March 19 - Caroline Brossoit Remme

     My great aunt, Caroline M Brossoit was the third child of Alexander and Sophie (Trepanier) Brossoit.  She was born on March 19, 1886 in Argyle, Minnesota.  The 1920 census lists her as a single, 33 year old still living at home with her parents and 2 youngest brothers, Armand and (my grandfather) Omer.  Her occupation was a dressmaker from her home. 

     By the 1930 census she was married to Clarence Remme, who was 14 years her junior.  In the 1930 census she was a homemaker with a 3 month old daughter, Orella and husband, Clarence was a clerk in a cigar store.  I have not found many other records for Caroline.   

     What stories I was told was that she lost her leg to diabetes and had a wooden leg with a shoe attached.  My mother recalls that all of her life, she knew of the wooden leg so it may have happened soon after her marriage.  My only recollection was that after my great aunt's passing, the wooden leg, which was rather dark and primitive looking, was in the rafters of my grandfather's garage and we often made stories about it.

 Caroline passed away on October 7, 1966.

Happy 126th Birthday!

           

"A Visit With Grandma"

     Now that the Christmas season is upon us, I think about my favorite Christmas movie, Frank Capra's  "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946).  It was on the television the other night and it still makes me cry at the end when all of George's friends and family gather in the front hall singing "Auld Lang Syne" and a small bell starts to ring.  Immediately my memories take me to the funeral mass of my grandmother, Hazel Brossoit.  Not because of the similarities of Grandma B and George Bailey and/or his wife Mary, but because of the angel, Clarence.

This eulogy written by my father, Rollin Glewwe, was given on October 20, 1994.

A Visit With Grandma Brossoit

     "Mark, Barbara, Joan, Bette, and Marvin thank you for sharing your mother with the rest of us this past 86 years.  Omer, thank you for letting us share our memories of Hazel today and for helping us to relive some of the joy you must have known over the years, a joy each of us holds dear, as we say goodbye.
     Hazel was everybody's Grandma...and yet, she had that rarest of qualities that let each one of us know that we were special to her.

     She never had to make a list of her 17 grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren...she knew each one and called each one by name.  In fact, Grandma knew and called just about everybody by name.

     For those of us who were fortunate enough to marry into Hazel's family, we soon discovered that we had a very special friend cheering for us while never interfering with us.  Her grace and charm easily won our hearts and not surprisingly, the hearts of our parents and brothers and sisters as well.
     I know that Hazel felt a deep kinship to Maggie's folks and was saddened at their passing.  Hollis' mom and his sister and brothers all count themselves as friends of Hazel, she was awful easy to like.  Marvel's folks picnicked, visited, played 500 and made Hazel and Omer part of their family...as did many of us.  When Bud and Bette got married, Hazel made sure Ollie, Bud's sister and her family were included as part of the Brossoit circle.  Hazel's extended family was never limited to relatives...company was always treated as family.

     Most folks are content to plant or be a branch of their own family tree.  Not Hazel, she planted an orchard of family trees...look around...you're sitting in Hazel's orchard this morning.  The evidence of her skill as a master gardener is not limited to her prize roses and begonias, but to each of us in this room as she nurtured us, held us in the hands of her gentle heart and helped us all to grow.
     Grandma's life-time partner and best friend, Omer, bought her one of the first television sets in South St. Paul.  A 1950's 12" Philco as I recall...I think Omer still has it.  One of her favorite programs in those days was "I Remember Mama", and Sam Levenson.  Sam was a storyteller and Grandma always loved a good story.  Being of Danish descent, she especially like 'dose about dem Norvegians, Sven and Ollie.'
     Grandma's story is an 'I Remember Mama' Classic.  Born into  a family of eight, Hazel's mother died when Hazel was only eleven.  Her dad, the Stephen, Minnesota Postmaster and her older brothers and sisters raised Hazel themselves for the most part.  They lived by the Tamarac River and many a wintry morning, she and her brothers and sisters would skate to school.  Hazel liked school, did well and attended Bemidji State Teachers College where she was awarded her teaching certificate.
     Her teaching career ended when she married, which was the rule of thumb in those days, and she and Omer started their family.  Economic opportunities were so limited up north, the young couple were forced to move to the cities to look for work.  Relatives and friends put them up until Omer could find a job, save a few dollars and get started.  First he drove truck for Ajax along with his brother-in-law, Bill Anderson.  Later he drove for Armours and then transferred to the loading dock where he reigned as head checker until his retirement.
     Raising a family on $0.325/hr and working about 22 hours a week meant short rations for all.  Rather than complain, Hazel nursed her bedridden father for 7 years while at the same time bearing, raising and nurturing her own family.

