(Number 93 - Spring 2017)

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Mark your calendars: September 15, 16, 17, 2017. Our 30th Racine Family Association reunion will be held in St. Anne Des Plaines. Gerard Racine, a member of our Association Council, and his team will welcome us. Please read the details in this issue of our newsletter.

As is too often the case in recent years, we are saddened by the deaths of two very active members of our Association. Roger Racine, a member of our current Administrative Council, passed away this spring. Roger and his wife, Yolande Huppe, also a Council member, were responsible for the Racine reunion in Montreal in 2010. This week we were saddened by the departure of Fernande Mathieu, wife of Jean-Paul Racine. Fernande and Jean-Paul have been active in the Association since it was established. They were the sponsors of more than one of our family reunions. Fernande was always extremely supportive of Jean-Paul’s work with the Association Council where he served many years as archivist. The Association offers its sincere condolences to Yolande and to Jean-Paul.

Our annual sugar shack party in St. Hyacinthe was again a success. This year, another Racine family sugar shack party was held in Casselman, Ontario to accommodate family members in Ontario. We can say that our family has a “sweet tooth”!

We will again be holding elections for our Administrative Council during our reunion in September. Please consider offering your time and talent to serve our Association.

See you in September.

Celine Racine Paquette, President SUMMARY

President’s message 1 Ancestors of Étienne Racine 16 In Memoriam 2 Our next reunion 18 Racinades 6 Annual General Assembly 20 A beautiful story 9

1

IN MEMORIAM

- GEORGES RACINE, husband of Denise Girouard, son of the late Aimé Racine and of the late Mary Paul, deceased at Salaberry-de-Valleyfield on 3 April 2016 at age 78;

- GILLES MARINEAU, widower of Yvette Racine, deceased at l’Hôpital du Centre-de-la-Mauricie on 4 May 2016 at age 85. Gilles was a founding member of our Association in 1987. He and Yvette organised our 2002 reunion in Shawinigan. Blessed with a beautiful voice, he often rendered a moving rendition of Panis Angelicus at our reunions;

- MARIE-FRANCE RACINE, deceased at Joliette on 1 September 2016 at age 63;

- JACQUELINE CÔTÉ, deceased at l’Hôpital Saint-François d’Assise, Québec City on 29 September 2016 at age 88;

- JACQUELINE RACINE, widow of Jean-Marie Côté, daughter of the late Willie Racine and of the late Marie-Anne Sansfaçon, deceased at l’Hôpital Saint-François d’Assise, Québec City, on 29 September 2016 at age 88;

- J. RÉAL RACINE, husband of Laurenne Trudeau, son of the late Alphonse Racine and of the late Florestine Legault, deceased at Gatineau on 30 September 2016 at age 90;

- MARGUERITE BINETTE, widow of Raymond Racine, deceased at Châteauguay on 30 September 2016 at age 91;

- GISÈLE RACINE, daughter of the late Racine and of the late , deceased at Montréal on 30 October 2016 at age 81;

- CHARLOTTE RACINE, widow of Armand Beaubien, daughter of the late Joseph Racine and of the late Joséphine Janvier, deceased at CHSLD Côté-Jardins, Québec City, on 8 November 2016 at age 86;

- MAURICE RACINE, husband of Réjeanne Dugrenier, son of the late Philémon Racine and of the late Mary Marcoux, deceased at Sherbrooke on 16 November 2016 at age 87;

- RACHEL RACINE, wife of Yvan Bouchard, daughter of the late Gérard Racine and of Marcelle Côté, deceased at Saint-Jérôme on 21 November 2016 at age 67;

- CLAUDE RACINE, deceased at Montréal on 24 November 2016 at age 68;

- LISE RACINE, partner of the late Normand Maltais, deceased at Montréal on 28 November 2016 at age 82;

- JACQUES RACINE, husband of Yolande Aubin, son of the late Adonai Racine and of the late Aurore Corbeil, deceased at Saint-Jérôme on 30 November 2016 at age 83;

- THÉRÈSE RACINE, widow of Raymond Huot, daughter of the late Émile Racine and of the late Cécile Poulin, deceased at l’Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, Québec City, on 3 December 2016 at age 84;

2

- GABRIEL RACINE, widower of Cécile Perth, son of the late Rolland Racine and of the late Osine Cyr, deceased at Saint-Jérôme on 5 December 2016 at age 73;

- LISE RACINE, wife of Alain Desrosiers, daughter of the late Osias Racine and of the late Alphonsine Gaboury, deceased at CHSLD/CHRDL at Saint-Charles-Borromée on 10 December 2016 at age 75;

