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Ransom, Howard Henry Back to ALL Bios Basics only. Any information would be helpful! When Howard Henry Ransom was born on April 2, 1867, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, when his father, Howard Ransom, was 29 and his mother, Maria Benallack, was 21. He is listed as having been a merchant in Montreal and in 1890 married Jane Parslow. Jane died childless, and on 14 April 1896, Howard married Isabella Linley who had been born on December 9, 1866, in Canada as the daughter of Charles Linley and Isabella Jones. They had two children, Howard Charles Linley Ransom (1903 – 1976), and Audrey Isabel Gertrude (Scadding) Ransom (1904 – 1992). They lived in Hochelaga, Quebec from 1901 for about 20 years and Howard died on May 10th, 1925 at the age of 58. It is presumed that they had moved to Montreal by that time because he is buried in Montreal. Isabella died on October 19th, 1945 in Westmount, and is also buried in Montreal. Source – Ancestors.FamilySearch.org Michael Alexander

Alexander, James Okeden Back to ALL Bios James Okeden Alexander 1918 - 1941 Born in 1918, at Caterham, Surrey in England while his father was fighting in the trenches during World War I, he was the eldest grandchild of Bishop Lennox W. Williams and Annie (Nan) Rhodes. At age twelve Jimmy went to BCS. He ran in five cross-country races, wrote poetry, became a marksman and in 1935 won the Greenshields Scholarship to McGill University, which he declined because he entered the Royal Military College in Kingston. He graduated from RMC in 1939 with the first prize in mechanical and electrical engineering and the Harris-Bigelow trophy for the best combination of athletic and academic ability. Jimmy’s summers were spent in Tadoussac at his grandparent’s house, Brynhyfryd, with his mother, his sister Jean Aylan-Parker, and cousins Nan (Wallace) Leggat and her brother Jackie Wallace. Among his many childhood friends were Ted and Evan Price, Billy Morewood, Betty (Morewood) Evans, Phoebe (Evans) Skutezky and Ainslie (Evans) Stephen. In July of 1935, Jimmy and his friend Teddy Price stood on the wharf as the CSL steamship pulled in and a roadster bumped its way up the gangplank onto the dock. In the back were two beautiful young sisters Bar and Mary Hampson aged sixteen and seventeen. Teddy said to Jimmy; “That one’s mine!” and Jimmy replied; “the other one’s for me!” Four years later as World War II began, Jimmy married Bar and Teddy married Mary. When Jimmy graduated from RMC, he decided on a career in the air force. He trained with the RCAF at Camp Borden and Trenton and was awarded his wings and the Sir John Siddeley trophy for the highest marks and qualities as a pilot. As the then small Canadian force had few career opportunities for flying, he chose a career in the Royal Air Force and on graduation from RMC he was granted a regular commission in the RAF. The dark clouds of World War II were approaching and the summer of 1938 was the last time the family was all together in Tadoussac. His father, Major General Ronald Alexander would assume Pacific Command as the war began. His mother Gertrude would also move to Victoria B.C. with his brother Ronnie (aged seven). His sister Jean would marry John Aylan-Parker and go overseas to the war in early 1940. Jimmy sailed to England in March 1940, to join the RAF for a career in the permanent force. Bar followed soon after and they were married in England in early May. Jimmy went over to France with the Air Advanced Striking Force. As the German forces drove the allies back to the English Channel and France collapsed, the historic evacuation from Dunkirk and other French ports saved the retreating armies and brought them back to England to fight again. Jimmy’s squadron abandoned their aircraft and he found himself on the liner Lancastria being evacuated with over five thousand others. The ship was bombed and quickly sank. Jimmy went overboard, was rescued but soon dove in again to save a woman’s life and was later awarded the Royal Humane Society Medal for Valour. During 1940 and 1941, Jimmy and Bar moved with his squadron wherever it was based. After a few months with his squadron in Iceland, he went to Northern Ireland. Bar was in Suffolk in December 1940 when their son Michael was born. They all settled in Belfast in January 1941, but their home was bombed while they were away at Easter. As war raged and the German Luftwaffe was bombing England’s cities, they were able to get together with Ted and Mary Price (Bar’s sister) and John and Jean Aylan-Parker (Jimmy’s sister) who were also stationed in England. Michael, Greville Price and Ronnie Aylan-Parker were all born within months of each other. Jimmy was now flying almost daily raids over enemy territory with RAF Bomber Command Squadron 88. In the summer of 1941, as Flight Lieutenant with two crew members, he flew his Blenheim bomber from their base in Norfolk. Their targets were the factories and shipping in German-occupied Rotterdam, Holland. The Dutch were friends and allies. Jimmy’s squadron flew in daylight, as low as possible over the factories, so they could bomb accurately and avoid killing the civilian population. Winston Churchill described it. “The devotion and gallantry of the attack on Rotterdam is beyond all praise. The charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava is eclipsed in brightness by these daily deeds of fame.” On August 28, 1941, Jimmy and his crew were shot down over Rotterdam. He is buried there in Croswijck Municipal Cemetery beside the graves of his two crew. He was twenty-three years old. Today, one hundred and thirty-five graves of young fliers from Commonwealth countries who were killed over Holland, 1940 - 44, lie there in rows. They were all under the age of twenty-five. In his memoirs, his father Ronald describes Jimmy’s outlook on life as “such a happy one and he hated seeing anybody unhappy. He loved all games, flying, seeing new places, and his fellow men. His God, his faith and his religion meant a great deal to him and were very real. Poetry appealed to him. In one of his letters from RMC he wrote: ‘Sometimes I think I’d like to take up poetry seriously, but it is rather a life for men of mind and not men who have physical abilities. But a poet does so much for mankind.’” While at BCS, seven years before, Jimmy wrote a poem titled ‘To Friends’. This is the final verse: Long after friends have left us, their memory still will last; The memory of those happy days, those days that now are past: And we will not forget them, until at last we be With them once more united, for all eternity. Jimmy’s short life was full. However, life goes on in his legacy: his wife, Bar (Hampson) Campbell who died in September 2008; his son Michael and wife Judy; his two grandchildren, Nan (Doyal) and Jim Alexander and five great-grandchildren, Alexander and Aidan Doyal and Joe, MaryJane and Rosemarie Alexander. They all spend part of their summers in Tadoussac.