     She not only raised her family in those early days, she raised chickens, produce and berries to stock her cupboard for winter.  Canned pheasant and duck were table staples as were fresh-caught fish and home-pickled herring.  Hazel baked fresh bread twice a week, made apple dumplings that were the hit of any luncheon party or special occasion.  Hazel's fried chicken and potato salad recipes have no equal.  To that list someone will add Hazel's headcheese, then another and we'll be here all day.

     Hazel could not only sew on buttons, she could make buttons.  Elegant evening gowns in various stages of creation were often draped from the Jim Dandy ladies torso she kept in the corner of the bedroom.  Oracles of the Royal Neighbors Life Insurance Company took their annual meetings very seriously you see...and a gown was the order of the day.

     Grandma knitted the perfect dishrag, just the right size, just the right weight.  They can even be used left-handed as Joan pointed out to me early in our marriage.  One size fits all she said.



     Experts figure Grandma used over 33 miles of yarn, the equivalent of shearing  100,000 sheep to knit the array of afghans and dish rags she produced over the years.  That doesn't count the number of sheep it took to knit me a pair of size 15 wool socks.

When did she find the time?  Grandma loved to travel and she did.  She was just as at home in the Florida Everglades and the Arizona winter sun as she was in the snow atop the 10,000 foot peaks of Sun Valley, Idaho. A Sunday afternoon at Marvin and Marvel's was always special or a lazy stopover at Mark and Maggie's gazebo eating strawberries and sipping soda or her favorite, iced tea.

     One of her favorite places to travel however, was up to Bette's on Lake Marion.  It was there Omer and Hazel parked their step-van camper, a model of gracious lakeside luxury in our minds, and they challenged the world record by seeing how many relatives, grandchildren, friends and neighbors they could pack into it for a late night game of 21 or just carefree conversation.

     Late mornings and early evenings would find Grandma out on the lake with Omer, slapping sunnies into the boat with one hand while hooking frisky northerns to a stringer with the other.  Fair skinned and susceptible to the sun, Hazel had a collection of fishing bonnets that even the Queen of England would envy.  Grandma loved pets and always had a dog, cat, bird or both with her or close at hand.  Marcoe, her cat visited her in the hospital Sunday and purred goodbye...he knew.

     Civic duty and a love for children won Hazel a string of pearls when she retired from the Washington School PTA.  After serving as Resident President, Official Piano Player for the PTA Rouser and spending 21 years as a Grade School Room Mother, she earned every last one of them.  Twenty one years as a room mother is a school record by the way and it will stand forever . . . they tore the school down last year.

     Grandma was always a Girl Scout and her daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters are walking in her moccasins. 

     Right up there with her string of pearls is her South St. Paul, Mrs. Fixit Trophy.  In this fierce competition she hammered, wired and glazed her way to the top in record time.

     Known lovingly as the Bookmobile Lady, Hazel never read a book or met a young reader she didn't like.  Reminiscent of when she rode with her father in the mail sled, Hazel delivered news to the neighborhoods each week through her book selections, periodicals and requested reading materials.

     Hazel loved old photographs, slide shows, sending tapes overseas, Christmas, birthday parties and big family gatherings.

     Hazel loved baseball.  The old Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul Saints counted her as one of their most loyal fans.  She would take any Twins loss personally.  She had little time for umpires, whiners, and rug merchants who got to the estate sales before she did on Thursday mornings.  Although she wouldn't tell me to my face, Grandma was suspect of people that didn't get up, pack their lunch and go to work every morning.

     Speaking of lunch...for several years now Hazel and Omer have enjoyed eating their noon meal at the local Old Country Buffet.  They made many friends a on these daily outings and some of the Country Buffet staff is with us today as we say goodbye.

     Grandma Hazel was never a scold, never cross, always forgiving, always long suffering....I have it on good authority that the phrase 'Minnesota nice' was coined to describe her demeanor.

     Mrs. Brossoit...Hazel...Grandma...Grandma Brossoit...Grandma B...a friend, mother, mom whatever you called her, you will have to agree: though she may not have been an angel she sure came close...and I'd like to think that Monday, October 17, 1994 at about 8 PM...having said goodbye to her family and friends...got her wings."