- RAYMOND BOIES, husband of Emma Racine, of Beaupré, deceased at l’Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, Québec City on 20 December 2016 at age 86;

- RÉJEAN RACINE, widower of Laurianne Verreault and partner of Doris Nadeau, son of the late Philippe Racine and of the late Clarisse Côté, deceased at l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne de Beaupré on 24 December 2016 at age 75;

- YVES RACINE, son of the late Noël Racine and of Thérèse Pérusse, deceased at Saint-Basile de Portneuf on 1 January 2017 at age 52;

- DIANE RACINE, daughter of the late Gérard Racine and of the late Gisèle Racicot, deceased on 8 January 2017 at age 71;

- HELENE BRISSON, wife of Armand Racine, deceased in January 2017 in Ottawa at age 87. Hélène and Armand were members of our Association for many years and participated in our trip to Normandy in September 1989.

- ALAIN RACINE, husband of Caroline Caron, son of the late Yvan Racine and of Thérèse Pruneau, deceased at Québec on 10 January 2017 at age 54;

- BERNARD RACINE, husband of Suzanne Paradis, son of the late Joseph Racine and of the late Marie-Jeanne Girard, deceased at l’Hôpital L’Enfant-Jésus, Québec City, on 18 January 2017 at age 72;

- RÉAL RACINE, husband of Diane Pomminville, son of the late Arthur Racine and of the late Marie-Ange Boisvert, deceased at Saint-Jérôme on 20 January 2017 at age 76;

- JOANNE RACINE, wife of Daniel Landriault, daughter of Wilfrid Racine and of Jeannine Gour, of Lefaivre (Ontario), deceased on 20 January 2017 at age 51;

- GENEVIÈVE RACINE, partner of Marc Lajeunesse, daughter of Alain Racine and Lucie Audette, deceased at Montréal on 25 January 2017 at age 41;

- NADIA RACINE, daughter of Hélène Racine, deceased at Gatineau on 25 January 2017 at age 34;

- MARJORIE ANNE DEMELL, wife of Marcel Racine, of Rapide-des-Joachims, deceased at Deep River and District Hospital on 4 February 2017 at age 81;

- GUY RACINE, husband of Louise Cimon, son of the late Joseph Racine and of the late Thérèse Dion, deceased at l’Institut universitaire de cardiologie and of pneumologie de Québec on 13 February 2017 at age 82. Mr. Racine is a former president of the Sainte-Foy chamber of Commerce and anadministrator of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Canada. He was the uncle of Denis Racine, our association’s genealogist;

3

Guy Racine, intendant of a duchy, dancing with Princess Grace of Monaco, the guest of honour at the Queen’s Ball of the Carnaval de Québec, Québec City, February 1969.

- CLAIRE RACINE, wife of Raymond-Guy Rochefort, daughter of the late Joseph Racine (who was president of Terreau & Racine, of Québec City) and of the late Claudia Guy, deceased at Laval on 14 February 2017 at age 85;

- DENISE RACINE, wife of Denis Gougeon, daughter of the late Eugène Racine and of the late Rose-Emma St-Amour, deceased at Notre-Dame de Pontmain on 15 February 2017 at age 66;

- WILLIAM RACINE, husband of Jeanne d’Arc Godin, son of the late William Racine and of the late Olivine Perrault, deceased at la Maison Paul-Triquet, Québec City on 17 February 2017 at age 94. Mr. Racine was a longtime member of our Association. He was a school commissioner of the Tilly regional school board;

- LUCIENNE RACINE, widow in a first instance of Laurent Guertin, wife in a second marriage of Raymond Lemieux, daughter of the late Émile Racine and of the late Philomène St-Roch, deceased at l’Hôpital du Haut-Richelieu, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, on 18 February 2017 at age 86;

- LAURIER RACINE, partner of Claire Grenier-Robert, son of the late Racine and of , décédé on 23 February 2017 at l’Hôpital de Cowansville at age 89;

- RUTH LEMAIRE, widow of Gordon Racine, of Bryson, deceased at Montréal on 28 February 2017 at age 72;

- THÉRÈSE RACINE, widow of Henri-Paul Grondin, daughter of the late Albert Racine and of the late Zelpha Labarre, deceased at Drummondville on 2 March 2017 at age 95;

- BIANCA CAUCHON-RACINE, conjointe de Nicolas Verreault, daughter of Richard Racine and of Martine Cauchon, de Château-Richer, deceased accidentally at l’Ange Gardien on 12 March 2017 at age 26;

- LUCIE RACINE, daughter of Jean Racine and of the late Thérèse Gagnon, deceased at Longueuil on 19 March 2017 at age 61;

- SERGE RACINE, son of the late Armand Racine and of the late Julia Legault, deceased at Sutton on 20 March 2017 at age 61;

- LUC RACINE, husband of Mariette Deschamps, son of the late Réal Racine and of the late Lucille Dupuis, deceased at Cazaville on 21 March 2017 at age 62. He is the brother of Pierre Racine of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, a member and director of our Association.