Turcot, Peter Alfred Back to ALL Bios Peter Alfred Turcot May 19, 1925 – October 29, 2018 Tadoussacer, path builder, golfer, tennis player and devoted supporter of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel. Peter Turcot loved Tad with lots of family, cousins and the Tad Community. He started visiting Tad at an early age where he developed his love of picnics and canoeing. At 21, he spent the summer carving a path to the beach while supervising the Turcot house being built, he served his community on numerous committees and spent his last summer playing three rounds of golf a week at the age of 93. Much loved husband of Anne Dean Turcot and Son of Marjorie (Webb) and Percy Turcot of Quebec City. Dad was the caring father of Wendy (Brian Dourley), Peggy (Scott Robertson), Peter Dean, Chris (Christine McGinty) and Susan (Chris Wilbert). He was greatly blessed with ten grandchildren Trevor (Emily), Chris, Patrick (Ambe), Caroline (Brad), Timothy, William, Stephen, Nicole (Keynen), Meagan and Quinn … and five great grandchildren Aya, Seraphina, Caspian, Harrison and Camden. Peter had a strong Christian faith and was deeply devoted to his church and family. Spiritual, and universally respected, he found the best in everyone he met. He loved Sunday Tea, a cottage filled with too many family members and any excuse to bring everyone together. After McGill University his career in the financial community included positions with Turcot, Wood, Power and Cundill Ltd, Guardian Trust, and being Chairman of the Montreal Stock Exchange. He was a willing volunteer and supporter of many good causes.

Glassco, Willa (Price) Back to ALL Bios Willa Glassco 1902- 1991 Florence Blanche Willa Price, a much longed-for daughter, was born on a hot 24th of August in 1902 in her parent’s home at #575 Grand Allée in Quebec City. Her birth would have been celebrated by her older brothers Jack, Coosie, and Charlie, and her parents, Sir William and Lady Amelia Blanche (Nee Carrington-Smith). A fair-skinned red-head, Willa was as comfortable wrestling with her brothers and climbing trees as she was learning the arts of the fairer sex. She loved to dance and sing by her father’s side at the piano and there was much music in the ever-expanding family. By the time she was 4, the family was completed by Dick and her sister Jean. At only 6, a bout of Scarlet Fever left Willa quite deaf, and turned this rambunctious child timid. Summers were spent in Tadoussac where her mother had insisted Sir William turn what had been a bawdy boarding house for his Price Brothers’ managers into a family retreat. After extensive renovations, Fletcher cottage became the club house for the six Price children and their raft of cousins and friends. Governesses would be charged with organising picnics and hikes and swimming, boating, and fishing trips. Meals would be simply prepared and served to the children on the porch on the northeast side of the house with the children sleeping in bunks in the open porch above. There are names still in evidence, carved into the cedar shingles on the outside of the porch. Lady Price and her friends would play bridge, tennis, golf, go to church, have costume parties and cocktail parties. The summers were long. From May to the end of September and they would travel up on the steamer from Quebec with trunks and staff. Willa’s education in Quebec would have been in English, Victorian in tone, and with little expectation of her going to college or university. She, along with many of her peers at eighteen, was sent to England to be presented at court to King George V and Queen Mary and then enjoyed a leisurely tour of Europe and all its sites. At age 22, tragedy struck the family. Sir William, her much loved father, was killed in a landslide in Kenogami. It changed everything for her siblings and mother and Willa dedicated herself to the care of her mother. At 25, Willa met and married Grant Glassco, a promising young businessman from Winnipeg who had just begun his career as a chartered accountant, and they settled in Forest Hill in Toronto. They went on to have four children, June, Gay, Dick, and Bill with Willa insisting she return to Quebec for each pregnancy to have her care and delivery at her mother’s house. And then, like her mother before her, she brought her family every summer to Tadoussac. Tennis, golf, church, picnics, swims. After the second world war, Grant and Willa purchased a working farm near Kleinberg, just north of Toronto, and the family spent weekends there, where driving a tractor was as important a skill as any in this family. Willa was involved in her communities and church, forming long attachments to her neighbours. She was a woman who had fierce, loyal friendships that lasted her long life. These she had at the farm, in town, and in Tadoussac. Up until her last year, when in Tadoussac she would always make a point to go and have tea with her brother Coosie, her cousins, and her many childhood friends still living in the village. Her French was perfectly tuned to the familiar Tadoussac dialect. Grant and Willa had help at home, bringing Eva Drain into the family in the 1950s. Eva, an orphan, had come to Canada from London’s East End as a Bernardos baby, starting her employment at age 8 with her brother at a Montreal match factory. After serving as a maid with the Reverend Scott, she started with Willa and Grant and stayed with Willa all her life. Eva was devoted to the whole family and as grandchildren we have many memories of Eva, the devout storyteller and dog lover who was so much a part of our family. Willa beamed. Her smile was infectious and she often threw her head back laughing. She could control her brood and twenty grandchildren with a firm hand but she was more at home being the optimist with an insatiable sense of adventure. She was an avid traveller, she and Grant travelling and living in Brazil in their 40s and 50s where he had business interests. She