William James “Willie” (29 Apr 1884-1937)
Marie Anne Ida (6 Mar 1890-7 Nov 1964) — m. George M. Gallant on 2 Dec 1916
Joseph Alfred “Fred” (24 Sep 1892-6 Jan 1983) — m. Adeline Gautreau on 15 Nov 1920
Joseph Euchariste “Carl” (19 Apr 1894-3 Jan 1980) — m. Marie Leonie Goguen on 15 Nov 1920
Joseph Albert (24 May 1896-16 May 1950) — m. Mary Ellen Griffin on 12 May 1919
Marie Louise Alberta “Bertha” (31 Aug 1898-????) — m. Henry H. Babson on 14 Jun 1920
Joseph Ovila “Joe” (13 Aug 1901-2 Jan 1988)
Joseph Onésime “Jimmy” (1 Jul 1903-23 Apr 1994) — m. Irene Marie Legere on 4 Jan 1926
Marie Elisa “Alice” (19 Sep 1904-????) — m. Charles Paul Cormier in 193x
Julia (5 May 1907-????)
Marc was born in Egmont Bay, Prince County, Prince Edward Island, the 7th child of Eucharistes “Calixte” Arsenaux and Marguerite Gallant. He was baptized the next day by the ubiquitous Father Perrey at St. Jacques Roman Catholic Church. In the early to mid-1860s, his family relocated to the mainland, settling in Ste-Marie-de-Kent, Kent County, New Brunswick.
Adéline’s parents were Moïse Arsenault of Abram’s Village, just south of Egmont Bay on western Prince Edward Island, and Cécile Caissie from New Brunswick. These other Arsenaults moved from Abram’s Village to Ste-Marie-de-Kent around the same time as Marc’s family, and not long before Adéline, their 12th and youngest, was born.
Marc and Adéline were second cousins, so the two Arsenault families undoubtedly knew each other from back on Prince Edward Island. Their paternal grandmothers were sisters, two of the daughters of Jos Magitte Arsenault and Marie-Jeanne Bourgeois.
Marc and Adéline married on 21 May 1883 at St-Francois-de-Sales de Rogersville, Northumberland County, New Brunswick. The notice said they were of the Parish of Rogersville. They must have moved almost immediately to Massachusetts, since their first child, Willie, was born there. By 1890, they were back in Rogersville for the birth of their daughter Ida. I have no record of other children born in the six years between. Ida’s godparents were Sylvestre Johnson and Marie Anne Martin.
The 1891 census for Rogersville didn’t find them. Probably they had gone back to Massachusetts. They moved often. The Chelsea (north Boston), Massachusetts birth record for Alfred says 25 Oct 1892 rather than the 24 Sep 1892 seen elsewhere, and lists Adéline’s maiden name as “Casey”, an anglicized form of her mother’s maiden name – although records indicate it was originally Casey, from an Irish ancestor. The next child, Euchariste (Carl), was born back in Rogersville; then came Albert, born in the US. Bertha’s 1898 birth notice listed her father Marc as a carpenter, and said the family was living at #20 Meadow Street, Taunton, Massachusetts.
The 1901 Canada census showed them back in Kent County, New Brunswick. Children were listed as William J. (16, born US), Ida (11, born NB), Alferd (8, born US), Euchariste (6, born NB), Albert (4, born US) and Alberta (2, born US). Marc was again listed as a carpenter.
Jimmy was born 1903 in Beersville (near Adamsville), Kent County; and Alice 1904 in St. Paul, Kent County. The last child, Julia, was also born in or near Adamsville.
The family settled in Mexico, Maine sometime between 1907 and 1916, but I can’t find them in either the 1910 US census or the 1911 Canada census. The fact that both missed them suggests they moved in late 1910 or early 1911, although Alice stated on a naturalization record many years later that they entered Maine by train on 11 Feb 1910. Marc worked as a carpenter and homebuilder.
