M. Guillaume Dondo was born in Guern, Pontivy, FRANCE on July 10, 1864, contradicting his headstone, to Yves Dondeau or "Dondo" (b. Jun 3, 1828, at Malguenac, Morbihan, Bretagne, France, d. Dec 10, 1896, at Guern, Pontivy, Morbihan, Bretagne, France) and Marie Anne (nee Le Hégarat, b. Mar 14, 1840, at Guern, Pontivy, Morbihan, Bretagne, France, d. May 8, 1903, at Guern, Pontivy, Morbihan, Bretagne, France). He was the third of nine (known) children born to the couple, with three of his siblings known to have died in infancy.

Known siblings, all born and died in Guern and villages in the immediate area, unless otherwise noted:

- Joachim (b. June 18, 1860, d. Unknown)
- Jean Marie (1) (b. Feb 7, 1863, d. Mar 2, 1863)
- Louis (b. Dec 28, 1868, d. Jan 23, 1869)
- Marie (b. Aug 25, 1870, d. Mar 9, 1950 in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, Île-de-France, France)
- Marie Mathurine (b. Apr 27, 1873, d. Unknown)
- Jean Marie (2) (b. Jul 10, 1876, d. Sep 13, 1877)
- (Sister) Marie-Anne (b. September 5, 1878, d. June 21, 1931, in San Martin, Municipio de San Martín, Meta, Colombia)
- Dr Mathurin-Marie Marius, PhD (b. July 10, 1881, d. April 14, 1968 in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, USA)

Miss Marie-Anne Dacquay was also born in the area of Pontivy, Brittany, France, on February 11, 1872. Her parents were Joseph Marie (1840 - 1880) and his wife Marie Anne (née David, 1850 - 1903) Dacquay. She was the eldest of four (known) children and one of them is known to have passed away in infancy.

On January 30, 1891, among thirty marriages held on the same day, Guillaume and Marie-Anne were wed. Another marriage performed that same day was for M and Mme Joseph Philippe (elder), the eventual parents of Joseph Philippe (younger) who would be the husband of the couple's daughter, Marie-Louise.

On November 9, 1904, at the age of 39, M. Guillaume Dondo came to Canada. His arrival is one of those noted in the volume "Anecdotes, Saint-Claude, Manitoba, 1892-1992" as being among the biggest wave of arrivals to the area in a single year (1904):

https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A3065193#page/82/mode/1up/search/dondo

He bought a farm 2.5 miles SW of St-Claude. Several months later, and after an 11-day boat trip, Mme. Dondo joined her husband along with their six children: Yves (13), Joseph (11), Jacques (8), Marie-Anne (6), Mathurine (3), and Louise (1.5).

They were only seven of the people mentioned on the manifest of the SS Vancouver, as arriving on April 2, 1905, in Halifax, NS, from Liverpool, England; seven among 63 members of the following Breton families, nearly all from Guern or nearby villages, some of whom may well have been headed for Red Deer in British territories destined to become what is now Alberta, but a missionary aboard, or possibly at the Winnipeg train station(!), convinced them all (many?) to head for St-Claude, instead:

Cloaree, Corbeil, Couronne, Dacquay, Dondo, David, Gloux, Guigneno, Jute, Kervegant, Le Bris, Le Brun, Le Carre, Le Devehet / Le Devehat, Le Franc, Le Francheur, Le Gourrince, Le Mial, Le Pape, Maurre, Puybasset, Philippe, Phillipot, Rebiffe, Zegouzo

During the 11-day transatlantic passage, little Louise slipped and was seen to be almost falling off the ship. M. Julien Philippe, her future husband's uncle(!), caught her by the end of her long dress and rescued her.

Also on that same ship at the time was Guillaume's cousin, Joseph Dondo. Joseph made a different choice and settled in the Ochre River / Dauphin region of Manitoba. His own family joined him the following year.

The Guillaume / Marie Anne Dondo family arrived, with many other Bretons, by train in St-Claude on April 7, 1905. The family inhabited the first barn on their part of section 8-8-7-W1 (Dominion Land Survey coordinates, modern equivalent: 49.643184, -98.380569) while a log house was built. It was on this farm that Céline, Joachim, and Rosalie were born.

Also, on this farm, on March 10, 1910, at 3:00 AM, a tremendous storm, in some tellings, it is characterized as a tornado(!), blew the roof off the house. Once again, the family moved into the barn until a new house was erected, this time, on a neighbouring section, part of 5-8-7-W1 (or 49.628437, -98.380520). There, the family lived until March 29, 1929, when the then-elderly couple moved to the town of St-Claude.

During their time as farmers, they also acquired the parcel across the road from their family home, designated as SE-8-8-7-W1 (modern GPS: 49.639566, -98.374978). This parcel was located precisely between their long-time home and the parcel they had first inhabited and subsequently sold to the Rebiffe family.

He was also the grand-uncle of Jean Guillaume Marie Porrot (1915), who was born in St-Claude to his niece, Anna (Dondo) Porrot, and who died at the age of 8 days. Anne's husband Jean-Francois Porrot, father of Jean Guillaume, was also a brother-in-law to a cousin of Guillaume's wife, Marie-Anne (Dacquay).

Guillaume is remembered as having mixed feelings about his Canadian adventure, something that is reflected by the fact he did not become a naturalized citizen of Canada, by choice, until 1934.

On April 14, 1938, at St Boniface Hospital, M. Guillaume Dondo passed away at the age of 74 years, 9 months. He was predeceased by his daughter Céline (Sister Marie Bernadette), on March 27, 1927. Mme. Dondo passed away in St-Claude on June 10, 1947, and was buried beside her husband in the parish cemetery of St-Claude.

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Among the other details mentioned in the volume "Anecdotes, Saint-Claude, Manitoba, 1892-1992" about the Dondo family, this reproduction of the single most iconic image available to the Dondo family of the senior immigrant couple, with Marie-Anne wearing her best Breton ensemble, is best captured here:

https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A3065193#page/91/mode/1up