loved the theatre and when her youngest son, Billy, a theatre director, started Tarragon Theatre in Toronto she proudly attended every performance, no matter how scandalous the plays might be. Grant contracted lung cancer and died at only 63, leaving Willa a widow for the next twenty-three years. She experienced a sort of renaissance. Released from her domestic duties she travelled to England to visit her sister, Jean and family, she spent months in Tadoussac and up at the farm. She dated a number of very charming gentlemen and spent time with friends. She would hold a yearly picnic at the farm for the Canadian Hearing society, a charity she was active in all her life. The family would be wrangled into putting on a massive spread as families of the hard of hearing would converge for an annual outdoor gathering that was the highlight of the season. Willa was always up for an adventure, for a dance, she wrote in her journal every day and recounts a life that was truly well spent. She tragically died driving back from the farm just days after her 89th birthday. She went through a stop sign. She surely had another good decade in her at least and it was a blow to everyone when she left. She was warm, loving, and attentive. Intelligent and curious. She had a very strong sense of right or wrong and believed the best in people. Though tiny in stature and frame she could hug the breath out of a grown grandson. She is missed. Briony Glassco

Turcot, Percy & Marjorie (Webb) Back to ALL Bios Marjorie Webb Turcot (1887 – 1976) Percy Turcot (1886 – 1983) Parents and Grandparents to • John Turcot (1920 – 2003) and Margaret Close o Cheryl/Ralph, John/Sue, David/Collette, Greg/Trudy • Elliott Turcot (1922 – 2019) and Peggy Durnford o Mary/Ron, Linda/Cameron, Michael • Peter Turcot (1925 – 2018) and Anne Dean o Wendy/Brian, Peggy/Scott, Peter, Chris/Christine, Susan/Chris • Joan Turcot (1928 – 1972) Marjorie’s sisters were Dorothy (Arthur Warburton) and Rachel (Dennis Stairs) Marjorie Webb grew up on 16 St. Denis street in Quebec City. As a nurse she served overseas from 1914 – 1919, spending significant time on the front lines at the Casualty Clearing Stations in France for which she was decorated with the Royal Red Cross. In a letter home to her mother, she wrote “I am sorry I have not been telling you about the work, it’s rather hard to write about. Lately since the tents were opened, we have been getting all the stretcher cases. The wounds are pretty hard to look at but you get used to it.” She was stationed at the front including spending time at the horrific Battle of the Somme. Percy Turcot, grew up in Quebec City and vacationed with his family in St. Irene. He also served on the front lines and was wounded in WW1 as a Captain. He went onto a career as a shipping executive with Mclean Kennedy, a shipping broker. In 1916, shortly after being commissioned to France from England he wrote to Marjorie: “It is a great feeling to at last feel you are going to try to do something. There is no truer saying than - The only man who is happy today is the man at the front.” Even at the age of 30, he needed permission from his mother as he was the sole supporter of his family. “I had a hard time getting my mother’s permission, but she said yes yesterday, I am now in for it. I was very hard on poor mother.” They were married on Nov 6, 1919 shortly after Marjorie returned from Europe. All four children were born in St. John, New Brunswick before moving to Montreal around 1930. Marjorie and Percy purchased their Tadoussac property from Rachel Stairs and built the existing Turcot house in 1946. Marjorie (and son Peter age 21) spent the summer in Tad overseeing the construction and building the path to the beach, while Percy working in the shipping business made sure that post war supplies were delivered. Tea time was a ritual with friends in the afternoon on the front yard in Tadoussac, and every Sunday in Westmount, with lots and lots of family. Grandchildren were given free run of the house on Belmont Ave., which included playing super eight family movies, ping pong games and watching Walt Disney. The house in Tad was often overflowing with guests and family. Marjorie was a prolific reader who loved picnics, berry picking and flowers. Percy was an avid sportsman. Rumour has it he would play 9 holes before work in St John NB every day. Both played tennis, golf and skied, but not on Sunday. They were opposites in so many ways and married for 57 years. Marjorie, a devoted Anglican, was serious and generous to a fault with a keen interest in everyone she met and interacted with. Percy attended the Catholic church and was a true Quebecer who lived his life full of “joie de vivre” … however one common trait, you were always warmly welcomed by both into their home…and “last touch” by Gammie’s cane was a game with the grandchildren on the way out the door. Betty Evans made the needlepoint seat cushion for one of the chairs at the front of the church in Tad in memory of Marjorie Turcot and the carved wooden top on the font at the back of the church was also given in her memory (carved by Pierre Tremblay). (MMT initials) Fun Facts Percy, having a career in the shipping business, would raise shipping flags with the help of his grandchildren, to salute the passing Headline ships on the Saguenay to see if they would toot their horn in response, which they did on occasion. The funnel colours for the Headline ships were black bearing the ‘Red Hand of Ulster’ with three drops of blood on a white shield. The bloody hand became a theme of many ghost stories told at Tad bonfires on the beach. Marjorie was one of the first women to vote in Canada. In 1917 The federal government granted limited war-time suffrage to enlisted women in 1917 (Military Voters Act, awarded the vote to women serving in the armed forces as well as nurses in the war) and followed with full suffrage for women in 1918. Chris Turcot (plus family!)

