Centenaire de St. Agatha, Maine 1899-1999 ^ —rrrrf* -r------ r . ilU r Vr^~■ „ ._______ ___v^. - o ^ U -T T ^ T r^ ^ I ^ v ^•/' '• ‘ ‘ * y-* • *^< , _•" Ka , - ^ kJ f ' <■ ’ < ,,r ' ■• r *i ' ,. >'• ./ .' By: Ste. Agathe Historical Society 974.1 t S133 1999 c.l Centenaire de St. Agatha. Maine. 1899-1999. THIS CENTENNIAL EDITION IS DEDICATED TO THE TOWN FOUNDING FAMILIES OF ST. AGATHA, MAINE BY: directo rs of ste. ag athe HISTORICAL SOCIETY March 17,1999 ^Pfhereat, the Town of St. Agatha, Maine incorporated on the 17th day of March in the year of our lord 1899 and said town fathers Eloi R. Michaud, Justice of the Peace, Belonie Dufour, Town Clerk, Joseph Boucher, First Selectman, Hilaire Marin, Second Selectman, Xavier Tardif Third Selectman, Jose Michaud, Road Commissioner, Superintendent School Committee, Edmond Lachance, Superintendent School Committee, Truant Officer, Nere Picard, Constable, Fence Viewer, and Hilaire Ouellette, Superintendent School Committee, Constable, and Town Scaler established themselves in St. Agatha, Maine and a number of founding families settled in St. Agatha, Maine; Albert, Anderson, Auclair, Ayotte, Beaulieu, Boissonniere, Bairon, Bard, Bar, Baron, Berube, Bouchard, Boucher, Bourgoin, Bosse, Bellefleur, Bechard, Caron, Carrier, Clavette, Chasse, Cyr, Cir, Corriveau, Cote, Colin, Collin, Chamberlan, Chamberland, Chouinant, Chamberlain, Corrivault, Daigle, Dufour, Dube, Dwnont, Durand, Dionne, Decschaine, Desrosier, Dechene, Dumest, Farell, Frevre, Frank, Fongemie, Gagnon, Guerrette, Gueret, Gorneau, Gervais, Gernault, Gravel, Hebert, Jalbert, Lagasee, Leclerc, Lizotte, Langais, Lachance, Lausier, Langlais, Leclair, Levesque, Lagasse, Lamaure, Lenard, Morin, Martin, Merchant, Marquis, Marin, Michaud, Morneault, Ouellette, Ouellet, Paradis, Pinet, Passionnoir, Plourde, Pelletier, Picard, Pinette, Pinkham, Rossingol, Ringuette, Raymond, Remond, Roy, Ruest, Ruet, Souci, Sirois, Sylvain, Sinclair, St. Clair, Soucie, Tardif, Therriault, Thibault, Tardy, Terrault, Thibaud, and all other settlers not mentioned herein and the descendants have distinguished themselves in Public, Private, Religious and Professional Services, as evidenced by the various occupations, various businesses, and establishments owned by the descendant's families and aff4&wa4J the descendants have organized and will hold a Centennial Celebration at St. Agatha, in the State of Maine and GfPLweaAJ this celebration will be held on July 23, 24, 25 in the year of Our Lord 1999. tffie Wle^o/ved, that we, The Selectpersons of St. Agatha, do declare the weekend of July 23, 24, 25, 1999 to be know as the St. Agatha Centennial Celebration in this committee and that said celebration is a time for reunion and renewal of acquaintances and friendships. affe dMevefiwe, have caused this document to duly signed in our presence and proclaim the St. Agatha Centennial Celebration throughout the land and resolve that it be incumbent upon the future generations to do likewise. °fpe dffiave, this 17th day of March in the year of Our Lord 1999 affixed our hand and seal. St. Agatha, Maine, Board of Selectpersons David Dubois, Chairman DiarfC Ccfytonguay, _ 'Q*rLLcf~__fl. DanieTLabrie, Third Selectperson David Dubois //. Ste. Agathe Historical Society P.O. BOX 237, ST. AGATHA, MAINE 04772 June 14, 1999 Dear Person With A St. Agatha Connection, Guy Dubay, a local historian from Madawaska, and a few Board of Directors from the Ste. Agathe Historical Society met frequently during the past months with the purpose of creating this publication, Centenaire de St. Agatha, Maine. The project was also made possible in part with a preservation grant from the Maine Acadian Heritage Council. We'd like to thank Guy Dubay for being the historical consultant for the centennial book. We’d also like to acknowledge Paul Marin, David Raymond, Jack Michaud, Roxanne Moore Saucier, Mary Michaud, Jacqueline Chamberland Blesso, Bert Cyr, Gerard Morin, John Marquis, and Jean White for their contributions to the annual Ste. Agathe Historical Society Newsletters and consequently to the centennial book. The piece entitled, "All Roads Lead to Home,” by Paul Marin and the article on the Knights of Columbus by Beurmond Banville were specifically written for the centennial publication. The dedication and preserverance of Board Members, Philip Morin, Gloria Gervais, Carole Plourde, Connie Desrosier and typist, Claudia Morin, has provided you, the reader with a St. Agatha connection, this Centenaire de St. Agatha. The town's story continues........ Truly Connected to St. Agatha, j f W a {oMlfZtC. Terry Oiiellette, President Ste. Agathe Historical Society III. Ste. Agathe Historical Socie P.O. BOX 237, ST. AGATHA, MAINE 04772 Mission of the Ste. Agathe Historical Society The following chapters are an effort of the Ste. Agathe Historical Society to commemorate the 1999 Centennial Year. The reader will find various documents of historical nature, maps illustrating early town boundaries, photos accumulated along the passing years, captions of interest, numerous topics and data relative to the establishment and foundation of the hamlet named "Ste. Agathe". Researchers strived to verify aspect to the true nature of this volume, but please keep in mind, it is certainly not the intent of the Society to present this work as a thesis or dissertation of history, but rather as a special project denoting the circumstances surrounding the strong desire of early settlers to populate and govern their own town, secure farmlands for their expanding families, perhaps build their own house of worship, and maybe