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Naturalization and Leadership in the Franco-American Community at Brunswick, Maine

General histories of the Franco-American communities in New England have claimed that the immigrants resisted naturalization. The usual reasons given is that they feared paying taxes to two governments, American and Canadian, or that they wished to avoid service in the American military. The Franco-American community at Brunswick, Maine, however, does not seem to have been troubled by such fears. We can discern this from the August 22, 1884 edition of the local newspaper, the Brunswick Telegraph, which ran the following item:

Meeting of the French-Canadians. A meeting of French-Canadians was held in the Court Room, Town Hall, Monday evening, Joseph Dufresne being elected temporary chairman, and Louis Trudeau, sect'y. Henry Ragot addressed the meeting in French, upon topics in which the people were interested, the result of which was the formation of a permanent organization. President Noel Vandall; Secretary, Louis Trudeau; Vice Presidents, Exavier Payment, Ermenigle Coulombe, Telesphore LaPoint, Jos. Machaud, Frank Maturin, Jos. Dionne, and Henry Ragot, Marshall.

The subject of naturalization was discussed, the question being, shall the French take out naturalization papers or remain foreigners? It was unanimously decided to naturalize, and 53 were found to be ready for naturalization; others will be naturalized when they become eligible. It was also decided that all possible means of information should be resorted to, to gain political information. (page 3) (names spelled as they appear in the original article.)

It is clear that the Brunswick francophone community neither feared nor resisted naturalization, embracing it, by a unanimous vote, as early as 1884. A mere three years prior to the meeting reported above, Carroll D. Wright, Head of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor for Massachusetts had claimed, famously, that the New England Franco-Americans had no interest in American social and political institutions. Wright would later reconsider his remarks, which were clearly contradicted by Brunswick's French-speaking population who "decided that all possible means" should be resorted to, to gain political information."

The article above also shows the communal, tight-knit character of the Franco-American group in Brunswick at that time. Although, as we shall see, some Brunswick Franco-Americans had attained U.S. citizenship prior to the meeting, the issue of naturalization was not decided on a purely individual basis; it was considered to be a vital interest of the Franco-American community as a whole, and the community met, in a body, to discuss the issue and a consensus was achieved. From this meeting a "permanent organization" was formed to address the needs of the community.

I estimate that the Franco-American population of the town at this time, men, women and children, was at least 1200 people and probably several hundred more. For an order of magnitude estimate (and a very conservative one at that) let us assume that the adult male population was approximately 240 individuals (about 20 percent of the 1200). Of those 240, more than one-fifth was already prepared for naturalization by 1884. And from those 240, nine men were chosen as the acknowledged leaders of the community.

Who were these leaders? Since it is generally acknowledged, and my research confirms, that the majority of the Brunswick Franco-Americans were from the village and county of L'Islet, on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence, does it then follow that the majority of the leaders were from this location? Were these leaders already naturalized and what role did they play in helping the others to achieve U.S. citizenship?

Searching in the New England Naturalization Petitions, on microfilm at the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston, I have ascertained the following information about the leaders of the "permanent organization" cited in the article above. I have checked the dates of birth provided in these records with the Drouin Institute Parish Registers (on microfilm at the same library). Where there is a discrepancy between the date of birth given on the naturalization petition and what I discovered in the parish registers, I have placed the date found in the latter in parentheses, with the parish name and the number of the baptismal record.

Noel Vandal, President was from Sorel, Québec. He claims to have been born in 1845 (December 25, 1844, Saint-Pierre-de-Sorel, B. 323) and first arrived in the U.S.A. on April 1, 1860. His initial "port of arrival" to the U.S.A. was the state of Rhode Island. The 1880 census corroborates that Noel and his wife had at least one child in the Union's smallest state. He was naturalized on April 4, 1876. No witnesses are listed with his naturalization petition.

Louis Trudeau, Secretary was from Saint-Constant, Québec, in the county of Laprairie, south of Montréal. He was born on October 1, 1849 and entered the U.S.A. on November 16, 1866, coming directly to Brunswick. He was naturalized on September 10, 1886. His witnesses were Alexis St-Marie, Casimir Deshetre, and Henri Ragot of Brunswick.

François-Xavier Paiement ("Exavier Payment"), Vice President, came from Roxton Falls, in Shefford County in the Eastern Townships region of Québec. He was born on June 6, 1857 and arrived in the U.S.A. at Brunswick on March 1, 1869.He was naturalized on August 23, 1882. His witnesses were "L. Normand" (Louis Normand) and "P.F. Root" (Philibert Racine, alias Philip F. Root).