4

- NOELLA LAFRANCE, widow of Vianney Racine, deceased at Lachute on 9 April 2017 at age 89;

- LORENZO RACINE, husband of Juliette Grossinger, son of the late Hermas Racine and of the late Alphonsine Gratton, deceased at Saint-Jérôme on 11 April 2017 at age 90;

- AUGUSTE RACINE, husband of Lucette Gravel, son of the late Joseph Racine and of the late Catherine Brennan, deceased at l’Hôpital de Val d’or on 23 April 2017 at age 80;

- ROGER RACINE, husband of Yolande Huppé, son of the late Héliodore Racine and of the late Anne Roy, deceased at Mirabel on 26 April 2017 at age 83. Roger and Yolande are longtime members of our Association and both were on our administrative council;

- MARIE RACINE, daughter ofthe late Ephrem Racine and the late Flora Bédard, deceased at l’Hôpital de Granby on 8 May 2017 at age 93. She had created and written the following Radio-Canada childrens’ shoes: La Souris verte and Tape- Tambour. - MICHEL RACINE, husband of Diane St-Laurent, son of the late Prime Racine and of Lisette Hamelin, deceased at l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec on 11 May 2017 at age 54;

- RÉJANE RACINE, wife of Normand Loignon, deceased at l’Hôpital de Granby on 21 May 2017 at age 84;

- CLAIRE PELLETIER, widow of Maurice Racine, deceased at l’île Perrot on 22 May 2017 at age 92. Claire and Maurice were members of our Association for many years.

- FERNANDE MATHIEU, wife of Jean-Paul Racine, deceased at l’Hôtel-Dieu de Saint-Hyacinthe on 26 May 2017 at age 91. We knew Fernande well, who with Jean-Paul were founding members of our Association.

- THÉRÈSE RACINE, widow of Charles-Eugène Lessard, daughter of the late Louis Racine and of the late Alice Lachance, deceased au CHSLD Champlain-des-Montagnes on 2 June 2017 at age 86;

Note: We thank Pierre Racine for his collecting obituary information.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- RACINADES

TRAGIC DEATH IN THE QUÉBEC REGION

On 12 March 2017, Bianca Cauchon-Racine of Château-Richer, age 26, lost control of her snow machine on a curve on snowmobile route No. 3 at l’Ange Gardien. She crashed into a metal post. Rescuers were able to extract her and take her to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

JONATHAN RACINE WITH THE MONTRÉAL CANADIENS

5

The Montréal Canadiens hockey club acquired defenceman Jonathan Racine from the Florida Panthers on 8 October 2016. Jonathan will join the Canadiens’ American Hockey League team at Saint John New Brunswick. Origininally from Montréal, 23-year-old Jonathan played with the Cataractes de Shawinigan in the Québec Major Junior Hockey League, who won the Memorial Cup in 2012. He was drafted by the Florida Panthers and played one game with them in the 2013-2014 season and last season he got six assists in 69 games with the Portland Pirates (Maine, USA).

FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE, MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE OF CANADA

The Federal Cabinet presently has two ministers whose mothers are Racines. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is the daughter of Laurette Racine. François-Phillippe Champagne, MP for Saint-Maurice since the last federal election of 19 October 2015, was appointed Minister of International Commerce on 10 January 2017. He is the son of Lucille Racine of Québec City. Mr. Champagne is a lawyer whose career took him to Zurich (Switzerland), Genoa (Italy) and London (Great Britain).

COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE FOR ABRAHAM MARTIN

In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its creation on 2008 the National Battlefields Commission, which looks after the Plains of Abraham in Québec City, commissioned sculptor Nicole Taillon to create a bas-relief in bronze in the effigy of Abraham Martin. He was the father of Marguerite Martin, wife of Étienne Racine. Abraham arrived in New France in 1618 with his wife Marguerite Langlois from Dieppe in Normandy.

The plaque measures 66 by 40.7 cms.

