Historical Lookback

[Barney and Beverly Brunelle]

BrunelleNation appears to need a jump start so I thought it may be time to introduce a (or an, never could get that straight) Historical Lookback.  With all sorts of family data at my finger tips (or at least stored in BAM (Brunelle Antiquities Museum) some little known facts perhaps should be shared.  About a year ago we did a salute honoring Cal Wright's 100th birthday in 1909.  In this year of 2010 we should honor the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of our famous relatives.  Guess who that might be?  He was a year younger then Abe Lincoln and not quite as famous, but he did make at least one history book.  Stay tuned and maybe by next week I'll reveal who this guy is (or was).  Barney B.

[Nick Brunelle]

err. Bottineau?

[Barney and Beverly Brunelle]

Nick (et al), The guess of Bottineau, Pierre that is (every Tom, Dick and Harry was named Pierre) was a very good guess. It wasn't correct but was a good guess. Pierre was born sometime around 1816 and died around 1890 a day after he was out moose hunting. Pierre Botteneau was much more famous than our mystery man having a county and a college in North Dakota named for him as well as one of the principal city libraries in downtown Minneapolis. However, our mystery kin just happened to be Pierre Bottineau's father-in-law. Tomorrow I will retrieve my data and find out when and where in 1810 our guy was born and why he was the subject of a Minnesota history notation. Sleep well. Barney

[Nick Brunelle]

Jean Baptiste Laurence?

[Michael Brunelle]

I probably have it in my papers, but without checking, and thanks to Nick eliminating some candidate, I would guess Pierre Charbonneau.

[Barney and Beverly Brunelle]

I am really embarrassed because I wrote a rather long revelation about our mystery guy a couple hours ago but failed to send it. It was a marvelous piece of prose that I cannot duplicate. Such is life.

First off -- Jean Baptiste Laurence isn't the answer -- whoever he may be. Charbonneau, if we're thinking about the same guy, was screwing up Lewis and Clark's trek to the Pacific a few years prior to 1810. For a French-Canadian guy he was inept at rowing a boat. So now I'll attempt to rewrite the answer to who is this famous relative.

Nick was correct when he identified him as my great-great grandfather. With the clue of he and I both having granddaughters named Jessie Brunelle (nee Gervais) was a given. And so, our 1810 ancestor was Louis Pierre Gervais. He was born on August 31, 1810, at Louiseville, Quebec formerly known as Riviere du Loup. He left Canada at age 16 for Lake Champlain, New York. He was married in 1829 to Marie Trombley. It was a double marriage with Marie's brother Abraham marrying Rosa. They resided at Lake Champlain for 22 years then relocated to Saint Paul, then Saint Anthony, then Maple Grove, Minnesota. He was one of the original founders of Maple Grove which is now a city of 50,000 people. Being the founder of a town led to his inclusion in the "History of Hennepin County." He, however, did not approach the fame of two of his older brothers and a son-in-law Pierre Bottineau. They are credited with the founding of Saint Paul as well as helping to construct the first church in Pigs Eye that they named Saint Paul and then named the city after the church. These two older brothers were Benjamin and Pierre. (Louie later was known as Peter). According to the history book Louie Pierre and Marie, along with Abe and Rosa Trombley celebrated a golden anniversary mass at Osseo, Minnesota, in 1880, which, the book states was the result of a mistake in calculating the date. At this golden wedding, plus one, were their eight living children and seventy-five grandchildren. Jessie would have been about 12 years old. Henry Gervais, Jessie's father was the oldest son and had six sisters. Martha, a couple years older then Henry was Pierre Bottineau's second wife. Bottineau was a busy guy as he is also credited with founding the town of Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, that was the birthplace of my dad, Pete Ford's dad and Father Roger LaChance's dad.
And so on Tuesday afternoon, August 31, 2010, we will gather on our patio (if its finished by then) to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Louis Pierre Gervais -- unless a mistake is made in calculation which would make it what? 2011?

[Nick Brunelle]

John Baptiste Laurence was the father of Pierre Bottineau's first wife, Genevieve. They were married on 12/1/1836 and had 10 children. Genevieve died 4/9/1851.
Pierre married Martha Gervais (daughter of Pierre Louis Gervais & Marie Tremblay) on 1/6/1852. They had 14 children.