Firmin Cormier

➤ For Firmin's bio (and place of birth), click 'Read More' below and scroll down.

FIRMIN CORMIER's FAMILY

Last revised and updated in March/2024

His Wife:

Céleste 'Julie' (Cyr) Cormier 1812-1887 [age 74]

married on Monday, February 26, 1838, in The Madawaska Settlement,

by Père Antoine Langevin, pastor of L'Église de St-Basile-le-Grand

(a parish located in present-day St-Basile, Madawaska, New Brunswick, Canada);

he was 28, she was 25

At the time of Firmin's death in 1871, he and Julie had been married 33 years.

Note: Firmin and Julie were 3rd cousins — in that era, a fairly common occurrence in the rural Acadien-French settlement known as Madawaska.

Their 10 (known) Children:

► Octave Cormier 1838-1880 [age 41]

married July 7, 1863, in Van Buren, Maine,

to Dorimène (Bérubé) Cormier 1840-1898 [age 58]

► Julie 'Nancy' (Cormier) Morin 1841-1910 [age 68]

married January 6, 1866, in Van Buren, Maine,

to Raphaël Morin 1842-1908 [age 65]

► Isaïe Cormier 1843-1910 [age 66] - see notes 1 & 2 below ↓

► Adéline 'Délina' (Cormier) Langlais 1845-1879 [age 34]

married Aug. 14, 1866, in Van Buren, Maine,

to Philippe [Ouabard] Langlais 1846-1930 [age 84]

► Adèle Cormier 1846-18XX

presumably died as a child before 1851 - see note 3 below ↓

► Rémi Cormier 1848-1903 [age 54]

married February 10, 1879, in St-Léonard-Parent, New Brunswick, Canada,

to Ozithé (Cyr) Cormier 1861-1939 [age c79]

► Flavie (Cormier) Thibodeau 1850-1902 [age 52] - a twin

married April 9, 1872, in St-Léonard-Parent, New Brunswick, Canada,

to Damase Thibodeau 1844-1924 [age 79]

► Phélonise Cormier 1850-18XX - a twin

presumably died as a child before 1861 - see note 3 below ↓

► Sévérin X. Cormier 1853-1930 [age 77]

married August 11, 1879, in St-Léonard-Parent, New Brunswick, Canada,

to Léocadie (Martin) Cormier 1853-1947 [age 93]

► Élodie (Cormier) Roy 1855-1925 [age 69]

married circa 1889, to Laurent Roy 1848-1925 [age 77]

Notes:

1. Based on several census reports, it appears that Isaïe never married. In the 1871 Canadian census, he was a single man, living with his parents at the family farm; and in 1881, still single, he was residing with his widowed mother. In the 1891 census, his mother having died, he was again enumerated as a single man, then in his late 40s, still living in St-Léonard-Parent, at (or nextdoor to) the home of his brother Rémi.

2. Based on a careful analysis of provincial, cemetery, and Canadian-census records (as well as Isaïe's date of birth), the above-linked memorial is believed to be that of Firmin & Julie's son. Unfortunately, however, the 1910 civil death record for Isaie Cormier doesn't name his parents or next of kin; and online access to the St-Léonard parish burial records isn't freely available.

3. Though unconfirmed (i.e. no burial or death records were found), it's believed that both Adèle and Phélonise died as infants (or at a young age) and that both were buried in the Cimetière Saint-Léonard-Parent. Adèle was born in 1846 but wasn't enumerated with the rest of the Cormier family in the 1851 census; and although Phélonise was enumerated in the 1851 census, a notation indicates that she was 'sick' — and ten years later, in the 1861 census, her name is nowhere to be found.

His Parents:

Pièrre Cormier 1773-1836 [age 62]

and M. Rose (Soucy) Cormier c1780-1817 [age c37]

married February 5, 1799, in The Madawaska Settlement

His Stepmother (Pièrre Cormier's 2nd wife):

Ursule (Daigle) Cormier 1795-1864 [age 69]

married April 13, 1818, in The Madawaska Settlement

His 7 (known) Siblings:

► Marguérite (Cormier) Levasseur c1800-1861 [age c61]

► Vénerante Cormier c1801-1828 [age 26]

► Marie Rose Cormier c1802-1805 [age 3]

► Marie Rose (Cormier) Ouellette 1807-1858 [age 50]

► Grégoire Cormier born March 18, 1812 - see note 1 below ↓

► Julie M. (Cormier) Thibodeau born August 16, 1814 - see note 2 below ↓

► Infant Cormier 1816-1816 - an unnamed child; died at birth

Notes:

1. Some sources claim that Grégoire died in 1889 at age 77 (unconfirmed by this Find A Grave contributor). His place of burial is unknown, though it's possible (even likely) that he was interred at Saint Bruno - St. Rémi Cemetery in Van Buren, Maine.