claim the majestic lake as their privilege. Why not? We issue an invitation to you to peruse through these pages, re-read pertinent points of interest, and share with us a certain pride in the town of Ste. Agathe. Come enjoy a bit of history and may we wish you a "Bonne Anniversaire". Spokesperson, Ste. Agathe Historical Society Connie Desrosier, Director IV. Table of Contents I. All Roads Lead To Home 2 II. The Setting 12 III. Pioneers 22 IV. First Town Fathers 46 V. Earning a Living 56 VI. Civic Life 114 VII. La Paroisse 148 VIII. St. Agatha Volunteer Fire Department 178 IX. Military Service 184 X. Convent & Schools 208 XI. ...And More Treasures 286 XII. First Town Census • 1900 326 XIII. Ste. Agathe Historical Society 354 4 5 9 1 e n i a M , a h t a g A . t S f o w e i V l a i r e A - 1 - A All Roads Lead To Home by: Paul J. Marin As families and friends meet to celebrate the town’s one hundredth year and exchange memories, rekindle kinships and re-establish communal bonds, the spirit of this little community will continue to transcend its boundaries. In its own colloquial fashion it will continue to give of itself to the rest of the world. And this grandiose thought, expressed in a no less simple fashion, is close to the truth. St. Agatha has always been a great place to come from, but, unfortunately, the local economy has never been able to support many of its children. My aunts Maude and Leonie were reminding T.O., recently, that the priests and the sisters would have the young students pray for the B & A to run a line to St. Agatha. “All this time we prayed for the train to come to St. Agatha,” added Maude, “and the good Lord knew better. We didn’t need the train after all.” The town of St. Agatha survived if but only as a cradle of good work ethic and solid values. Reluctantly, but repeatedly, this little town has surrendered its young. And over the years, hundreds and hundreds of its citizens faced the need to go down to Connecticut’. Not everyone went to Connecticut, Connecticut, but for those who remained, away was neither here nor there but somewhere in Connecticut. That part of the world’s economic opportunities beckoned. Our town’s only street only led you out of town. And if a survey were made showing the links between this little community and almost any other place in the country, we could easily, with tongue in cheek, perhaps, borrow and paraphrase an old adage, that ‘all roads (this summer) lead to home’. YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN And there’s another old saying. “You can’t go home again.” It may have more to do with not being able to recapture one’s youth. But you can never not go home again. Especially if home is on the shores of a beautiful lake nested in the rolling hills of the St. John Valley. And the people there are warm, friendly and family. Picture this. You and your whole family are sitting on the living room couch. And on your mother’s lap, with your dad’s hand turning the pages, the old family albums, with wrinkled, faded, and sometimes blurred pictures, conjure memories too valuable to forget. And in this summer of 1999, St. Agathians have gathered to sit on this communal couch and witness this epochal event. -2- BUT I REMEMBER IT ANYWAY” I had a friend who had this uncanny ability to remember things that never happened to him. llhe truth is, from childhood till the summer he died, he had a quenchless appetite for local lore. He listened with limitless rapture as his elders, family, and neighbors talked about life in the Valley. He insisted that neighbors expecting company from Connecticut would come to his house and ask to borrow him and pass him off as their child for an afternoon because he was such a beautiful little lad. He loved to pull from this the best tales and recollections and relate them as his own He used to pretend he could recall experiences he couldn’t possibly have had. “Hey, Blackie,” one of us wanted to say, “that didn’t happen to you, you weren’t born yet.” “Yes,” he would admit. And as he brought his hand to his forehead and brushed a lock of white hair away revealing that mischievous twinkle in his eye, he would insist, “but I remember it anyway.” And the treasure of that man was that,he was much like a walking index of local history. FROM THE BOW OF MENON’S CANOE As I sat to jot a few recollections of my own I quickly realized I was never a good listener. And so my recollections lack the scope and depth of a good raconteur. And for some reason I can’t quite fathom, most of my memories are grounded in my childhood. That none of us were around when the State of Legislature incorporated St. Agatha into the community of Maine only increases our desire to be here in this centennial year. And even our most senior citizens were not yet born. My father, Fred, who is approaching his 96th year, comes close to remembering a great measure of our past. And the sparkle in his eyes belies the hardships shared by our progenitors. The soul of a community rests in the hearts of its inhabitants. And this is abundantly evident in the face of my dad. He and this village share a history inextricably linked. The good times, and the times when times were not so good. The people who settled here when you could not see the woods, or the trees and the only uninterrupted vista was the one seen from the bow of Menon’s canoe were hard working simple folk. Some tell that Menon Ouellette was the first settler along the shores of Long Lake. Others called the place, le lac a Menon. (Think of it. Lac a Menon, or its inevitably anglicizable version, Lacamenon, Maine, 04772.) . 3