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Notes for NOE HUBERT DUBOIS, SR.:
Born in Trois Rivieres (Trois-Rivières founded by Samuel de Champlain in July 1634 as a trading post at the mouth of the Saint-Maurice Rivière.)
1900 census Fidelity School Twp, Bottineau County, ND ED 233, sheet no. 21, image 42 of 65
Noe Dubois b. Nov. 1857, age 42, # yrs. married 19, b. Canada (Fr.),
F. b. Canada (Fr.), M. b. Canada (Fr.) Yr. of Imm.: 1878 # yrs. in US 22; Naturalized
Elmire, b. Oct. 1863, age 36. m. 19 yrs, 12 children; 9 living;
F. b. Canada (Fr.), M. b. Canada (Fr.) Yr. of Imm.: 1867 # yrs. in US 33;
See: 1910 Census Fidelity Twp., Bottineau Co, ED 24, page 11B; image 22 of 31; oldest child living at home was Henry, age 25
1920 census, Whitteron Twp, Bottineau Co, ED#40, p.
Noe immigrated 1878
Elmire in 1870
Married and first two children born in Suncook, NH. Then moved to Bottineau, ND in 1886. In October 22, 1892 Became U.S. citizen
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The North Dakota Land Patents Database contains the following information for each land transaction: date, location (township, range, section, meridian), name of person the land was patented to, case type, conveyance type, county, and the patent document identification number.
Bottineau County, ND
CASE
NAME MERIDIAN TWP RANGE SEC ACRE TYPE TYPE DOC ID DATE
DUBOIS NOE 05 162 N 074 W 033 40 251101* PA 1454 09/09/1895
DUBOIS NOE 05 162 N 074 W 034 120 251101* PA 1454 09/09/1895
Dubois, N 162N 74W 34,33,35 See pg.131
*Homestead
** Land Conveyance type PA - Patent
Cousin Muriel Harrison has written on it that she thought it was written by Maria Dubois Lemieux but Maria died in 1978 and it is dated June 1982. A letter to Iona Dubois from Reine Corbeil cites "Uncle Gene's" memorial. Kenny and Lois Dubois Kraft have confirmed that it was written by Ulric Dubois. He states that "Delia was married (1899) before he was born (1903)". The only children born after 1899 were Eugene (but he is mentioned by name in the letter); Albert who died in 1960; and Claudia who is also mentioned by name.
Parentheses are mine
Letter dated June, 1982
My daughter, Claudia asked me to write a resume of my short life and as that isn't better of worse than the others of my time. It probably interested you to know a little more of your grandparents, of which I wish I knew more.
The farthest back that I've heard of is that a rich family in England who had 6 girls and one boy. The father was mean and the boy ran away and landed in the navy in Canada (Canada belonged to England) where he work(ed) if I recall for about $4.00 per month. He then married to a French girl and soon after one of the Gennyhouse girl(s) got married and the whole family celebrating the wedding went on a sea voyage and they all drowned. Leaving a large fortune, they advertised all over for the then young man. He knew about it but his wife who couldn't talk English and refused to go to England so he didn't make himself known. His wife as it turned out was mother's great-grandmother and her brother tried to recover the fortune but it was too late and it all had been (given) back over to the government ______.
I can't trace mother or dad side of the family further than Canada. I've often heard them say (they lived) "2 weeks below Quebec". That was the time it was or takes to travel that distance with a team of oxen. No mile line.
My folks never went to school, however, mother taught herself to read the French and English newspaper. Mother had one sister and four brothers and at the age of 10 mother worked in a factory at the end of the day they'd put her pay in an envelope to take home.
Dad lost his Dad when he was 7 years old (i.e., 1865) and he too had to work. His work was in the woods and became quite a chop(p)er as they had a lot of competition with other camps and he represented his camp and became known as the "champ". Time passes on anyway Noe Dubois (my Dad) was reunited in marriage to Elmire Cheeney (my mother). He was 23 and she was 17 when married on the 14th of November 1881. Dad was born November 14, 1858; died July 24, 1932. Mother was born October 27, 1864. While still in Canada, Delia was born 12/24/1882; died in 1923 and Zatique on 8/26/1884; died in 1965. Now here especially I wish I had more information. The territory in the west in the U.S. opened up to settlers. If one settled on a piece of land 160 acres for one year the land became his. How the folks ever decided to pull (up) stakes and move so far to a different country and couldn't speak English. Anyway be as it may, they came (in 1886) to Devil's Lak(e), (Ramsey County)ND the end of the line. There they travelled by wagon how much further I do not know but mother had none of her family and Dad had his mother and stepfather plus 2 brothers and a sister and their spouses. They travelled many days until they came to Turtle Mountain. There they decided to make a stand. All the way from D. Lake the wind always blows mostly from the north and thinking that the mountain would provide protection plus seeing all the trees they would have lumber to build and for heat. Dad settled by a little creek which at the time ran year round. His mother and step dad settled 3/4 mile north and Dad's sister (Emmerance), the Picards settled 1/2 mile east. I don't know about the 2 other brothers.