Smith, George Herbert Carington Back to ALL Bios Herbert Carington Smith 1906 - 1966 Known as Herbie, Herbert Carington Smith was the third of four children born to Charles and Aileen Carington Smith. The family lived at Montmorency Falls, where he told of a life of skiing and skating to school, canoeing on the river, and sailing in the sea. Like his brother Noel, Herbie was an accomplished horse rider, and when he lived in Hereford, England, much later in life, he used to run the local pony club and annual camp. His engineering skills started early when he and a friend built a wall across a road one night, and on another occasion, craned a car onto the top of a roof when they tired of the boastful chap who owned it! He went to the Lower and Upper Canada College, before spending four years training at the Royal Military College in Kingston. Following in brother Noel's footsteps, Herbie joined the British Army as a Royal Engineer and studied at Cambridge University. From 1930 he was posted to Ordnance Survey Companies at Fort Southwick, Southampton, and Edinburgh. In 1931 he took part in a Trans-Atlantic Ocean race with the Royal Engineers. He had the last crew position as a cook and had to hastily ask his mother for cookery lessons! He told of having to put the dough for the bread in a tin, and take it to bed with him to make it rise. In 1933 he took part as a surveyor in an Oxford and Cambridge University expedition to Spitzbergen. In 1935 Herbie spent two and half years with the British Guiana-Brazil Boundary Commission. Then he served as Captain for another eighteen months with the 19th Field Survey Company, which included a tour in France with the British Expeditionary Force. He worked at survey and training centres in Scarborough, Derby, and then Ripon, as an instructor in Fields Works and Bridging. He also obtained his pilot’s licence at that time. Following this, he again visited Spitzbergen for special duties with Force 111, a joint Canadian, British and Norwegian operation largely composed of Canadian Sappers sent to evacuate the inhabitants, destroy fuel stocks and render all facilities useless to the enemy. He received a mention in despatches for saving a Sunderland flying boat from being driven ashore in a storm. He collected some French-Canadian soldiers, none of whom had ever handled an oar before and took out a small rowing boat. With that, he was able to get a line to the Sunderland and tow it to safety. He then went as General Staff Officer (Grade 1) on a liaison mission to Australia, where he was highly regarded, working with Australian and US intelligence. He served as a Special Operations Executive, and Officer of Strategic Services, taking part in the top-secret behind-the-lines network. His experience included battles at Salamanca, during August and September of 1943, Finischafen and Lae in September of 1943, The Admiralty Islands in March 1944, and Hollandia in April of 1944. He got experience being in charge of staff and working with Aerial Photography, Combined Ops, Jungle Warfare, Airborne, Mortars and Pioneer duties. He was in charge of small pockets of men, walking in and out of the jungle multiple times during 1943 and 1944 on missions that are still highly classified. It would seem that he was in Force 136, a far eastern branch of the British World War II intelligence organisation. Royal Engineers were involved in building the bridge over the River Kwai in 1942 and 1943. His next foreign tour took him back to the Far East as CRE to the British and Indian Divisional Engineers, British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, and then in May 1948, to Command of the Engineer Training Centre, FAREFLY at Kluan, Malaya, until November of 1952. In Japan in 1947, the Lt Gen. Commander in chief of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force recommended him for the Order of the British Empire for his meritorious service in carrying out his duties most efficiently, making troops comfortable, hard-working, taking a keen interest in his work and because his mechanical aptitude was excellent. “Success of the engineering work in this formation 268 Indian Infantry Brigade Group, is entirely due to the organizational capacity of Colonel Smith and his untiring zeal and energy to see the task through. He carried out his task despite the great difficulties of lack of any precedence and procedure. He had to organize the procurement of the Engineer Store which in itself was a complicated task, and needed an officer of Colonel Smith's calibre.” In 1948, he was awarded Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire following his engineering work and organizational skills in the Far East. He was mentioned in despatches in December 1949. His medals included The Pacific Star, British War Medal ribbons, France & Germany Star, and the Italy Star. Herbie met Alison (Ty) Gatey, a Major in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, also working in intelligence, and they married in London in 1950. Their son, Anthony, was born in Malaya in 1951. Herbie used to love getting parcels from his sisters in Canada – they used to send blocks of maple sugar - and he loved slicing this on his porridge. He passed his love of swimming, rowing, riding and dogs on to his son and daughter. Herbie returned to the UK in May 1953 on promotion to Colonel, as Assistant Director of the Directorate of Royal Engineers at the Ministry of Supply in London. He had a passionate love of sailing and the sea, and as a member of the Royal Engineers Yacht Club, he was Skipper of the Right Royal. In the 1956 Channel Race, he saved the yacht, which was dismasted in a gale. He refused to abandon ship, despite offers to be taken off, and got the boat and crew, battered but safe, into Dunkirk. His final posting, in 1957, was as Commanding Officer of the Special Air Service base in Hereford, although it was officially known as the Territorial Army base. Herbie retired in 1960. When he retired from the Army Herbie spent some time working as a surveyor on the M4 motorway that was being built. He and Ty then moved to Keswick. He enjoyed rowing on the lake and climbing the mountains. The family used to go on a narrowboat every year on the canal. When his daughter was seven, he saved her life when she fell overboard and became trapped between the boat and the canal bank. He hooked her out with the boat hook. He was a warden at Crosthwaite Church in Keswick. He loved seeing his brother Noel and family in Scotland, and his sister Doris came over to England in 1954. He had plans to take the family to Canada in 1966, but sadly became ill that year and passed away just before his 60th birthday. His varied career well reflected his ever-inquiring mind, objectivity and problem-solving. A man of immense courage, with unfailing good humour and quiet enthusiasm, earned him universal respect and made him many friends. Eve Wickwire & Georgina Williams