Call to Arms in 1870

    The Fenian Movement started in the 1850's in Ireland.  Its purpose was to fight for Ireland's independance from Great Britian.  After the Civil War in the United States, the Irish-Americans who had fought in the Union Army, banded together to take on the British forts in Canada.  They hoped that by overtaking the major forts and ports in Canada, that the British would conceed and give Ireland her freedom.  The Canadians who had banded together as a military group turned back the resistance of the Fenian Brotherhood.  As a reward they were given 160 arces of land.  In 1899, the Canadian General Service Medal was awarded to those men who had served in the forces that fought the Fenian Raids.

   Michel Brossoit, my 2nd cousin, 4 times removed, fought in the Fenian Raids in 1870.  He served in the 64th Voltigerus de Beauharnois and was awarded a medal for his efforts.

Marriage record Alexander Brossoit 1881

Earlier this week I wandered down the street to the Minnesota Genealogical Society's Library & Research Center.  I had never been there before and didn't know what to expect.  Up 'til now, all of my research has been done on-line or from family collections of cards, legal notices and pictures.  It's funny, the library is only a 1/2 mile down the road and in all of these years, I've never entered before.  But as of Wednesday, I am officially a card-carrying member.  I've only just began to find all of the treasures that can be found there, but I did find the marriage record of my great-grandfather Alexander Brossoit.  It reads:

"On the 26th of December, 1881, after one Publication Bann, no canonical impediment brought forward to the lawful union of the contracting parties, Alexander Brossoit, son of Michel Brossoit of the Mission of St Rosa, Middle River in the State of Minnesota - son of Michel Brossoit and Marguerite Legault, party of the first part ~ and Sophie Trepanier, daughter of Narcisse Trepanier and Victorie Chauvin, party of the second part of this union, exchanged before me their mutual consent, and were united in the holy union of Matrimony in the presence of Godfrid (?) Quenneville and Adelaide Trepanier."                                                    B_____  Joseph Gerard

1858-1896,  Belle River Paroisse ~ St. Simon & Jude, Essex, Ontario
Registres, Photographs a la Paroisse  

October Ten or more - Babies part 2

I forgot to post last Monday's list of family members who had 10 or more babies in the continuing series of "October, tenth month-ten items"  list.  I'll blame it on my youngest's birthday.....But for the next great mother on my list, I present Victorie Chauvin, my great-great grandmother on my mother's side of the family tree.  Victorie, born in 1833 in Ontario, Canada married Narcisse Trepanier on 17 March 1851.  They settled in Belle River, Ontario and had 13 children.

Marie Louise (1854 -     )
Emelie  (1858 - 1937)
Adeline (1858 - 1941)
Sophie (1861 - 1925)  my great grandmother  
Caroline (1863 -    )
Joseph Louis ( 1863 - 1865)
Georges (1869 -     )
Napoleon ( 1870 - 1941)
Phelonise (1873 -     )
Suzanne (1874 - 1944)
Marie ( 1876 -    )
Henrie (1878 -     )
Peter (1878 -      )

Now if I could only read French.  Ancestry.com, for the first fifteen days of October have opened up some of their records, http://www.ancestry.com/.  Of particular interest is the "Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1621 - 1967".  I can find lots of Brossoits and Trepaniers, but most of the records are in French!

Those Places Thursday - Mark, Maggie & Libya

This article was printed in the South St. Paul Reporter in late July, 1968.

Left for Peace Corps Training, July 14
Brossoits May 'Honeymoon" In Africa
   It's pretty exciting to get engaged, and it's even more exciting when a couple becomes engaged and makes application as Peace corp volunteers on the same day!
   This is the story of a South St. Paul couple, Mr. and Mrs. Mark Brossoit, 111 W. Richmond.
   "Mark and I became engaged on February 9, 1967, when we were both students at St. Cloud State College," explained Margaret Brossoit.  "We had often discussed the possibility of joining the Peace Corps, and since there happened to be a Peace Corps unit on campus that day, we decided it was an ideal opportunity to submit our applications together."
   "By entering our applications as an engaged couple, the forms were processed together, so we could be assured of being assigned to the same base after our marriage."

