Here is the story of a large family of 16 children of Arthur Messier and Marie-Jeanne Lapierre, the 18 born in St-Hyacinthe.

 

Arthur and Marie Jeanne worked in the same factory, the Penmen's with some of their sisters, making the great suits that our grandparents wore to protect themselves from the cold.

 

This is where the two future sisters-in-law met. My father's sister invited Marie-Jeanne to come home for a family party. At that time, we made our wine. We did not have the right to buy some. Arthur pulled out a bottle of wine with a glass in his hands. When my mother took it from her hands, everyone thought it was funny. That's how their story began.

 

Grandpa Joseph was working on the railroad to replace the sizes (big pieces of square wood) that supported the rails, when they were not strong enough. They were 2 on a taco, one in front of the other, lowering and each raising the lever to move it forward. There was no engine at that time. Everything was done by hand.

 

My grandmother, Georgiana Perron, wanted to go to the St. Joseph sisters. Since my grandfather had just lost his first wife while giving birth to a child, on April 9, 1915, she wanted to help him. This relationship turned to a wedding on January 17, 1916 in St-Hyacinthe. There remained 3 children to Joseph of the 7 that his first wife had given him. Georgiana had 9 others. My father was the eldest. They lived happily!

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My grandparents lived on a farmhouse near the railroad and a pigsty. One day the man in the pigsty gave the young Arthur, my father, a little pig to kill him. The sow had too many cubs for the number of her breasts. There was one smaller than the others which was too much. My father put the little pig in his warm, short coat and brought it home. It was fed with the milk of the cows of the farmhouse.

 

My grandmother was getting up at 5 am to light the stove and go to 6 pm Mass. As my uncle Gerard slept in the room near the kitchen, the little pig went near his bed, and he grumbled a little. My uncle took it and put it near him. They slept face to face until my grandmother returned. She had tamed him for not going into the living room.

 

They also had chickens. One day, my grandfather's brother, Jean-Baptiste, came to see him. He was offered to sit on the rocking chair. All of a sudden, a hen enters at the same time as a child and she puts herself in front of him while cocotating. After a few seconds, Jean-Baptiste says, will you tell me what she wants? Jos says to her: Get up and see what she's going to do. Grandpa put his parka on the rocker. The hen climbed on it, laid her egg and left. Every day she was used to laying her egg here.

 

That's how our father learned to live with nature and us too. Even with the wild animals, that our father and we were going to look in the woods opposite, on the other side of the street. In the bottom of the land, there was wood at that time. We were going to dig holes of foxes, raccoons or whistlers (marmots). We also brought a skunk to practice the veterinary apprentices to operate the animals. After, they were like a cat in the house. I got up at night to make the little foxes drink with my doll bottle. Then I put them in their box, under the wood stove, very warm.

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By taking them small, they got used to us. They came in and out of the house for their needs while there was someone opening the door. We used them like a dog. As we were 16 children, there were leftovers to feed them. We did not buy any animal food!

 

We used to live together. In the house, everyone contributed in his own way. The older ones had to set a good example for the youngest and take charge. The girls helped our mother and the boys did the more demanding work. It was his turn to wash and dry the dishes.

 

As our father had learned to build houses with his father and half-brother, one day he bought a cottage on the banks of the Yamaska ​​River, near the boundaries of St. Damase, and isolated it for the winter.

 

You will understand that we were not rich. All means were good to survive. He sold fish at the St-Hyacinthe and Granby markets. He went to Montreal for fish, frogs' legs and eels to sell them.

 

We took the boxes of fish and sawed them in boards of 18 inches to put over the mineral wool between the "stods", everywhere on the walls. It was quite a "job" before putting the large sheets of gyproc 4' x 8', filling the joints and painting everything, thereafter. That's what our father and we did between the compulsory work of every day.

 

That's how our father went from being a drugmaker to an insurance agent, a fish salesman, a taxi company owner, even 2, mink farmers, night watchman to 3 auto shops, etc. while staying in Douville.

 

We were surrounded by farmers where we would pick strawberries and break small beans. The older ones went to hay. We did all of this to help our mother pay for our books, notebooks, clothes and everything for school. We went to school on foot. We were often first class. Our parents were proud of us. Priests helped us pay for the classical and university courses of my brothers.

 

Today, my brothers and sisters are doing well by occupying different functions in life: a chiro, a teacher in forest engineering, an accounting, a biological culture, a road transport, a upholsterer furniture, one was good in painting, a babysitter and pet therapy for the elderly, etc. Everyone has made himself useful in life, making a very good living. We learned to do everything, not waste, while helping others.

 

Our mother also taught us to be disciplined and to do our job well. She rewarded us. She was doing a lot of food and sewing. When she mended, it almost did not appear.

 

We were happy with ourselves and there was joy between us.

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Claire Messier