G2G: Looking for Sophie Fortin-2203 b. abt 1852 of St. Victor, Quebec, Canada

Question

Sophie Fortin is one of my brick walls. I'm looking for parents and birth date and death date. She married Louis Fournier in Farmington, Maine 25 Jan 1881. They worked in New England mills. She died before 1900.

Answer 1

I have been researching Sophie, the daughter of Joseph Fortin and Elizabeth Champagne for a few years, as the only child of the family I wasn't able to find anything about.  It was just recently I started looking at this as a possibility, and then I stumbled upon this discussion.  I have found good reason for Sophie, the spouse of Louis, to be the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (I'll add information to her page as research notes, but will summarize here).

Joseph and Elizabeth were in Farmington in 1860.  They didn't stay long as they were back in Quebec for the 1861 census, but they were there using the surname Foster (and Elizabeth was listed as Isabel).  I am certain this is the same family based on the names of the children, and these younger children returned to Maine and continued using Foster as their surname.  As well, Frederick Fournier, Sophie's son, in his World War I registration lists Levi Foster as his relative (this would be his maternal uncle, who was born Olivier Fortin).  In later census records he is living in Gardiner with Mary and Luther Buckmore, Mary being his cousin through the Fortin family.  Mary Bickford is listed as his cousin in his record at the military home in Augusta, but I think this was a clerical error and was likely Mary Buckmore.

Comments

Thanks Sam, That is very interesting! I appreciate your answering. I can hardly wait to learn more. I have been researching this family for quite a while. I wasn't able to find much on Frederick. I'm so impressed with the information you have pulled together. Are you related?  I did find info on his brother Alexander and I think a lead on his sister Annie. She may have entered the nunnery, as a servant, in Brunswick and Waterville, Maine. My grandfather, Charles Byron, is Frederick's brother. He was very old when I was a child and apparently very grouchy as my father always said to stay away from him. So I never talked to him or got anywhere near him. I was told he didn't get along with his step mother and ran away soon after his father remarried, but I found the entire family at Southworth, New Hampshire, in 1900, working in the mill. So think maybe he didn't hop that train at age ten as family stories said. Donna

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Glad to help!  She was the last remaining child in this family who I had nothing about so it's completed the family.  I am a descendant of her older sister, Marie, who married Augustin Tardif in 1860 (the same year the rest of the family was living in Farmington).  Marie and Augustin's granddaughter (my great-grandmother) moved to Maine in 1923.  I tend to do a lot of research on the families living in Chisholm, so have done a little research on the Fournier's as well (mostly Louis' brother, Gilbert).  Still searching for Sophie's death and Louis' remarriage.

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I meant Somersworth, New Hampshire (not Southworth) According to the 1900 census of Somersworth, New Hampshire, Louis and Celina (Celinaire, Salina) married in 1894 and she immigrated to the US in 1894. They could have been married in Canada or shortly after her arrival in the US. Sophia died after Jun 1891, when Amedie was born and before 1894 when Louis remarried. Family tradition says she died from an accident. She climbed on a chair to reach something in a cupboard over her head. The chair broke and the fall killed her.

Answer 2

there is a Sophie Fortin born 1 Aug 1855, baptized on the 2nd in Saint-Victor-de-Tring  https://www.genealogiequebec.com/fr/LAFRANCE/carte/407 map, free access

she was daughter of Joseph Fortin and of Élisabeth Champagne.  Either she died in 1857, or she survived and it's a sibling who got named with her name on that funeral, the child given the age of 6 years.  Have some doubt that this would be her though, the location is quite far from the US border, and I see no trace of the family moving south.

There is another Sophie Fortin born on 26 april 1856, baptized 27th in same location, daughter of François Xavier Fortin and of Archange Pomerleau.  That one married Israël Chingues on 11 July 1876 in same location.  No other trace of the couple found.

Have you found her actual marriage record with Louis Frédéric Fournier?  Is she listed as a widow perchance?