PEACE CORP ENTHUSIAST

   "Mark has always been very enthusiastic about the Peace Corps, and the more I listened to him, the more intrigued I became. . . it's a wonderful way to travel and to learn about another culture.  We'll have an opportunity few married couples ever have.  We both feel this work will be a great strengthening bond for the beginning of a marriage." added Mrs. Brossoit.
   Margaret graduated from St. Cloud State in December and has been teaching ninth grade English at John Glenn Jr. High School in North St. Paul.  After the two-year term of duty, Mark plans to return to St. Cloud State to finish education and become an elementary school music teacher.

MARRIED JUNE 15

   Married June 15, the couple left for the training center in Bisbee, Arizona July 14.
   "With barely a month between the wedding and our scheduled departure, we've been more than busy," commented Margaret.  "We'll spend three months training in the center at Bisbee, which is close to the Mexican border."
   "We'll have 10-hour days of scheduled study, including five or six hours learning Arabic (we'll have a total of 325 hours of Arabic language).  While we're in volunteer training, we receive our room, board and a small daily spending allowance," continued Mrs. Brossoit.

TO TEACH IN AFRICA

   "If we successfully complete the training program, we'll be sent to Libya, Africa.  We've been told to pack both summer and winter clothing because we will not be permitted to return to our homes after training."
   "In Libya we'll be participating in a new program similar to "team teaching" . . . we will work with a native instructor teaching English as a foreign language to fifth year elementary school students.  These children will not have had any English language study at all, so I can certainly understand why we will have such a condensed language program at the training center."
   "No one enters the Peace Corps with financial gain in mind," added Mark.  "We'll be provided with housing and a token salary.  The Peace Corps automatically saves a portion of each worker's salary every month, and at the end of the 21-month tour of duty, the money is returned to the individual in a lump sum."
   "The Peace Corps advocated extra-curricular activities for volunteers, too," continued Mark.  "I'm hoping to work with the natives by forming glee clubs, choirs and possibly musical instrument groups.  Margaret is an excellent seamstress and I'm sure she'll find ways to help the girls and women with extra sewing classes."

WILL LIVE AT LOCAL LEVEL

   "We've been told we'll be living at a local level and since there are no set religious, political or social systems connected with the Peace Corps, we'll be governed by our own beliefs and ambitions, " he added.
   "While we hope to help promote a better understanding of the American people, we're also planning to gain a better understanding and appreciation of the people of Libya and their native culture."

Wordless Wednesday - Omer Brossoit

Omer Brossoit, watercolor, 2008



Wordless Wednesday – a great way to share your old family photos! Create a post with the main focus being a photograph or image. Some posters also include attribute information as to the source of the image (date, location, owner, etc.). Wordless Wednesday is one of the longest running “memes” in the blogosphere and is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

American Civil War 1861-1864

While researching information on Alexander Brossoit, a few years back, I came across this bit of information.  Why I think it is interesting is because in all of the Canadian censuses that I have looked at for Brossoit's, (or Broissoit) the only Alfred I have found is Alexander's older brother and he is the right age for this event, being born in 1847. 

          "Not all French Canadians were enlisted into the Union forces of their own free will. During the Civil War, both sides used entrapment and coercion to fill their ranks. Some French Canadians were illegally drafted in the United States while others who had become American citizens were subject to the draft. During the conflict, stories abounded of "crimps" drawing Canadians over the border with the promise of work and tricking or coercing them into enlisting. These stories generally follow a predictable pattern: An American would hire a French Canadian or promise him work across the border. The French Canadian would cross the border and go out and get drunk with his new friend (sometimes victims were drugged). The next morning, he would awake hung over in a barracks dressed in a blue uniform and discover that he had enlisted in the Union army. Often, his freedom and his bounty had been taken away. Some men were abducted from their homes along the American border, while others were arrested while in the U.S. for alleged desertion from an army to which they had never belonged and were forced to enlist to avoid incarceration. The Collector of Customs at Coaticook, Quebec, claimed that crimps made it unsafe for townsmen to be out at night. Reports of mere boys being tricked into recruiting were not uncommon.

          In 1864, six French Canadians petitioned the Governor-General of British North America, Lord Monck (1819-1894), on behalf of a sixteen-year-old named Alfred Broissoit who had been made drunk by a recruiting officer, taken from Montreal to the United States where he enlisted and then was fleeced of his bounty money and forced to sign a receipt for a sum greatly in excess of his bounty."

THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD

Although the railroad was built from Crookston to St. Vincent in 1878, white men had been in the area years before. As early as 1750 there was a white trader at Pembina -- across the river from St. Vincent. Alexander Henry Jr. was stationed at Pembina from 1800 to 1808, and he and his men made many trips to fur posts on the Red Lake River, Thief River, and elsewhere in the area. In the early 1840's, Norman W. Kittson and Joseph Rolette, agents of the American Fur Company at Pembina, launched their ox-cart trains from that point to St. Paul carrying fur. The main route followed the high land some distance east of the river through central Marshall County.
In 1872, the St. Paul and Pacific became insolvent. When the panic halted railroad building, James J. Hill began to look into the possibilities of railroad promotion. He interested three Canadian financiers. Donald Smith, George Stephen, and Norman Kittson. They acquired the defaulted bonds of the company in 1878 and in May of 1879 organized the St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Manitoba Railway Company to take over St. Paul and Pacific holdings. This system became the Great Northern and eventually the Burlington Northern.

Construction work began again in 1878, and the Canadian border was reached that year. Many settlers who had come into the country found employment on the railroad and news that it was built built spurred settlement.

About this time, Hill and his associates began to circularize Europe with literature telling of opportunities in northwestern Minnesota. The result was that thousands of settlers flocked to the area. One such group settled east of Argyle. and the Marshall County Banner for May 19, 1910, reports "Twenty-four Belgian families along with a priest and a Belgian count arrived in Foldahl Township. The party was in charge of the D.S.B. Johnson Land Company. They will make Argyle their trading point so as to affiliate with the Catholic Church here."

The railroad had obtained large land grants along the right-of-way, and this land was sold to settlers at $5 per acre, with a rebate of $2.50 per acre if 3/4 of the land was broken and another rebate of fifty cents for every acre cropped. This was a great incentive for settlers. Argyle was one of the many towns that sprang up as a direct result of the coming of the railroad.

 (The above information was taken from the pamphlet, written in 1938,  "After Sixty Years -- When the Railroad Came", commemorating the projection of the line from Crookston to the Canadian boundary in 1878, bringing into existence the towns along the route.)

Pictures from the past - Part 1

Pictured here are the boys at play, Armand Brossoit, Omer Brossoit and Adrian Morin.

 And they're still playing, albeit a different game........Armand and Omer

Stephen Baseball Team -  Omer Brossoit is third from right, back row.  Fifth from right is Orel Brossoit.

Another post on Omer

Omer's daughter, Barb, wrote back after reading about Omer, "Omer worked for Chrystler in Detroit and was offered a 'white collar' job but had to turn it down as he was called home to help care for his ailing mother.  He slept on the couch with a string tied to his toe so she could 'call' him if needed.  His dad (Alexander) married again after her death and Dad disliked the new wife.  I can't remember her name. 

My favorite story about Dad was he and Orel went to the church one Saturday am for confession.  The priest was not there so Dad got in the confessional and turned the priest light on.  Orel confessed to Dad and when the priest got there he had to break up a fist fight between the two brothers!"

Brossoit branch - part 2

Pictured is the billiard hall owned by George Brossoit in Stephen, MN.  He also owned the local "movie house" in the heart of downtown Stephen from 1917 to 1927 along with his business partner E. Champion.  During these years, the name of the movie house was called the Idle House Theater.  Movie admission was 10 cents and the movie operator was "Movie Johnson" who went from town to town showing "silent movies".  Talking movies did not come to Stephen until 1932.




The fifth child born to Alexander and Sophie was Orel Brossoit in Aug 1894.  When he was 21 years old he married Emma Erickson.  They had four children, Dorothy, Olive, Earl and EmyLou.

Armand Brossoit

The 1900 census reports that Sophie had given birth to 7 children by now but only 5 had survived until 1900.  This is also reported in the obituary written about Sophie.  I believe this is where they would have fit into the scheme of things as the next child to live until adulthood was Armand who was born seven years aqfter Orel in December of 1901.  Armand married Joan Beauleau, moved to Michigan and raised four children, Julian, Vincent, Christine and Raymond.

Omer Brossoit

The last child born to the Brossoit family was Omer Joseph Brossoit in Aug 1904.  Omer, always the Frenchman as were they all, loved music and many of the pictures feature Omer and his brothers carrying their violins and wearing their fedoras, looking like they just left the mob scene.  Omer was a hard-working, fun-loving fellow.  He, as well as his brothers worked as loggers, dug ditches and built bridges, worked in the stockyards in South St. Paul, hunted squirrels, duck and deer, fished,  played cribbage and 500, drank beer and whiskey, smoked a pipe, sang in French to the delight of his granddaughters, and in his later years, sought out bargains at garage and estate sales and never missed lunch at Old Country Buffet.

