Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Monday, June 23, 2014
The following was researched and written by Scott Smith. To the best of my ability, the footnotes and references were placed within the text in (parentheses). Continued from the last post (below).
Louis Toussaint Billette was born in Canada, probably in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec (Lorraine Billette remembered that Toussaint Billette was born in France, but there is no indication of that in the census records we have.). His answers on the 1900 Census indicated that he was born in October 1850 in Canada to francophone parents. The only “Toussaint Billette” or “Louis Billette” in the 1851 Census of Canada in the correct age range were twins who would have been 6 years old on their next birthday—indicating that they were born about 1846 or 1847 in St-Urbain, Beauharnois, Quebec. The parents of these twin boys were Rémi and Osite (nee Lemieux) Billette (Based on information provide by the 1900 U.S. Census and other sources, we think that Emil’s father Louis Toussaint Billette: 1) was born in French-speaking Canada about 1850 (probably in Québec); 2) that he entered the United States about 1866 or 1869; 3) that he was living in Minneapolis area by the mid-1880s; 4) that his wife Marie Loiselle was born in Minnesota about 1864; and 5) that the two were married about 1883. Given these facts, we searched the 1851 Census of Canada for anyone named Billette. There are only about 50 people on the 1851 Census that have this name or some version of it, and only two of them are named either “Louis Billette” or “Toussaint Billette.” These two boys are twin brothers born to Remi Billette and Osite Lemieux in St Urbain, Beauharnois County, Canada East (Québec). Some of the given names found in the children of this Remi Billette family in St Urbain repeat in the children of Louis Toussaint Billette (e.g. “Delphas” and “Delima/Delvina” as well as “Louis” and “Toussaint”). Of course, this doesn’t prove a connection, but it seems like a reasonable conjecture. The fact that there are so few people in Canada with the same name and that these two boys happen to be born in 1846 makes it somewhat likely that one or the other grew up to be the Louis Toussaint Billette who came to the United States in 1866 and married Marie Loiselle in 1883. Both twins appear on the 1861 Census (search “Louis Bellette” in Beauharnois, Canada East).
My identification of his parents is speculative. I have no way to confirm it.
Toussaint Billette left Canada and immigrated to the United States in 1866 (or 1869). Records show that he normally used Toussaint (which means “All Saints” in French) as his given name. He married Marie Loiselle in 1883. She was born on January 26, 1864—in Hamel (just west of Minneapolis), Minnesota (When asked to provide the nativity of his parents on the U. S. Census forms, their son Emil T. Billette indicated that both of them were from Canada the majority of the time: 1910 – father, Canada and mother, Minnesota; 1920 – father, Canada/French speaking and mother, Canada, French speaking; 1930 – father, United States and mother, Canada/French speaking. However, we have a record of Arthur Billette on the 1920 Census where he indicated that his father was a francophone Canadian and that his mother was born in Minnesota. We also have a record for Mack Billette on the 1930 Census where he give his father’s birthplace as Minnesota and mother’s as Canada. Finally, the best evidence we have is from the 1900 Census, where Toussaint gives his own birthplace as Canada and his wife’s as Minnesota, and from the 1910 Census where Marie reported her own birthplace as Minnesota. The preponderance of the evidence is that she was born in Minnesota to Quebecois immigrant parents. Her death certificate states her place of birth as Hamel, Minnesota.). Her parents were Jean-Baptiste and Marie Cesarie (nee Garon/anglicized to Gorham) Loiselle. Toussaint’s answers on the 1900 Census (indexed on Ancestry.com under “Louisont Bellett”) indicate that he entered the United States in 1866 and had become naturalized. But his answers on the 1895 Minnesota Census indicate that he had been a resident of Minnesota for 26 years (i.e. since 1869). He and Mary appear on the 1885 Minnesota State Census (dated May 1, 1885; indexed as “Tansiant Billette”) for Hennepin County, Minnesota. This is the only record (known to us) that mentions their first child, a baby girl named Margaretta Ida who was nine months old. The next evidence we have is an indirect record in the form of a birth/baptismal record for Emil Billette—which is dated January 29, 1886 (see below). The next record is a listing for Toussaint in the Minneapolis city directories for 1889, 1890 and 1891. He was living at 1156 North Fremont Avenue, and his occupation was laborer. The residence at 1156 North Fremont seems to have remained in the family for the next 30 or 40 years.
