ANTOINE BESSETTE, my grandfather, was born July 4, 1867 in Agawam Mass. His father Olivier had moved from St. Hilaire, Canada to the Agawam Mass. area sometime during the early years of the American Civil War . He resided there for several years, long enough for three of his children, Antoine, Delina and Delia, his older sisters, to be born. Sometime prior to 1870 he moved the family back to Canada and this is where Antoine was reared to manhood. On August 20, 1889 he married Victoria Robert in St. Valerien, thus commencing the 7th Generation of our lineage. Victoria was born October 21, 1870 in nearby Ste. Valerien. She was the child of Onesime Robert and Victoria Reyneaud ( born in France).
Their first child, Olivier, was born the following May and shortly thereafter the young family moved back to the Agawam, Mass. area where Antoine plied his trade as a carpenter. More children followed until 1910 when the last child, Henry, was born in Holyoke, Mass. My father, Raoul Moise,the 7th child, was born in 1900 in Springfield, Mass. The family moved from Agawam then Springfield and between 1900 and 1910 to Holyoke. In the 1900 Census Antoine and his sister Delia (married to Cesaire Quintal, also a carpenter) were neighbors on Hubbard Street in Springfield. By 1910, Antoine & family resided at 529 South Bridge Street , Holyoke, and his brother, Israel, lived nearby on Park Street. He and his sons were also Carpenters.During this period the older children grew to adulthood, and some of the boys served in the U.S. Army during World War 1 (Oliver, Ernest, and my dad Raoul). They were employed in the mills of Holyoke, and the oldest girl, Leona, married in January 1918. In the 1920 Census the entire family (excluding Leona) were included in the household at 186 Pine Street, Holyoke, Mass. It must have been a substantial residence to house 11 persons with the children ranging from age 30 to age 10. In 1921 Antoine built his final home at 53 Whitman St., Chicopee (Willamanset) Mass. and most of the family were moved into the homestead. Victoria died from the ravages of diabetese December 2, 1940 at age 70. Antoine survived her by 16 years, passing away at the Whitman Street homestead on May 5, 1956 at age 88.