Mrs Taillon’s website describes the monument as follows: Representing Abraham Martin dit l’Écossais (1589-1664), famed settler, royal pilot and naval captain on the St Lawrence River, who pastured his flock on the fields of the plain and after whose name these plains in Québec City were named. The landscape is taken from a scale version of a watercolour painting of George Heriot, Plaines d’Abraham, in approximately 1795. A ship sailing on the St Lawrence River is in the background. Because there is no actual visual interpretationof Abraham Martin, the figure is shown in period costume. The arm extended to the horizon towards a ship is testimony to his prime occupation

THREE NEW LAWYERS

The Québec Bar Association accepted three new lawyers in 2016. These are Francis Laperrière-Racine, Alima Sadiya Racine and Pierre-Luc Racine. Congratulations!

YVES RACINE: HOCKEY PLAYER AND BUSINESSMAN

6

Québec City’s Le Soleil daily devoted one page in its 6 March 2017 edition to the career transition of Yves Racine. Yves was an NHL hockey player for 9 years, beginning in 1987, with the Detroit Red Wings, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Montréal Canadiens, the San Jose sharks, the Calgary Flames and the Tampa Bay Lightning. He then played a further six years in Europe. After hockey h became a businessman. He has been managing director for 10 years of Fixatech inc. Which specializes in the production of nails, staples and tools and which employs 23 people. He is also involved in the Humania housing project, which produces nature-friendly accommodation in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, a suburb of Québec City. The project has a value of $100.

KARL ANTHONY RACINE, LAWYER

Born in Haïti in 1963, the son of Etzer Racine National Law Journal lists him as one of the and of Marie-Marcelle Buteau, he and his family most influential black attorneys in America. fled the country in 1966 because of dictator Duvalier. They settled in Washington (USA). He graduated from the University of Pennesylvania and went on to the University of Virginia to obtain a degree in law in 1989. He was in private practise until 1992, and then joined the District of Columbia Public Defender Service. Returning to private practise for a while after that, he became judicial counsellor for Clinton’s White House of Clinton. He then joined the Venable law firm in 2000 andwas made partner- manager in 2006, thus becoming the first african-American to lead one of the top 100 law firms in the country.

On 4 November 2014, he was elected Attorney General for the District of Columbia. The

7

A beautiful story

To speak of our parents, to draw a picture of them, means describing their family and their history at Saint-Joachim-de-Montmorency and the framework of upon which their lives were woven. Their personal characteristics are intertwined on the framework!

Anna was born in 1869. She was the twentieth and last child born to Louis- Joseph. Our father was born twenty-five years later, on 20 August 1894, at ‘La Blondelle’, a house almost on the shore at the confluence of the Blondelle River and the St-Lawrence. There were 17 living children: nine boys and eight girls. Three children died in infancy. Our father is one of the children of Éphrem and Rosalie. Éphrem would be the longest-lived of his family, dying at age eighty in 1984. Éphrem was father to 14 living children and three others who died in infancy. He was affectionately nicknamed “Bébé” by his siblings.

In the words of a French poet: “One is born a poet, but one becomes an orator”. Similarly, papa was not born a farmer, but he became one. His father Éphrem was determined that his son be educated, so Louis-Joseph graduated from the twelfth grade in 1912, at age 18, from the Collège de Saint- Anne-de-Beaupré. Louis-Joseph travelled to school via an electric train which serviced the Beaupré shores. He studied the liberal arts leading possibly to a career in medicine or law, such as a few of his Dorion, Gauthier Philippon and Vaillancourt relatives did some years later.

However, the death of his brother Charles in 1911 changed his destiny. His father Éphrem has designated Charles as inheritor of the farm. His mother Rosalie, who had been widowed since 1902, asked Louis-Joseph to look after the farm until Charles’ eight-year-old son Henri came of age. To ease the situation, mother Rosalie gave Louis-Joseph another farm of equal size. Obedient son that he was, Louis-Joseph became a farmer, to plow, seed and cultivate two long and narrow strips of land stretching from the Blondelle River estuary some 60 “arpents” back to the Sainte-Anne Falls.

In 1916, Louis-Joseph married Alexina Côté, one of the daughters of Joseph Côté and Emma Tremblay, owners of a sawmill, a flour mill and wool carding plant at the corner of Chemin Royal and Rue de l’Église at Saint-Joachim. At “La Blondelle”, the newlyweds had to look after two older persons: Isaïe Gagnon, an octogenarian who had been taken in by father Éphrem in his childhood, and Louis-Joseph’s mother Rosalie, who was 65 years old and was paralyzed. The new wife Alexina cared for them, with the occasional help from daughters of Rosalie, during her first two pregnancies. Alexina lost her first daughter in a premature birth and she lost her second child Clément to the Spanish Flu. Grandmother Rosalie died in May when Alexina was pregnant with her third child, Jeanne-d’Arc. In the years to follow, other children were born at “La Blondelle”: Simon, Rosalie, Lucille, Paul-Edmond, Clément and Conrad!