World War I: Albert Arsenault, born 24 May 1896, son of Mark Arsenault, enlisted in the army on 13 Apr 1917 in Mexico, Maine. Fred M. Arsenault of Rumford signed up the next day. William James Arsenault, born 29 Apr 1884, son of Mark Arsenault of Mexico, Maine, registered for the draft on 12 Sep 1918.
The 1920 census showed Marc (64) & Adéline (53) living on Carlton Avenue, Mexico, Maine on the north side of the main road just before the bridge into Rumford, and said they first came to the US in 1883. Living with them were children William (35, born in Massachusetts), Fred (27, born in MA), Connie (25, born in Canada), Bertha (21, born in MA), James (17, born in Canada), Alice (14, born in Canada), and Julia (13, born in Canada). It takes a bit of guesswork to connect the 1920 name “Connie” to 1901’s Euchariste.
Albert married in 1919. Bertha and Fred both married in 1920. Jimmy married in 1926.
The 1930 census found Marc (74) & Adéline (64) in a house Marc had built at 20 Riverside Avenue, Mexico, Maine, living with sons William J. (45) and Joseph V. (28) and daughter Alice M. (24). (Joseph V. was Joseph Ovila, aka Joe.) Other records indicate that son Fred Arsenault, age 37, divorced, was living with them too, along with Fred’s son Roland (age 7).
Marc died in 1936. He’s buried in Saint John’s Cemetery, Rumford, toward the eastern side. The 1940 census found Adéline, widow, boarding with a family in Mexico. She died in 1946, and is also buried in Saint John’s, but by herself on the western edge of the cemetery because son Willie is occupying the grave next to Marc.
Willie registered for the draft on 12 Sep 1918 in Mexico, Maine, listing residence with his parents on Carlton Avenue in Mexico, Maine. He was living with his parents in 1920 and again in 1930. I don’t know whether he married. He died in 1937, the year after his father, and is buried next to his father in St. John’s Cemetery, Rumford.
Ida has her own entry in the family tree.
Fred was born on either 24 Sep or 25 Oct 1892. He enlisted in the US Army on 14 Apr 1917, a day after his brother Albert. He married Adeline Gautreau (3 Jun 1896-Mar 1983) from Rogersville, New Brunswick on 15 Nov 1920. They had one child:
Roland J. “Snazz” (7 Jan 1923-4 Jan 1981) — m. Mary Louise N. Roderick on 27 Oct 1945
By the 1930 census, Fred was divorced, and he and his son (age 7) were living with his parents. Adeline remarried to George Hutchinson. In the 1940 census, Alfred was listed as a lodger with a family in Rumford Falls, and son Roland (17) was living with his mother and stepfather.
Fred died in 1983, two years after his son. He and Roland, who served in the US Marine Corps during WWII, are both buried in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta.
Carl was born in Rogersville, New Brunswick. He became a US citizen on 25 May 1917, and enlisted in the US Army the following day. On 16 or 17 Apr 1919, he was honorably discharged. According to the record, he promptly re-enlisted, and then was discharged again on 6 May 1919 at Camp Devens in Massachusetts. Back home in 1920, where the census that year gave his name as “Connie” or possibly “Cornie” but I’m going to ignore that, he married Marie Leonie Goguen (25 Dec 1898-20 Mar 1975) from Acadieville, Kent County, New Brunswick.
They probably moved north to Canada. There’s a Jun 1922 record of Carl crossing from Canada into Maine, but I otherwise can’t trace them, and I don’t know whether they had children. Marie died in 1975, and is buried in Acadieville Cemetery. Carl died in 1980 in Oxford County, Maine, and is buried as Carl M. Arsenault in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Augusta.
Albert, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, enlisted in the army on 13 Apr 1917 in Mexico, Maine, and was honorably discharged on 28 Apr 1919. He married Mary Ellen Griffin (1894-1986) from Portland on 12 May 1919 in Portland. (The Albert Arsenault who married Delia Arsenault in 1921 and settled in Rumford was someone else.) They had one child:
Mark Alvin (1 Nov 1920-16 Feb 2001)
The family settled in South Portland. The 1930 census showed Mary’s father Alvin Griffin living with them.