Molson, Colin John (Jack) Grasset Back to ALL Bios Colin John Grasset Molson 1902 - 1997 C.J.G. “Jack” Molson was born in St. Thomas, Ontario to Mary Letitia Snider and Kenneth Molson. The family moved to Quebec City when Jack was two years old, where Kenneth worked as a manager for a branch of the Molson’s Bank. During Jack’s childhood he spent his summers with his grandparents (John Thomas Molson and Jenny Baker Butler) in Métis. He learned to play the violin as a boy, and for his high school years he attended boarding school at Ashbury College in Rockcliffe Park, near Ottawa. He went on to study economics and accounting, and as a young man he was hired by Coopers & Lybrand. Jack met Doris Amelia Carington Smith at a coming-out party aboard the HMS Hood, (built in 1922, the largest military vessel in the world at the time), anchored in the Quebec harbour in August of 1924. They were married in Montmorency two years later. From then on, Jack would spend time with his family each summer in Tadoussac, where the Carington Smiths had a summer home. They had two children: Robin, in 1929, and Verity in 1932. Jack owned a little wooden sailboat called Lilith, but sold the vessel when war started in 1939. He became Paymaster for the Black Watch in Montreal. He and Doris continued to come to Tadoussac with their children through the war year summers. After peace was declared, in 1945, he bought land in Dwight Park and had a house built on it of his own design. Jack Molson continued to work as a chartered accountant in Montreal, while over the years his interest in Quebec’s history and heritage grew. He became one of the founders of the Canadian Handicrafts Guild and was one of the first to support the efforts of Inuit carvers and print-makers. In 1955 when Westmount’s Hurtubise House (1714) was threatened with demolition, Jack mounted an effort to save the island’s oldest home. He persuaded his friend, James Beattie, and his aunt, Mabel Molson, to help him buy the house. In the next few years, he purchased two other properties, including natural sites in Gaspé that were vulnerable to commercial development. By 1960 the Canadian Heritage of Quebec was incorporated and had an active board of professionals as directors. The CHQ foundation, under Jack’s direction, would save Simon Fraser house in Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue, the Laterriere Seigneurial Mill at Les Eboulements in the Charlevoix, as well as Les Rochers, Sir John A. Macdonald’s summer home in St. Patrick, and dozens of other heritage properties on both sides of the St. Lawrence River, including Bon Désir and Point à Boisvert on the north shore. Here in Tadoussac, Jack Molson and James Beattie purchased the Pilot House (Molson-Beattie House) with the intention of converting it to a museum. When historical fishing vessels and sailboats were donated to the CHQ foundation, Jack had barns erected on land behind the Pilot House in order to preserve them. He bought land above the sand dunes which he later donated to the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park. He was also very supportive of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel. In 1979 Jack Molson was awarded the Order of Canada for his dedication to historical preservation through the Canadian Heritage of Quebec. By then, he had long retired from his work in order to devote all of his time to the foundation. In spite of his remarkable vision of the future and all of his accomplishments, Jack was a modest man who shied away from personal publicity. His manner was unassuming, his personal life pared down to the essentials. One of the things he loved the most was a simple picnic on a St. Lawrence River beach with some boiled eggs and a cup of tea brewed in a billycan over a small fire. On more than one occasion he was known to have said to Doris, “This is a beautiful, unspoiled spot. It would be such a pity if someone decided to develop it. We should buy it.” Predeceased by Doris in 1975, and his daughter Verity in 1995, Jack Molson passed away peacefully after a long illness in 1997. He was 95. Karen Molson

Languedoc, Adele Back to ALL Bios In Memoriam Adele de Guerry Languedoc March 1904 – December 1993 On Sunday, August 5th, 2007 the congregation of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel laid a headstone in memory of Adele de Guerry Languedoc on the chapel grounds. Adele was born in Tadoussac in the early 1900’s and summered here with her family throughout her life. Adele’s step-mother, Erie Russell Janes Languedoc, was the granddaughter of Willis Russell who, along with Colonel Rhodes, were among the first to build summer cottages at Tadoussac in the 1860’s. Erie purchased the lands that later became known as Languedoc Park after she married the widower, George de Guerry Languedoc. The four original cottages in Languedoc Park were Erie's cottage and the cottages of the three Stevenson sisters who were great granddaughters of Willis Russell. At the time of her death, she was remembered by the National Archives of Canada for her distinguished career as a librarian. Her career began with her undergraduate degree at McGill University including a library diploma and she received a Bachelor of Library Service from Columbia University in 1946. She served for five years with the American Relief for France during the Second World War and her efforts helped to restore the regional libraries that had been so damaged during the war. She also set up the first children’s library that existed outside Paris. On her return to Canada she was hired as ‘accessions librarian’ at the Canadian Bibliographic Centre which was later named the Library and Archives of Canada. She helped to build our now famous collection of Canadian literature and documents. She was named Assistant National Librarian in 1964. Through her work in Ottawa she was asked to represent Canada as a member of the UNESCO seminar on libraries and served as a consultant in Africa. The National Library News wrote of her at the time of her death “To all her work, she brought a broad, deep knowledge and experience of Canada’s French and English tradition. She is remembered by her friends in Tadoussac as a friendly, smiling member of the community sitting on her porch at her cottage in Languedoc Park. Few realised what important work she had done at the National and International level. She was a neighbour and a friend.

