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Marie Robella Bessette (1897 - 1952)

Marie Robella Bessette
Born in Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts, USAmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Died at age 54 in Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, USAmap
Problems/Questions
Profile last modified | Created 6 Dec 2012
This page has been accessed 369 times.

Contents

Biography

This biography is a rough draft. It was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import and needs to be edited.

Name

Name: Marie Robella /Bessette/[1][2][3]
Name: Robelda /Bessette/[4]
Name: Robella /Barker/[5]

Found multiple versions of NAME. Using Marie Robella /Bessette/.

Birth

Birth:
Date: 21 APR 1897
Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[6][7][8][9][10]

Occupation

Occupation: "Brusher" at a woolen mill
Date: 1920

Residence

Residence: 35 Church Street, Leominster, Massachusetts
Date: 1920
Residence: Also Louis, Aurora, Lillian/8 Eaton Place Leominster, Massachusetts emp Farrell and Howland
Date: 1918
Residence: Louis Aurora Lillian no Robella maybe with Clarence/222 Central Street
Date: 1918
Residence: 169 Whitney Street, Leominster, MA only Robella- no Clarence
Date: 1930
Residence: 368 Park Street, Gardner, Massachusetts
Date: 1900
Residence:
Date: 1910
Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[11]
Residence:
Date: 1900
Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[12]
Residence:
Date: 1930
Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA[13]
Residence: Lived with C Daniel Leblanc
Date: 01 APR 1940
Place: Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[14]

DCAUSE

DCAUSE Uremia; Infected Ventral Hernia and Diabetes. Old Abdominal Operation. Obesity Marked.

Note

Note: #N38
Note: #H39
Note: #H60
Note: #N148
Note: #H149

Marriage

Husband: Clarence Elmer Barker
Wife: Marie Robella Bessette
Child: Robert Walter Barker
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: Gloria Jeannette Barker
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Marriage: 223 Central Street,Leominster, Massachusetts
Date: 20 AUG 1918
Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Note: #N28
Note: #N205
Separated: It appears Clarence and Robella were together about 12 years.
Date: 1930[15]

Sources

  • WikiTree profile Bessette-69 created through the import of WikiTree Kane Family Tree 05 Dec 2012 - a shorter generation version.ged on Dec 5, 2012 by Mary Depew. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Mary and others.
  • Source: S1 Title: obituary
  • Source: S14 Author: Ancestry.com Title: 1930 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2002; Repository: #R1 NOTEUnited States of America, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930
  • Repository: R1 Name: www.ancestry.com Address: E-Mail Address: Phone Number:
  • Source: S17 Author: Ancestry.com Title: 1900 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004; Repository: #R1 NOTEUnited States of America, Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900
  • Source: S19 Author: Ancestry.com Title: 1910 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006; Repository: #R1
  • Source: S2 Title: city directiories
  • Source: S96 Author: Ancestry.com Title: 1940 United States Federal Census Publication: Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2012; Repository: #R1 NOTEUnited States of America, Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940

