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Armand's Memory Re: Armand's Memory 1992-07-25 1998-10-18 A Few New Things Bernadette's Grandfather What's in a Name? Heritage. Serendipity. Archives February 8. 1998. 1999. February 8. |
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| Zero
Storm |
One
Common Drama |
Two
for One |
Three
Pivotal Years |
Four
Generations |
Five
Ring Circus |
| Subject: | Bernadette's grand father |
| Date: | Friday, November 20, 1998 00:16:16 +0000 |
| From: | Catherine Camus |
| To: | Jérôme Camus |
Saturday, November 14, 17h00
I have just hung up with Jacques Marchand's aunt - Mrs. Jacqueline Chambellan. There is a family link with Henriette: she is her half sister by their father, Henri Fougeray.
The story goes this way:
Marie-Louise Gaulmé (the mother of Henriette) gets married to Jean-Marie Marchand. They have two children: Marie-Louise and Suzanne (whose real name is, however, Adolphine). Then another child comes around: Henriette. (Her father is Henri Fougeray [female instinct...]).
When the mother dies, Henri takes care of her three daughters, even during the war when he places them with his sister. Why could he never recognize Henriette? The aunt does not know.
Subsequently, Henri gets married to Irma Brossier. They have three children: Jacqueline, born in 1921 (later married to Mr. Chambellan); René, deceased; Pierre, deceased. Suzanne and Henriette are raised with the other three until 1928. They live in the Sarthe region.
In 1928, Suzanne leaves for Paris and brings her sister with her; both were old enough to work. Later, Suzanne marries Pierre Tremblay and both work for the Printemps department store - a store Mom seems to have liked a lot!
Henriette works as a do-it-all housekeeper in a family at l'Hay-les-Roses. Our aunt never knew the name of that family. Henriette falls pregnant. A question to the aunt: "Who is the father?". She believes it was her boss.
Suzanne found the congregation that helped hide her pregnancy as of May 10, 1929, according to your notes. Henriette gave birth to Bernadette, Pierrette, Henriette. The choice of Pierre is because of her husband Pierre TREMBLAY.
Irma and Henri Fougeray raised their grand daughter until she was two. Our aunt recalls a beautiful baby; she took care of her, as if it was her younger sister. One day, Henriette left her father's home with Bernadette. She came back home, later in the day, alone. Her father asked where was Bernadette. Henriette said that she had placed her in the care of a rich family. Her father replied that she would not set foot in the house without her daughter in her arms. The aunt often repeated in the conversation that they were a simple family.
Bernadette is placed in the care of Geneviève and Joseph Monnoyeur in 1932 (approximately).
Henriette marries Albert Robineau on August 4, 1934. They have one child, Alberte, divorced, who lives in Switzerland and still keeps contact with the aunt. Then Henriette has another child, Jacques Marchand, father unknown, who was also bounced around quite a bit.
The aunt, without wanting to judge her really, finds that she had quite an odd sister! She has photographs of Henriette, and possibly Bernadette as a child. She will look for them.
October 1995. At Jacques Marchand's request, our aunt accompanies, with one of her sons, our mother for the transit between Roissy and Orly. Obviously, the aunt has no recent photograph to recognize her. They manage to meet. The aunt had brought photos of Henriette with her, but leaves none to Bernadette.
Bernadette stays a good two weeks in Grenoble (just check her passport) with Jacques Marchand and his family. They tour quite a bit (according to the photos). Then Bernadette goes off to Italy. How? Only Jacques Marchand can tell.
On her way back to Canada, Bernadette does not go through Paris. She never follows up on these meetings, except when Cathy came to Montreal in 1996. You know the story from there.
So there is a brief, but hopefully clear, review of the first years of our mother's life.
I had other questions, but I was ill-at-ease to pursue them over the phone. In any case, we can meet her anytime (she wants us to call her Mamie, rather than Madam). She wants to meet us and at least we can get to know our grand mother, the (in) famous Henriette.
Je t'embrasse.
Catherine