8

When Charles’ son Henri came of age in1926 and wanted to take over his farm, Louis-Joseph and Alexina had to find a house to live in because the farm that belonged to Louis-Joseph had no house or barn on it. Pressed for time and having to look after seven children while operating the farm, they were getting desperate. Luckily a house and outbuildings came available for sale halfway between the route de l’Église at le Chemin du Roy and the Chemin d'en Bas. The house was part of a farm formerly belonging to Férus Gagnon! The Gagnon farm had been under cultivation from 1843 to 1920 by the original owner and his heirs and was at that time being sub-divided into housing plots. The property consisted of four acres of land with a large stone house of the same dimensions as “La Blondelle”, some farm animals and carriages in the barn. Covering this land bordering the junction of the Ruisseau du Moulin and the Ruisseau des Graviers were orchards full of apples, plums, French cherries, lilacs, hydrangeas, and a large vegetable garden of great beauty. The sale was completed in the summer of 1928, a few months before the birth of Marie-Claire!

Although this house was not located on their farm, it did avoid for them the long months involved in waiting for a house and outbuildings to be built on the farm. In addition, this was a great relief for Alexina, who had greatly missed the hustle-bustle of life at the mill in the village. Alexina had always missed village life when she had moved to that house on the river some ten years earlier, a house which a long two miles from her home in the village. “La Blondelle” was a lovely house, but there were no passersby to visit the mill. Even long after she was married my mother would say that she was never bothered by the active life in the village!

In this new house, the family would continue to grow. Marie-Claire, Gustave, Victorin, Réal, Colette, Claude, Cécile and Lise would be born shortly after. It was also an unforeseen opportunity for both the parents and the children to live in the village while at the same time working on a farm away from the village. It was sometimes to travel back and forth to the farm, looking alter ten cows. There were, however some advantages: they could sell their farm products in the village, such as milk, cream, eggs, apples raspberries, strawberries etc. They were able to survive with a minimum of livestock, such as tenor eleven milking cows, two horses, thirty hens and a few pigs. And manpower was cheap: a growing family allowed them to produce and to sell directly in the village. Until the early 1950s, there were no cars, trucks, tractors. Haying was done by hand, with no mowers, rakes or loaders. #2

9

There was no need for a car. There electric train was only a thousand feet away and the train made a dozen return trips per day, in good weather or bad, carrying citizens, workers and students between Saint-Joachim and Québec. The train allowed us the opportunity to go to school in the village and to participate in all of the social and civic activities of the parish! And given the small size of the farming operation and the ample amount of labour available, I cannot remember the chores as being onerous and we always had free time after the supper hour. At six o’clock, we milked and fed the cows, the stable was cleaned, calves chickens and pigs were fed, and farm products were delivered to the village. All of us had some free time in the evenings. In the summer it was resting or reading on the balcony. The children and adolescents would play in the yard or the stables, ride their bicycles or play croquet in front of the house. In the winter we would go for walks in the snow or go to the sports centre for skating or playing hockey. And there was plenty of visiting with neighbours. Religious life also kept us busy. The advantage of living in the village is that the workday on a farm never ends. Our father had finishe grade 12 1912. In the thirties, not very many people had that much education. It was not by happenstance that father was made manager of the credit union, secretary of the school board and the municipality. Father was very well suited to those jobs, and our location in the village was conducive to his getting involved in civic activities. We often saw him meeting with citizens on credit union business in our house, both during the day and in the evenings. Although these were not high paying jobs, the supplementary income of a few hundred dollars per year helped the family budget and to help with the education of the children. In addition, the availability of the train allowed the children to go to schools in Beaupré, Saint- Anne or Québec. Without these exceptional conditions, it is hard to imagine how else our lives as children would have turned out. And such was our life on the Rue de l’Église! The above description of our parents shows how proud and determined they were. They were loving and generous people. He was recognized as a public person; she was intelligent, welcoming and energetic. It was therefore not surprising that people would stop to talk with Louis-Joseph or Alexina or the children; they met visitors from the “Côte”, Québec City, the Saguenay or Abitibi. And it was not an exaggeration to say that father’s older brothers Joseph and Albert, would compete to pick up our mother at the station in Québec City and take her to dinner at their homes when she would make an occasional shopping trip to the city.