Cid, Pierre & Famille Back to ALL Bios La famille Cid Les ainés de Tadoussac se rappellent pour la plupart le magasin général Cid, situé au centre du village, là où, aujourd’hui se trouve le Café Bohème. Peut-être même quelques-uns ont connu Joseph Cid, le fils de Pierre Cid, fondateur du magasin général du même nom. Pour ma part, quelques lectures historiques captivantes et une réflexion objective m’ont conduits aux propos suivants. Pierre Cid, à son époque, est sans contredit une personne bien connue à Tadoussac et dans les environs. L’histoire locale identifie d’abord le personnage au magasin général, mais aussi au fait de son origine syrienne, pays de l’Asie de l’Ouest. Selon les sources, il y serait né en 1866. Il arrive en sol canadien entre 1894 et 1897, au début de la trentaine. Selon les données du recensement national de 1911, il semble probable qu’il soit arrivé au pays en 1895. Il est alors accompagné de sa femme Halissah, née en 1877, (souvent prénommée Alice, Marie-Alice, Marie-Halisse, ou Alisse) et de deux enfants: Victoria, 6 ans, et Geneviève 5 ans. Selon madame Gaby Villeneuve (Les vieilles familles de Tadoussac, 1850-1950), ils s’installeraient à Québec à leur arrivée au Canada. Pour ce qui est de son pays d’origine présumé, la Syrie, il est à noter qu’à cette époque, soit la fin du 19e siècle, cette région du monde connaît de multiples conflits politiques avec les pays voisins. La France est présente comme état colonisateur et joue un rôle important dans cette région du monde. Cette présence française explique d’ailleurs la nature francophone du Liban et de la Syrie entre autres, depuis de nombreuses années et aujourd’hui encore. Bien entendu les frontières entre le Liban et la Syrie ont varié au cours du 19ièm et du début du 20ièm siècles et certaines villes ou régions se voit ainsi changer de pays. Selon l’avis de décès paru dans le journal L’Action catholique du samedi 20 mars 1948 (Source BANQ), Pierre Cid serait né dans la ville de «Massoun au Liban (Syrie)» en 1866. S’agirait-il de l’actuelle ville de Massoud (Massoudiyeh ou Massoudieh) du district de l’Akkar au nord du Liban? Cette ville est en effet située très près de la frontière entre les deux pays, dans une région montagneuse limitrophe de la Syrie dont Wikipédia relate un exode important de sa population à travers le monde, entre autres vers le Canada. L’hypothèse de cette origine de Pierre Cid semble intéressante. Quoiqu’il en soit, Pierre Cid parle donc français à son arrivée au Canada. Cela facilitera son intégration au Québec rural où il exerce au début, le métier de commerçant itinérant entre Québec et la côte nord (source : Les vieilles familles de Tadoussac, 1850-1950). Après quelques années à parcourir la région de Charlevoix et de Tadoussac, il s’installe dans ce village au début 1900. Ses activités commerciales sont au début assez modestes, à partir d’un petit local situé dans la maison qui deviendra plus tard le magasin général. Après quelques années, les affaires allant assez bien, il achète la maison de son propriétaire et y installe son magasin général. Rapidement Pierre Cid devient une personnalité importante et respectée au village et dans la région. Il collabore à tous les projets de développement et son nom revient fréquemment dans les journaux du Québec de l’époque, le Soleil, la Presse, l’Action catholique et le Quotidien notamment. Au cours des années il fonde une famille imposante avec onze enfants, quatre garçons et sept filles. Malheureusement, en 1917 il perd un fils, Antoine, âgé de 16 ans. Trois autres enfants décèdent aussi en bas âge; deux garçons, Louis-Joseph à l’âge de deux ans (1905), Joseph-Paul à trois ans (1915) et une fille, Marie-Juliette au cours de sa première année en 1915. Ces sépultures sont gravées sur la stèle de Pierre Cid au cimetière ancestral de Tadoussac. Lors du recensement de 1911 (sources retrouvées par monsieur Tom Evans) les enfants identifiés au registre national sont Victoria, l’aînée, qui est née en Syrie le 17 décembre 1892, de même que Geneviève le 16 mars 1893. Suivent par la suite les enfants nés au Québec : Joseph, le 13 janvier 1896 (d’où mon doute sur l’hypothèse de l’arrivée de Pierre Cid au pays en 1897), Antoine le 11 décembre 1900 et décédé en 1917 (sur l’épitaphe il est indiqué 1901 comme date de naissance, alors que le recensement précise qu’il est né en 1900), Alexandra, le 7 juin 1904, Joséphine, le 5 mars 1905, Marie et Antoinette les jumelles, le premier avril 1910. Les enfants ont été éduqués dans la religion catholique comme le laisse présumer les indications dans les journaux. En effet, certaines des filles ont même été novices chez les religieuses, notamment Geneviève (Soeur Marie-du-St-Esprit), Alexandra (Soeur Marie-du-bon-Pasteur) et Antoinette (Soeur Alarie-du-bon-Pasteur). Certains témoins de l’époque prétendent qu’Alexandra et Marie travaillaient avec Joseph au magasin. Marie souffrait, semble-t-il, de la maladie de Parkinson. L’avis de décès d’Alexandra, retrouvé dans le journal le Soleil du 7 novembre 1978, annonce son décès le 6 novembre 1978 à Québec à l’âge de 74 ans. L’a nécrologie relate la présence aux obsèques de Joseph, Joséphine et Marie. Nous n’avons pas trouvé d’autres traces après cette date. Victoria, l’ainée et Antoinette la cadette seront les seuls enfants Cid à se marier. On retrouve l’inscription au registre, le mariage de Victoria, qui épouse le 20 septembre 1920, à Toronto, monsieur John Moses Cooley, fils de James Cooley et de