Notes

Note H149Wednesday August 4,2010
My Firstt Geneolgy Trip or How I Spent a Day of My Summer Vacation
I found My Gramma Robella R (Bessette) Barker Apr 1897- Mar 1952
Hi Ma,
Yesterday I decided to take a ride to Leominster, MA, and try to find my Gramma, Robella R. Barker. It is unbelievable but I did find her! I envisioned 3 stops or so and that maybe I would go by Rita Brouillett's house, she is 93 now. I thought I would go to Leominster City Hall, the Leominster Library, and the Greenwood Cemetary, in that order. I was unsure about how best to approach the task of finding Robella but knew I had to start somewhere. I thought I had a smidgeon of a chance that I just might find her if I was lucky and I followed the right steps. You are gone almost 11 years now, and as far as I know, you never knew your Mom Robella and you never knew where she was. I believe you thought she died when you were eight years old. I can only assume someone told you that story and stuck with it. I started reseaching our Family Tree upon some strong prodding from my friend and new LilSis Kathleen Reckner. We got a lot of family information from researching online but in trying to refine the information and be more exact, the first piece of information I needed to find more about was my missing Gramma Barker. We did find out online that she was still living in Fitchburg in 1952 when you were in Lancaster still single at 24, you must have been planning to get married at that tiime. I knew that Grand Uncle John O'Donnell and Grand Aunt Aurore (Bessette) O'Donnell were your stand in parents at your Wedding from your Wedding pictures. Uncle John walked you down the aisle to give you away as a bride. So where was your mother, Robella? And at this point in my research - I found that Brother (Alfred Bessette) Andre was your 4th coiusin, 3 times removed. I have read that he visited Fitchburg and Lowell in his travels to raise money from the factory workers to build St Joseph's Oratory and that he tried to visit family when he was travelling. So I wanted to see if he visited Leominster too and who he may have visited. There is another Alfred Bessette that is your 1st cousin, once removed, just as you thought and told me about.
I drove to Leominster thinking about all my other trips to Leominster over the years and that Robella must be there somewhere and we just never knew. I arrived in Leominster and although I planned to go to city hall for a death certificate, instead I drove into Greenwood Cemetary. I went to the spot I remembered going to with you when I was little, I had visited this spot a few times before but could not figure out who was there that you knew, wsa it your mother's spot? I went to the cemetary office, the door was open but there was no one to be found, even though there were four cars parked athe the cemetary offfice. I drove around the cemetary looking for somebody, anybody, there were only city of Leominster Water Dept workers as they had a water main break in the middle of the night before. The DPW workers did not know where the office people were. I went back to the office went inside again and eyed the file drawer.......then as I was leaving the office, I was going to call the cell phone number on the sign on the door but a cemetary worker was driving up in a work truck. The driver got out and asked "How can I help you?" I told him - "I am trying to find my grandmother that I neve knew" "I can help you with that, our secretary isn;t here until this afternoon" We went back into the office, and he asked for my grandmother name, he looked thorugh the card catalogue and could not find her name. I verified that if she was there she would be in the card catalogue and he said yes she would be. he then mentioned the other cemetaries in Leominster and offered to call for me. We spoke about how Robella got married at St Cecilia's because I had found a marriage certificate for her in your papers.He called St Cecilia's first, he asked, we waited, the woman on the phone said she could not find her. He then called St Leo's, not there either. After some conversation that Robella was living in Fitchburg in 1952 when her trail went missing - he offered to call St Bernard's also, no, not there either. The cemetary worker suggested going to City hall, then the phone was ringing and he was trying to talk to me over it but decided to anser it and it was St Cecilia's calling back. they found Robella under her maiden name Bessette. The woman on the phone gave us the lot number and said there was a burial going on right then and someone should be at the cemetary to help me find the lot. I thanked the young gentleman, "Thank you kindly for helping me find my Gramma". As we were heading out of the office, the Boss showed up in another work truck and he asked "Can I help you or is my number one man helping you?" I got to tell him that his number one man did a a tremendous job in helping me find my Gramma Barker at St Cecilia's, and that the Bessettes that ARE buried in Greenwood are related to Brother Andre who will soon be canonized a saint.
As I got back in the car, about an hour into my search for Gramma Barker and finding her - emotion overwhelmed ne, i drove the shsort distance to Sr Cecilia's through tears of happiness. I took the short cut through the old Searstown paking lots to the back way out near the I190 ramps - I thought about how many times we drove thsi way together when we went shopping with the kids, not knowing Gramma Barker was less than a mile away in St Cecilia's just off Mechanic Street around 8th Street. as I drove into the cemetary, I was all business again, I could see there was a tent over a grave waiting for someone's burial and a work truck off in the far corner, there was no one else. St Celicilia's is an almost squsre flat plot about 1/3 the size of an average Walmart with trees only at the edges. it looks like a relatively new cemetary, no graves more than about 80 years old maybe. I drove to the work truck and asked the big burley working man where plot number 297 1/2 was at. He pulled out a map from behind his truck seat and sqiuinted to read the impossibly small print - he pointed to the corner I entered the cemetary at and said is was the 1st row, 3rd stone in and said the name Barker was not familiar. He said he would 'escort' me but the funeral party was due in less than 5 minutes and he did not want hsi truck in the way. I told him I could find it ok, i could see form there almost. I drove back the short sistance to the emtrance and parked away from the funeral tent. I walked to the gravesite and it was a Bessette stone that said;
BESSETTE
1867 Louis 1936
His Wife
1865 Georgianna 1935
1900 Son Albe 1935
So in seeing that Robella was not marked on the stone - I realized this was also my Great Gandfather and Great Granmother and Grand Uncle. I thought that Grand Aunt Lillian must be here too maybe as she never married. She was your GodMother. So Louis and georgianna lived in Gardner I believe and did not die until my you were 7 or 8 years old, I am not sure if you ever knew them. I was again overwhelmed with emothion - it was a few mintues before I could talk to Robella. I then prayed to St Joseph through Brother Andre to bless all buried here and make sure that, if they are not already, they get to heaven to be able to join my you Ma in death, as I am sure you are already in heaven. "Dear Brother Andre, please Bless all those buried here and ask St Joseph to lead them all to heaven to join my mother Gloria Kane at last." The cemetary is in a small busy neighborhood but it was so silent and very windy, my hat flew off and I had to chase it. I walked back to the grave to talk to Gramma Robella, "Hi Gram - it's me MaryAlice, I don't know why we never knew you but for whatevers the reasons were, you are fotgiven, if there was ever anything ttat may have needed to be forgiven for. I love you." I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure just where the 1/2 of the 297 plot might be..............and that Gramma Barker died 3 years before I was born. Gramma Barker's husband Clarence, your father, my grandfather, lived until 1962 in Bangor Maine - 10 more years - did he ever come to visit here? You would have been about 17 or 18 years old when he died. We are not sure when Grampa Barker left Leominster. As I exited the cemetary I saw the funera party coming down the road. l wonder who is getting buried?
Well at this point I was back to business again in the real world.......I still did not have a death date just 1952, so I headed for St Cecilia's Cemetary Office which was back at the church itself. I range the bell, and a woman answered the door, I explained that I just found my Gramma Barker's grave that we never knew was there in St Cecilia's but that I would like to know the date of burial to have a better idea of when she died. This woman was not the one that made the callback to Greenwood. Anyway, she went and checked, Machr 3, 1952. I asked if there was any plans for a group from the church to go to Montreal for Brother Andre's Canonization. She said she was not aware of anything, so I left my name and number for her to check with Father Goguen.
I then headed for the Libarary to try to find an obituary for Robella and to see if they knew anything about Brother Andre visiting the area. The geneological expert was not in, I have to go back when she is there, but I left her a note too with my phone number and asked about Brother Andre in the Leominster Area. The librarian set up the microfiche for Jan-Mar 1952. I hadn't used micro-fische since college - very tricky - and the micr-fiche printer was broken. I found Robella's Obituary in the Loeminster Daily Enterprise, Monday March 3, 1952. It read:
Mrs Robella (Bessette) Barker, 54, of 5 Broadway Street, Fitchburg, died yesterday at Burbank Hospital after a long illness. Born in Gardner, she was a resiident
