Mary Jane (Oct 1874-Nov 1950) — m. John Webster on 29 Apr 1893
Elizabeth Ann (~1878-????) — prob. died young
John/Jean William (~1882-193x) — m. Melanie Marie Allain on 2 Aug 1905; m. Ruth Duggan on 3 Nov 1918
Joseph Bryson (12 Jan 1885 or 15 Aug 1884-194x) — m. Marie Sophie Allain on 19 Nov 1917; divorced
George M. (5 Mar 1888-9 Nov 1973) — m. Mary Ida Arsenault on 2 Dec 1916
Florence (4 Feb 1891-192x) — m. John Daniel McKinnon on 31 Dec 1914; m. Joseph Blair LeBlanc on 1 Dec 1923
Charles (3 Oct 1893-8 Dec 1894)
Jean was the older of two children born to Jean Gallant and Émilie Mercure of Richibucto, New Brunswick. He was baptized on 1 Dec 1850 in Richibucto, Kent, New Brunswick. His mother died in the 1850s, and his father remarried in 1857 to Francoise Haché.
Mary Ann was the daughter of Marcel Doiron dit Gould and Suzanne Brun. Her family moved from Shemogue, Westmorland County to Richibucto, Kent County probably in the 1850s, but exact dates are unknown, so she might have been born in either place. She and Jean were second cousins once removed.
The 1861 census for Richibucto shows Jean’s 9-year-old friend Lawrence Potts, and also Jean’s grandparents Joseph & Marie Gallant with Jean’s little sister Julia. It doesn’t show Jean himself, his father, or Mary Ann and her family.
The 1871 census was the first to show Mary Ann Gould – age 19, although other evidence suggests 17. She and her family were living in Richibucto. Right next door was John Gallant (19), laborer, her future husband, living with his father John (46) and stepmother Frances (58), all born in New Brunswick.
Mary Ann married John/Jean Gallant on 25 Nov 1873 in Richibucto. The wedding was witnessed by Lawrence Potts, a laborer Jean’s age from Richibucto, and Mary Ann’s cousin Nathalie Fournier, the daughter of her mother’s older sister Angélique Brun.
The 1881 census showed John (31), laborer, and Mary Ann (27) in Richibucto with children Mary Jane (6) and Elizabeth Ann (3). All were listed as born in New Brunswick. Mary Jane, years later, gave her place of birth as St. John, but there’s no other evidence to support that.
Son George was born in 1888 in Kingston (now called Rexton), a smaller town just south of Richibucto.
The 1891 census showed the Gallant family still living in Richibucto. It said John (39), a laborer, had parents from Prince Edward Island, which is half true at best – his father might have been born there, but his mother was definitely from New Brunswick. It listed five children: Mary Jane (16), John W. (9), Joseph (6), George (3), and a baby girl, 2 months, whose name is illegible but who must have been Florence. Elizabeth Ann must have died.
Around 1892, the family moved to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a rapidly growing city with lots of manufacturing and mill jobs. Most of the French Canadians settled in the Cleghorn neighborhood on the southwest side. Daughter Mary Jane married a Scottish farmer named John Webster and settled in Fitchburg. Jean and Mary Ann’s last child, Charles, was born there – and died there a year later, just a week after his mother’s death of consumption. The family was recorded as living at 27 Cedar Street, a house that’s still standing in 2022. Charles’s death record listed “inanition”, an old medical term for starvation. There’s a family recollection that Charles and his mother were buried together. I don’t know where, but if I had to guess I would say St. Bernard’s, a large Catholic cemetery on the east side of town. It could also be St. Joseph Cemetery, which is in the old French quarter but farther from Cedar Street.
The family moved back to New Brunswick not long after. On 19 July 1896, Jean Gallant, 44, laborer, widower, resident of Buctouche, Kent County, New Brunswick (several miles south of Richibucto), married Harriette Cormier (31 Mar 1857-6 Feb 1922), spinster, also of Buctouche, Wellington Parish. Harriette was the daughter of Buctouche natives Urbain Cormier and Marie Meunier, which one record anglicizes into Reuben Cormier and Mary Miller.