Agnès Clair. Antoinette, après avoir fait des études en soins infirmiers à l’hôpital Ste-Justine de Montréal et pratiqué sa profession quelques années au Québec, quitte le pays pour s’installer à New York. Elle y fait la Rencontre de John David Barr de Baltimore et l’épouse en 1950. Deux ans plus tôt, le 16 mars 1948, sont célébrées à Tadoussac les funérailles de monsieur Pierre Cid, à l’âge vénérable de 82 ans et 5 mois. Quelques années au paravant, Madame Hallissah Cid est décédée, le 26 juillet 1945 à l’âge de 68 ans. Une épitaphe à sa mémoire est inscrite sur une pierre tombale près de la stèle de Pierre Cid. Il n’y aura donc aucun descendant patronyme de Pierre Cid. Y a-t-il des descendants Cid-Cooley en Ontario issus du mariage de Victoria, ou des Cid-Barr aux États-Unis du mariage d’Antoinette? Malheureusement, nous n’en avons pas trouvé de trace, pour l’instant. À suivre, peut-être. Daniel Delisle PhD The Cid family The elders of Tadoussac mostly remember the Cid general store, located in the center of the village, where the Café Bohème is today. Perhaps even a few knew Joseph Cid, the son of Pierre Cid, founder of the general store of the same name. For my part, some fascinating historical readings and objective reflection led me to the following remarks. Pierre Cid, in his time, is undoubtedly a well-known person in Tadoussac and the surrounding area. Local history identifies the character first with the general store, but also with the fact of his Syrian origin, a country in West Asia. According to sources, he was born there in 1866. He arrived on Canadian soil between 1894 and 1897, in his early thirties. According to data from the 1911 national census, it seems probable that he arrived in the country in 1895. He was then accompanied by his wife Halissah, born in 1877, (often named Alice, Marie-Alice, Marie-Halisse, or Alisse ) and two children: Victoria, 6, and Geneviève 5. According to Ms. Gaby Villeneuve (The old families of Tadoussac, 1850-1950), they would settle in Quebec on their arrival in Canada. As for its presumed country of origin, Syria, it should be noted that at this time, the end of the 19th century, this region of the world was experiencing multiple political conflicts with neighboring countries. France is present as a colonizing state and plays an important role in this region of the world. This French presence also explains the French-speaking nature of Lebanon and Syria, among others, for many years and still today. Of course the borders between Lebanon and Syria varied during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries and some cities or regions are thus seen changing countries. According to the death notice published in the newspaper L'Action catholique on Saturday, March 20, 1948 (Source BANQ), Pierre Cid was born in the town of "Massoun in Lebanon (Syria)" in 1866. Would it be the current city of Massoud (Massoudiyeh or Massoudieh) in the Akkar district in northern Lebanon? This city is indeed located very close to the border between the two countries, in a mountainous region bordering Syria which Wikipedia relates to a significant exodus of its population across the world, among others to Canada. The hypothesis of this Pierre Cid origin seems interesting. In any event, Pierre Cid therefore spoke French when he arrived in Canada. This will facilitate his integration into rural Quebec, where he started out as an itinerant merchant between Quebec and the north coast (source: The old families of Tadoussac, 1850-1950). After a few years traveling the Charlevoix and Tadoussac region, he settled in this village at the beginning of 1900. At the beginning, his commercial activities were quite modest, from a small room located in the house which would later become the general store. After a few years, with business going fairly well, he bought the owner's house and set up his general store there. Pierre Cid quickly became an important and respected personality in the village and in the region. He collaborated on all development projects and his name appeared frequently in the Quebec newspapers of the time, including Le Soleil, La Presse, Action catholique and Le Quotidien. Over the years he founded an imposing family with eleven children, four boys and seven girls. Unfortunately, in 1917 he lost a son, Antoine, aged 16. Three other children also die at an early age; two boys, Louis-Joseph at the age of two (1905), Joseph-Paul at the age of three (1915) and a girl, Marie-Juliette during her first year in 1915. These graves are engraved on the stele of Pierre Cid at the ancestral cemetery of Tadoussac. During the 1911 census (sources found by Mr. Tom Evans) the children identified in the national register are Victoria, the eldest, who was born in Syria on December 17, 1892, as well as Geneviève on March 16, 1893. children born in Quebec: Joseph, January 13, 1896 (hence my doubt on the hypothesis of the arrival of Pierre Cid in the country in 1897), Antoine on December 11, 1900 and died in 1917 (on the epitaph he is indicated 1901 as the date of birth, while the census specifies that he was born in 1900), Alexandra, June 7, 1904, Joséphine, March 5, 1905, Marie and Antoinette the twins, April 1, 1910. The children were educated in the Catholic religion as the indications in the newspapers suggest. Indeed, some of the girls were even novices with the nuns, notably Geneviève (Sister Marie-du-St-Esprit), Alexandra (Sister Marie-du-bon-Pasteur) and Antoinette (Sister Alarie-du-bon-Pasteur) . Some