of Fitchburg for 10 years, and she was a Gold Star Mother.
Survivors are one daughter, Miss Gloria Barker of Lancaster, teo sisters, Miss Lillian Bessette of Leominster, and Mrs Aurora (Aurore?) O'Donnell of Fitchburg, and one
brother, Louis Bessette of Fitchburg.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning from the M.A. Simard & Son Funeral Home, followed by a High Requiem Massin St. Cecilia's Church at 9 O'Clock. Burial
will be in the parish cemetary. The calling hours are 2-4 and 7-9PM.
Hmmm.................I had to go to 5 Broad Street! How far is it? I wrapped up the micro-fiche and skidaddled to Fitchburg. I put the address in my GPS and thought about how far these places were from each other in 1952 compared to now in 2010. I found Broadway Street, but no houses remain, There is a autobody shop on the spot #5 in back and a Dunkin Donuts in the front, of course! that is the only buildings now on the short street off Route 31 near the Cleghorne(French Town) section of Fitchburg .3 miles from the Big Boulder in Fitchburg Common. I felt sort of silly but curiosity getting the best of me, i went to the body shop and asked is this 5 Broadway - to get started somehow in asking aboutt Robella. The owners were there, a husband and wife team a little younger than I I think.......they said they had been there 50 years though, must have been a family business, so that was 8 yrs short of Robella's time there. I told them I felt silly but I was tracking down my missing Gramma I never knew and that she lived at 5 Broadway when she died at 54, on March 2, 1952 after a long illness. They told me there used to be 2 old run down houses that fronted Rt 31 and they could have been 5 Broadway then because it used to cross the road, now Broad Street is across the road. That was all they knew, so I asked it there was possibly anyone still in th eneighborhood that was there is 1952. They gave me a name, Caisse and a number 978-827-6651, saying that this guy grew up there and lived his life there but recently moved to Ashburnham. I will call him. There was no one else to ask anything more. I will follow up at Fitchburg Libarary today or historical society for a picture of the house.
I drove home so thrilled with my findings, just so happy to finally know something more than I did. I stopped by your grave to tell you in person about your mother.
What a happy moment that was for me!
Love you Ma.
Your Daughter,
Mary Alice
Note H39Wednesday August 4,2010
My Firstt Geneolgy Trip or How I Spent a Day of My Summer Vacation
I found My Gramma Robella R (Bessette) Barker Apr 1897- Mar 1952
Hi Ma,
Yesterday I decided to take a ride to Leominster, MA, and try to find my Gramma, Robella R. Barker. It is unbelievable but I did find her! I envisioned 3 stops or so and that maybe I would go by Rita Brouillett's house, she is 93 now. I thought I would go to Leominster City Hall, the Leominster Library, and the Greenwood Cemetary, in that order. I was unsure about how best to approach the task of finding Robella but knew I had to start somewhere. I thought I had a smidgeon of a chance that I just might find her if I was lucky and I followed the right steps. You are gone almost 11 years now, and as far as I know, you never knew your Mom Robella and you never knew where she was. I believe you thought she died when you were eight years old. I can only assume someone told you that story and stuck with it. I started reseaching our Family Tree upon some strong prodding from my friend and new LilSis Kathleen Reckner. We got a lot of family information from researching online but in trying to refine the information and be more exact, the first piece of information I needed to find more about was my missing Gramma Barker. We did find out online that she was still living in Fitchburg in 1952 when you were in Lancaster still single at 24, you must have been planning to get married at that tiime. I knew that Grand Uncle John O'Donnell and Grand Aunt Aurore (Bessette) O'Donnell were your stand in parents at your Wedding from your Wedding pictures. Uncle John walked you down the aisle to give you away as a bride. So where was your mother, Robella? And at this point in my research - I found that Brother (Alfred Bessette) Andre was your 4th coiusin, 3 times removed. I have read that he visited Fitchburg and Lowell in his travels to raise money from the factory workers to build St Joseph's Oratory and that he tried to visit family when he was travelling. So I wanted to see if he visited Leominster too and who he may have visited. There is another Alfred Bessette that is your 1st cousin, once removed, just as you thought and told me about.
I drove to Leominster thinking about all my other trips to Leominster over the years and that Robella must be there somewhere and we just never knew. I arrived in Leominster and although I planned to go to city hall for a death certificate, instead I drove into Greenwood Cemetary. I went to the spot I remembered going to with you when I was little, I had visited this spot a few times before but could not figure out who was there that you knew, wsa it your mother's spot? I went to the cemetary office, the door was open but there was no one to be found, even though there were four cars parked athe the cemetary offfice. I drove around the cemetary looking for somebody, anybody, there were only city of Leominster Water Dept workers as they had a water main break in the middle of the night before. The DPW workers did not know where the office people were. I went back to the office went inside again and eyed the file drawer.......then as I was leaving the office, I was going to call the cell phone number on the sign on the door but a cemetary worker was driving up in a work truck. The driver got out and asked "How can I help you?" I told him - "I am trying to find my grandmother that I neve knew" "I can help you with that, our secretary isn;t here until this afternoon" We went back into the office, and he asked for my grandmother name, he looked thorugh the card catalogue and could not find her name. I verified that if she was there she would be in the card catalogue and he said yes she would be. he then mentioned the other cemetaries in Leominster and offered to call for me. We spoke about how Robella got married at St Cecilia's because I had found a marriage certificate for her in your papers.He called St Cecilia's first, he asked, we waited, the woman on the phone said she could not find her. He then called St Leo's, not there either. After some conversation that Robella was living in Fitchburg in 1952 when her trail went missing - he offered to call St Bernard's also, no, not there either. The cemetary worker suggested going to City hall, then the phone was ringing and he was trying to talk to me over it but decided to anser it and it was St Cecilia's calling back. they found Robella under her maiden name Bessette. The woman on the phone gave us the lot number and said there was a burial going on right then and someone should be at the cemetary to help me find the lot. I thanked the young gentleman, "Thank you kindly for helping me find my Gramma". As we were heading out of the office, the Boss showed up in another work truck and he asked "Can I help you or is my number one man helping you?" I got to tell him that his number one man did a a tremendous job in helping me find my Gramma Barker at St Cecilia's, and that the Bessettes that ARE buried in Greenwood are related to Brother Andre who will soon be canonized a saint.
As I got back in the car, about an hour into my search for Gramma Barker and finding her - emotion overwhelmed ne, i drove the shsort distance to Sr Cecilia's through tears of happiness. I took the short cut through the old Searstown paking lots to the back way out near the I190 ramps - I thought about how many times we drove thsi way together when we went shopping with the kids, not knowing Gramma Barker was less than a mile away in St Cecilia's just off Mechanic Street around 8th Street. as I drove into the cemetary, I was all business again, I could see there was a tent over a grave waiting for someone's burial and a work truck off in the far corner, there was no one else. St Celicilia's is an almost squsre flat plot about 1/3 the size of an average Walmart with trees only at the edges. it looks like a relatively new cemetary, no graves more than about 80 years old maybe. I drove to the work truck and asked the big burley working man where plot number 297 1/2 was at. He pulled out a map from behind his truck seat and sqiuinted to read the impossibly small print - he pointed to the corner I entered the cemetary at and said is was the 1st row, 3rd stone in and said the name Barker was not familiar. He said he would 'escort' me but the funeral party was due in less than 5 minutes and he did not want hsi truck in the way. I told him I could find it ok, i could see form there almost. I drove back the short sistance to the emtrance and parked away from the funeral tent. I walked to the gravesite and it was a Bessette stone that said;
BESSETTE
1867 Louis 1936
His Wife
1865 Georgianna 1935
1900 Son Albe 1935