In the 1901 census, John (claiming to have been born 10 Jan 1852, New Brunswick) was in Richibucto with wife Hariette (supposedly born 3 Apr 1855). With them were Jean’s children Joseph B. (b. 15 Aug 1884), George M./N. (b. 14 Dec 1888), and Florence (b. 4 Feb 1891). The dates of birth given here are questionable. Those of Harriette and George in particular are contradicted by other records. The family were living near the late Mary Ann’s brother Samuel Gould, and next door to John’s first cousin once removed George Gallant (b. 3 Jun 1853) and family.
I can’t tell much about the family after 1901. There’s a family recollection that George worked with his father in lumber camps.
Jean’s second wife, Harriette Cormier Gallant, was living in Moncton, New Brunswick at the time of her death of pneumonia on 6 Feb 1922. The death record said she had been there five years, which could mean Jean was alive until about 1917. It claimed her step-daughter Florence Gallant was staying there as well. Harriette was buried in Buctouche on 8 Feb 1922. There are two death records for her: one for Moncton reported by Florence, and one for Buctouche reported by a Joseph Duplessis. It appears this was because she was buried in Buctouche. Her family was from there. Maybe Jean is buried there too.
Mary Jane married Scottish immigrant farmer John Webster (12 Dec 1867-194x) on 29 Apr 1893 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, not long after her family moved there. She and John remained in Fitchburg when her father and siblings returned to New Brunswick. Their children were:
Edith Marian (6 Jan 1895-1950) — m. Joseph Nelson Lorion on 14 Sep 1914
John Douglas (18 Sep 1897-19 Oct 1985) — m. Mary Dugay on 9 Mar 1923
Barbara Helen/Eleanor (11 Oct 1899-2 Apr 1994) — never married
Daniel Lyman (7 Sep 1904-Mar 1961) — m. Evelyn Murray Marrotte on 28 Apr 1935
They appeared in the 1900 and 1910 census for Fitchburg. John became a US citizen in November 1903. In 1910, they had a Scottish lodger named Noel Gray. They lived on a farm on Flat Rock Road, in a rural area northwest of Fitchburg. In 1918, John registered for the draft, and Barbara entered the State Normal School, a teacher’s college in Fitchburg. In 1920, just Barbara (20) and Daniel L. (15) were still with their parents; Edith had married and moved to Worcester, and John Douglas was staying up in Maine with his uncle George Gallant.
In the 1930 census for Fitchburg, Barbara was still living with her parents, and John Douglas was with his wife Mary (25, born in Canada) and his wife’s nephew Roy McDonald (18, born in Maine). In 1940, Mary Jane & John were sharing the house with daughter Barbara (40), son Daniel (35), Daniel’s wife Evelyn (27), and Daniel’s daughter Betty A. Webster (12). Was Betty Evelyn’s daughter too? Hmm. In 1945, Daniel, Evelyn, and Betty were in Tampa, Florida.
In 1950, Mary Jane and Barbara were still in Fitchburg, but John had died. Mary Jane died later that year. Her death was reported in the 2 Jan 1951 edition of the Fitchburg Sentinel, which said she had still been living on Flat Rock Road. Edith was living in Worcester, but died later that same year.
Daniel died in Florida in 1961. John Douglas and Barbara both remained in Fitchburg, dying there in 1985 and 1994 respectively.
Elizabeth probably died in the 1880s.
