Narcisse LANDIER dit LESPERANCE and Sophie MARTIN dit BARNABE had 6 children in St Esprit, Montcalm County or nearby Kilkenny between 1833 and May 1842. Two died as infants. With the surviving four small (the oldest was 10) children, they emigrated to Keeseville, NY between 1842 and 1845. As was the custom of U.S. border officials both Narcisse and Sophie had to drop the first of their dual names. Narcisse was "LESPERANCE" in the U.S. and Sophie was "BARNABE". Another six children were born in Keeseville, five of whom ultimately married. Three of the four Canadian-born children, one died in Keeseville, also married in Keeseville. I have found no indication of any descendant of Corporal Jean, other than his grandson Narcisse and Narcisse's children, who emigrated to the U.S.

Most probably Narcisse and his family emigrated for economic reasons. They may have had prior knowledge of the Keeseville area from a friend or relative who had previously moved there. As discussed earlier, maybe they had learned from his parents about his grandfather's army exploits in the Champlain Valley. There were French-Canadians in the area before their arrival. We know that French-Canadians who had fought on the side of the colonists during the American Revolution were offered land grants in Clinton County, although not in Keeseville itself. Some accepted these grants because the British wouldn't let them back into Canada, or they had been threatened with excommunication if they fought for the colonists to the south. Keeseville was decidedly a Yankee village, although there was a pronounced migration of French-Canadians in the mid-19th century. These emigrants might have been swayed by the existence of a Catholic Church, albeit an Irish one, in Keeseville. The Papineau rebellion of 1835 may have caused some emigration to this area.

The Ausable River is the boundary between the township of Chesterfield in Essex County and the township of Ausable in Clinton County. The Village of Keeseville, incorporated in 1878, straddles the river with part of it lying in Ausable and part in Chesterfield. There were sufficient French Canadians in Keeseville in 1853 to cause them to separate from the Irish parish, Immaculate Conception, which had been founded in 1832 in Chesterfield, and to establish their own French parish, St. John the Baptist, on Academy Hill on the Ausable side of the river, using an old, unoccupied former Baptist Church. An 1880 history of Clinton County states that of a total 1875 population of 3,203 in Ausable, 368 (11%) were born in Canada. That represents a sizeable minority. That same 1880 history of Clinton County didn't give much attention to the Catholics in Ausable. Biographical sketches and photographs of prominent Yankees were plentiful but nary an Irish or French biography. I found it interesting that the history concerning Ausable devoted ten pages to the various Protestant churches which served less than 500 souls, and a half page to the two Catholic churches that served about 1800 souls. There seems to be little question where a non-Yankee stood socially, and probably economically, in Ausable in 1880.

Logging was an established industry in the Keeseville area in the 1800's. The village was also well known for the manufacture of nails and other products fabricated from the iron ore mined near Ausable Chasm a few miles to the north. Although Narcisse, like his father and grandfather, was a farmer in Canada, he likely did not earn his living as a farmer in New York. The very name of the area, "Ausable" (of sand), suggests that farming may not have been good.

A daughter of Narcisse's son Frank as well as a daughter of Narcisse's son Joseph have told me that their fathers, as kids, had lived in a cabin at Pok-o-Moonshine Mountain located less than 10 miles to the south of Keeseville. As recent as this century LESPERANCEs were living in Willsboro and other towns south of Keeseville.

For the benefit of LESPERANCE researchers I am going to run quickly through the 12 children and 62 grandchildren of Narcisse and Sophie. I have used Keeseville as the place where certain events took place but these events were baptisms and marriages that took place at St. John the Baptist Church in Keeseville and the principals might have been living in nearby towns or villages especially in Essex County to the south of Keeseville proper.

1. Emilie born 1833 at St.-Esprit and died there the following year.

2. Narcisse, called Nelson, born 1835 at St,-Esprit and married Marie LANDRY in 1862 at Keeseville. I have no further information on their children that that given here:

a. Gertrude Emma born 1880 at Keeseville

b. Mary Parmena born 1882 at Keeseville

c. Charles born 1889 at Keeseville.

3. Sophie born 1836 at St.-Esprit and died there in 1838.

4. Joseph born 1839 at St.-Esprit and married Emilie LATORELLE in 1863 at Keeseville. I have a lot of information on the ancestry of Emilie. I also have a picture of her and her mother Emilie VASSEUR (LEVASSEUR). Their children:

a. Marie-Elizabeth (called Elizabeth) born 1864 at Keeseville and married Leo Fleury 1880 at Keeseville.

b. Jean Baptiste born 1866 and apparently died at an early age.

c. Joseph Irenee born 1869 at Keeseville and married Exilda YOUNG about 1892 probably at Keeseville.

d. Eugene Frederick "Fred" born 1871 at Keeseville and never married.

e. Emilie Exilda "Emma" born 1873 at Keeseville and married Antoine YOUNG

f. Sophie-Caroline "Carrie" born 1875 at Keeseville and married Eugene PICOTTE

g. Oliver born 1877 at Lewis, Essex County and married Helene "Nellie" BLONDIN 1903 at Barre, VT.