So in seeing that Robella was not marked on the stone - I realized this was also my Great Gandfather and Great Granmother and Grand Uncle. I thought that Grand Aunt Lillian must be here too maybe as she never married. She was your GodMother. So Louis and georgianna lived in Gardner I believe and did not die until my you were 7 or 8 years old, I am not sure if you ever knew them. I was again overwhelmed with emothion - it was a few mintues before I could talk to Robella. I then prayed to St Joseph through Brother Andre to bless all buried here and make sure that, if they are not already, they get to heaven to be able to join my you Ma in death, as I am sure you are already in heaven. "Dear Brother Andre, please Bless all those buried here and ask St Joseph to lead them all to heaven to join my mother Gloria Kane at last." The cemetary is in a small busy neighborhood but it was so silent and very windy, my hat flew off and I had to chase it. I walked back to the grave to talk to Gramma Robella, "Hi Gram - it's me MaryAlice, I don't know why we never knew you but for whatevers the reasons were, you are fotgiven, if there was ever anything ttat may have needed to be forgiven for. I love you." I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure just where the 1/2 of the 297 plot might be..............and that Gramma Barker died 3 years before I was born. Gramma Barker's husband Clarence, your father, my grandfather, lived until 1962 in Bangor Maine - 10 more years - did he ever come to visit here? You would have been about 17 or 18 years old when he died. We are not sure when Grampa Barker left Leominster. As I exited the cemetary I saw the funera party coming down the road. l wonder who is getting buried?
Well at this point I was back to business again in the real world.......I still did not have a death date just 1952, so I headed for St Cecilia's Cemetary Office which was back at the church itself. I range the bell, and a woman answered the door, I explained that I just found my Gramma Barker's grave that we never knew was there in St Cecilia's but that I would like to know the date of burial to have a better idea of when she died. This woman was not the one that made the callback to Greenwood. Anyway, she went and checked, Machr 3, 1952. I asked if there was any plans for a group from the church to go to Montreal for Brother Andre's Canonization. She said she was not aware of anything, so I left my name and number for her to check with Father Goguen.
I then headed for the Libarary to try to find an obituary for Robella and to see if they knew anything about Brother Andre visiting the area. The geneological expert was not in, I have to go back when she is there, but I left her a note too with my phone number and asked about Brother Andre in the Leominster Area. The librarian set up the microfiche for Jan-Mar 1952. I hadn't used micro-fische since college - very tricky - and the micr-fiche printer was broken. I found Robella's Obituary in the Loeminster Daily Enterprise, Monday March 3, 1952. It read:
Mrs Robella (Bessette) Barker, 54, of 5 Broadway Street, Fitchburg, died yesterday at Burbank Hospital after a long illness. Born in Gardner, she was a resiident
of Fitchburg for 10 years, and she was a Gold Star Mother.
Survivors are one daughter, Miss Gloria Barker of Lancaster, teo sisters, Miss Lillian Bessette of Leominster, and Mrs Aurora (Aurore?) O'Donnell of Fitchburg, and one
brother, Louis Bessette of Fitchburg.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning from the M.A. Simard & Son Funeral Home, followed by a High Requiem Massin St. Cecilia's Church at 9 O'Clock. Burial
will be in the parish cemetary. The calling hours are 2-4 and 7-9PM.
Hmmm.................I had to go to 5 Broad Street! How far is it? I wrapped up the micro-fiche and skidaddled to Fitchburg. I put the address in my GPS and thought about how far these places were from each other in 1952 compared to now in 2010. I found Broadway Street, but no houses remain, There is a autobody shop on the spot #5 in back and a Dunkin Donuts in the front, of course! that is the only buildings now on the short street off Route 31 near the Cleghorne(French Town) section of Fitchburg .3 miles from the Big Boulder in Fitchburg Common. I felt sort of silly but curiosity getting the best of me, i went to the body shop and asked is this 5 Broadway - to get started somehow in asking aboutt Robella. The owners were there, a husband and wife team a little younger than I I think.......they said they had been there 50 years though, must have been a family business, so that was 8 yrs short of Robella's time there. I told them I felt silly but I was tracking down my missing Gramma I never knew and that she lived at 5 Broadway when she died at 54, on March 2, 1952 after a long illness. They told me there used to be 2 old run down houses that fronted Rt 31 and they could have been 5 Broadway then because it used to cross the road, now Broad Street is across the road. That was all they knew, so I asked it there was possibly anyone still in th eneighborhood that was there is 1952. They gave me a name, Caisse and a number 978-827-6651, saying that this guy grew up there and lived his life there but recently moved to Ashburnham. I will call him. There was no one else to ask anything more. I will follow up at Fitchburg Libarary today or historical society for a picture of the house.
I drove home so thrilled with my findings, just so happy to finally know something more than I did. I stopped by your grave to tell you in person about your mother.
What a happy moment that was for me!
Love you Ma.
Your Daughter,
Mary Alice
Note H60Wednesday August 4,2010
My Firstt Geneolgy Trip or How I Spent a Day of My Summer Vacation
I found My Gramma Robella R (Bessette) Barker Apr 1897- Mar 1952
Hi Ma,
Yesterday I decided to take a ride to Leominster, MA, and try to find my Gramma, Robella R. Barker. It is unbelievable but I did find her! I envisioned 3 stops or so and that maybe I would go by Rita Brouillett's house, she is 93 now. I thought I would go to Leominster City Hall, the Leominster Library, and the Greenwood Cemetary, in that order. I was unsure about how best to approach the task of finding Robella but knew I had to start somewhere. I thought I had a smidgeon of a chance that I just might find her if I was lucky and I followed the right steps. You are gone almost 11 years now, and as far as I know, you never knew your Mom Robella and you never knew where she was. I believe you thought she died when you were eight years old. I can only assume someone told you that story and stuck with it. I started reseaching our Family Tree upon some strong prodding from my friend and new LilSis Kathleen Reckner. We got a lot of family information from researching online but in trying to refine the information and be more exact, the first piece of information I needed to find more about was my missing Gramma Barker. We did find out online that she was still living in Fitchburg in 1952 when you were in Lancaster still single at 24, you must have been planning to get married at that tiime. I knew that Grand Uncle John O'Donnell and Grand Aunt Aurore (Bessette) O'Donnell were your stand in parents at your Wedding from your Wedding pictures. Uncle John walked you down the aisle to give you away as a bride. So where was your mother, Robella? And at this point in my research - I found that Brother (Alfred Bessette) Andre was your 4th coiusin, 3 times removed. I have read that he visited Fitchburg and Lowell in his travels to raise money from the factory workers to build St Joseph's Oratory and that he tried to visit family when he was travelling. So I wanted to see if he visited Leominster too and who he may have visited. There is another Alfred Bessette that is your 1st cousin, once removed, just as you thought and told me about.
I drove to Leominster thinking about all my other trips to Leominster over the years and that Robella must be there somewhere and we just never knew. I arrived in Leominster and although I planned to go to city hall for a death certificate, instead I drove into Greenwood Cemetary. I went to the spot I remembered going to with you when I was little, I had visited this spot a few times before but could not figure out who was there that you knew, wsa it your mother's spot? I went to the cemetary office, the door was open but there was no one to be found, even though there were four cars parked athe the cemetary offfice. I drove around the cemetary looking for somebody, anybody, there were only city of Leominster Water Dept workers as they had a water main break in the middle of the night before. The DPW workers did not know where the office people were. I went back to the office went inside again and eyed the file drawer.......then as I was leaving the office, I was going to call the cell phone number on the sign on the door but a cemetary worker was driving up in a work truck. The driver got out and asked "How can I help you?" I told him - "I am trying to find my grandmother that I neve knew" "I can help you with that, our secretary isn;t here until this afternoon" We went back into the office, and he asked for my grandmother name, he looked thorugh the card catalogue and could not find her name. I verified that if she was there she would be in the card catalogue and he said yes she would be. he then mentioned the other cemetaries in Leominster and offered to call for me. We spoke about how Robella got married at St Cecilia's because I had found a marriage certificate for her in your papers.He called St Cecilia's first, he asked, we waited, the woman on the phone said she could not find her. He then called St Leo's, not there either. After some conversation that Robella was living in Fitchburg in 1952 when her trail went missing - he offered to call St Bernard's also, no, not there either. The cemetary worker suggested going to City hall, then the phone was ringing and he was trying to talk to me over it but decided to anser it and it was St Cecilia's calling back. they found Robella under her maiden name Bessette. The woman on the phone gave us the lot number and said there was a burial going on right then and someone should be at the cemetary to help me find the lot. I thanked the young gentleman, "Thank you kindly for helping me find my Gramma". As we were heading out of the office, the Boss showed up in another work truck and he asked "Can I help you or is my number one man helping you?" I got to tell him that his number one man did a a tremendous job in helping me find my Gramma Barker at St Cecilia's, and that the Bessettes that ARE buried in Greenwood are related to Brother Andre who will soon be canonized a saint.