Jean married Melanie Marie Allain (14 Oct 1884-6 Mar 1911), daughter of Clovis Allain and Marie-Blanche Cormier, on 2 Aug 1905 in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. They had three daughters, two born in Buctouche and one in Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts:
Marie Nora (19 Jun 1906-1 Aug 1962) — m. Walter Michael Clyde Monk on 27 Dec 1928
Ida (8 Oct 1907-????) — m. Theophile LeBlanc on 1 Feb 1928
Clara (22 Jan 1909-????) — m. Albert Duplessis on 4 Oct 1928
The 1910 census showed the family in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Melanie died in 1911 in Millinocket, Maine. The 1911 census showed the three girls – “Lora” (4), “Edith” (3, born in USA), and Clara (2) Gallant – living with their maternal grandparents in Wellington, Kent County, New Brunswick, but for some reason listed as nieces. In the 1921 census they were still there, listed as grand-daughters, all three claimed as born in Canada.
Jean apparently stayed in or returned to Massachusetts, leaving his daughters to their mother’s family. In 1918 he married a nurse from Prince Edward Island named Ruth C. Duggan (26 Sep 1896-19xx) in Chelsea, Suffolk County. At the time of the marriage, he was living at 18 Temple Street in Boston and working as a riveter. They had one child:
William J. (~1923-????)
Ruth and son William showed up in the 1930 census record for Canton, just south of Boston. Jean wasn’t there and Ruth was head of house, but she claimed to be married, not widowed. She was working as a public school nurse. Ruth and William were still there in 1940, by which time Ruth was widowed.
Daughters Ida and Clara married in Shediac, New Brunswick and Wellington, New Brunswick respectively. Clara had at least three children: Gerald, 1930-????; Jacques, 13 Apr 1932-14 Apr 1932; Eva, 13 Apr 1932-22 Jun 1932. Ida’s children included Andre and Eva.
Joseph married Marie Sophie Allain (26 Jun 1889-Nov 1965), daughter of Maxime Allain and Marguerite Breault, in 1917 in New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts. They had one child, born in New Bedford:
Joseph Maxime Henri (6 Sep 1919-28 Mar 1920)
Joseph registered for the draft on 12 Sep 1918, giving date of birth 12 Jan 1885. The draft record said he had dark brown hair and dark gray eyes, and was a blacksmith working for the US government. He gave his address as 1248 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford.
In March 1920, son Henri died of chronic gastroenteritis. The 1920 census for New Bedford listed Joseph living in a boarding house. He was a carpenter engaged in building wharves, and claimed to have become a US citizen in 1899. Sophie was living with her mother elsewhere in New Bedford. Apparently the marriage didn’t survive their son.
Nothing further about Joseph. In the 1930 census, Sophie was still living with her mother, still claiming to be married. Of course, Catholic, so, no divorce. ...Until sometime in the 1930s, since the 1940 census found Sophie still in New Bedford, now divorced. In the 1950 census she was working in a textile mill, and listed as widowed.
Sophie died in 1965, and is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in New Bedford, the same place as her infant son.
George has his own entry in the family tree.
Florence was born in Rexton. She married John Daniel McKinnon (3 Apr 1892-3/10 Mar 1916), son of Malcom McKinnon & Mary Jane MacQuarrie of New Brunswick, on 31 Dec 1914 in Moncton. The wedding record named her parents as Jack and Marian. She and John had one child, whose existence I know of only from that child’s 1941 marriage record naming her parents:
Marion E. (~1916-????) — m. Joseph Alfred Léger on 13 Oct 1941
John enlisted in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force on 17 Aug 1915, and was killed in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. His burial site is unknown; his findagrave.com page points to the memorial at Vimy, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.
The 1920 census for Boston listed two single Canadian women named Florence MacKinnon, ages 26 and 28, working as family servants. Neither one had a daughter with her, although that’s not surprising. One of them could have been our Florence. On the other hand, when her widowed stepmother Harriette died at 101 Robinson Street, Moncton, New Brunswick in 1922, the death record claimed that Florence lived there.
