LA PAROISSTHE DONNELLY PARISH (11) # 176 English
Year: 1914
About 40 people from Donnelly arrived in 1914 in two excursions, May 27, 1914 and June 24, 1914, and still more people came.
Bishop Grouard made a pastoral visit of the whole new region.
Marie-Anne Leblanc married Eugène Gravel.
Marie-Rose Leblanc married Gaspard Dandurand.
In 1914, Bishop Grouard made a pastoral visit to the new settlers who had arrived during the year in this new region which had developed very rapidly partly due to the support of the clergy. The people liked to meet each other. There was also the fact that the French-Canadians had found friends and linked with sympathetic neighbors. Bishop Grouard made this visit to use this experience in the future, and he was pleased with what he saw; he also used this visit to meet new people.
On the photo dated June 24, we find Eugène Gravel with his two children, Blanche and Victor. The family came to Donnelly for a while then moved to Grouard. On September 17, he married Marie-Anne Gravel Leblanc in St. Joachim’s church in Edmonton¸. Then the newly-weds settled in Grouard for a short while and later moved to Donnelly for many years.
Marie-Anne’s marriage was not the only one in the Leblanc family in 1914. Her sister, Marie-Rose had found work in Grouard because she was bilingual. It is also there that she met her future husband: Gaspard Dandurand. Their marriage took place on November 24, 1914. It was the first marriage in Donnelly and registered in the Grouard registers.
Marie-Rose described her marriage as such: “First of all, I wanted to get married at my parents’ home, so on the previous day, we arrived at the Peavine. My parents had invited everyone who lived in the new region. The morning of the wedding, Father Dréau arrived, and found the young couple sitting on a rather rudimentary bench, just wide enough for two people. Father Dréau blessed our marriage and then celebrated mass.”
Towards noon, dinner was served for the invited guests; there were 14 including Father Dréau and the Leblanc family. Everyone felt festive, and they decided to go walking on the neighbor’s land. Marie-Rose’s brother, Emile, had brought his rifle in case they’d see wild game to give the family fresh meat. The married couple returned to Grouard where work awaited them.
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