As I got back in the car, about an hour into my search for Gramma Barker and finding her - emotion overwhelmed ne, i drove the shsort distance to Sr Cecilia's through tears of happiness. I took the short cut through the old Searstown paking lots to the back way out near the I190 ramps - I thought about how many times we drove thsi way together when we went shopping with the kids, not knowing Gramma Barker was less than a mile away in St Cecilia's just off Mechanic Street around 8th Street. as I drove into the cemetary, I was all business again, I could see there was a tent over a grave waiting for someone's burial and a work truck off in the far corner, there was no one else. St Celicilia's is an almost squsre flat plot about 1/3 the size of an average Walmart with trees only at the edges. it looks like a relatively new cemetary, no graves more than about 80 years old maybe. I drove to the work truck and asked the big burley working man where plot number 297 1/2 was at. He pulled out a map from behind his truck seat and sqiuinted to read the impossibly small print - he pointed to the corner I entered the cemetary at and said is was the 1st row, 3rd stone in and said the name Barker was not familiar. He said he would 'escort' me but the funeral party was due in less than 5 minutes and he did not want hsi truck in the way. I told him I could find it ok, i could see form there almost. I drove back the short sistance to the emtrance and parked away from the funeral tent. I walked to the gravesite and it was a Bessette stone that said;
BESSETTE
1867 Louis 1936
His Wife
1865 Georgianna 1935
1900 Son Albe 1935
So in seeing that Robella was not marked on the stone - I realized this was also my Great Gandfather and Great Granmother and Grand Uncle. I thought that Grand Aunt Lillian must be here too maybe as she never married. She was your GodMother. So Louis and georgianna lived in Gardner I believe and did not die until my you were 7 or 8 years old, I am not sure if you ever knew them. I was again overwhelmed with emothion - it was a few mintues before I could talk to Robella. I then prayed to St Joseph through Brother Andre to bless all buried here and make sure that, if they are not already, they get to heaven to be able to join my you Ma in death, as I am sure you are already in heaven. "Dear Brother Andre, please Bless all those buried here and ask St Joseph to lead them all to heaven to join my mother Gloria Kane at last." The cemetary is in a small busy neighborhood but it was so silent and very windy, my hat flew off and I had to chase it. I walked back to the grave to talk to Gramma Robella, "Hi Gram - it's me MaryAlice, I don't know why we never knew you but for whatevers the reasons were, you are fotgiven, if there was ever anything ttat may have needed to be forgiven for. I love you." I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure just where the 1/2 of the 297 plot might be..............and that Gramma Barker died 3 years before I was born. Gramma Barker's husband Clarence, your father, my grandfather, lived until 1962 in Bangor Maine - 10 more years - did he ever come to visit here? You would have been about 17 or 18 years old when he died. We are not sure when Grampa Barker left Leominster. As I exited the cemetary I saw the funera party coming down the road. l wonder who is getting buried?
Well at this point I was back to business again in the real world.......I still did not have a death date just 1952, so I headed for St Cecilia's Cemetary Office which was back at the church itself. I range the bell, and a woman answered the door, I explained that I just found my Gramma Barker's grave that we never knew was there in St Cecilia's but that I would like to know the date of burial to have a better idea of when she died. This woman was not the one that made the callback to Greenwood. Anyway, she went and checked, Machr 3, 1952. I asked if there was any plans for a group from the church to go to Montreal for Brother Andre's Canonization. She said she was not aware of anything, so I left my name and number for her to check with Father Goguen.
I then headed for the Libarary to try to find an obituary for Robella and to see if they knew anything about Brother Andre visiting the area. The geneological expert was not in, I have to go back when she is there, but I left her a note too with my phone number and asked about Brother Andre in the Leominster Area. The librarian set up the microfiche for Jan-Mar 1952. I hadn't used micro-fische since college - very tricky - and the micr-fiche printer was broken. I found Robella's Obituary in the Loeminster Daily Enterprise, Monday March 3, 1952. It read:
Mrs Robella (Bessette) Barker, 54, of 5 Broadway Street, Fitchburg, died yesterday at Burbank Hospital after a long illness. Born in Gardner, she was a resiident
of Fitchburg for 10 years, and she was a Gold Star Mother.
Survivors are one daughter, Miss Gloria Barker of Lancaster, teo sisters, Miss Lillian Bessette of Leominster, and Mrs Aurora (Aurore?) O'Donnell of Fitchburg, and one
brother, Louis Bessette of Fitchburg.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning from the M.A. Simard & Son Funeral Home, followed by a High Requiem Massin St. Cecilia's Church at 9 O'Clock. Burial
will be in the parish cemetary. The calling hours are 2-4 and 7-9PM.
Hmmm.................I had to go to 5 Broad Street! How far is it? I wrapped up the micro-fiche and skidaddled to Fitchburg. I put the address in my GPS and thought about how far these places were from each other in 1952 compared to now in 2010. I found Broadway Street, but no houses remain, There is a autobody shop on the spot #5 in back and a Dunkin Donuts in the front, of course! that is the only buildings now on the short street off Route 31 near the Cleghorne(French Town) section of Fitchburg .3 miles from the Big Boulder in Fitchburg Common. I felt sort of silly but curiosity getting the best of me, i went to the body shop and asked is this 5 Broadway - to get started somehow in asking aboutt Robella. The owners were there, a husband and wife team a little younger than I I think.......they said they had been there 50 years though, must have been a family business, so that was 8 yrs short of Robella's time there. I told them I felt silly but I was tracking down my missing Gramma I never knew and that she lived at 5 Broadway when she died at 54, on March 2, 1952 after a long illness. They told me there used to be 2 old run down houses that fronted Rt 31 and they could have been 5 Broadway then because it used to cross the road, now Broad Street is across the road. That was all they knew, so I asked it there was possibly anyone still in th eneighborhood that was there is 1952. They gave me a name, Caisse and a number 978-827-6651, saying that this guy grew up there and lived his life there but recently moved to Ashburnham. I will call him. There was no one else to ask anything more. I will follow up at Fitchburg Libarary today or historical society for a picture of the house.
I drove home so thrilled with my findings, just so happy to finally know something more than I did. I stopped by your grave to tell you in person about your mother.
What a happy moment that was for me!
Love you Ma.
Your Daughter,
Mary Alice
Note N1481) Robella is listed in the 1930 census as Head-of-Household and "Married", but her husband, Walter, was not listed as a member of the household. Instead, he's listed in the 1930 Maine census as being married to Georgina Reed, and residing in Bangor, Maine. Marriage to Walter is a mistake as far as I can tell. Note: Robella was married to Clarence Barker only. They were never divorced as far as I can tell.
2) Louis and Georgianna move to Fitchburg 1930
3)Clarence appears to have left Robella between 1929 and 1930 and returned to Bangor, Maine where his family came from.
4)1928 Louis Georgianna Albe Lillian at 8 Eaton Place, Fitchburg
5) 1927 &8 Clarence novelty worker 36 mechanic Clarence (Robella) comb maker 169 Whitney, Leominster
6)1924 Mrytie Barker 25 Pearl Street Clarence and Robella 126 Spruce Street, Leominster
7) 1920-22 Clarence (no mention Robella) 14 2nd Street Elmer E father was in Leominster at 35 Church Street(no mention Myrtle)
8)1919 Elmer E at 10 High Street papermaker it appears that Elmer came to Leominster from Maine between 1916 and 1918
9) 1896 Louis Bessette in Gardner Driver Allen St corner of Park Street
10) It appears that Robella moved 13 times in 34 years since she got married until her death
11) There is another mistake on Robella's Death Certificate - it states that her husband was Joseph Barker - there is no such person as far as I know.
12) 1900 Louis 33, Georgianna 34, Louis 8. Aurore 7, Lillian 4, Robella 3 lived at 368 Park Street in Gardner, MA
13) Georgianna 1865, Great Grandmother, and Sarah Elizabeth Lynskey 1891, Grandmother, were both born in Lowell, MA - 27 years apart
Hi Ma,
