Robineau Family Genealogy

Robineau – Leonel and Damase

Leonel was born in 1892. His father was Damase Robineau who was born in 1854, in Valleyfield Quebec and died in1920 as a result of a dynamite explosion at his son’s (Almadie’s) sawmill near Chapleau. Damase married Marie Riopel. Damase and Marie moved to Sturgeon Falls after 1900, but before 1911 (census data shows them in Sturgeon Falls in 1911). The reason for this move has not been determined, however, the leading theory is that there was “work” to be found in Northern Ontario.

Damase and Marie had fifteen children:
Almadie – born in 1875 and died in 1939 – 10 children (Adela, Aldee, Laurien, Lil, Floria, Yvette, Armande, Lauria, Florian ‘“Frank”, and Leode
Antoine – born in 1877
Arsidas – born in 1979 and died in 1880 (twin to Olivine)
Olivine – born in 1879 and died in 1882 (twin to Arsidas)
Eleonore – born in 1881
Albert – born in 1871
Aldebert – born in 1878 – 5 children (Dona, Marie Anne, Anna, Belsora, Emelda)
Lucien – born in 1885 and died in 1975 – 5 children (Lucille, Marguerite, Armand, Alene Emma, Germaine)
Josephat – born in 1887 and died on April 29, 1950 – 5 children (Lileo, Jeanette, Simone, Margo, Fernande)
Marie Laure “Eglantine” – Born in 1899 – 11 childen
Daniel – Born in 1892 and died in 1967 (twin to Leonel) – 2 marriages – 9 children (Gaston, Germaine, Juliette, Lilianne, Madeleine, Thomas, Yvette, Danielle, Marthe)
Leonel – Born in 1892 and died in 1964 (twin to Daniel) – 9 children ( Gilbert Rheal, Guillaume, Henri, Alice, Gilberte, Leona, Adrien, Clairette, Leo Paul)
Marie Euphrosine “Exilda” Born in 1883
Florida – born in 1883 – 14 children
Florestine

Damase’s parents were Joseph Robineau and Eleonore (Falmar, Farmer, Phalmeur,?). The spelling of Eleonore’s maiden name has many variations, however an upcoming post will conclusively (well! as conclusive as i can be) that her maiden name was “Falmar”.

This post will describe the Robineau family tree back two generations. My father was Adrien Robineau. Adrien had three children, all sons: Robert, Richard and myself. Adrien was born in Sturgeon Falls Ontario and in the mid-30’s moved to Alfred, Ontario near Cornwall. He learned a trade (shoe repair) and was an apprentice at the shoe repair shop in Lancaster, Ontario. He met his future wife (Lily Sauve) in Lancaster in the mid-40’s, were married on June 29, 1948. They moved to the “big” city (Cornwall) in 1949.

Adrien my father was born in1924 and died in 2002. His father was Leonel Robineau. Leonel was born in 1892 and died in August 1964. Leonel’s wife was Leda Mallette who who died in February, 1969. Leonel and Leda were married in 1914 in Montpelier. They had eight children:
1) Gilbert Euclide Rheal, born in and died in February 1944 on a bombing mission over Germany. More on him later!
Guillaume – born in 1919 and died in 1924
Alice – Born in 1925
Gilberte – born in 1921
Leona – born in 1916. Still alive and alert in Sturgeon Falls
Adrien – born in 1924 and died in 2002
Clairette – born in 1927. Still alive, alert and active today. She lives in Sturgeon Falls
Leo Paul – born in 1915 and died in 1995. This portion of the family seems to be in the Timmins area today.

In my January 4 post i made the following statement:
Another example is Damase’s mother. There are a wide variety of how her name is spelled ranging from “Farmer” to “Phalmeur” to “Falmar” (and others). If you read the original Drouin record carefully, I am thinking it is Phalmeur.

Well, upon a bit more research i am now thinking i was wrong. I now have a bit of “proof” that the correct name is in fact “Falmar”, and there may be a US connection. More on that in an upcoming posting.

One of the interesting historical questions I have is why the Robineau clan moved from the Ripon area to Sturgeon Falls/Timmins/Thurso in the “very” early 1900’s. My mother has always said there was no work in the Ripon area and lots of jobs were available in forestry and mining in Northern Ontario.
Damase Robineau was born in Valleyfield, Quebec in 1854. Most of his children were born or raised in and around Ripon Quebec (around Buckigham). So, what made them move to Northern Ontario?.

In fact if you check the 1901 census for Sturgeon Falls (in Northern Ontario-at least it was in 1900) there are no Robineau’s listed and there are no Robineau’s in Ontario (see caveat below). There were 11 Robineau’s in the 1911 census in Ontario, all living around Sturgeon Falls
The census are available online at:

http://automatedgenealogy.com/index.html

Major “Genealogical” caveat:
Spelling – Just because there were no Robineau’s in the Ontario census in 1901 does not mean they were not there. The people (volunteers) who did the census in the first place and then the next volunteers who transcribed the surveys into computer-readable form all had to interpret spelling.
The Drouin records are another example. They are available on Ancestry.com. You can find a bit of background on the Drouin records at: http://drouininstitute.com/
The Drouin records are copies of parish records in Quebec. In 1875 the priest might be the only one who could read or write, so the spelling of names was his decision. The other issue is that once again some volunteer had to transcribe the Drouin records into machine-readable form. The perfect example i have of that is my father who was “Adrien”. It took me quite a while to find him in the Drouin records because his name was transcribed as “Adrine”.

Another example is Damase’s mother. There are a wide variety of how her name is spelled ranging from “Farmer” to “Phalmeur” to “Falmar” (and others). If you read the original Drouin record carefully, I am thinking it is Phalmeur.