JOSEPH LEONARD CÔTÉ (1846-1926)

            Joseph Côté was the son of Joseph-George and Marceline Chauret. He was born into a family of nine children May 31, 1846,(1) in Sainte-Croix, Lotbinière, Québec. This was a time of change for Québec.

            Migration of French Canadians to the United States began as early as the 1840s. According to research, as many as 900,000 left between 1840 and 1930. This was apparent in the family of Joseph Côté.

            Joseph was absent during the birth of his daughter, Marie-Louise, by his first wife, Aurélie, in 1885. Would he have been one of these French Canadians who sought work in the northern part of the United States? That is uncertain, but what is certain is that all of his adult children from his first marriage emigrated to the United States. At least two returned. 

            There are reasons families migrate and there is much to consider. Like their ancestors before them, they moved from their homeland, leaving friends and family behind. With these French Canadians, they would also leave behind a culture and language to assimilate into another one. Their settlement into the northern parts of the United States (New England in particular) would immerse them in a community where religions would also differ. Unlike the English Canadians who migrated to the U.S. the cost would have been much heavier, both culturally and emotionally than that of the English. Their main reason to leave was economical.

            The crucial factor in the French Canadian migration, as with many other cultures, was one because of poor economic conditions in their home communities. The highly industrialized element of the U.S. must have appeared to the Québecois as a promise land. Much as “Nouvelle France” had appeared to their ancestors. While jobs were scarce in Québec, the United States offered employment to these emigrants.

            Previous growth in Québec in the 19th century had left little new land for farming to new generations. The land that became available was less fertile and in areas that were less friendly climate wise. Between 1784 and 1844, Quebec’s population increased by about 400 %, while its total area of agricultural acreage rose only by 275 %. This forced the younger generation to search elsewhere for a home of their own. The trend continued between 1851 and 1901. 

            After 1850, some farmed in the Laurentians, the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, the Lower St. Lawrence and the Matapedia Valley, reaching as far north as Temiscaming. Others moved west to Ontario, Manitoba. Saskatchewan and Alberta.

            Joseph married Aurélie Lamontagne January 10th, 1871,(2) Joseph in St-Antoine de Tilly. Just one year later, their first son, Napolléon, was born followed by Angeline, Octavia, Gedion, Ovide, Josephat, and Marie-Louise. This occurred over the next thirteen years.

            Every one Joseph’s children with Aurélie except for Marie-Louise moved to Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Ovide returned after the death of his wife and we find him in the 1921 Census in St. Agapit.

            After the death of Aurélie in 1885, Joseph married Adèle Bédard, a spinster from a neighbouring farm. They were married in 1891,(3) and have their own family of three; Pierre, Marie-Louise and Arthur.

            Pierre died in St. Flavien, June 2, 1926,(4) at eighty years of age.