Reg Porter's Story

Mary Frances, born 1918, was the eldest survivor of the fourteen children of Marie Blanche and Charlie. As the eldest child in an ever-expanding family, more responsibilities were thrust upon her in the chaos of living with her mother’s in-laws on the edge of Tignish. There is only one photograph of Frances in her childhood dating from the earliest years, and with her in the photo is her beloved sister Elise. Education Around 1925 Frances was sent a short distance up the road to be educated by the Sisters of Notre Dame at the great brick convent of that name built in 1868. It is a fine but terribly austere…

Marie Blanche Poirier was born on January 19, 1890, and married Charles Joseph Gaudet, who was born on April 20, 1891, on April 13, 1915. Their first child was born in 1916, their last in 1934. In that 18-year span nine of them died dreadful deaths, mostly of tuberculosis. Somehow, in this morass of disease and death five children survived and reached old age. I knew them all because they were my immediate family as I grew up. One of them, Frances, was my mother. Mary Frances, (1918 – 2014 Annie May (1923 – 2010) John Joseph (1925 – 1997) Mary Susan 1928 – 2020 Joseph Gerard 1932 – 1999…

Marie Blanche Poirier was born on January 19, 1890, and married Charles Joseph Gaudet, who was born on April 20, 1891, on April 13, 1915. Their first child was born in 1916, their last in 1934. In that 18-year span nine of them died dreadful deaths, mostly of tuberculosis. Here is a table with the vital statistics of that sad family. The Children of Marie-Blanche Poirier and Charles Gaudet Name Birth Death Cause of death Age Joseph Isadore Feb. 24, 1916 Funeral March 11 1921 Croup 5 Mary Dora June 4 1917 November 23 1923 Diphtheria 4 Mary Frances October 20, 1918 February 22, 2014 Stroke and heart failure 96…

Tracing the Poirier Family. On Meacham’s map of Lot 1 as you can see by the two red X marks, that Isidore Gaudet lived about one quarter of a mile from the centre of Tignish on his 50 acres of land, and Jean Sosime Poirier’s land was in Palmer Road, with his 45 acres, not far from the church. In the 1863 Baker/Lake map of the Island, several Perry properties are identified in the Palmer Road area indicating that that these farms had been bought when the landlords were forced to sell to the tenants around the time of Confederation. Here is a detail that shows the specific location of…

The Gaudet Family – from Vienne in France to Tignish, Prince Edward Island My genealogical research has given me a very clear progression of the Gaudet family for fourteen generations. The most remote reliable entry I have with dates and places is for Guillaume Francois Louis Gaudet, 1530–1603, who came from the area of Vienne in what is now called the Poitou-Charentes district of France. They left Vienne for North America after 1604 and carried to Canada their customs and social structure. I have never come across a list of the various places in France where the settlers in New France originated. That story is a complicated one, not at…