BEAUPRE, EDOUARD (216 ENGLISH)
EDOUARD - son of Gaspard + Florestine Piché
- b. 1881-01-09 Lebret, SK
- d. 1903-07-03 St-Louis, Mo
BEAUPRE, EDOUARD
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Because as an adult, he was eight feet, three inches in height, he left his mark on the popular French-Canadian imagination. Through his feats of strength, Edouard Beaupré won a place in the pantheon of strong French-Canadian men.
Edouard Beaupré was the son of Gaspard Beaupré, a native of l’Assomption in Quebec, and of Florentine Piché, a Métis lady who moved from the Red River Colony during the uprisings of 1870. Edouard was born in Willow Bunch, SK,. Towards the age of 7, he began to grow out of proportion because of an illness which affected his pituitary gland. More at ease in the vast prairie spaces than in a classroom, where his height was particularly evident, he only received four years of education.
Towards the age of 18, under the care of André Gaudy, a Métis from Willow Bunch, Edouard began to show his strength in various Canadian cities: lifting a 600 pound horse onto his shoulders, bending iron bars, etc. Then he toured the United States and spent a year in California. However this life did not please him and loneliness made him take to liquor in order to forget his problems. After his rounds in the United States, he always returned to Willow Bunch, but he had to continue to go on more tours in order to make a living.
In Montreal in 1901 Edouard faced another legendary French-Canadian figure, Louis Cyr, the well-known strongman who beat Edouard. This unfortunate event was probably because Edouard Beaupré was already ill with tuberculosis, which ended his life a few years later in Saint Louis, Missouri during a round with the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Unfortunately his family could not afford to pay for the transportation of his remains back to Willow Bunch so Edouard Beaupré’s body began its long and complicated journey which brought him to Montreal. Up until the mid 1970’s, his body was on display at the University of Montreal in the faculty of medicine. After various requests from the family members, his ashes were finally buried in Willow Bunch on July 7, 1990, more than 85 years after his death.
An interesting comment: His mother was less than 5 feet tall, yet she gave birth to 20 children, Edouard being the eldest.
Ref: Ouest-Nord-Ouest
Internet.
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