Albert ran a car repair business adjacent to his home. He served with the Army Air Force during WWII.
Albert died in 1950. He’s buried in Calvary Cemetery, South Portland, with a stone that claims 1898 as year of birth, conflicting with Bertha. Mary died in 1986 and is buried there as well, as is their son Mark.
Bertha, born in Massachusetts and described in family stories as the fun one, married Henry Herbert Babson (28 Feb 1893-23 Dec 1955) on 14 Jun 1920 in Rumford. He had been staying at a Rumford boarding house in that year’s census. Henry had been an infantry 2nd lieutenant from Maine in WWI, and had an interesting history. According to his daughter Jean, he was a never-acknowleged bastard child of a wealthy old Boston family, the Babsons, born in Melrose, Massachusetts, and was left as an infant on the doorstep of a working-class family along with a large sum of money. His daughter Jean said his birth records are sealed by the state for 100 years after his death – so until 2055! It’s a good story. Maybe too good. Anyway, Bertha was his second wife. His first was Lucy Ursula Trudeau (2 Apr 1895-9 Aug 1976) of Vergennes, Addison County, Vermont, whom he married in 1913, and by whom he had two children, Elsie Mae Babson Mitchell (2 Mar 1916-11 Jul 1986) and George Henry Babson (14 Jan 1915-19 Aug 1987). His and Bertha’s children:
Mary Jane Ida “Jean” (1 Aug 1921-) — m. ??? Perry in 194x; divorced
Joseph Henry Herbert “Buddy” (23 Aug 1922-21 May 1996)
Mark A. “Sonny” (3 Jan 1924-17 Jan 1998) — m. ???
girl, died at age 4
Alfred E. (24 Apr 1926-6 Jan 2001)
Jean and Buddy were born in Maine. In 1923 or 1924, the family moved to Chelsea, Suffolk County, Massachusetts on the north side of Boston, where the 1930 census found them with all four living children. In the 1940 census, Bertha was still living in Chelsea with children Jean (18), Henry Jr. (17), and Alfred (14). Henry Sr. was living alone in a hotel in Morrisville, Lamoille County, Vermont, but still listed as married, claming his last residence was in Machias, Washington County, Maine, which is out on the coast near the eastern tip of the state. But where was Sonny?
Bertha and Henry divorced in the early 1940s. Henry married again, to Eunice E. Seavey (5 Apr 1917-17 Aug 1983) of Machias, Maine on 17 Sep 1945. Henry died in 1955 and is buried in Machias. Findagrave lists him in two different graveyards there. Complicated to the end. Eunice married a Lewis Eugene Thaxter in 1960, died in 1983, and is also buried in Machias.
The 1950 census showed Bertha, divorced, living in Chelsea and working as a leather presser in a shoe factory. Daughter Jean was still with her, also divorced, working as a shoe stitcher. Bertha lived into old age, and died at a nursing home in Chelsea.
Joe was born in Richibucto, Kent, New Brunswick, although his 1988 death record claimed Massachusetts. Not sure where he was in 1920, but he was with his parents in 1930, as Joseph V. Arsenault. Also can’t find him between then and 1988, when he died in either Mexico or Rumford.
Jimmy married Irene Marie Legere (29 Sep 1905-26 Jun 1989) on 4 Jan 1926 at St. John’s in Rumford. Irene was from Jay in Franklin County. Their children:
Ernest A. (1926-1944)
Norman J. (17 Jun 1928-24 Jan 1995)
Dorothy “Dot” (30 Jun 1932-23 Sep 2022) — m. Nicholas J. Puiia, Sr. in 1955; m. Elwyn Raymond “Ray” Swan in 2003
Jeanette (~1935-????) — m. Ted Orino
James (~1941-????) — m. Judy ???