Yesterday I decided to take a ride to Leominster, MA, and try to find my Gramma,r, Robella Barker. It is unbelievable but I did find her! I envisioned 3 stops or so and that maybe I would go by Rita Brouillett's house, she is 93 now. I thought I would go to Leominster City Hall, the Leominster Library, and the Greenwood Cemetary, in that order. I was unsure about how best to approach the task of finding Robella but knew I had to start somewhere. I thought I had a smidgeon of a chance that I just might find her if I was lucky and I followed the right steps. You are gone almost 11 years now, and as far as I know, you never knew your Mom Robella and you never knew where she was. I believe you thought she died when you were eight years old. I can only assume someone told you that story and stuck with it. I started reseaching our Family Tree upon some strong prodding from my friend and new LilSis Kathleen Reckner. We got a lot of family information from researching online but in trying to refine the information and be more exact, the first piece of information I needed to find more about was my missing Gramma Barker. We did find out online that she was still living in Fitchburg in 1952 when you were in Lancaster still single at 24, you must have been planning to get married at that tiime. I knew that Grand Uncle John O'Donnell and Grand Aunt Aurore (Bessette) O'Donnell were your stand in parents at your Wedding from your Wedding pictures. Uncle John walked you down the aisle to give you away as a bride. So where was your mother, Robella? And at this point in my research - I found that Brother (Alfred Bessette) Andre was your 4th coiusin, 3 times removed. I have read that he visited Fitchburg and Lowell in his travels to raise money from the factory workers to build St Joseph's Oratory and that he tried to visit family when he was travelling. So I wanted to see if he visited Leominster too and who he may have visited. There is another Alfred Bessette that is your 1st cousin, once removed, just as you thought and told me about.
I drove to Leominster thinking about all my other trips to Leominster over the years and that Robella must be there somewhere and we just never knew. I arrived in Leominster and although I planned to go to city hall for a death certificate, instead I drove into Greenwood Cemetary. I went to the spot I remembered going to with you when I was little, I had visited this spot a few times before but could not figure out who was there that you knew, wsa it your mother's spot? I went to the cemetary office, the door was open but there was no one to be found, even though there were four cars parked athe the cemetary offfice. I drove around the cemetary looking for somebody, anybody, there were only city of Leominster Water Dept workers as they had a water main break in the middle of the night before. The DPW workers did not know where the office people were. I went back to the office went inside again and eyed the file drawer.......then as I was leaving the office, I was going to call the cell phone number on the sign on the door but a cemetary worker was driving up in a work truck. The driver got out and asked "How can I help you?" I told him - "I am trying to find my grandmother that I neve knew" "I can help you with that, our secretary isn;t here until this afternoon" We went back into the office, and he asked for my grandmother name, he looked thorugh the card catalogue and could not find her name. I verified that if she was there she would be in the card catalogue and he said yes she would be. he then mentioned the other cemetaries in Leominster and offered to call for me. We spoke about how Robella got married at St Cecilia's because I had found a marriage certificate for her in your papers.He called St Cecilia's first, he asked, we waited, the woman on the phone said she could not find her. He then called St Leo's, not there either. After some conversation that Robella was living in Fitchburg in 1952 when her trail went missing - he offered to call St Bernard's also, no, not there either. The cemetary worker suggested going to City hall, then the phone was ringing and he was trying to talk to me over it but decided to anser it and it was St Cecilia's calling back. they found Robella under her maiden name Bessette. The woman on the phone gave us the lot number and said there was a burial going on right then and someone should be at the cemetary to help me find the lot. I thanked the young gentleman, "Thank you kindly for helping me find my Gramma". As we were heading out of the office, the Boss showed up in another work truck and he asked "Can I help you or is my number one man helping you?" I got to tell him that his number one man did a a tremendous job in helping me find my Gramma Barker at St Cecilia's, and that the Bessettes that ARE buried in Greenwood are related to Brother Andre who will soon be canonized a saint.
As I got back in the car, about an hour into my search for Gramma Barker and finding her - emotion overwhelmed ne, i drove the shsort distance to Sr Cecilia's through tears of happiness. I took the short cut through the old Searstown paking lots to the back way out near the I190 ramps - I thought about how many times we drove thsi way together when we went shopping with the kids, not knowing Gramma Barker was less than a mile away in St Cecilia's just off Mechanic Street around 8th Street. as I drove into the cemetary, I was all business again, I could see there was a tent over a grave waiting for someone's burial and a work truck off in the far corner, there was no one else. St Celicilia's is an almost squsre flat plot about 1/3 the size of an average Walmart with trees only at the edges. it looks like a relatively new cemetary, no graves more than about 80 years old maybe. I drove to the work truck and asked the big burley working man where plot number 297 1/2 was at. He pulled out a map from behind his truck seat and sqiuinted to read the impossibly small print - he pointed to the corner I entered the cemetary at and said is was the 1st row, 3rd stone in and said the name Barker was not familiar. He said he would 'escort' me but the funeral party was due in less than 5 minutes and he did not want hsi truck in the way. I told him I could find it ok, i could see form there almost. I drove back the short sistance to the emtrance and parked away from the funeral tent. I walked to the gravesite and it was a Bessette stone that said;
BESSETTE
1867 Louis 1936
His Wife
1865 Georgianna 1935
1900 Son Albe 1935
So in seeing that Robella was not marked on the stone - I realized this was also my Great Gandfather and Great Granmother and Grand Uncle. I thought that Grand Aunt Lillian must be here too maybe as she never married. She was your GodMother. So Louis and georgianna lived in Gardner I believe and did not die until my you were 7 or 8 years old, I am not sure if you ever knew them. I was again overwhelmed with emothion - it was a few mintues before I could talk to Robella. I then prayed to St Joseph through Brother Andre to bless all buried here and make sure that, if they are not already, they get to heaven to be able to join my you Ma in death, as I am sure you are already in heaven. "Dear Brother Andre, please Bless all those buried here and ask St Joseph to lead them all to heaven to join my mother Gloria Kane at last." The cemetary is in a small busy neighborhood but it was so silent and very windy, my hat flew off and I had to chase it. I walked back to the grave to talk to Gramma Robella, "Hi Gram - it's me MaryAlice, I don't know why we never knew you but for whatevers the reasons were, you are fotgiven, if there was ever anything ttat may have needed to be forgiven for. I love you." I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure just where the 1/2 of the 297 plot might be..............and that Gramma Barker died 3 years before I was born. Gramma Barker's husband Clarence, your father, my grandfather, lived until 1962 in Bangor Maine - 10 more years - did he ever come to visit here? You would have been about 17 or 18 years old when he died. We are not sure when Grampa Barker left Leominster. As I exited the cemetary I saw the funera party coming down the road. l wonder who is getting buried?
Well at this point I was back to business again in the real world.......I still did not have a death date just 1952, so I headed for St Cecilia's Cemetary Office which was back at the church itself. I range the bell, and a woman answered the door, I explained that I just found my Gramma Barker's grave that we never knew was there in St Cecilia's but that I would like to know the date of burial to have a better idea of when she died. This woman was not the one that made the callback to Greenwood. Anyway, she went and checked, Machr 3, 1952. I asked if there was any plans for a group from the church to go to Montreal for Brother Andre's Canonization. She said she was not aware of anything, so I left my name and number for her to check with Father Goguen.
I then headed for the Libarary to try to find an obituary for Robella and to see if they knew anything about Brother Andre visiting the area. The geneological expert was not in, I have to go back when she is there, but I left her a note too with my phone number and asked about Brother Andre in the Leominster Area. The librarian set up the microfiche for Jan-Mar 1952. I hadn't used micro-fische since college - very tricky - and the micr-fiche printer was broken. I found Robella's Obituary in the Loeminster Daily Enterprise, Monday March 3, 1952. It read:
Mrs Robella (Bessette) Barker, 54, of 5 Broadway Street, Fitchburg, died yesterday at Burbank Hospital after a long illness. Born in Gardner, she was a resiident of Fitchburg for 10 years, and she was a Gold Star Mother.
Survivors are one daughter, Miss Gloria Barker of Lancaster, teo sisters, Miss Lillian Bessette of Leominster, and Mrs Aurora (Aurore?) O'Donnell of Fitchburg, and one brother, Louis Bessette of Fitchburg.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning from the M.A. Simard & Son Funeral Home, followed by a High Requiem Massin St. Cecilia's Church at 9 O'Clock. Burial will be in the parish cemetary. The calling hours are 2-4 and 7-9PM.