Children:

1)

2) Freeman born at Barre, VT and married Elizabeth BEDARD at Burlington, VT. These are my parents.

h. Elisa born 1879 at Keeseville and married Peter GORDON

i. Marie-Olive "Olive" born 1880 at Keeseville and married GRAVES

j. Narcisse (Nelson) born 1882 Keeseville married Helen (a Polish name) at Keeseville

k. Frank born 1886 at Willsboro and married Jessie GERVAIS 1909 at Keeseville

l. Antoine born 1890 at Keeseville and married Rose Alma BOISSEAU 1911 at Keeseville. They had no children.

5. Thomas born 1841 at Kilkenny, near St. Esprit; died, not having married, 1860 at Keeseville.

6. Eugene who might also have gone by the name James born May 1842 at St. Esprit and married Marie FLEURY 1867 at Keeseville. Their children:

a. Pierre born 1868 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

b. Rose Delima born 1869 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

c. Eugene born 1875 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

d. Louis born 1877 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

e. Philomene born 1880 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

f. Marguerite Agathe born 1882 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

g. Olivier Jeremie born 1889 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

7. Medard or Medore baptized May 1845 at Keeseville and married Clemence CHAPUT 1870 at Keeseville. Their children were all baptized at Keeseville but, for most of them I could find no further mention of them in St John the Baptist church records.

a. Medard born 1871.

b. Marie Delima born 1874.

c. Olivier born 1876.

d. Theophile born 1877.

e. Frederick born 1880.

d. Agnes Celima born 1882.

e. Melvina Therese born 1889 and married John Baptist BISAILLION 1907 at Keeseville.

f. Florence Mae born 1892.

g. George born 1897 and married Ida CLOW 1922 at Schenectady.

h. Merezi Mary born 1900 and married ?? BUNKER at unknown date at Saranac Lake.

8. Charles born 1847 at Keeseville and married Josephte (Henrietta) BRIEN or BRION 1873 at Keeseville. Their children:

a. Charles born 1874 at Keeseville and married Lya DESROCHES

b. Pierre "Peter" born 1875 at Keeseville and married Leah Barber 1907 at Keeseville. Children:

1) Irene Lea born 1908 at Keeseville and married Peter KELLY 1931.

2) Bernadette born 1918 at Keeseville and never married.

3) Henry born before 1915 and never married.

4) Velma believed to have been born in 1915 and married Claude MAYO.

5) Leona. Unknown birth date. Never married.

6) Robert born 1926 married Joan LAMONTE 1956

c. Marguerite born 1878 at Keeseville. Don't know what happened to her.

d. William Oliver born 1875 at Keeseville and married Leah BARBER 1907 at Keeseville.

e. Mary Agathe born 1882 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

f. Anne born 1890 at Keeseville and married Joseph CHARLAND 1911 at Keeseville.

g. Thomas born 1892 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

h. Mary Anne born 1893 at Keeseville (Nothing further known)

i. Juliette Esther born 1894 at Keeseville and married William LEBRUN 1915 at Keeseville

j. Mary Ella born 1896 at Keeseville. Don't know what happened to her.

k. Possibly Andrew with no known birth year or place and no known marriage.

l. Possibly Joseph with no known birth year or place and no known marriage.

9. Jean born about 1848 probably at Keeseville and died 1861 at Keeseville.

10. Marie born 1854 at Keeseville and married Olivier YOUNG 1874 at Keeseville. I know from St. John the Baptist church records except that they were baptized there. This suggests that the family may have moved from the Keeseville area sometime after 1879.

a. Marie born 1875.

b. Joseph born 1877.

c. John Baptist born 1879.

11. Emilie (date of birth or baptism unknown but probably at Keeseville) married Telesphore RAINSVILLE 1880 at Keeseville. I have no further knowledge of this family from aSt. John the Baptist records after their marriage there.

12. Elisabeth born 1864 at Keeseville and married Louis FLEURY 1880 at Keeseville. Other than the one mentioned I have no further knowledge of their children from St John the Baptist records. Their children:

a. Possibly Emilie Louise born 1882 at Keeseville.

As we approach the 21st century, I have brought our family record into the 20th century. I probably will never get this history up to date so I leave it to succeeding generations to work on it. I have a lot off details about our family that are not included in this story. I will do my best to respond to family members who want to know more about their segment of the family.

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