The 1930 census showed them living in Mexico, Maine with children Ernest (3) and Norman (1). In 1940, they were in Northumberland, Coos County, New Hampshire with all five children, although Jeanette was the only one listed as born in New Hampshire. By the 1950 census they were back in Mexico, Maine with their four remaining children, and Jimmy was working at the mill.
Irene died in 1989, and Jimmy in 1994. They’re buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Rumford, along with sons Ernest and Norman.
Family stories describe Alice as the pretty, fashionable one, and a good piano player. There was a Marie E. Arsenault who married Julien Gallant in 1926 in Rumford, and another who married Joseph A. Boucher in 1929 in Rumford. If either of these was our Alice, the marriage ended quickly, since she was with her parents in 1930. Sometime in the 1930s, Alice married New-Hampshire-born Charles Paul Cormier (20 Jun 1900-Oct 1951). Their children, all born in Chelsea, Massachusetts:
Corinne (26 May 1936-????)
Barbara (29 Sep 1937-????)
Annette (12 Nov 1941-????)
Charles Edward (14 Jul 1943-17 Oct 2007)
The 1940 census showed Charles and Alice in Chelsea with the first two children. Also present was Francis Cormier, age 14, Charles’s son by his 1924 marriage to Margaret Adamson in Rumford, although Margaret was from Massachusetts. They had since divorced, and Margaret remarried.
There are reports that Alice had two other children named Jean and Bob, but I find no record of that. By 1950, Charles and Alice were living in Randolph, Norfolk County with all four children. In 1951, Charles died, and Alice applied for naturalization as a resident of Randolph.
Alice ended up in the same Chelsea nursing home as her sister Bertha. Her date of death is unknown. A Mary L. Cormier born in Canada died in Boston on 16 Feb 1978, and an Alice M. Cormier from Canada claiming to be 76 died in Massachusetts on 22 Jan 1984, but there’s not enough data to know whether either of them was her.
Julia, born in Adamsville, Harcourt, Kent, New Brunswick, was out of the house by 1930. She was reportedly the wild one of the family, and married often. At some point, she moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts like her sisters. She might have married Edward F. Moore (12 Sep 1907-????) of Chelsea, and been the mother of his son Alfred J. Moore (1935-????), who was born in Maine. By 1950, Edward was married to Laura Frances Ames Turner (9 Feb 1904-8 Apr 1960). He and Laura moved to California in the 1950s.
According to the obituary of her brother Albert, Julia was still living as of 1950, but where? There was a Julia Arsenault of Rumford who married in 1935 and died in 1991, but she was younger than our Julia.
Jean Babson was married to someone named Perry and had one daughter, born about 1942. Jean was still living in Chelsea, Massachsetts in 2017.
Buddy lived in Vergennes, Vermont, and died there as well. He’s buried in Kent Cemetery, Panton, Addison County, Vermont. He’s just to the left as you enter through the gate. I don’t know whether he was married or had children, but there was a Lela Dore (5 Nov 1932-27 Oct 2009) who, at the time of her death in Chelsea, Massachusetts, was described as having been his longtime companion.
Fred’s son Roland served in the US Marine Corps during WWII, reaching the rank of corporal. He married Mary Louise N. Roderick (22 Jul 1927-30 May 1990) in Rumford just after the war. They had six children:
Carole E. (~1946-????) — m. Edward Nolin
Alden M. (~1949-????)
Sheila Louise (8 Feb 1950-1 Jan 1996) — m. Reid Baddeley
Roderick “Rocky” () — m.
Dana () — m.
Priscilla () — m. Robert Hogan
In the 1950 census for Rumford, Louise and the three older children were living with Roland’s mother Adeline and half-brother Milton Hutchinson. Not sure where Roland was.
In the 1950s, the family moved to California, where Roland worked for many years as a salesman for the Sierra Lacquer Company. In the late 1970s he returned to Maine, where he died in a Portland hospital in 1981. Like his father, he’s buried in the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Augusta.