The family was recorded on the 1895 Minnesota Census for Otsego in Wright County. His answers indicate that he had been living in Otsego since October/November 1890. (4 years, 8 months). He must have purchased the farm near Elk River in Otsego Township, Wright County, Minnesota about October 1890 (Wright County is adjacent to Hennepin County on the west and a little north; Otsego Township is located in the northeastern corner of Wright County, bordered by the Mississippi River.). Toussaint appeared on the 1905 Minnesota Census (dated June 8, 1905). He was a farmer in Otsego, Wright County, Minnesota. He died sometime after June 8, 1905 and before January 1, 1908 (probably on the farm in Otsego). Minnesota death records are indexed beginning in 1908, and he doesn’t appear on the index so it’s likely that he died before that year (Lorraine Billette recollected that Toussaint Billette died prior to 1914 (“before any of us kids were born”) in Minneapolis.). Lorraine said that she was always told that Emil’s younger brother Joseph inherited the family farm because he was already married and had started a family at the time of their father’s death.
Marie is still living on the farm with her youngest daughter, Delvina and adopted daughter Della, in 1910; she moved back to Minneapolis in 1920 (Death certificate states she had resided in Minneapolis six years at time of death.). The 1920 Census has her as “Mary A. Billette.” She died of chronic nephritis and chronic myocarditis on May 14, 1926 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota (The record is indexed under the name “Mary Billette.” Lorraine Billette remembered that her grandmother gave her and her sister Mardell some very beautiful bracelets, but these were lost over the years. She also remembered that Mary loved to play cards with the family.). Her last place of residence was 4355 Humboldt Avenue-North, Minneapolis. She is buried in Dayton, Wright County, Minnesota. The children of Toussaint and Marie (nee Loiselle) Billette included:
Margaretta Ida Billette (b. August/September 1884 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
(shown 9/12 on May 1885 Census for Minnesota)
(1900 Census: Marie/Mary is mother of 6, only 5 living)
(d. June 28, 1885 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Aimé/Emil Toussaint Billette (b. Jan 29, 1886 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
(bap. Feb 14, 1886 at St. Clothilde (now St. Anne))
(m. Emily White on July 18, 1911 in Hibbing, MN)
(d. Dec 15, 1937 in Black Diamond, Washington)
Joseph Delphas Billette (b. April 12, 1888 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
(m. Annette Bistodeau, 4/12/1910 in Albertville, Minnesota)
(d. November 18, 1947 in Otsego, Wright Co., MN)
(buried in St. Albert’s Cemetery, Wright County, MN)
Arthur Billette (b. May 21, 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
(never married; living with Ethel Davis in 1940. He served in World War I and suffered mustard gas burns to his lungs.)
(d. Aug 4, 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was knifed to death in the hall outside his apartment after an argument about the war in Europe.)
(buried in Fort Snelling National Cemetery—612A 5)
Maguire “Mack” Billette (b. April 22, 1892 in Albertville, Minnesota)
(m. Ina Pearl Dawson, 6/20/1921 in Oregon)
(Lorraine remembered that she was “of Swedish origin.”)
(d. March 21, 1970 in White Salmon, Klickitat County, WA)
(buried in White Salmon Cemetery)
Delvina M. Billette (b. March 1894 in Minnesota)
(m. 1st a man named Plante about 1912—divorced him)
(sons named Gerald H. & Earl J. Plante-d. 1989 in MN)
(m. 2nd John J. Brabant, Jr. between 1920 and 1930)
(children named Corinne M. and Donald J.)
(d. June 3, 1948 in King County, Washington)
Della M. Loiselle (Della M. Billette was an adopted child. She was the third child of Henry Joseph Loiselle, Marie Loiselle’s brother (b. 1866). He and his second wife Edwina Rancour had Francis Joseph (b. March 19, 1899); Alfred J. (b. December 23 or 24, 1900); and Marie Idella Loiselle (b. 1903). The boys lived with their Uncle Rancour after their mother died.) (b. April 30, 1902 in Min.—age 3 years, 2 mos on 6/2/1905)
(see 1905 Minnesota Census with widowed father Henry)
(on 1910 Census she is listed as a Billette and a daughter)
(on 1920 Census she is listed as a boarder and a Loiselle?)