In 1923 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where her older sister Mary Jane lived, Florence married widower Joseph Blair F. LeBlanc (28 Feb 1871-19xx). The wedding record gave her parents as John Gallant and Marie Anne Gould. They had twin boys, one of whom died in infancy:
Joseph Blair LeBlanc, Jr. (25 Aug 1924-25 Mar 1925)
Joseph George LeBlanc (25 Aug 1924-????)
The family were living at 142 Daniels Street in Fitchburg at the time. Florence apparently died not long after; Blair left Fitchburg in September 1927 to return to Canada. The 1931 Canada census found him, widowed once again, and what I think was his son George (6), living with his brother William and family on their farm in Moncton, New Brunswick. A 1943 immigration record showed Blair crossing from Canada into Maine on his way to visit a son from his first marriage who was still living in Fitchburg.
Florence’s daughter Marion is hard to track, both before and after her 1941 marriage in Moncton, New Brunswick to Joseph Alfred Léger (1910-????), son of Patrice and Viven Léger. A 27-year-old Mary MacKinnon from Canada was working as a servant in Boston in 1940. There are records of a Marianne Léger in the 1990s in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where a Joseph A. Léger died in 1977.
Charles, as noted above, lived for just over a year.
http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=1148&p=localities.northam.canada.newbrunswick.kent -- Traces Jean/John & Francoise Gallant from the 1881 census
http://automatedgenealogy.com/censusnb51/SurnameSearch.jsp?sdid=88&surname=Gould&geosort= -- Goulds of Shediac, NB in 1851
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-J71D -- 7 Jan 1857 marriage in Richibucto of John Gallant, widower, & Frances Hatcher (Francoise Haché)
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108523_00315.jpg -- Illegible 1861 census showing some Goulds
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108515_00313.jpg -- 1861 census, Joseph & Margaret Gallant & children; NOT RELATIVES
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4108515_00303.jpg -- 1861 census, Lawrence Potts
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1871/jpg/4396276_00479.jpg -- 1871 census
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1871/jpg/4396276_00467.jpg -- 1871 census, Lawrence Potts (19)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-J7WW -- John & Mary Ann’s 1873 marriage (bottom of page 2)
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e326/e008134445.jpg -- 1881 census with John & Mary Ann
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e326/e008134385.jpg -- 1881 census with Jean Gallant Sr. & Francoise
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XT3H-TVQ -- George’s birth record dated 1889
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F2CR-KJK -- Ditto (no image); 5 Mar 1888
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F2CR-Q8S -- Ditto (no image); 5 Mar 1888
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1891/jpg/30953_148102-00359.jpg -- 1891 census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N472-N3P -- 1893 wedding of Mary Jane Gallant
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH23-5ZN -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FX6Y-333 -- Charles’s birth record
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FX6Y-392 -- Same document (note he’s also recorded for 29 Sep)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWH9-Q5G -- 1894 death of Mary Ann
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHP2-T9X -- same
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWH9-725 -- Charles’s death
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHP2-TVH -- Charles’s death
http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141B7.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=329a7e9a-f06d-4271-a564-41161685171e -- John’s 1896 re-marriage
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-9TD2 -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-9TDG -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXFS-FBR -- Barbara Webster’s 1899 birth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9B9-L7C -- 1900 census, Mary Jane Gallant Webster
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z001/jpg/z000026794.jpg -- 1901 census, Richibucto, gives dates of birth
http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/View.jsp?id=719&highlight=50 -- Alternate link to 1901 census
http://boards.ancestry.ca/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=5922&p=localities.northam.canada.newbrunswick.general -- A great-grand-child of John Gallant & Marie Doiron of Rexton, searching for her grandfather Jean
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z001/jpg/z000027207.jpg -- 1901 census showing the Allain family in Wellington, NB
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHKX-PXT -- 1901 census, John McKinnon & parents
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXR8-2V9 -- 1903 naturalization of Mary Jane’s husband
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXF5-WVH -- 1904 birth of Daniel L. Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-44T7 -- 1905 marriage of Jean Gallant and Melanie Allain