Brossoit branch - part 1

In the Centennial book of St Rose of Lima Church, Argyle, Minnesota 1879-1979, it is written "Basil Grvais (Jarvais) and his son, Pierre, who had come from the province of Quebec, Canada ventured to Marshall County in 1877 where the virgin soil of the valley held its promise of the future.  When Pierre Gervais filed his homestead claim (the first in township) for the Southwest Quarter of Section 10 Middle River Township, Marshall County, on May 25, 1878, many other names soon appeared.  The ox cart trail(Pembina) and the Red River were the basic routes of travel.  In a short time, numerous families had migrated to this area and filed Homestead claims."

 My great-grandfather, Alexander Brossoit, was born in Montreal, Canada in 1856. When Alexander was 20 years old he emigrated to Minnesota and homesteaded property in northern Minnesota in 1879. Two years later he went back to Canada where he married Sophie Trepanier, and moved her to their home in Argyle.  

Wilfred Brossoit

Alexander and Sophie had nine children, seven who grew into adulthood.  The oldest was Wilfred Brossoit, who was born in November of 1882.  Wilfred married Stephanie Landreville (also born in Argyle) in 1914 and they had three children, Simone, Elie and Fidelis.

Next born was Virgina in 1884.  She married Wilfred Morin and they had 9 children, eight of them girls and one son, Adrian, who would be a few years younger than Virgina's youngest brother, Omer.  Adrian and Omer spent much time together, as there are lots of pictures of the two of them when they were young men.

Caroline Brossoit

Third born, in 1886, was Caroline.  Caroline didn't get married until later in life.  In the 1920 census, she is living at home and working as a self-employed dressmaker.  She married Clarence Remme and had her only child, Orella, when she was 43 years old.

Emma Kleinvachter (r)

George Brossoit was next child born in Feb 1888.  George was a broad chested man who started off as a rural mail carrier in Stephen but this only lasted for one season from July 1918 to November 1918.  He owned the local pool hall -"George Brossoit called his billiards parlor 'The Club.'"  (As recorded in the Marshall County Leader and Stephen Messenger in 1920.)  He also gained notoriaty as a local wrestler in town.  In June of 1920 he married his sweetie, Emma Laura Kleinvachter, from Vienna, Austria.  They had five children, Elizabeth, Jean, Lori and twins, Donald and Donna.

Richmond Street memories

Hazel Jensen married Omer Brossoit on 18 Mar 1931 at the Basilica of St Mary in Minneapolis.  They moved into South St Paul and after renting a place for a few years on Frost Street, they moved into their home at 111 W Richmond. (Currently numbered as 109 W Richmond).

The story goes that the house was built as a "speakeasy or bar" and then was moved to Richmond Street in one piece.  This was before the addition was added on which was Grandpa's bedroom (with the French doors).  They raised five children in this three bedroom, 856 sq foot house.  We all remember squeezing around the dining room table when it was a small family dinner or everyone seated along long tables in the basement for holiday dinners.  But mostly we all remember having picnics outside where there was the most space; in the backyard with its small sidewalk, raspberry bushes, three square gardens for Grandpa's vegetables, one rock garden for Grandma, and one birdbath.

With the old metal chairs and picnic table (with wheels on one end) and a wire-haired terrier (remember Suzie and/or Penny), we had good times, lots of laughs and lots of family.  We still have the old cast iron grill, and the birdbath still holds water for the birds.  I don't know about the rest of my family, but when we pick raspberries every summer we think of Grandma and Rae still makes Grandma's potato salad. In fact, it is so highly regarded that the St. Paul Hotel has changed its menu after tasting this special salad!  (Or so one of their chef's have told me.)   ...........Thanks for the memories!

Grandma Brossoit's Potato Salad

5 lbs red potatoes 

5 hard boiled eggs, sliced

4 green onions, chopped

1 bunch radishes, sliced

1 cucumber, seeded and diced

Cook potatoes with skins on in very salted water.  When done, cool then scrape off skins and dice. Combine all ingredients with dressing, season with salt and pepper, chill at least 1 hr before serving.

Dressing for Potato Salad

1/2 jar mayonaise (or approx. 2 cups)

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

Remember when....

June 20, 1953

"I, Rollin Glewwe, take you, Joan Brossoit, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part."

