Dennis Campeau (1892-1958)

When Dennis Joseph Campeau was born on July 11, 1892 in Belle River, Essex, Ontario; his father, Henry, was 45 and his mother, Elizabeth Lauzon, was 38.  Two years after his birth his father emigrated his wife and 8 children to the U.S. settling first in New Hartford, Litchfield, Connecticut to work in a cotton mill. Two more children would be born in CT.  New Hartford was a rural community  but it had a cotton mill to sustain  arrivals from New France, Canada.

The family moved to Pawtucket RI prior to 1910.  Pawtucket was considerably less rural than New Hartford and most of the family, including Dennis, worked for the mills. Pawtucket was an early and important center of cotton textiles during the American Industrial Revolution. Slater Mill, built in 1793 by Samuel Slater on the Blackstone River falls in downtown Pawtucket, was the first fully mechanized cotton-spinning mill in America.

 

 

As a 26 year old, Dennis joined the Army and left for France out of Hoboken, NJ on the USS Northern Pacific with the Company A 4th Ammunition Train regiment in May 1918.   Company A commenced training at Camp de Souge, May 30-Aug 1, 1918;  then continued with 77th Division in Vesle Sector during Aug 12-17,1918  then with 26th Division and Fr 15th Colonial Division preceding and during St-Mihiel Operation, Sept 7-14,1918.

The 4th Infantry Division was organized at Camp Greene, North Carolina on December 10, 1917 under the command of Maj. Gen. George H. Cameron. It was here they adopted their distinctive insignia, the four Ivy Leaves. The Ivy leaf came from the Roman numerals for Four (IV) and signified their motto “Steadfast and Loyal”. The division was organized as part of the United States buildup following the Declaration of War on April 6, 1917 and the entry of the United State into the war on the side of the British and French. The 4th Division remained on the Western Front throughout the war; it took part in most of the major actions.

 

After the Great War, the 4th Division was stationed at Camp Dodge, Iowa, until January 1920.

In September 1924, Dennis went to Chinwangtao (Qinhuangdao), China by way of Manila on the USS Chateau Thierry and returned via San Francisco CA on the USS Thomas in November 1927. The USS Thomas was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy.  From arrival in 1912 until 1917 the China Expedition was billeted in various substandard buildings in Tientsin. Following the expulsion of the Germans from their concession in 1917, the U.S. took over the lease of the barracks in the former German Concession.  The Japanese assisted the U.S. during this period.  The Army maintained a 1,000 person garrison at Tientsin (now Tianjin) with company sized detachments  maintained at Chinwangtao (Qinhuangdao) from January 1912 until March 1938.

The Boxer Rebellion was a brutal time in China.  Civilians were caught in the middle and suffered as the warring factions stole from farmers and city dwellers.  The Rebellion saw the final expulsion of the last emperor of the Qing from the Forbidden City in 1924.  There were many foreign nationals in China as well who held leased settlements of land. By the beginning of the Twentieth Century, 19 nations had treaties with China that established extraterritorial consular court jurisdiction over Chinese nationals: Austria-Hungary (1865-1917), Belgium (1865-1945), Brazil (1882-1943), Canada (1942-1945), Congo Free State (1898-1908), Denmark (1863-1946), France (1844-1943/46), Germany (1861-1917), Italy (1866-1943), Japan (1871-1945), Mexico (1899-1928), Netherlands (1863-1945), Norway (1847-1944), Peru (1874-1927), Portugal (1862-1947), Russia (1860-1920/24), Spain (1864-1943), Sweden (1847-1946), Switzerland (1918-1946), United Kingdom (1843-1943), and United States (1845-1943).*

Qinhuangdao is a port city on the coast of China in northeastern Hebei province; it can be quite cold but also has a beautiful beach. It is a time-honored city named after the first emperor in Chinese History Qin Shi Huang who once made his east inspection tour to this place and sent people to the sea to looking for the immortals. If comparing the Great Wall to a dragon then Qinhuangdao is located at the head facing the sea as the Great wall begins here.

Why was a small Army company in Qinhuangdao which was just a minor fishing village until the end of the 19th century.  Qinhuangdao was opened to trade as a treaty port in 1901 and developed a secondary role as a winter port for trade with Tianjin and with Yingkou (now in Liaoning province), when those ports were closed by ice. The city’s growth resulted from the development of the Kailuan coal mines, some 75 miles to the southwest at Tangshan, in the early 1880s. By 1894 the rail link from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan had been completed, and plans had been drawn up to build a modern port at Qinhuangdao, linking it with a short railway to Tianjin on the main line.  The Chinese mine administration was replaced by a British-based company, which completed the harbor and its rail link in 1901. Within two years almost all Kailuan coal was exported through the port rather than through Tianjin. Currently, China is the largest producer and consumer of coal in the world and is the largest user of coal-derived electricity.  The export trade expanded not only to coastal ports in China but also to the major ports of eastern Asia.  It was a major port of entry for Japanese goods into North China, both for legitimate trade and for smuggling.

