There came a time in his life when Rudolphe Labelle of Timmins, Ontario wanted to know who he was and where he and his family came from.
Back then you didn’t have such popular ancestry research sites ad Ancestry.com.
Labelle and similarly inclined friends had to do it the old-fashioned way that consisted of going to the church or city hall records and looking up birth, baptismal, wedding and even death certificates.
“I traced my roots to Quebec and eventually to a small town in Normandy in northwest, France,” Labelle said.
So, he and his friends Jean Guenette, Ross Bell, Claude Poirier and Ross Clausi pooled resources and founded Généalogie Timmins Genealogy (GTG) and the Timmins Public Library about 25 years ago and they purchased records from civil and religious organizations in the Timmins region, Ontario; and, their counterparts in other parts of Canada including Alberta, Quebec, the Maritimes.
The group started in 2003 with the formation of with Société Franco-Ontarienne d'Histoire et de Généalogie, but shortly after it expanded to include the wider Timmins community who shared an interest in researching their past roots.
Those records were at first kept by Rudolphe Labelle and company in their basements or offices until the reference material grew so large there was only one logical place to house the genealogical research material and that was the Timmins Public Library.
Though the material was housed at the Timmins Public Library on several large bookshelves at the back of the library the collection was managed my Societe Généalogie Timmins.
Earlier this week in an historic agreement that took place at the Timmins Public Library the ownership and management of the collection that was so lovingly assembled by the members of SGTG was given to the Timmins Public Library.
Claude Poirier who served as master of ceremony for the sign of the agreement acknowledged it was both a day of sadness and celebration.
“We are a little sad to have to relinquish ownership of the collection we built up over the years, but because most of us are retired it is a celebration to be able to hand over the collection to Timmins Library,” he said.
“On the surface nothing will change, the collection that we managed will now be managed by the Library,” Poirier said. “The resource books and material will still be located where it has been located along the back wall of the library.”
Poirier also tracked his roots to Quebec and northwest France where his ancestors managed pear orchards hence the origin of his name Poirier, poire being the French word for pear.
“We put together this collection by picking up discarded genealogy books containing the history of names,” explained Poirier. “We bought disused library books in Quebec for a dollar, or discarded volumes from government offices anywhere we came across them and we brought them to Timmins.
“The collection contains marriage, baptism and burial records, local histories, genealogies of specific families, legal documents and genealogy dictionaries,” said Poirier. “Many of these books and documents are extremely valuable as they are no longer available in print.”
For example, Poirier pointed to a collection acquired from a used book dealer that contained records from Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal from the 1600s.
“This is a valuable tool for us because so many French-speaking families originated in Quebec before moving to Western Quebec and later to Timmins, during the Porcupine Gold Rush and subsequently.” explained Poirier.
Poirier also said the collection contains records from the Acadie, that date to prior to the Acadian expulsion in New Brunswick in the mid- 18th century. Some Franco-Ontarienne trace their origins to New Brunswick and other maritime provinces.
“The Timmins Public Library welcomes the opportunity to manage and perpetuate this important collection in partnership with Généalogie Timmins Genealogy,” said CaroleAnne Churcher, the Executive of Timmins Public Library.
In an accompanying announcement, retired Timmins High history teacher, Ross Clausi said the genealogy section would be called the Rudolphe Labelle Genealogy Collection.
A plaque was unveiled to dedicate the research area after Rudolphe Labelle.
“Researching your roots is such an important activity to help understand how you got here and who preceded you,” explained Michael Doody, Chair of the Timmins Library Board and Councillor for Ward 5.
Doody’s mother was from a French speaking family from Amos Quebec and his father was an Irishman who spoke very little French.
“It was always a mystery to me how they were able to communicate with each other,” Doody explained.
“After I started tracing my roots and doing a little genealogy research – I found out eventually, that my mother’s family moved from Amos to Alberta, and when they returned to Quebec, they were fully bi-lingual and she spoke English.”