Herminigilde Coulombe ("Ermenigle Coulombe"), Vice President, was from L'Islet and claimed that his date of birth was September 4, 1858 (September 4, 1857, Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (L'Islet), B. 143). He claimed that his date of arrival in the U.S.A. was June 15, 1871, but gives no place of entry. He was naturalized on August 28, 1880. The witnesses were Joseph Dionne and Thomas Gagné of Brunswick.

Telesphore Lapointe ("Lapoint"), Vice President, was from Kamouraska, Québec and claimed that his date of birth was March 25, 1857 (March 26, 1858, Saint-Louis-de-Kamouraska, B. 30). He placed his date of arrival in the U.S.A. as March 1, 1871, at Brunswick. He was naturalized on September 11, 1886. The witnesses were Philip F. Root and Andrew Libby of Brunswick.

Joseph Michaud ("Machaud"), Vice President, gave his place of birth as "Quebec." This could mean either a parish somewhere in the province or perhaps he means the city of Québec. His date of birth was November 19, 1851. He arrived in the U.S.A. on April 16, 1869, at Brunswick andwas naturalized on August 28, 1880. The witnesses were Joseph Dionne and Andrew Libby of Brunswick.

François-Xavier Mathurin ("Frank Maturin"), Vice President, was from Sainte-Rosalie, Bagot County, Québec and claimed to be born on December 27, 1864 (December 26, 1863, Sainte-Rosalie-de-Bagot, B. 55). He arrived in the U.S.A. at Brunswick on July 10, 1868 and was naturalized on September 5, 1888. The witnesses were Pierre Letarte and Joseph Dionne.

Joseph Dionne, Vice President, was from Saint-Alexandre, in the County of Kamouraska, Québec. He was born on July 14, 1862. Joseph claims to have arrived in the U.S.A. at Brunswick in 1870; he was naturalized on March 1, 1884. A difficulty here is that in his naturalization petition, filed just a few months prior to the publication of the article transcribed above, Joseph gives his address as Lewiston, not Brunswick and his witnesses, P.X. Angus and John McGraw are Lewistonians. I’m persuaded that this is probably the man cited in the article above, but I can’t be sure. There was no shortage of Joseph Dionnes available in Québec and its New England extensions at this time.

Although his name appears in at least two petitions as a witness, I have not been able to find a petition for Henri ("Henry") Ragot, the only leader who is mentioned as having addressed the meeting. It is worth noting that, unlike virtually the entire Brunswick Franco-American population at this time, the census of 1880 indicates that Henri Ragot, born in 1850, did not work for the Cabot textile mill but was employed as a glass maker. Louis Trudeau, not surprisingly, given his role as Secretary for the meeting, as well as for the “permanent organization,” was a clerk and not a common operative in the mill – although he may have clerked at the mill.

The naturalization petition asks the petitioner for his or her "Country of birth or allegiance," and I have confirmed that the places of origin identified above are the parishes of birth for the individuals in question and not necessarily their last residence prior to coming to the States. This is significant because there was considerable mobility among the 19^th Century Québécois, particularly those who found their way to the States. As an example, my great-grandfather, Charles Vermette, in his naturalization petition, gave his "Country of birth or allegiance" as "St. Gervais, Quebec." In fact, his family left Saint-Gervais-de-Bellechasse when Charles was two years old. His last permanent residence prior to entering the States was Nelson Township (Division Two) on the fringe of the Eastern Townships region, a quite different milieu from the "old parish" in Bellechasse.

Although the naturalization petitions do not allow us to determine the last known Québec residence of our petitioners, there does appear to be enough evidence to conclude that the Brunswickers from L'Islet did not dominate this leadership group within the Franco-American community of the town. A glance at the A glance at the map will reveal that the leaders of the "permanent organization" had their origins in many far-flung regions of Québec. I find only one representative from L'Islet among these leaders.

The research also indicates that five of the eight leaders identified above were already United States citizens by the time of the 1884 meeting. Allowing for some inaccuracies with respect to the very precise dates the petitioners provide for their arrival in the States, it is evident that the leaders had a long acquaintance with Brunswick. Most of them arrived in the 1860s and all of them claim to have come to the States before 1872. Not surprisingly, the President of the "permanent organization," Noel Vandal, had been coming to the States for nearly 25 years by the time of the 1884 meeting. I say "coming" since, in these early years of the Québec Diaspora, there was a brisk traffic across the border, and many of these men might have lived as much in Québec as in New England during the intervening years between their first arrival and the 1884 meeting. However, Noel Vandal, for one, had already been a naturalized citizen for eight years prior to the meeting that elected him President. He seems to have decided, as did the majority of these leaders, that his future was in the States, or at least that there were advantages to having the ability to engage in the American political process.

