DELAQUIS, PIERRE (212 ENGLISH)
DELAQUIS, PIERRE - man of courage, If all of you french canadian who have at least a drop of SWISS BLOOD in their vein will read this, 5 millions people should l read it. (Ther are roughtly 5 millions french-canadians that indeed have a drop of Swiss blood and it come from Fribourg, where the DELAQUIS came from.
DELAQUIS, the THREE BROTHERS
This story describes how some Swiss coming to settle in Canada found it more than an ordinary experience.
Pierre, the youngest of the three Delaquis brothers came in 1906. After having disembarked in Montreal, he sent a telegram to announce to his brothers who were settled in Rathwell that he had arrived in Montreal. After three days and three nights on the Canadian Pacific train, he arrived at the little village of Manitobin. Surprisingly his brothers were not there to meet him because the telegraphed message had remained in the post office.
However, he met a young man who worked for the railroad company. This man, Edouard Frey, was from Geneva, Switzerland, and he offered to show Pierre to the Delasqui brothers’ farm three miles south. Since there were no horses nor wagons to get there, they left on foot, but on the way, they met Xavier in a two-seater buggy who was going to town to see if Pierre had arrived.
On November 1st of that year, a foot of snow fell. The next day, another foot and it continued like this all month until the horses refused to go ahead when the family needed firewood. The road had to be traced for them. This was only the beginning of the deception in this new country. Truly, it was no bed of roses! It wasn’t surprising to hear a young immigrant ask her parents “When will we arrive in the so called rose-country called Canada?”
The promise of beautiful homesteads, of productive farms with immigrant-help from the Canadian Government did not exist anymore. The only homesteads left were those between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba where there were many marshes and abundant rocks. Only disappointing farm areas were left for them. Evidently their promised and best lands had been seized by the English conquerors.
Now a new adventure had begun on Canadian soil and they had to try to make things work on this farm which they had bought.
good luck was missing but hard labor wasn’t! They broke the land with bulls, took the stumps and the rocks out of the ground also with bulls..Mornings began at 4:00 am and lasted until 8 or 9 o’clock. One day the knee of the smallest of the young bulls harnessed on the breaking plow gave way and he stopped working. It was also much too hot. There were too many clouds of mosquitoes, flies, and grasshoppers. Also on that same day, the Government expert who was paid $15.00 a day came to give his advice on agriculture, since the land was not that productive, they had to seed oat, peas and clovers. This mixed crop should have given them 3 tonnes of hay-fodder per acre. Therefore it was wise to listen to this advisor but the results of this experimentation were not those which had been promised.
They also transported cords of wood for heating from Rathwell to Treherne for $2.00 a load. The distance of 3 miles to Rathwell then 9 miles to Treherne in extreme cold was another obstacle to overcome. The price of this work did not even cover the cost and maintenance of the horses. “The more we persisted,” said Pierre, “the more we became poor.” “Canada was a next-year country” as many said. The life lived by the immigrants was very different from that painted by the immigrant pamphlets given out by the agents who claimed that good investments would result. And these agents were careful not to say how soon these sums of money would be lost and to say how much misery awaited the new arrivals. The rigours of Canadian winters were unknown, but we had to get used to endure them.
Practically broke, the three brothers decided to move to Notre Dame de Lourdes. Xavier brought the general store: groceries, hardware, clothing, shoes. Everything arrived in great quantities such as barrels of vinegar, salad oil, apples in season, even bananas. There was also a lumberyard for those who were building houses, doors, windows, an assortment of nails, screws, locks, cement and calcium. The dynamite deposit was on the east of town on Louis’ farm. He had begun in business in 1920 and was followed by one of his sons. Xavier had married Carolyn Oberson from Fribourg, Switzerland. Three girls and three boys made up their family. He died in 1963 aged 83; his wife had preceded him in 1958.
Having studied to become a veterinarian at the Université de Laval in Montreal, QC, Louis ministered to the extensive region of Notre Dame de Lourdes, Cardinal, St. Lupicin, St. Léon, Somerset, Swan Lake, Treherne, Rathwell. St. Claude and Hayward. He also owned the pharmacy in order to fill Dr. Gaillot’s prescriptions. Furthermore, he grew cereals and hay; having cattle, especially Jersey cows and the brown Swiss cows, his herd grew to quite a few.. His career as a veterinarian enabled him to cover many miles by horse and buggy over dusty, muddy, rough roads in all sorts of weather. He often had to wear a buffalo (bison) coat and carry a briquette heater in order to resist the cold and the icy wind. Later, it was much easier to travel by Model T Ford, then later by Model A,
Louis married Thérèse Hébert a teacher who came from Quebec to teach at St. Jeanne d’Arc school. Their family was made up of three girls and six boys. He died on April 21, 1978, aged 92.
Pierre had studied to become an engineer, an electrical mechanic, at Lille in France. In 1915, he built up a shop which over the years had a lathe, grinding stones, a router, a file sharpener, an automatic metal saw, an electric propane welder and other tools. He also had an automatic gas machine to cut metal as well as other supplementary tools. He repaired agricultural machines, wagons and motor vehicles, and electrical apparatus. In 1918, he became an agent for Case tractors, then in 1922, an agent for the Ford Company.
In 1920, he installed a generator to supply electrical power to his garage, and house, as well as to the store and to the doctor’s. In 1927 all this was replaced by Hydro Manitoba. Then he installed electrical power to the church, to the rectory, to the parish hall at Notre Dame de Lourdes and to St. Claude, to many houses and commercial buildings and residences and to the grain elevator.
Up until 1940, things did not go too well. The many workers were only paid .10 cents an hour or $1.00 a day. During the War, many pieces for machine repairs and even machines themselves were not available. So Pierre, himself, built them or built pieces; he also built cultivators, hydraulic shovels, and grind-stones. He also made molds for the bronze, iron and steel pieces to send to the foundry, and then they’d come back for finishing in his shop. When he set up a program to improve the roads in the various municipalities, this brought him many contracts to gravel the roads.
Even at age 91, Pierre was interested in the activities and the development of the local communities. Just like his brothers….he really liked visits from his family and friends, and he enjoyed making new acquaintances. Each year people from Switzerland came to visit Pierre and his wife, Marie Fauchère who was also born in Switzerland. They had three girls and six boys.
Among the descendants of Xavier, Louis and Pierre Delaquis one found a bishop, medical doctors, nurses, a veterinarian, truckers, business people such as accountants; electricians, grocery store keepers, garage-owners, mechanics, and restaurant owners. There were also licensed companies of oil and gas, of cars and snow mobiles, etc.
Regardless of the years spent here in Canada, Switzerland has always been the Delaquis’ home and native land. The members of the family always participated in the Swiss Clubs of Winnipeg. Because of this family, various Consuls have visited Notre Dame de Lourdes, MB, situated in the mountainous region of Manitoba; however one wonders if this region is truly mountainous because when one has seen the Alps, one is surprised to see the Pembina mountains in Manitoba….
The yearning to return to one’s origins, has brought many members of the Delaquis family to travel to Switzerland to find and to renew the links between Canada and Switzerland, as well as to make new connections in this magnificent country of 6 million people, this small country but possessing as great a variety as that found in Canada.
