A Canadian Family

The Grave Could Not Keep His Real Place of Birth by Peter Lagasse

This is one of a series of Guest Posts by Peter Lagasse, a descendant of Andre Mignier dit Lagace and Jacquette Michel through Basil Mignier/Lagace and his first wife Madeleine Leclerc/Francoeur. In today’s article Peter doesn’t only give us more information about his American Lagasses; he also lets us “look over his shoulder” as he unravels a family mystery.

Guest Post 3: Peter Lagasse

The Grave Could Not Keep His Real Place of Birth

My father, Roland Paul Lagasse, pictured here around 1910, had always been told he, along with his mother Agnes Louise Ross, were born in Flint, Michigan, USA. It was stated September 11, 1909, Flint, Michigan, on his Social Security form and on his obituary years later. His mother never had an actual birth certificate for my father since there had been a fire destroying the vital records in Flint, Michigan. At least, that was the story shared by his mother and we had no reason to question her.

I, therefore, began in Flint, Michigan to find any evidence of my father’s birth. I began seeking for border crossings from Canada of the Ross family heading to Michigan. I knew Canada had been my grandmother’s ancestral home and expected to find her parents coming to Michigan. The search hit a brick wall. My next stop would be Flint, Michigan City Hall.

I wrote to the city clerk stating who I was looking for and also the information that we had been told about the fire destroying some early vital records. I waited with anxious anticipation. I, finally, received the long awaited email. The Flint, Michigan, city clerk shared there had been a fire but could not verify if it had effected my father’s records. Then came a complete surprise. All Michigan birth records were protected from the public until the record was 110 years old. I would have to wait until 2019 to even learn if Michigan even had a birth certificate of my father. Another brick wall raised before me, but I would not be hindered in my search. I, instead, went to my genealogy helpers.

I contacted various forums on genforum.genealogy.com. Emails came flooding in about various leads. There was information on a Manifest of Alien Passengers of a Lagasse family of three coming into the United States on July 1910 through Newport, Vermont. They were coming from St Flavian, Quebec, after visiting the father of Joseph Lagasse. St Flavian was the birth place of my grandfather, Joseph Guadias Lagacé, and his place of burial. What was intriguing in this border crossing manifest was the information about the son, also called Joseph Lagasse. It stated he had been born in 1909 in Cap Chat, Quebec! Could this really be my father?

Another Manifest of Passenger list dated December 1911 shared of a Roland Lagasse accompanied by his mother returning from Mechen, Quebec after visiting his grandfather and heading to Portland, Maine, to his father Goudias Lagasse. This seemed possible since my father’s dad was know as Goudias as well as Joseph and had lived in Portland, Maine. However, unlike the earlier manifest, my father’s birth place was stated as Portland, Maine.

Were these two manifests dealing with same family? If yes, then why different names and places of birth for my father? Then came the information I had been looking for to answer these questions. It was in an email dated September 16, 2007. It was coming from a retired rocket scientist now living in Alabama but formerly of Maine. I have included his complete message below.

Peter,

Your father was born on 11 November 1909 and baptized on 12 November 1909 in St-Paul-des-Capucins, Les Mechins, QC. He was baptized Joseph Gaudiose Rolland Lagace, the son of Gaudiose Lagace and Agnes Ross. His godparents were his Aunt and Uncle Ernest Dechesne and Marie Jeanne Ross (sister to Agnes).

Your grandmother was born on 20 January 1891 and baptized on 21 January 1891 in St-Paul-des-Capucins, Les Mechins, QC. She was baptized Marie Agnes Ross, daughter of Augustin Ross and Marie Gagnon. Her godparents were Joseph Barriault and Melvina Servant. You can find the Augustin Ross family in the 1901 census located in Rimouski (#188), sub-district: St-Paul-des-Capucins F(1), page 1, line 21. Notice that the Barriaults are their neighbors. Augustin is shown as being married yet Marie Gagnon Ross does not appear in the listing as his wife. Their youngest child, Marie Laure Ross, was born on 18 September 1897. There is no Sepulture listing for Marie Gagnon from that date to 1902.

Carroll Deschaines

The mystery of Marie Gagnon Ross not being in the 1901 census can be a topic for another time. Carroll Deschaines’ documents on his family tree data for over 8 years about my Lagasse and Ross lineage was now being shared with me. The brick walls were falling. I had found my father’s real place of birth. But one piece of information in the form of a question remains in the grave; the grave of my grandmother, Agnes Louise Ross.

Why? Why had she told my father that they both had been born in Flint, Michigan? Though married in Manchester, New Hampshire to Joseph Guadias Lagasse where my father was also conceived, my grandmother actually goes to her own place of birth to give birth to her first and only child; known to me as Roland Paul Lagasse but baptized as Joseph Gaudiose Rolland Lagace in St-Paul-des-Capucins, Les Mechins, Quebec.

The grave was unable to keep all the secrets my grandmother had held so long and had taken to her final resting place in Gorham, Maine, at Hillside Cemetery. But the why will always be her secret never to be revealed or will it? We never know where the paths of genealogy will lead us. Someday, it may lead me to the WHY.

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You can access all of Peter Lagasse’s articles in a special section on the

Mignier dit Lagaces – Portal.

Peter Lagasse can be contacted at:

http://www.contactify.com/5930f

June 30, 2009 - Posted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault | . | Genealogy, Lagace, Lagasse