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Pelletier Genealogy

 

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Cyrias Pelletier

12/18/1868 - 2/3/1956

Cyrias Pelletier

 Cyrias Pelletier was born on December 18, 1868, in St. Epiphane, Riviere Du Loup, Quebec, Canada.  This town is located in northern Quebec, on the Hudson Bay.  Riviere Du Loup translates into River Of The Wolf. Parents of Cyrias were Francois Pelletier and Aglac Lajoie-Normandine.

 When he was a young boy he was told by his parents to pick up another child, while carrying this child Cyrias fell and the child fell on top of him.  He injured his hip during this fall and the doctor told the parents to keep him in bed for a number of weeks till the hip mended.  The hip hurt so bad with it straight out that he kept his leg bent.  This was the cause of Cyrias needing a cane to walk in later life and thus the origin of the name his grandchildren called him "Grampy Cane".  If it hadn't been for this problem, he would have stood close to six feet tall.

While living in Quebec, Canada he learned the art of shoe making, which he would fall back on later in life. From all information I could gather Cyrias went to school in Canada (it is not known how many grades he completed) and moved to Salem, MA in 1899. It is not known if Cyrias came to Salem directly from Quebec or if he had first settled at another location. He first appears in the Salem Directory in 1899 and at that time he was listed as a shoemaker and living at 14 Congress Street. His brother Zachee also arrived at the same time in Salem and it appears they came together. It does not look like the shoe industry was of any interest for Zachee, his first listed profession was a clerk. From 1900 to 1904 Cyrias was listed as a shoemaker and lived at a number of locations on Congress Street, the address’s being 14, 30 & 10. In 1904 he moved to 16E Gardner Street, Salem but stayed there for just a short time. In 1905 Cyrias can be found living back on Congress Street living at #39 where he lived up through 1911. The last location that the family lived before being burned out by the Salem Fire of 1914 was at   6 Congress Street. In 1907 Cyrias is listed as a laster in the shoe industry and maintained that position for the rest of his time in Salem.

Zachee lived at 24 Congress Street and 15 Harbor Street from 1901 to 1906 and was listed as a clerk, Insurance Solicitor and a Box Maker. He was no longer listed in the directory after 1906. From the stories that have been passed down he had moved to Rhode Island and did not marry until late in life. I find only one Zachee Pelletier listed in the Social Security Records being born in 1879 and dieing in February 1964, in Maine, I feel that there is a good chance that this is the brother of Cyrias.

After the Great Salem Fire in 1914 the family moved to Lynn, MA.  At this time Lynn was the Shoe Capital of the World and there was no problem in getting work in one the many factories.  Cyrias worked in the shoe industry in Lynn until his retirement.

He had a brother and a sister that also moved to the United States from their home in Canada.  His brother Zachee lived in Blackstone, Rhode Island and got married late in life, I would guess about 1920.  He also had a sister that lived in the Springfield, MA area.

There was no mention of his parents as the family was growing up, it is not known whether they were still alive or not.  Cyrias did make trips back to Canada, but again it is not known who he was going back to visit.

His favorite pass time was playing the card game cribbage, when he could find a partner, or solitaire if he was alone.  He smoked a pipe, which I can still smell to this day, and yes he had a spittoon.  My Grandmother Elmina drew the line on this and made him clean it himself.  He also liked his whiskey, which was known to get out of control at times.  Cyrias had a nasty temper which created some family problems over the years.

 

 

Marie Elmina Sister

5/1/1875 - 8/23/1948

Marie Elmina Sister

 

 The name Sister was originally Levasseur, and was changed in the mid 1800's.  The records also show the name Vasseur being used at times.  Soeur is sister in French, I feel that is how the name Sister was derived.  

Marie Elmina Sister was born in Richmond, VT, on May 1, 1875.  She married Cleophas Carrier May 7, 1894 in Richmond VT.  They had a total of four children, two of which died at a young age.  When Cleophas became ill with TB of the throat (?) he wanted to go back to Canada to die at his home.  Elmina, Cleophas and the two children returned to Quebec in about 1899 to live with his family.  When he died, Elmina could not find any work to support her family in Canada.  She left her children with relatives in Canada, to care for them.  She then moved to Salem, MA where she got a job in the Cotton Mills on Congress St. 

               

Now that she had a way to support her family, she returned to Canada to move her children down to Salem.  The Carrier relatives that had been caring for the two children refused to let Elmina take them unless she paid for the room and board expense, for the time that they were at their homes.  Elmina did not have that kind of money and had to leave her children in Canada to be raised by the Carrier relatives. 

Elmina returned to Salem, MA and married Cyrias Pelletier October 21, 1901, a shoeworker that had moved from Quebec also.  They lived and raised their family on Congress St, in Salem, across the street from the old mills.  They were forced to move as a result of the Great Salem Fire of 1914.  The family lived for a short time in tents on the present day Salem Commons, then they were moved to the present day Forest River Park (located near Salem State College) and continued living in tents until they moved to Lynn.  The Pelletier family lived at 99 Collins St, a three story flat top, in Lynn until the late 1940's.  This house still stands today but the top floor (where the Pelletiers lived) was removed a number of years ago.

 

 

Descendants of Marie Elmina Sister & Cyrias Pelletier