My grandfather, Eugène, was born April 9, 1877 in Gatineau Hills (Sainte-Cécile-de-Masham) one of 8 children. He had four sisters Malvina, Agnès, Dora and Joséphine and 3 brothers, Henry, Joseph and Alexandre.
His father Jérémie had gone to Corbeil (near North Bay) as a worker on the Canadian National Railroad. When the railroad got to lake Nosbonsing, Jérémie spotted land that seemed promising for farming if one could clear it of it’s huge pine trees. Once the J.R. Booth lumber company had cut the huge logs (some six feet in diameter), Jérémie bought two lots in concession 7 of the Township of East Ferris supposedly for 5$ each. At a similar price, he will later purchase three more lots.
Jérémie and Philomène (Hébert-dit-Sauvé ) had a rather rough life in the beginning as you can imagine. There is a story that Jérémie carried, on his shoulders, over a distance of two kilometers, most of the lumber and materials needed to build the first house where grandfather Eugene and his siblings would be born.
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