Remembrances of Ulric Dubois


For those of you who haven't seen a copy of the following, thought you all might find this charming personal history interesting.

Thanks to Cousins Kenny and Lois Kraft who have confirmed that it was written by Ulric Dubois (Lois' father and Grandma Virginia's brother). It tells about Noe Hubert Dubois and Elmire Cheeney, Grandma Virginia's parents and their lives. It also gives some clues about the Ganahase (Gunhouse/Gennyhouse) family back to England.

Parentheses are mine. I have copied it exactly as written.

"June, 1982

Claudia asked me to write a resume of my short life and as that isn't better or worse than the others of my time. It probably interested you to know a little more of your grandparents, of which I wish I knew more.

The farthest back that I've heard of is that a rich family in England who had 6 girls and one boy. The father was mean and the boy ran away and landed in the navy in Canada - Canada belonged to England - where he work(ed) if I recall for about $4.00 per month.

He then married to a French girl and soon after one of the Gennyhouse girl(s) got married and the whole family celebrating the wedding went on a sea voyage and they all drowned. Leaving a large fortune, they advertised all over for the then young man. He knew about it but his wife who couldn't talk English refused to go to England so he didn't make himself known. His wife as it turned out was Mother's (Elmire Cheeney) great-grandmother and her brother tried to recover the fortune but it was too late and it all had been back over to the English government.

I can't trace Mother or Dad sides of the family further than Canada. I've often heard them say (they lived) "2 weeks below Quebec". That was the time it was or takes to travel that distance with a team of oxen. No mile line.

My folks never went to school, however, mother taught herself to read the French and English newspaper. Mother had one sister and four brothers (note: I show 2 sisters and 6 brothers?) and at the age of 10 Mother worked in a factory at the end of the day they'd put her pay in an envelope to take home. Dad lost his Dad when he was 7 years old (1865) and he too had to work. His work was in the woods and became quite a chop(p)er as they had alot of competition with other camps and he represented his camp and became known as the "champ". Time passes on anyway Noe Dubois (my Dad) was reunited in marriage to Elmire Cheeney (my Mother). He was 23 and she was 17 when married on the 14th of November 1881. Dad was born November 14, 1858; died July 24, 1942. Mother was born October 27, 1864. While still in Canada, Delia was born 12/24/1882; died in 1923 and Zatique on 8/26/1884; died in 1965. Now here especially I wish I had more information.* The territory in the west in the U.S. opened up to settlers. If one settled on a piece of land 160 acres for one year the land became his. How the folks ever decided to pull (up) stakes and move so far to a different country and couldn't speak English. Anyway be as it may, they came (in 1886) to Devil's Lak(e), ND the end of the line. There they travelled by wagon how much further I do not know but mother had none of her family and Dad had his mother and stepfather plus 2 brothers and a sister and their spouses. They travelled many days until they came to Turtle Moutain. There they decided to make a stand. All the way from Devil's Lake the wind always blows mostly from the north and thinking that the mountain would provide protection plus seeing all the trees they would have lumber to build and for heat. Dad settled by a little creek which at the time ran year round. His mother and stepdad settled 3/4 mile north and Dad's sister (Emmerance Dubois Picard), the Picards settled 1/2 mile east. I don't know about the 2 other brothers.

Just think stopping in open space with a wife and 2 small kids between one and three, that was around 1886. First they had to cut sod to build a home. Dad had a team of oxen and a cow. I have mortgage papers whereby Dad mortgaged the team of oxen for a walking plow with a steel beam. He got that from Bottineau which was also opening up. They wagon(ed) all the merchandise from Devil's Lake. The game was plentiful and Dad had a nozzle shotgun and for a few years plus a garden made their living. Another kid Louria Virginia 6/27/1887; then Maria 8/7/1888; Henry 8/3/1890; (Maria) Anna 10/271/1891; Regina 6/25/1894; John (Noe) 7/25/1895; (Noe) Ephrem 7/17/1896; (Adelard) Ben 2/12/1898; Noe (Hubert) 9/19/1896; (Alfred) William 7/24/1899; Eugene 3/9/1901; Ulric 1/11/1903; Claudia 5/19/1904; Albert 5/2/1907, died 1960. (note that the dates for Noe Ephrem and Noe Hubert are unlikely).