Hmmm.................I had to go to 5 Broad Street! How far is it? I wrapped up the micro-fiche and skidaddled to Fitchburg. I put the address in my GPS and thought about how far these places were from each other in 1952 compared to now in 2010. I found Broadway Street, but no houses remain, There is a autobody shop on the spot #5 in back and a Dunkin Donuts in the front, of course! that is the only buildings now on the short street off Route 31 near the Cleghorne(French Town) section of Fitchburg .3 miles from the Big Boulder in Fitchburg Common. I felt sort of silly but curiosity getting the best of me, i went to the body shop and asked is this 5 Broadway - to get started somehow in asking aboutt Robella. The owners were there, a husband and wife team a little younger than I I think.......they said they had been there 50 years though, must have been a family business, so that was 8 yrs short of Robella's time there. I told them I felt silly but I was tracking down my missing Gramma I never knew and that she lived at 5 Broadway when she died at 54, on March 2, 1952 after a long illness. They told me there used to be 2 old run down houses that fronted Rt 31 and they could have been 5 Broadway then because it used to cross the road, now Broad Street is across the road. That was all they knew, so I asked it there was possibly anyone still in th eneighborhood that was there is 1952. They gave me a name, Caisse and a number 978-827-6651, saying that this guy grew up there and lived his life there but recently moved to Ashburnham. I will call him. There was no one else to ask anything more. I will follow up at Fitchburg Libarary today or historical society for a picture of the house. I am going back to Leominster Library today too.
I drove home so thrilled with my findings, just so happy to finally know something more than I did. I stopped by your grave to tell you in person about your mother.
What a happy moment that was for me!
Love you Ma.
Your Daughter,
Mary Alice
Feb 18, 2011 Going to search Worcester Probate Records with the following info:
Parents:
Robella R Bessette Barker Born 4-1897 Gardner MA Death 3-2-1952 at 54 yrs
Clarence Elmer Barker Born 5-17-1899 Bangor ME Death 12-31-1962 at 63 yrs
Lived in Leominster 1918 to 1930 as a married couple. Clarence returned to Bangor about 1930.
Children:
Robert Walter Barker 9-28- 1921 Leominster MA Death 8-5-1943 22 yrs
Gloria Jeanette Barker 5-21-1928 Leominster MA Death 29-Nov-1999 71 yrs
About 1930 to 1936, at some point the 2 children were separated from the mother Robella and lived with John and Aurore O'Donnell in Fitchburg MA for a short temporary time, just before the State removed the children and they were made wards of the state. Possible address 1933,34,35,36 3 Wilder Ave (Rd Lane) Lowell or Leominster for Robella.
Gloria moved from place to place - Roxbury, Lancaster, Clinton etc.
Robert was at some point in Brocton MA - High School then joined army, buried at sea WWII. Off the coast of England.
What happened?
Note N381) Robella is listed in the 1930 census as Head-of-Household and "Married", but her husband, Walter, was not listed as a member of the household. Instead, he's listed in the 1930 Maine census as being married to Georgina Reed, and residing in Bangor, Maine. Marriage to Walter is a mistake as far as I can tell. Note: Robella was married to Clarence Barker only. They were never divorced as far as I can tell.
2) Louis and Georgianna move to Fitchburg 1930
3)Clarence appears to have left Robella between 1929 and 1930 and returned to Bangor, Maine where his family came from.
4)1928 Louis Georgianna Albe Lillian at 8 Eaton Place, Fitchburg
5) 1927 &8 Clarence novelty worker 36 mechanic Clarence (Robella) comb maker 169 Whitney, Leominster
6)1924 Mrytie Barker 25 Pearl Street Clarence and Robella 126 Spruce Street, Leominster
7) 1920-22 Clarence (no mention Robella) 14 2nd Street Elmer E father was in Leominster at 35 Church Street(no mention Myrtle)
8)1919 Elmer E at 10 High Street papermaker it appears that Elmer came to Leominster from Maine between 1916 and 1918
9) 1896 Louis Bessette in Gardner Driver Allen St corner of Park Street
10) It appears that Robella moved 13 times in 34 years since she got married until her death
11) There is another mistake on Robella's Death Certificate - it states that her husband was Joseph Barker - there is no such person as far as I know.
12) 1900 Louis 33, Georgianna 34, Louis 8. Aurore 7, Lillian 4, Robella 3 lived at 368 Park Street in Gardner, MA
13) Georgianna 1865, Great Grandmother, and Sarah Elizabeth Lynskey 1891, Grandmother, were both born in Lowell, MA - 27 years apart
Hi Ma, (May 2011)
Yesterday I decided to take a ride to Leominster, MA, and try to find my Gramma, Robella Barker. It is unbelievable but I did find her! I envisioned 3 stops or so and that maybe I would go by Rita Brouillett's house, she is 93 now. I thought I would go to Leominster City Hall, the Leominster Library, and the Greenwood Cemetary, in that order. I was unsure about how best to approach the task of finding Robella but knew I had to start somewhere. I thought I had a smidgeon of a chance that I just might find her if I was lucky and I followed the right steps. You are gone almost 11 years now, and as far as I know, you never knew your Mom Robella and you never knew where she was. I believe you thought she died when you were eight years old. I can only assume someone told you that story and stuck with it. I started reseaching our Family Tree upon some strong prodding from my friend and new LilSis Kathleen Reckner. We got a lot of family information from researching online but in trying to refine the information and be more exact, the first piece of information I needed to find more about was my missing Gramma Barker. We did find out online that she was still living in Fitchburg in 1952 when you were in Lancaster still single at 24, you must have been planning to get married at that tiime. I knew that Grand Uncle John O'Donnell and Grand Aunt Aurore (Bessette) O'Donnell were your stand in parents at your Wedding from your Wedding pictures. Uncle John walked you down the aisle to give you away as a bride. So where was your mother, Robella? And at this point in my research - I found that Brother (Alfred Bessette) Andre was your 4th coiusin, 3 times removed. I have read that he visited Fitchburg and Lowell in his travels to raise money from the factory workers to build St Joseph's Oratory and that he tried to visit family when he was travelling. So I wanted to see if he visited Leominster too and who he may have visited. There is another Alfred Bessette that is your 1st cousin, once removed, just as you thought and told me about.
I drove to Leominster thinking about all my other trips to Leominster over the years and that Robella must be there somewhere and we just never knew. I arrived in Leominster and although I planned to go to city hall for a death certificate, instead I drove into Greenwood Cemetary. I went to the spot I remembered going to with you when I was little, I had visited this spot a few times before but could not figure out who was there that you knew, wsa it your mother's spot? I went to the cemetary office, the door was open but there was no one to be found, even though there were four cars parked athe the cemetary offfice. I drove around the cemetary looking for somebody, anybody, there were only city of Leominster Water Dept workers as they had a water main break in the middle of the night before. The DPW workers did not know where the office people were. I went back to the office went inside again and eyed the file drawer.......then as I was leaving the office, I was going to call the cell phone number on the sign on the door but a cemetary worker was driving up in a work truck. The driver got out and asked "How can I help you?" I told him - "I am trying to find my grandmother that I neve knew" "I can help you with that, our secretary isn;t here until this afternoon" We went back into the office, and he asked for my grandmother name, he looked thorugh the card catalogue and could not find her name. I verified that if she was there she would be in the card catalogue and he said yes she would be. he then mentioned the other cemetaries in Leominster and offered to call for me. We spoke about how Robella got married at St Cecilia's because I had found a marriage certificate for her in your papers.He called St Cecilia's first, he asked, we waited, the woman on the phone said she could not find her. He then called St Leo's, not there either. After some conversation that Robella was living in Fitchburg in 1952 when her trail went missing - he offered to call St Bernard's also, no, not there either. The cemetary worker suggested going to City hall, then the phone was ringing and he was trying to talk to me over it but decided to anser it and it was St Cecilia's calling back. they found Robella under her maiden name Bessette. The woman on the phone gave us the lot number and said there was a burial going on right then and someone should be at the cemetary to help me find the lot. I thanked the young gentleman, "Thank you kindly for helping me find my Gramma". As we were heading out of the office, the Boss showed up in another work truck and he asked "Can I help you or is my number one man helping you?" I got to tell him that his number one man did a a tremendous job in helping me find my Gramma Barker at St Cecilia's, and that the Bessettes that ARE buried in Greenwood are related to Brother Andre who will soon be canonized a saint.
As I got back in the car, about an hour into my search for Gramma Barker and finding her - emotion overwhelmed ne, i drove the shsort distance to Sr Cecilia's through tears of happiness. I took the short cut through the old Searstown paking lots to the back way out near the I190 ramps - I thought about how many times we drove thsi way together when we went shopping with the kids, not knowing Gramma Barker was less than a mile away in St Cecilia's just off Mechanic Street around 8th Street. as I drove into the cemetary, I was all business again, I could see there was a tent over a grave waiting for someone's burial and a work truck off in the far corner, there was no one else. St Celicilia's is an almost squsre flat plot about 1/3 the size of an average Walmart with trees only at the edges. it looks like a relatively new cemetary, no graves more than about 80 years old maybe. I drove to the work truck and asked the big burley working man where plot number 297 1/2 was at. He pulled out a map from behind his truck seat and sqiuinted to read the impossibly small print - he pointed to the corner I entered the cemetary at and said is was the 1st row, 3rd stone in and said the name Barker was not familiar. He said he would 'escort' me but the funeral party was due in less than 5 minutes and he did not want hsi truck in the way. I told him I could find it ok, i could see form there almost. I drove back the short sistance to the emtrance and parked away from the funeral tent. I walked to the gravesite and it was a Bessette stone that said;
