52 Ancestors Week 33: Multiples

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 33 is “Multiples.” There are lots of ways you could interpret this theme: multiple marriages, multiple children, twins (or more), or even someone who shows up in multiple records. Have fun with this prompt!

More people than you can shake a stick at!

    According to my archive I've talked about multiple children twice. I've discussed my 2nd great-grandmother Gertrude and her multiple husbands and children in 2021. I've talked about the Carrabs family just last year. These things come in threes and since I have a plethora of large families in my tree it's only fair to talk about one of them. I've already talked about the children of my 2nd great-grandparents Antoine Legault and Lucie Cadran. But! Did you know he had a brother named Felix? And did you know that one of Felix's descendants owned the marina my parents had their boat in for several decades. Before you can start singing "It's a Small World" let's dig into the life of Felix Legault!

Felix, Matilde and Evelyn in the middle.

    Felix Napoleon Legault was just four years younger than Antoine and like his brother he also lived in Haverhill. Also like his brother he too had a dozen children. I'm willing to bet that the cousins all knew each other only because they were in the same general area and if you have cousins in the same city you usually hang out with them unless there was a family feud or something.

    And yes his middle name was Napoleon. You see that a lot with French-Canadians. Some people name their kids after US presidents. French-Canadians name their kids after generals who slid down waterslides and traveled through time.

    We could be here all day naming every single child Felix and Matilde had. They had twelve of them between 1875 and 1900. Oh and to make things ever so slightly confusing Felix named one of his daughters after one of Antoine and Lucie's daughter, Delphine. This makes sense to me because Delphine was the name of Antonie and Felix's mother. Like in Italian families, the names repeat over and over in French-Canadian lines. You're going to come across many Jacques or Maries. You just need to be careful because one Jacques might not be the one you need. Oh and it doesn't help that Legault is a very common last name in Canada. Sacré bleu! 

    One of their daughters was a woman named Matilda Vina Legault. Not to be confused with her cousin WITH THE SAME NAME! That Matilda went to Connecticut the first chance she got and married a Rowell. This one in the picture was born in 1892 in Haverhill and spent all of her life there. She passed away in 1993 and was one of the first centenarians I ever discovered in my tree. All I can say is good for her. Give her a round of applause, everyone. She won at life. I wonder what her secret was. 

    She sadly outlived three of her children. Evelyn passed away in 1976 and is in the picture with her grandparents. Two others passed away in the 1960s and in the 1980s. It's very sad. But at least she looks happy in this photograph.  She seems like she was a nice lady. And for some reason I really want some of that cake.

    Moving on Felix and Mathilde had a son named Felix who was born in 1875 and no his middle name was NOT Napoleon. Nope. His middle name was Joseph. Hey. Let's give the Legaults a little bit a credit, huh? I think they realized the name "Napoleon" wasn't going to fly in America. Granted he was born in Quebec. Felix is the ancestor of the Corbins who owned Rings Island Marina.

Bowling? What?!

        Felix married a woman by the name of Albina Lefebvre. Lefebvre is another one of those last names you need to watch out for. It's extremely common and yes I have that one in my tree, too. Of course I do.

    According to this article I found on Felix junior, he and his brothers were into bowling. Keep in mind that the bowling in the Merrimack valley isn't the one people usually think of when they think of bowling. They probably bowled candlepin style.  I wonder how a a family that bowled went into boating. Actually, no. Wait. I take that back. I do know. My family did it. Everyone has hobbies!

    Felix and Alvina had a daughter Irene who married Phillip Corbin and they had a son named James. The rest as they say is history. Family history, that is. When I found that connection laughed so hard and told my mother about it. She smiled at me and said she already knew about the connection for years. I said to her "Why didn't you tell me?!" I mean....Jim Corbin was a nice guy. VERY nice. He bought coffee and donuts for everyone at the marina every Sunday morning. I guess I was on a need to know basis and I didn't need to know right away. Let's not forget I was the kid who asked a million questions. My parents probably figured I'd find out soon enough. And I did. It really is a small world after all.

    Jim Corbin unfortunately passed away in 2008 before I could talk to him about his family history. It was certainly surprising that I had that connection. Then again Felix's family was pretty large. It stood to reason that I'd be connected to other people in the valley like that. I expected it with my Italian side because everyone was in close vicinity with one another. I didn't really expect it with my French-Canadian side to be honest. I guess I really should. You never know when the French-Canadian cousins are going to pop out of the woodwork.

    Large families tend to create more connection possibilities. You fill in a tree and you end up finding cousins you either never heard of or cousins you knew about and never thought you had a connection with them. It's really exciting to think about when you're looking stuff up. Though, you still have to watch out for the common names out there. You'll have to research the family lines carefully because one Jacques may not be your Jacques. Keep that in mind!

Now I have this urge to go watch "Bill and Ted". Party on, dudes!