https://www.familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FXJ7-39X -- 1907 birth of Ida Gallant
http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/141A5.aspx?culture=en-CA&guid=a19a5106-499b-41e4-862d-50e988352dfe -- 1909 birth of Clara Gallant
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M22J-8MP -- 1910 census, Mary Jane Gallant Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2NY-HZ9 -- 1910 census, John William Gallant
https://boards.ancestry.co.uk/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=1151&p=localities.northam.canada.newbrunswick.kent -- 1911 death of Melanie Allain Gallant
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV95-P8XR -- 1911 census, Jean William’s daughters; grandfather is Clovis, not “Elery”
https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1911&op=img&id=e001958819 -- ditto
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-XCFN -- 1914 wedding of Florence
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56680998/john-d-mckinnon -- 1916 grave of Florence’s husband
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23YF-7HB -- 1917 wedding of Joseph
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28J-GV4R -- 1918 wedding of Jean William
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLGT-JVQZ -- 1919 birth of Joseph’s son Joseph
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF9K-Y4M -- 1920 census, Mary Jane Gallant Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXTB-RZW -- 1920 census, Joseph B.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXT1-S38 -- 1920 census, Joseph B.’s wife Sophie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF9B-3RB -- 1920 census, Edith Webster Lorion
https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1921&op=img&id=e002895044 -- 1921 census, Jean William’s daughters
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XGZS-YRN -- 1922 death of Henriette Cormier Gallant, Buctouche record
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XGZJ-XXR -- 1922 death of Harriette Cormier Gallant, Moncton record
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCN8-K98 -- 1923 wedding of John Douglas Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6CY1-MWTM -- 1923 marriage #2 of Florence
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZC5-HCPX -- 1924 birth of Florence’s son Blair
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZC5-HCPJ -- 1924 birth of Florence’s son George
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBN-MHBM -- 1928 wedding of Jean W.’s daughter Ida
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBF-128N -- 1928 wedding of Jean W.’s daughter Clara
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQR1-1X1 -- 1930 census, Mary Jane Gallant Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ53-YK5 -- 1930 census, John William’s second wife and son
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQTM-WBC -- 1930 census, John Douglas Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQLQ-DLL -- 1930 census, Joseph B.’s wife Sophie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6RS5-CGTP -- 1931 census, Florence’s widowed husband
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLZ5-V5W -- 1935 wedding of Daniel Lyman Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4JS-Z2N -- 1940 census, Mary Jane Gallant Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4N4-H2N -- 1940 census, John William’s second wife and son
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4JS-NQY -- 1940 census, John Douglas Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4KL-2ZH -- 1940 census, Edith Webster Lorion
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVBN-ZG8F -- 1941 wedding of Florence’s daughter Marion McKinnon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNXV-TGS -- 1945 census, Mary Jane’s son Daniel
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F37-7K5C -- 1950 census, Mary Jane
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F3Y-F11C -- 1950 census, Joseph B.’s ex-wife Sophie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VV3W-T82 -- 1961 death of Daniel Lyman Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKDX-F2K -- ditto
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/221153133/nora-m-monk -- 1962 grave of Jean William’s daughter Nora
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKHF-CZF -- 1965 Social Security death record for Joseph B.’s ex-wife Sophie
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51553011/sophie-gallant -- 1965 grave of Joseph B.’s ex-wife Sophie
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZBL-T47 -- 1985 death of John Douglas Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKNM-V22 -- 1994 death of Barbara Helen Webster
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2N2-BZD -- 1910 census, Florence Gallant (18) in North Attleborough, Massachusetts
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF9Z-V4Y -- 1920 census, Florence MacKinnon (28) in Boston
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MF99-ZMM -- 1920 census, Florence MacKinnon (26) in Boston
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZTZ-C5C -- 1977 death of a Joseph A. Léger in Fitchburg
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJH7-SV4W -- 1998 record of a Maryann Leger in Fitchburg