witnesses at the time claim that Alexandra and Marie worked with Joseph at the store. Marie was reportedly suffering from Parkinson's disease. Alexandra's death notice, found in the newspaper Le Soleil for November 7, 1978, announces her death on November 6, 1978 in Quebec City at the age of 74. The obituary relates the presence at the funerals of Joseph, Josephine and Marie. We have not found any other traces after this date. Victoria, the eldest, and Antoinette the younger, will be the only Cid children to marry. We find the entry in the register, the marriage of Victoria, who married on September 20, 1920, in Toronto, Mr. John Moses Cooley, son of James Cooley and Agnès Clair. Antoinette, after studying nursing at Ste-Justine Hospital in Montreal and practicing her profession for a few years in Quebec, left the country to settle in New York. There she met John David Barr of Baltimore and married in 1950. Two years earlier, on March 16, 1948, the funeral of Mr. Pierre Cid was celebrated in Tadoussac, at the venerable age of 82 years and 5 months. A few years earlier, Mrs. Hallissah Cid died on July 26, 1945 at the age of 68. An epitaph in his memory is inscribed on a tombstone near the stele of Pierre Cid. There will therefore be no patronymic descendant of Pierre Cid. Are there Cid-Cooley descendants in Ontario from Victoria’s marriage, or Cid-Barrs in the United States from Antoinette’s marriage? Unfortunately, we haven't found any evidence of it yet. To be continued, perhaps. Daniel Delisle PhD

Williams, Jim & Evelyn (Meredith) Back to ALL Bios Jim Williams is the oldest son of Lennox Williams and Nan Rhodes. Born in 1888, married Evelyn Meredith January 3, 1916. He was killed in the First World War at the Somme in November 18, 1916 at the age of 28. MANY more photos and letters at https://www.tidesoftadoussac.com/james-w-williams

Smith, Amelia Jane (LeMesurier) Back to ALL Bios Amelia Jane LeMesurier Smith 1832-1917 Amelia Jane LeMesurier was born in Quebec City in 1832. She was the 4th daughter and one of 12 children of Henry LeMesurier and his wife Julie Guerout. In 1857 she married Robert Herbert Smith also of Quebec City. He was involved in the Timber and Shipping business. They had 6 sons, Robert Harcourt, Herbert, Charles, George, Edmund and Arthur and 2 daughters, Edith and Amelia Blanche. She died in Quebec City in 1917 having been predeceased by her sons Robert Harcourt in 1913 and Herbert in 1915. She is buried with her husband in Mount Hermon Cemetery, in Quebec City. Eve Wickwire Photo circa 1906 shows Amelia Jane Lemesurier Smith, her son Robert Harcourt Carrington Smith, and his son Gordon Smith, father of Eve Wickwire!

Stairs, Dennis & Sue Back to ALL Bios Dennis W. Stairs 1923-1975 & Susan E. (Inglis) Stairs 1923-1978 Dennis was born and grew up in Montreal. After attending Bishop’s College School, he joined the Royal Navy and served on the British aircraft carrier Indefatigable as an airplane navigator. He started coming to Tadoussac at an early age, and in his teens went on trips to Les Escoumins and the Marguerite in nor’shore canoes with his brothers and his cousin Peter Turcot - twenty miles rowing is a long way! He was a tennis and skiing enthusiast and was on the McGill University teams for both sports. He graduated from McGill with honours in engineering and took a position with what was then the Price Brothers Company in Kenogami. He married twice having four children by his first marriage and three by his second. Sue Inglis was born and grew up in Pittenweem, Scotland. She moved to London during the war and served in an anti-aircraft unit defending the city. She married Dennis Stairs in 1957 and together they had three children, Alan, John, and Sarah to add to Dennis’s previous four, Judy, George, Felicite, and Philippa, and she treated all seven with the same mixture of poise, no-nonsense strength, and kindness. Sue had left her home in a thriving metropolitan city to move to Kenogami, a small town a mere ninety miles from Tadoussac. She adapted well, learning skiing as well as other winter activities. She also learned French well enough to lead the Girl Guides in the Lac St Jean region! She came to Tadoussac soon after arriving and embarked on the full range of activities – witness her name on the Mixed-Doubles Tennis Trophy in more than one place, her embroidery creations in the church, and the Scottish-dancing parties she hosted - not to mention numerous picnics around Tadoussac on the beaches, in the hills, and along the shores in the freighter-canoe Seven Steps. She tirelessly nursed Dennis when he took ill, enabling him to spend the last few years of his life in the relative peace and comfort of his own homes in Montreal and in Tadoussac. Dennis passed on to us all, with varying degrees of success, his love of the outdoors whether hiking, cross-country skiing, chopping wood, or fishing. He passed along to us his love of small boats, be they canoes, rowboats, motorboats, or even how to use a freighter canoe as a sailboat! And of course, he led by example in tennis and skiing. Perhaps most of all he tried to teach us to be honest, fair, hard-working, and family-oriented people. Many a time we were cajoled into doing unpleasant tasks with the words "you're not going to let your poor father do everything are you?" We and the entire Tadoussac community remember them as good parents, good friends, and good people to have in your corner when the going got tough. George Stairs