(m. Henry H. Erickson about 1921 in Minnesota)
(Children in 1930 are Arnold Henry and Roy Delmar. Arnold Henry Erikson died September 27, 1987 in Los Angeles, CA. Roy Delmer Erickson probably died in Pineville, LA on April 7, 2003.)
(d. March 23-24, 1953 in Hennepin County, Minnesota)
(buried in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, wife of Henry)
Unproven connection:
Rémi Billette was born and baptized the same day—October 1, 1809—in the small town of Chambly, (Remi is age 71 on the 1881 Census. See Drouin Collection for birth record.) which is located about ten miles southeast of Montréal on the south side of the St. Lawrence River—across the “narrows” from Montréal, the same “narrows” that gave Québec its name (Québec is an Algonquin word meaning “narrow place.” Chambly is the site of Fort Chambly, first established in 1665. A stone fortress built between 1709 and 1711 still stands there on the banks of the Richelieu River. It was captured by the English in 1760.). He was the son of Louis Paschal and Marie Amable (nee Delage dit Lavigueur) Billette. Rémi married Osite/Osithe Lemieux on October 12, 1835 in La Prairie Québec (Saint Isadore Parish). Osite was born about 1815 in Châteauguay, which is located about fifteen miles south-southwest of Montréal and also on the south side of the St. Lawrence River—not far from Chambly or St. Clotilde de Châteauguay or Saint-Rémi (The County of Châteauguay was created in 1855 from a section of the old Beauharnois District. This included the Seigniory of Châteauguay and the southern part of the Seigniory of Beauharnois, the seigniories having been abolished in 1854. Included within its boundaries were the Towns (Villages) of Châteauguay, Ste-Martine, Ormstown (then known as Durham), and Howick and the parishes of St-Antoine Abbé, Ste-Martine, St-Joachim, St-Philomène, St-Jean Chrysostome, St-Malachie, Ste-Clotilde and St-Urbain-Premier. The Châteauguay River originates in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. Chautauqua (the English spelling) is an Iroquois word meaning “Jumping Fish.”). She was the daughter of Toussaint and Marguerite (nee Lemieux) Lemieux (Osithe Lemieux was a seventh generation Canadian, being a descendant of Gabriel Lemieux, who immigrated to Canada in 1643 with his older brother Pierre. They were from Rouen, France.). Rémi and Osithe settled in St-Urbain-Premier, a small town in Beauharnois County (originally a Seigniory) about twenty-five miles southwest of Montréal and about fifteen miles north of the New York/U.S. border (This town is easily confused with a town called St-Urbain that is located 50 or 60 miles northeast of Québec City.). They were recorded on the 1851 Census of Canada. It appears from the 1851 Census that Remi had brothers Eugene (b. 1814) and Louis (b. 1816)—plus a sister (?) named Justine Billette (b. 1826) living with brother Eugene. Also living in Eugene’s household, which is recorded just previous to Remi’s, is an elderly woman (age 72) named Amable Delage, possibly their mother. The same family appears on an 1861 Census and an 1863 list still living in Beauharnois, Chateauguay. Rémi and Osithe appear on the 1881 Census for Canada living in Ste-Louis-de-Gonzague, Beauharnois, Quebec. They have a young son (age 24) named Delphas living with them. Rémi and Osithe died sometime after 1881, probably in Québec. The children of Rémi and Osite (nee Lemieux) Billette included:
Thaise Billette (b. September 18, 1836 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. Octave Herbert, 11/10/1857 in St-Urbain, Québec)
(d. unknown, after 1881—living in Ste-Isadore, Lapraire, PQ)
Osite Billette (b. about 1838 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. Etienne Patenaude, 1/21/1860 St-Louis-de-Gonzague, PQ)
(d. unknown, but may have died in childbirth 1861)
(Her husband appears to be remarried in 1881.)