Comments

Hi Danielle, Thank you! for your time. I had discovered this Sophie the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Champagne. I have also found in the 1880 Census of Farmington, Maine Sofiah Fortin, servant in the household of  Charles Rounds. She was 22 years old making her birth year 1858. So, I know she was in Farmington by 1880. Louis and Sofi married a year later. I suspect they met in Farmington. I haven't found any funeral records, but the 1861 census shows the Joseph Fortin and Elizabeth Champagne family - Sophie is 5 years old. This would make her born in 1856. I have searched and searched for her death record, with no luck. They could have been in New Hampshire, Maine or even Massachusetts. She died between Census years.

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https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=pdf&id=4108661_00318 Joseph Fortin & Élisabeth Champagne  with their children in 1861, indeed Sophie is there, listed as 5

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1871&op=pdf&id=4395495_00099 Sophie daughter of Joseph shows as 16 in 1871 census

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=pdf&id=4108661_00309 François-Xavier Fortin with his wife and children in 1861, his Sophie also listed as 5

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1871&op=pdf&id=4395495_00075 1871 census shows Sophie daughter of Xavier as 14

ha! process of elimination, the Sophie who married in 1876 is found in 1881 with her husband Israël  (his last name is unusual and got misread)

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1881&op=pdf&id=e008141653

Don't see a likely one for the other Sophie daughter of Joseph and Élisabeth

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oh, and census ages are sometimes off, or else they are very strict sometimes, censuses here are usually done May 1st, not sure if that was the case back then.

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Thank you for putting links to the census records. All my copies are hard copies. In 1880 she is in the US census as a domestic and then married in 1881 in Farmington, Maine to Louis Frederick Fournier, he was a mason by trade. She was not listed as a widow on her marriage record. I was lucky to find her on the US census. I went through Farmington census record line by line. She was at the end of the page and a bit blurry; her name did not come up electronically as being on the census, but  the computer made it easier to see it was her. Of course, language was always an issue and her age might have been misunderstood. She was the only servant in the household. The head of the household was the president of what is now University of Maine at Farmington. Back then it was called a "Normal" school. I wondered how she got to Farmington and to work for a prestigious family; perhaps the position was advertised in a Quebec. Also, I've been trying to learn how French Canadians ended up in Farmington. What was the route they took? Was there a train? Did they have to walk or ride on a cart or in a coach? My brother had a Y test done and found he was 3% Askenazi Jew. Surprising to me, but I have found besides French Catholic, members of my family who were Episcopalian, Baptists and Congregationalists. So why not Jewish too. I also wondered if the 3% could have come through her and the family name was changed to Fortin at some point. It seems we have found some of the same information. It has been so helpful to have someone with which to discuss this. I also wondered about Israël (his name was different, perhaps he was Jewish), but she couldn't be in two places at once and she didn't have any children with her when she married Louis. 

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No, she is living with her husband Israël in 1881 census here, so that's not the right girl.  And no, the name Israël is not a sign of Jewish blood particularly, some good Catholic families went for biblical names.  Although that man gets his last name mangled everywhere from what little I saw.

Since you have the marriage record, would be good to transcribe the full text in her bio, and if you have a paper copy, upload an image too.

How she would have got there is probably by train, St-Victor is near the rail lines.

https://originis.ca/paroisses/p_alpha/p_saint/paroisse_saint_victor/

Answer 3

Was Louis from Maine or Quebec?  There are many many Fournier's in Quebec by the name of Louis?  Do you know Louis' age?  Perhaps have a look at the Canadian Census at the Canadian Archives, Quebec, Beaunce, St. Victor and see if you can locate them there.  They may have been married in Maine but come from Quebec.  Their ages may be on their marriage certificate or the birth certificates of their children or their parents names may be on their death certificates.  Are there other Fortins living where they lived that maybe related is there anything in the newspapers?

Comments

I have Louis' genealogy complete. They were not from the same town. Louis [Fournier-2592] was from St. Charles and Sophia [Fortin-2203] from St. Victor, Quebec, Canada, born about 1852. I think they met in Farmington, Maine where they were both living at the time and they married 25 Jan 1881 in Farmington, Maine. I've searched the census records in Quebec, but I found nothing definitive. The 1900 census of Southworth, New Hampshire shows the family working in the mill. Mother, Sophia, had died and father, Louis, was remarried.