Antoine Gagnon & Hortense Dionne


Grave of Antoine Gagnon
Gravestone of Antoine Gagnon in Ste-Luce cemetery, Upper Frenchville, Maine. Also listed here is son Pierre. Thanks to Jean Y. Albert for the photo.

Gagnon-Dionne marriage record, 1844
Copy of original marriage record from Ste Luce parish register, of marriage of Antoine Gagnon and Hortense Dionne, February 6, 1844. Click on image for enlarged view

(32.) 3. Antoine GAGNON was born on 22 June 1818 and baptized on the following day at St.Louis church in Kamouraska, Québec. His godparents were Joseph Ouellette (his uncle) and Marie Catherine Tardif.

Antoine moved sometime before 1825 to Trois Pistoles with his family; they appeared in the 1825 census of Lower Canada (Quebec) in that township.

Antoine moved to the area that is now Frenchville, Maine with his parents, brothers and sisters sometime around the summer of 1831.

According to the 1844 land survey, in 1839 he took possession of 70.13 acres of land from among the "rear lots" in Township 18, Range 5 (now Upper Frenchville), Aroostook County, Maine.(165) The farm was located on Church Hill, near the junction of Gagnon Road and the Deuxième Rang.

Antoine GAGNON was married to Hortense DIONNE on 6 Feb 1844 in Ste-Luce, Frenchville, Maine.(23) Witnesses at the wedding included Prospère Gagnon, Baptiste Ouellette and "many other relatives and friends." They were married by the priest at Ste-Luce, Hortense's brother Henri Dionne; in his recording of the marriage he noted that the spouses did not know how to sign their names. 

The marriage record (text below) indicates that the couple received a dispensation after the publication of the first bann, from the Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec and curé of the parish of Ste-Anne de la Pocatière, the parish where Hortense was raised. It is not clear from this record why a dispensation was granted. I will try to research this further. (More information on the dispensation).

Text of the marriage record, from Ste-Luce parish register, dated February 6, 1844:

Le six fevrier milhuit cent quarante quatre après la publication de trois bans de mariage, faite aux prônes de nos messes paroissialles et comme il appert par le certificat, après la publication d'un seul ban, et sur la dispense de deux, accordis par Messire Mailloux, Vicaire Général de l'Evêque Québec et curé de Ste-Anne de la Pocatière, entre Antoine Gagnon domicilé en cette paroisse, fils majeure de Prospère Gagnon et de Marie Anne Ouellette de cette paroisse d'une part, et Hortense Dionne de cette paroisse, fille majeure de feu Antoine Dionne et de Salomé Miville Déschène, aussi de cette paroisse.  Ne s'étant découvert aucun empêchement, nous prêtre curé soussigné avons reçu leur mutuel consentement et leur avons donné la bénédiction nuptiale en presence de Prospère Gagnon, de Baptiste Ouellette, et de plusieurs autres parins et amis qui ainsi que les époux n'ont su signer.

H. Dionne

(English translation:
On February 6 1844, after the publication of three banns of marriage at the parish masses, and as it appears by the certificate after the publication of a single bann, and the dispensation of two granted by Messire Mailloux, Vicar General of the Bishop of Quebec and curé of Ste-Anne de la Pocatière, between Antoine Gagnon, who lives in this parish, adult son of Prospère Gagnon and Marie Anne Ouellette of this parish on one part, and Hortense Dionne of this parish, adult daughter of the late Antoine Dionne and of Salomée Miville Deschênes, also of this parish.  Not having discovered any obstacle, we the undersigned priese have received their mutual consent and have given them the nuptial blessing in the presense of Prospère Gagnon, of Baptiste Ouellette, and of many other relatives and friends who, like the spouses, did not know how to sign their names.

