52 Ancestors Week 5: So Far Away

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 5's theme is "So Far Away." What ancestor migrated a long distance in his or her lifetime? Maybe you found an ancestor far from where you expected? How about a discovery in a distant library or archive?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles....

Last week, I wrote about how almost all of my ancestors were close to the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts at some point in their lives. Both sides of my family converged on the town as if it were a focal point in the space-time continuum. Don't laugh. The jury's still out on that. For all I know it could converge on Benedetti's deli. We still go there for subs. I recommend the Mark Anthony. Stay away from the Caligula. You'll regret it.

This week, it seems we're going in the opposite direction. Given this topic, you'd think it would be impossible for me to discuss it. I could easily talk about going from Italy to Haverhill again. Nope. Saving that for a later prompt this year. This week I am going to go further into detail on Eulalie Bibeau, a daughter of Jean Baptiste Bibeau and Therese Laroche.

Yamaska, where the wild gazebos roam.

Eulalie was born on February 28th, 1830 in St. Francois du Lac, Yamasaka, Canada and was one of nine children born into the Bibeau family. She married Pierre Cadran in January of 1854 and at some point or another moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts with him with three small children including my 2x great-grandmother, Lucie. You'd think that would have been the end of the story. However, things get a little more complicated and more like a series of interconnected rabbit holes in the land of a thousand lakes.

Remember those brothers and sisters she had? Well, it turned out that a large number of them settled in Anouka county, Minnesota. Charles, Zoe, Henriette and a few others went on to have large families there and as it happens I have quite a few DNA matches from those three siblings. As of this blog, I've managed to identify maybe a half of the 58 or so descendants of Jean Baptiste Bibeau and Therese Laroche. It's still a work in progress! My mother has way more than I do for obvious reasons!

They all had large families in Minnesota and I've tracked down a decent amount of them. A few descendants have actually helped me out on the issues. There's even a Facebook group surrounding this family if you can believe it! I joined and though I don't talk much, I have listened to their stories.

Eulalie in the house of Antoine Legault in the 1880 US census

The reason why this fits the prompt of "So Far Away" is because Massachusetts and Minnesota aren't exactly bordering states. There's a good 1,444 miles in between the cities the siblings ended up.in. And since e-mails, phones and other modern inventions weren't around in those days, you can bet that communication was done via letters. I honestly would love to see if those letters existed or if it's just a romantic idea I have cooked up in my head. Please let there be letters. PLEASE! I would love it if they were.

It's honestly hard to say if she maintained contact with the family. Perhaps she did. I've talked to various descendants of the other siblings and they've done considerable research on Eulalie and therefore my line for some time. Did the siblings talk about her? Perhaps. But, you know it's not as if she was an island alone in Haverhill. She made quite a name for herself as I've found via her obituary.

She passed away on December 19th, 1907 due to complications from "La grippe" or "The Spanish Flu" with senility being a contributing factor. Her obituary in the Haverhill Evening Gazette a few days later had this to say about my 3x great-grandmother:

"The death of Mrs. Marie Cardran, wife of Pierre Cardran, occurred yesterday afternoon at her home on Eastern avenue after a short illness. Mrs. Cardran was well known in French circles and was one of the oldest residents of the city. She was aged 78 years. She is survived by her husband and six daughters, Mary Messier, Lucy Legault, Harriet Denault, Mrs. Joseph Bean, Mrs. Josephine Robideau of Lynn, and Mrs. Vina Birt of New York city. She was a member of St. Anne's society. The funeral will be held from her late residence, Sunday noon, at 12:30 o'clock. Services will be held at St. Joseph's church, at 1:30, and the interment will be in St. Joseph's cemetery."

My great-grandmother was only fifteen when her grandmother died and from the looks of things, she had quite the impact on the French population of Haverhill. She had a large family just like her parents in Canada did. Jean Baptiste and Therese passed away in the 1850s. But, their children and grandchildren thrived in both Minnesota and in Massachusetts. Still, one has to wonder if she communicated with her family in that state often. Sure it was hundreds of miles. But, letter writing in those days were a thing. So were train rides.

I hope some day I find a letter or something. Did the family talk despite being so far away? Perhaps they did. There is one way to find out. Ask DNA matches! Couldn't hurt. Here's hoping I find something. Maybe even a picture?

Time will tell, readers. Time will tell.

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.