Former US president Herbert Hoover worked as the general manager of the Kaiping Mine / Kailuan Coal Mine, located in Hebei province; his office is shown above.**

There were many banks in China from all nations  from the turn of the century through the 1920s each issuing their own Chinese money. The American Bank Note Company in New York printed for all the American banks.

Dennis was still in the service and still single in 1930 at Fort Ethan Allen in Vermont. Fort Ethan Allen was authorized by Congress in 1892, which had decided that some measure of permanent defense should be established in the vicinity of the US-Canada Border. It was built on former farmland donated to the federal government, and its buildings were constructed using locally sourced materials. The Fort was decommissioned in 1944.

A 1954 Directory shows Dennis single and living at the Old Soldier’s Home in Washington, D.C. , the first Army national old soldiers’ home in the U.S. established in in 1851.   It is located on a beautiful 250-acre wooded campus overlooking the U.S. Capitol in the heart of D.C. and continues to serve as a retirement home for U.S. enlisted men and women.

Dennis died on August 28, 1958 at the Old Soldier’s Home in Washington, District of Columbia, at the age of 66 and was buried at the United States Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery.

• http://worldstatesmen.org/China_Foreign_colonies.html
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2014-02/21/content_17296315_5.htm

Arthur Beaugrand 1886-1979`

 

Arthur Joseph Beaugrand lived in Jackson Michigan from 1911-1922 working for the Central Michigan RailroadThe Jackson, Michigan station was built in 1872-73 by the Michigan Central Railroad, one of three rail lines created by the state Legislature to improve travel and transportation in Michigan’s early days. It was also Jackson’s first railroad, arriving in town in 1841 when the city was just 12 years old.  Arthur Beaugrand worked there as an airbrake inspector.

The air brakes are checked on the Big Boy steam locomotive near Glen Helen before it starts it way towards the Cajon Summit on Monday, April 28, 2014. Hundreds of rail fans turned out Monday when the Big Boy steam locomotive began its journey to Cheyenne, Wyo., where it will be restored to operating condition. The engine will be towed by a train on an 11-day journey geared for spectators.

For the air brake’s simplest form, called the straight air system, compressed air pushes on a piston in a cylinder. The piston is connected through mechanical linkage to brake shoes that can rub on the train wheels, using the resulting friction to slow the train. The mechanical linkage can become quite elaborate, as it evenly distributes force from one pressurized air cylinder to 8 or 12 wheels. The pressurized air comes from an air compressor in the locomotive and is sent from car to car by a train line made up of pipes beneath each car and hoses between cars. The principal problem with the straight air braking system is that any separation between hoses and pipes causes loss of air pressure and hence the loss of the force applying the brakes. This could easily cause a runaway train. Straight air brakes are still used on locomotives, although as a dual circuit system, usually with each bogie (truck) having its own circuit.

Arthur lived at 1812 Chapin, near the station.  The Jackson Train Station in 1920s, the mainline out of Jackson,  was triple tracked and eight railroads came to the heart of downtown. Today, only two railroads remain and only one track is regularly used by Amtrak.

The Michigan Central Shops and the rail yard off of Elm Street were used to build and repair locomotives from 1872-1960. In the top set of pictures, the one on the right above was the Michigan Central Railroad’s main repair facility, where locomotives were readied for their journey to Chicago or Buffalo. Since Jackson was the central point on the railroad, it made for the perfect location for such a facility. This building was built in 1872 and for 32 years, locomotives were actually built here. From 1872-1904, nearly 500 were employed under the Michigan Central subsidiary, the Jackson Locomotive Works, which built nearly 2,000 steam locomotives in that time period.

From 1904-1976, the shops were used strictly for repairing locomotives and major servicing. In the 1940s, over thirty passenger trains departed from the Jackson depot – with even more freight trains leaving the yard. By the mid-50s, all steam on the New York Central would be replaced by diesel locomotives, most of which were built by the General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division.

The Chicago Mercury” above at Wayne Junction, MI in 1941. The all-streamlined train once ran through and stopped at Jackson Station everyday. This luxury streamliner was ended in 1958, when it was combined to run with the existing Wolverine. The locomotive in this photos is a Dreyfus Hudson locomotive. Unfortunately, none of these locomotives exist today.

An Air Brake Inspector was an important job, because the airbrake should operate with the least possible amount of friction: consequently, it is important that the machine should be properly lubricated, not deluged with grease for ten minutes, and then run on the interest of the excess for two hours, but sparingly furnished with clean oil which will keep the moving parts moist all the time. To accomplish this, the feeding-cup must be kept in proper working-order, so that it will pass the oil regularly.

Mikado

Mohawk

 

Find out more Jackson railroad history here: http://youtu.be/AqkpW-Diz9Y

 

Joseph Girouard dit Malouin 1731-1792

A story was found on Ancestry with more details  and photos added.

During the seventeenth century, about sixty French families were established in a Canadian  colony named Acadia. They developed friendly relations with the Wabanaki Confederacy (particularly the Mi’kmaq), learning their hunting and fishing techniques. The Acadians lived mainly in the coastal regions of the Bay of Fundy; farming land reclaimed from the sea through diking.  The Mi’kmaq, a tribe within the Wabanaki Federation, assisted the Acadians in resisting the British during the Expulsion of the Acadians.  Joseph Girouard dit Malouin was born in Port Royal, Arcadia in 1731.