Philomène Billette (b. about 1839 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. François Dorais, 9/28/1863, St-Louis-de-Gonzaque, PQ)
(d. unknown)
Solomée Billette (b. about 1841 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. Joseph Lefebvre, 1/7/1863 in St-Louis-de Gonzaque, PQ)
(d. unk., after 1881—living in St-Louis-de-Gonzaque, PQ))
Remi Billette (fils) (b. about 1842 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. Henrietta Fortier, 10/30,1871 in St-Louis-de-Gonague, PQ)
(living in St-Louis-de Gonzaque, PQ in 1881)
(d. unknown—living in St. Stanislas de Kostka in 1911)
Delima Billette (b. about 1844 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. )
(d. unknown)
Louis Billette (b. about 1846 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec )
(twins) (m. Francoise Montpetit, 11/21/1876 at Beauharnois)
(1881 and 1911—living in St-Louis-de Gonzaque, PQ)
(d. November 18, 1928 in Huntingdon, Quebec)
Toussaint Billette (b. about 1846 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. Marie Loiselle, 4/14/1884 at St. Clothilde’s in Hamel, MN)
(d. between 1905 and 1908 in Otsego County, Minnesota)
Basilise Billette (b. about 1848 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. )
(d. unknown)
Henri (?) Billette (b. about 1850 in St-Urbain-Premier, Québec)
(m. )
(d. unknown)
Delphas Billette (b. about 1857 in St-Urbain, Quebec)
(d. unk., living w/parents in 1881 in Ste-Louis-de-Gonzaque)
The following was researched and written by Scott Smith. To the best of my ability, the footnotes and references were placed within the text in (parentheses).
My Billette Ancestors.
Lorraine Marguerite Billette was born on July 10, 1914 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her parents were Aimée Toussaint “Emil” and Emily Cordelia (nee White) Billette. Lorraine lived in Minneapolis until the age of five or six. About 1920, the family went to Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to visit her Uncle Bill (William Theodore White). Lorraine’s father was looking for work during this extended trip east. They stopped briefly in Hopedale, Ohio—before settling for a couple years in Barberton, Ohio (near Akron). Lorraine started school in Barberton. Her father moved the family back to Minneapolis in 1924, then to Crosby. Lorraine remembered the years growing up in Crosby (age 10-14) as the happiest of her life. She remembered family picnics at Mille Lacs in the summer and helping her father with his route delivering soda and candy. About 1928, the family moved back to Minneapolis and then to Hastings, Minnesota. Lorraine remembered visiting her Uncle Bill again in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, when she was about sixteen (1930). Soon after, she enrolled in a vocational school in Minneapolis where she learned to type by re-typing the speeches of Henry Ford.
She met Ole Albert Trowbridge when she was 18 years old (Ole failed to mention that he was already married with six children at home.) They married about 1933 and moved to Washington State in 1934, with a stop in North Dakota. At first, they stayed with Ole’s sister Louise Chapman in Redmond. Their first and only child together—my father Charles D. Smith—was born there. Later, they rented a home of their own in Black Diamond. They traveled to the town of Westby on the Montana/North Dakota border when Charles was about two years old (“for a funeral”) (This funeral may have been for Ole’s father Lewis Jerome Trowbridge, but no record has been located.). Lorraine separated from Ole in the fall of 1938 when she learned that he was a married man who had deserted his first wife. (Whatever suspicions or misgivings she may have had earlier, Lorraine stated firmly that she had no knowledge of Ole’s previous marriage until the day in 1938 when a private detective hired by Ole’s first wife knocked on their door in Black Diamond.). She resumed her maiden name and moved back to Minneapolis—a single mother during the last years of the Great Depression.
Lorraine met Phillip Lyle Smith in Minnesota, and they were married July 3, 1942 in Brooklyn Center. After the wedding, they moved into a rented house in nearby New Brighton, north of Minneapolis. She found work at a munitions factory in New Brighton that manufactured 20mm cartridges and earned about thirty-five cents an hour ($14 a week). She and Phillip, accompanied by her mother Emily and son Charles, moved back to Washington State in April 1943 to look for work in the war production factories near Seattle. At first, they lived in a housing project in Bremerton because Phillip found work there with Associated Shipbuilders (1943-1945).
After the war they purchased a small farm (about seven acres) in Lynwood, southwest of Everett. Charles attended Everett High School, and he joined the U.S. Naval Reserves (something like today’s JROTC) at age 16. Despite being just one semester short of graduation, he left school and joined the U. S. Air Force in 1952. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his uncle Dean A. Billette, who had enlisted in the U. S. Air Force in 1950. Phillip and Lorraine moved to the Bay Area about Christmastime 1959, selling the house in Lynwood for about $8,500. Lorraine had given birth to her second child—Phillip Lyle Smith, Jr.—in 1943 soon after they moved to Bremerton. Phillip, Jr. had begun showing symptoms of the Hodgkin’s disease that would eventually kill him, and they hoped that better medical care might be available in California. They lived in Hayward for two or three years. Phillip Jr. died of Hodgkin’s disease in 1962. After that, they lived in San Pablo for seven years(Lorraine’s mother moved to Palo Alto, across the bay from Hayward, because Dean was working for Hewlett-Packard there.). Phillip, Sr. worked for Watson-Wilson Transportation System until 1964; but at the time of his death, he had worked for Yellow Freight Company (as a mechanic) for six and a half years. Phillip died—of heart disease (myocardial infarction) complicated by emphysema and diabetes—on September 21, 1970 at Brookside Hospital in San Pablo and was buried in Rolling Hills Memorial Cemetery in El Sobrante (just east of San Pablo).