Times as we know them couldn't have been easy. By the time I was born times for my folks were getting better. Dad had built a log house out of oak logs all squared by axe. They were about 8" square. Can you imagine the work? Two stories, large kitchen and living room combine(d); 1 bedroom plus a palor. Had to go throught the bedroom to get to the parlor or go through another outside door. In the kitchen were stairs going up to 2nd story where it had 2 large bedrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls.

I remember living in that house. We had (a) heater(s) in the parlor (heated on Sunday) and in the kitchen. The upstairs was not heated except (for the) heat (that) escaped from downstairs through grates and stairways. In the morning, we'd run down stairs. Mother kept the oven door open to heat the house.

Delia was married and gone before I was born and 3 boys that died between 1 and 3 years old who were gone before I was born so I suppose they never had more than a dozen kids living home at any one time.

But you can imagine having that many kids with no electricity; no running water; no inside plumbing; no bath tub. All the water had to be heated in a boiler (about 7 gallons) on the kitchen range plus another reservoir attached to the kitchen range. The bath tub was a round galvanized tub that was also part of the washing machine; the other half was the scrub tub.

I remember the first washing machine that Mother got. A wooden tub with a handle on top that had to be pull(ed) back and forth. That was the kids job to pull that handle back and forth - 15 minutes per load...believe me we never ran over. Mother always had the clock nearby. Then we had to turn the handle on the ringer. The water was seldom changed....guess you can wash in dirty water.

Dad built a new house in 1912. All the kids were growing up. Six bedroom house and a couple of years later, Anna, Regina and Henry were gone so the house was plenty big. But still no running water or electricity. These came about after we were all out on our own.

In later years, however, the folks were able to enjoy alittle rest. They spent a winter in Florida and several in California. Mother had a brother (Charles Cheeney who moved to Meridian, CT) who would come from Massachusetts and the three would vote on where to spend the winter. Gene did the farmwork and later Leo and Claudia and the folks always home in the summer. This went on till Mother who always had a bad stomach supposedly developed cancer and died in 1932. I've thought an awful lot about that. We just didn't know any better but I believe that Mother probably died of ulcers that got so bad that she couldn't eat. She was never operated on. The doctor said cancer and that was that. Later in life I began to think about it, trusting to a small town doctor. I wish we had know enough to take her to Rochester, MN. She probably would have lived many more years, but we didn't know any better. I was at the time managing a hardware store at Marshfield, WI and Ed was working for me so we in turn went to see Mother. At that time there were only trains and it took about 3 days. So I never got to see Mother again. She was very religious and wasn't afraid to die. That one person that really believe in God and prayed alot and doubt that she ever did anything wrong. I feel sure that she's up there where she hears me when I often call on her for help and guidance.

Things after Mother passed away were not as pleasant for Dad. He visited with the kids, spent a few winters in California and mostly on the farm. He lived for another 10 years, died at the hospital in Bottineau. He was 84 years old. I was with him when he died. He was in the hospital 10 days and suffered alot. I gave blood for a transfusion. Doctor said it would ease the pain. I said I didn't want to do it if it would prolong his suffering. Amen for the folks. 10 days in the hospital the bills was $43.00"

* Uncle Ulric wonders why they left Canada for the U.S. western frontier. At that time when the Homestead Acts were passed and lands opened up, the recently constructed railroads forced the owners to advertise around the world for settlers to come to this area in the U.S. The railroads needed people in order to become profitable. They needed the farmers to grow the crops so they could ship them east, they needed townspeople to work the railroads, and they needed laborers to construct the railroads. Towns literally sprung up overnight along the tracks. Flyers were sent to all parts of Europe and Canada, many with glowing reports, pictures and enticements if people would move. (paraphrased from "Bad Land: An American Romance" by Jonathan Raban - I highly recommend this book). I cannot say that this inspired Noe and Elmire to emigrate but it certainly may have helped in making their decision.