Brassard

JOE’S MATERNAL FAMILY

BRASSARD – BEAUCHAMP

 

Grandparents

Eximère Brassard    &    Cordelia Beauchamp    (1858 – 1933)

 

Eximère Brassard

No documentation about him besides that he was born in Charlevoix, Canada and that he was married to Cordelia Beauchamp and they migrated together to Springfield, Massachusetts.

Cordelia Beauchamp

Born in Québec City. Her ancestors were from Normandy, France. Beauchamp is an English – Norman derivation. She came with her husband to Springfield, Massachusetts. Not sure if they had children in Canada before that.

 

Name: Cordelia Brassard
Maiden Name: Beauchamp
Gender: Female
Spouse: Eximere Brassard

 

As of the 1920 Census, Cordelia was 62 and widowed, residing at Jefferson Avenue in Springfield, Ma.  She purportedly had 21 single births of which 18 survived. Two girls Aurore and Amélie. The rest boys. There is no documentation which would confirm this long held tale.

Cordelia died on December 31, 1933 and according to this local newspaper clipping, her funeral was at her daughter Aurore’s (then Mrs. Joseph Colitti) home on Chapin Terrace and she was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Springfield.

 

Children who are documented and living in Western Massachusetts include Henry Brassard & his wife Ruby Arel as well as another brother Joe Brassard. Henry, Ruby & Joe really did have a traveling vaudeville act. Featured song on brother Joe’s banjo, My Cat has Fleas. They’d regale us on holidays. Joe Brassard’s son Ted & wife Ernestine as well as his daughter Lorraine & husband Ralph Howard who lived in Wilbraham all remained in contact with us.

 

Joe’s Mother

Aurore Blanche Brassard
April 18, 1899  – 1946

At age 20, Aurore Brassard is shown as living at home with her mother and siblings and worked as an “office girl” for a junk dealer. Assume she then became an office worker at Joseph’s Clothiers or met Joseph and then started working there with Florence Hansen Jensen, the bookkeeper as her mentor.

1920 Census

Name: Aurore Brassard
Age: 20
Birth Year: abt 1900
Birthplace: Massachusetts
Home in 1920: Springfield Ward 1, Hampden, Massachusetts
Street: Jefferson Avenue
Residence Date: 1920
Race: White
Gender: Female
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Marital Status: Single
Father’s Birthplace: Canada
Mother’s name: Cordelia Brassard
Mother’s Birthplace: Canada
Able to Speak English: Yes
Occupation: Office Girl
Industry: Junk Dealer
Employment Field: Wage or Salary
Attended School: No
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Cordelia Brassard 62
Joseph Brassard 25
Amele Brassard 24
Mederick Brassard 18
Aurore Brassard 20
Joseph Perrault 71

In the 1930 Census, Joseph Colitti, Sr. aged 34, Aurore Colitti 30, and Elvira 13 are shown in the same household at 298 Springfield Street. Joseph, Jr. must have been born soon thereafter, August 30, 1930. Aurore was known to be a fun loving woman who was seen driving a lavender Cadillac convertible around Hungry Hill.

1940 Census shows Joseph and Aurore Colitti lived on Chapin Terrace with their three children as well as her stepdaughter, Elvira. Joseph was then 44, Aurore 41, Elvira 23, Joseph, Jr., 9, Emanuel 8, and Gloria 5. Aurore became incapacitatedly ill in 1943 and died a few years later at age 46.

 

 

 

Aurore Brassard’s Known Siblings

Henry     (1889 – 1973)  –  Ruby Arel
Russell

Joseph E   (1894 – 1961) – Lucretia Goodin
Theodore – Ernestine, daughter Carolyn
Lorraine – Ralph Howard

Amélie–  Merrill Blanchard
Richard

Mederick

 

 

Aurore’s Children & Grandchildren

Joseph Anthony Colitti, Jr.  –  Carole Russell
(1930 – 1994)

Carol Aurore Ann
Deborah Lynn Catherine
Cynthia Jo
Catherine Jean
Joseph Anthony III

 

Emanuel A. Colitti  –  Sheila Nugent
(1932 – 1990)

Marc Claude Charles
Renata Nina Aurore
Guy Peter Antony    (1962 – 2013)

 

Gloria Ann Colitti  –  John J. Spadoni
(1935 –     )

John J. Spadoni, Jr. (adopted)
Jill Ann Spadoni – Rondeau