Eleude James Michaud

Eleude James Michaud
Nationality:	Canadian (British subject)
Born:	December 5, 1868 St. Andre, county of Mamagnic, Canada
Died:	, 1984 Livermore Falls, Maine
Father:	Andre Michaud
Mother:	Adele Soucy Michaud
Spouse:	Unknown, died in childbirth Adelaide Gousse
Married:	1887 or 1888 1890
Children:	Onesime, died as baby Wilfred,died as baby Eleude, died as baby Adelard died as baby Elaine,died as baby Rosa Yvonne Michaud Ida Michaud Alcide (Jim) Michaud Aldea Michaud Rosime, died as a baby Lumina Michaud Alfreda Michaud
Religion:	Roman Catholic (RC)
Residence:	Lewiston, Maine Chisholm, Maine Keegan, Maine
Profession:	Night watchman for Central Maine Railroad

Eleude's Life

N.B. The following account was written by Rosa herself, in response to requests by her children and grandchildren to talk about the "olden days". Only spelling and grammatical changes have been made for clarity. The facts above have been gleaned from the story and other known facts.

"My father was born on Dec 5, 1868 in St Alexandre, county of Mamagnic, Canada, the son of Andre and Adele Soucy Michaud into a family of 14 children. The night my father was born it was a stormy winter night. Shortly after my grandmother began labor, the house caught on fire. As the nearest farm was 10 miles away, the only place for shelter was the barn. So, my father was born in a manger on December 5, 1868.

My father had seven sisters: Exite Michaud St Onge, married to Joe; Adeline Michaud St Onge, married to Alphonse; Marance Michaud Fournier, married to George; Matilde Michaud Derouier, married to Onesime; Celina Michaud Roy, married to Joe; Louise Michaud LaPointe, married to Omer; and Annie Michaud Carr, married to George. My father also had seven brothers: Andre, died as an infant; Joseph, wife Odilie Paradite; Alphonse, wife Mary Bourgette; Johnny, wife Anna Paradic; Eleude; Andre, wife Anna Beauregard; and Horace, wife Josephine Potvin.

When he was a young boy, my father’s family came to the United States and settled in Lewiston, where he grew up. At the age of 9, he was what they called a water boy for Hills Cotton Mills, carrying water in a pail, giving a drink to whomever was thirsty. In those days, there were no water fountains in the mill.

At the age of 19, he married, although I can’t recall the girl’s name. She died of childbirth a year later, and the baby boy died with her.

Eleude and Adelaide's Marriage

At the age of 22, he married my mother, who was only 15 years old. My mother and father had ttwelve children – 5 boys and 7 girls. However, four boys and one girl died as babies before I was born – they were Onesime, Wilfred, Eleude, Adelard and a little girl, Elaine. This must have been very difficult on my parents. I was born on February 8, 1900 in Lewiston, Maine, on a very cold night. I was the first of my parents’ children to live past the age of a baby.

When I was eight months old, my folks moved from Lewiston to Chisholm, where I grew up on Main St. There was a nice young girl who worked in our house: Aldea Beaudette. My mother had her help in the house and care for us children. Later, in 1905, my sister Aldea was born and was named for her. I remember that night. When my sister was baptized, Aldea Beaudette became her godmother, and later entered the convent.

My father was a night watchman for Maine Central Railroad, in the roundhouse right across the street from Chabot’s. There was what they call a round table – my father backed the engine onto it, to turn the engine. I had a good time playing on the train when I was young.

One spring, my father bought a little farm in East Jay, but my mother did not like it there. I went to school in a little schoolhouse that Herbert Fuller later turned into a nice home of his own. I remember my sister Ida and I picking strawberries with an old, gentleman named Parker Smith. He would talk to us in English and we would answer in French. The following fall we moved back to Chisholm, and the following spring we moved back to East Livermore, because my mother said she would try again. Unfortunately, it was no better, because my father was a night watchman. He was gone at night, and would sleep during the day, so we were alone all the time.

The second time we moved back to town, my father bought a house from Pierre Bolduc, which is the house where Altaire Legere lives today. Pierre Bolduc and his wife became my sister Ida’s godparents."