We are impressed by the large number of brothers and sisters of our parents who visited the house on the rue de l’Église. The Côté siblings of our mother came for many stays at our house. But our best memories were of brothers and sisters of our father. They would come for the afternoon in the summertime to enjoy the country air. Uncle Arthur, who was mayor of the municipality for three years in the 1930s, owned a farm next to ours. We had excellent relations with he and his wife and children. And in the

10

1940s, brother Albert would drive his Cadillac LaSalle out to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré three or four times per year on Sunday mornings in order to make his devotions. He would then visit us to eat a delightful meal of pork chops and white sauce and to chat with his brother “Bébé”. This was a great occasion for the children because uncle Albert would visit our playhouses in the yard and he would give each of us a dime or a quarter if he was sufficiently impressed. Georges, Léonne and their son Gérard would take the 10:15 train to come visit and they would stay the whole day. We have many photos in our album to remember those days. And once per year, Ti- Georges would come over to do some minor jobs around the house, jobs for which our father had neither the time nor the talent. On our part, we visited uncle Georges every time we went to Québec City.

During the summers, Gérard and his parents would come to visit for a week when one of the children in our family would be at home. At least once per year, we waited impatiently for the train to bring out our aunt Apoline. She was a beautiful tall woman, friendly and loving, who loved to amuse with funny stories about her little brother “Bébé”. As for Jean-Baptiste, he would drive down from Abitibi every two years for a family visit. Being himself a manager of a credit union, he had much in common with our father. And the ever-faithful aunt Emma would visit our parents once a month. She had helped our mother through almost all of her childbirths, whether or not a doctor had been present. She would stay several days to help our parents with the family. This was a good payback for our mother, who had taken of the elderly in her first family home at La Blondelle!

Every Spring, we all went to our parents’ sugar shack near Sainte-Anne Falls. Éphrem and his eldest sons had built the sugar shack at the turn of the century. Our brother Victorin, who has the family « memory », relates that every year in early April siblings Joseph, Albert, Arthur, Apoline, Emma, Ludivine, etc. and some of their own children would make a trek to the sugar shack. They would travel via Côte de la Miche, Chemin de la Baie and Chemin des Chutes. These annual adventures helped to cement the bonds of the Racine family and to heal any hurts that had previously occurred in a boisterous childhood.

It is important to remember that our father was very engaged politically, He was not a member of any particular party, but he would support the individual based on his qualities. He was a Returning Officer for elections and he was never involved in the political organization of any candidate. At the provincial level, he voted successively for Adélard Godbout (Liberal), Maurice Duplessis(Unionist), Paul Sauvé (Unionist), Jean Lesage (Liberal), Daniel Johnson (Unionist), Robert Bourassa (Liberal) etc. We also remember father’s great esteem for Yves Prévost (Union Nationale), who was Minister of Municipal Affairs. At the Federal level, he voted for William Lyon Mackenzie King (Liberal), Louis Saint-Laurent (Liberal), John Diefenbaker (Conservative), Lester B. Pearson (Liberal), and Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal).

As for our mother, our most important memory was of her welcoming attitude and joie de vivre, her organizational skills and her ability to plan and thus render even the most boring tasks interesting. She brought a lot of enthusiasm to domestic and farm tasks, such as the potato harvest, beating the grain in the barn and the sugar shack. She always had secondary jobs to bring in as backups to break up the monotony of the main task. Whatever our family activities, from religious holidays to birthdays to short family trips, she was always in the lead to organize all of the details. We remember that at parties on Mardi Gras and mid-Lent she was very

11 mindful of the wishes of the Church by insisting that the dancers not wear masks. She was a marvelous orchestra director and under her direction there was rarely a bad note sounded!

Our brother Louis(Réal) read the following poem at our mother’s funeral:

Departure of the White Geese

She is gone Like her old companion At the departure of the white geese Leaving behind her As he had done A harvest of vivid memories Like the mountains in the Fall That surround the cemetery Where she will go to reunite him ! The first of a long flight They have known from time to time The warm breezes and the contrary winds The trip eventful and the route uncertain The softness of the nest where was born the rest of the world And later the perilous departures In the torment of the great capes ! But nothing ever stopped The seekers of the sun To pursue relentlessly A route straight and true In their infinite discoveries And to see them fly away In the sun of our autumns We can but dream Of a land of light and warmth For all their life Has spoken so well to us. (Translated from French original)

Louis (Réal), October 1988 In memory of Gustave, our brother. Lise and Claude Racine, 20 January 2017

12

ÉTIENNE RACINE’S ANCESTORS

We’ve fount it! As we had indicated in the last l’Enraciné, we found a document showing un Étienne Racine’s ancestors during our trip to Caen on 15-16 November 2016. It is a document dated 20 May 1663 (8E4692, f. 142).

