Notes |
Although her daughter's marriage record shows that Hortense was marriedto a man named Joseph ARBOUR, we believe that there is no such person.Helene was probably an illegitimate child and a fictitious father was created to give her some legitimacy.
___
Bio from Facebook on 27 April 2010:
27 April 1841 -- Born and baptised in L'Islet, Quebec, Marie-Hortense ARBOUR was the 3rd of 13 children of CharlesARBOUR and Marie-Euphrosine FORTIN. Right from the beginning it almost appears as if Hortense was alittle unlike the rest of her family. All of her siblings were born and baptized in Perce, Quebec, which is also where Hortense grew up. However, Hortense was baptized in the community in which her mother was born and raised and in which her parents were married. Although typical ofthe time, Hortense had no occupation outside the home but she no doubtwas a tremendous help to her mother in caring for her younger siblings. In fact, she was one of 3 sisters in her family who never married andwho died as spinsters in middle age. When she was 27-years old, though, Hortense seems to have had an illicit affair. On 06 April 1869, she gave birth to her daughter, Helene ARBOUR. Their situation is a bit unusual in that Hortense actually claimed Helene (aka Ellen) at her baptism, but no mention was made of a father. Although Helene's marriage record shows that Hortense was married to a man named Joseph ARBOUR, we believe that there is no such person. Most assuredly, Helene was an illegitimate child and a fictitious father was created to give her some legitimacy. When she was 17-years old,Helene married and began her own family, buther mother never saw this. Hortense died in Perce on 08 March 1883, just shy of her 42nd birthday.
|