BESSETTE
1867 Louis 1936
His Wife
1865 Georgianna 1935
1900 Son Albe 1935
So in seeing that Robella was not marked on the stone - I realized this was also my Great Gandfather and Great Granmother and Grand Uncle. I thought that Grand Aunt Lillian must be here too maybe as she never married. She was your GodMother. So Louis and georgianna lived in Gardner I believe and did not die until my you were 7 or 8 years old, I am not sure if you ever knew them. I was again overwhelmed with emothion - it was a few mintues before I could talk to Robella. I then prayed to St Joseph through Brother Andre to bless all buried here and make sure that, if they are not already, they get to heaven to be able to join my you Ma in death, as I am sure you are already in heaven. "Dear Brother Andre, please Bless all those buried here and ask St Joseph to lead them all to heaven to join my mother Gloria Kane at last." The cemetary is in a small busy neighborhood but it was so silent and very windy, my hat flew off and I had to chase it. I walked back to the grave to talk to Gramma Robella, "Hi Gram - it's me MaryAlice, I don't know why we never knew you but for whatevers the reasons were, you are fotgiven, if there was ever anything ttat may have needed to be forgiven for. I love you." I sat down for a few minutes trying to figure just where the 1/2 of the 297 plot might be..............and that Gramma Barker died 3 years before I was born. Gramma Barker's husband Clarence, your father, my grandfather, lived until 1962 in Bangor Maine - 10 more years - did he ever come to visit here? You would have been about 17 or 18 years old when he died. We are not sure when Grampa Barker left Leominster. As I exited the cemetary I saw the funera party coming down the road. l wonder who is getting buried?
Well at this point I was back to business again in the real world.......I still did not have a death date just 1952, so I headed for St Cecilia's Cemetary Office which was back at the church itself. I range the bell, and a woman answered the door, I explained that I just found my Gramma Barker's grave that we never knew was there in St Cecilia's but that I would like to know the date of burial to have a better idea of when she died. This woman was not the one that made the callback to Greenwood. Anyway, she went and checked, Machr 3, 1952. I asked if there was any plans for a group from the church to go to Montreal for Brother Andre's Canonization. She said she was not aware of anything, so I left my name and number for her to check with Father Goguen.
I then headed for the Libarary to try to find an obituary for Robella and to see if they knew anything about Brother Andre visiting the area. The geneological expert was not in, I have to go back when she is there, but I left her a note too with my phone number and asked about Brother Andre in the Leominster Area. The librarian set up the microfiche for Jan-Mar 1952. I hadn't used micro-fische since college - very tricky - and the micr-fiche printer was broken. I found Robella's Obituary in the Loeminster Daily Enterprise, Monday March 3, 1952. It read:
Mrs Robella (Bessette) Barker, 54, of 5 Broadway Street, Fitchburg, died yesterday at Burbank Hospital after a long illness. Born in Gardner, she was a resiident of Fitchburg for 10 years, and she was a Gold Star Mother.
Survivors are one daughter, Miss Gloria Barker of Lancaster, two sisters, Miss Lillian Bessette of Leominster, and Mrs Aurora (Aurore?) O'Donnell of Fitchburg, and one brother, Louis Bessette of Fitchburg.
The funeral will be held Tuesday morning from the M.A. Simard & Son Funeral Home, followed by a High Requiem Massin St. Cecilia's Church at 9 O'Clock. Burial will be in the parish cemetary. The calling hours are 2-4 and 7-9PM.
Hmmm.................I had to go to 5 Broad Street! How far is it? I wrapped up the micro-fiche and skidaddled to Fitchburg. I put the address in my GPS and thought about how far these places were from each other in 1952 compared to now in 2010. I found Broadway Street, but no houses remain, There is a autobody shop on the spot #5 in back and a Dunkin Donuts in the front, of course! that is the only buildings now on the short street off Route 31 near the Cleghorne(French Town) section of Fitchburg .3 miles from the Big Boulder in Fitchburg Common. I felt sort of silly but curiosity getting the best of me, i went to the body shop and asked is this 5 Broadway - to get started somehow in asking aboutt Robella. The owners were there, a husband and wife team a little younger than I I think.......they said they had been there 50 years though, must have been a family business, so that was 8 yrs short of Robella's time there. I told them I felt silly but I was tracking down my missing Gramma I never knew and that she lived at 5 Broadway when she died at 54, on March 2, 1952 after a long illness. They told me there used to be 2 old run down houses that fronted Rt 31 and they could have been 5 Broadway then because it used to cross the road, now Broad Street is across the road. That was all they knew, so I asked it there was possibly anyone still in th eneighborhood that was there is 1952. They gave me a name, Caisse and a number 978-827-6651, saying that this guy grew up there and lived his life there but recently moved to Ashburnham. I will call him. There was no one else to ask anything more. I will follow up at Fitchburg Libarary today or historical society for a picture of the house. I am going back to Leominster Library today too.
I drove home so thrilled with my findings, just so happy to finally know something more than I did. I stopped by your grave to tell you in person about your mother.
What a happy moment that was for me!
Love you Ma.
Your Daughter,
Mary Alice
Feb 18, 2011 Going to search Worcester Probate Records with the following info:
Parents:
Robella R Bessette Barker Born 4-1897 Gardner MA Death 3-2-1952 at 54 yrs
Clarence Elmer Barker Born 5-17-1899 Bangor ME Death 12-31-1962 at 63 yrs
Lived in Leominster 1918 to 1930 as a married couple. Clarence returned to Bangor about 1930.
Children:
Robert Walter Barker 9-28- 1921 Leominster MA Death 8-5-1943 22 yrs
Gloria Jeanette Barker 5-21-1928 Leominster MA Death 29-Nov-1999 71 yrs
About 1930 to 1936, at some point the 2 children were separated from the mother Robella and lived with John and Aurore O'Donnell in Fitchburg MA for a short temporary time, just before the State removed the children and they were made wards of the state. Possible address 1933,34,35,36 3 Wilder Ave (Rd Lane) Lowell or Leominster for Robella.
Gloria moved from place to place - Roxbury, Lancaster, Clinton etc.
Robert was at some point in Brockton MA - High School then joined army, buried at sea WWII. Off the coast of England.
What happened?
  1. Source: #S17 Page: Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T623_692; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 1628. Data: Text: Record for Robelda Bessette
  2. Source: #S19 Page: Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Bessette
  3. Source: #S96 Page: Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T627_1648; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 14-103. Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  4. Source: #S17 Page: Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T623_692; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 1628. Data: Text: Record for Louis Bessette
  5. Source: #S14 Page: Database online. Year: 1930; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  6. Source: #S17 Page: Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T623_692; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 1628. Data: Text: Record for Robelda Bessette
  7. Source: #S19 Page: Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Bessette
  8. Source: #S17 Page: Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T623_692; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 1628. Data: Text: Record for Louis Bessette
  9. Source: #S14 Page: Database online. Year: 1930; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  10. Source: #S96 Page: Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T627_1648; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 14-103. Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  11. Source: #S19 Page: Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Bessette
  12. Source: #S17 Page: Database online. Year: 1900; Census Place: Gardner, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T623_692; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 1628. Data: Text: Record for Louis Bessette
  13. Source: #S14 Page: Database online. Year: 1930; Census Place: Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: ; Page: ; Enumeration District: ; Image: . Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  14. Source: #S96 Page: Database online. Year: 1940; Census Place: Fitchburg, Worcester, Massachusetts; Roll: T627_1648; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 14-103. Data: Text: Record for Robella Barker
  15. Source: #S2 Page: checked every year






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Gold Star Mothers, Massachusetts

posted by Philip Smith

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