La famille de James O'Brien et Maria Laperrière

O'Brien sisters and the parents, 1941, Québec

Avec ce blog, débute la grande aventure de la famille O'Brien/Laperrière. Il s'agira d'écrire un chapitre par couple/famille, avec documents à l'appui. Nous commencerons donc à rebours, avec le mariage de James J O'Brien et Maria Laperrière, en ajoutant aussi des photos et cartes géographiques, en plus de liens internet.

Pour le côté O'Brien, je vais écrire en anglais, and for the Laperrière side, I will write in French.

Feel free to add and/or correct any information !
N'hésitez pas à corriger ou ajouter des informations!

James Joseph O'Brien was born Nov 7, 1887,

and baptized on the 9th, at St-Patrick's, Quebec City. The sponsors (parrain/marraine) were John O'Connor and his wife, Frances "Fanny" Bolger, a sister of James's mother Margaret Bolger (more on them later).

In 1891, the family lived in Champlain Ward, and their neighbours were the family of John O'Connor and Fanny Bolger, and also another Bolger, Francis and his family, as well as his maternal grandparents and their children, Francis Bolger and Margaret Baker. They were all shiplabourers. Another neighbour was Edward O'Connor, John's brother, and his family.
A woman called Catherine Cassidy, or Kennedy, in her 60's, had a grocery down the street. Most of the names appearing on the pages for that area of Champlain ward were Irish, and shiplabourers.

In 1901, the family still lived in Champlain Ward, and John O'Connor was still a neighbour, but now a widow. The other neighbours were different, but most of them were shiplabourers. They still lived close to the grocery, the owner now identified as Catherine Kennedy, aged 69.

The exact address is given to us as 101 Little Champlain (1903-L'Indicateur de Québec et Lévis-BANQ).
Rue du Petit Champlain


In 1911, the family moved across and down in Lower Town,  at 66 1/2 rue Ste-Marguerite. The father was identified as "journalier sur le quai" and James as "opérateur de télégraphe sur le chemin de fer" (CPR?) and his youger brother Francis was a messenger with the CPR.

This time, the neighbours are quite different: The Pouliot family, French-Canadians; an Italian couple and their children, Louis Bastienne (?) and Rose, "plâtrier";William Hayhill, an English merchand and his wife Antoinette; a Jewish meat inspector from Germany, Moses Eliosoph (or Cleosoph), his wife Elake ?, kids Philip, Barney and Samuel; a French-Canadian acountant, François Brousseau, etc.
Rue Ste-Marguerite
This street is one street south parallel to Boul Charest, and was partly destroyed to make way for the 440 ramp going uptown.

In 1912, Nov 25, James married Maria Rosalie Virginie Laperrière (more on her and her family in next entry), at the parish of St-Jean-Baptiste. He is identified as "opérateur"..."em présence de Napoléon Laperrière, oncle et témoin de l'épouse, et de Thomas O'Brien, père et témoin de l'époux, soussignés avec les époux..."E.A. Doucet, prêtre.
St-Jean-Baptiste

From October 1913 to 1926, the couple will have 12 children, including twin girls in 1926, one which unfortunately died soon after birth; 3 boys and 8 girls lived on, and 8 families of descendants live on, under the names of O'Brien, Bélanger, Marmette, Lacasse, Poiré, Grégoire.







Voici l'arbre généalogique des 4 premières générations. J'ai mis mon père au départ, mais voici le nom des autres enfants du couple O'Brien/Laperrière.