Lorraine never learned to drive until after her fortieth birthday, but when Phillip died she took a course offered by the State of California and learned to drive a school bus. She worked for the Contra Costa School System from 1971 until 1975. She also moved from San Pedro to Pittsburg (Port Chicago) in 1972, then to Concord in 1976. She married Ernest E. Kempe on January 3, 1976 in Reno, Nevada. Mr. Kempe died on September 17, 1977 in Concord. Lorraine lived alone for the next thirty-two years, but she enjoyed many outings with her friends and an occasional road trip to visit relatives. She died November 13, 2009 at John Muir Hospital in Concord. She is buried next to Phillip Smith in Rolling Hills Memorial Park (Spaces 3 & 4, Lot 1022, Acacia Lawn Section). She and Mr. Smith purchased these spaces in 1971 just before he passed away. The children of Ole Albert and Lorraine Marguerite (nee Billette) Trowbridge included:
Charles Darald Trowbridge a.k.a. Charles Darald Smith (According to Lorraine Charles was built like his father, but his features favored the Billettes. Although Phillip Smith never legally adopted him, Charles regarded Mr. Smith as his “real” father. He attended school as Charles D. Smith and joined the military using that name. However, it was 1954 before he actually changed his legal surname from Trowbridge to Smith.)
(b. November 28, 1934 in Redmond, Washington)
(m. Beverley Ann Smith, Oct 9, 1954 in Clovis, NM)
(d. April 20, 1991 in Clovis, New Mexico)
(buried Mount Zion Cemetery, Keokuk County, IA)
The children of Phillip Lyle and Lorraine Marguerite (nee Billette) Smith included:
Phillip Lyle Smith, Jr. (b. May 24, 1943 in Bremerton, Washington)
(d. of Hodgkin’s Disease on July 17, 1962 in Richmond, CA)
(buried in Lot #65, Subdivision #2, Hillview Section of
Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, California—near his grandmother Emily Billette)
Aimé Toussaint “Emil” Billette was born on January 29, 1886 in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota (Aimé or Aimée can be a nickname for a male or female whose given name is actually Amable (meaning ‘friendly’). If my genealogy is correct Emil’s grandmother was named Amable.). His parents were Toussaint and Marie (nee Loiselle) Billette. He was baptized at St. Clothilde’s Parish (now St. Anne’s) by Father Lucien Nougaret (Father Nougaret was the first pastor of this French-speaking parish, established in April 1884. Most of the parishioners were recent immigrants from Quebec. The original church was a frame building purchased from a Protestant congregation, but it was replaced by a brick building at the corner of 11th and Lyndale Avenue North in 1886. Reverend Damasus Richard served as pastor from 1902 to 1952, and he oversaw the transition from French-speaking to English-speaking congregations in 1920. He also moved the church to a new site at 2627 Queen Avenue North. .). His sponsors were Joseph Duclaure and Adelaide Boucher. He was called Aimé as a child, but used the name Emil (pronounced: “Ee-mill”) when he got older. Emil suffered a bout of rheumatic fever while still in school, which damaged his heart.(He had gone skating on a pond and became heated, so he lay down on the ice. When he got up he had a chill and became sick.). In 1910, he was working as a locomotive engineer at the Uno Mining Company in Stuntz Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota. This was a mine railroad that hauled nothing but iron ore. He married Emily Cordelia White on July 18, 1911 at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament (by Rev. C. Gamache. Father C. V. Gamache, originally from Detroit, served in Hibbing in the 1890s and up to about 1910; he arrived in Nashwauk in 1911 and stayed until at least 1916 when the rectory was built. He was ordained in 1882.) in Hibbing, St. Louis County, Minnesota. The witnesses were her brother Mike White and a woman named Elizabeth Ryan (possibly her aunt or her cousin). Emily was born on April 19, 1889 in Cadott, Wisconsin; she was the daughter of William and Bridget (nee Riley) White.
