Salem State University Digital Commons at Salem State University French-Canadian Heritage Collection Archives and Special Collections 2020 History of the Franco-Americans of Southbridge, Massachusetts Felix́ Gatineau Elizabeth Blood Salem State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.salemstate.edu/fchc Part of the Cultural History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Gatineau, Felix́ and Blood, Elizabeth, "History of the Franco-Americans of Southbridge, Massachusetts" (2020). French-Canadian Heritage Collection. 3. https://digitalcommons.salemstate.edu/fchc/3 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Special Collections at Digital Commons at Salem State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in French-Canadian Heritage Collection by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons at Salem State University. HISTORY OF THE FRANCO-AMERICANS OF SOUTHBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS Originally Written in French by Félix Gatineau “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Notre Dame Parish, the Golden Anniversary of the St. Jean Baptiste Society and the return of our soldiers who served in the World War” Lakeview Press Framingham, Massachusetts 1919 Translated into English by Elizabeth Blood Salem State University Salem, Massachusetts 2020 A NOTE ON THIS EDITION This digital version of Félix Gatineau’s text does not contain the images from the original text. There are parenthetical notes containing translations of photo captions; the page numbers in these notes refer to the page on which the photo can be found in the original French edition. The images are available in the original 1919 edition and also in the 2018 print edition of this translation, which is available for purchase: • The original 1919 French edition is in the public domain and is available for free online at Archive.org https://archive.org/details/histoiredesfranc00gatiuoft/page/n4/mode/2up • A print edition of this book, edited and published by Alan Earls at Via Appia Press in 2018, includes copies of the original photos from the 1919 edition and an Introduction written by Leslie Choquette of the Assumption College French Institute. It available on Amazon.com or from Via Appia Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts: https://www.viaappiapress.com Cover image: Engraving of the main street of the village of Southbridge in 1835. From Gatineau’s Histoire des Franco-Américains de Southbridge, p. 29. 2 | Elizabeth Blood © 2020 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE by Dr. Elizabeth Blood, Salem State University When I first visited Félix Gatineau’s statue on Main Street in Southbridge at the start of this translation project, I was delighted to see that his achievements were documented in both French and English. English on one side of the statue base, and French on the other, with a bronze bust of the man himself towering above. Upon closer inspection, however, I discovered that the English text on the statue was completely different from the French text. It was not a translation, but rather an attempt to convey the complex identity of this local Franco-American icon. The English side of the statue chronicles Gatineau’s contributions to American political life, while the French side speaks to his involvement in Franco-American clubs and institutions in Southbridge. Gatineau was both a French-speaking “French-Canadian” and an English-speaking “American,” equally devoted to the French-Canadian homeland and to the United States, the adopted country of many of French-Canadians of his era. For a time, I wondered how it could be possible that someone could so strongly identify with his homeland and care so deeply about French-Canadian identity and contemporary political issues within Canada and also identify so proudly as an American citizen and be so engaged in local, state and national social and political issues, but then, thinking of today’s immigrants from the Dominican Republic or Haiti or the Congo or Syria, I realized that this is completely natural. To adopt full citizenship in the United States does not imply abandoning one’s maternal language, nor does it imply replacing one’s cultural heritage with a new one, nor does it mean that one no longer cares about political or social issues in one’s homeland, where many relatives still reside and where issues of political, economic or social justice still matter. Gatineau’s hybrid identity is completely understandable, especially given the political climate in Canada at the turn of the 20th century and the proximity of New England Franco-Americans to their homeland. In reading Gatineau’s account of life in Southbridge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I came to understand that his dual allegiances to French Canada and the U.S., far from competing with each other, in fact overlapped and even coalesced in Gatineau’s mind. French Canada was not an autonomous nation. The French had lost their holdings in Canada to the British at the end of the Seven Year’s War, a war known to most French-Canadians as the “British Conquest,” in 1763. French-Canadians living in the region that is today the Province of Québec suffered oppression, discrimination, and lack of economic opportunities under British Canadian rule. By the early-19th century, French-Canadians had organized and the French- speaking “Patriotes,” a political movement to fight Anglophone domination in Canada, launched several failed rebellions against the British in 1837-1838, the time of the first major wave of French-Canadian immigrants to Southbridge. It seems obvious that French-speaking Canadians 3 | Elizabeth Blood © 2020 seeking political rights and economic opportunities in the late 19th century would choose to emigrate to the United States, a country that had already overthrown British rule and had established an open and free society where new citizens (theoretically at least) shared equal rights, regardless of religion, maternal language, or ethnic heritage. Although, as Gatineau will tell you, many Canadians initially considered their stay in the U.S. temporary, and many did eventually return to Canada, but those who chose to naturalize, become citizens, and raise American children here typically became full patriotic Americans, even though many never relinquished their cultural and philosophical allegiance to their homeland. Initially, many French-Canadian immigrants found work in factories and mills. Eventually, however, they became involved in politics, built churches and schools, opened businesses, created programs to support the arts, founded social clubs and mutual aid societies, and many voluntarily joined the U.S. military to fight during the Civil War and WWI. You will learn all of this, in detail, by reading Gatineau’s history, for Gatineau loved lists. Many of the chapters in this book simply list names, dates and facts about French-Canadians and Franco-Americans in Southbridge. While reading such lists can be tiresome (not quite as tiresome as retyping them!), they are a true treasure trove for anyone seeking to learn about the contributions of their ancestors to the city of Southbridge. I wish I knew what social clubs and political committees my grandparents belonged to in their Franco-American community in upstate New York! I wish I knew how they lived, what stores they shopped in, what plays they saw, how they celebrated and mourned; I really wish I knew silly little stories about them, like what happened the time that too many pies were ordered for a 4th of July festival. I wish that all Franco-Americans had a Félix Gatineau to chronicle the history of their ancestors in their little corner of the world. But even if you don’t, this text will give you insight into how our Franco-American ancestors lived a century ago. In addition to those with a personal connection to Southbridge’s Franco-American community, this book will also be of interest to anyone who wants to learn more about the history of Southbridge, about Franco-American heritage, or about how immigrant groups organized themselves to support each other and provide their community with social, cultural and economic opportunities in the early 20th century. I would like to thank Alan Earls, publisher of this work and descendant of Southbridge Franco- Americans, for giving me the opportunity to translate this text and to live for a little while in 1919 Southbridge. And, of course, to Félix Gatineau, who cared so much about Franco- Americans to offer us this chronicle of early Franco-American life, un grand merci! October 2017 4 | Elizabeth Blood © 2020 TO THE READER My goal, in publishing this modest volume, was to transmit to future generations all that relates to the birthplace and the humble beginnings of the colony of people of French-Canadian origin in Southbridge, Mass., and this with the hope that the young generation, following the examples and noble lessons offered by the pioneers of our ethnicity, may be able to perfect the work that began so nobly. I ask indulgence of the reader if my work is not as perfect as even I myself would have liked; to trace the history of a municipality over the course of one hundred and fifty years is not the easiest of tasks, and please know, dear reader, that this undertaking cost me many hours of painstaking work. I would have liked to have documented in a more concrete way my most sincere gratitude to a certain number of our compatriots who, for fifty years, have dedicated themselves to and sacrificed themselves for the advancement of our people, but they will understand that I had to focus on the history of the colony, without entering into too many individual details. I must thank those who helped me complete my memoir; there are among them some who are in eternal sleep in our cemeteries, but who provided me with very precise information before leaving us.