(signed) H. Dionne

Baptismal record of Hortense Dionne, from Ste.Anne de la Pocatière.
Click on image for enlarged view

(33.) Hortense DIONNE was born on 12 Feb 1819 in La Pocatière, Lower Canada (Québec), and was baptized at Ste Anne the same day. Her godparents were Augustin Dionne and Marie Eléonore Anctil, both of whom signed the register. (24)

In 1836 her father, in the process of giving his possessions to his son Ubald, gave him the following instructions regarding his youngest daughter Hortense:

To pay, count, furnish and deliver to Hortense Dionne, another of his sisters, a fitted-out bed without the curtains, a counterpane, a sideboard equal to the one that her above-named sister received from the said Donors, two tablecloths, six hand towels, six plates, six spoons, six knives, six forks, a brazier, a frying pan, a ladle, a spinning wheel, a pig, a milk cow, two mother sheep and in addition the sum of 16 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence standard, and that for all the rights generally that she would have and claim in the succession of the said Donors her father and mother and from now until she comes of age or when she is provided for by marriage, to one or the other of these two times, she will not be paid that said sum unless she has come of age.
[...]
6th: to sow annually and on good land at his cost and expense the quantity of Three pouches of flax seed as long as the said Hortense Dionne, his above-named sister and Sophie Bossé his niece are not married.
(translation of extract from "Donation d'Antoine Dionne," from the website of Jacques Dionne; for text of full document in original French go to http:/jacantdionne.net/succession_antoine.html .)

Hortense Dionne's grave Gravestone of Hortense Dionne, on same column as husband Antoine, above. Also listed here is their daughter Julie.
Thanks to Jean Y. Albert for the photo.
Sometime between 1841 and her marriage to Antoine Gagnon in February 1844, Hortense moved from La Pocatière to the Madawaska Settlement. She probably moved to help her brother, Father Henri Dionne, who in September 1841 became the assistant pastor of St-Basile's responsible to serve the chapel at Ste-Luce (now Frenchville), and who in 1843 established a parish at Ste-Luce and became its first pastor (curé).  By the time of her marriage, her mother, Salomée Miville Deschênes Dionne, had also moved to Ste-Luce.

Given that the Gagnon family land was quite close to the chapel at Ste-Luce, it seems likely that Hortense met Antoine due to this proximity. As a newcomer to the area, Father Dionne was dependent on his new neighbors to help him settle in. The Gagnons were among his closest new neighbors.

Antoine and Hortense appeared in the 1850 US census in Madawaska Plantation, Maine, as Anthony Gorme, 32 years old, laborer, born in Canada, and Ortan Gorme, 32 years old, born in Canada, living with children Judie (4), Phillip (2), and Mary (2 months). (25) The family is living next door to Hortense's brother, Father Henri Dionne, at Ste-Luce.

They appeared on the 1860 US census in Township 18, Range 5, Aroostook, Maine, listed as Antoine Gagnon, a farmer, age 40, with real estate valued at $700, personal estate valued at $750, born in Canada, and Ortans Gagnon, age 40, born in Canada, living with children Antoine (age 15), Julie (14), Philip (12), Mary (10), Joseph (7), Peter (5), Annri (3), and Ortans (7 months). (21)

They appeared on the 1880 US census in Frenchville, Maine, listed as Antoine Gagnon, age 63, farmer, couldn't read or write, born in Canada, and Artence Gagnon, age 62, keeping house, could read and write, born in Canada, living with children Peter (age 25), Hanri (20), Mitchel (18), and Julia (32).(22)

Antoine Gagnon died 1 Jun 1885, at the age of 67.(154)He was buried in Ste-Luce Church cemetery, Upper Frenchville.

Hortense Dionne died 10 Sep 1892, at the age of 73.(154) She was buried in Ste-Luce cemetery, Upper Frenchville.

Antoine GAGNON and Hortense DIONNE had the following children:

child+15 i. Antoine GAGNON.
child16 ii. Julie GAGNON.
child+17 iii. Louis Philippe GAGNON.
child+18 iv. Marie-Rose GAGNON.
child+19 v. Joseph GAGNON.
child+20 vi. Pierre D. GAGNON.
child(16.) +21 vii. Henri GAGNON.
child+22 viii. Honoré GAGNON.
child+23 ix. Michel GAGNON.
child+24 x. Paul GAGNON.

 


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Last revised 22 Mar 2007