Congratulations, and may you be blessed with many more years!

Alexander Brossoit and family

Pictured from left to right:

 Wilfred Brossoit, Orel Brossoit, George Brossoit, Omer Brossoit, Armand Brossoit

Virginia Brossoit Morin, Sophie Trepanier Brossoit, Alexander Brossoit, Caroline Brossoit Remme

Stephen MN Pioneer

The MESSENGER, In Marshall County, Minnesota           September 25, 1930

Alexander Brossoit, Stephen Pioneer, Dies

Death Claims Stephen Pioneer Following Several Months Period of Illness
Homesteaded in Tamarac in 1879 As One of Commuity's Earliest Settlers

   The Messenger is again called upon to chronicle the passing of another Stephen pioneer in the death of Alexander Brossoit, who died Tuesday, September 22 at the home of his son, Wilfred Brossoit, south of the city.
   Mr. Brossoit, nearing his 75th milestone in life, had been in failing health for the past year or more...The deceased was born Nov. 13th, 1856, at Montreal Canada, coming to Marshall County in the spring of 1879.  Mr. Brossoit homesteaded in Tamarac township over 52 years ago, establishing his home there at a time when the entire district had but few settlers and was regarded as a veritable wilderness.  In the fall of 1881 he returned to Montreal for a brief period, and on December 26th of that year he married Miss Sophie Trepanier of that city who returned to Stephen as Mr. Brossoit's bride and assisted him wholeheartedly during the trying pioneer days of home-building.  To their union nine children were born, two of whom died in infancy.  Mrs. Brossoit passed away in 1925, and in 1928 Mr. Brossoit married Mrs Mary Bergeron of Oklee, Minn., at which time he retired from active farming and had since spent the major portion of his time at Oklee.
   Mr. Brossoit was of sturdy pioneer stock, and up to the time of his retirement several years ago he was always active in all movements looking toward the advancement and upbuilding of his community.  He served for several years as a member of the Tamarac town board, and his counsel was always accepted by his associates as timely and sound.  He was a devoted member of the Catholic church, firmly grounded in the faith of his fathers and its ultimate hope of eternal rewards.  Always genial and friendly, ever ready to help those in distress or want, Mr. Brossoit held the esteem and respect of a wide circle of warm friends thruout Marshall county.
    The funeral services brought a host of old time friends who came to pay their final respects to one whom they had loved in life and respected for his sterling virtues and christian ideals.
     The ranks of the pioneers grow thin, and another of their number who has builded well on earth and left a monument of good works which live on after him, is gone.  Peace to the memory of the departed.

Alexander the Great

Continuing on with our forefathers, today I want to focus on my great grandfather on my mother's side, Alexander Brossoit.  Alexander was born in Montreal, Canada.  He was one of seven children, five brothers and two sisters.  I have been able to follow the Brossoit line all the way back to Jean-Joseph Bossua/Bourguignon, born about 1700 in France.  Somewhere in the following generation, they immigrated to Canada and in 1761 Michel Brossoit/Brouchois was born in Quebec. But I digress, back to Alexander.

Alexander homesteaded in the Argyle area in 1879.  In a history book of Argyle it is written, "No one can be certain who the first white person was who came to the Argyle area. He may have been a hunter, trapper, trader, land speculator, surveyor, or someone passing through from one settled area to another. It is interesting to speculate that it might even have been the blue-eyed Indian known as "Falcon", who hunted and trapped in northwest Minnesota and Canada and took his pelts to Alexander Henry's trading post at Pembina. Falcon's real name was John Tanner. He was a white boy stolen as a child for a grieving Indian mother who had lost her son. Much of his adult life was spent in the Lake ot the Woods and Pembina area.
Whoever the first white man was, his name is lost to history. But it is generally accepted that Peter Jarvis (Gervais) was the first person to settle in the village of Argyle. His homestead claim to the SW1/4 of Section 10, Middle River Township, was filed in 1878. Like many other settlers, he did not stay long. Six years later, he had already gone west and had given his wife power of attorney to dispose of any holdings in his name in Marshall County.... the village was incorporated on December 12, 1883, as Argyle."
 Needless to say, Alexander was a pioneer of his day, homesteading in an area not yet settled.  Alexander and his bride, Sophie Trepanier had 9 children, seven who survived into adulthood, Wilfred, Virginia, Caroline, George, Orel, Armand and the youngest Omer, my grandfather.