There’s a record of a Mark A. Babson who lived and died in Chelsea, Massachusetts. I assume he was Bertha’s son Sonny, because the name, place, and birthdate fit so well. Sonny had a son nicknamed Hoppy. Clearly, Bertha passed on the Arsenault family penchant for nicknames.
Bertha’s son Alfred E. Babson died in Chelsea in 2001. No other data available.
Jean Babson’s half-sister Elsie married one Neil Mitchell and had several children, including Robert “Bob” Mitchell, who married Ellie ???. Elsie Babson Mitchell is buried in Prospect Cemetery, Vergennes, Addison County, Vermont.
Henry Babson’s first wife, Lucy Ursella/Ursula Trudeau, died in Middlebury, Vermont. Like her daughter Elsie, she’s buried in Prospect Cemetery, Vergennes, Vermont. She’s with her second husband, under the name Lucy U. Jordan.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCXC-56R -- Marc’s baptism record, says 1856
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-VPSV -- Wedding of Marc & Adéline (middle of page 12)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTSL-L8C -- Carl’s birth, 1894
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXXP-4G2 -- Bertha’s birth, 1898
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z001/jpg/z000026776.jpg -- 1901 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F2ZQ-F2Z -- 1901 birth of Joe
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DSR3-NFN2 -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTQC-FYM -- Jimmy’s birth, 1903
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTQ7-BL4 -- Marie-Elisa’s birth, 1904
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KG93-R2Q -- Albert’s enlistment
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZFT-ZM1 -- William’s draft registration
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/KGN4-N2N -- 1919 wedding of Albert
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KG93-R2W -- 1919 US Army paperwork for Carl
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMD3-M3B -- 1920 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCNR-JR3 -- 1920 wedding of Carl
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCN1-BY4 -- Bertha’s 1920 wedding
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24X-RZJQ -- 1921 birth of Jean Babson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24X-RZYV -- 1922 birth of Buddy Babson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCJ4-L96 -- 1924 wedding of Alice’s future husband to someone else
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFZ1-5S2 -- 1930 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XM8G-1HV -- 1930 census, Albert
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQRP-DF4 -- 1930 census, Bertha & family in MA
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ5D-81R -- 1930 census, Alice’s future husband
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118862422 -- 1936 grave of Marc
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4NT-DG1 -- 1940 census, Bertha & family in MA
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KMMH-3DQ -- 1940 census, Albert
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTMY-CLG -- 1940 census, Jimmy
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4NR-NQK -- 1940 census, Alice
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F36-VM76 -- 1950 census, Bertha
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FMP-5KQB -- 1950 census, Jimmy
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F3K-RBD6 -- 1950 census, Alice
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6FMT-LR5D -- 1950 census, Roland’s wife and children
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPH1-KM65 -- 1951 naturalization for Alice
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTRD-LXS -- 1951 death of Alice’s husband Charles
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167393707 -- 1955 grave of Henry Babson
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132643805 -- ditto, more info
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47845666 -- 1983 grave of Alfred
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCVG-SQM -- 1988 death of Joe
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JBLQ-H26 -- ditto
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32065646 -- 1996 grave of Buddy Babson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTR9-64M -- 1998 death of Mark Babson
http://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/adeline-arsenault_43276889 -- Adeline, with date of death
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/arsenault/2011-02/1296779219 -- Distills census data on Marc’s family
http://leger.genacadie.ca/p4345.htm#i43442 -- Has wrong YoB for Jimmy
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCV5-KP8 -- Maine death index for Uncle Jimmy
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPSB-RZX -- Social Security death index for Uncle Jimmy; place of birth is NH, a misreading of NB
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZRC-HBJ -- 2001 death of Alfred Babson
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JBKW-YP8 -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JTXC-H2C -- 2006 death of Ernest R. Arsenault
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KMH-1HZS -- 2007 death of Alice’s son Charles
http://www.chelsearecord.com/2009/11/09/obituaries-11-2-09/ -- 2009 obituary of Lela Dore, longtime companion of Joseph H. “Buddy” Babson