On that date Étienne’s brother Marguerin Racine and nephew Noël Racine, son of the late Jean, were shown as inheritors of René Racine (their father and grandfather respectively). It was revealed that René had inherited from his father Pierre Racine, who had inherited from Guillaume Racine, who had inherited in part from Saturnin Racine, a priest. The business at hand was an undertaking to repay 15 sols annually to the treasury of the Parish of Saint-Saturnin de Piencourt, a neighbouring parish of Fumichon. Saturnin had undertaken the obligation on 9 September 1543 and it was transferred to René Racine on 28 May 1624.

This document of 28 May 1624 cited another document dated 23 May 1624, and both were further cited in a document of 1 July 1625, but we were unable to find the 28 May document in the civil registers. We know that René Racine, Étienne’s father, died between 1924 and 1928. It is therefore possible that René was already dead when he was mentionned in the 1 July 1625 document.

Here is a transcription of the document performed by expert genealogist Mrs. Myriam Provence, as translated from Old French:

On the twentieth day of may in the morning at piencourt in the year one thousand six hundred and three before the below functionaries

Were present marguerin Racine and noel Racine son of Jean . the said Jean and marguerin inheritors of Reney Racine. The said Rene inheritor of Pierre Racine. The said pierre Lacine [sic] inheritor of guillemin. The said guillemine [sic] inheritor in part of the late Saturnin Racine in life priest. The parties recognize and agree to paying each to the treasury of Saint Saturnin de piencourt as stipulated by philipe aubin and Jacques allo.. [unreable] treasurers of the said treasury. Specifically, fifteen sols tournois agreed to by master Saturnin Racine in an act passed by this administration on ninth day of September one thousand five hundred three in this administration The said Racines agree to continue payments in the same amount. It is affirmed that the undertaking was done without any pressure from the below officials. Done in the presence of Jean Le…. And Jean desmont de piencourt, witnesses

13

Racine Reunion 2017 BLAINVILLE, LAVAL AND STE-ANNE-DES-PLAINES Programme

Place: Days Inn Hotel 1136 boul. du Curé-Labelle, Blainville, (Québec) J7C 3J4

Tel: (450) 430-8950 Fax: (450) 430-8957

E-mail: [email protected]

Rooms 1 double bed =$105 (2 pers.) 2 double beds = $119 (4 pers.)

N.B. Reserve by telephone or e-mail and mention Rassemblement Racine

Directions: From Montréal, autoroute 15 north, exit 25 (1km) on Seigneurie then left on boul. du Curé-Labelle (2km). Hôtel is on the right.

FRIDAY 15 Septembre 2017:

Arrival: Friday 15 September in afternoon or early evening.

Check in and set up in room

Dinner at hotel restaurant.

SATURDAY 16 September 2017:

Breakfast at hotel restaurant

Registration.

9:30 am Administrative Council meeting in ¨Perle¨ Room.

11:30 am Lunch at hotel restaurant.

1 :00 pm Depart for bus tour of Place Bell de Laval.

2 :15 pm Depart for Ste-Anne-des-Plaines and guided tour of historical site.

Visit of Trait-Carré road where first Racines settled. Stop at Jean-Yves Racine’s for a welcome cocktail.

5:00 pm Mass at beautiful Ste-Anne-des-Plaines Church

6:00 pm Return to hotel for banquet dinner in ¨Rubis¨ Room

Address by our genealogist, Denis Racine

Entertainment

14

SUNDAY 17 September 2017:

10:00 am General Assembly of the Association

12:00 am Lunch at hotel. End of activities. Cost per person is $129. Make cheques payable to: Association des familles Racine and submit registration form before 1 August 2017 to: Gérard Racine, 371, 12e Rue, Laval, Québec, H7N 1S8

L'ENRACINÉ is a publication of the Racine Families’ Association (Québec) and of Radice (France). It is published two times per year and is mailed free of charge to each member of both associations.

