Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier

Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier
1818-1903

Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier was born in Normandy at Créances, near Coutances, in 1818; his parents were Nicolas Lelaidier and Marie Lenoir; his native region was known for growing carrots, a rich, light soil favouring the crop; his interest in horticulture was probably stimulated by that local setting.

In 1848, at the age of 30, he decided to come and settle in Canada; for what reasons? Probably the same ones that motivate immigrants today: the hope of a better life, the lure of discovery, the wide open spaces so dear to the French, the presence of fellow countrymen in the receiving lands. Indeed, in 1851 we find him at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets with one of his French friends, Jean Legardien, and his wife Marie Letouzé, aged 39 and 36 respectively, together with their daughter Marie-Victorine; at that year’s census he was living with them in a small wooden house. The Legardien-Letouzé family very probably came from Créances: in our searches of the civil registers of that Norman commune, a great many of these surnames appear.

He adapted well to his new life, so well that on 23 November 1852 he married Liliose Baril, a young woman of 18, daughter of Michel Baril and Julie Lanouette; Jean Legardien was a witness at his wedding, as was another friend, Louis Duccini. We have found traces of a man named Louis Duccini, born at Caen, Normandy, in 1820, who died in 1885 at Dubuque (Iowa) and was buried in Linwood Cemetery; it is plausible that this is the same man, a Norman of the same age, who would have been drawn to the western plains.

We believe he was curious, cautious and thoughtful by nature; he first tried growing melons and then, encouraged by his success, tomatoes; he had observed that the soil along the river was rich and light, and that the climate, moderated by the river, would favour the crop.

In 1860, Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier and his father-in-law Michel Baril acknowledged owing Élie Godin the sum of 26 pounds, 18 shillings and 2 sols for goods sold to them; only Michel Baril, however, mortgaged his land as security. This was lot 14, very close to the present-day Plage Laurentienne. We do not know what the goods were, but one may suppose that so large a sum was connected with farm equipment, and that his father-in-law stood surety for him.

In the late 1860s he probably lived at Deschambault, where Victorine and Émile were born.

At the 1871 census the Lelaidier family was living at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets; it consisted of Jean-Baptiste, 51; his wife Léosa (Liliose), 37; Alphonse, 18; Victor, 15; Octave, 12; Eugénie, 9; Victorine, 2; Émile, 8 months.

In 1882 the census revealed that the Lelaidier family, now with Auguste as well, occupied the same house as his parents-in-law, along with Raisenne Brisson, a navigator and nephew of Julie Lanouette (wife of Michel Baril): 15 people under one roof!

On the voters’ lists of 1886 and 1889, Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier was the owner of lot 14, which had previously belonged to his father-in-law.

At the 1891 census he was living in Trois-Rivières, in the Notre-Dame ward, and is listed as a farmer and gardener; it was probably at this period that he worked as a gardener for Bishop Cooke of Trois-Rivières.

In 1896 Jean-Baptiste Lelaidier guaranteed a life annuity of $50.00 to his son Auguste upon his accession to the order of the subdiaconate; as security for payment he mortgaged all his property, including the land of lot 14 with all its buildings, valued at $1,200.00.

He died in 1903, at the venerable age of 85; he had had time to see the tomato industry flourish and the tomato cannery built; he was a very important driving force in the economic and social life of the whole region.

The Lelaidier-Baril couple had several children:

– Jean-Baptiste, in 1853, died in infancy
– Alphonse, in 1854, navigator
– Victor in 1855
– Octave in 1858, blacksmith and then market gardener.
– Eugénie in 1861, schoolteacher
– Eugène in 1864, physician at Deschaillons
– Victorine in 1868, schoolteacher
– Émile in 1870, physician at St-Edouard-de-Lotbinière
– Auguste in 1873, priest, director of the seminary of Trois-Rivières, founder of the parish of Sainte-Cécile de Trois-Rivières.

– Eugénie, born in 1861 at Deschambault, was a schoolteacher; in 1891 she married Oscar Beauchemin, and the couple had 6 children, among them Gabrielle (1892-1985) and Charles-Auguste (1898-1965); she died in 1950.

– Gabrielle Beauchemin married Joseph Lemay (1890-1980) in 1915, a horticulturist and tomato grower; they would have 8 children, including Jean-Marcel; among their descendants, let us mention Gaëtan, Guy, Louise and Christiane.

– Charles-Auguste, for his part, was the father of Gérald Beauchemin, who is still living at Saint-Pierre.