Petronille Bourassa (1839 - aft. 1873)

Born 3 Oct 1839 in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Bas-Canada

Wife of Laurent Labossière — married 4 Dec 1855 in Grande-Ligne, Bas-Canada

Descendants

Biography

Petronille Bourassa was born Oct. 3, 1839 at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and she was baptized there the next day. ^[1] She was the daughter of Francois Bourassa and Celeste Chartier.

By the time of her marriage, Petronille has begun using the forename, Sophronie. She married Laurent LaBossiere on Dec. 4, 1855 at the Baptist Church in Grande Ligne. ^[2] He was the son of Jean Baptiste Labossière and Marie Therese Gervais and was the widower of Marie Emelie Charland and Marguerite Lord and was almost 55 years old while Sophronie was only 16, less than a third of her husband's age. Laurent already had at least one married daughter and three grand children.

Sophronie and Laurent had seven children together over the next 17 years, all born around Sutton. Sadly, at least four of these children are known to have died young or as an infant. Several of these older children were baptized when they were several years old and there may be an error in the birth date given for one daughter, Josephine. She was baptized at 15 years old and her birth date was given as Aug. 1854, but if correct, she would be a child of the previous wife. It is possible the priest made an error in the birth year.

All of the children were baptized at St-Andre-Sutton, a Catholic Church, while Sophronie and Laurent had been married in a Protestant Church. On Sept. 4, 1870, Sophronie and Laurent received a dispensation to be re-married in the Catholic faith and they were married "again" in St-Andre-Sutton Catholic Church.

No record of the burial of Sophronie or Laurent have been found. Laurent had a total of 15 children with his three wives.

Sources

1. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L99Q-MDY5?i=801&wc=HC43-829%3A21130301%2C23222702%2C25417201&cc=1321742
2. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-LBLX-596?i=12&wc=M6X4-5MG%3A224532901%2C224516602%2C224523301&cc=1929561

• LDS Church. https://www.familysearch.org/ Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979: G04ABCRD01 St-Jean l'Evangeliste de Dorchester 1828-1841 image 802 of 859 baptism of Petronille Bourassa Oct. 4, 1839 born Oct. 3, 1839.
• LDS Church, Ibid: Grande-Ligne Baptiste 1839-1857 image 223 of 436 M.3 of Laurent Labossiere to Virginie Bourassa Dec. 4, 1855.
• LDS Church, Ibid: St-Andre-de-Sutton 1866-1876 image 102 of 216 Laurent Labossiere M. to Sophronie Bourassa Sept. 4, 1870