Just think stopping in open space with a wife and 2 small kids between one and three, that was around 1886. First they had to cut sod to build a home. Dad had a team of oxen and a cow. I have mortgage papers whereby Dad mortgaged to the team of oxen for a walking plow with a steel beam. He got that from Bottineau which was also opening up. They wagon(ed) all the merchandise from Devil's Lake.
The game was plentiful and Dad had a nozzle shotgun and for a few years pl---- a garden made their living. Another kid Louria Virginia 6/27/1887; then Maria 8/7/1888; Henry 8/3/1890; (Maria) Anna 10/271/1891; Regina 6/25/1894; John (Noe) 7/25/1895; (Noe) Ephrem 7/17/1896; (Adelard) Ben 2/12/1898; (John, Efrem and Ben all died between one and three years of age.); Noe (Hubert) 9/19/1896; (Alfred) William 7/24/1899; Eugene 3/9/1901; Ulric 1/11/1903; Claudia 5/19/1904; Albert 5/2/1907; died 1960.
Times as we know them couldn't have been easy. By the time I was born times for my folks were getting better. Dad had built a log house out of oak logs all squared by axe. They were about 8" square. Can you imagine the work? Two stories, large kitchen and living room combine(d); 1 bedroom plus a parlor. Had to go through the bedroom to get to the parlor or go through another outside door. In the kitchen were stairs going up to 2nd story where it had 2 large bedrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls.
I remember living in that house. We had (a) heater(s) in the parlor (heated on Sunday)
and in the kitchen. The upstairs was not heated except (for the) heat (that) escaped from downstairs through grates and stairways. In the morning, we'd run down stairs. Mother kept the oven door open to heat the house.
Delia was married and gone before I was born and 3 boys that died between 1 and 3 years old who were gone before I was born so I suppose they never had more than a dozen kids living home at any one time.
But you can imagine having that many kids with no electricity; no running water; no inside plumbing; no bath tub. All the water had to be heated in a boiler (about 7 gallons) on the kitchen range plus another reservoir attached to the kitchen range. The bath tub was a round galvanized tub that was also part of the washing machine; the other half was the scrub tub.
I remember the first washing machine that Mother got. A wooden tub with a handle on top that had to be pull(ed) back and forth. That was the kids job to pull that handle back and forth - 15 minutes per load...believe me we never ran over. Mother always had the clock nearby. Then we had to turn the handle on the ringer. The water was seldom changed....guess you can wash in dirty water.
Dad built a new house in 1912. All the kids were growing up. Six bedroom house and a couple of years later, Anna, Regina and Henry were gone so the house was plenty big. But still no running water or electricity. These came about after we were all out on our own.
In later years, however, the folks were able to enjoy a little rest. They spent a winter in Florida and several in California. Mother had a brother (Charles) who would come from Massachusetts and the three would vote on where to spend the winter. Gene did the farm work and later Leo and Claudia and the folks always home in the summer. This went on till Mother who always had a bad stomach supposedly developed cancer and died in 1932. I've thought an awful lot about that. We just didn't know any better but I believe that Mother probably died of ulcers that got so bad that she couldn't eat. She was never operated on. The doctor said cancer and that was that. Later in life I began to think about it, trusting to a small town doctor. I wish we had know enough to take her to Rochester, MN. She probably would have lived many more years, but we didn't know any better. I was at the time managing a hardware store at Marshfield, WI and Ed was working for me so we in turn went to see Mother. At that time there were only trains and it took about 3 days. So I never got to see Mother again. She was very religious and wasn't afraid to die. That one person that really believe in God and prayed a lot and doubt that she ever did anything wrong. I feel sure that she's up there where she hears me when I often call on her for help and guidance.
Things after Mother passed away were not as pleasant for Dad. He visited with the kids, spent a few winters in California and mostly on the farm. He lived for another 10 years, died at the hospital in Bottineau. He was 84 years old. I was with him when he died. He was in the hospital 10 days and suffered a lot. I gave blood for a transfusion. Doctor said it would ease the pain. I said I didn't want to do it if it would prolong his suffering. Amen for the folks. 10 days in the hospital the bills was $43.00 total.
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