The couple moved to Minneapolis before April 21, 1913. They lived at 1002 Emerson Avenue-North. Emil worked part-time as a chauffeur, but his impaired health made it difficult for him to keep a job. He filled out a World War I draft registration card in 1917 in Crosby, Minnesota and identified himself as “Emil Taussaint [sic] Billette.” In 1920, the family was living in Robbinsdale, a small community just north of Minneapolis. The family visited Emily’s brother William T. “Bill” White in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania about 1920. Uncle Bill and Emily’s other brother Mike White helped Emil become a steam shovel operator. The family then settled briefly in Hopedale, Ohio—before moving to Barberton, Ohio (near Akron). After a couple of years in Ohio, Emil moved his family back to Minneapolis.(The home was located somewhere on James Avenue North in the vicinity of St. Anne’s Parish Church—probably between the 1100 block and 2000 block. This would have been near the house at 1156 Fremont Avenue North that Toussaint Billette owned as early as 1889. The church was located first on the corner of 11th Avenue and Lyndale Avenue North (the latter is a north-south street a few blocks east of James Avenue), then moved to 2627 Queen Avenue North (which is a north-south street a few blocks west of James Avenue.). He landed a job in the town of Crosby because he owned a stake-bed truck, which he used to deliver candy and soda.(His employer was formerly one of the largest distilleries in Minnesota. They switched to soda and candy during Prohibition, though rumor has it that some of their delivery trucks still carried samples of their former product line.). About 1928, he was hired as a steam shovel operator on a construction project building a system of locks and dams on the Mississippi River near Hastings, Minnesota.
The family was still living in Hastings at the time of the 1930 Census (dated April 10th), but Emil had become a salesman. Sometime soon afterward, they moved back to Minneapolis again. About 1937, Emil and Emily Billette moved out to Washington State and were living in Enumclaw (a small town about 30 miles east of Tacoma). Their son Mack moved to Klickitat County in southern Washington about 1930 (or before), which is probably what influenced his parents to migrate west. At the time of his death, Emil was selling Singer Sewing Machine’s. He died on December 15, 1937 at the home of his son-in-law Ole Albert Trowbridge in Black Diamond (8 miles north of Enumclaw), King County, Washington. The cause of death was myocarditis (“clinical [diagnosis]1935”).(Lorraine Billette remembered her father’s death this way. Her sister Mardell and her husband Robert Hall lived less than a block from where she and Ole lived in Black Diamond, Washington. Lorraine’s father was at her house. Mardell was at home and was trying to light a lamp similar to a Coleman lantern (i.e. one that ran on gas and had to be pumped to obtain pressure). The gas in the lamp ignited with a bang, and Mardell screamed. Emil jumped up and ran to help her, thinking that she had been injured. With his bad heart, the run and the excitement were too much for him. He dropped dead half way between the two houses. Mardell wasn’t even hurt. Lorraine said that she didn’t hold the incident against her sister because he did have weak heart and “could have gone at any time.” However, as she related the story, she remarked that she herself had never been one “to scream and screech” like that. She was her father’s favorite and loved him very much. She wished she had had her father for a little longer and further remarked that it was a horrible year for them all.). He is buried in Evergreen Memorial Park in Enumclaw, Washington.(Emily (nee White) Billette paid $15 on April 16, 1938 for his burial and burial plot—which is Grave, 4, Block 7, Section 2 in Evergreen Cemetery, Enumclaw, Washington. Lorraine (nee Billette) Smith paid to have a granite marker installed in June 1967. Evergreen Memorial Park is located at 23717 SE 416th Street just outside Enumclaw.) Emily (nee White) Billette moved back to Minneapolis (with her daughter Lorraine) in the fall of 1938, and then returned to Washington State in April 1943. Emily was part of the factory work force that built the 5,000th B17 for Boeing in late 1943. In April 1945, she was living in Seattle. She also lived in Everett, Washington, for several years—on the same acreage as daughter Lorraine—separated by a large garden. She moved south to the Bay Area with daughter Lorraine and her second husband Phillip Smith about Christmastime in 1959. She died at the Barrett Convalescent Hospital in Hayward, California on June 9, 1969. She is buried in the Alta Mesa Memorial Cemetery in Palo Alto, California.(She is buried in Lot 68, Subdivision 2, Hillview Section. Her lot cost $131.28 and endowed care cost $43.75 (purchased pre-need in 1966); her interment and concrete liner cost $184.00. The address of the cemetery is Alta Mesa Memorial Park, 695 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306). The children of Emil and Emily (nee White) Billette included:
Unnamed Girl (b. stillborn April 21, 1913 in Minneapolis, MN)
(d. April 21, 1913 in Minneapolis, MN)
(buried in Dayton, Minnesota)
5. Lorraine Marguerite Billette (b. July 10, 1914 in Minneapolis, Minnesota)
(m. 1st Ole Albert Trowbridge in 1933 in Minnesota)
(m. 2nd Phillip Lyle Smith; 7/3/1942; New Brighton, MN)
(m. 3rd Ernest Kempe on Jan 3, 1975 in Reno, Nevada)
(d. November 13, 2009 in Concord, California)
(buried Rolling Hills Memorial Park, El Sobrante, CA)
Mardell Emily Billette (b. December 2, 1915 in Princeton, Minnesota)
(m. Robert Earl “Bob” Hall before 1935; he was born 12/4/1911)
(sons William Duane I. “Bill” and Robert Dean “Bob”, Jr.)(Bob died October 20, 2001 in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada. He was born December 4, 1911 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada to Harry Shaw and Coral Victoria (nee?) Hall. Their sons were born in Minneapolis, Minnesota: Robert Dean hall was born May 29, 1935 in Hennepin County, Minnesota; William Duane Hall was born June 22, 1937 in Hennepin County, Minnesota.)
(d. Oct 11, 1988 in Delta, Colorado)
(cremated and buried with her mother
in Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, CA)
Dean Amy Billette (b. January 20, 1926 in Crosby, Minnesota).
(m. Bridget “Bridie” Canny, Oct 11, 1952 in Albu., NM. Bridget “Bridie” Canny was born August 16, 1922 in Clonmany, County Dunegal, Ireland; she came to the U.S. on August 13, 1947.)
(served with USMC during WWII; wounded. He was wounded during a night raid against Japanese forces (shrapnel in the rear) and also contracted malaria. )
(served with USAF 1950 to 1954 during Korean War. Dean A. Billette was a Marine during World War II (enlisted at age 17-18 and discharged at 19 or 20). He was a corporal (radioman/gunner) in a PBJ-1 (a.k.a. the B-25 Mitchell) with Marine Bomber Squadron 423, Air Group 61 (based mostly on Green Island off the coast of New Britain). He served in the U. S. Air Force (1950-1954) during the Korean War. He shipped over to Southampton, England after basic training—arriving on July 3, 1951 aboard the General G. M. Randall. He trained as a navigator-bombadier on the B-47 at James Connally AFB near Waco, Texas—graduating with the class of September 1952 (Class 52-09), then was stationed at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque and Mountain Home AFB in Idaho. Between the wars, he used the G.I. Bill to attend college and graduated from University of Washington. After Korea, he worked for Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, etc.)
(d. February 24, 2001 in Rockaway Beach, Missouri)
(buried June 8, 2001 in the Missouri Veterans Cemetery)
(Section C01, Site 084 in Springfield, Missouri)
Some changes...
FamilySearch.org has recently added a feature that will allow anyone with an account there to upload family pictures and documents, for free, in a fully searchable database. Most of the pictures and documents displayed on this blog are now on FamilySearch.org. I believe anyone can log on and get a free account there.
The best thing about FamilySearch.org is that it links the pictures and documents that have been "tagged" with a person's name to the actual family tree feature. It is really easy now to see how you or I (or anyone!) is connected to the persons represented in the photos and documents.
However, I plan to continue placing interesting family history and current events on this blog. If there is any trouble logging on to FamilySearch.org, or any other questions about this blog, please email me at the address above for clarification.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Bistodeau Family Photo 1901
Picture sent by Janice Billette via FB with this caption: "Summer 1901 , Dad's mother (Annette) is seated second in from the left side just to the right side of the man that is standing behind her....This picture was e-mailed via Barbara Bistodeau."
Awesome family photo! I think its Dr. Bistodeau sitting in the middle, the first doctor in Hennepin Co., MN, and my great-(x3)-grandpa. Thanks Janice!
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