THE RACINE FAMILIES’ ASSOCIATION is a non-profit organization constituted in accordance with “Loi sur les compagnies du Québec (Partie III)” in 1987. Its website is at www.genealogie.org/famille/racine

Seat: 3508, carré Rochon, Sainte-Foy, QC, Canada G1X 2C2 E-mail: [email protected]

Annual membership fees: Individual: CANADA: $20 CDN FRANCE 20 euros USA: $20 US Other countries: $20 US or 20 Euros

Member and partner: CANADA: $35 CDN FRANCE 35 euros USA: $35 US Other countries: $35 US or 35 Euros.

Administrative Council: President: Céline Racine-Paquette, Champlain (NY); 1st Vice-President: Jean-Louis Racine, Beloeil; 2nd Vice-President: Gérard Racine, Laval Treasurer: Jacques H. Racine, Kanata (Ont.); Secretary: Gilles Dupont, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield; Directors: Yolande Huppé, Montréal; François Racine, Granby; Denise Gratton, Embrun (Ont); Roger Racine, Montréal; Pierre Racine, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield; Monique Chevrefils, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield; Henriette Lorange, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield; Diane Racine, Saint-Donat de Montcalm Jean-Paul LeBlanc, Ottawa (Ont).

Editor of L’Enraciné: Denis Racine, Québec City Translator of L’Enraciné: Jacques H. Racine, Kanata (Ont) Archivist: Jean-Louis Racine, Beloeil Genealogist: Denis Racine, Québec City

15

OUR REUNION 2017

Our 30th reunion will mark the 30th anniversary of our Association. In so doing, we return to Sainte-Anne Des Plaines, where we met 25 years ago in 1992.

In 1831, two brothers and a brother-in-law settled in this region.

Jean-Baptiste Racine (1785-1841), the son of Michel and Marie-Madeleine Gagnon, and his wife Sophie Neveu (married on 16 November 1830 at Sainte-Anne de Beaupré), would baptize their two children at Sainte-Anne Des Plaines. The oldest, Olivier, would stay in the region, whereas the youngest, Jean, emigrated to Vermont between 1859 and 1868 and had but one girl, who was married in 1881.

The brother of Jean-Baptiste, Christophe Racine (1807-1881), and his wife Appoline Simard had married on 25 September 1832 at Sainte-Anne de Beaupré, settled in Sainte-Anne-des Plaines. Their ten children would be born there andthey would leave a large numberof descendants

Julie (1805-1890), sister of Jean-Baptiste and Christophe, was married in the first instance to Magloire Racine (1810-1834), son of Pierre Racine and Scholastique Paré on 31 July 1833 at Sainte-Anne de Beaupré.

Jean-Baptiste and Christophe were the uncles of Monseignors Antoine and Dominique Racine, who were, respectively, bishops of Sherbrooke and the first bishop of Chicoutimi.

Christophe Racine and Appoline Simard

The two brothers and their brother-in-law bought three contiguous farms on rang de la Grosse-Chaussée at Sainte-Anne-des-plaines on 27 May 1831 (notaries. Globensky and Prévost). The farms were in the Seignory of Terrebonne. In September of the same year, Magloire resold his farm to the two brothers and he went to work for Christophe for an indeterminate time. The arrangement did not, however, last long because Magloire died in September 1834.

It will therefore be a great pleasure to rediscover our cousins in Sainte-Anne des Plaines.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

16

OUR SUGAR BUSH PARTY (Saint-Hyacinthe, 8 April 2017) A few happy moments.

17

18

19

ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

NOTICE OF MEETING

Members of the Racine Families’ Association are hereby invited to attend the Annual General Assembly, to be held Sunday 17 September 2017 at 10:00 am at the Days Inn Hotel, 1136 boul. du Curé-Labelle, Blainville, (Québec) J7C 3J4

Agenda:

1- Opening of the meeting; 2- President’s welcome; 3- Reading and approval of the agenda; 4- Reading and approval of the minutes of the last meeting; 5- President’s report; 6- Treasurer’s report; 7- Approval of the financial report; 8- Appointment of an auditor; 9- Report on the last reunion; 10- Approval of Directors’ actions; 11- Elections 12- Adjournment of the meeting; 13- Convening of the assembly; 14- Introduction of new officers; 15- Proposals from members in attendance; 16- Closing of the meeting.

The mandates of Misters Roger Racine, Gilles Dupont and Madams Yolande Huppé and Henriette Lorange have come to an end after three years. There is therefore a requirement to elect four (4) directors for a three-year term. Outgoing directors are eligible for re-election.

I count on your presence.

Gilles Dupont, Secretary

PRINTED PAPER SURFACE IMPRIMÉ – PRINTED PAPER SURFACE

20