and everybody went to Dunseith.Bud was going into the 4th grade and Allen into the 7th grade, when it was redistricted.When I was in first grade, there were 6 kids in the whole school.When Dad went there, there were more than 40 kids.As the years pasted, after Dads younger days to our days and to the present, there are fewer families with less children living in the Turtle Mountains.

Dad was the only Stokes child; however, when he became an adult he discovered his biological family.They only lived about 20 miles apart, but in that day, that was a long ways.In his biological family, there were 12 children.He and his twin sister were numbers 11 and 12.I think Dad must have been number 12, because his middle name is Decenious, and I believe that means 12 in Norwegian.He did not meet his twin sister, Margaret, until he was 34 years old, because she lived in Canada.As Dad has always said, “when they first met, they realized that they were not identical twins”.

Of the 12 Petterson children, in Dad’s family, there are still five living today and one sister-in-law.There are three boys and 2 girls.They are Nels, who lives with his wife, Helga, of almost 64 years of marriage, in Everett, WA;Emil and his wife, Lillian, of 58 years of marriage, living here in Bottineau;Elvina, living in Rugby ND; Dad’sTwin, Margaret, of 80 years, living in Weyburn, SK., Canada; and of course, Dad, Living here in Bottineau. Gerda, Dad’s brother, Han’s wife, lives here in Bottineau.For that family, she is the oldest of the living today.Gerda is almost 92 years old, very capably lives alone and her main mode of transportation is walking.She looks and functions like someone 30 years junior to her.Nels is almost 91 and he still functions pretty well.He still has a very sharp mind.His back has been bothering him for a few years, but other than that, He’s still going pretty strong.He still drives his car around Everett.Emil, as you can see, is looking and doing pretty good, after he got his new hip.

My Folks have always been very active in the Lutheran church.When I was a kid we went to Salem.There were 4 churches in the district; Salem, Vinje, Nordland, and Manger.We used to go to Salem and Vinje Churches during the summer and then Nordland in the winter months.Those four churches have all merged into one with their church and chapel atLakeMetigoshe.I will never forget the people from those congregations.They were very nice people with a special bond.

Dad, like all of his brothers and sisters, has been know for his ability to work very hard, very fast and very swift.His normal working day, when I was a kid, during the summer, was about 15 hours.He very seldom worked Sundays, though.To this day, Bud has to constantly tell him to slow down.In the winter months he is constantly blowing snow and in the summer he’s mowing grass everywhere.He still helps bud with his farming, hauling grain and doing miscellaneous jobs.He just loves to work and to this day, he still works hard, fast and swift.

Dad has one trait that I envy, and that is his social skills.He knows no strangers.Everybody is his friend.He gets acquainted, very fast, everywhere he goes.When ever he comes out to visit us, in Washington, he has to visit all of my neighbors, they are all his friends.Whereever he goes, he will strike up a good conversation and more than likely throw in a few jokes her and there.He has a terrific memory for faces and names.Dad has a gift and I mean a great gift, not shared by many, for his ability to tell stories.It’s a real art to always get that punch line in his stores to come out perfect every time and be funny.You may here the same story more than once, but that’s OK, because he’s just telling the next guy that hasn’t heard it yet.If he’s in a store, in a new area, like Washington, He’ll strike up a conversation with a store clerk, usually by showing her his North Dakota time, followed by a few stories and then if she gets busy, he’ll wait until she’s not busy and go back and shoot the breeze some more, usually with a few more stories, if she liked the ones he had already told her, and most of the time she has liked them.His next time back in that store, he is remembered, even years later.I’m telling you, it’s a real gift and art not shared by many.

The golden years have been good for the folks.They both enjoy good health and stay very active.They spend a lot of time right here, in the senior citizen building, almost everyday.They eat there dinners here every week day, getting here about 11 o’clock everyday and staying until 3 or 4 in the afternoon socializing, playing cards and pool.It’s kind of funny, because they watch the price is right show from 10 to 11 and then they come up here, but Mom doesn’t wait for the show to get over.She leaves about 10 minutes to 11, so that she can get here usual table to play cards before dinner.She takes their pickup truck and then Dad walks up after the TV show is over.Dad is still very active in the American legion and Mom in the legion auxiliary.They are still active in the metogoshe church and they are very active with their grand kids and all of their many activities.