The Billings of Boston
(Part 1 of likely many)
I traced the Billings family back to 1535 and the Somerset area of England. My focus and desire to obtain source based material however, really stopped at the arrival of Roger Billings (my 10th G. Grandfather) to America in 1640. Most of what I found came as a real shock to myself and to others in the family that I have shared this information with. I had always believed, which I now know to be incorrect, that my mothers family was entirely French-Canadian. A misnomer reinforced by the fact that my Great Grandmother Gertrude Billings, was born in Canada and came to the United States around 1907 with her husband Arthur Garceau whom was also born in Canada. Whenever we talked about family, Canada was always mentioned as the place from which they came and I just assumed that they would be traced back to France.
Marie Gertrude Billings
Born December 16, 1881 Gertrude is my Great Grandmother. When I started to piece together the circumstances which defined her childhood, I was taken back some. Let me explain.
The first place I usually start looking is in census data and this search was no different. I easily found Gertrude living with her husband Arthur Garceau in Putnam Connecticut in both the 1920 and 1930 US Census. From these records I could determine that Gertrude was likely born in 1881 or 1882. But the 1901 Canadian census record I found, was a bit confusing. In it I found a Gertie Billings, aged 19, living in Rock Island Village, Stanstead County, Quebec. Her relationship to the head of household, G. Granddaughter. What? If this is in fact her, why is she living with her grandparents Julius and Fanny Allard?
1901 Canadian Census
Drouin Collection
An excerpt from Ancestry.ca regarding the Drouin Collection: Joseph Drouin founded the Drouin Genealogical Institute in 1899 and began publishing family books based on the vital records he gathered over centuries. Eventually his son Gabriel took over for him.
The Drouin Collection represents the largest and most valuable French-Canadian family history resources available, including an impressive collection of Quebec vital records. The collection includes neary 15 million records, marking the history of Quebec families over three centuries.
I next turned to the Drouin Collection of vital records. The 1901 Canadian census provided some useful clues, Gertrudes date of birth and location in Canada. Finding the church records for the village of Rock Island, I get to the index and start looking around 1881 for her baptismal record.
Gertrude was baptised December 18th, 1881 the daughter of Henri Billings and Stephanie Allard. I'm on the right track, her mother was an Allard and Gertrude was living with her grandparents Julius and Fanny Allard. I now know Gertrudes parents names but this doesn't explain her living with her grandparents so I continue the search.
Marie Gertrude Billings Baptismal
Next I started to look for the marraige record of her parents Henri and Stephanie. It's likely around 1881, the birth year of Gertrude. I started looking through the index from 1881 backwards and I come across an entry for Henry Billings and Stephanie Allard, married January 19, 1881. They were married at the Sacre-Coeur church in Stanstead County. The marriage record also lists the parents of the married couple, very nice!
Henri Billings / Stephanie Allard Marriage Record
Next I start looking for any additional siblings of Gertrude. I start in 1881 and move forward in the index looking for any Billings. There are quite a few but not from the family I am interested in. Eventually I find a record for a Marie Helene Billings which turns out to be a sister of Gertrude, as evidenced by her having the same parents as Gertrude. However, while looking over the rest of the entries, I happened across a death record for Stephanie Allard their mother, right at the bottom of the same page.
Gertrude's sister Helen was born January 2nd, 1885 and sadly 8 days later, her mother Stephanie passed away. Such a sad turn of events. Knowing that Gertrude had a sister I have another question. Why didn't Helen appear in the 1901 Canadian census along with her sister? And I still don't know why Gertrude was living with her grandparents in 1901. Worried that Helen and possibly her father may have passed away I start looking for any death records for Billings starting in 1885 and moving forward.
I was saddened to find a death record for little Helen Billings. She died 7 months after being born. Such a young family, just starting out, and having to cope with such loss.
A Sad Set of Circumstances
I can only assume at this point that the girls' mother, and little Helen for that matter, died from complications of child birth. I don't know what kind of access there was to health care, but I'm thinking the situation must have been dire. Henry Billings had a tough job. Not only was he mourning the death of his wife but he had to tend to a 4 year old and a newborn daughter, all while working a full job. It must have been devastating to him and the extended family.
It's clear that after all of this, Henri was unable to care for Gertrude which is why she appears in the census data living with her mothers parents. She lost her a mother, a father, and her sister, more or less at the age of 5. I can only wonder how much contact there was between Gertrude and Henri, and how old she was when she went to stay with her grandparents permenantly. Whenever that took place, it must have been a tough decision for Henri.
Curious to find out what happened to Henri I started looking a bit deeper for him. He eventually remarried in 1891 to Anna Dubois, 6 years after the death of his first wife. They eventually immigrated to the United States and lived in Webster, Massachusetts (of all places) near his father John Billings and started a new family. His first child with new wife Anna was a daughter, her name was Helen. Clearly in memory of his late daughter Helen and her mother Stephanie.
Stay tuned as I continue to trace our Billings family back to Boston, Massachusetts.