I also note that one of this number, Frank Mathurin, arrived in Brunswick as a young child, prior to his fifth birthday. Unlike some of the older men, he must be considered more of a Brunswick Franco-American than a Québécois transplant in Maine.He was a young man, still 20 years old (although he seems to have believed he was 19) at the time of the 1884 meeting, and yet was considered responsible enough to be elected as one of the Vice Presidents.

Examining the naturalization records, not only of these leaders but also of other Brunswick Franco-Americans of this period, I notice that a number of the petitions were granted on or near the same date. For example, I find that George Ouellet of Brunswick was granted citizenship on September 4, 1888 (his witnesses were Joseph Michaud and Noel Vandal). The following day, Charles Vermette (witnesses: Pierre Letarte and Joseph Dionne), Frank Mathurin (same witnesses as Charles Vermette), and Prudent Racine, Junior (same witnesses) were all granted citizenship. This may have more to do with the batch processes of the courts than it does with any action of the “permanent organization,” but it does resonate with the comment in the Brunswick Telegraph's article that other Brunswick Franco-Americans, beyond the initial group of 53, “will be naturalized when they become eligible.” One can imagine that certain groups were schooled in what was required for naturalization, filed their petitions at roughly the same time, and so were granted citizenship in close succession.

One also sees the same individuals serving as witnesses over and over again.Some of these people are the acknowledged leaders mentioned above. In addition, one sees other stalwarts of the Brunswick Franco-American community of the later 19^th century. Among these, we find two ubiquitous Brunswick Franco-American characters of the period: Philibert Racine (aka “Philip F. Root”) and Andre L’Abbé (aka “Andrew Libby”).

Philibert Racine, a veteran of the American Civil War, was among the earlier Québécois to make Brunswick a permanent home and certainly among the earliest to take out naturalization papers. He became a U.S. citizen on August 15, 1876. His witnesses were “Andrew Libby” and the wealthy local agent of the Cabot cotton mill, Benjamin Greene. Philibert was naturalized under his alias Phillip F. Root. After he attained citizenship, Mr. Root became a witness for the naturalization of a number of his fellow Brunswick Franco-Americans.“Andrew Libby,” from L’Islet, was among the earlier Franco-American residents of Brunswick. The record of his marriage to Eleonore Gamache, at the Parish of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, L’Islet (M. 15) notes that Andre L’Abbé was a journalier de Brunswick, état du Maine (“laborer of Brunswick, State of Maine”); the date of the marriage was August 13, 1867. Only the earliest of the Brunswick Franco-Americans appear to have anglicized their names, as was the case with Messieurs “Root” and “Libby.”

From this discussion, I draw the following conclusions:

The Brunswick Franco-American community embraced citizenship – they were clearly aware of the advantages of participating in the American political process and made an organized effort to gain information about it.

This community constituted a self-aware body; they had sufficient organizational skill to conduct such a meeting, to take decisions as a group, and to elect leaders who formed a “permanent organization,” that seems to have persisted for at least the next several years.

Although the bulk of Brunswick Franco-Americans were from a single region, this does not seem to have affected the choice of leaders. Once a Québécois crossed the border and came to Brunswick, he (or she) could serve an important role in that community, regardless of his home parish in Québec.

There was a core of established figures within the Franco-American community who appear to have led or at least aided and abetted those who sought citizenship.

As an object for further research, I would suggest that researchers into other Franco-American communities in New England look beyond the stereotypes of the Carroll Wrights and the conventional wisdoms to examine more carefully the role of leadership and naturalization among our ancestors.

April 6, 2006

By David Gerard Vermette, Copyright 2006. All Rights Reserved.

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Sources:

1) Index to New England Naturalization Petitions, on microfilm, New England Historic Genealogical Society library, Boston, MA.

2) Drouin Institute Parish Registers (all of the following parishes are in Québec, Canada):
a. Box #274, Roxton Falls, Parish of Saint-Jean Baptiste, Co. Shefford
b. Box #404, Sainte-Rosalie, Co. Bagot
c. Box #1012, L'Islet, Parish of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, Co. L'Islet
d. Box #1036, Saint-Gervais, Co. Bellechasse.
e. Box #1164-c, Saint-Constant, Co. Laprairie.
f. Box #1824, Saint-Alexandre, Co. Kamouraska
g. Box #1858, Kamouraska, Parish of Saint-Louis, Co. Kamouraska
h. Box #2009, Saint-Pierre-de-Sorel, Co. Richelieu.

3) Tenth Census of the United States (Manuscript U.S. Federal Census), 1880, Cumberland County, Brunswick, Maine.