2. Julie (Cormier) Thibodeau is said to have died on November 5, 1878, at age 64. According to the church records in Van Buren, Maine, there's a Julie Thibodeau who was buried at Saint Bruno's Cemetery on November 6, 1878; but the burial entry doesn't include her husband's name (Michel) and her identity can't be confirmed with certainty.

His 13 (known) Half-Siblings:

► Luce M. (Cormier) Laplante 'dite' Madore 1819-1881 [age 62]

► Marie Louise Cormier 1820-1820 [age 1 month]

► Hilaire Cormier 1821-1851 [age 30] - see note 1 below ↓

► Isidore Cormier 1821-1886 [age 64] - see note 1 below ↓

► Susanne (Cormier) Corbin 1823-c1855 [in her early 30s]

► François Cormier 1824-1824 [age 5 weeks]

► Salomée Cormier born May 14, 1825 - date & place of burial unknown

► Infant Cormier 1826-1826 - an unnamed son; died shortly after birth

► Octave Cormier born July 9, 1828 - see note 2 below ↓

► Urbain Cormier 1830-1900 [age 69]

► Eléonore Cormier 1832-1832 [age 5 days] - a twin

► Louise Cormier 1832-1832 [age 2 weeks] - a twin

► François-Xavier Cormier 1833-1865 [age 32] - drowned

Notes:

1. Hilaire and Isidore were born the same year (1821) — Hilaire on New Year's Day, and Isidore the day after Christmas.

2. Date and place of burial unknown/unconfirmed. Some sources indicate that Octave died in 1902. He was last enumerated along with his wife and family in the 1900 U.S. Census, residing in Hamlin, Maine.

His Grandparents:

Paternal - his father's parents

► Jean-Baptiste Cormier 1734-1822 [age 87]

and Madeleine (Landry) Cormier c1743-1803 [age c59]

married July 5, 1762,

at L'Église de St-Louis-de-Kamouraska in Kamouraska, Québec, Canada

Maternal - his mother's parents

► Joseph François Soucy, Jr. 1752-1821 [age 65]

and Marie Luce (Thibodeau) Soucy c1757 - died between 1799/1806 [in her 40s]

married August 24, 1778,

at L'Église de St-Louis-de-Kamouraska in Kamouraska, Québec, Canada

TELL THE STORY · REMEMBER THE LIFE

Firmin Cormier, the eldest son of Pièrre and Rose Cormier, was a sixth-generation farmer and the first in his family line to establish in the parish-village which came to be called 'Saint-Léonard-Parent'. He was christened in what was then the only Catholic church in the Madawaska Settlement — L'Église de Saint-Basile; but he had undoubtedly been born on his parents' farm on the south side of the Rivière St-Jean (near present-day Lille, Maine). It's worth noting that at the time of Firmin's birth, Maine had not yet become a state and the region's international border remained in dispute until 1842.

Firmin's paternal grandfather (Jean-Baptiste Cormier), along with Firmin's dad (Pièrre Cormier) and two of Pièrre's brothers, had been among the original group of Acadien-French pioneers who settled the Madawaska region, each having received a land grant from the British Crown in 1794. Firmin's maternal grandfather (Joe Soucy) was one of the first to settle in the area which later came to be called St-Léonard-Parent.

One of seven children, Firmin was a young boy when his mom passed away in 1817; but the following year, his dad remarried — and over the course of the next two decades, 13 more children were born into the family fold. Sadly, however, six of his 20 siblings and half-siblings had died as infants, and one as a toddler. Nonetheless, he grew up in a full household.

In 1838 at age 28, Firmin Cormier married Julie Cyr, a young woman who had grown up near St-Basile; and not surprisingly, the couple shared common family connections. They were, in fact, third cousins — which required them to obtain a special dispensation from the Church before marrying. Together the newlyweds settled in Saint-Léonard-Parent where Julie eventually gave birth to 10 children (four sons and six daughters), four of whom died as infants.

Like those who came before him, Firmin lived the life of a farmer and his boys eventually followed in his footsteps. When he and his family were enumerated in the 1871 census, his farm holdings included about 152 acres of land (34 of which were improved, and 9 of which were used for grazing). The report goes on to state that in the last year's time Firmin had planted and harvested 25 acres of oats, 18 acres of buckwheat, 9 acres of peas, 6 acres of hay, and about an acre of potatoes which produced 100 bushels. He owned 2 horses, 2 dairy cows, 6 heads of cattle, and 3 sheep; and he'd recently sold or butchered 3 pigs and 4 sheep.

Two months after that census, Firmin Cormier passed away in St-Léonard-Parent (presumably at home) at age 62; and he was laid to rest in the parish cemetery just behind the church. By then, he had been predeceased by two married children (his son Octave and his daughter Délina) and he still had five children at home (two adult sons and three teens). In addition to his own family, he and his wife had also taken in a two-month-old infant, an orphaned young boy of three, and the boy's aged grandmother; and decades later, that young boy (Napoléon Dubé) would marry one of Firmin's great-granddaughters (Anna Soucy).

Rest in peace, Pépère.

CEMETERY INFORMATION

Type of Marker: Unknown