New Places.

Edesse's father is noted in the 1861 Canadian census in LaPrairie. But four months later her husband had the grim business of appearing at the church to witness the burial record of Paul Mondou. (Her mother Marie-Genevieve Poupart passed in 1876.)

In this census the Narcisse Petelle’s still lived in their two-story brick home on Saint-Joseph where they kept a milk cow. Narcisse was 38 and Edesse 28, neither could read or write. Their son Narcisse, 7, was in school, and Marie Hermine, 5 and Charles Samuel, 2 were at home. As mentioned previously, little Charles died that year on 12 November 1861. But the family was again blessed by the healthy birth of Marie Genevieve Mathilda on 13 February 1862. Two years later, our ancestor Joseph was baptized on 18 July 1864 in Notre-Dame-Cathédrale de Montréal.

Narcisse disappears from the Montréal city directories from 1867 to 1868. His son, Joseph Edouin Petel was baptized at St. Patrick's Church in Rouse's Point, New York on 13 August 1867. His godparents were Edesse's sister Juliene Mondou and her husband François Faille. This community was on a direct train route about 44 miles from Montréal, but it is unclear precisely why they chose this brief move south. Edesse's brother lived there earlier, and large numbers of Québeçois were emigrating to factories in New England; perhaps they were testing the waters.

1871 Census in Montréal.

They returned to Montréal before June 1869, briefly living with his brother Paul on St. Bonaventure. Another child was added; son Charles Francis was baptized on April 13, 1870. His godparents were Charles Charbonneau and his wife Elmire Riel, who was Narcisse's niece.

Charbonneau's first wife was Edesse's sister Mathilda Mondou who died in August 1860 weeks after the birth of a daughter. Charles, left with young children, remarried in May 1861. His new wife was Elmire Riel , the 20-year-old daughter of Marcelline Petelle (Narcisse's older sister) and Jean-Baptiste Riel. Riel had died just weeks before Elmire was born, and Marcelline remained a widow. And so in the 1871 census the Charbonneau home consisted of Charles, a foreman, Elmire, and her widowed mother Marcelline, 58, her grandmother Charlotte Pinsonneau, 79, the widow of Joseph Petel, and her aunt Martine, 36. None of the adults could read or write. The Charbonneau children were Matilda, 12, Elmire, 8, and Marie Louise, 6, all going to school. The family group occupied a house at 244 Saint-Joseph street, but appear in the city directory a few months later on Rolland.

monmap St-Joseph Bonaventure Rolland St-Urbain Chenneville ChasBarromme St-Paul Commissioner market hubert Lagauch

Narcisse and Edesse made their home at 13 Rolland Lane by April 1871 as they are found there in the census. He was trying his hand as a carter, delivering goods in a cart. Son Rocque was an apprentice imprimeur, perhaps to Charles Lauzon, a printer who lived next door. Hermine and Matilda, were in school, which left our ancestor Joseph, 7, and brothers Edwin, 4, and Charles, 1 at home.

But soon Narcisse and Edesse pondered a more dramatic move for their family. The decision was an important one to the future of their children. In July 1871 they immigrated to the United States.

Narcisse's mother Charlotte remained in Montréal. Years later she would receive the sad news of the death of her son in Milwaukee for she lived to the age of 90. She continued to stay with her daughter Martine, who apparently never married. Her son Régis' butcher business had grown; R. Petelle & Company still had a presence in the Saint-Lawrence Market. Charlotte was last recorded in the 1881 census in the Sainte-Anne Ward of Montréal. She died the 10th of August 1882 and was buried three days later in a family plot in the Cimitière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges in Montréal.