 

 

The King of France  awarded a monopoly for the trading of furs to Pierre Dugua de Mons in 1603. Duqua and his colonists, including Samuel de Champlain, arrived off the coast of present day New Brunswick Maritime area and decided to establish their settlement on an Island which they named St Croix Island. The first winter was a disaster with little game to hunt, scurvy affecting most colonists and very unsheltered conditions. In the spring, they searched for another area to re-establish their colony and Champlain found the location of present day Port Royale. They disassembled their buildings and brought them across the Bay of Fundy to the east side and rebuilt them. They set up the new colony and Port Royale started to thrive. In 1607, the fur trade monopoly was suddenly revoked and most of the colonists returned to France. The progress of the colony was sporadic with attacks by the English, politics back in France and challenges in the new world all causing difficulties.

In 1755, the Acadian Deportation was undertaken by the British of the French and indigenous people residing in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Isle. The Acadians were a separate colony from New France and had developed a slightly different language. These French settlers had come from regions of Île-de-France, Normandy, Brittany, Poitou and Aquitaine.

Suspecting this colony of French and Indian sympathies, the British deportation from the Maritime coast resulted in more than half of the 16,000 Acadians to have lost their homes, died of famine or sickness, pursued ruthlessly, made prisoners, some murdered, with too many sent to the bottom of the sea.  Many others were dispersed to the Atlantic coast region, to Louisiana-where they developed what became known as Cajun culture, to England, to France and as far away as to the Falkland Islands, appropriately named Iles Malouines. Many were forced into servitude or marginal lifestyles. Before the US Revolutionary War, the Crown settled New England Planters in former Acadian communities and farmland as well as Loyalists after the war. British policy was to assimilate Acadians with the local populations where they resettled.

Joseph Girouard joined hundreds who fled the British deportation to Québec City.  The Acadians faced a miserable trek from Port Royal, escaping through dense forests or by frigid water,  most of the time without food or shelter.  Joseph Girouard dit Malouin and his brother Pierre, with wives and children, landed in Québec City. After more than a year fleeing the tenacious enemy, they had finally reached safety only to find the Quebec City overflowing with deportees stricken, like so many of the city dwellers, by a smallpox epidemic. The brothers buried wives and children before going their separate ways.

 

Seigneurie de St-Augustin

In the city of Québec, during November 1757, Joseph buried his first wife, Françoise Blanchard, and in early December, their young son Joseph, aged 4 years old. Six months later he took as his second wife, Marie Josephte Arsenault, also an Acadian deportee. The approaching conflict between French and English forced the couple to flee their temporary safe haven to the nearby Seigneurie de St-Augustin, the “Seigneurie des pauvres” of the poor.   A Seigneurie was an encampment on land granted from the King of France. The Seigneurie des pauvres  was granted to the merciful nuns Hospitalières de Québec, a religious order founded in La Fleche, France by the Venerable Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere and Venerable Marie de la Ferre in 1636.  Jerome le Royer was a French nobleman who spent his life in serving the needs of the poor. A founder of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, he also helped to establish the French colony of Montreal. He has been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church. Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere, a collector of taxes at La Fleche, in Anjou, and a young priest of Paris, Jean Jacques Olier, formed the idea of establishing at Montreal three religious communities: one of priests of convert the Indians, one of nuns to nurse the sick, and one of nuns to teach the children of the Indians and of the colonists. The Baron de Fanchamp, a devout Christian and a wealthy man,  would substantially invest in the effort. Shortly afterward three other men agreed to support and the six together raised seventy-five thousand livres and formed the Societe de Notre Dame de Montreal.  At Seigneurie de St-Augustin, in July 1759, a first son is born to Joseph and Marie, named Joseph; only to die a month later.

 

Deschaillons

 

As Québec falls to English hands, in September 1759, the couple, dreading the old enemy, sought refuge as far as possible from the north shore of the river. Crossing to the south shore of the St. Lawrence, they traveled from seigneurie to seigneurie, begging subsistence from established farmers and sympathetic parish priests, commiserating with families or neighbors from Acadia. Under such miserable conditions, a second child, Marie Josephte, will be born May 19, 1761 in Deschaillons.

The couple’s destination is an unexploited fertile region in what is now called Lanaudière where Joseph’s brother Pierre Girouard/Malouin, remarried to Madeleine Doucet  and was already established as the farmer to Monsieur de Baïeul.   The region of Lanaudière in central Quebec, located between the Saint Lawrence River and the Laurentian Mountains.  Pierre Girouard dit Malouin is recognized as one of the first pioneers of St-Jacques-de-la-Nouvelle-Acadie, later known as St-Jacques-de-Montcalm, St-Jacques-de-L’Achigan or St-Jacques.

From 1759 to 1782, Joseph and Marie will have twelve (12) children of which four (4) will die in infancy. Joseph and Marie died on October 22, 1792, in St-Jacques, Quebec, Canada.